Since its resounding success in the 2015 general election, Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been flip-flopping on the pressing issue of restructuring of the polity. At first, the party informed the nation that it did not promise restructuring. Troubled by the claim, many informed Nigerians drew attention to the party’s manifesto. However, the backlash that followed that declaration did not force the party to issue a retraction.
And recently, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, caused some consternation in the polity when he claimed that he did not understand what Nigerians meant by restructuring. Yet in the same breath, he admitted that the party promised “true federalism” but that it was not a priority, promising that it would soon get to the issue after addressing the collapse of the economy.
But the restructuring advocacy was so crucial in the then candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign manifesto that it was the first item on the list of promises. He stated categorically: “My administration will initiate action to amend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving power, duties and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true federalism and the federal spirit.” He also promised to “consult and amend the constitution to enable states and local governments to create city, local government and state policing systems based on the resources available at each level, to address the peculiar needs of each community.”
If Oyegun was in any doubt regarding what Nigerians meant by restructuring, could he also have been in doubt as to what his party and its presidential candidate promised Nigerians? Oyegun, who had remained silent on the need to “entrench true federalism and the federal spirit” until now, can surely not claim that, as the chairman of Nigeria’s ruling party, he is ignorant of the promises the party made to Nigerians. In the absence of any such claim, it would be reasonable to infer that he is merely playing politics with an issue that is so central to the sustenance or otherwise of Nigeria’s corporate existence. It is uncharitable to provoke a needless debate on the supposed differences between “restructuring” and “true federalism” while refusing to endorse the agitation for the implementation of the report of the 2014 national conference convoked to address the fundamental challenges of the Nigerian nation.For a party that told Nigerians time and again that it had come to “right the wrongs” of previous administrations, nothing can be more troubling.
Following the agitation in the polity, the APC national secretariat set up a committee headed by the Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, to define restructuring, the implication being that a concept that was so clearly enunciated in its 2015 manifesto now needed to be explained to it. This move naturally bred discomfort both within the polity and the party. Speaking on the move, the estranged Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Timi Frank, said: “Governor el-Rufai has not hidden his opposition to the issue of restructuring since Nigerians began to remind us of our promise which is boldly written in our party’s promise book.” Another stalwart of the party and a former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, noted: “ To me, restructuring means making changes to our current federal structure so it comes closer to the vision of our founding fathers.”
We salute patriots within the ruling party, in particular former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for raising their voice clearly above the din of confusion and showing the way forward for the country. More than ever, the time has come for the Nigerian political class to learn that winning elections should be more than gaining political advantage, enjoying a fat economic package and adequate security provided by the agents of the state, dispensing economic and political favours, savouring the company of top diplomats from around the world, enjoying the perquisites of office and drawing applause after giving empty speeches. It is time to make a real impact in the lives of the people; it is time to desist from the ruinous path of centralism that the nation has taken since 1966 and toe the path of progress. No matter the efforts made by any government to revamp the economy or even improve the nation’s security architecture, Nigeria will remain in limbo until the iniquitous structure on which it currently rests is pulled down and the path to sustainable nationhood hewn anew. No head, even if it is made of gold, can permanently stand on feet of clay.
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