Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has, since he became the leader of the country continued to rebuff moves to restructure.
At a point, he even referred to those agitating for restructuring as being naïve. This attitude is not only dangerous, it is also very unstatesmanlike.
For the purpose of this submission, readers should permit us to explain what the word ‘restructuring’ means, especially to Nigerians.
According to The Guardian Newspaper in one of its recent publications, it said “restructuring is a constitution review strategy aimed at bringing government as closely as possible to the people at the grass roots. Lest we forget, the restructuring we are talking about is the one anchored on the reframed 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that was documented in the 2014 Confab Report”.
Restructuring, as far as Nigerians are concerned has this serious affiliation to fairness and justice.
So, will it be wrong for citizens of the country to request to be treated fairly in their own fatherland?
If the answer to this is ‘no’, then, the follow-up question is ‘why is somebody, somewhere opposed to the move to restructure?
The reason is not far-fetched. The power and political wherewithal to carry out the exercise reside in those presently serving as custodians of leadership in the country. And they are so few but they are unimaginably powerful, influential and even stupendously rich.
Unfortunately for this class of Nigerians, the agitation seems to be gaining momentum and is even gravitating towards requests for ‘self-determination’.
Already, the Nnamdi Kanus, the Sunday Igbohos have started to emerge and they are absolutely determined to realize their goals. Moreover, they are gaining followership every minute.
President Muhammadu Buhari is, today, the leader of the country and a positive move by him to allow fair-play will keep his name in gold in the country’s historical books.
Like we used to say here, ‘a stitch in time will save more than nine’.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
