The Southern
Leaders Forum on Wednesday in Lagos faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s
statement that issues of national discourse should be taken to the Nationa
l
Assembly and the National Council of State.
Buhari made
the statement among others in his Monday broadcast after 104-day medical trip
to the United kingdom.
The forum,
represented by Chiefs Edwin Clark, Albert Horsefall (South-South); Chief John
Nwodo, Prof. Joe Irukwu (South-East); and Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Ayo
Adebanjo (South-West), spoke in Lagos at a press conference titled, ‘Only
Restructuring will Ensure the Unity, Peace and Development of Nigeria.’
Others at
the event included Prof. Banji Akintoye, Tony Uranta, National Coordinator of the
Oodua Peoples Congress, Chief Gani Adams; Supo Shonibare, Guy Ikokwu, Tony
Nyiam and Prof. Walter Ofonagoro.
The forum
stated that while it did not dispute the legality of the National Assembly and
NCS, the bodies were not the appropriate bodies to superintend the discourse on
the social contract that could bind Nigeria together.
“While the
composition of the National Assembly is clearly jigged and indeed one of the
bodies to be restructured, the National Council of State is not open to
Nigerians. If any discourse is to take place on constitutional changes within
the democratic framework, Mr. President is the one who has the responsibility
to initiate the process,” the SLF said.
The forum
added that the attempt to treat hate speech as terrorism was a veiled threat to
bare fangs and criminalising dissenting opinions in the national discourse.
The group
accused the President of deploying the imagery of the late Chief Emeka Ojukwu
in his broadcast to play down the demand for the renegotiation of the structure
of Nigeria by saying they both agreed in Daura in 2003 that the country must
remain one and united.
The SLF
said, “The meeting between the two of them could not have been a Sovereign
National Conference whose decisions cannot be reviewed. We agree with their
conclusion that we should remain united, but that does not foreclose
discussions of the terms and conditions of the union.
“The claim
that Nigeria’s unity is settled and not negotiable is not tenable. Every
country is in a daily dialogue and there is nothing finally settled in its
life. Stable nations are still fine-tuning details of the architecture of their
existence. How much more Nigeria that has yet to attain nationhood? If we are
settled as a nation, we will not be dealing with the many crises of
nation-building that are afflicting us today, which have made it extremely
difficult to squarely face issues of growth and development.
“The British
negotiated to put the various ethnic groups together. All the constitutional
conferences held in the years before independence were negotiations. When the
North walked out of the parliament in 1953 after Chief Anthony Enahoro moved
the motion for independence, it took negotiations to bring them back into the
union after an eight-point agenda, which was mainly about confederations.”
It pointed
out that the one sentence in the President’s speech that every Nigerian could
live anywhere without let or hindrance, if meant to address the quit notice by
Arewa youths to the Igbo living in the North, was too short to check the
unwarranted threat.
The group
further said it was miffed by Buhari’s description of the attacks by deadly
Fulani herdsmen on defenceless farmers as conflict between two quarrelling
groups.
“To present
the various onslaughts on farmers by the herdsmen as ‘two fighting,’ would
portray the President as taking sides with the aggressive Meyitti Allah. While
we do not hold the administration responsible for all agitations in Nigeria due
to the crises of unitary constitution, there are clearly many errors of
commission and omission that have accentuated the strong self-determination
feelings across the country which only restructuring can tame,” the group said.
According to
the leaders, some of the errors made by the current administration are lopsided
recruitment and appointment into federal institutions, breach of the Federal
Character principle, early retirement of mostly Southern senior officers from
the Armed Forces and other security services and concentration of most heads of
Armed Forces and other national security agencies in a section of the country.
The group
identified others to include the appointment of the legal adviser of Meyitti
Allah as the secretary of the Federal Character Commission, indifference to the
deadly activities of herdsmen and the President’s declaration that he could not
treat those who gave him five per cent votes equally with those who gave him 97
per cent votes in the 2015 presidential election.
The Southern
elders noted that having spent most part of their lives fighting for the
country’s unity based on justice, fairness and equity, it was necessary to urge
the President to realise the mess the country was in and exhibit statesmanship
and not ethnic, religious, regional and political partisanship in renegotiating
Nigeria along federal lines to tackle separatist feelings and agitations.
No united
Nigeria without restructuring, says N’Delta agitators
Some Niger
Delta agitators on Wednesday faulted the position taken by President Buhari on
the calls for restructuring.
They said
without restructuring as being suggested by prominent Nigerians, the nation
would not remain united.
The
agitators’ position was contained in a statement made available to journalists
in Abuja.
Signatories
to the statement included John Duku (Niger Delta Watchdogs); Ekpo Ekpo (Niger
Delta Volunteers); Osarolor Nedam (Niger Delta Warriors); Henry Okon Etete
(Niger Delta Peoples Fighters); Asukwo Henshaw (Bakassi Freedom Fighters);
Ibinabo Horsfall (Niger Delta Movement for Justice); Duke Emmanson (Niger Delta
Fighters Network) and Inibeghe Adams (Niger Delta Freedom Mandate).
“We wish to
thank all well-meaning Nigerians who threw their weight behind restructuring
and disassociated themselves from the President’s position on restructuring.
“We want to
remind him (the President) that without restructuring, there would be no united
Nigeria,” the agitators said.
They said
they were surprised that the President said the unity of Nigeria was not
negotiable when “indeed he did not believe in other Nigerians apart from those
from the North.”
They
insisted that Northerners and the Yoruba must leave their region before October
1.
“The
Coalition of Arewa Youths’ quit notice to Igbo was in collaboration with the
Northern elders, the President’s cabal and top security chiefs from the North.
They were properly consulted by the youths.
“Therefore,
we maintain our previous position that Northerners and Yorubas should vacate
the Niger Delta region before October 1, 2017, until justice is done,” the
statement read.
The agitators
called on Buhari to reshuffle the Federal Executive Council, as well as
appointments into boards of agencies and parastatals in a manner that would
reflect federal character.
They also
called for the return of oil blocks to natives of the region and the immediate
relocation of the oil companies’ headquarters to their operational base, as
well as relocation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s
headquarters to the Niger Delta region.
They claimed
that over 75 per cent of the oil blocks in the Niger Delta region were owned by
Northerners, 20 per cent by Yoruba, three per cent by Igbo and the remaining
two per cent by people of the region.
“We can no
longer tolerate this injustice, marginalisation and being treated as slaves in
our own land. We therefore demand that the Northerners should return 70 per
cent and Yorubas 15 per cent of their oil blocks to the Niger Delta people for
justice to prevail,” they said.
They claimed
that they had put all machinery in place to protect Niger Delta from external
forces, adding that they would not hesitate to bring the Nigerian economy to a
standstill.
Presidency
advises Nigerians against harsh words
The
Presidency on Wednesday advised opinion leaders in the country to exercise
restraint in their choice of words as they criticise Buhari based on his
position on restructuring.
The Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, gave
the advice in a statement.
Shehu said
the restraint was necessary to avoid heating up the polity and causing acrimony
across the country.
He noted
that while Nigerians are free to express themselves, they should “exercise such
liberty with restraint and a sense of responsibility.”
The
presidential spokesman said calling Buhari an enemy of Nigeria was in “extreme
bad taste.”
He added
that nothing in the President’s service record would justify “such scurrilous
language.”
Shehu said
he was satisfied that majority of Nigerians welcomed Buhari’s broadcast.
He however
said it was off the mark to criticise him for not responding to calls for
restructuring.
“To
criticise the President for not imposing restructuring on the country –
whatever that means – is completely off the mark,” he said.
Shehu said
Buhari had no power to impose restructuring on the country by military fiat.
He said
National Assembly members were the elected representatives of the people who
can handle agitations for restructuring and other constitutional changes.
He explained
that the President is constitutionally bound to work with the National Assembly
to deal with such issues, reminding critics that the President would not
exercise arbitrary powers or bypass the legislature in taking fundamental
decisions.
He added,
“Changes don’t happen on a whim in a democracy. The ‘immediate effect’ military
mentality cannot work under a democratic order.
“Since the
President has sworn to defend the constitution, he would remain faithful to
that oath by working with the legislature in taking major decisions on the
future of Nigeria’s federal system.
“The
country’s parliament is ready and willing to discuss all issues but the pundits
are more interested in TV and newspaper headlines.
“Threats
don’t work in a democracy. Democracy requires planning and proper process.
Issues are resolved through established processes, not by abuses, insults or
irresponsible statements.”
Buhari
cancels FEC meeting, receives probe report
The meeting
of the Federal Executive Council that holds every week did not hold on
Wednesday.
The Special
Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, did not
disclose the reason behind the decision to cancel the meeting.
This is just
as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday submitted the report of the
committee that investigated allegations against the suspended Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; and the Director-General of the
National Intelligence Agency, Ayo Oke, to Buhari.
The
committee, which had the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami
(SAN); and the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, as members, was
initially billed to submit its report to Buhari on May 8, 2017, but could not
do so because the President left the country on May 7 for London.
Speaking to
State House correspondents after submitting the report, Osinbajo declined to
divulge the details of the report.
He said the
ball was in the President’s court to study the report and take his decision.
He said, “It
is a fact-finding committee and our terms of reference were to find out what
transpired in the cases; one involving the SGF and the other, the DG of NIA.
“We have
concluded our job and we submitted a full report with recommendations to the
President.
“We cannot,
of course, give you any detail because the President has to look at the report,
study it and then make his own decisions based on the report.”
Osinbajo
said members of the committee were fair-minded, adding that justice was done in
all cases.
He said it
was in the interest of the nation that things were done properly.
When asked
how soon Nigerians should be expecting the President’s decision on the report,
the Vice President said, “All I can say now is that we have submitted the
report to the President and it is a very detailed report as a matter of fact.
The President has to study the report and make decisions.
On whether
heads will roll based on the report, the Vice President said, “How can I tell
you? If you want to know that, you have to wait. You really have to wait.”
Present at
the brief ceremony where Osinbajo presented the report to the President were
the two other members of the committee and the Chief of Staff to the President,
Abba Kyari.
The
President had on April 19 suspended Lawal and Oke and constituted a three-man
committee led by Osinbajo to investigate them.
The panel
investigated allegations of violations of law and due process made against
Lawal in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the
North-East while it probed Oke on the discovery of large amounts of foreign and
local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in a
residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, for which NIA is laying
claim to.
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