Ohaneze Ndigbo lauds Atiku for speaking out in favour of restructuring Nigeria

PAN-Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohaneze Ndigbo has expressed delight at the fact that former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has joined the ranks of Nigerians asking for a restructuring of the federation.

Over the last year, Igbo secessionist groups have been agitating for the recreation of the defunct republic of Biafra but Ohaneze Ndigbo has called for caution, saying what is needed is restructuring not secession. This call has been taken up by numerous community groups across the country and last week, Alhaji Abubakar said he too is in favour of restructuring, castigating the government for failing to address the issue.

Alhaji Abubakar, the Waziri of Adamawa, said that some people misunderstand the issue of resource control to mean restructuring, pointing out that resource control was the big elephant in the room but most proponents and opponents of restructuring prefer to dance around it and often throw insults at each other. Speaking at a lecture at the Princess Alexandre Hall, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Alhaji Atiku's remarks attracted a wild applause from the audience.

Among those who applauded him were All Progressives Congress (APC) members present, as Alhaji Abubakar blamed the unending political crises on injustice, a lack of equity and poor funding of education.  Among those who attended the lecture included two former governors of Akwa Ibom and Enugu States, Obong Victor Attah and Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo and former ministers Chief Dubem Onyia, Musa Gwadabe and Esther Obaji.

Also in attendance was the representative of the deputy senate president and the chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu State Chief Alex Ogbonna. Also, the deputy vice chancellor of UNN, Professor Charles Igwe, who represented his boss, Professor Benjamin Ozumba.

Alhaji Abubakar cautioned that restructuring was not a magic bullet that would solve all the needs of the country but would instead reduce them and create a new atmosphere of development and growth in economic and political spheres. Apparently referring to separatist groups like the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, he said listening to some people, even those who seek to dismember the country, you would think that once their dream is achieved their part of the country or the country as a whole will become paradise.

He further spoke of the need to revisit the suggestion by the Second Republic vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme that the existing six geopolitical zones in the country be used as the federating units in a restructured Nigeria. Alhaji Abubakar added that the realisation the federation, as presently constituted, impedes optimal development and the improvement of our peoples’ aspirations.

Ohaneze Ndigbo officials at the event applauded the remarks of Alhaji Abubakar, saying it showed that the debate in favour of restructuring was gaining ground. Up until now, most leaders from northern Nigeria had opposed restructuring but with the current clamour, this in changing.