CSOs Alert on Move by North to Accept Restructuring on Their Own Terms

Emmanuel Ugwu, Umuahia

It has emerged that northern leaders may have initiated a clandestine move to find a soft landing to enable them drop their opposition to the clamour for restructuring of the country and instead implement their own version of political restructuring.

This new development was revealed in a statement issued by a coalition of civil society organizations comprising Igbo Youth Movement (IYM), Igbo Women Assembly (IWA) and South East Christian Network (SECN).

They alleged that the northern oligarchies have indeed recruited some individuals to fly the kite on mere devolution of powers as against restructuring the country on regional basis.

To this end, the activists vehemently condemned the kite flown by Prof. A.B.C Nwosu, whom they accused of being the purveyor of the new version of restructuring that the North intends to force down the throat of the rest of Nigeria as solution to the clamour for restructuring of the country.

Nwosu had last week reportedly canvassed that regional autonomy is not the demand of Nigerians who desire to see a restructuring of the polity, but a mere devolution of more powers, more resources and more responsibilities to the 36 states from the centre.

But his opinion has been rejected by many stakeholders and activists from the South East, who insisted that only regional autonomy anchored on true federalism can save Nigeria, adding that Prof. Nwosu has been “hired by enemies of the people to fly a dangerous kite”.

Founder of IYM, Evang. Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, who is also deputy secretary, Igbo Leaders of Thought, said: “Prof. A.B.C. Nwosu has again betrayed his people, by placing his political relationship with a Northern 2019 presidential hopeful over and above the survival and well-being of the country and the deliverance of his people from internal slavery”.

According to him, Nwosu was “merely flying a kite to test the waters and monitor reactions in order to launch an attempt to sell the Northern version of restructuring down the throats of gullible Nigerians.

“The North wants to retain the unjust and unfair 36 states and 774 LG structure by all means, but incidentally, that is the crux of the disaffection; that is at the root of the bitterness in the land.

“You cannot retain the source of the anger in the land and claim to have restructured the country, by merely devolving more power and resources to the states. That will not stop the agitation (because) the only way to restore peace to Nigeria is a restructuring along the lines of six regions as federating units, built on true fiscal federalism”.

He advised Nwosu to retrace his steps of attempting to sell Northern version of restructuring, just so he could be politically correct with his northern friends, adding, “It’s a hard-sell, it won’t fly”.