Chris Okotie: Restructuring Won’t Lead to Secession

Segun James

Rev. Chris Okotie has assured that contrary to fears expressed in some quarters, restructuring the country would not lead to the disintegration of the country.

Okotie, who has been campaigning for the inauguration of an interim government with the main objective of restructuring the country, said in a statement that his concept of Aboriginal Democracy upon which he anchors the restructuring of the federation would address all the prevailing defects in the current system and usher in a new era of political stability for Nigeria.

Okotie in the statement, which was signed by his Media Adviser, Mr. Ladi Ayodeji, observed that his quest to lead the interim government being proposed is to ensure that, as an impartial arbiter, he would join other stakeholders to ensure that the future of the country is preserved in an atmosphere of justice, equity, and fairness.

He noted that “the resistance to restructuring in certain quarters is because of fears that such an exercise would disfavour one ethnic group or spark off another civil war.”

The reverend insists that the present presidential system has created a dysfunctional federation, corruption, top-heavy government, agitations, and protests over alleged marginalisation has divided the nation along ethnic and religious lines.

He argued that, “with Aboriginal Democracy, all the prevailing fault -lines would be addressed to the satisfaction of all Nigerians because they would be the architects of the new constitution,” even as he warned that, “should the 2023 general election be held without first restructuring the country, the post-Covid socio-political and economic crisis currently sweeping through the world would have a more devastating effect on our country because the present weak governance structure can’t cope with such monumental problems.”