Okotie: Without Restructuring, Nigeria Risks Implosion in 2023

Segun James

Barely six months to the 2023 general election, a clergyman, Reverend Chris Okotie, has warned that Nigeria may implode if a drastic political reengineering is not carried out before the elections are held in 2023.

Okotie’s warning came about two months after he launched his interim government proposal and its prospect of bringing the change Nigerians desires.

The cleric and former presidential candidate of Fresh Party of Nigeria stressed that a regime change in 2023 would lead the country back to the status quo if restructuring is not embarked upon.

He reiterated his position that an interim government is a necessity to guarantee a stable polity in Nigeria, warning that the alternative to his proposition for restructuring before the next general election is an implosion.

The cleric argued that the presidential system of government has failed Nigeria, and should be jettisoned.

Instead, he is offering Aboriginal Democracy as a viable alternative to the present system, insisting that it’s the only mechanical instrumentality available for the crystallisation of the Nigerian dream.

According to him, “The present constitution is more unitary than federal. We need to change the constitution, and we need to restructure.”

The Reverend explained that Aboriginal Democracy would eliminate the legislature and end the perpetual conflict between the centrifugal and centripetal forces, which has created the regional xenophobia engendered by the political

On the feasibility of an interim government in view of the 2023 general election, Okotie averred that the stakeholders could make it happen if they demonstrate their patriotism, adding that it is based on this patriotic sentiment that he’s appealing to the “presidential candidates to buy his argument for a hiatus to first create a new constitution before we proceed with a new election.

“The constitution is made for the people, and not the people for the constitution.”