Cardinal Onaiyekan, Afenifere rally support for restructuring amidst constitutional concerns

Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

In a compelling move, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, alongside the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization Afenifere, has thrown their weight behind the idea of restructuring as a viable solution to Nigeria’s current challenges.

This comes as a departure from advocating for constitutional amendments.

Expressing profound reservations about the existing constitution, the prominent cleric highlighted its inherent inconsistencies and contradictions.

Onaiyekan emphasized the pressing need for a comprehensive constitutional reform, underscoring the document’s failure to effectively address the role of religion in national progress.

Drawing attention to the chronic lack of clarity in governance frameworks within the constitution, Onaiyekan called for the decentralization of power and increased autonomy for states.

The aim is to foster more efficient governance and decision-making at the grassroots level.

These opinions were voiced during a policy dialogue on a new governance structure for Nigeria, organized by the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought.

Onaiyekan said: “If we take the present constitution, whether as amended or not amended it is riddled with inconsistencies or contradictions, problems when it comes to seriously talking about how religion relates to the nation.

“Which is why it is obvious we must look at it again. So, maybe it is good that we give it a look at changing to a parliamentary system. Perhaps we need to find out to ask those soldiers who threw away the parliamentary system and introduced the presidential system. What reasons did they have?”

Afenifere representative, Dr. Akin Fapohunda echoed the call for restructuring, emphasizing the lack of a clearly defined process.

He proposed a regional approach, where each region actively seeks ways to drive development and generate resources independently, reducing dependence on the nation’s capital.

“The bottom line is that we have no process. We are seeing the good but we have not defined the process, milestones and timelines that’s what is missing. We agree that the house is rotten and it needs to be pulled down and we designed an alternative model, which you are now selling. The political class, their teeth are dug into the one million barrel of crude that they are sharing every time. So, we have to confront them.

“What we are talking about is parliamentary and presidential governance, state/regional constitution—every region must have its own constitution, not one relative one that we are all battling and the third thing is to rework the list of functions”, he said.

Catholic priest Fr. George Ehusani emphasized the pivotal role of integrity in nation-building and prosperity.

He cautioned against the corrosive impact of leadership debauchery and elite idiocy on any nation, irrespective of its governance blueprint.

According to him, “Good enough, Tinubu before now was one of the strong advocates of restructuring. But, what does restructuring mean? It simply means reduction of the powers at the center. If you don’t reduce the powers at the center and send it a little bit to the regions for them to manage, you’re wasting time with restructuring.

“This attempt at amending or altering the Constitution is the sixth attempt. When we were in the House of Reps, we didn’t have the privilege of doing one. I was in two-three to seven set, but ever since we have heard five attempts and it will become a four yearly ritual. Unless we do something dramatic with this one.

“There is this impression that is being created as if there are states that are not rich. Every state in Nigeria is rich, mention the state and I’ll tell you how rich they are. There is this assumption that we must all depend on oil. So many states don’t need the oil from the Niger Delta. There are states that don’t have oil but they have so much gas and they’re not even tapping into their gas.

“Several others have different minerals in their area. It is high time we let every state know that they are rich.”