Enough is Enough – Wike
Don’t push North to the wall – Sen Danmusa
By Mudiaga Affe, Emma Obe and Idu Jude
The die appears cast, the battle line on the call for restructuring Nigeria has been drawn between the south and the north. This time, not just the strongly worded calls for or against restructuring by non-key state actors across the divide, but between policy makers and those who can make things work.

This is just as the governors, who met in Asaba, Delta State, Southern lawmakers and prominent leaders in the zone, insist that they won’t back down from the Asaba declaration.
The governors, who met under the auspices of the Southern Governors’ Forum, had called for the convocation of an urgent national dialogue, restructuring of the country, banning of open grazing and for the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to address the nation, among other things.

Two governors, who spoke with THISNIGERIA said the unanimity of views at the summit clearly show the seriousness of the issues at stake. “For a long time, the South has been taken for granted. Not so any more,” the insider to the meeting volunteered, adding, “It has been a game of divide-and-rule by the North against the South. But, this time around, the game is over.” In fact, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Saturday, described their decision on open grazing and other issues “irrevocable.” According to him, those opposed to resolutions taken by the governors in Asaba should realise that no section of the country is inferior to others.

He declared, “We have taken a position and no going back. Enough is enough. We are not second class citizens of this country.

We also own this country.” Appraising the development, a former Chief Whip of the Senate, Roland Owie, said he supported the position of the southern governors.
Owie said, “I support totally the position of the southern governors. There is a need for restructuring and this is clear. They need to unbundle the present legislative list and transfer it to the states and local governments. “The local government councils should be autonomous in sourcing for their revenues, not under the state government. If states now get more revenues, they should pay part to the central government as it was before.”

Similarly, Senate Minority Leader, Enyinaya Abaribe, told ThisNigeria that those opposing the southern governors’ position were just being unpatriotic. Abaribe, a former deputy governor of Abia State, noted that the most recent call for restructuring was taken not by one or two persons but by well over 15 governors of different states in the region. The lawmaker added, “This number is well enough for the president and anyone who cares to know to listen and reason. This is no more a matter of sentiments. It has dawn on us that the reality is here because when people unanimously speak, then somebody somewhere must listen and face the fact.
“Nation-building has suffered a serious setback under the present government and has led to the irredentist movements all over Nigeria. It is a call to duty for every citizen to work towards a better leadership that will embrace all Nigerians. “Fairness, equity and justice engender patriotism. Otherwise, we will still be seeing ourselves from the prism of our ethnicity. The beauty of democracy is that it allows a change in leadership peacefully.”

Restructuring as Nigeria’s final lap – Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

Pointing also to the increasing spate of insecurity, the Abia South senator stated that if things were not done to quickly reverse the trend, the next generation would inherit a crisis-ridden geographical space. Also, a public affairs analyst, Dr. Kachi Ononuju, disagreed with those faulting the decision of the southern governors. According to him, those kicking against the initiative were deadly enemies of the north, who have called for anarchy. Ononuju said, “I have always described northerners as good political strategists but not in the 21st century with everyone getting wiser by the day. It is like the Fulani are now abusing their supremacy in leadership by calling everyone’s bluff. Maybe they think it continues. But they should also know that changes remain constant in human lives. They should know that southern Nigeria is also learning to play the game.”

For the National Chairman All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Oye, the call for restructuring is sustainable and durable. The APGA chieftain said, “We should not add any sentiment in this having seen the way things are going. And it is not to say that Mr. President is a bad leader but the issue lies with those who jump to his defence as if to say the country belongs to one person and this sends a wrong impression of the leadership. “The southern governors must rise in defence of their states, more especially when they are the chief security officers at their various states. And we should not forget that their political careers are at stake.

What about the promises they made to the people? What about the safety of the people and life span of the various infrastructures across the states? “This call has come to stay and it remains the only solution for our unity and that is if we are still frank about it. So, Mr President should ignore those attacking the southern governors. They should give peace a chance.”

Contributing to the discourse, a public affairs analyst, Mr. Kunle Olubiyo, said the north has always kicked against positions that do not favour them.
Olubiyo said, “In a saner democratic country, restructuring is a constitutional issue and should go for a referendum to justify the argument. But because the north has enjoyed the wrong written constitution handed down by the colonial masters, they would not want to go for it.”
Also, a former Special Assistant (Media) to Rivers State Governor, Mr. Opunabo Inko-Tariah, said unless the issue of restructuring was resolved, the country was not heading anywhere.

Inko-Tariah, a peace and security consultant added, “I have relentlessly posited that unless the issue of modus vivendi, which is the root of all our problems, is solved all other efforts will be likened to catching the mist. We must agree whether to remain together as one and if we have to remain together, how? “May I at this point note that part of our problems is because Nigeria is not practising federalism. What Nigeria is practising is a mockery of federalism, at best, plutocracy, where you have a centripetal system of government as against a centrifugal system of government. This is antithetical to any federal system. In a federal system, you have a centrifugal system of government against a centripetal system of government. “The federating units are quasi-autonomous. And that is why people are calling for restructuring. There is too much power at the centre.

This power should devolve. That is a major problem we are having. And until we address this problem, I tell you, the solution or panacea to our mirage of challenges will remain an illusion. “On the issue of grazing, I think it should be banned in the South-South because these herders are not genuine cattle rearers. The people we see around are only using the name as a decoy. We don’t trust them any more. They have wreaked so much havoc, made barbecue of our lives. And so for now the ban should be enforced. That ban stands. That ban is in sync with the views of the South-South people.”
For an author and lecturer at the Department of English Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Dr. Obari Gomba, the situation in the country really calls for national discourse.

The current issue, according Gomba, who is also an author, is at the heart of the nation existence. Dismissing the position of those who have kicked against any form of discussions on restructuring and change in the political structure of the country, Gomba said the worst lie told by successive leadership was that “the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable and Nigeria is indivisible.”
He said, “Nigeria is an act of violence, fathered by the British gun, held post-independence at gunpoint by a ruthless oligarchy. Thus, discontent and dissent have been constant. It will not stop because oppression (actual or perceived) does not allow people to sit still.
“No country enjoys peace and progress without negotiation and consent. The quality of social interaction and integration within national spaces is hinged on negotiation and agreement among citizens and groups that share such spaces. Let us remake Nigeria now. Reform and restructure Nigeria. Stop these harvests of tragedies.”
The National Coordinator of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Mandate (SNPM), Mr. Augustine Chukwudum, said the southern governors hit the nail on the head.

The SNPM boss said, “The Southern Governors hit the nail on the head. We are in support of them. Let them pass the Anti-Grazing Law. Nobody should take their cows to people’s farms. Let them arrest the defaulters and prosecute them. “We shall use every arsenal within our reach to support anti-open grazing. The governors should send the bills to their houses of assembly to legalise the position of the governors.” For a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Omoruyi Edoigiawerie, while the clamour for restructuring is not new, the actions of the government to assuage these calls have always been faulty leading to bad blood and distrust instead of creating a solution.

He added, “While government at the centre continues to amass enormous resources to the detriment of the states and local governments, it has in times past sought to assuage this call for restructuring by creating more states which to my mind has only compounded the problem.
“I do not think Nigeria has any business having the number of states it has today, I would rather have thought that regional empowerment is entrenched where each region largely controls its resources. “Frankly speaking restructuring as we are presently being inundated with is fraught with diverse and convoluted interpretations which is a large part of the problem.

Restructuring to the Igbo is different from restructuring to the Hausa or to the Yoruba or to the Edo people. The understanding and interpretation of restructuring to the political class are different from what it means to the average Nigerian. What we have are fragmented clamours for restructuring from each group’s point of view and not necessarily what is best for Nigeria.
“So, I think we must find a way to sit together and collectively decide what restructuring means to us putting in perspective our peculiarities.

“I have often said that what we practice in Nigeria is “convenient federalism” our federalism needs refinement and equitable improvement. We need good governance and equitable sharing of governmental power and resources. “For meaningful impact, restructuring should mean the devolution of power and sharing of resources under the true tenets of federalism. Our constitution should also be re-jigged to meet current realities and reflect true federalism and the journey to achieve this must holistic. “Governmental power and control of institutions must cease to be self-serving expeditions and devoid of personal or tribal aggrandisement.” However, reacting to the southerner governors’ insistence on their demands, Second Republic Deputy Senate President, Mamman Danmusa said they would not achieve anything, describing their agitation as a “belaboured rhetoric.”

The elder statesman added, “They are making a great mistake in the sense that they think we in the North are parasites; we are not. Who helped us when we were operating the 1966 constitution? Who built Ahmadu Bello Stadium? Who built the schools in the north, the industries and hotels in Kaduna? It was our own money; they are just wasting their time. “It is only because somebody from the North is at the helm of affairs, otherwise they dare not push us to the wall as they are trying to do now. There is nothing new in their resolutions. If somebody has nothing to say or he just want to be heard, he will either call for national conference, restructuring or state police. All these we have accepted. What is there? “It was really the Federal Government that initiated the idea of cattle ranching but they rejected it. So, what do they want? What about Fulani, are they not Nigerians? They are Nigerians. This is not something new, we can overcome. We shall overcome.”

Also, a professor of Political Economy at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Hassan Bello, said the southerner governors’ call was akin to crying wolf.
The academic said, “Now that the southerners are shouting for restructuring, they should not confuse Nigerians that it is all about constitutional amendment. They should also not forget that it was an Igbo man, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, who wrote the constitution that removed power from the regions because his brother, Aguyi Ironsi, was the military head of state then and was enjoying the central power.”
Former Senate Majority Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume; former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf; National Secretary of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhassan Saleh; National President of Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN), Khalil Mohammed Bello; and elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, are also among northern leaders, who feel that the zone would not be ,”bullied” to accept the southern governors’ proposal.

Lawan while faulting the southern governors’ call for restructuring, tasked them to first devolve powers within their states by making the local government areas functional before seeking restructuring at the federal level.
The Senate President said, “I believe that, as leaders, especially those of us who are elected into office, should not be at the forefront of calling for this kind of thing. Because, even if you are a governor, you are supposed to be working hard in your state to ensure that this restructuring you are calling for at the federal level, you have done it in your state as well.

“What you may accuse the Federal Government of, whatever it is, you may also be accused of the same thing in your state. So, we are supposed to ensure that we have a complete and total way of ensuring that our systems at the federal, state, and even local government levels work for the people.” Also,Saleh, who called the ban on open grazing as an “empty policy,” added, “ Are herders the problem of this country? Are they IPOB killing people up and down, burning police stations?” From the rhetoric of combatants in the endless fury enveloping the nation on account of sundry contentious national issues, it is clear the battle has only just started. The days, weeks and months ahead promise to be interesting indeed.