…BREAK UP NIGERIA OR GO BACK TO REGIONALISM.,.. – ANGO ABDULLAHI
…BREAK UP NIGERIA OR GO BACK TO
REGIONALISM.,.. – ANGO ABDULLAHI
Kaduna – Former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, Governor Aminu Tambuwal
of Sokoto State and former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Prof.
Ango Abdullahi, said Wednesday that the north had nothing to fear about
restructuring of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari
However, while Atiku Abubakar and
Tambuwal spoke about how the present structure of the country could be tinkered
with, Prof Abdullahi wanted regionalism or outright break up of the country.
The trio spoke at a two day conference on “The
North and the Future of Nigerian Federation”, organized by the Arewa Research
and Development Project, in collaboration with Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation; the
Northern Elders Forum; Arewa Consultative Forum; Code Group; Northern Delegates
Forum; Arewa Reawakening; Jamiyar Matan Arewa and Forum for Northern Youths
Organisations.
While Atiku said the north was not
afraid of restructuring because it stood to gain more if more power was
devolved to the federating units, Governor Tambuwal, who is also the chairman
of Northern Governors and Traditional Rulers Committee on Restructuring, said
to show that the north had nothing to fear about restructuring, northern
governors and traditional rulers forum had set up a committee to aggregate the
views of the north on the issue.
Prof Ango Abdullahi on his part, said
restructuring should mean a return to the regions as they existed in 1960. He
also suggested that the country should be broken up to the units that they
were, prior to the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in
1914, stressing that in as much as the region was not afraid of restructuring,
it would not be blackmailed into it.
Atiku, who was represented by Dr Auwal Anwar,
said his idea of restructuring was the devolution of more powers to the
federating units; creation of state police and other such things. “The north
stand to gain more if there is devolution of power. There there local police,
there would not have been Boko Haram for instance because they would have had
the intelligence to stop them.
”The new North has nothing to fear
(about restructuring) because we have the land, the people and resources. His
Tory will not wait for us. The north should direct the process and the
outcome,” he said. On his part, Governor Tambuwal, who was chairman of the
conference, said: “The idea that the north is against restructuring because it
benefits most from the current state of things is circumscribed and patently
false. ”The fact that some people continue to parrot such lies only help to
give credence to the flawed argument. Let us be clear: the north wants
restructuring as much as any one.”
The governor said what the north
craved was a mutual agreement on the definition of restructuring, adding that
any decision taken on the issue of restructuring “must be inclusive and respect
procedures and processes so that the outcome is sustainable. “In my view, if
restructuring means taking stock of our arrangement to ensure that no state
takes a disproportionate amount of resources, or most of the available space in
the education of job sector, or subjugate the others’ culture or religion, or
lords it over the other so that the number of the poor and uneducated whose
future is circumscribed by their circumstance is shared proportionately, then
we are in the game.” He said what the north was asking for was a “country where
there is peace and progress, where justice is guaranteed, where all lives are safe
and people can pursue their legitimate livelihoods wherever they choose.
”I believe each state in this country
has areas of comparative advantage and and life is a cycle so that what was
once the largest revenue earner can in time become less while something else
takes ascendency”. But in his remarks, former Vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, Professor Ango Abdullahi said the call for restructuring in
the country indicates “the failure of the operators and not the structure.” He
said those calling for the implementation of the reports of the 2006 and 2014
conferences by Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan respectively
were ill-informed because the two conferences were tailored to achieve a
predetermined result by the conveners.
According to him, while the Obasanjo
conference was to ensure that he got a third term, President Jonathan convened
the 2014 conference to legitimize his ambition to strangulate other regions.
Abdullahi, who noted that the best option for the country was to return to 1914
or 1960, said: “Let us go our separate ways. If on the other hand we give
credit to the British and our founding fathers (and they deserve credit), and
we cannot contain restructuring based on what existed in 1914, we should go
back to 1960 when the country operated regions. The north is not afraid of
getting our north back.” Professor Abdullahi said the call for restructuring of
the country gained more currency when a northerner was in power, adding that it
was a “political blackmail against northern Nigeria and we will not tolerate it
anymore.”
He enjoined political leaders in the region
not to “rush into committing the north to any agreement or allow anybody to
stampede us into agreeing with something that will hurt the north.” In his remarks,
the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir Rl Rufai, said it was the
responsibility of the north to carry a ‘national plaque in the quest for
restructuring” as it is the elder brother in the Nigerian federation and should
handle the issue of restructuring in an amicable and harmonious manner.
Governor El Rufai, who was represented by his deputy, Bala Bantex, said the
north should be concerned with addressing the dual challenge of poverty and
deficiency in education in the region. In a remark, the chairman of Christian
Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the 19 northern states, said what ever form the
restructuring of the country took, it must “respect all forms of worship. No
one should be treated as inferior. We should respect our faiths” Convener of the
conference, Dr Usman Bugaje, said the resurgence of the call for restructuring
represented failure of leadership at all levels of government. “The raging
debate about the future of our federation is only a fraction of the problem. We
must see it as the first and necessary step that will help us prepare for our
future. It is therefore important that we bring a lot of objectivity and
maturity.
”Mere display of emotions is not
going to be useful here. We need to think through whatever proposal we make. We
should realize that we can’t force any view on anybody in this day and age. We
must seek to persuade and not dictate,” he said. He noted that one of the
objectives of the conference was to “bring clarity,accuracy and precision to
the debate on the future of the Nigerian federation. ”This is necessary because
the the moment, there is a lot of confusion about what a federation is supposed
to be.
People who talk about true federalism clearly
need to revise their notes and realize that true federalism is not only
misleading but also untenable since every federation is unique and there are no
two federations that are the same. ”Similarly, the concept of of fiscal
federalism has been grossly misunderstood and many are reading their parochial
wishes and confusing the debate.”