Those asking for restructuring are ignorant and mischievously dangerous. This is what President Buhari said through the Executive Secretary of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Shehu at a launching of the Kudirat Abiola Sabon Gari Peace Foundation held at Zaria on Saturday, June 19. He said, “Those calling for whether separation or restructuring, some of them I will say are very naive or even mischievously dangerous. Those agitating for restructuring are ignorant of war and its consequences because Nigeria is a dominant force in West Africa,” Speaking directly to the advocates, he said, “You are telling us to dissolve a system and call for an obscure conference to come and discuss how we can move forward as a nation, that can never be done and no country will agree to that.” “There is no government in the world that will cede its authority to the people that are not elected.”
I beg to disagree with the president. The people actually ceded their authority by their consent to the elected. They came together to give the elected the power to lead them. The president, by the statement seems he has assumed autocracy where those raising questions about the system of the government which is not working for all equitably, are threatened with war. By reminding the people asking for restructuring how Nigeria is a dominant force, is an attempt to criminalize the agitation and the word; restructuring.
Countries call for convention or conference to discuss how they will move forward and make the country work for all. In the 1990s, Ghana went through constitutional reforms after which the “final draft constitution was unanimously approved by the people in a referendum on 28 April 1992.” During the Atta Mills Administration, he instituted a constitution review committee with a three-year mandate with one of the roles; “Ascertain from the people of Ghana their views on the operation of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution and, in particular, the strengths and weaknesses of the Constitution.” In the United States of America, at the 1787 convention, delegates came together and devised a plan for a stronger federal government that would work for all.
The People have always been integral part of any constitution conference, convention or reform to discuss how the country will move forward and whereas any country is made of the people out of whom the elected derive the right to lead are always involved in determining how they will be governed.
The president also directed the advocates to “Rather we ask Nigerians to focus on putting pressure on the National Assembly to make sure that the autonomy as enshrined in our constitution is respected and implemented. “
Knowingly, those who may share the same opinion with the president could have an upper hand in the National Assembly and probably could subdue any form of agitation calling for a system change. But the constitution which the president is advocating to be respected and implemented is the same document on which these agitations hinged on.
In my first treatise on restructuring, I urged the advocates to come to a better and broader definition of restructuring for Nigerians to understand fully about the subject matter. This is why the president questioned, “each time people talk about restructuring I ask what we are going to restructure.”
Restructuring is a broad demand that will first of all have the constitution reformed by the people to make it work for them.
In 2015, President Buhari was at Chatham House extolling democracy. He said, “It is globally agreed that democracy is not an event, but a journey. And that the destination of that journey is democratic consolidation –that state where democracy has become so rooted and so routine and widely accepted by all actors.”
In a democracy, the people are integral part of the decision making. That is why, those in the parliament, are there as the representatives of the people but many of these representatives seem to care about ethno-religious interests rather than what will improve the lives of the people through laws and policies that will drive growth and development. Whereas there is imbalance with a section having an undue advantage of number of representation, it no longer truly reflects the system by the people but a system of intimidation and domination by that section therefore making the section with least representation to lack voice.
All sections should have equal representation and equal voice in the decisions that will affect them. And people who raise their voice should be listened to. That is how democracy is consolidated.
Nigerians have continuously come together to devise the best system on which they want to be governed. That is why from the time of independence, they came together to form a constitution. The same way, they came together to create six regions and the same way they came together in 2014; the result of which President Buhari had let to remain in the archives.
To have the CONFAB report locked in the archives, then threaten the people with war if they ask for an improved system of government, tells of an administration that presented himself as a “former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms”, that is far from living up to being a democrat. It seems he returned to a military ruler who desires to assert total control over the citizens. If the people can come together to elect their president, there is nothing wrong if they ask to come together periodically to determine the system of government that works better and equitably for all. Restructure.
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