June 12: Afenifere, Ohanaeze, others insist on restructuring before 2019

Prominent Yoruba, Igbo and Ijaw socio-cultural groups have said President Muhammadu Buhari should forget about winning in the South-West and other regions in southern Nigeria if he does not restructure the country before the 2019 elections.

The groups – Afenifere, Ohanaeze, Ijaw Youth Congress and Ethnic Nationalities of the Niger Delta – all in separate interviews on Friday commended Buhari for declaring June 12 as Democracy Day.

They however noted that it was only by restructuring the country that the regions could consider giving Buhari their votes in the next election.

The National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, told Saturday PUNCH in an interview that the South-West region had accepted the honour given to the latenacclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 election, Chief M.K.O Abiola, but it was not ready to vote for the incumbent to rule for another four years if restructuring was not done and killings by suspected herdsmen halted.

He said, “We are deeply appreciative of what has been done, but that is where it ends. To say this is to sway South-West to vote in one particular direction would mean that was a Greek gift and a gimmick but that cannot work with the people in the South-West.

“The issue of restructuring is very key to us and for us, 2019 is about restructuring. And it’s not going to be a promissory note that ‘we are going to do it’; rather, it is ‘we have done it.’

“If they refuse to restructure before 2019, they should forget the South-West. They should know that in 2015, Buhari had 52 per cent of the votes in South-West and former President Goodluck Jonathan had 48 per cent, and what gave Jonathan that 48 per cent was the promise to restructure.

“Whatever the motive for this was, because there was so-called Democracy Day on May 29 and there was a presidential broadcast, but there was no mention of Moshood Abiola and there was no mention of June 12. Whatever caused the change of mind between May 29 and June 6, honestly that is not our own headache.”

Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Uche Achi-Okpaga, said the declaration would not make any difference in Buhari’s prospects in the next election.

Speaking with one of our correspondents in Enugu, Achi-Okpaga described the declaration as a ‘ploy’ designed to ‘distract and divert attention’.

Achi-Okpaga added that the people of the South-West were enlightened enough to see through the ‘ploy’.

“I am not oblivious of the fact that the South-West is enlightened as it is a politically virile region,” he said.

The Ohanaeze spokesman also noted that the honour bestowed on the late Abiola had no relevance to the Igbo, whom he said had been battling several years of marginalisation and oppression in the country.

He said, “Of what relevance is it to Ndigbo? You are honouring Abiola, who died fighting for his political mandate but here in the South-East, you are killing youths who are expressing their political rights.

“It is a ploy designed to distract and divert the attention of Nigerians from the economic, political, security and allied challenges in Nigeria.”

The Ohanaeze spokesman insisted on the restructuring of the country, saying Buhari should restructure Nigeria if he really wants to do the right thing.

Achi-Okpaga explained, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo has stated this time without number that, unless we restructure the country, it will remain a stationary machine, all motion and no movement.

“We encapsulated this position in the Ekwueme Square Declaration in Awka

Source: punchng