WARRI- Ijaw youths under the umbrella of Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) have chided President Muhammadu Buhari that the national Assembly could not restructure the country, insisted that Nigeria is a flawed structure whose institutions are skewed to favour a particular section.
The IYC under the leadership of Barr. Roland Oweilaemi , in an electronic press statement sent to Daily Watch ,faulted President Muhammadu Buhar’s recent national broadcast where he told Nigerians agitating for restructuring to go to the National Assembly to present their case for restructuring.
He said the President’s comment is another delayed tactics to divert attention. Noting that ‘‘Nigeria as it is presently composed is faulty in federal settings. That is the reason why the demand for restructuring is gaining momentum.
‘’How can a Country in such a flawed structures whose institutions are skewed to favour a particular section restructure itself through its faulty institutions? The National Assembly is democratically flawed in composition the same way with the Council of State. Their compositions are designed to favour the North. Take for instance; the entire South is made up of seventeen (17) LGs, while the North has nineteen. Bayelsa State has just eight LGs, while Kano has forty-four LGs. With the North’s opposition to restructuring, how is it possible for these faulty institutions to vote in support of the restructuring of the Country when the North hitherto has majority representation?’’
The IYC boss however, said people of the Ijaw Nation are not surprised that the National Assembly voted against devolution of power to the States in the ongoing constitutional amendment. ‘‘That is the reason why Nigerians are agitating for true federalism where each ethnic groups or geo-political zones is given an equal representation. President Buhari knew very well that the Council of State which is made up of mainly northerners save just three Representatives from the South cannot restructure the Country’s ques for true-federalism . The Council do not even has the constitutional backing to enact Constitution for Nigerians.
‘‘The National Assembly also lacks the democratic representation in view of the popular demands to enact a Constitution for Nigerians. The power to enact an acceptable Constitution is versed in Nigerians which can only be exercised through constitutional conference or sovereign national conference.
‘‘The 2014 national conference report is the true reflection of the people’s wish. Pereotubo hereby join forces with other well- meaning Nigerians to call for the implementation of the Report or better still reconvene a national conference where Nigerians will gather to discuss an acceptable formula for our federation. This is the only panacea for the survival of Nigeria in the midst of the growing security threats facing it.
‘‘President Buhari should listen to the voice of reasons. Nigeria is moving to the cliff of destruction. The gale of hate speeches that have taken the centre stage of our political discourse are as a result of the Nigeria’s flawed federal system. The Country needs to rejig its structures to reflect the true wish of Nigerians. The 1999 military made-Constitution is no longer tenable to sustain the unity of Nigeria. Time is of essence. The earlier the Government responds to the yearnings of Nigerians the better for the Country’’ he admonished.