Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday in Ibadan,
Oyo State, said restructuring of the country can be achieved through litigation
as states are free to employ litigation instead of waiting endlessly for
constitutional mean.
He also said no reasonable Nigerian would be
against restructuring, stating that the focus should be on what the
restructuring should look like, and not just agitations for restructuring.
Osinbajo, while speaking as Chairman of the Bisi
Akande Colloquium with the theme: ‘Nigeria: Achieving National Unity Through
Peaceful Restructuring’ to mark the 80th birthday celebration of the former Governor
of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, faulted the presidential candidate of the
People Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, who promises to restructure
Nigeria within six months if elected president.
Present at the event were the national leader of
the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu; governors Abiola Ajimobi
(Oyo), Nasiru El-rufai (Kaduna), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti),
Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), deputy governor of Lagos
State, Idiat Oluranti Adebule, and Senator Biyi Durojaye.
Others are former Senate President, Senator Ken
Nnamani; Secretary of the APC Committee on Restructuring, Senator Olu
Adetunmbi, and Prof. Adigun Agbaje of the Political Science Department of the
University of Ibadan, who were the discussants, while Dr. Usman Bugaje was the
moderator at the colloquium.
Also present at the event were the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed; Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac
Adewole; former Governor of Ekiti state, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo; former Governor
of Ogun state, Chief Olusegun Osoba, and former Governor of Osun State, Mr.
Rauf Aregbesola.
The vice president, who said Atiku and the PDP
government vehemently opposed restructuring when the former Governor of Lagos
State, Tinubu, introduced it, but was agitating for fiscal federalism, urged
Nigerians to be vigilant and not allow the party to come back to power “as it
has not changed its spots.”
Osinbajo, who also outlined the processes involved
in restructuring a country, said he, as part of the Lagos State history between
1999 and 2003, used legal means to
achieve creation of more Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) in the state, adding
that “therefore, such court process could be adopted if truly Nigerians want
restructuring.”
He said: "The government of Lagos State demonstrated
that it is positive to have restructuring and devolution of power but by the process
of litigation. As of 1999, when I first had encounter with Tinubu, he made it
clear to me that one of his most important objectives was for us to pursue
fiscal federalism and devolution of power to our state.
"He wanted me to study it and know how to do
it. We spent a lot of time and resources to look into how we could do it. We
know that going through the National Assembly is just a waste of time. We then
decided to use the process of litigation. As a matter of fact, we went to the
Supreme Court in 12 different times on what we can describe as restructuring.
The federal government at that time off course opposed every such move on our
part. Today, our dear presidential candidate of the PDP says he is an expert in
restructuring but in those years, when we were fighting for restructuring, he
opposed every steps we took.
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