Two prominent public analysts in Kwara State, Abeny Mohammed (SAN), and an Afenifere stalwart, Stephen Oke, yesterday, said Nigeria needed to be restructured to realise her potential. However, they differed on whether President Bola Tinubu would have the political will and courage to do it.

In separate interviews with The Guardian, while Mohammed said he would not be surprised if Tinubu jettisons the much-touted re-engineering endeavours, Oke argued that it was too early in the day for Nigerians to conclude on Tinubu’s disposition to restructuring.

Mohammed said: “Recall that Vice President Kazeem Shetima once exclaimed, ‘Restructuring my foot’. We have very short memories in this country. When the June 12, 1993, presidential election, assumed to have been won by the late Moshood Abiola, was annulled by the junta led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) for self-preservation, many of us who fought for the reinstatement of Abiola’s victory verily believed that the annulment was made possible by the structural imbalance of the country, which was skewed in favour of the northern part.

“The agitation for revalidation of the June 12 mandate was fought alongside restructuring of the country, so that it should never happen again. National democratic Coalition (NADECO) was the arrowhead of that struggle, and Tinubu was a formidable member of that body. Tinubu alone can answer whether he will restructure or not; we can only guess. But going by antecedents, the answer is more negative.”

Oke, on the other hand, is of the view that Tinubu would heed the call, but with time. He said: “The President has not jettisoned the call to restructure. He is passionate about it. We, in the Afenifere group, equally support it. We must not forget the diversities of Nigeria. But I believe that we may again need another constitutional conference to give the issue legal backing. He will equally need the backing of the National Assembly. But as we speak, how much control does he have over these people?”

Meanwhile, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum said the characters of leadership both at the federal level and states in the country might make the issue of restructuring practically impossible.

President of the forum, Akin Malaolu, said: “There are indications that Tinubu may not be willing to take the restructuring routes for obvious reasons, which are his desire to think himself above all in the area of economic development and understanding, though performing poorly and his ambition to be President excludes restructuring plan.”