Former scribe of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and a chieftain of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere Ayo Opadokun, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to take immediate steps to restore Nigeria to constitutional governance.

He urged Tinubu to leave a worthy legacy behind by taking immediate measures to see to the implementation of”our restoration to constitutional governance as recommended by the Nasir el-Rufai panel.”

Opadokun, who spoke with journalists at his Offa country home in Kwara State on the sidelines of this year’s Christmas carol he organised, with the theme, “Praising our Saviour,” said: “In our congratulatory letter to President Tinubu after his victory at the Supreme Court, we at NADECO urged him to implement the manifesto his All Progressives Congress (APC) presented to the public before he was elected into office.

“President Muhammadu Buhari did not implement the manifesto during his time even though we campaigned vigorously for its implementation.
“As a result, the Buhari-led administration set up a panel headed by the then governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai and the panel recommended devolution of powers to the states. The panel also recommended fiscal federalism.

“It also recommended that states that wish should be allowed to merge together. Another thing it recommended is the creation of state police.
“Therefore, we are asking the President to take immediate steps to implement the panel’s reports.
“I know that Tinubu has the capacity to lift people out of the current untenable and unacceptable level of poverty.
“The much more fundamental matter is the restoration of Nigeria to the federal constitutional arrangement upon which we secured our independence that the army subverted, abrogated and substituted with a unitary-centralist government.
“Nigeria has been living a lie by calling itself a Federal Government. We are nothing of such. Since January 15, 1966, we have been lying to the whole world and lying to ourselves.

“That is why federal constitutional arrangement is the most suitable for Nigeria. Until we return to it, nothing meaningful and enviable will happen in our country.

“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was part of us in the trenches. We were together in the trenches. The current Fourth Republic was not secured on a platter of gold.
“We paid for it by our sweat, blood, freedom. Some people were detained for several years, including me. My first detention lasted 24 calendar months.”