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It’s difficult to restructure Nigeria now, says AD Chieftain

By Sodiq Omolaoye, Abuja
04 January 2020   |   4:19 am
Founding national secretary of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Dr. Udenta Udenta, has stated that Nigeria cannot be restructured under the current political atmosphere.

Founding national secretary of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Dr. Udenta Udenta, has stated that Nigeria cannot be restructured under the current political atmosphere.

He argued that President Muhammadu Buhari could not begin the process of restructuring the country without first effecting a constitution review.

Udenta spoke in Abuja yesterday at the sidelines of the third anniversary/award ceremony of the Nigerian News and the launch of ‘Integrity Vs Power Play: Understanding the Buhari Phenomenon’, a book written by Philip Agbese.

The pro-democracy activist, who is an expert in African Literature, Cultural Studies, and Critical Theory, explained that a democratic vacuum must be created to pave way for a new order, as the 1999 constitution had foreclosed any prospect of restructuring.

He stated: “You can only restructure when there is a vacuum. That means democratic or constitutional vacuum or vacuum in governance. The president cannot restructure the country. He has not got the power to restructure. We must arrest the democratic state, its momentum and the way it is constituted in order to restructure.

“How then do we shove presidential, legislative and judicial powers aside to create the space to restructure? So it is not enough to say we should restructure or the president should take the lead. I also wish he could take the lead and I want the country to be restructured, but the reality is that the 1999 Constitution, as badly conceived as it is, has foreclosed the prospect of any restructuring being derived from it. We must shove it aside or leave it and restructure from within its context.”

At the event, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai clinched TheNigerian News 2019 ‘Politician of the Year’ award, while his Edo counterpart, Chief Godwin Obaseki, was crowned with the Fiscal Policy and Transparency Star of the Year’.

The organisers stated that el-Rufai displayed uncommon courage and dexterity in containing the multifarious security threats which engulfed Kaduna, adding that the governor had not only halted the slide into anarchy but effectively brought sanity and peace in the state.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai was overwhelmingly voted as ‘The Most Outstanding Legend of the Year’ while the chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukunoluwa Awosika, won the ‘Change Agent of the Year’ (women’s category).

Bayelsa State governor-elect, David Lyon, cornered the ‘Man of the Year’ for sticking to his political beliefs, which, according to the organisers, was a symbol of decent democratic ethos and promotion of healthy and decent partisan politics.

Other notable personalities recognised were the governors of Zamfara, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Ebonyi states.

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