Nigeria on precipice, disaster looms, Afenifere warns

• Suggests panacea to salvage crisis
• Urges Buhari, National Assembly to ensure restructuring

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday, warned that disaster is looming in Nigeria owing to happenings in the country.

The Nigerian nation is at the brink of an avoidable catastrophe that requires urgent actions. And the most potent recipe to prevent the catastrophe is restructuring that would return the country to true federalism.

This was part of the resolutions of the Executive Council of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation at its meeting at the Lagos residence of its Acting Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, last week.

A statement made available to The Guardian in Ibadan by the National Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Jare Ajayi, stated: “The Nigerian nation is at the brink of an avoidable catastrophe that requires urgent actions. And the most potent recipe to prevent the catastrophe is restructuring that would return the country to true federalism.”

Afenifere frowned at the disapproval being expressed by some northern elements to the position of southern governors on open grazing, saying: “Of what intrinsic benefit has open grazing been in the recent past going by various studies that have been done? It is on record for instance that open grazing is one of the major causes of desertification that is occurring in the northern part of the country. It is also on record that cows reared in a ranch are far more productive, healthier and are less tasking for the rearer compared to the ones being driven from one place to another in search of food and water. And certainly, those in ranches constitute less risk to neighbouring communities compared to the ones migrating from one place to another.”

The organisation said that the seeming intractable security challenges were due largely to the restraints put in the way of state governors.

“The governors are described as chief security officers of their respective states, yet they have no security agency that can be deployed to where crimes are being committed with arms. A security agency that can arrest, investigate and prosecute. Those of them who came up with some security apparatus like Amotekun are disempowered because they could not bear arms. And when they arrest suspected criminals, such suspects must be handed over to the police.

“As experiences have shown, once this is done, hardly do such cases go beyond the police. This must change. State police, down to the level of local council, must become operational immediately,” the statement stated.