Restructuring is only option for Nigeria’s survival, says Afenifere

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has reiterated that the only option that can guarantee Nigeria’s survival today is restructuring.

National Publicity Secretary of the group, Yinka Odumakin, who stated this at the weekend during the 10th yearly Independence lecture on Social Contract and Leadership in Nigeria organised by The Change We Need in Nigeria Initiative in Abuja, said Nigeria would be heading towards disintegration if we continue the way it is presently going.

He said: “The way forward is clear, at 59, there are two options for Nigeria, to reset and go back to default which is restructuring. Let’s go back to what our founding-fathers agreed. When we do this, there is a chance for Nigeria to survive but if we continue the way we are going, that would be disintegration.

Odumakin, who chided a Second Republic federal lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed, for allegedly saying that the North will remove any government that tries to implement the 2014 conference report, said Nigeria is back to the season of “Araba” (Let us divide it).

He said: ‘’Only yesterday, Junaid Mohammed was saying that any government that tries to implement the 2014 conference report that the north will remove such a person. Those who are talking about revolution are being tried for treason. For somebody to say that a section of the country will remove the leadership of the country tells you that we are back to the season of ‘Araba’, which in Hausa means let’s divide it.”

Odumakin said that in Nigeria, there is no social contract between the people and government and that this is evident with what is going on between Nigeria and P&ID, adding that the process that led to the $9.6 billion judgment against Nigeria over a contract it signed shows clearly that this is not a country that has social contract, that is ruled by impunity and by the whims and caprices of those in power.

Also speaking, Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, stated that leadership stems from the people, adding that the type of leadership in any society depends on the type of followership that completes the social contract.

He said: “When people vote, they express the type of government they want and deserve. When they vote aright according to their conscience, good leaders naturally emerge. On the contrary, when they accept inducements, offer themselves as thugs to snatch ballot boxes and create terror during elections, bad leaders become the trophy. No bad leader can rig the elections without the followers.”