South West group, women demand restructuring for better Nigeria

A socio-political organisation, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum and South-West Women Arise for Nigeria (SWWAFON), have called on leaders to address escalating insecurity in the country.

The women group, which comprises Yoruba women and other non-Yoruba by birth but by marriage, said that Nigeria’s security situation could no longer guarantee women and children’s safety physically, economically and politically, adding that the state of insecurity in the country is no longer what could be left for politicians or men alone to address without women crying out.

In a statement, yesterday, President of the leadership forum, Mr. Akin Malaolu, said Nigeria, as it is today, is now on the road full of thorns.

“Expulsion and displacement of people and the possibility of war can be a harrowing experience hardly forgotten by those who may have experienced the same in a country they grew up in and in a community they took as their homeland. We must confess that nothing seems to be moving or clearly seen to be changing anymore,” the statement said.

The group said President Muhammadu Buhari is largely missing in the present situation in which Nigeria finds itself, just as it added that it was difficult to trust those who are speaking for the President “if truly they are speaking his mind.”

It berated the Federal Government that the fraud in its information dissemination over the current state of insecurity, economy and other issues are visibly in the open, saying: “It is, therefore, imperative for the President to show more interest in communicating directly with Nigerians whom he claimed to be representing.”

Besides, the group, which lent its support to the resolutions of the southern governors, said the meeting of the governors and its outcome was not only needful but also timely.

It added: “Any leader or leaders thinking that the calls are mere expression of opinions should think twice.

“It will be the duty of attendees from ethnic nationalities to put up a new constitution and spell out in it how we shall live together. This national dialogue is our last chance to save Nigeria as an indivisible nation in our own view.”

ALSO, in a communique after its meeting in Lagos and signed by its Convener, Mrs. Bolanle Idowu, SWWAFON resolved that Nigeria needs critical interventions to address insecurity, saying: “Only peace can guarantee progress. Once peace is gone, everything else hangs in the balance until peace is restored.”

The group also resolved to single out Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State as a role model, who it claimed, recognised the importance of women in nation-building.