“If President Jonathan, an Ijaw
man, has been in government for about six years and has not been able to change
the revenue mobilization and distribution system, nor has he been able to
implement the clear United Nations report on cleaning up the environmental mess
in Ogoni land which costs a mere one billion dollars, it is clear that the
issue is not who is in government but the structure of the Federal Government.
It is the structure that needs to be re-designed.”
“Akinrinade would therefore be a
rallying point for such ethnic nationalities such as Igala, Tiv, Itsekiri, Isoko, Urhobo, Birom, Efik, Ibibio, Anioma,
Jukun, among others, who would look up to him to bring the progressive view of
late Chief Obafemi Awolowo as enunciated in his books entitled: Thoughts on
the Nigerian Constitution and Path to Nigerian Federation, to guide deliberations at the National Conference.”
“Akinrinade said deliberations at
the conference would be hot, negotiations would be nerve wracking because the
North would not easily give up the advantage which the 1914 amalgamation
conferred on it, in the same way other regions have woken up to realise that
the master / servant relationship that was the product of Lord Luggard finding
a wealthy bride for a not endowed groom would not endure.”
“The new design is to make the
zones or regions or by whatever name called to be the federating units, going
back to the parliamentary system in place until 1966; transferring the power to
tax to the federating units; changing the system of public order and law
enforcement to ensure all tiers of government have the ability to enforce the
laws they make, adjudicate and administer punishment within their jurisdiction,
make education a residual matter or must the Yoruba watch egalitarianism washed away by
jettisoning the teaching of history and embracing such backward ideas like
nomadic education and Almajiri schools in the name of unity? Creating a
constitution court to adjudicate on all constitutional matters and disputes
between states; allowing each state or federating unit to have a judicial
system on non-federal crimes that go all the way to their own Supreme Court and
terminates there.”
"By agreeing to convoke a
National Conference, it would seem that Jonathan has been eventually persuaded
that something is structurally amiss with the current political and structural
configuration of the nation. Having now
seen the light, Jonathan must rise above playing politics with the hope and
aspirations of the Nigerian people and see himself as an instrument of divine
will to forge this traumatized nation anew. This is the only honour and respect
he can pay to all those Ijaw heroes and heroines who have fallen in the
struggle to redeem the nation."
Gen Alani Akinrinade: The Vanguard, March 02, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.