The Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, yesterday said President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement on national interest being above personal liberty is disappointing.
In a communique issued at the end of its monthly meeting at the home of its leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, the Ondo State capital, Afenifere accused the President and the ruling Al Progressives Congress (APC) of not believing in the restructuring of Nigeria.
The group’s Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, who read the communique, said: “We maintain that restructuring remains the major issue in Nigeria. The meeting reviewed the comments by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, at a town hall meeting in the Unites States of America (U.S.A).
Osinbajo was quoted as saying: “The problem of our country is not the matter of restructuring and we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into the argument that our problem is drawn from geographical de-structuring. It is about managing resources properly and providing for people properly.”
Afenifere said: “The statement of the Vice President should be viewed against the background that in 2016, the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a party inserted restructuring into its manifestos and, in 2017, when the argument about restructuring became so loud, they set up the El-Rufai Committee to provide their own idea of restructuring. Up till now, they have not told us their new definition, only for them to tell us that restructuring is not our problem.
“…There is no amount of good governance that can alter the derivation formula. Good governance cannot address resource control. There are issues of restructuring that are outside the scope of good governance, which is an essential ingredient of restructuring…”