*Secessionist misguided, says Gbajabiamila
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, has disagreed with the Southern Governors over their Tuesday’s call for the proper restructuring of the nation.
This is just as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, said those championing the call for secession in the country were being misguided.
Lawan, who spoke with newsmen on Thursday emphasized that the governors should not be the ones agitating for restructuring of the country.
He also admonished the governors to first do in their states what they are requesting the federal government to do, adding however that leaders must come up with a holistic idea of how to make the system work.
According to him “I believe that, as leaders, especially those of us who are elected into office (we) should not be at the forefront of calling for this kind of thing.
“Because, even if you are a governor, you are supposed to be working hard in your state to ensure that this restructuring you are calling for at the federal level, you have done it in your state as well. What you may accuse the federal government of, whatever it is, you may also be accused of the same thing in your state.
“So, we are supposed to ensure that we have a complete and total way of ensuring that our systems at the federal, state and even local government levels work for the people. We must allow people to participate in governance so that whoever feels he has something to offer to make Nigeria better does so freely without any let or hindrance.”
While urging elected leaders to shun regionalism, the Senate President stressed that: “The President is reaching out to all the stakeholders. And I believe that as leaders, particularly those of us who were elected at all levels of government, we should avoid partisanship.
“We should avoid regionalism. We are all leaders and we are in this together. The solutions to our challenges must come from us regardless of what level of government we are. Whether at the federal, state or the local government level. I believe that Nigeria is going to come out of these challenges stronger.”
He further advised Nigerians to support efforts at ensuring the desired autonomy for local governments in the country.
Lawan explained that the lack of autonomy by the local government councils potentially inhibits solutions as well as efforts by the Federal and state governments towards addressing the nation’s security challenge.
His words: “We are all leaders and we are in this together, the solutions must come from us regardless of what levels of leadership we are – whether at the Federal Level, State Level, or even at the Local Government level.
“I also want to take this opportunity to say that we have diminished the local government system. I think we can attribute the security issues to the absence of a functional Local Government System.
“I think the time has come for us to take up the challenge and ensure that the Local Government system functions. This is as we look for ways to curb the security challenge. We must never neglect the local government system. We must go back to our local government system to ensure they are autonomous and functional”.
Also speaking, House Speaker posited that those championing the call for succession are being misguided and do not mean well for the country.
While maintaining that there might be genuine agitations, Gbajabiamila stated that elected leaders and state governors should particularly not champion the movement for restructuring without first replicating the idea at the state level.
He, therefore, called for a national spirit of oneness, saying “If truth be told, we all have equal shares in the blame for what’s happening today.”
“Whatever challenges we have, we must all come together to make sure that we resolve these issues we’re facing. We must imbibe that spirit of oneness, togetherness, unity and love that would take us through this”, the Speaker said.
