Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity,
Femi Adesina, has said opposition is using restructuring to destroy
Nigeria.
Adesina, speaking at the 5th anniversary lecture of News Express on
Thursday, also stated that the country was positioned to automatically
restructure itself.
Commenting on the lecture delivered by Niger state Governor, Abubakar
Sani Bello, who was represented by Jibrin Ndache, his chief press
secretary, Adesina said the outcome of the 2015 election was a
manifestation of self-restructuring.
“There is something that has been naturally built into Nigeria that makes it to self-restructure.
“The 2015 election, you know it got to a point that former President
Obasanjo described it as “any other person but Jonathan (APBJ).
“The 2015 election showed us that Nigeria is naturally configured for
self-restructuring. You know the current president has run for three
times. Automatically, he had 12 million votes waiting for him in the
northern part of the country but that was enough.
“And then in 2015, there was a handshake and middle-belt, south-west,
they all teamed up. It was the DG of the campaign then, Rotimi Amaechi
who said that the political map of Nigeria had been redrawn, and there
was no way the incumbent president was winning. And it turned out to be
true. That was the kind of restructuring that brought change to Nigeria.
“Nigeria is positioned for automatic self-restructuring. But that is
not to say that restructuring debate should not continue,” Adesina said.
The presidential spokesman said there was no given definition of
restructuring, alleging that the opposition was using restructuring as a
tool to destabilise the government.
“The areas of restructuring are yet to be defined. Ask 100 people what is restructuring and you will get 100 different answers.
“It shows you that there is no unanimity on what restructuring really
is. So how then do you begin to work on restructuring when it has not
properly been defined,” Adesina asked.
No wonder the APC now said OK, we will set up a committee to go round
the country and find out what people understand by restructuring and
what they what to see in restructuring.
“And then a lot of people say the president does not believe in
restructuring. Not exactly. The APC has a manifesto and in inside that
manifesto is devolution of power. What some people want is to see the
entire thing in the manifesto being done in six months. It doesn’t work
that way. The mandate is a four-year mandate.
“People that are agitating for restructuring, I may be wrong but my
feeling is that they have turned it into another tool of opposition. It
is a covert way of opposing the government of the day.
“If you oppose the government of the day to the extent that you
distract it, what should be achieved would then not be achieved at the
end of the time. Therefore, people who are sincere about restructuring
and who want to see a tweaking of the configuration of our country,
there is nothing wrong with it.
“If you read in between the lines, what people that canvass
restructuring seeks at the substratum level is the fact that they want
to break the country, what they want is dismemberment.
“The governing party believes in restructuring because devolution of
power is a form of restructuring. I have heard the president say it many
times that we did not fight that civil war to keep Nigeria one and then
we will sit down and watch some people want to dismember this country.
“So, a restructuring that will deepen our unity is good but
restructuring that will fragment the country is bad and no government,
no president who has sworn to uphold the constitution, because the
constitution recognises a united and indivisible country will agree to
that kind of restructuring that they are trumpeting,” Adesina added.
