EKITI State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has shed his political garb and commended the All Progressives Congress (APC) for its position on restructuring.
Governor Fayose, according to a statement by his aide, Lere Olayinka, was reacting to a position assumed by the APC last Thursday during a gathering of the party in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Olayinka, who is Fayose’s special assistant on Public Communications and New Media, said the governor hailed the position expressed last Thursday by the South West APC on the restructuring of the country and the practice of true federalism.
Fayose, however, said “the party must now go beyond playing to the gallery and set machineries in motion to restructure the country.”
Fayose had lent his voice to those of other Nigerians calling for the restructuring of the country, saying it was “strange that the APC, which was at the fore-front of the agitation for true federalism, was now against restructuring as the ruling party.”
Governor Fayose said: “Under the current APC-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria is returning to full-blown unitary system of government.”
According to him, “it is on record that the APC said at a debate on ‘Addressing the rising insecurity in Nigeria, what is the master plan?’ organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), on December 18, 2014, that it would ensure true federalism and ensure adequate community policing through the establishment of state-controlled police so as to curb the protracted security challenges in the country.
“Sad enough, now that it is the ruling party, the APC is no longer talking about true federalism, especially, the state police that it canvassed while in the opposition.”
Governor Fayose, who said states must be strengthened for the country to develop, noted that; “Nigeria developed faster in the 50s and 60s when it was practising confederal system of government, with the regions running its own affairs almost autonomously.
“A situation where there are mineral resources in a state and the state cannot do anything about them without approval from the Federal Government, will not foster the development that we all yearn for.
“It was in this spirit that the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government organised a National Conference in 2014 and far-reaching decisions were made by eminent Nigerians during the conference.
Meanwhile, the resolution made by the leadership of the APC, in the South West, on Thursday, calling for the restructuring of Nigeria’s federalism and endorsing free and qualitative primary and secondary education in the Yoruba states, has been described as a giant step forward in the business of nation building.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, in Ibadan, at the week-end, the publicity secretary of the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), Dr Kunle Olajide, said the call made by the APC South West leadership, at a meeeting held in Ibadan, was in tandem with the wishes of patriotic Nigerians.
