Delta state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa on Saturday responded to Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan for saying that Southern Governors are not supposed to speak on the issues of restructuring and the need for a national dialogue.
TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the Senate President while fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Thursday, said he was not against those calling for restructuring but elected officials must not be among those advocating for such calls.
He said: “The call for secession or the call for restructuring, many are genuine calls even though I never believe that someone who is calling for secession means well or is a misguided person.
“But I believe that when somebody calls for improving the structure that we have is a genuine call.
“But I want to advice here, I believe that as leaders those of us who were elected must 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.
“This is because 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 work for the people, and that we allow people to participate in governance so that whoever feels that he has something to offer to make Nigeria better does so freely without any hindrance,’’ the Senate President said.
However, in a swift response, Governor Okowa who spoke at an empowerment Programme sponsored by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu in Asaba said the Senate President take on the Southern Governors restructuring call was unfortunate.
The governor said what the southern governors said was not new as such positions has variously been canvassed by Nigerians including the APC and PDP.
He said “unfortunately, I read in the paper somebody saying that we ought not to speak on certain things because we are elected people. If you cannot echo the voice of your people, then you are not worthy of that position you are holding.
“All those things that we said in our communique are not new. They have been spoken by our people and what we did was just echo their wishes,” Okowa said.