By Ehichioya Ezomon
We learn in the Holy Books (John 1:45-46) that when Philip, one of the newly-recruited disciples of Jesus, met Nathanael, he told him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael asked, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip answered, “Come and see.”
The above biblical reference illuminates the background to the August 2017 empaneling of the “Committee on True Federalism” by the All Progressives Congress, which hitherto demonstrated a lukewarm attitude to or simulated ignorance about the importance of and necessity for restructuring of the country.
Mid 2017, the APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party tangled over the matter. Buffeted from all sides, the APC Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, reportedly asked: “What’s restructuring? I don’t know the meaning of restructuring.”
While Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State vociferously dismissed the issue as being purveyed by “those who are out of power,” and President Muhammadu Buhari would rather canvass “attitudinal change and reorientation,” it appeared restructuring and its adjuncts were never mooted and/or promised by the APC pre-2015 elections.
Thus, the PDP stepped on the throttle, accusing the APC of abandoning the core elements of its Manifesto, and pledging that if voted into power in 2019, it (PDP) would restructure the country. Sensing it was about to lose the debate, the APC retorted it was for “true federalism and devolution of power” – interestingly, two items central to the “forbidden” word: restructuring.
Subsequently, the party set up the Governor el-Rufai-headed committee, with many watchers of the polity alleging it was a smokescreen by the APC to buy time, while others cast doubts on its ability to do a feasible job owing to its headship by an “anti-restructuring crusader.”
But to connect that biblical passage, not only did something good come out of the APC committee, but it also trod where angels feared to walk, by suggesting the control of all mineral resources, including oil and gas, by states where the minerals are located.
However, instead of saluting the report and the wisdom that informed it, critics forgot so soon, and deliberately picked and chose, and induced selective amnesia about the restructuring committee: why and how it came about, and its terms of reference.
Three classes of critics emerged, with one declaring that the APC hurriedly put a committee together to cobble the report aftermath of the explosive and damning letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Muhammadu Buhari.
The second group said the report was self-serving, aimed at garnering supports for the APC ahead of the 2019 elections; and the third class of critics alleged that the report was nothing but a seriatim of the 2014 National Conference outcome.
The first arm of the critics’ argument: that the committee and its report were goaded by the Obasanjo letter is preposterous as it’s absurd. How could a committee of that magnitude and mandate be put together, and in a few days went round the country, engaged over 8,000 persons in the process of its research, and collated and wrote a report in four volumes just because of an Obasanjo letter?
Secondly, weren’t those soliciting restructuring used it as bait for the 2019 general elections: that the people should vote for only the candidate(s) and party that preaches, and “is very serious” about restructuring of the country? So, what is wrong if the APC hitches a ride in the wagon, to enhance its electoral chances in 2019?
And thirdly, why won’t the proponents of the adoption of the 2014 National Conference report rejoice that “about 80 per cent of the recommendations of the APC committee” was lifted from that report? After all, that was the source of their beef with the APC-led Buhari government: its alleged refusal to adopt and send the report to the National Assembly for consideration and implementation.
It’s about time we put aside our differences and embrace the APC restructuring proposals that more or less cover the most contentious matters, which have plagued the polity even before Nigeria’s Independence in 1960.
As enjoined by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, elder statesmen, Tanko Yakassai (previously opposed) and Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, and other persons and groups, let’s see the APC recommendations as pan-Nigerian. Picking holes in and holding out on the report will not serve the decades-old yearnings of Nigerians.
Why concern ourselves with how much of the 2014 National Conference recommendations was included in the APC committee report, rather than how to put the party, the Presidency and the National Assembly’s feet to the fire, for a quick and thorough implementation of the propositions, so they would not be kept in abeyance, like those of 2014, till after the 2019 polls.
As advocated by those that have set politics aside and endorsed the approvals, and for the love of country, and solutions to the myriad of problems facing Nigeria, we should obligate the Buhari administration to execute the report before the 2019 elections.
Assuredly, Chief Odigie-Oyegun, the APC chair, perhaps realizing the party has been thrown a lifeline by the committee’s report, has pledged all-inclusive inputs and expeditious completion. We should escort the APC to the finish line.
* Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.