Nigeria is drifting towards Somalia, Yugoslavia or Syria if - Nigerian National Summit Group

Nigeria is drifting towards Somalia, Yugoslavia or Syria if - Nigerian National Summit Group

The Nigerian National Summit Group (NNSG) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to implement fundamental resolutions of the 2014 National Conference that were adopted by the delegates, as a way of restructuring the country to avert the imminent national drift towards “madness.”

File Photo: Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan handing over reports of the 2014 National Conference to President Muhammadu Buhari

In a statement signed yesterday by its Executive Secretary, Tony Uranta, the group said that Nigeria could still suffer the 2015 Bogey if it refuses to begin restructuring now.

The statement reads in part: “In recent times, very important voices from the north have come out loudly in support of restructuring!

“In an article titled: ‘The State Of The Nigerian Nation,’ by Alhaji Ahmed Joda, like former Vice- President Atiku Abubakar, at the recent LEADERSHIP Governor of the
Year award ceremony, lent a ringing support to the drive towards true federalism.

“Wrote Joda: ‘Our country has passed through difficult times, including a civil war and has survived. We must, however, not ascribe the fact of our survival to anything like military might; rather it was because ordinary Nigerians overwhelmingly desire to live together in one united country but under some acceptable arrangement.

“It is clear from all we are passing through that there is a sufficient body of opinion around the country that the present arrangement is not adequate and needs to be discussed further.’

“In his own remarks at the Awards on September 18, 2012, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, not only called for true federalism, he regretted not supporting former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme’s earlier call for the creation of six semi-autonomous regions affirming that Dr Ekwueme obviously saw what some of them did not at the time.”

The group noted that the Southwest, North-Central, South-East and South-South have been spearheading the campaign for restructuring for decades, saying that now that Arewa chieftains like Joda and Atiku have admitted to the urgent need to embark on this pressing national exercise, President Buhari must recognise that the North-West and North-East strongly desire restructuring also.

The group said, “ So Mr. President cannot but, immediately, step up to the plate and fulfill his oath of office to serve Nigerians by guaranteeing our welfare to the very best of his ability and opportunities.

“We must not think that Somalia, Yugoslavia or Syria are mirages…if Nigerians do not calculatedly put an end to this national drift towards madness, we will have ourselves to blame.”