Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, has
explained why he is advocating that Nigeria
should be restructured.
Atiku made this explanation in a paper he
presented at the Late Gen.Usman Katsina
Memorial Conference, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
Memorial Hall, Murtala Square, Kaduna, on
Saturday.
The Turakin Adamawa, who spoke on the theme
of the conference, “The Challenges of National
Integration and Survival of Democracy in Nigeria”,
noted that he had been an advocate of
restructuring for over a decade because be truly
believed it was the key to solving some, if not
most of the nation’s problems.
He stressed that Nigeria had struggled to build a
nation where the component units would feel a
true sense of belonging.
Atiku said, “As a country we have struggled to
live up to this ideal. We have obviously not done
enough to realise national integration, and the
survival of our democracy is still a work in
progress.
“The cost to us has been enormous. We even
fought a civil war to forcibly keep the country
together.
“Since the various amalgamations that created
the entity that we now call Nigeria, different
segments of Nigeria’s population have, at
different times and sometimes at the same time,
expressed feelings of marginalisation, of being
short-changed, dominated, oppressed,
threatened, or even targeted for elimination.”
According to him, previous initiatives aimed at
addressing these concerns have not yielded the
desired results as mutual suspicions still existed,
adding that, “If anything, our unity has been
fragile, our democracy unstable, and our people
more aggrieved by their state in the federation.”
Nigeria’s unity he said, “is worth sacrificing for
and that the component units should look at the
bright side of restructuring because it remains
the only way to go.”
Atiku said, “The north and Nigeria have not been
served well by the status quo and there is need
for change.
“Who among us who went to primary and
secondary school in the 1960s had much to do
with the federal government? Did the northern
regional government wait to collect monthly
revenue allocations from Lagos before paying
salaries to its civil servants and teachers or fixing
its bridges and roads?”
He called on all Nigerians irrespective of their
religious, political or ethnic persuasion to support
the restructuring of the nation.

iflywithbuhari:
Atiku, let me tell you point-blank, you are wasting your time. You have already failed. You will never see Aso Rock again, not to talk of being the President. You are finished in Nigerian politics. Your last misadventure was your last. The next government will reopen the Haliburton case, after which you will be prosecuted and jailed. You are History.

angels09:

Typical deaf and dumb response. Only a stupid person sees the world in white and black. Read and cure your ignorance

iflywithbuhari:
Atiku, let me tell you point-blank, you are wasting your time. You have already failed. You will never see Aso Rock again, not to talk of being the President. You are finished in Nigerian politics. Your last misadventure was your last. The next government will reopen the Haliburton case, after which you will be prosecuted and jailed. You are History.

angels09:

Typical deaf and dumb response. Only a stupid person sees the world in white and black. Read and cure your ignorance

Paulpaulpaul:


Only a useless angel with take a political nomad and betrayer like Atiku very seriously. Smart people already know his political permutations. We all know that Nigeria needs to be restructured but nobody is buying it from Atiku.

iflywithbuhari:
Atiku, let me tell you point-blank, you are wasting your time. You have already failed. You will never see Aso Rock again, not to talk of being the President. You are finished in Nigerian politics. Your last misadventure was your last. The next government will reopen the Haliburton case, after which you will be prosecuted and jailed. You are History.

omenka:
Never say never, remember, this is politics. A lot like this was said about our current president.

That said, Atiku's saying all this simply because he wants to warm himself up to the hearts of a section of voters. It's all about 2019. Atiku will never implement such if he becomes the president.

iflywithbuhari:

Read up, on what. Restructuring is an utopian dream and a politician's gimmick. The structure of Nigeria, though flawed, is appropriate for the nation. Atiku knows that, and would never alter it. But just like his fellow thieves and saboteurs in the APC, he is only playing up on sentiments, as a ruse to garner support for his failed presidential agenda. Atiku and his likes, must be rejected, for Nigeria to keep on moving forward.

achinaboy:
Atiku is a stupid man, he need to restructure his big head first, he had his chance to restructure Nigeria, and what did he do, he did his best by restructuring his bank account

angels09:

Only retards judge a book by its cover. Voting is another thing from advocacy.

Nature129:

Nigerian politicians are some of the worst in the world...they make bad leaders when they are in power and become angels when they leave office.

Atiku was in power for 8 years and never mentioned restructuring to Obj.

Osinbajo and his party campaigned with restructuring but now he's openly kicking against it to the dismay of many Yorubas who believe in it too.

I think it's high time we invited Theresa May to suspend our independence because just like Donald Trump said, Africa needs to be colonized for another time 100 years."

In all sincerity, the African Black has no idea what leadership is about. Just like APC was never prepared for leadership, Nigeria is NOT due for independence, period!