By Ben Agande
Kaduna – The governor of the 19 northern states Thursday said that the north is not opposed to the restructuring of the country contrary to the widely held views by some persons and group in the country.

In an address at a meeting of the nineteen northern states governors and traditional rulers in Kaduna, the chairman of the Northern states governors forum and governor of Borno state, Ibrahim Shettima said any restructuring that may be done should be within acceptable criteria and must be fair to all component parts of the country.

He said a final decision on the position of the north would be taken on Friday when governors of the 19 northern states meet in Kaduna.

According to Shettima, “It is also my expectation that at the end of this meeting today and, God willing, tomorrow’s meeting of the Governors, the Forum and our esteemed royal fathers will adopt a consensus position on restructuring of the country that will be reflective of the general overall interest of the people of Northern Nigeria and which will attract popular acceptance.

“It is of vital importance to arrive at such consensus position because it is crucial to dispel the erroneous impression created and disseminated by certain interests in this country that the North is opposed to restructuring.

“Secondly, it is important to do so not only to accommodate the mainstream of Northern public opinion, our primary constituency, but to also counter the specific versions of restructuring which generally seek to place the North in a position of strategic political and economic disadvantage, but portrayed as the only versions that can work for the nation.

“Without pre-empting the outcome of our interactions over the next two days however, permit me Your Excellencies and Your Royal Highnesses, to embark on a short reflection on the matter before hand. Agreed that being citizens of a democratic country, Nigerians are entitled to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and association, and the clamour for the restructuring of the country falls within the purview of these freedoms. However, the exercise of such rights outside the confines of responsibility is not acceptable.

“The resort to shenanigans, hate speech, and sometimes, incitement to violence by organizations such as IPOP and MOSSAB must be unconditionally condemned as they are inimical to national unity, stability, peaceful coexistence and national security. In this regards, I call on all constituted authorities and responsible leaders of thought in the South East and other parts of Nigeria to rise to the occasion and call these purveyors of hate speech and inflammatory and provocative statements to order.

“These elements must be encouraged to pursue their agitations within processes enshrined in our constitution and with the full and willing participation of all parts of our nation.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/07/north-not-opposed-restructuring-says-northern-govs/

We know the true position of the north... The north is not just opposed to restructuring but vehemently opposed to it

These guys talk like weasels. What policy is going to put you at political and economic disadvantage. I only say this because you can't gauge their positions like you would Ambode for example. Most likely they are against any significant changes to allocation system.

Actions speaks louder than voice abi who do they want to be using mind games for @least they should know we are all not foolish

If una like agree,if una like no agree.all we know is biafra or everything in the zoo will go down.

They will continue playing games and playing with words to introduce all sorts of delay tactics and confusing ideas to kill the whole thing and nothing will change.

Folks we have to cut off the oil and play these guys games.

OreMI22:
They will continue playing games and playing with words to introduce all sorts of delay tactics and confusing ideas to kill the whole thing and nothing will change.

Folks we have to cut off the oil and play these guys games.

Seems like militants haven't gotten the memo yet.

The problem os that Niger delta militants are not in partnership with their intellectuals.

signz:


Seems like militants haven't gotten the memo yet.

The problem os that Niger delta militants are not in partnership with their intellectuals.

You think the millitants care about people? They fight for their pockets and more than happy to comply with government as long they get scraps from amnesty programs. What connection have they ever had with intellectuals I've never heard any smart policy come them? I never heard them say anything about abysmal NDDC record?

Blue3k:


You think the millitants care about people? They fight for their pockets and more than happy to comply with government as long they get scraps from amnesty programs. What connection have they ever had with intellectuals I've never heard any smart policy come them? I never heard them say anything about abysmal NDDC record?

That's true. They're simply criminals.

Full Restructuring 2019

Let the country disintegrate talkless of restructure who cares.

The only thing I heard was

"The North is not against restructuring but it has to be the type of restructuring the North wants"

It is well

Web of white lies.

attackgat:
The only thing I heard was

"The North is not against restructuring but it has to be the type of restructuring the North wants"

Exactly! They want to redefine the term into meaninglessness. They know that the current system where an almighty FG hands out allocations to beggar states benefits them the most, and they don't want it to ever change.

attackgat:
The only thing I heard was

"The North is not against restructuring but it has to be the type of restructuring the North wants"

No mind the parasites. They want the type of restructuring that is probably no difference from the mess we are currently in.

How can they say they opposed it but their representatives who are the largest in the house voted against it? 210 voted No, 78 voted Yes, 9 did not vote. It is well.

Truly the elites of the nation are playing on the conscience of the masses like kite but we are wiser now

Secondly, it is important to do so not only to accommodate the mainstream of Northern public opinion, our primary constituency, but to also counter the specific versions of restructuring which generally seek to place the North in a position of strategic political and economic disadvantage, but portrayed as the only versions that can work for the nation.

So u also indirectly agreed that the North has also been extremely advantaged to the detriment of the order regions bcs of bias structure imposed on us by the military to favor the north, hence u want the status quo to remain.

God pass nna ooo!!!

We don"t oppose restructuring but it has to be in our time and on our terms.

In our time: In such we have to prove to them that nobody can coerce or force us to restructure just because today a northern Muslim is the president. The same people agitating keep silent when their own brother is the leader. Secondly we are practicing regionalism before some people greediness lead us to this mess by killing northern leaders and publicly mocking their corpse while preserving the lives of their own leaders. So you have no right to decide when restructuring will happen but we do.

In our terms: In such a way the north will not be shortchanged like in 2014 confab where majority of the delegate are southerners despite they being the minority. Also the number of christian is more than the number of Muslims in the confab. Again matters are finalize if the south is in support of it regardless of northern decision.

Who are you deceiving oga northerners..

No region fears the word restructuring or secession than the north.
And no region has stole Nigeria (ND oil) money than the north..

The north has been postponing the evil day ,they are too afraid to confront their fears thereby toiling with the future of nigerians and their generations unborn.
This time around it is too late.
We want Referendum
We want Biafra
There is nothing appealing about this contraption called.

The opinion of the North is not needed,
What do they know about politics and restructuring?

They should stick to cow rearing, raping of young boys and making of IEDs.

YIMU there's no politician in Nigeria who's not opposed to restructuring. lip service payers, all of them.

this restructuring of a thing is now stale....referendum is just the answer

The position of the north and their body language has always been to maintain the status quo because it favors them, they are tilting their position at this time because the heat in the polity and the clamor for change from the status quo is louder now than ever.

They are now coming to the understanding that if nothing is done to do what majority of Nigerians are yearning and clamoring for that the country will only head to an inevitable disintegration of which the north will stand to be the greatest loser.

If I come the next world as a Nigerian, I will kee myself. Let me just manage this one like this.

Parasites,!

I think this biafra agitation by one crazy kanu called Referendum ... Have woke up other Rs ... Like restructuring, regionalism.

Sincere Restructuring Of Nigeria is way forward in the interest a vast Majority of her citizens.


The Real Opposition to Restructuring comes from the Few "powerful" that understands the consequences.

We should note also that majority of those are the holders of top positions in the country.

Making it more difficult than it actually supposed to be.

My Opinion.

G

“These elements must be encouraged to pursue their agitations within processes enshrined in our constitution and with the full and willing participation of all parts of our nation.


I beg to disagree that Nigeria has a constitution. The document we call a constitution is the north's document with Abdusalami Abubakar as the author.
Nigeria has no peoples' constitution.