Atiku commends APC Govs, others over support for restructuring

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, applauded the resolution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors Forum which called for restructuring and true federalism saying that the issue transcends religion and ethnicity.

The former vice president, who is a chieftain of APC, also described as patriotic the convergence of positions around restructuring by leaders from diverse regions of the country, noting that it confirms that he (Atiku Abubakar) was not just a lone voice in the wilderness in the inevitability of restructuring of Nigeria for the good of all.

The former vice president, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by his Media Office, explained that the agitation for secession would not have arisen if the country had shown sincere readiness to address the underlying problems that feed the agitations by separatist forces.

According to him, the restructuring debate transcends the ambition of any single politician in Nigeria, adding that any attempt to ignore the agitations could make a bad situation more complicated.

“The restructuring debate transcends the ambition of any single politician in Nigeria; any attempt to ignore the agitations could make a bad situation more complicated.

“Avoiding a problem will not solve it; with so much hate, distrust, suspicions and fears in the country, political leaders should not be afraid to confront the challenge.

“Our current federal structure should be freely discussed by allowing the federating units voice their grievances with a view to finding workable solutions that protects the rights and interests of all as the country could not afford to allow bottled up frustrations of the people to explode into violence which threatens not only innocent lives but also harm the country’s economic assets”, he said.

Atiku said with so much hate, distrust, suspicions and fears in the country, political leaders should not be afraid to confront the challenge.

According to him, Nigeria’s current federal structure should be freely discussed by allowing the federating units voice their grievances with a view to finding workable solutions that protects the rights and interests of all.

He said the country could not afford to allow bottled up frustrations of the people to explode into violence, which threatens not only innocent lives, but also harms the country’s economic assets.

The Waziri Adamawa commended the Progressive Governors and other leaders and groups for their courage to confront the country’s most urgent national challenge, adding that “separatist agitations are dangerously threatening the country’s unity and indivisibility” saying, “no country could afford to take these threats lightly”.