Restructuring: Osinbajo goofed in reinventing history- Atiku

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has been accused of reinventing history and being economical with the truth in his statement that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was against restructuring while in office between 1999 and 2007.

The Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation in a statement on Sunday berated Osinbajo for turning down history and being mischievous in his statement concerning Atiku’s niche for restructuring of the nation’s polity.

Speaking at a public lecture, entitled: ‘Developing the Nation through Youth Empowerment’, as part of activities marking the 68th anniversary of the Sigma Club, University of Ibadan, Professor Osinbajo said:

“All this time, this was 2000, some of those people, including the presidential candidate of PDP, who is talking about restructuring, was the vice president then; they opposed every step that we took. Of course, we were taking the Federal Government to court then. They opposed every step.”

Faulting the diverse views of President Muhammadu Buhari and Osinbajo on restructuring, the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation said there is evident desperation by the APC government to revise history, however, it is impossible to revise documented history.

It urged Osinbajo to note that there are well documented accounts in the Nigerian media chronicling Atiku Abubakar’s support and struggle for restructuring.

“To set the records straight, we recommend to Prof Osinbajo the article ‘Nigeria: 6-1 Onshore-Offshore Jurisdiction Verdict’ written by Jide Ajani, then the Political Editor of Vanguard Newspapers and published on July 13, 2001.

” In that piece, which is still available online (see link https://allafrica.com/stories/200107130417.html), Vanguard newspapers chronicled the successful efforts of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, to restructure the revenue allocation formulae to allow littoral states of the federation benefit from off shore oil proceeds.

Ironically, it was precisely Mr. Osinbajo’s boss, Muhammadu Buhari, who as military dictator, cheated these states of their just due by military fiat.

“It is also common knowledge that the six geo-political zones structure which all parts of Nigeria benefit from today is the fruit of the collaborative efforts of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, the late Alex Ekwueme and other patriots.

“Their efforts at restructuring Nigeria are captured in the Hansard of the 1995 Constitution Conference, which is a public document and is still available at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Prof Osinbajo may want to familiarise himself with that document.

“The question we want to ask Prof Osinbajo is this – why do he and his boss constantly resort to rewriting history? Why can they not campaign on their achievements? Is it that they are forced to campaign on subterfuge because they have no achievements to campaign on?” the campaign Organisation added.