The Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere has said the Governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, is ignorant of the outlines of restructuring – the reason he made comments against the sustained calls for the nation’s economic and political structure.

Why it matters: Shettima had on Thursday downplayed the agitations for the restructuring of the country, saying “Let us improve on governance, let us work for the people, invest in education, create jobs for our people, this madness will stop.”

Highlights:

Afenifere –

• According to Premium Times, the secretary of the group, Bashorun Arogbofa, said on Friday in a telephone interview that the Boko Haram and Almajiri phenomena would not have existed if the country was properly structured to tackle all the problems now facing it.
• Mr Arogbofa, who also authored a book on restructuring, titled, “Nigeria-The Path We Refused to Take,” said Mr Shettima did not have the understanding of the meaning of restructuring.
• “Because if he understood the meaning of restructuring, he would have known that it would ensure the development of the country and move the nation forward. He would have known that it was the way forward for the country and meant respective for one another. With restructuring, we can grow and use our initiative and the issue of all-powerful centre in the federation will not be there. Where children will be given the right type of education. Are we saying that the country should break? No! Afenifere doesn’t want that, but we want every component of the country to be able to live comfortably within its own means and each part to grow at its own pace and develop its own wealth.”

Ohanaeze –

• The South East socio-cultural group, also attacked Mr Shettima for his comments, saying he is only “begging the issue.”
• The spokesman for the group, Uche Achi-Okpaga, said, “Restructuring is something you cannot avoid.”
• “We either restructure peacefully or restructure in pieces.”
• He further said those who are resisting restructuring “know the truth, but are scratching the surface to create distractions.”

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram