Tunde Bakare, the General Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly and former running mate of President Muhammadu Buhari has slammed the northern elders who are opposed to the call for the restructuring of Nigeria.

Speaking in Ibadan on Friday, the clergy man declared that the call for the restructuring of Nigeria is a call for true federalism.

Bakare was in Ibadan to mark the 50th year anniversary of the assassination of the first military governor of the defunct Western Region, Lt.-Col. Adekunle Fajuyi.

Bakare said, “The elders of the North, who today are opposed to the call to restructure Nigeria, have deviated from the ideals of the founding fathers of Northern Nigeria like the late Sir Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa. They were forerunners of Fajuyi in the Nigerian hall of martyrdom.

“Lest we forget, these great Nigerian leaders from the North made it clear in the series of constitutional conferences that heralded Nigeria’s independence that true federalism with regional autonomy was the only condition under which they would exist within a Nigerian nation.”

He also said, “It is inconsistent with the interest of the North or the South for the current pseudo-federal structure to persist. If the elders of the North are true elders in this generation, I charge them with the words of the wisest king to ever live which says ‘do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.’

“Our current leaders must find courage in heroic deeds of Fajuyi, they must find courage to restructure and to reconcile aggrieved sections within the nation.”

Adebayo Emuleomo