PRESS RELEASE
A former vice president and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has commended the resolution of the APC Progressive Governors Forum, which called for restructuring and true federalism.
He said the issue transcends religion and ethnicity.
The former vice president also describes as patriotic the convergence of positions around restructuring by leaders and stakeholders 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.
Mr Atiku said in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by his Media Office that the agitations 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 the party chieftain, the restructuring debate transcends the ambition of any single politician in Nigeria, and that any attempt to ignore the agitations could make a bad situation more complicated.
He explains that avoiding a problem won’t solve that problem, adding that with so much hate, distrust, suspicions and fears in the country, political leaders shouldn’t be afraid to confront the challenge.
According to him, 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.
He said the country could not afford to allow bottled up frustrations of the people to explode into violence, which may threaten not only innocent lives, but also harm the country’s economic assets.
Mr Atiku therefore, praised the APC governors and other leaders and groups for their courage to confront the country’s most urgent national challenge.
He added that separatist agitations are dangerously threatening the country’s unity and indivisibility. To his mind, he said no country could afford to take these threats lightly.
