TheCable

Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, says Nigeria will be “renegotiated, restructured but will not disintegrate”.

He said this in Abuja during the 8th edition of the ‘Change We Need Nigeria Initiative’ annual lecture series.

He said he was suspicious that the call for restructuring is another form of opposition, especially because it is from “people who have been in power for 16 years”.

Adesina said the Buhari administration was not opposed to restructuring but anything that will lead to the disintegration of the country.

Adesina said Nigeria had always restructured but never fallen apart.

“I begin to get suspicious at times that this call for restructuring is it another form of opposition? When you find people who have been in power for 16 years now be champions of restructuring, so I begin to suspect that restructuring is becoming another form of opposition in Nigeria,” Adesina said.

“Nigeria has always restructured. There was a time we had 12 states, and then at a point, it became  19 and then to 36 states, that is restructuring.

“In the history of Nigeria, there was a time where the various people and communities lived in this space that is today called Nigeria. And then the colonial masters came, formed what is called the northern protectorate, southern protectorate, that was the restructuring of what has subsisted.

“And then in 1914 precisely, the northern and southern protectorates, were amalgamated into one country, that was another restructuring. Did it come with any sabre-rattling or did it send the country into a tailspin, no? And then we got to a point that we had regionalism in the country, the regions were formed and we begin to grow, that was another restructuring.

“Eventually Independence came and we had parliamentary system at the beginning and we continue to grow.  Today, we have a presidential system of government that is another form of restructuring from parliamentary to presidential.

“And then there was a time we had a unitary system when the then Gen. Ironsi tried to formalize through the unification decree. We have a unitary system which to a large extent still subsist in the country, is a form of restructuring. Did we disintegrate? No, we didn’t.

“Restructuring will come, this country will be renegotiated, restructured but then we will not disintegrate.”

But Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia state governor, who was represented by Godwin Adindu, his chief press secretary, disagreed with Adesina.

“Restructuring is not an opposition thing, it is what we all need so that we can move the nation forward. Restructuring is not the demand of the opposition,” Ikpeazu said.