Pastor Tunde Bakare on Sunday backed calls for the restructuring of the country, insisting that such a move should not be seen as a threat to the unity of the nation.
“We have failed to realise that a strong federal government working with strong federating units can guarantee the security and prosperity of the Nigerian people,” the clergyman said in his State of the Nation address.
“We have failed to appreciate the fact that coordinated governance by the different states in each of the geopolitical zones will enhance the security of Nigerians and bring our people out of poverty.
“This is the heart and soul of restructuring. Restructuring does not mean
the dismemberment of the Nigerian state. It is not an attack on Nigerian
unity. It does not mean disadvantaging any section of the country.”
While the senior pastor of Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos linked the rising level of insecurity in several parts of Nigeria to failure to restructure the country, he noted that non-state actors have taken advantage of the situation and hijacked the political governance of the regions.
“The greatest demand on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is to facilitate the emergence of legitimate regional governance frameworks that can fill the vacuum and flush out the illegitimate structures,” the former running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari added.
Bakare who said he is forced to speak out owing to what he described as Buhari’s legacy being confined to the unsavoury side of history, lamented that the state of Nigeria’s does not reflect the President Buhari that he knows.
“I am compelled to speak out because the state of the nation does not represent the Buhari I knew when we took that solemn journey towards rebuilding Nigeria,” he added.
“I am compelled to speak out at this point because, given the state of the nation, the legacy of President Muhammadu Buhari is in grave danger of being confined to an unsavoury side of history. I am indeed compelled to speak out because Nigeria is in a state of emergency.”
