Northern governors meet to take common stand on restructuring

Barring any hitch, the 19 governors in Northern Nigeria will take a common position on the issue of restructuring the country as it affects the interest of the region and make it public tomorrow.

The governors are meeting with paramount traditional rulers in the north at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna and are expected to round up deliberations and issue a communiqué (today).

Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno represented by Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari in his opening remarks at the meeting noted that the intervention by the  Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and pledge that the Federal Government is looking into the matter with a view to coming up with a position as well as the constitution of a committee by the APC to handle the issue have to a reasonable extent defused tension and calmed frayed nerves across the country. 

He said however that it is his expectation that at the end of their meeting, the governors and the royal fathers will adopt a consensus position on restructuring of the country that will be reflective of the general overall interest of the people of Northern Nigeria and which will attract popular acceptance.

“It is of vital importance to arrive at such consensus position because it is crucial to dispel the erroneous impression created and disseminated by certain interests in this country that the North is opposed to restructuring.

“Secondly, it is important to do so not only to accommodate the mainstream of Northern public opinion, our primary constituency, but to also counter the specific versions of restructuring which generally seek to place the North in a position of strategic political and economic disadvantage, but portrayed as the only versions that can work for the nation,” he stated.

Shettima said while Nigerians are entitled to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and association, the exercise of such rights outside the confines of responsibility is not acceptable saying the resort to shenanigans, hate speech, and sometimes, incitement to violence by organizations such as IPOP and MASSOB must be unconditionally condemned as they are inimical to national unity, stability, peaceful coexistence and national security. 

He called on leaders  of  thought  in  the South   East   and   other   parts   of   Nigeria   to   call the purveyors   of  hate  speech  to  order saying this was what the northern leaders did when they condemned the ultimatum given by some Northern youths to people of Igbo extraction residing in the North to leave by 1st October.

On conflict between farmers    and    herdsmen, he said unless we are ready to cast aside all sentiment-laden approaches to tackling this monstrous problem, it is capable of consuming the very social fabric of the North and even condemning the entire country to unwarranted destruction.

He said the north should embark on the search for a viable and lasting alternative to dependence on oil.

Source dailytrust