Your call for restructuring is too late, Nigeria must be divided – Fani-Kayode tells Obasanjo, Gowon, Danjuma
Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation, has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd), and erstwhile military commander, Theophilus Danjuma, to shun the idea of restructuring, adding that nothing will stop self-determination.
Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said the call coming from the elder statesmen, is rather too late now.
He said that the trio had rejected restructuring in 1967 at Aburi and instead, decided to fight Igbos, wondering why the call is coming now when self determination has taken over.
DAILY POST reported that General Gowon had at a public event organised by Igbo Leadership Development Foundation last week admitted that the Igbo nation had been marginalised in Nigeria’s polity.
He said, “I believe that a lot of injustice has been done to the Igbos and a constitutional debate on restructuring must address all imbalances and restore hope and confidence.
On his part, Obasanjo had condemned the current state of affairs in the country in his speech at the Frederick Fasehun 1st Memorial Lecture.
The ex-Military leader said, “We estimated that Federal Government would suppress the Biafran rebellion within three months. To make allowances for the unforeseen, we allowed six months. But it took us thirty months, five times what we allowed for, and what is more, we nearly lost the war. And as a Field Commander at the end of the war, I can attest that we fought with all Nigerian tribes including Igbos against Biafra.
“And if after over ten years of fighting Boko Haram, the terrorist group is still waxing strong, let nobody out of self-delusion think that a war of self-determination by one or more geopolitical zones of Nigeria with the present disenchantment would be easily suppressed by the rest of what may remain of the country. Some will fight to the last drop of the blood of their group rather than suffer the indignity of slavery, oppression, domination and atrocious injustice in the land of their birth and the only one that they can call their country.
“If Boko Haram can get an outside support, any geo-political zone opting for self-determination may equally get an external support. War may not necessarily go as planned, estimated and predicted. Everything must, therefore, be put in place to avoid a war, the end of which no one can precisely predict. There is no assurance that Nigeria can survive a second civil war. But rather, we should seek political solution and avoid a destructive civil war.”
Similarly, Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, had earlier mocked the retired army generals for demanding restructuring from President Muhammadu Buhari.
Backing the IPOB leader in a tweet on Monday morning, Fani-Kayode said, “Those that opposed restructuring at Aburi in 1967 and waged war against Biafra, namely Gowon, OBJ and TY Danjuma are now calling for restructuring.
“The truth is that restructuring is too little, too late. The new kid on the block is known as self-determination and he cannot be denied.
