A civil society organisation, the Advocates for Freedom and Democracy has warned that Nigeria needs a quick restructuring to avert a looming break up.
The group stated this on Sunday during a forum theme ‘Conversations on National Questions Series (1): Resetting Nigeria To Sanity’.
Speaking at the forum, Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, said the country would bounce back for good if the leaders can agree on the need to restructure it.
According to him, “We are not gathered here for rebellion, we are not also gathered here for anarchy; we are Christians and we are having a conversation about what is best for our country.”
Emmanuel also expressed concern that the country is sitting on a time bomb and need urgent attention.
He, however, advised that the country should be restructured using the 1963 Constitution as a template for a new Nigeria because 1999 Constitution has failed the test of integrity.
“The status quo – the way we are going now is going to cause more destruction, more deaths. If we want to restructure Nigeria to sanity, we are looking at these two options – either we restructure or we are forced to take the path of the Constitutional Force Majeure and all that it implies,” he submitted.
On his part, Dr Akin Fapounda, the Secretary of the Eminent Elders Forum, said stakeholders in the country need to come together, deliberate on the way forward.
“In human affairs, you can do negotiations, you can go to war but at the end of the war, you must still come back to negotiations to finalise. Our position is: can we do negotiations to agree on issues before we go to war if we have to?” he asked.
Speaking further, Fapounda added, “The bottom line is: Nigeria is no longer valid; one member of Nigeria is now with guns against others. The fabric of Nigeria can no longer hold, we have to rebuild Nigeria.”
He also faulted Nigeria’s Constitution, saying it has landed the country in various quagmires.
“How does a new Nigeria look like? We want each region to be autonomous –we want a very small centre– every region should be able to do what it wants to do,” he stated.