..warns against pushing Nigerians into dictatorship
By Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo
The apex socio-cultural organization of South-South geo-political zone, Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, yesterday said it will not stop advocating for the restructuring of Nigeria.
National Chairman of PANDEF, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga, retd, made the assertion yesterday in Uyo while reacting to statement by the Senior Special Assitant to the President on Media and Publicity on Monday that the present administration would not succumb to threats and undue pressure to restructure Nigeria.
Nkanga said whoever issued such a statement doesn’t understand what restructuring and democracy are all about, and regretted that the presidency saw the calls by Nigerians to restructure Nigeria as a threat instead of advice.
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He stressed that in any democratic setting people must be allowed to speak their mind and the truth too, and warned that Nigerians must not be pushed into dictatorship because it is no more fashionable.
His words, “Our reaction to that statement is very straight forward. To start with PANDEF doesn’t threaten, we speak the truth. And we will never stop talking, and asking for restructuring because to ask us to do that is like saying we should abandon our liberty. The moment you abandon asking for justice and liberty, then you are not fit to live.
” So we will continue to advocate for restructuring. If you like to hear it, fine, and if you don’t like to hear it, it is up to you. We believe whoever said this administration will not tolerate those advocating for restructuring is ignorant of what restructuring is all about and he doesn’t understand what democracy is all about.
“If something is not going right what you do is to adjust it. Today we are seriously marginalized in the Niger Delta and they don’t want us to talk about restructuring? God forbid!, we will talk about it.
“If you can remember, we (PANDEF) have said before that if you don’t restructure Nigeria, Nigeria will restructure itself, we cannot go back on what we said because that is the truth. There are other people, groups that are saying the country could break up if it is not restructured. They are just advising. It is no threat.
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“In a democracy, the Rule of Law is prime. And a leader is as strong as his followers. If all the followers are saying. Let the people who don’t agree on restructuring come out and say they don’t agree and not for you to sit down somewhere and say that Nigerians don’t agree. It is as simple as that”
Nkanga who questioned if those advocating for restructuring are not part of the 200million Nigerians that are first responsibility of the President, said the statement, however, was not surprising because there are people that don’t see peace as a priority.
He pointed out that today the whole world is restructuring their governance adding, “In that statement, I also read where he said they are paying attention to insecurity challenges. He should have known that it is lack of restructuring that is even causing the insecurity in the country.
“They should continue pretending that all is well and someday they will see the result of it. At the end of the day, the majority will have their way and not the leadership, so if he is pushing us into dictatorial tendencies, let him know that dictatorship is no more fashionable and it is not profitable. We will advise him strongly to go by what the majority of people are saying”
