Buhari resists pressures for restructuring

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday expressed his resistance to demands and pressures from stakeholders of goodwill in the Nigerian project for restructuring of the polity, dismissing the demands as unpatriotic utterances.  The President in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, declined accepting the wide fear that Nigeria is on the brink of disintegration. He warned that such unpatriotic outbursts are both unhelpful and unwarranted, noting that the government will not succumb to threats and take any decision out of pressure at a time when the nation’s full attention is needed to deal with the security challenges facing it at a time of the Covid-19 health crisis.

Leaders of the southwest, south-south and the Middle Belt are demanding for restructuring, while northern leaders, the Arewa, demanding for a referendum to first decide on one Nigeria.

However, Garba Shehu had in the statement insisted that the President will only work “through and in line with the Parliamentary processes to finding solutions to structural and other impediments to the growth and wellbeing of the nation and its people.”

The statement read: “The Presidency responds to the recurring threats to the corporate existence of the country with factions giving specific timelines for the President to do one thing or another or else, in their language, the nation will break up.

“This is to warn that such unpatriotic outbursts are both unhelpful and unwarranted as this government will not succumb to threats and take any decision out of pressure at a time when the nation’s full attention is needed to deal with the security challenges facing it at a time of the Covid-19 health crisis.

“Repeat: this administration will not take any decision against the interests of 200 million Nigerians, who are the President’s first responsibility under the constitution, out of fear or threats especially in this hour of health crisis.

“The President as an elected leader under this constitution will continue to work with patriotic Nigerians, through and in line with the Parliamentary processes to finding solutions to structural and other impediments to the growth and wellbeing of the nation and its people.”