The Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Taiwo Oluomo (Ifo 1 Constituency), has questioned the willingness of Senate President Ahmed Lawan to initiate the amendment of Nigeria’s constitution to solve the issues of security and disunity in the country.
His comment follows Lawan’s reaction to calls for restructuring by 17 southern governors after a meeting they held in Asaba, the Delta State capital, to find lasting solutions to the challenges facing the country.
DAILY POST reports that Oluomo described Lawan’s comment as a premeditated response to the genuine agitations of the people.
The Speaker, who spoke in an interview with newsmen on Friday, said “almost everybody in Nigeria is agitating for restructuring since we don’t know how we came together in 1914.”
“More so, the Southern Governors emphasized that they prefer a United Nigeria. Therefore, since they have said they believe in one Nigeria, all we need to do is to restructure, devolve power to the federating states, consider appropriate roles for local governments and traditional rulers in a way that would bring peace and expected unity to this country,” he said.
The lawmaker said Lawan should have reacted by collating the ideas, agitations and opinions of Nigerians and make the National Assembly work towards achieving the goal instead of condemning the governors.
Oluomo reminded Lawan that during a recent town hall meeting held in Arewa House, Kaduna, there were talks about restructuring; saying the Senate President did not condemn them then.
“Why is he now condemning the Southern Governors for speaking for their people? I’m suspecting him. I don’t think the man is ready to tinker with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in a way that will bring lasting peace or give room to amendments that will lead to peace and security with appropriate role to local government as a tier of government, to devolve power to states, review of revenue sharing formula and other issues that have been the bane of our development in this country,” he said.
Oluomo further said that if President Muhammadu Buhari cannot convene a national conference, “Lawan should gather legal luminaries, both from the North and South, and ask them to work on the opinion of the people” to formulate an idea for the National Assembly.
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