Buhari’s response to Nigerians’ demand for restructuring arrogant – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against escalating the tension in Nigeria with his “arrogant and dictatorial” response to demand by some Nigerians for the country’s restructuring.

The party was reacting to a statement credited to the President on the increasing agitation for the restructuring of the country.

President Buhari, who spoke at a forum in Kaduna on Saturday, had described those demanding the restructuring of Nigeria as “mischievously dangerous.”

He added that many of the individuals behind the push for restructuring are ignorant of the country’s constitution.

However, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said President Buhari’s claim that his administration had no time for demand by Nigerians for a discourse on the state of the nation, particularly in the face of worsening insecurity, economic hardship, and sectional disagreements, has further demonstrated the government’s arrogant and dictatorial disposition towards the people.

The PDP also decried the President’s constant referencing to war during public discourse.

According to the party, the demands by Nigerians for a better society are neither synonymous nor contiguous to warfare.

“The statement read: “It is appalling, and to say the least, despicable, that Mr. President and his party, the APC, who came to power in 2015 on the promise of restructuring, have not only reneged, in utter duplicity towards Nigerians but also turned around, six years after, to label restructuring as warfare and Nigerians demanding for it as “mischievously dangerous.

READ ALSO: Individuals championing cause for Nigeria’s restructuring ignorant of the constitution – Buhari

“President Buhari should be tutored to know that even the quest for efficient local government system as well as an effectual judiciary, which he alluded to as a focus, can only be achieved through a constitutional restructuring that directly confers and vests the required powers and control to them.

“Only recently, President Buhari confessed how he asked some state governors who came to him on issues of security to go back to their respective states and face the challenge.

“The amendment or alteration of the constitution to permit state police as widely demanded by Nigerians is, therefore, a form of restructuring that will adjust our policing system without creating a war.

“In as much as the PDP hold the unity and indivisibility of our nation as supreme, our party, however, supports amendments that will alter the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in any manners that will engender good governance and reinforce, rather than detract from her unity, peace, equity, and stability.

“Moreover, our party invites Nigerians to note that the APC, as a party, does not have any iota of regard for their aspiration as a people, and as such must not be further entrusted with the fate of our nation after the Buhari abysmal tenure.

“On Mr. President’s allusion to a power of selection over whom he will cede power to, the PDP informs President Buhari and his APC to understand that political power belongs to Nigerians and the people will determine who governs them after the Buhari and APC’s era, which will come to an inevitable end on May 29, 2023.”

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