A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has accused the opposition of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of pushing for the restructuring of the country through unconstitutional means.
He also lampooned the main opposition for attempting to harvest the insecurity and hunger in the land to deceptively capture power by all means.
Okechukwu, who is a founding member APC, bared his mind in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
The VON DG was reacting to a query by the PDP, which accused President Muhammad Buhari of reneging on his promise to implement an administrative restructuring for the country’s better governance.
He said the PDP should not to lose sight of the fact that the constitution remains the ground norm for any change, no matter how imperfect the document may be.
“I am one of those who are worried by our sordid state of affairs. I am one of those who advocate additional state for the Southeast to give us equal status and a sense of belonging. I want 18 senators, more House members and more local government areas for my geopolitical zone, like others. But the rule of law must be adhered to, no matter how slow,” Okechukwu said.
The APC chieftain noted that President Buhari had begun restructuring by signing Executive Order 10 to strengthen the financial autonomy of state legislatures and the Judiciary, hence extending the frontiers of democracy to the grassroots.
“Executive Order 10 is President Buhari’s ‘Number 1’ restructuring. He has amended the Constitution and had signed Executive Order 10 of 2020, in compliance with Section 121(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the intendment to strengthening the institutions of the state governments.
“To start with, Mr President did not renege on restructuring. Executive Order 10 is Number One restructuring. He commenced restructuring by strengthening the financial autonomy of state legislatures and the Judiciary. To be honest, it seems the PDP wants to pull down the roof. They want to harvest the general insecurity and hunger in the land to deceptively capture power by all means…
“Methinks, we all agree on restructuring, and that there are certain items in the Exclusive Legislative list that need to be devolved to sub-national units.”
“Secondly, we all agree that we are on constitutional democracy. If the rule of law is our mantra, then I am at loss which other route or channel PDP is proposing to restructuring without the Constitution, National and State Assemblies mandated by Section 9 of the constitution to do so? Or is PDP on deceptive power grabbing binge by aligning with Pull-Down-the-Roof crowd?” he added. (The Nation)
