• Sanusi warns against agitation for restructuring to divide Nigeria
A Lagos state constitutional lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has challenged those complaining about the lopsided appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari to go to court and challenge him.
Falana also tasked the 36 state governors to share police power with the President because the Constitution empowers them to do so, adding that there is no federal police but Nigerian police.
The lawyer spoke at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, at a lecture he delivered titled: “Restructuring and Liberation of Nigeria,” as part of the activities marking the institution’s 24th convocation ceremonies.
He said it was in recognition of the country’s diversity and the need to promote a sense of belonging among the people that Section 14 (3) & (4) of the Constitution provides a composition of the government of the federation.
Besides, he submitted that “lopsidedness in political appointment is prohibited by the Constitution, hence, the Federal Character Commission (FCC), a federal executive body, has been assigned the responsibility to deal with an allegation of lopsided appointments.”
Also speaking on restructuring, the university’s Chancellor and 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, admonished Nigerians to resist anyone deploying the restructuring agitation to divide Nigeria.
He said: “There is a difference between restructuring and secession, restructuring and division and restructuring and civil war.
“Some are using ethnic profiling to divide us. Ethnicity and religion are mere identities, they don’t really represent our values and who we truly are.”
“Nigeria has problems that are far more beyond restructuring, though restructuring is important, let us follow the rules and build a strong system through our strong moral values and approaches to issues.”
Chairman of the occasion and Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Most Revd Felix Ajakaiye, appealed to Nigerian leaders not to allow religious and ethnic barriers to divide the nation.
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