Restructuring: We Must Tread Carefully – Sani

By Sunday Isuwa, Abuja

The immediate past secretary-general of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr Anthony Sani has warned Nigerians not to think they will live in different country when restructuring is carried out.

Nigerians has been clamoring a restructuring that give states more powers to control their resources and tackle insecurity.

But Sani, in an exclusive chat with LEADERSHIP said the divergent views on the insecurity currently coming from state governors are  signs of what is to come if the country is restructured but insisted  that such must not make Nigerians feel they are living in different  countries.

“Restructuring must not make Nigerians feel they are in different countries”, the elder states man tells LEADERSHIP.

He said, “And so while the country can be restructured in such a way that

states and federal government can be assigned with tasks and responsibilities which they can do best, the restructure country must  not make Nigerians feel they are living in different countries.

“When I read people inveighing the state governors over the different utterances on how best to confront the security challenges posed by insurgence, banditry, gunmen, armed robbery, militant activism, ritual  killing and cultism on grounds that such unguarded utterances can bring about internecine ethnic and religious conflagration, and also accuse the national government for not providing purposeful direction and coordination, I am quick to point out that the scenarios portend what “true federalism” with a weaker center can do”, Sani said.