Former Akwa Ibom state governor, Victor Attah, says contrary to
President Buhari’s position, Nigeria’s unity can be negotiated.
President Buhari, during the Sallah holiday, had told a group of people
who paid him a visit in the state house, that members of the various
militant groups and Pro-Biafra group should stop their agitations as the
unity of Nigeria cannot be negotiated.
In an interview with Vanguard, Attah said negotiation does not mean splitting of the country …
“You have to renegotiate. If you talk about renegotiation, some people
think you want to split the country. No, it is like everytime they tell
you to go and investigate somebody, you think it means you must go and
find that person guilty. No, do not forget that they investigated Dr
Alex Ekwueme and came back and said in fact, he was poorer than when he
went in (to government). The people of Nigeria are dissatisfied with the
current federal arrangement or whatever is binding them together now
and are saying they want to renegotiate the terms of staying together.
The President quoted Gowon. Gowon had said that keeping Nigeria one is a
task that must be achieved. That task was achieved by military means.
He (Buhari) is not a military man now, he is a democrat, a politician.
So, the only means politicians have is to negotiate. ‘So, what did you
mean by you won’t negotiate? If you want to keep Nigeria one today, you
must negotiate the terms and conditions of the people staying together
and it goes back to the conference report, it goes back to the concept
of fiscal federalism.
‘You would find out that in the final analysis, that is what everybody
would be saying to you. Go and study as religiously as you can, the
constitutions of 1960 and 1963. What is restructuring? Several people
have used that word and have not been able to say what they mean. The
few that have actually attempted to say what they mean either end up
talking about going back to the regions as we had them before or
adopting the six-zonal structure that had been proposed for Nigeria,
which actually is in current usage but has not been sanctioned by the
constitution of Nigeria. Others just use the word restructuring because
it is almost like a buzz word, it is a popular thing to say now. ‘I do
not want to be caught up in the semantics. I will subscribe, absolutely
and entirely, to the concept of fiscal federalism. People ask what is
the difference between fiscal federalism and restructuring and I will
explain. I am convinced that fiscal federalism can be practised with
even the 36 state-structure and one federal capital territory that we
have today in Nigeria. In fact, I can say, it is a must, for there to be
peace and harmony, understanding among the federating units”he said
