ELDER statesman Edwin Clark has condemned the Biafra agitation led by
\nNnamdi Kanu, saying it amount to nonsense.<\/p>\n
Clark spoke yesterday when the Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and
\nForeign Debt, Senator Shehu Sani, visited him in Abuja.<\/p>\n
He also condemned the quit notice by the Arewa Group to the Igbo living in
\nthe North, saying it was worrisome.<\/p>\n
He warned that secession or agitation was not the way to go on
\nrestructuring the country, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhen Kanu talks about Biafra, he is talking nonsense. We do not
\nwant a second war.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica fought their civil war for a long time and they are not thinking
\nof a second one. Kanu should drop the agitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, it is arrogant and foolish on the part of some Northern
\nyouths to issue quit notice. You do not own the North. It is part of
\nNigeria and anybody can live there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Igbo have been living in the North for over 100 years.\u201d
\nThe elder statesman emphasised the need for restructuring for equity and
\nbalance in the country.<\/p>\n
He explained that though the call for restructuring had been loud in
\nrecent times, the country had been undergoing restructuring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been living together since 1914 and from time to time, we have
\nbeen changing the way of our lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1947, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe said the Richard Constitution was obnoxious;
\nthat it was anti-people. In 1950, we had the Macpherson Constitution,
\nwhich created the three regions and in 1963, we had another constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring all these constitutions, the issue of the fiscal federation was
\nvery prominent. So, we have been restructuring this country and nobody
\ntalked about breaking up the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe war between 1967 and 1970 was an unfortunate one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark said making necessary changes to allow for social justice was the
\nway to go and urged the National Assembly to re-visit the issue of
\ndevolution of power upon resumption from recess, saying it was one of the
\nways to properly restructure the country.<\/p>\n
According to him, the vote against devolution of power by the national
\nassembly was borne out of the fear that it would whittle down the powers
\nof legislators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have reached a stage where states are not paying salaries and
\nsomething has to be done to gear their minds to see what they can do in
\ntheir own area to generate money.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am happy you believe in restructuring, which can be achieved within a
\nshort time but it may take up to 20 years if we do not agree among
\nourselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, once more I want to say that when you resume, the issue of devolution
\nof power should be re-visited so that Federal Government will deal with
\nforeign affairs, prisons, customs and a few other things.<\/p>\n
On call to return to regionalism, Clark said \u201cyou cannot abolish the
\nstates now and say you want six regions. It is not going to be easy or
\npossible now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel we should use the same states as federating units and the local
\ngovernments should remain with the states.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called for the establishment of Revenue Mobilisation Commission to deal
\nwith funds that move between states and local governments to sustain them.<\/p>\n
Clark promised to convene a meeting of elder statesmen across the country
\nto find a lasting solution to the problem of restructuring.<\/p>\n
Sani said one of the reasons the devolution of power did not scale through
\nin the National Assembly was the fear that state governments might abuse
\ntheir powers.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe problem we have with the devolution of power is how to
\ntackle some of the problems that come with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, the present crop of governors might not be able to handle
\nstate police in a manner that people who disagree with them can be safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondly, the manner in which elections are conducted by state
\nindependent electoral commissions where the ruling party in the state wins
\nall positions is worrisome.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if we devolve the police, we have to allay the fears of people on the
\nimplications. Those who are championing some of these issues need to make
\nclarifications.\u201d<\/p>\n
On derivation and resource control, the lawmaker said it was in the best
\ninterest of the country to stop thinking about oil because it was becoming
\nnon-attractive globally.<\/p>\n
Sani described the quit notice as \u201cembarrassing\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ELDER statesman Edwin Clark has condemned the Biafra agitation led by Nnamdi Kanu, saying it amount to nonsense. Clark spoke yesterday when the Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n