A former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has urged those he called myopic opponents of restructuring to have a rethink.

He also said those opposed to restructuring were laying the foundation for Nigeria’s disintegration.

The former governor explained that his position was motivated by comments made by Prof. Ango Abdullahi in a recent media interview.

Abdullahi had in the interview with a national newspaper declared, “We have all personalised restructuring with a view to targeting a section of the country and this is the area that we feel very sensitive about and we will resist it. Even if we don’t resist it objectively, we can resist it politically.”

In response, Ezeife told his audience at the summit that Abdullahi’s position was contrary to the position of the Governor Nasir El-Rufai-led All Progressives Congress panel on True Federalism and was paving the way for Nigeria’s dismemberment if allowed to hold sway.

He said, “I should appeal to the myopic opponents of restructuring to think again, they should consider the long-term interest of the nation.

“If the North-West follows the prescription of Ango Abdullahi, (Gideon) Orkar’s Nigeria becomes inevitable but all nationalists must keep the doors open for those who break away to come back. It is infinitely better to think constructively to avoid the early exit.

“Opposition to restructuring is opposition to ending what led to the civil war. Such opposition is mainly from the North whose sons were the military leaders of Nigeria who ruled and ruined post-1966 Nigeria. “

He added, “Opposition to restructuring is to prefer what does not work over what works. The World Bank had confirmed that Nigeria’s agreed structure worked thus opposition to restructuring is calling for a permanence of gross unfairness.”

Ezeife also said, “In substance, restructuring calls for going back to the agreed Nigeria, that Nigeria agreed by our founding fathers.”

Earlier, elder statesman and National Chairman of the Northern Elders’ Council, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, had blamed the involvement of Nigeria’s military in governance and politics for the damage done to Nigeria’s political culture.

In his remarks, a representative of Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Mike Emakpere, said the people of the South-South were of the opinion that the current system had failed hence the need to revisit it in other for equity and justice to prevail.

He said, “We are saying that anybody who says what is going on (in the country today) is okay, that person is not okay.”

Punch