…Insists On 2014 National Conference Report
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejects the attempt by the All
Progressives Congress (APC) to manipulate the system and frustrate the
widespread clamour and efforts by majority of Nigerians for a genuine
restructuring.
The PDP also describes the plans by the APC to smuggle the partisan
report of its committee on restructuring into the National Assembly to
replace the 2014 National Conference Report, as an unpardonable assault
on the sensibility of over 200 million Nigerians, whose collective
interests are contained in the Conference Report.
Nigerians are also alerted of a fresh ploy by some ambitious APC leaders
to blackmail the legislature and create an impression of commitment to
restructuring, just to beguile the people and soften the ground for
their personal political and particularly, presidential ambitions ahead
of the 2023 elections.
Our party stands at the forefront of efforts for genuine restructuring,
but we hold that the authentic materials for a genuine restructuring are
contained in the 2014 National Conference report, wherein, Nigerians,
across all the divides, collectively provided a road map out of our
constitutional quagmires; and not a partisan report by the APC.
It is therefore unacceptable that the 2014 National Conference report,
which embodies the desires and hopes of over 200 million Nigerians, has
been shelved by President Muhammadu Buhari, since his predecessor in
office, President Goodluck Jonathan, personally handed it over to him in
2015 for implementation in line with the wishes and aspirations of the
people.
Our party therefore charges President Muhammadu Buhari to bring out the
2014 National Conference Report, dust it up and present it as an
executive bill to the National Assembly to guide the desired amendment
to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) with regard to restructuring.
The PDP insists that the partisan whims of one party, in a multi-party
country of over 200 million people, cannot override the decisions that
were meticulously reached by majority of Nigerians at a National
Conference.
The PDP therefore cautions the APC to note that Nigerians are not
interested in their deceptive antics but in a genuine effort towards a
holistic amendment process that will restructure our country in the
areas of true federalism, devolution of powers, electoral reforms and
unbundling of critical items in the exclusive list, which the PDP is
canvassing.
Nigerians can recall that in the campaigns that led to the 2019
elections, the PDP made genuine restructuring that captures the desires
of Nigerians, the hallmark of our campaign.
It is rather unfortunate that those who hid in their shores to dismiss
and blackmail the PDP on restructuring are now coming out today to sell
cosmetic and partisan notion of restructuring to Nigerians as a decoy to
further their selfish political ambitions.
If the APC is indeed sincere, it should call on President Buhari to
immediately do the needful, today, not tomorrow, by presenting the 2014
National Conference report to the National Assembly as an executive bill
on restructuring as desired by Nigerians.
What our country needs today is a restructuring that is genuinely
derived from the people and which guarantees true federalism, equity,
justice, fairness as well as national cohesion, and not a partisan
document being bandied by the APC.
