Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said he
will personally advocate the break-up of Nigeria, if the country is not
restructured.
Fani-Kayode made this known yesterday on the sidelines of
the Yoruba Summit on Restructuring held in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state.
According to him, “a situation whereby we (Yorubas) are
treated as second class citizens is unacceptable to me and to the majority of
Yoruba people and the future of Nigeria.
“In the first republic we know what happened. We know what
happened to Awolowo and all our other leaders. We know what happened to Abiola.
We know what happened to Obasanjo when he was there.
“They jailed them. They killed them. They brought Sharia law
and Boko Haram. I won’t go too far here. But, I will say one thing. It is time
for us to think again. If Nigeria is not restructured; if we do not have
regional restructuring, let us prepare for Oduduwa republic. That is the
feeling of the majority of our people.
“We appeal to the federal government and to all leaders to
let us restructure this country and devolve power from the centre.
“90 per cent of the Yoruba people are of the view that this
country needs to be restructured. That view is held for good reasons.
“Unfortunately it appears that those from a particular part
of the country don’t acknowledge that and don’t wish to accept that.
“My fear is that if we do not take the whole restructuring
thing seriously and do it; not just talk about it that may signal the end of
this country as we know it because the call for self-determination is very
strong.
“We are doing a lot of talking to those who want the country
to break-up; appealing to them to give Nigeria a chance. But without
restructuring, this country will break.
“We call ourselves a federation but we are a unitary state
with a federal façade. If we don’t have restructuring we break-up. If we don’t
have it, I will personally advocate the break up of this country.”
By Chijioke Jannah
