Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of frustrating genuine efforts to restructure the country.
The party in a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan alleged that the APC plans to “smuggle” its committee report on restructuring into the National Assembly, as a replacement for the report of the 2014 National Conference.
The opposition party said any move to replace the 2014 National Conference report by the APC amounted to an assault on the sensibility of “over 200 million Nigerians whose collective interests are contained in the confab report.”
The PDP while insisting that the 2014 National Conference report provides the basis for a genuine restructuring of the country, charged President Muhammadu Buhari to send the report as an executive bill to the National Assembly, to guide the parliament in the alteration of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“Nigerians are also alerted to 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 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,” it stated.