Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
In less than a month after he opened up on the South West security outfit codenamed Amotekun, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, yesterday, declared that Amotekun is the beginning of the restructuring of the country.
Attah spoke in Abuja during the conferment of the award of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan on former Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma.
“Amotekun is the beginning of restructuring and it will continue. Nigerians better take warning and do it constitutionally and properly, otherwise it will be total havoc and we can end up like Somalia.”
Attah had on January 20, 2020, said Amotekun could make or mar Nigeria, saying that “simply put, Amotekun is a sign. A sign that can turn ominous or it can be very auspicious.”
Attah, in the interview, spoke on Amotekun against the background of the unitary system being practiced in the country, adding: “We should see by now that this unitary system of governance is what is killing Nigeria, making Nigerians dissatisfied with one government after the other in spite of whatever efforts they may be putting into improving the lives of the people.”
Attah further acknowledged, yesterday that it was necessary for the nation to restructure, going by the myriads of problems bedevilling the nation.
“We must restructure this country back to a federal system, otherwise we are going to end up with a lot of problems. In fact, I move on to say that there will be no Nigeria even to restructure if we don’t do it quickly,” Attah added.
Attah said the insecurity troubling the nation was as a result of lack of a proper system of governance. He also said Nigeria abandoned the path of federalism agreed upon when the country attained independence and deviated into a unitary system that has failed.
“We started this nation as a federal assembly of various regions. Every region was to a very large extent, autonomous and ensured that security was maintained and then suddenly, we changed it to a unitary system. So, that is the problem,” Attah also said.