From Fred Itua, Abuja
A former Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Chief Nduese Essien, has accused some South-west leaders of insincerity in the nation’s quest to restructure.
Speaking with newsmen yesterday, Essien, who is a former member of the House of Representatives, said leaders of the South-west zone support restructuring when it favours them, but kick against it when it does not.
He spoke against the backdrop of last week’s opposition to a motion, which urged companies to relocate to oil producing areas by the Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Essien noted: “I was surprised to hear that the House of Representatives last week rejected a motion, which had asked oil companies to relocate to their areas of operation. The argument by the House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, was that the oil producing areas are unsafe for the oil companies to relocate to.
“He said that probably because he is from Lagos State and that Lagos is not safe. But there is no part of this country that can be classified as safe. That an area is not safe is as a result of the intransigence of the companies over to the years.”
Essien added: “I begin to wonder whether the South-west is sincere about its agitation for restructuring. The South-west leaders, at every forum over the years propagated the restructuring of the Nigerian federation. But each time an opportunity comes, they renege on restructuring.
“When their son, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was the President of the country for eight years, the clamour for restructuring went dead. That is because they were in control of the unstructured federation with its attendant benefits to them.
“As soon as they lost control of the Federal Government, the restructuring jingles came alive throughout the period of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. The jingle sounded so loud that a national conference was convened in 2014.
“A good number of delegates supported restructuring. We ended up recommending that the country should be restructured. Luckily for us, after the conference, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, revived the call.
“Last week, South-west leaders all spoke in favour of restructuring. But when the opportunity came on the floor of the House of Representatives to commence the process of restructuring, another leader from the area, Gbajabiamila, kicked against it.”