Ahmed Makarfi, former governor of
Kaduna state, says there is nothing wrong with restructuring Nigeria “as long
as the foundations are not tampered with”.
The PDP presidential hopeful said
institutions of government — including the security agencies — must also be
restructured to serve Nigerians rather than the leaders.
He was speaking in Port Harcourt,
Rivers state, on Saturday at the plenary of the Unity Schools Old Students
Association (USOSA) where he gave a keynote on ‘Peace and Unity: The Role of
Unity Schools’.
“The way Nigerian institutions
operate currently, they only serve the interest of the leaders to the detriment
of the citizens,” he said.
“If you look at the armed forces,
police, customs and other agencies of government, they always serve the
interest of the leaders and carry out orders whether lawful or unlawful.
“The armed forces should be more
interested in defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria rather than
elections. The police will also favour those in power. Customs will clear goods
as long as there are instructions from the political leaders. These
institutions should be serving the the people. All Nigerians must be equal
before the law. That is one restructuring of the institutions that must be
done.”
The former senator further said
the question of Nigerian unity should be settled by now but because “leadership
over time has failed to genuinely address issues of particular concern to some
of our compatriots, you still hear agitations here and there”.
“I believe we must not run away
from discussing issues that concern one and all of us. We must not be afraid to
talk to one another.Good a thing that the agitations do not revolve around the
dismemberment of the nation but rather on how to make our union stronger, more
functional and inclusive,” he said.
“I believe that since no human
enterprise is perfect, it is always in order to periodically take a look at the
structures of our country with a view to strengthening would cause no harm, so
long as the work is the product of a national consensus.”
He attended Federal Government
College, Enugu, from 1973 to 1978.
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