•Chekwas Okorie
Founding member and first national chairman of the All Grand Progressives Alliance (APGA) Chief Chekwas Okorie, has said that no political party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, African Democratic Congress (ADC) or any other party can address Nigeria’s problem, except the country is restructured.
Okorie who spoke with our correspondent in an interview stated that the coalition party has not told Nigerians what it would do to address the myriad of problems in the country, reports Daily Independent. He noted that it shouldn’t be about taking over power but that the party should be able to tell the citizens what it would do differently.
He, however lamented that the country has been so divided on ethnic line as never seen before in the history of the country, stressing that only restructuring will make the centre less attractive, so that the citizens will no longer be interested in who becomes president.
He said, “I don’t see any of the political parties in a position to fix Nigeria. Except they accept that this country needs restructuring. “The earlier statement, like those who have recently died, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Edwin Clark, and those who have died before them, and the current ones like the Chief Emeka Anyaoku-led The Patriots, they’re saying nothing more than the same thing. Let this country be restructured. “Give every person a sense of belonging. Give all the federating units of this country, whether they’re states or zones, as federating units, the latitude to develop at their own pace. In that same restructuring, devolve power. There’s too much power at the centre. “Devolve power to all the other organs of government like states and local governments. In that way, not many people will be interested in who is president and who is not.
“Tinubu was credited as a champion of true federalism, he has turned his back on that major objective, which if he had pursued, Nigeria would be looking better by now.”
Speaking further he said, “If they (ADC) say there’s insecurity, tell us how that insecurity will be tackled if you’re given the opportunity. If there’s hunger. Tell us your own strategy to put food on the table, whether by agricultural revolution or some other thing. We want to know what you have on the table for the people.
“To say that you’ll make Nigeria an air-conditioned country and everybody will have to live there, it’s so easy to say. Talk is cheap. But I guess that maybe we still need to allow them some time to really get organised. Because they’ve just announced an interim national working committee. They’re still busy setting up their nationwide structures from ward. So when the party is in place, and while they’re doing that, they’ll now develop their manifesto around the needs of the country. And try to market it.
“But I can tell you something, apart from the hunger, insecurity and so on, Nigeria is so divided. What is eating up every good idea is this deep-seated division. The ethnic consciousness in this country today is far heavier and weightier than religious consciousness. So if you look at what is unfolding, it’s almost like a clear divide between the North and the South.”
He maintained that restructuring is the hope for Nigeria.
“Except you bring Jesus Christ, because he’s God, no other person can come to Nigeria and be a very good president. The person will come in and the system will corrupt him or her.”
While alluding to President Bola Tinubu, he said, “The one that is in power for two years now, and continues from the one that stayed eight years, there has been no interest in what we’re saying.”
