Former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has warned that the agitation for self-determination and ethnic sovereignty by component parts of the Federation may break up the country.
Musa also kicked against calls for the implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference, claiming that the confab convened by former President Goodluck Jonathan was a waste.
The national chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party stated his position in a chat with our correspondent in Kaduna.
According to him, if the demand for the restructuring of the country along ethnic lines was granted, it would result in the breakup of Nigeria.
He said, “What some people are thinking in terms of restructuring could break up the country.
“In the case of some people, what they say of restructuring is ethnic sovereignty, that every ethnic group should be sovereign. That will lead to the break-up of the country because we have more than 300 ethnic groups in Nigeria. How can we have this type of restructuring?
Musa described ethnic sovereignty as a mirage, stressing, “The ethnic groups are not of the same size”.
He said though he supported agitation for the restructuring of the country, “Where people differ fundamentally, is how powerful will the centre be in a Federal system; it will not come true to have a situation in which the regions are stronger than the centre. In that case, there will not be one country, there will be confederation.
“Federalism and restructuring mean different things to different people. What someone feel is Federalism, another person sees it differently. The same thing with restructuring.
“The idea of Federalism is good, because the idea is, you have one Federal Government in which there is division of power between the center and the regions. That is Federalism, that is division of power between the center and the regions and everybody respects it.”
Speaking further, the former governor explained, “The allocation of federally collected revenues, while the regions must have 60 percent, 40 percent should go to the centre. The regions collectively must have more than the centre.Unlike what is happening today in Nigeria, the centre is having more allocation than the regions and that should not be so, it is not a true Federalism.
“A true Federalism is that the centre should have less than the regions because the regions are many, put together.
“Yes, I support restructuring. Again restructuring means different thing to different people. For instance, to us, the socialists, the most important thing in the restructuring of the country, whether it is federalism, central or whatever it is, the most important thing in the restructuring of the country is the economy, which says the states must play the leading role in the economy to ensure justice, equality etc”.
Musa argued that the country required a fresh national conference with elected representatives to chart a new course for Nigeria.
“We still need a true national conference; membership must be freely elected by the people.
“I do not agree that implementation of 2014 confab report will solve our problems. That 2014 national conference is not worth anything. It is not worth our effort. We have more important things to do.
