A Pro-democracy Group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) has urged President Bola Tinubu to return Nigeria to a Federal Constitutional Governance upon which the nation secured her independence.
The Secretary-General of NADECO, Pa Ayo Opadokun said this in a message to commemorate Nigeria’s Democracy Day anniversary on Monday in Lagos.
Former president Muhammadu Buhari on June 6, 2018, declared June 12 as Nigeria’s democracy day instead of May 29 in honour of late Chief M.K.O Abiola.
Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election died in detention for an alleged treason.
The declaration followed many years of agitations by civil society groups that Abiola must be immortalized.
According to Buhari, the change was to remind all Nigerians of one free election after which the presumed winner along with Nigerians were denied their rights and their choices.
Opadokun in the message titled: ‘June 12 and the Search for Democracy’ said the Tinubu should implement the report of the Nasir El Rufai Panel.
He said the panel recommended that APC should fulfil its manifesto promise of returning Nigeria to a Federal Constitutional Governance.
The NADECO chieftain recalled how the military abrogated, and substituted our cherished and negotiated federal constitution and replaced it with their various decrees which had unitarized all government policies and activities.
According to him, this in turn has occasioned injustice, inequity, disregard for the rule of law and all kinds of discriminations.
Opadokun said all the giant strides recorded by their founding fathers in the First Republic had been significantly destroyed while all the hopes of the people at independence had been dashed.
The NADECO leader, therefore, said the path of federal constitutional governance was the most Ethnic Nationalities Leaders, Civil Society bodies, Opinion leaders, just to mention had vigorously campaigned for in the last 30 years at least.
“This is because while we practiced federal constitution, there were spectacular and visible developments by the regional and national governments.
“The economic policies lifted the people out of poverty and we were the envy of the black world and even our colonisers, Great Britain.
“As an activist and pro-democracy leader, there can be no excuse to retain this unsustainable system that negates all known transparent, technological and value driven, modern governance.
“President Tinubu perhaps was brought to government, to return Nigeria to the path of sanity where it will be able to establish a productive government that fastly lifts its people out of prolonged misery and poverty.
“Others are to modernise its education system, and organise its agricultural endowments to meet the value chain necessities required in the modern world where agriculture is organised as a business.
“NADECO, therefore, demands from the President, to capture accurately, the national mood.
Opadokun said while the country return to Federal Constitutional Governance would not immediately solve all the many infractions imposed by the military on governance.
He added that most of the aberrations at the national and sub-national levels could be taken on board for resolutions.
According to him, for example, the fear that states created whimsically to satisfy selfish interest of the military strongmen and their civilian friends and confederates will be reverted is unfounded.
The NADECO leader said the Mono Regions as they had in Germany, Canada, Belgium, just to mention would determine what was best suited for their regions.
Opadokun said Tinubu must be conscious of his place in history, timing was critical, adding that upgrading socio-political and economic, infrastructural were desirable and urgently needed considering our national endowment.
He said the most lasting and worthy legacy to pursue now and virgorously was to legally and constitutionally restore Nigeria back to federal constitutional governance which was the basis upon which the heterogeneous people’s accepted to be part of the project Nigeria.
The NADECO leader said otherwise, whatever the President possibly believed he had accomplished could be reversed within hours, weeks, months or years by the new ruler.
He said this was because this system was unsustainable and the President must govern to meet current challenges and what his legacy would be after he had completed his tour of duty.
