The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami and Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, both senior advocates of Nigeria have disagreed on the issue Nigeria’s restructuring.
Both of them spoke at the ongoing three-day Attorneys-General meeting, attended by the 36 states Attorneys-General, to discuss critical legal issues relating to $418 million Paris Club Refunds, Value Added Tax (VAT), stamp duty, and amendments to the 1999 Constitution.
Both members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Akeredolu and Malami were also speakers at the event.
While Akeredolu who delivered the keynote address, insisted on devolution of powers in favour of states and local councils. He opined that the federal government’s inability to secure life and property would force citizens to arm themselves in self-defence.
According to him, the police, inadequately funded and equipped, were overwhelmed, adding that state policing and restructuring were imperative.
Akeredolu, who urged states to emulate Lagos and push for restructuring via legal means, claimed that the federal government was getting way too much of the national income at the states’ and local governments’ expense.
“The federal government getting 52 per cent of the country’s revenue allocation is the main cause of the problem. There are some funds at the federal level that they don’t know what to do with. And the states and local governments are being starved. This is a direct consequence of long military rule,” the governor said.
On the recent attack on the Catholic Church in Owo, he lamented that the police blamed the non-availability of vehicles for their inability to mobilise to the scene of the attack.
The governor asked the Police to “close shop” if the federal government could not meet its equipment needs.
“The Police have failed”, Akeredolu said, adding that a central police command was ineffective in keeping Nigerians safe.
“The current spate of insecurity in the country leaves us with no room for equivocation on the right of the states to maintain law and order through the establishment of state police,” he said.
“We will carry arms very soon. Oga Malami. There is no other way,” the governor told the AGF.
The governor further challenged states to restructure the country by, among others, setting up their anti-graft agencies or Anti-Corruption Commission.
He argued that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was a creation of and for the federal government of Nigeria only and not for the federating 36 states.
In his address, AGF Malami criticised state governors for controlling councils and turning around to ask for more powers.
Malami questioned governors’ moral authority to demand restructuring after usurping local government powers.
Dignitaries at the event were Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) and Simon Lalong (Plateau), Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Olumide Akpata and Director-General of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum, Asishana Okauru, amongst others.
