The recent meeting conveyed by the Southern governors seem to have unsettled the Northerners in a perceived interest that appeared shady to the larger populace.
The meeting which was tagged “Asaba Accord” and dubbed ‘one of it’s kind’ may have beamed a new light towards a Southern Agenda which the northerners may consider a threat.
The 12-point communique issued by the Governors raised an unsettled dust among the Northern elites which to them suggest a body language towards a possible break up of the country.
The question becomes why are they jittery?
We have had numerous meetings conveyed by the 19 Northern Governors, and there has never been an indication of skepticism or phobia within southern governors for a perceived agenda, then why the sudden woofer of discontentment among the northern leadership?
The agitation for restructuring by southern governors has been long proffered as a possible remedy to the present political structure which seems to hold the country to its current political misadventure.
For example, Resource Control for states, which will help propel economic growth and take development to the grassroots as well community policing to improve the nation’s security architecture is not a secessionist agenda, but a premium to good democratic governance.
But it is becoming evidently clear that the vociferous demand for restructuring is partly at regional level as its nationalistic approach has met a brick wall by the recent utterance of the northern elites who ordinarily should have led the course for it realization.
The question going on in the minds of Nigerians is, are Northerners comfortable with the present structural decadence that pose has proven to be a leadership failure to all? How long will the north see the activities of southerners as a threat to national unity instead of the loyalty to societal wellness?
A cursory look at the national politics in this Fourth Republic has shown that past Southern Nigerian Rulers demonstrated readiness to restructuring the federating units of the country. From the Political Reform Conference by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006 to the 2014 National Conference by Dr Goodluck Jonathan, they all had sound reforms that may have curtailed national challenges. Maybe we will continue to ask how and why the resolutions of these conferences were frustrated.
In as much as I believe governors have the responsibility to effect restructuring within their little capacity, we cannot take away the fact that things of this magnitude require national consciousness to be effectively carried out.
While Nigeria is facing numerous challenges posing significant threats to her existence, the consensus reached by the southern governors places interest on National unity and I believe the conscious strategies therein that will catalyze ethno religious and socioeconomic debacles bewildering the nation should not rift objections.
As it is now visibly clear that the activities of the Northerners may militate the process in the restructuring as indicated by their recent position and utterances. The line of action from their southern counterpart determines the faith of the country even as we approach an ethno political contest in the year ahead.
Daramola Taiwo wrote ✍️ from Ilorin, Kwara State.
