Afenifere group in the United Kingdom and Europe has said the 2023 general election in Nigeria is time for all Nigerians both home and in diaspora to unite together to elect leaders that will restructure the country.
The group in a statement on Thursday by its Secretary, Engr. Anthony Ajayi said restructuring is the only solution to Nigeria’s progress.
The group stated that if Nigerians fail to elect leaders beyond politics in 2023, the challenges militating against growth and development of Nigeria will continue because there is no other solution to Nigeria’s problems than restructuring.
The statement read: “Nigeria need acreative and innovative leaders to make the country a better place for all. Nigeria need leaders who will restructure the country. The current structure in the country is a corrupt one devoid of checks and balance and capable of destroying everything our forefathers laboured for. It promote injustice, oppression and violence. It encourages laziness, immorarility and disunity.
“A structure that allows the federal government to spend over 70 per cent of its budget on recurrent expenditure and less than 30 per cent on capital expenditure cannot make modern progress.
“Insecurity is destroying the country already as lives and properties are being lost on daily bases. The question is, what are the problems？What does these people who are bent in destroying Nigeria want？The answer is to restructure the the country so that everyone can feel some sense of belonging.
“Since massive corruption, embezzlement of public fund, poor accountability; high cost of governance and the crisis of legitimacy; recurring ethnic, regional and religious clashes; abuse of constitution and constitutionalism, etc have thwarted Nigeria’s socio-economic and political development, we therefore need leaders who can restructure the federal status as presently constituted.
“We urge all Nigerians to explore the 2023 elections to deepen democracy and enhance the frontier of true federalism in Nigeria.
“We know already that politicians are going to use restructuring to campaign, so Nigerians should scorn anyone that will use restructuring as a campaign issue again. They have taken us for a ride for too long. They are also banking on palliatives and money at polling units to buy their way into office. They are perfecting arrangements to compromise security agents and the judiciary including INEC officials to ensure their victory come 2023.
“We therefore appeal to Nigerians to understand that the idea for restructuring is aimed at ensuring balanced national development, unity and peaceful co-existence and be ready to vote and ensure that their votes count”.
