Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the acting leader of Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, says the group does not believe in secession and disintegration of Nigeria but demands true federalism to address the country’s challenges.
Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Pa Adebanjo called for restructing of Nigeria, insisting there is an urgent need for revamping the country, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report.
“We are not anarchists; we are not secessionists. We recognise that there is a democratically-elected government, acting leader of the group.
“However, it is the considered position of Afenifere that the president urgently constitutes a Government of National Unity solely to undertake the restructuring of Nigeria, in consultation with the Nigerian peoples.
“The issue of restructuring is about our freedom. We are democrats. I don’t want violence. I don’t want the country (Nigeria) to break,” the 93-year-old Yoruba leader said.
Adebanjo, who noted that most states of the federation were unviable entities, decried the level of insecurity across the country, which he said a restructured Nigeria would resolve.
The Yoruba leader also called for a sovereign national conference on restructuring and said that the country must be returned to the 1960 Independence Constitution before the 2023 general elections.
“The Nigeria that was agreed is one that was deliberately federal in structure. The Nigeria that was agreed was by design, based on a parliamentary system of government.
“The Nigeria that was agreed was one that recognised the rights of the federating regions to nationhood within the ambit of the federation that was birthed.
“It was the position of Afenifere and the National Democratic Coalition that there existed an urgent need for a sovereign national conference of ethnic nationalities that have become known as Nigerians.
“We remain convinced that the need for a sovereign national conference is imperative. The basis of the Nigerian state must be clearly negotiated,’’ he stressed.
