Restructuring: VON DG tackles Atiku for being harsh on Buhari
“Yes my dear party, the APC promised devolution of powers, even with our subsequent amendments, nobody is denying the fact, but I am disputing the former Vice President’s assertion that APC betrayed Nigerians. Betrayal is a harsh word. What I am saying in simplicita is that the Nigerian fault line or national question is deeper than APC’s manifesto line because of the diversity of our dear nation, dislocated and atrophied by deficit critical infrastructure, which President Buhari is borrowing money to address first.”
The Director General of Voice of Nigeria, VON, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has confronted former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar for booing the All Progressives Congress, APC, in last week’s failure of the National Assembly to vote in favour of devolution of powers.
Even though Okechukwu accepted that devolution of powers from the centre was part of APC’s campaign manifesto, nevertheless, he blamed Abubakar for being harsh on President Mohammadu Buhari’s policies.
He rather asked the former Vice President and other well meaning Nigerians, to join President Buhari in restructuring the infrastructure deficit in Nigeria.
Okechukwu spoke in a statement he released during the weekend in Enugu.
Okechukwu said: “Nigerians should think out of the box, voting was not essentially on party lines, but on the Nigeria fault lines or the national question, the same voting pattern in the Abacha, Obasanjo and Jonathan Constitutional Conferences.
“This being the case, all Nigerians should join President Muhammadu Buhari in restructuring first the substructure – adequate electricity, modern railways, agrarian revolution, ICT education, amongst others-the foundation on which all other social institutions (superstructure) are built.
”Nobody is denying the fact that APC promised devolution of powers, but Atiku Abubakar was too harsh by saying that APC betrayed Nigerians.
“Yes my dear party, the APC promised devolution of powers, even with our subsequent amendments, nobody is denying the fact, but I am disputing the former Vice President’s assertion that APC betrayed Nigerians. Betrayal is a harsh word. What I am saying in simplicita is that the Nigerian fault line or national question is deeper than APC’s manifesto line because of the diversity of our dear nation, dislocated and atrophied by deficit critical infrastructure, which President Buhari is borrowing money to address first.
“This is my thesis. Let’s think out of the box and join Mr. President to first fix Nigeria deficit infrastructure.”
According to the VON DG, it amounts to sheer propaganda going by the history of the developed countries for the pro-restructuring group to claim that with restructuring, the critical infrastructure would be easier as each region would address it according to its need.
Okechukwu recalled that at one time or the other, Great Britain, USA, Germany, France, Japan and today’s China had a Buhari who laid the solid foundation for national railways, electricity, sprawling road network amongst others, adding that the British railways, the Hoover Dam and co were done by great leaders that come once in awhile.
He urged Nigerians to forget skewed appointments which he said are temporary and transient, and support Buhari, as “this is a golden opportunity for development.”
