, on the need to amend the constitution, where the President should come from in 2023 and other national issuesRestructuring is the main reason why the leaders of the South, Middle Belt came together
to form the Southern and Middle Belt leaders Forum and I am the chairman. We believe in restructuring of this country. I was a prominent member at the 2014 National Conference in Abuja, which was drawn from all over the country. In fact, all the segments of the society were represented. So, we had meetings for over four months. We agreed and made over 600 recommendations and there was even a draft constitution that contained all that we recommended.
So, let the states or regions set up their own defence. After all in the constitution, the governors swore an oath that they will provide security and welfare for their people as the President did at the centre. But today, they are powerless. The police are not in their hands and the army are not in their hands. How do you call a man ‘Chief Security Officer,’ when he cannot do anything to protect his people? So, I recommend it.
The 13 per cent derivation we all fought for came into being in 1999. What does the 1999 Constitution say? It says, a minimum of 13 per cent. That is about 20 years now, yet nothing has been added to it. During the 2005 Conference set up by Chief Obasanjo, I was the leader of our people that went there and we asked for a minimum of 25 per cent increase. They refused, particularly the northern delegates under the leadership of the now late Olusola Saraki and Umaru Dikko.
Today, you find the board of NDDC made up of the state commissioners, the executive directors and three or four members. Until last time, all of them used to come from the North. So, it was a political appointment, one member must have gone to the South West. NDDC has its own problem. So, many of us have been wondering why Buhari has not lived up to expectations of a true leader who should have had a united country under him. We had believed that having attempted to become the President of Nigeria, failed three times and at the last time, he won, that he had a message for Nigeria, to develop Nigeria and make it a great country.
Today, you have kidnapping going on many places. We were the first to experience kidnapping in the Niger Delta. That time the militant in the Niger Delta were not kidnapping people for money and they were not kidnapping Nigerians. They concentrated on white men, who were in the oil industry. I remember a case when 14 expatriates were kidnapped; they were going to work for Wellbores in Port Harcourt. That was the time of our former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
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