ELDERSTATEMEN RE-ECHO CALLS FOR TRUE FEDERALISM

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igeria’s pressing challenges require urgent solutions. 

And the panacea could come a little sooner if the current federal system is readjusted to fit the prescription of the late elder statesman and founder of the defunct Action Group (AG), Chief Obafemi Awolowo. 

This was the consensus of prominent leaders at the 2017 Obafemi Awolowo Memorial Lecture and his 108th posthumous birthday event in Lagos yesterday. 

The eminent Nigerians included former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd); Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II; Obi of Onitsha, HRM Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe; former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Governors, Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos) as well as Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and Chief Olusegun Osoba, both erstwhile governors of Delta and Ogun states.

Also present were The Guardian’s Publisher, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru; former Minister of Defence, Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd); Chief J.K. Randle, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and National Coordinator, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams. 

To them, the nation’s foundation needs urgent tinkering with to enable it to deliver the expectations of the founding fathers for the citizenry.

The speakers noted: “If Nigeria had embraced the political advice of Awolowo on how a multi-ethnic country like ours should be run, we would have been walking side by side with some of the Western nations like Japan, United Kingdom, America and others today.” READ MORE