Senate President Ahmed Lawan warns elected officials against calling for restructuring

Senate President Ahmed Lawan has warned elected officials, including state governors against calling for the restructuring of the country.

Lawan who gave the warning in Abuja on Thursday, while speaking to journalists, said he was not against those calling for restructuring but elected officials must not be among those advocating for such calls.

“The call for secession or the call for restructuring, many are genuine calls even though I never believe that someone who is calling for secession means well or is a misguided person.

“But I believe that when somebody calls for improving the structure that we have is a genuine call.

“But I want to advice here, I believe that as leaders those of us who were elected must not be at the forefront of calling for this kind of thing because even if you are a governor you are supposed to be working hard in your state to ensure that this restructuring you are calling for at the federal level you have done it in your state as well.” He said.

“This is because what you may accuse the federal government of whatever it is, you may also be accused of the same thing in your state.

“So, we are supposed to ensure that we have a complete and total way of ensuring that our systems at the federal, state and even local government work for the people, and that we allow people to participate in governance so that whoever feels that he has something to offer to make Nigeria better does so freely without any hindrance.’’ he further stated.

He also said elected leaders across the three tiers of government to always avoid primordial sentiments capable of creating division and social discontent among Nigerians.

“We should avoid partisanship, we should avoid regionalism. We are all leaders and we are in this together. The solution must come from us regardless of what level of government we are – whether at the federal, state or even at the local government level,’’ he added.