Menawhile, a new group known as the Mass Alliance for Inclusive Nigeria Front (MAIN Front) yesterday emerged in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, after a meeting among leaders of the Pan-Yoruba movement -Afenifere, the Pan-Igbo group – Ohaneze Ndigbo, the Middle Belt Forum and the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).
The meeting, convened by the PANDEF and hosted by the Bayelsa State governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, was attended by the leadership of the groups involved in the formation of MAIN Front, including president of PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clarke; the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, the president of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bala Takaya,, and the leader of the Afenifere, Dr. Ayo Adebanjo.
Also present at the meeting were the former minister of information and culture, Dr. Walter Ofonagoro; former governor of Ondo State, Chief Olusegun Mimiko, the first governor of the Old Rivers State, King Alfred Diette-Spiff, Senator Jonah Jang, Prof. G. G. Sarah and the former deputy governor of Delta State, Prof. Amos Otuama .
According to those involved in the formation, the new group will organise solidarity rallies in Benue, Enugu and Lagos as a follow-up on the rally held in Yenagoa at the Oxbow Lake.
Reading the position paper of the group, the president of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bala Takaya said the formation of the group was borne out the need to effect the restructuring of the Nigerian state into a federal system of government where each federating unit shall holds equal and coordinate powers with the central authority and where no state is subjected to an inferior position in the country.
He said, “The group hereby invites fellow Nigerians desirous of equity, fairness, and justice in the affairs of our dear country to join us in the task of saving the sinking ship of state. Our desire and commitment is that our dear country, which it has pleased God to bless with abundant natural and human resources as to guarantee her citizens good life for all, and life more abundant, may resume her delayed journey towards the fulfilment of its manifest destiny.”
On the recent release of the Dapchi school girls, the group declared that the accolades received by the President Muhammad Buhari administration could not be complete without the release of Miss Leah Shabiru, the lone Christian girl among the students who was held back by Boko Haram for refusing to convert to Islam.
“The Nigerian state cannot claim to have closed this sordid saga for as long as Leah and the outstanding Chibok girls remain in captivity,” he said. In his contribution, the PANDEF leader and one-time federal information minister, Chief E. K. Clarke, declared that the Nigerian state without a restructured pattern was a failed one. He described the recent order by the Inspector General of Police, Kpotun Idris, that arms should be mopped up as a staged-managed order if the killer-herdsmen are not disarmed.
Clarke said, “The present situation has turned us to second class citizens. We are asking the Inspector General of Police that his order that everybody should drop arms is confusing. We are asking that until when they ask the Fulani herdsmen to drop their arms, many will not obey his order. “
Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who led the Afenifere, stated that “the Afenifere and the progressive members of the South West are committed to the restructuring of the country. Any different opinion is unacceptable.”
At the solidarity rally organized after the launch of the group, the leaders of PANDEF and other socio-political and ethnic leaders of the Niger Delta region articulated and renewed their call for the restructuring of the country.
The rally which has the theme “Restructuring the Nigerian Federation,” was also graced by leaders of other ethnic nationalities in the country- The Afenifere led by Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Ohanaeze Ndigbo led by Chief John Nwodo, and the leader of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bala Takaya.
The chairman of the occasion, Chief Albert Horsfall, the pioneer chairman of Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, who set the tone for the rally, called for a return to the Independence Constitution which gave the component units the right to rule themselves, and urged the Niger Delta people to unite in the call for restructuring.
He said: “The oil and gas belong to us, our freedom is a constitutional right, above all it is God given right and nobody can give it to us or take it from us, therefore we should we should stop complaining.”
In his speech, the leader of PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clark, said: “The purpose of this rally is for us to manage our own resources. What are we fighting for is restructuring. We want equality in this country; we want to feel that we are all members of this society.”
The host Governor, Mr. Seriak Dickson, said: “We are the real lovers and believers of the Nigerian project and no intimidation or blackmail should sway us to abandon this cause. Our nation is crying for justice, freedom, prosperity and unity – unity that is sustainable and founded on justice. People who are far away may just talk of restructuring as a slogan or as an ideal, here in this state and in this region, we feel the pains of it, we live with it and we have lived with it for decades and so when there is a call to reorganise our country and make it more stable, equitable, just and more prosperous, we in Bayelsa State are totally in support of that.”
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented by Senator Nimi Barigha Amange, urged the present leadership of the country to revisit the 2014 confab report, stressing that it contains salient recommendations and answers to issues that have been agitating the minds of Nigerians.
