From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON) and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of plotting to destroy Nigeria by pushing for the restructuring of the country through unconstitutional means.
In a statement at the weekend, Okechukwu told the opposition party not to lose sight of the fact that the constitution remains the ground norm, no matter how imperfect and therefore must not be violated.
“I am one of those worried with our sordid state of affairs. I am one of those who advocated additional one state for the South East, to give us equal status and sense of belonging. I want 18 senators, more House members and more councils for my geopolitical zone like others. But rule of law must be adhered to no matter how slow,” Okechukwu said.
He reacted to an attack on APC by the PDP, querying why President Muhammadu Buhari reneged on his promise of implementing an administrative restructuring for the country’s better governance.
He insisted that President Buhari had commenced restructuring by signing ‘Executive Order 10 to strengthen the financial autonomy of state legislatures and judiciary, hence extending the frontiers of democracy to the grassroots.
“They want to harvest the general insecurity and hunger in the land to deceptively capture power by all means. Otherwise, PDP talk of restructuring without the 1999 Constitution, the national and state assemblies is undemocratic and unconstitutional.
“Methinks, we all agree on restructuring, and that there are certain items in the exclusive legislative list that need to be devolved to sub-national units.”