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Ijaw, Kalabari-born activist, Rev. Dr Sokari Soberekon, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari should not be impeached, but should be allowed to stay and restructure Nigeria before next year, advising that the 2019 general elections should be suspended.
Reacting to insinuations in some quarters that the President has failed, Dr Soberekon said that for the minorities and those living in the Delta areas (who he described as Deltarians), Buhari has not failed yet but would only be deemed a failure if he fails to restructure Nigeria by turning the six geo-political zones into six nations before the end of this year.
Dr Soberekon, who made the statements during a chat with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Thursday, 3 May, 2018, said: “We the minorities and Deltarians, unlike other Nigerians, have not seen Buhari fail. It’s when he fails to restructure Nigeria along the six geo-political zones and goes ahead to contest for another term next year that we can say that he has failed.
“As the Senior Advocate of the Niger Delta, I made a call in May last year (2017) that Buhari should restructure Nigeria before it is too late and write his name in letters of gold. If he fails to do that, then he has failed as long as we are concerned.”
He commended Buhari for calling for state police but advised that it would be best achieved when the restructuring takes place, so that each state could establish its own state police in line with its own socio-cultural, economic and political ideologies.
“Buhari’s approval of six thousand state policemen is a step in the right direction but it is like putting new wine into an old bottle. But if the restructure is done, the states will form their own police with new ideology.
“New political parties warming up to contest in the 2019 general elections should wait until the restructuring is done because Nigeria is too big for any one political party to rule; that’s why Buhari is having problem now.
“Buhari said that God should forgive past leaders. He has good intention but the ground is too big for one man. If the goal post is too wide for any goal keeper, too many goals will be scored against him,” he said.
The human rights activist-turned clergy man, who in 1981 confronted then president, Shehu Shagari, in agitation for oil derivation fund, which made him (Shagari) to approve it, lamented that none of the political parties, since the first republic till now, has solved the problem of the minority areas.
Hear him: “Political parties have been coming without end. We started with the National Congress for Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the Action Group (AG) and a few others but nothing good came out of them for the minorities and Deltarians – who are different from the ‘Niger areas’ from where Nigeria was formed- because the ground is too big.
“But we the minorities, Deltarians and non-partisan politicians want nations where peace and justice will reign and nobody will oppress anybody; where no one will be a slave to anyone and no one will be a master to anyone, which is true democracy as Abraham Lincoln said.
“We have started decorating Port Harcourt with the cross of Jesus Christ which is the true symbol of love because Rivers State is a Christian state and Port Harcourt is now a Jesus City, not just garden city. We believe that God Almighty will do something. Enough is enough.”
