Nigerians demand restructuring based in 2014 Confab, PDP tells Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has stated that the only restructuring that will be acceptable to Nigerians should emanate from the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference delegates’ report.

The party accused the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government of plans “to smuggle the partisan report of its committee on restructuring into the National Assembly to replace the 2014 National Conference report.”

PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbobdiyan, warned the APC not to insult the sensibility of over 200 million Nigerians, whose collective interests are contained in the 2014 National Conference report.

“Nigerians are also alerted of a fresh ploy by some ambitious APC leaders to blackmail the legislature and create an impression of commitment to restructuring, just to beguile the people and soften the ground for their personal political and particularly, presidential ambitions ahead of the 2023 elections,” PDP stated.

It added that the only restructuring that would be recognised by Nigerians as genuine will be the one “contained in the 2014 National Conference report, wherein, Nigerians, across all the divides, collectively provided a road map out of our constitutional quagmires; and not a partisan report by the APC.

“It is therefore unacceptable that the 2014 National Conference report, which embodies the desires and hopes of over 200 million Nigerians, has been shelved by President Muhammadu Buhari, since his predecessor in office, President Goodluck Jonathan, personally handed it over to him in 2015 for implementation in line with the wishes and aspirations of the people.

“Our party therefore charges President Muhammadu Buhari to bring out the 2014 National Conference report, dust it up and present it as an executive bill to the National Assembly to guide the desired amendment to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) with regard to restructuring.”
PDP said that the partisan whims of one party, in a multi-party country of over 200 million people, cannot override the decisions that were reached by majority of Nigerians at a national conference.