The Urgent Need for the Political Restructuring of Nigeria.

In the electoral battle between Buhari and Atiku, there are various interest groups. In the core north, there is not much dilemma because both Atiku and Buhari are Fulani muslims. The only exception is in the choice to be made by the Christian north whose people have been consistently attacked and murdered because they dare practice a religion other than Islam.

In the south, there are people supporting Buhari because, to them, it's a sure way for Osibanjo (a Yoruba) to become president in 2023.  And there are those in support of Atiku so that Obi (an Igbo) can have a shot at the presidency in 2023. How myopic both ethnic groups are! Who gives them the guarantee that, come 2023, another Fulani will not emerge as a presidential candidate?

However, there are some of us, moreso in the south, who don't really care much about the current dispensation. Rather, our interest lays in the desire for the nation's restructuring. 

Now, let's assume that Buhari wins the 2019 election and a Yoruba becomes the President in 2023, what did 8 years of Obasanjo's tenure fetch the Yoruba land and its people? The people were still held back in terms of education and socio-economic growth.

And what has the four years of Osinbajo as a vice president  earned or contributed to the educational and the socio-economic growth of the Yoruba land? The man has merely been turned into a glorified office boy and disrespected at every opportunity.

As for the Igbo/south-south, what gains in terms of economic and educational growth accrued to them in all the years Jonathan was the vice president and president respectively?

While Buhari will never "upset the apple cart" to hurt the political and economic interests of his Fulani people, Atiku has, at least promised to allow the restructuring process to take place. In Nigeria, what does it really matter in future political calculations whether an ethnic group in the south produces the Nigerian president when the same people of the south will still be considered as second-class citizens as reflected in Buhari's lopsided appointments into sensitive positions?

Those of us in the southwest can still remember vividly the achievements of the then Western Region under the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo. One could imagine how frustrating it would have been for Chief Awolowo if the nation's structure then was as it is now. Definitely, he would not have been able to build the very first TV or International stadium in Africa. There would have been no Cocoa House (the then tallest in Africa). And, of course, the beneficiaries of the region's free education program would have been frustrated with lack of jobs, especially, at the federal level.

Such was the sad fate of Alhaji Jakande (the erstwhile governor of Lagos State) when he tried to build the first metro line in Nigeria. Who frustrated him? The Fulani hegemonic leaders (Shagari and Buhari). Yes, the same Buhari that is now commissioning imported second-hand trains in Lagos!