Restructuring can’t be done by executive order, says Dogara

• APC women leader seeks devolution of power
• Lagos lawmaker calls for clarity in clamour for restructuring

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has cautioned that Nigeria cannot be restructured by an executive order.

The speaker disclosed this to State House correspondents yesterday, after a meeting with the Abdullaziz Yari-led Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said despite the growing calls to reconfigure the country, restructuring lies within the purview of the legislature, which the National Assembly is willing to accommodate.

Dogara said: “Even by a pedestrian description of the functions of government, the executive arm cannot amend the constitution.”

He explained that some of the structural imbalances that formed the crux of the agitations for restructuring were already being addressed in the provisions of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the National Women Leader of the APC, Hajia Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu yesterday supported devolution of power to the federating units in the country.

During the APC Committee on true federalism women consultation in Abuja, she argued that this could be achieved if some of the items on the exclusive legislative list are transferred to the concurrent list in the constitution.

In Lagos, the Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly, Committee on Information and Strategy, Tunde Braimoh, yesterday urged those clamouring for restructuring to be more explicit in their demand.

The lawmaker, who spoke exclusively with The Guardian, said although the 1999 Constitution does not permit secession, the issue could however be included in the ongoing amendment by the National Assembly, if Nigerians so desire.

Braimoh also expressed dissatisfaction with the approach being adopted by the indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in their agitation, said: “The organisation’s tactics are too rigid and leaves no room for a dialogue, since violence cannot solve any problem.”

Braimoh explained that the Operation Crocodile Smile or Python Dance by the military was not a threat to security as being alleged, adding that the military was were just carrying out its routine operations.