Senior Special Assistant to
President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita
Enang, said the president directed restructuring agitations to the legislature
because of his belief in due process.
According to Enang, restructuring
is a constitutional matter and the legislature deals with review of the
Constitution and should therefore, handle any issue that calls for change of
law.
Buhari had in his national broadcast
on his return from medical leave in London said that the National Assembly and
National Council of State were the legitimate and appropriate bodies to handle
issues of restructuring.
The president directed all
agitations to both bodies in line with statutory responsibilities they had.
Enang said at News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja that because restructuring meant different things
to different people and groups, and may require constitutional amendment, only
the National Assembly could deal with it.
He said that the legislature
needed to receive the demands on different aspects of restructuring, debate on
them and come out with the best recommendations.
“That is why the president said
`look, we are a government sworn in under the Constitution, anything you want
done must necessarily be as required by the Constitution.
“I cannot as chief executive, as
head of government, do a thing that is different from what the Constitution
says. I and have no power to amend the Constitution.
“The person who has power to
amend the Constitution is the legislature and they are handling the process.
“Please whatever you want done I
will do it so long as it will be done as approved by the legislature and it
goes through the entire process that is needed by the Constitution to amend
it.’
“That is why the president said
that all agitations for restructuring should go to the legislature,’’ he said.
The presidential aide said while
some people saw restructuring as removing control over land from the governors
and vesting it to the Federal Government, some saw it as demand for state
police.
“The man somewhere will say I
want to have state police and that is restructuring, and another one will say
you cannot have state police.
“His thought is that if you have
state police you will use it against your citizens and the interests of the
Federal Government.
“He believes that you may not
have the interest of the entire people because you are run by a political party
and you will only use it in one way or the other to suit you.’’
Enang added that some people also
viewed restructuring as allowing states to exploit their resources and pay tax
to the Federal Government.
According to him, the man in
South-South will say that the restructuring I want is resource control. I want
to control my petroleum resources.
“The man in the North will say
no, you cannot control it because it is federal resources taken from the ocean
which belong to all of us.
“Some will say they can control
it because we have solid minerals in the North that they can also control.
“But, some will say no, don’t
control because if you do, I will control the food I produced and I will use it
to deal and bargain.’’
Enang, however, advised people
with specific demand to forward it to the national assembly.
On why the legislature dropped
restructuring in spite of the serious agitations, he said that nobody knew the
type of restructuring demand that was presented.
“To my knowledge, most of the
people who are quarreling that the legislature did not approve restructuring
may not know the level of restructuring that was presented to it.
“However, any bill that was
rejected can be represented. So, let any person who wants restructuring present
what aspect of restructuring they want to the national assembly,’’ Enang said
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