Ambode’s devolution plea

Th e story in the media on Wednesday that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode appealed to lawyers at the NBA conference to help amplify the clamour for restructuring the country is interesting and intriguing.

Is this supposed to be a joke or what? Akinwunmi Ambode is the Governor of Lagos State, the largest economy in Nigeria and indeed the whole of West and Central Africa.

He is, (unless he can successfully deny it), part of the inner workings of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress.

Ambode has both the yam and the knife in his hands.

Why then do I get the impression that, despite the intellectual structures available on the ground, he is feeling lost? First, one of the arrowheads of the Oodu’a grouping, Dr Jide Oluwajuyitan, recently fl oated the diversionary kite of Lagos needing some external power (at Abuja?) to grant it a special status.

I have dealt with that in the past.

My attitude has been this: If Lagos is currently NOT special, then, I am certainly from Mongolia.

Th e Lagos arm of the All Progressives Congress has found it impolitic to robustly pursue an item on its long established manifesto.

Th at is, to pursue the restructuring of the polity.

Anyone who can do ordinary arithmetic will easily deduce that Lagos State, and to a lesser extent its neighbor, Ogun State, do not need Nigeria, or Ndigbo, or Niger Delta oil money.

With these as a given, the Lagos delegation would have an easy time contributing to the renegotiation towards a more perfect union.

However, in an inexplicable pivot away from displeasing one man, President Muhammadu Buhari, our friends in Lagos have demurred on the very vital issue of addressing the facts on the ground.

As an Igbo, living in Lagos and laying claim to some cerebral capacity, I fi nd myself repeating over and over again that proper restructuring of Nigeria is neither an Igbo thing nor a Niger Delta issue.

It needs to be stressed that what our President Buhari thinks or wants is completely irrelevant in this determination.

Hence, I am most amazed that Ambode has this late in the day sought the “help” of lawyers who are not necessarily at his beck and call.

Th e political class in Lagos, comprising the Ambodeled executive, the legislature and the political structures (of both leading parties) have all the tools and power they need to successfully address this problem.  Lagos State cannot aff ord not to lead.

Oduche Azih, Okota, Lagos State

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