Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, says restructuring is in the best interest of Nigeria and its citizens.
Afenifere said it was stunned that in spite of Governors and former Nigerian leaders lending their weights to the calls for restructuring, Buhari thought otherwise.
The group argued that since calls for restructuring and national dialogue had gained traction, the Federal Government should act with speed on it.
Afenifere was reacting to the statement by President Muhammadu Buhari during the launch of the Kudirat Abiola Sabon Gari Peace Foundation in Zaria, Kaduna State at the weekend.
Buhari, who was represented at the event by the Executive Secretary, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Alhaji Mohammed Shehu, had described the advocates of restructuring and secession as “not only naive but mischievously dangerous.”
Buhari also told those agitating for a national dialogue that his government had no time for any “obscure conference.”
He added that that amounted to seeking the balkanisation of the country.
Afenifere’s Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, in a statement said, “We are at a critical stage where children, particularly in states with the highest population of children out of school in the world can no longer go to school at all for fear of being kidnapped for ransom.
“State governments are demanding the powers to establish state police to deal with insecurity and prominent traditional rulers, especially Emirs have called on their people to rise in their own defence and some uninformed government officials are threatening us with war if we seek restructuring or self-determination. It is so nauseating.
“In any event, restructuring of the political architecture of the country in the interest of the people, their security and general wellbeing is not going to be at the pleasure of the President or the whims and caprices of his uncouth officials.”