Former Chief of Defence Staff and Minister of Agriculture, Industries and Transport, Lt-Gen. Alani Akinriande (rtd), yesterday, said that the socio-political and economic woes befalling the country can only be resolved when the nation’s unity was re-negotiated through the proposed national conference.
Akinriande’s position was re-echoed by a Bini leader, Chief Solomon Edebiri.
Gen. Akinriande, a former NADECO chieftain, in a lecture titled Ijaw Quest for True Federalism in Nigeria:A bridge Building Approach through
Ethnic Nationalities, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, during the 2014 Ijaw Day celebration organised by the Ijaw National Congress, INC, said: “The nation’s unity is negotiable and should be negotiated due to the structural deficiency in the current political and structural configuration.”
According to him, the proposed conference by President Goodluck Jonathan has presented the country with a platform at which the various ethnic nationalities can discuss and iron out how they are to live with one another or disagree and divide to their different ways.
Akinriande said: “Although it would seem that initially, President Jonathan did not see anything wrong with the status quo, fate has miraculously intervened again. By agreeing to convoke a National Conference, it will seem that Jonathan has been eventually persuaded that something is structurally amiss with the current political and structural configuration of the country.
BY Samuel Oyadongha
