Asari Dokubo

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

Former leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubo has said calls for the restructuring of the country were fraudulent and hypocritical creation of partisan politicians to deceive Nigerians and he does not buy into it.

“I dont believe in restructuring.  Nigeria is always producing new terms. There is nowhere in the world you hear about “restructuring or true federalism”. You are either a federal state or you are not. What Nigeria operates is a crude primitive and unitary system of government. Restructuring is a gimmick to deceive the people. There is nothing like restructuring.”

He called for a referendum to allow Nigerians decide the nature of their co-existence.

“There should be a referendum to decide which way to go in Nigeria”

On why former President Goodluck Jonathan, his kinsman could not effect constitutional change in Nigeria during his tenure, he said Jonathan was handicapped because the North had the largest representation in the national assembly and could have frustrated it.

He pointed out that President Jonathan could not correct the imbalances in the constitution because the dominant North frustrated it. He cited an instance where the Constituencies in a state like Kano is larger than the whole a South-South states and their galvanized opinion drowns that of South-South.