Implementing El-Rufai report will resolve Nigeria’s ethnic, religious crisis – PGF DG

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Director General of Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman, has called on the federal government to commence the implementation of the recommendations in the report of the All Progressives Congress (APC) restructuring committee, headed by Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
In a statement he issued yesterday over the rising ethnic and religious tension across the country, the APC Chieftain said the recommendations would go a long way to douse and resolve the various misgivings and crises between the various ethnic groups in Nigeria.
He advocated for the strengthening of national politics to enable leaders deal effectively with the issues of conflict of interest between the different tribes and religious groups, Lukman said “So long as we are going to remain as a country with all our diversities, there will always be this kind of difficult challenges requiring skillful and careful handling.”
While making reference to how APC under Chief John Odigie Oyegun, brought in restructuring to douse tension in 2017, the DG said “… in 2017 when the madness of Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB and the so-called Arewa Youth got heightened so much that there was the senseless ultimatum to Igbos to vacate the North and national debate on restructuring was producing all manner of proposals including maps of break-away parts of Nigeria, the APC National Working Committee under the leadership of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun initiated internal consultations leading to the appointment of the Mallam Nasir El-Rufai led APC Committee on True Federalism.
“Although yet to be implemented, the report of the Mallam Nasir Committee on True Federalism provides a standard template of how a party in government should handle difficult challenges of polarisation.
“Certainly, if the party was able to move recommendations contained in the report of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai Committee to the level of implementation, the current levels of misplaced anger against the APC and the Federal Government in the country would have been moderated.
“May be the challenge we have today present a golden opportunity for APC to be able to initiate processes of implementing the recommendations contained in the report of the APC Committee on True Federalism. What may be required in the circumstances is for the APC Caretaker Committee led by His Excellency Mai Mala Buni to initiate internal processes of consultations both within the party and across the executive and legislative arms of government.
“Given that there already exist APC tripartite consultative committee, chaired by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo with both the party Chairman, HE Mai Mala Buni, Senate President, HE Ahmed Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiala and PGF Chairman, HE Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Secretary to Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Gida Mustapha and Chief of Staff to President, Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari serving as members, the initiative to commence processes of implementation can be started.
“We need to appeal to our leaders and our party to rise to the occasion of this challenge facing our dear nation beyond the current public anger.
“That can only happen if our leaders are able to insulate themselves from being among the drivers of public anger and hate based on which they are able to painstakingly lead the country in a new direction of unity and national co-existence”.
He said the current challenge around the criminal conducts of kidnappers and bandits who based on all the accounts, hide under the guise of Fulani herdsmen, affect every Nigerian irrespective of ethnic and religious grouping, including those who are Hausa-Fulanis.
“Those who have farms are being affected by activities of these criminal elements too, notwithstanding our Hausa-Fulani lineages. Nevertheless, those of us whose farms are located in the Northern part of the country and not in the Southern part are also faced with the painful reality of these criminal elements.
“If anything, the report of activities of bandits in the North West and North Central confirm that the problem of taking over forests by bandits also affects the North in the same way, if not worse, which should make all of us to be equally interested in pushing our government to tackle the problem.
“The reality is that, if care is not taken, farming activities have already been disrupted in the North on accounts of criminal conducts of these bandits and kidnappers. The level of disruption is such that hunger is about to set in as most law-abiding citizens can’t go to farms due to all the threats of kidnappings and its associated consequences, including possible loss of lives. Unfortunately, given all the hate campaigns going on in the country, all public debates are reduced to expression of support for one ethnic group against the other.”