Agitation for restructuring a blatant lie – Osoba

Famous historian, Dr. Olusegun Osoba on Tuesday said the agitation for restructuring by some ruling elite is a “blatant lie”.

He said most of the proponents did not clearly define what they meant by restructuring but their body language indicated that they were after state creation.

Osoba spoke in Lagos during the presentation of the Minority Report and Draft Constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1976 presented by the Zaria-based Centre for Democratic Development Research and Training (CEDDERT) held at the University of Lagos.

The minority report was the joint work of Osoba and late Professor Bala Usman who disagreed with the 49-member Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) set up by the regime of General Murtala Muhammed to produce a draft constitution for the Second Republic scheduled to begin in October 1, 1979.

Director, CEDDERT, Dr Abubakar Siddique Muhammed recalled that the report was to be presented 43 years ago but it was rebuffed by the then military government.

Former Governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayyuba Wabba, President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, among others called for adoption of the minority report in addressing the nation’s socio-political and economic challenges.