Senate President Ahmad Lawan has warned elected leaders in Nigeria to shun regionalism.
He was addressing reporters after the Eid-el-Fitr prayers observed at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Lawan gave the warning two days after the Southern Governors Forum met in Asaba, Delta State, where it decided, among other resolutions, to ban open grazing of cattle and urge President Muhammadu Buhari to convoke a national dialogue.
Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere; the Ohanaeze Ndigbo; the Pan Niger Delta Forum and southern lawmakers had backed the governors; while the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) had kicked against the Asaba resolutions.
Lawal Thursday warned: “We should avoid regionalism. We’re all leaders and we are in this together. The solutions to our challenges must come from us regardless of what level of government we’re.
“Whether at the federal, state or the local government level. I believe that Nigeria is going to come out of these challenges stronger.”
He said Buhari was reaching out to all the stakeholders, urging that elected leaders at all levels of government should avoid partisanship.
He attributed the current insecurity in Nigeria to the absence of a working local government system.
He said lack of autonomy at the level of local government potentially hindered solutions as well as efforts by the federal and state governments towards addressing the nation’s security challenge.
“We must never neglect the local government system. We must go back to our local government system to ensure they’re autonomous and functional,” Lawan said.
Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said those championing the call for secession might be misguided and did not mean well for the country.
He warned elected leaders, especially state governors, against championing the movement for restructuring without first replicating the idea at the state level, saying “If truth be told, we all have equal shares in the blame for what’s happening today.”
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