Lagos State Chairman of Afenifere, Chief Supo Shonibare, has said Nigeria should be restructured to remain one.

Shonibare said those insisting on restructuring are doing so to ensure that the country remains one and that countries practising unitary system of government, when there are agitations for true federalism, collapse in the end.

“For instance, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia collapsed as a result of such agitations.

“All over the world, whenever different sections of the country agitate for self-government and express the desire to control resources, the ruling elite always conceded to their rights to determine the allocation of resources,” he added.

Shonibere noted that the present structure has convinced Nigerians that the country has not met with the yearnings of the people.

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He said the 2014 constitutional conference contains useful recommendations which the current administration should adopt to give more powers and functions to the states to be able to exercise more legislative functions.

The National Assembly, he said, exercises legislative functions of government, in a constitutional democracy and it owes the nation a duty to ensure a change of what many consider as “a defective Constitution.”

The Afenifere chieftain said the Yoruba summit in Ibadan was representative of all groups in the geo-political zone and added that it was those who wished that Nigeria remains as one entity that are clamouring for true federalism.

“We want Yoruba to have a common position to the agitation from several parts of the country on the issue of restructuring, to enable the country evolve to a stable and productive nation.”

On President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment that it is the responsibility of the National Assembly to amend the constitution, Shonibere said: “It is the duty of the president to meet the aspirations of the larger community.”