An elder statesman and prominent Niger Delta stakeholder in Rivers State, Rev. (Dr) Sokari Soberekon has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to implement his proposal on restructuring before the presidential election.
According to him, the comprehensive proposal he sent to President Buhari and the National Assembly last year has the perfect solutions to the lingering problems of the country, and appealed to the President to without further delay, implement the proposal which he said will solve the problems of the country if well implemented.
He said, he is saddened that he has not got any feedback from the President or the National Assembly since he sent the document, adding that there is nothing to show that they are doing anything about it.
He felt the only reason they do not want to do any thing about the proposal is to continue to embezzle the resources of the Niger Delta and keep oppressing the oil producing Niger Delta and her people.
“There is no way you can get the best of yam without slicing or peeling it. The same way, Nigeria needs to be sliced for everyone in the country to enjoy the benefits of being a citizen of Nigeria and the slicing of the country is restructuring the country into six autonomous zones that will control their resources and pay taxes to the centre which is true federalism. Each of the zones should be headed by a Vice President that will be voted into power for a single tenure of 12 years which means there will be six Vice Presidents in the country”, he added.
He said in a statement in Port Harcourt that each Vice President will serve as a President General for two years on a rotational basis, which are all well articulated in the proposal.
“Every presidential aspirant that is contesting or willing to contest should contest in their zones for the Vice President”, he intoned
According to him, “this will drastically reduce the huge amount of money spent on election in every four years and also lessen the tension in the country in every four years due to electioneering activities”. He also said “the politicians will not use our God-given oil to play politics again.”
He also called on the British Government to come to the aid of the Niger Delta people “because it is the CORE states of Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers that gave them the trump card to win when 14 European countries were scrambling for Africa, Nigeria in particular at the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885”, It is the core states of Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers that brought in the Europeans, that is why the headquarters was in Calabar before it was moved to Lagos after amalgamation. The amalgamation document was only signed by the Obong of Calabar and the British should remember the commercial treaty signed in 1775 at the Bight of Brafia that opened way for trading between them and the Rivers people. Then, they were known as seafarers and the Rivers people, were known as bay farers. Seafarers are the sailors while the bay farers are the people living at the front of the sea. The Bight of Brafria is where the seafarers and the bay farers met to sign the commercial treaty” he said.
Soberekon who described himself as an agitator, emancipator and Senior Advocate of Niger Delta (SAND) said he was instrumental to the establishment of the oil derivation formula during the Second Republic under the watch of former President of the country, Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1981. He is the General Overseer of Christ Jesus Link Gospel Publishers Church.