Afenifere sets agenda for Southern Governors, calls for sustained collaboration

The Afenifere Renewal Group [ARG] commends the timely meeting of the governors of Southern Nigeria states in Lagos, as this is a clear indication of the acute need for sustained collaborations that will speak to our development as a people and nation.

ARG also applaud their unequivocal demand for True Federalism as the basis of and for Nigeria’s unity and continued existence as there is no doubt that without True Federalism, our dear country is bound to plunge deeper into decline across all facets of socio-economic indices.

Those who are opposed to the restructuring of the governance arrangement of Nigeria, despite the avalanche of evidence for its imperativeness, want to see this country ruined alongside the promising destinies of its citizens. Therefore, it is ripe to collaborate across different divides to save Nigeria, and we look forward to other cross-zonal collaborations like the Southwest and Northwest Governors meeting, for instance.

It is on this basis that the ARG consider the meeting of southern states governors timely and we sincerely hope they can provide the leadership needed to realize the collective need of their people. A forum such as this will engender institutional structures that can effectively address the unresolved National Question, thereby putting Nigeria on the right path to cultural democracy and functional fulfillment.

The agenda before the Southern Governors has its noble place in the global aspiration for the sustenance of the dignity of humanity and fundamental human rights and must therefore not be sacrificed for political or ethnocentric exigencies. We hope that our governors will prove themselves worthy of this noble call.

What the governors have embarked upon is not a walk in the park, ARG, therefore, calls on the chairman, Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State, and the co-chairmen, Governors Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa and David Umahi of Ebonyi States, to see and sustain this auspicious body as an opportunity to play decisive and historical role in our national history.