Abuja declaration: S/West leaders, ACF disagree with Igbo

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

•.as restructuring agitation resurfaces ahead of polls

By Dayo Johnson, Dapo Akinrefon, Olasukanmi Akoni, Dickson Omobola, Rotimi Ojomoye, Deola Badru

Barely three months to the 2027 general elections, the controversy generated by the position of the Igbo Leaders of Thought, ILT, on the restructuring of Nigeria, yesterday, provoked mixed reactions from South-West and northern leaders, with some describing aspects of the proposal as unrealistic and capable of causing political destabilisation.

The ILT had rejected the communiqué issued at the Abuja restructuring conference of August 20, 2026, accusing the organisers of disregarding the position of the Igbo delegation.

The group proposed a 10-region political structure for Nigeria, with regional control of resources and regional police, while calling for the temporary suspension of the 2027 general elections pending the completion of the restructuring exercise.

The ILT also proposed an enlarged Igbo Region extending beyond the five South-East states, and called for the restructuring exercise to be completed before May 2027, after which elections would be conducted under a new constitutional arrangement.

The proposal has triggered a fresh debate over the structure of the Nigerian federation, the place of regionalism, the future of the existing 36-state arrangement, resource control, regional policing and the implications of delaying the 2027 elections.

Reacting to the development in chats with Sunday Vanguard, South-West and northern voices differed on the precise form restructuring should take, but several questioned the ILT’s approach and particularly its proposal to suspend elections.

Their position is unrealistic—Adejumo

Speaking on the matter, Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo, who led the South-West Zone to the Patriots Constitutional Conference in Abuja, said the position of the Igbo Leaders of Thought was unrealistic, arguing that the various ethnic groups in Nigeria appeared to be struggling to identify the precise solution to the country’s structural problems.

Adejumo, who took a swipe at the Igbo Leaders of Thought over some of their positions, said the confusion was not peculiar to the Igbo, but reflected a wider failure among Nigeria’s constituent groups to determine what they wanted from the Nigerian project.

He said: “What I can say is this, the Igbo are as confused as any. Most of the tribes in Nigeria are in that kind of situation of confusion, of knowing absolutely what next to do.

“It could still be part of the main frustration coming out of the fact that no region, except perhaps the core North, is fully enjoying being in this contraption called Nigeria.

“But again, to be critical and to be discretionary is to look at the whole matter of our coming together, unity, existence as a nation. It is faulty right from the beginning, we know.”

Going down memory lane, Adejumo said several attempts had been made to resolve Nigeria’s structural problems, but without producing a lasting solution.

“Many attempts have been made but nothing so concrete has come out,” he said.

“Again, restructuring that has now been in the front burner for many years now is not new. It’s what the Action Group government started to do or had started to do since 1951, culminating in the 1953 London Conference. It is restructuring.

“It is because the structure was disrupted in 1962, that is why we now say we want to restructure.”

Igbo, Fulani

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