Governor Dickson urges multiparty committee on APC report on restructuring

Governor Sariake Dickson of Bayelsa has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to constitute a multiparty committee to consider the All Progressives Congress Restructuring Committee’s report.

Dickson made the call on Friday in Abuja, while addressing newsmen on the recommendations of the APC’s Committee report on Restructuring led by Governor Nasir El Rufai òf Kaduna State.

He called on the president to use his office to ensure that the recommendations were treated as a matter of urgent national importance.

Dickson said that implementation of the recommendations would resolve various agitations and strengthen the nation’s unity.

He called on the leadership of the APC to ensure implementation of recommendations of the report before the 2019 General elections, saying it was possible if the party had the will.

He said: “If we are sincere about the injustices, and inequities, then I call for a multiparty committee to deal with the final details on the issues of state police, the judiciary and the control of land.

“We need a multi-party committee to discuss and agree and work on draft legislation bills that will be jointly sponsored at the National Assembly.

“We should not take the report as final product in itself, but we should not also throw it away.

“All of us need to mobilise national consensus to engage the National Assembly, so that we can drive all these issues before the next election. That is the test of sincerity.”

Dickson promised that he would intensify consultations across party lines to work toward the actualisation of the desired implementation of the report.

He added that he was ready to partner with other leaders on the critical issue of restructuring which could only become a reality when the National Assembly had passed it into the law.

He commended the APC for coming up with the recommendations, which he said were fundamental to all approaches to the burning issue of restructuring in the best interest of the country.

Dickson said: “The recommendations of the committee make a lot of sense. I support them and we are ready to partner with them.

“While it is true that we are dealing with a proposal, this is coming from an unexpected quarters.

“In the light of the opposition to structuring from some leaders, I thought what the APC did was unexpected.

“Let me start by commending the committee and the leadership of that party for making what I will call the most fundamental proposal of dealing with the issue of restructuring.

“When I see what is right, I commend it; when I see what is in the best interest of our country, I commend it because I am a politician driven by conviction, not convenience.

“With the kind of proposals that they have done, I thought I should appreciate their patriotism and commitment to building an equitable and prosperous Nigeria.”

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that El Rufai-led Committee had on Thursday in Abuja submitted its report to the leadership of the APC.

NAN also reports that the committee among others recommended state ownership of onshore mineral resources including oil, as well as state control of police and prisons.

Dickson, who is also the Chairman, PDP Reconciliation Committee, said the committee’s reconciliation efforts with aggrieved members were yielding positive results.

He said that the committee would continue to discuss with party members, saying people were key in the existence of any political parties.