The South Will Deal With The North Come 2015 If... - Osoba

Former Ogun state governor and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Aremo Segun Osoba, yesterday threatened that come 2015, the South would deal with the North if the region refused to shift grounds on the controversial resource control and other issues.

Aremo Segun Osoba

Resource control has been one of the controversial issues in the ongoing national conference as the South-south delegates are advocating for upward review of derivation to, at least, 25 per cent. Their South-east and South-west counterparts want it pegged at 21.5 per cent while the Northern delegates are firmly opposed to any upward review. They are rather advocating for the status quo to remain.

According to Daily Sun report, Osoba who was contributing to the Conference committee report on Devolution of Power, shocked his colleagues when he warned that if the North does not shift ground now, the South would not hesitate to pay back in 2015.

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Osoba described the northern delegates who are insisting on maintaining the status quo as being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, who suffer the harsh realities of the effects of oil exploration and exploitation.

Also lending voice to the matter, former governor of Oyo State, Senator Adewolu Ladoja, told the Conference that people were using blackmail to pursue the interest of their region, while calling on them to stop discriminating against one another.

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Reacting to a remark by a delegate from the South-east, who complained bitterly of marginalisation, Ladoja said, "They have deputy senate president, deputy speaker, finance minister, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, governor of the central bank, and so on. So, what are you talking about? What we are saying is we are all Nigerians, Igbo are already part of Nigeria and I love them."

Some time last week, the delegates of the ongoing National Conference agreed with a recommendation by Conference’s Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government which advocated creation of 18 new states in Nigeria and rotation of the presidential post between the South and the North.

Source: Legit.ng