Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The Supreme Head of the Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, Prophet Adegboyega Alao, has warned that if care is not taken, serious troubles that may lead to revolution may begin in Nigeria in 2023, after President Muhammadu Buhari must have completed his eight-year mandate.
He gave the warning on Saturday during the closing ceremony of a three-day 47th annual general conference of Good Women Fellowship of The Sacred C & S of Nigeria and Overseas, with the theme: ‘A Praying Woman (I Sam. 1:1-18),’ held at the church headquarters, Orita Bashorun, Ashi Road, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Alao, also enjoined the Federal Government to implement the reports of the 2014 Constitutional Conference organised by former President Goodluck Jonathan and at the same time implement the recommendations of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on Restructuring, chaired by Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, in order to save the country from purportedly looming troubles.
According to him, “Until we go back to the basis, there will be no peace in the country. Because when a child thinks he is wiser than his parents, there will be a problem. The trio of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamidi Azikwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo sat down and said this was the best for the country and it was the best.
“We are not asking for the shifting of boundries. No. We are asking for constitutional federalism where states will grow at its pace and contribute its quota to the centre. Once that is done, the centre will be weak as opposed to when governors go cap-in-hand begging.
“The problem is that the tiny minorities that is milking this country dried will not allow it, unless you and I rise. I am not agitating for violent revolution. But if care is not taken, the revolution is already building up. And before we know, we will enter the Egyptian revolution.
“It will be a bad thing if Buhari leaves the scene and trouble starts if he has not done the right thing. He should lay the foundation to put this thing permanently in check.
“I also wish to plead with the President to have a look at the report of Confab set up by the past administration and Malam El-Rufai report and recommendations thereof. Nigeria will gain a lot by giving the report a good thought as what the majority of Nigerians are agitating for its true federalism, and if this would work as I believe it would, what do we lose? Those in opposition to true federalism are probably very few in the country.”
Alao also articulated his views on insecurity in the country and agitation for creation of state police, saying: “We must let the President to know that the security situation in this country is getting worrisome and something urgent must be done. We cannot continue like this.
“Mr. President and Commandant-in-Chief of the Armed Forces must pay more attention to the worsening security in the country. In my considered view, cattle rearing or cattle ranching otherwise known as RUGA should be the least of its priority. Erratic power supply has become a major headache for the country and is leading to massive retrenchment.
An hungry man is an angry man, as an idle hand is a devil workshop. I am not an apostle of doom but most revolutions have their roots in disenchanted citizens.”
Alao further spoke on the merits and demerits of state police, saying, “It is either way. Every coin has two sides. When you have state police, you have the locals; they will know in and out of the community. Someone who is not indigenous can’t know it. They will be able to get criminal hideouts.
“The disadvantage is the possible abuse by the state governors. Remember during the ‘Operation Wetie’ in the First Republic (political upheavals between two opposing political camps in the South West that culminated in losses of many lives and destructions of property in early 1960s), politicians deployed the police massively to harass oppositions. That is the only danger.
“But then there is a middle way approach. We can set up something like FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) which is in America. So, if the state police are going beyond their limit, they will arrest them. That is the only panacea. But the present situation where you have only federal might, we need to look at it and do some modifications.
“Again, we need to have a judiciary that stands firm, that is independent and God-fearing. When we have this, our problem will be solved. I support state police subject to certain parameters. State governors will take full control. Make it a criminal offence for anybody that abuses it. In the United States, governors don’t enjoy immunity. I know just of recent, the Governor of Connecticut has just been released from prison because he overstepped his bounds.”
