Hate speeches: It’s time to restructure Nigeria, says Gani Adams

The National Coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, says it’s time to restructure Nigeria to curb hate speeches currently being experienced in the country.
Adams, who spoke in Lagos on Sunday, said that hate speeches indicated that all was not well with the country politically.
“With the present hate speeches, it is an indication that all is not well with us politically and we need to do something fast about it before it degenerates into crisis.
“I have been hearing from the government that there are lots of hate speeches in the country from different groups, even from the political players.
“I believe that under democracy, the government must learn the civil way of addressing such anormally because of freedom of speech as entrenched in the constitution.
“Also, if anyone says anything that contravenes the law, such an individual is liable to face the full weight of the law but that does not mean government should go overboard,’’ he said.
Adams said that various groups agitating within the federation are reflection that injustice is prevailing in the country, adding that only restructuring would help douse the tension.
“We can’t cow people. I am aware of the various interest groups such as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Arewa Youths and other groups.
“With Arewa Youths giving October 1 as deadline, I believe that in any society, when injustice prevails, they will be experiencing the same situation as ours. This country needs restructuring.
“The only problem we have is that we are not well structured from the time we had our independence which warrants all these hate speeches flying around.
“In our society, if the right thing is not done or delayed, it may bring anarchy; I appeal to the Federal Government as a matter of urgency to restructure Nigeria now,’’ he said.
Adams said that if the country continued without restructuring, many groups will rise to agitate more for their rights.
“This country cannot continue without restructuring because people will express their rights for liberty and we cannot avoid this. They will continue to agitate.
“If we consider what happens during the military we will see that we cannot stop agitation from people. We fought the military through agitation and we won.
“At the end, the wish of the people will prevail, so to reduce all these ugly incidences and to sanitise our society, the government have their responsibility.
“Government must do the wish of the people because democracy is the government of the people, for the people and by the people. We cannot call the peoples bluff,’’ he said.