Senate President Ahmad Lawan has cautioned southern governors and other elected leaders to stop calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure Nigeria.

Mr Lawan, who stated this while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja on Thursday, claimed he was not against those calling for restructuring.

According to him, governors must ensure that they restructure their states before calling for restructuring at the federal level.

“But I want to advise here: I believe that as leaders, those of us who were elected must not be at the forefront of calling for this kind of thing. Because even if you are a governor, you are supposed to be working hard in your state to ensure that this restructuring you are calling for at the federal level you have done it in your state as well,” Mr Lawan argued.

Speaking further, he noted, “This is because what you may accuse the federal government of whatever it is, you may also be accused of the same thing in your state.

“So, we are supposed to ensure that we have a complete and total way of ensuring that our systems at the federal, state, and even local government work for the people. And that we allow people to participate in governance so that whoever feels that he has something to offer to make Nigeria better does so freely without any hindrance.”

Mr Lawan described the southern governors’ call for restructuring as regionalism.

“We should avoid partisanship. We should avoid regionalism,” warned Mr Lawan. “We are all leaders, and we are in this together. The solution must come from us regardless of what level of government we are – whether at the federal, state, or even at the local government level.”

(NAN)