The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan has said that the violations of the federal character principle contributed to anger and dissatisfaction expressed by Nigerians which he said will continue.
He spoke on Wednesday in Abuja as part of activities marking the Centenary of the late Eminence Ignatius Cardinal Ekandem, the first Episcopal Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Metropolitan.

He said Nigerians were displeased with the way government was running the country, urging the Federal Government to change the rules of governance by yielding to the call by Nigerians to restructure the country by addressing socio-economic problems confronting the masses.

“We all know what is causing people to be angry, and if you want to be sincere, there is no part of Nigeria where there is no cause for anger. May be some people are expressing their angers more than the others. But everywhere, people are dissatisfied. And this has nothing to do with who is president and who is not the president.

“If the federal character leads to injustice and marginalization, then, it does not make sense. We must change the way we are doing thing, we cannot continue like this. Definitely, if we do, there will be more anger, more calls for change and we don’t know who will be able to mobilize more people to cause more problem. Don’t forget that this was the one of the major positions held by the Boko Haram,” Onaiyekan said.

He said the lackadaisical attitude by some at the helms of affairs of the country would do no good for the country, and should rather look at the agitations holistically to correct the imbalances in the land.

He said: “The issue is, what are those things that are happening in Nigeria now, which we need to be critically and effectively looked at, in such that, this sense of dissatisfaction, exclusion, injustice that people are feeling will be reduced to the minimum? So, some people put it under big title of restructuring.

“We need to restructure if we want the country to survive. The truth is that things are not organized properly and it makes the people to be dissatisfied. It is not only the Biafrans who are disgusted with this country; a lot of us are, even though we still are not thinking of leaving the country. It is like a father who is angry with his son; you will still not throw him away?”