'President made U-turn on restructuring after he took office,' Afenifere says

He said it was on the basis of this promise that Afenifere supported Buhari in 2007 when he was in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

Okurounmu stated this in an interview with Punch.

"A northerner can promise anything if he wants power. In 2007, Afenifere supported President Buhari when he promised restructuring and true federalism in his manifesto when he was in All Nigeria Peoples Party.

"We made special dresses and campaigned for him in Ibadan. The same President Buhari in 2015 had jettisoned what he promised in 2007.

"So, that Atiku is supporting restructuring means nothing to me. All they want is power to control the rest of us," he said in response to a question on Atiku Abubakar’s advocacy for a restructuring of the country.

Reacting to the recent coup plot, Okurounmu said it was an attempt by the Army Chief, Tukur Buratai to test how Nigerians would react if there was an actual coup.

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He said the "Hausa-Fulani cabal" is standing by to retain power in the region if anything happens to Buhari.

"The Chief of Army staff is only flying a kite to see how people will react if there is a coup. It is the Hausa-Fulani cabal – each time they feel threatened that power might slip from their hands, they think of a coup. All other coups save for the (Kaduna) Nzeogwu and (Gideon) Orkar coups, were all planned by the northerners.," he said.

"They did not want a repeat of what happened during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua when (Goodluck) Jonathan became president. So, they are already preparing to retain the presidency in case anything happens to President Buhari."