Chief Reuben Famuyibo, a legal practitioner, was an aspirant in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential primary that produced the late MKO Abiola, and participated in the Constitutional Conference organised by the Sani Abacha military regime. The Afenifere chieftain speaks with ABIODUN AWOLAJA on the herdsmen’s crisis, agitation for restructuring in the polity and sundry issues. Excerpts:
Last week, a plane could not land at the Akure airport for about seven minutes because cattle were on the runway. How do we solve the herdsmen’s problem?
It is unfortunate that in this age and time, we are still talking about herdsmen constituting a nuisance to everybody. They are attacking people here and there. We are more than 57 years after independence and we are still at this stage, fighting herdsmen? It is shameful. Chief Obafemi Awolowo established farm settlements. I still remember vividly, Erinfun Farm Settlement in Ado Ekiti, the place that was later turned to a golf course. People then were rearing their cows in secluded areas.
It is unfortunate that the more we are growing in Nigeria, the more I see that we have not learnt from the past. And what is the cause of this problem? I believe it is because we have stupid and greedy leaders that don’t know what they want to do or how to plan for development. If not, how can we say that we are still rearing cows on the streets all over Nigeria in 2018? I have travelled abroad; I have been to countries and I find it shameful that cows are not only at the airport but everywhere, even in Abuja. I once saw cows in Asokoro, Abuja. Are these people above the law?
What happened in Akure is happening all over the country. Go to Kaduna Airport, Kano Airport. The only places where landing is occasionally safe are the South-East and South-South states. If we don’t take care of ourselves, this may be the beginning of the disintegration of Nigeria. People are now waking up everyday. I learnt about what reportedly happened in Oke Ogun, Oyo State, overnight, when the people rose to defend themselves. People are seeking revenge and if you resort to self-help, it will be the beginning of crisis. I wouldn’t know why President Muhammadu Buhari is finding it so difficult to curtail the problem. I owe nobody any apology: I believe that Buhari is more of a Fulani president than president of Nigeria.
Why do you say so?
Every appointment, every body language points to the fact that the Fulani are untouchable.
But you are of the APC…
I am not for any party again. I only do my business now because there are abnormalities going on all over the country. During the power devolution committee, we put in place the principle of Federal Character, but that is not being followed right now. He is appointing his kinsmen into all the key positions in this country and abandoning all the other ethnic groups. His cronies are allegedly stealing money and he is not doing anything about it. Look at the cases of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), look at the case of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The man even disrespected the Minister of Health. The comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service disrespected the Senate. Buhari is shielding his cronies. The NNPC GMD was accused of awarding fictitious contracts but nothing came out of it. When you look at all these people, you know that they are of the same ethnic group with the president. The president doesn’t see anything wrong with this.
Look at what happened at the Cocoa Research Institute (CRIN) whose head, a Yoruba professor, was jailed for allegedly bribing National Assembly members. Are you now telling me that other ethnic groups are not involved in this same practice? Are there not worse cases in places headed by the Fulani and why are they not being prosecuted? I believe what our leaders in the South-West, South South, South-East and Middle Belt are saying: that we have to redefine this association of ours. It is a forced marriage imposed on us by the military. If I cannot go to the North and see myself as a Nigerian, there is a problem. It is as if there are different laws governing people in this country, one for the Fulani and one for other Nigerians. They can do anything and be covered by their godfathers. A minor thing would happen in the South and be blown out of proportion. It is unfortunate that all these things are happening in 2018.
APC has come up with a report on restructuring approving state police, power devolution, where do you stand on this?
I think it is a political gimmick. It looks like some of our leaders are just too lazy to dust up past documents and look at their recommendations. Why is it that Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State is now talking about restructuring just because the like of Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Professor Banji Akintoye are talking about it? Has APC dusted the archives to find out what happened during the Sani Abacha regime? Abacha was a dictator, yes, but what about all the things he put in place? I was a member of the power devolution committee in 1995: all these things that APC is now just talking about are all in our report.
We presented over 245 volumes on power devolution, state police, etc. My own committee was headed by Abraham Okene. We talked about resource control and recommended federal character in appointments. The like of Alex Akinyele, Florence Ita-Giwa, Professor Musa Yakubu were all there. The government spent Nigeria’s money on us for over three years. But after that, they dumped all those recommendations. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo also organised his own conference and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan organised the 2014 National Conference. The conferences are all saying the same thing: we have to restructure Nigeria.
If the northerners want to be cow rearers, let them be; if the South-West people only want to face academics, let them be. Let us develop at our own pace. This forced marriage is not taking us anywhere. That is why we have some nincompoops and never-do-wells being put in strategic places in Nigeria now. Look at what happened when Ibrahim Idris was made the Inspector General of Police: the government retired 21 AIGs. I don’t have anything against Idris. But at the same time, why should you spend so much money to train these people and then because you wanted to put somebody from your ethnic group there, you made sure that you retired everybody? Look at what is going on in the Air Force, Navy, Army, DSS and police. Small boys are being positioned in strategic places ahead of the future. I raised this issue at our Afenifere meeting. Southerners are figure heads in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); go and look at the statistics. Seventy-five per cent of the staff are northerners. The statistics were brought out when Lamido Sanusi was CBN Governor, but were swept under the carpet.
Let us have a loose federation. Let each region grow at its own pace. It was the illegality of the military that imposed this unitary structure on us. Look at the development witnessed in the old Western Region Look at what happened in the North and the East. Where are the pyramids? We need to think critically.
The SGF has told Nigerians that President Buhari will be seeking a second term of office. General Ibrahim Babangida and Chief Obasanjo have told him not to recontest. Where do you stand on his ambition?
Let me ask you as a journalist. From what you are seeing on the streets, can any sane person support his reelection? Is it the economy that has picked up? Shall we talk about the security challenges? I think Buhari is not qualified for more than a term. People hailed him in 2015 because of the draconian laws that were passed during the Idi Agbon/Buhari military regime. But has he developed himself to Nigeria’s current level? Nigeria is a sophisticated country and I don’t see Buhari ruling this country for another four years. If he does, Nigeria will collapse. Somebody said we are now in animal kingdom, but that would be worse than animal kingdom.
When you are going out now, people bang your car doors and beg for money, out of hunger. On my way home from church yesterday, I packed the car to buy newspapers. My wife and my grandchildren were in the car. We saw a woman kneeling down and telling us that she needed N200. She was with her children and they were going to church. Only God knows where they were trekking from. We saw the way the children were neatly dressed. I gave the woman and her four children the ridiculously little change I had: N1,000. The woman was weeping. She asked the children to kneel down and appreciate us. I could not resist tears. Where are we going in Nigeria? Are we going to be eating one another? Because he has put his kinsmen in strategic places, Buhari now wants to contest for another term. To rule over who? That will be the beginning of the end for Nigeria.
and then