Democracy hasn’t put smiles on faces of Nigerians —Bode George

Former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, speaks with TAIWO AMODU on 18 years of democracy and the country of his dream. Excerpts:

What is your assessment of the present administration?

You know, I made it a deliberate policy not to appraise this government.

We want your appraisal, not as a politician, but as a statesman.

You see, no matter what, once my name rings anywhere, people will not see me as a private person, but as a politician, a PDP chieftain. But if I were to appraise the government, the way it is done anywhere, once a government is elected, the first three years, you allow them to do their programme and policies. The last year is the time for serious x-ray of their governance, as against what we do. In other words, they still have one more year.

I am told they want to have presidential elections about six months before handing over, so that all legal turbulence would be settled before May 29. So, when you look at it, we will be having presidential election in November 2018. Which means, from this November, full-blown politics will start. That’s when I believe we will be able to open up, because whatever they have done in three years must have had some kind of impact: negative or positive. That’s why I made up my mind that I wouldn’t make any serious comment, unless I see a move that will be too dangerous for the existence of the country. I wouldn’t comment about their policies.

Yes, things aren’t working out. There are a lot of problems. They are telling us they would fix this; fix the dollar, put a lot of things right. You see, that’s my position on the party in government. I want to reserve my comments.

But looking at it holistically, what is your appraisal of democracy in the last 18 years? Have we fared well as a nation?

No, we haven’t and you can liken that to a young man growing up. A 16-year-old or 18-year-old, is he an adult? Not quite. Fortunately for us, with the new highway of technology, social media, you instantly know what is happening anywhere in the world. So, we are bound to compare and contrast with all the developed worlds. Take America, it is well over 200 years in existence as an independent nation. They still haven’t got it totally right. You know they have a new president now that is the master-know-it-all, but the system is checkmating him. There is no absolutism in government; there must be respect for the three equal branches of government. It isn’t the executive alone; the legislature and the judiciary, all these form the tripod on which the platform will remain stable. He was issuing executive orders and they are checkmating him; that’s the beauty of it.

But in Nigeria, we are still trying first of all to melt ourselves up as Nigerians—not to first of all see yourself as a Yoruba man, as an Hausa-Fulani man, as an Igbo man, or South-South man.

That’s our problem. We are yet to be a nation! So, when a policy is coming up, somebody somewhere is looking and analysing: ‘this one will benefit tribe A as against tribe B.’ That’s the situation. General Yakubu Gowon tried, he started the NYSC, send people away from their areas so that they can learn about the cultures of others. I am saying this because I had traversed the length and breadth of this country when we were campaigning all over. The country is a beautiful country, God gave us resource, but to tap into these resources, we still look through the prisms of tribe. When are we going to get out of the woods? Since 1960 to date, we have achieved very little. It is like a horse shuffling on the same spot. No movement! And it is massive horse!! You look at us from Lagos, from Maiduguri, from Calabar to Sokoto, from Jigawa to the Delta—it is a massive country. What have we gotten for it? If you talk about corruption, we must fight it, collectively. We have a big problem and if people don’t want to agree to it, I wish them the best of luck.

The other thing I want to say. When I was growing up, it didn’t matter where you came from. People co-lived peacefully in Lagos. Once you bring your wares to the market, they are interested in the wares; they buy it and give you your money. You make your money; you can build a property there. There is no tribe in Nigeria that doesn’t reside in Lagos. There is none. 6.5 million registered voters are in Lagos; that’s more than the whole of South-West put together. Look at the IGR generated in Lagos. So, if you carry everybody along, we would all be happy. What is the essence of governance? There mustn’t be segregation in governance. The utilisation of the resources of that area for the benefit of the people; that’s what you call governance. But when you start to say, ‘this man is from my area,’ people are disinterested.

Nothing is working.