Chief Abiola Morakinyo was the commissioner of Finance in Oyo State from 1979 to September 1983 and a close associate of the late Chief Bola Ige. He speaks with MOSES ALAO on how the dream of the Premier of Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to take Nigeria to the Promised Land was aborted by the enemies of the country, the restructuring debate and the politics of his home state, Osun. Excerpts:
YOU have been in partisan politics for decades, having served as a commissioner under Chief Bola Ige as governor of Oyo State. One would wonder what you are still doing in partisan politics now that there is clamour for youth to take over governance.
By the grace of God Almighty, I will be 80-years-old by 2019. Let me tell you straight away that there is no age limit in politics if you are of sound mind with good ideas that may be of interest and benefits to your fatherland. For people to recognise you to hold office, selling your ideas and ideals to the public, you must be active as far as participatory politics is concerned. Now, it would be suicidal for a person of my age to be seeking say to be governor of Osun. However, if you have ideas which you believe the citizens can benefit from, you will never be pleased with yourself if you have the opportunity to come across a governor who is not “Governor Know All” who wants to tap from your knowledge and experience.
Since you are still in active partisan politics then, ahead of the September 22, 2018 governorship election in Osun State, do you have any governorship in mind out of the array of aspirants in your party, the PDP?
Yes. Prince Albert Abiodun Adeogun, currently a member of the House of Representatives, is my choice.
Why Adeogun out of the over 20 governorship aspirants?
He has been the secretary and he is still the secretary of a political pressure group called “Up Morak Group” since 1994.That group is named after me and he knows what the group stands for and up till today, we have not deviated from our ideal.
Before Prince Adeogun put himself forward for governorship, he has done a lot of homework. He has done a lot of research, which are contained in his manifesto. This includes turning around and restructuring of the finances of Osun State, which have turned upside down, ensuring agrarian revolution in the state, which will lead to the establishment of industries and ensuring gainful employment. It is also on his agenda to revolutionise the education sector. You know that education is the main industry of the Yoruba people in particular and South-West in general, but unfortunately, the present government in Osun State has bungled it.
If you get to Adeogun, you will see a copy of his manifesto where the issue of education was well-explained. I was involved with some knowledgeable people in the drafting of the manifesto. In Osun State today and some other states of the federation, the payment of teachers’ salaries is being treated as if teachers and other workers are beggars. This is ridiculous. Those in government today have deviated from the guidelines laid by Chief Awolowo as contained in the programme of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Then, those who were at the helm of affairs believed that you needed to make teachers and civil servants happy to embrace your programmes and in return, they will direct their efforts towards make your programmes succeed and making your political goals attainable. If you have good ideas as politicians and the teachers and civil servants do not support your programmes fully, it will end in failure. The people must be given a sense of belonging in terms of good welfare.
But how do you think it will be possible to adequately take care of civil servants in view of the prevailing situation of recession in the country, which occasioned a sharp decline in federal allocation?
There is no prevailing situation at any time that should prevent a progressive government from rescheduling. As to salaries and pensions, it is a simple thing. It is about reordering of priorities. To get our priorities right, every citizen of the state has to be involved. To achieve that, there must be transparency in governance; all sorts of secrecy about income and expenditure will be suspended. The aspirant I support know all these and how to implement this policy has been known to my preferred canis not new to him and I can assure you that this will apply to his handling of other sectors. We have learnt from our interactions with Baba Awolowo and Bola Ige.
Your explanations about and promotion of Adeogun’s candidature make things look as if you would be the governor by proxy. Since you seem to have a lot of ideas, are you kind of taking the back door to govern Osun, which was your aspiration for a long time?
It won’t be possible to govern Osun by proxy. And I can tell you that Adeogun is not a kind of person that anyone can turn into a stooge. But the first quality of a good governor is his ability to realise that he does not have the monopoly of knowledge. One of the reasons why the third and fourth republic public office holders failed and are failing is that they arrogate to themselves the monopoly of knowledge. God gave Papa Awolowo the needed wisdom but ask Papa Ayo Adebanjo if Awolowo ever relied solely on the wisdom which God endowed him with. He will tell you that Papa never relied on his personal wisdom; he would regularly not only seek the advice of his political associates but also intellectuals, Obas and people too numerous to mention before taking firm decisions. The point I am making is on teleguiding the governor or governing by proxy; it cannot happen. Apart from commissioners who have the privilege of expressing their personal views on matters before decisions were taken, who among eminent names or members of his kitchen cabinet could be said to have teleguided Chief Bola Ige when Papa Awolowo never for once attempted to teleguide him? None of the people mentioned above was paid for pieces of advice offered Bola Ige and I know this for sure because of my involvement as one of his commissioners. So, the issue of teleguiding cannot be applicable.
But there seems to be disquiet in your party over the leadership of the party at the state level…
All is well now. The party has put in place an executive being led by Prince Soji Adagunodo. The executive has fixed the primary election for all the gubernatorial aspirants for and we have been assured that it will be peaceful by God’s grace. PDP is a truly democratic party; there will be no imposition at all. There is going to be neutrality and a level playing field for all aspirants.
You eulogised the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo under who you and late Chief Bola Ige received political tutelage. Many people who knew his politics still regret that he could not realise his dream for Nigeria. What is your take on this?
Yes, it is our regret today. Chief Awolowo would have taken Nigeria to the Promised Land but he was not given the chance to rule Nigeria. One thousand and one combinations of Buhari/Obasanjo cannot take Nigeria to the Promised Land; only restructuring in its true sense can take Nigeria to the Promised Land as one indivisible Nigeria
As an elder statesman and without being sentimental, what advice can you give to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration?
Elders like us, including former presidents and Heads of State, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, General Yakubu Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida and traditional rulers as well as religious leaders have called on him to address security issues but it was discovered that his second term aspiration is more important to him than the security of lives and property of the Nigerian citizens. The victory over Boko Haram, which his Information Minister is touting about, is a deceit and propaganda. People are still being killed regularly in the North-East. Where is that victory when a colossal sum of money has been expended and the controversial manner in which fighter jets were purchased? The Fulani herdsmen have been killing people on daily basis in Taraba, Benue, Zamfara and Plateau states as if there is no leader in the country. You will recall that it came to a point when General T.Y. Danjuma, a former Chief of Army Staff and former Chief of Defence Staff, advised his kinsmen to defend themselves when the Fulani herders wanted to colonise Taraba State. Is this government? Men of God were killed as if they were cows. We are all praying to God for his intervention in the affairs of Nigeria.
As an elder stateman, what will you say is the greatest achievement you want to be remembered for?
The late Bola Ige brought me to political prominence; he was my mentor. He appointed me the commissioner for finance in 1979 based on my professional relationship with him as a chartered accountant. This led to my election as the treasurer of the defunct UPN. But most importantly, I feel highly fulfilled because I happened to have advised former President Goodluck Jonathan on embracing restructuring in the country. It was on the 30th of March 2013 in Lagos and he totally embraced it. Earlier, on March 13, I was invited to Abuja by some people who were neck-deep into his re-election. I went with Chief Gunju Adesakin and other statesmen. It was there I asked him to embrace restructuring. As I gave him names of prominent Yoruba leaders, he personally wrote them down including traditional rulers and religious leaders. I feel fulfilled that I have paid my dues and the people of Osun will not throw away my support for Prince Adeogun with a wave of the hand.