June 12 is burning desire of many Nigerians —Ebiseni

Sola Ebiseni, a delegate to the 2014 National Conference, lawyer and three-time Commissioner in Ondo State, in this interview by KUNLE ODEREMI speaks on the relevance of the recognition awarded the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola, among other issues.

What is your view on President Buhari’s posthumous conferment of GCFR National honours on Chief MKO and recognising him as the presumed winner of the June 12th 1993 elections and the declaration of that day as a Democracy Day holiday?

It is an interesting development with several objectives the most visible in contemporary politics being a deft political move by President Buhari against the two most powerful of his opponents: Ibrahim Babangida whose government annulled the election and Obasanjo who, against all pressures, refused to so recognize MKO. It is also directed to the souls of Nigerians who continue to insist on justice in the June 12th issue. The President’s core objective, particularly the timing, is to make the highest political capital of this but that is left to be seen.

Are you saying it might not yield the President the desired political dividends?

For your information, I was and still a maximum believer in June 12th and all it represents. I was a key participant in all the events that culminated in June 12 and the struggles for the revalidation of the mandate freely delivered to MKO Abiola by Nigerians. As the then chairman of old Ilaje/Ese Odo Local Government elected on the platform of SDP, I was the coordinator of MKO’s HOPE ‘93 Campaign Organization in my local government. President Buhari deserves commendation for this historic decision as a beneficiary of the democratic dividends delivered by Abiola’s sacrifice without which none of the leaders since 1999 might have had their positions.

Nonetheless, so long as June 12th resides in the heart of Nigerians and particularly the unrelenting celebration of events in that regards, this moment would surely have come at a point in history. June 12 represents the burning desire of the Nigerian people to take back and reposition our country for the benefits of our people and to take our pride of place in the comity of nations. Fundamental review of the structure and character of the Nigerian state for a true federal arrangement in sinc with its ethnic diversity, an arrangement basterdised by 13 years of previous military rules, was not just a campaign mantra but has also continued to be the basis of agitation of the various nationalities since June 12th 1993. Thus except the President comes to terms with this real essence of June 12 and does the needful by ensuring the restructuring before the 2019 elections, any hope of political gain in his present moves will remain for him, a wishful thinking.

 

Isn’t the time between now and the elections too short considering the divergent understanding among Nigerians about what restructuring actually connotes?

What you regard as divergence of opinion on restructuring is actually a deliberate mischief by some elements to delay the imminent delivery of a baby with which history is maturedly pregnant. There’s consensus among Nigerians about how we want our country to be with regards to the relationship between the federation and the federating nationalities and the governments of their respective states. I was a member of the 2014 National Conference which delivered about 600 harmoniously related resolutions by consensus of the Pan Nigerian delegates. Incidentally, the recent committee headed by Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna which was set up by the ruling APC in deference to the unabated agitation for restructuring submitted a report which was essentially an adoption of the 2014 Confab resolutions. Unfortunately, President Buhari either misled himself or allowed himself to be misled to remain obstinate in this regards and his compromising handling of security issues which continue to diminish him, his government and party.

 

Which areas in specific terms?

It is most disheartening that President Buhari has failed most woefully in his handling of the security situation which is the area the people most looked up to him. The main problem of security inherited by Buhari was the Boko Haram which was evidently so decimated and curtailed that every ward and polling unit in the North East participated peacefully and vote enthusiastically to bring in Buhari who was thought to have the capacity for a final cleanup operation. But today is the herdsmen terrorists’ war which is added with incalculable damage to lives property, destroying the fabrics of inter-ethnic relationships and our reputation in the international community. Rather than tackle the problems head-on, the President appears confused and, as the Commander- in- Chief, getting the troops confused and riddicle the enviable records of the Nigerian military before the international community. For instance, only Buhari and his warped security policy continue to deliberately downplay the herdsmen war by referring to it as herdsmen/farmers clashes as if the people and villages being cleansed and priests and parishioners being wantonly killed were farmlands.

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What is the international dimension you seem to be emphasizing?

A country’s capability for peace at home is the major determination of international respect. Besides in the Congo, Lebanon, Southern African states, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, name it, the Nigerian military is most respected and the toast of the U.N. international peace keeping and enforcement operations. Murtala Muhammed of Nigeria led Africa to look into the eyes of President Ford of the US that America and its allies in the 70 should stay off Africa the continent having come of age. Contrast that with the recent fidgeting of President Buhari before Donald Trump for assistance to defeat the local miscreants who now become monsters as a result of Buhari’s prevarication and condonation the same way President Jonathan succumbed to northern blackmail that military operations against Boko Haram was genocide against the north. Shagari decisively dealt with Maitasine uprising, Buhari was the military commander then when Chad paid dearly for messing up around our border. The same Chad and other small nations around us we now run to for military salvation and they all are Francophone with implications for our regional superpower.   Who will now take Nigeria serious in our erstwhile quest for a permanent seat in the U.N. Security Council. In spite of criticism here at home, the OPC behaved at the wrath of Obasanjo. Condemn him for what he did at Odi and Zaki Biam but he nipped in the bud, the uprising. Obasanjo’s most propelling cause of action was the killings of officers and men of the police and armed forces.

Today, our soldiers are mauled wantonly. With the enormous goodwill he enjoyed initially, even with direct stern warning, the herdsmen insurgency would have been curtailed. But he waited making conflicting statements treating the oppressed natives and their killers equally even when he sometimes identified them as foreigners. The military occupation and operations in the South East against the Biafra agitators was clear indication of kid gloves treatment of the murderous herdsmen.

The President rubbished his own authority and the constitution by undermining the governments of states by the refusal of the police and other security forces refusing the enforcement of anti open-grazing laws duly passed by Ekiti, Benue and Taraba states.

 

You were among those who were with the Afenifere leader when Obasanjo came calling last month. Was it part of the alliance being coordinated by OBJ against President Buhari’s second term?

Well, it was a privilege being invited to join the leader in receiving former President Obasanjo. The visit was private but the discussions were essentially public and lavishly reported even by your paper that I have nothing to add.

 

How best do you think the opposition parties should approach the general election against APC considering the fact that APC appears to have settled for President Buhari while the opposition especially the PDP are bedevilled with several names being touted?

In politics, victory in an election is not determined by the speed with which a political party chooses its flag bearer. Besides, all the troubles in the ruling APC today including its destructive congresses and open wars against the opposition within and outside the party are directly traceable to the undesirable second term ambition of President Buhari.

 

With the mass following, he still enjoys particularly in parts of the North, do you think your party or opposition generally has candidates that could match the President?

Yes, it may be too early to speculate on who the candidate of the party or parties would be it is nonetheless in the strategic interest of Nigeria and its people that this most divisive and inept government be not allowed to continue. Therefore, it is Nigerians and not any candidate per se that will make up our minds to put an end to a government so insensitive to the security of its citizens.

Talking about candidates many of the speculated aspirants even within the President’s APC are more experienced. Among the aspirants in the opposition, do you know for instance that June 12 the reality of which the President has now come in terms with, wouldn’t have been possible without a personality like former Vice President Abubakar Atiku who stepped down at the SDP National Convention in Jos to make Abiola’s candidature a reality? While Buhari and most politicians in the North avoid the issue of restructuring, Atiku and a few like Senator Shehu Sanni are standing to be counted.

 

How many of such aspirants can pass anti-corruption tests?

The constitution presumes the innocence of any citizen until his guilt is proven by his accuser. While not condoning corruption, I will also not expect anyone is negatively labelled by anyone including media trial by lazy security agencies.

 

What’s your take on the involvement of youths in politics?

The reduction of electable age is a welcome development but certainly not far reaching enough. Dictating any age beyond the voting age is inherently contradictory as anyone who is discerning enough to vote rightly should qualify to be voted for. Besides, the electorate should be trusted with quality judgment of who to vote for. However, I do not subscribe to young politicians expecting to be spoon fed in their quest for power. I won a hotly contested primary election as candidate of the SDP at 29 and went ahead to win the election as Local Government chairman. Younger members are in several political offices across the country.