The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, on Thursday, advocated a return to true federalism for Nigeria to surmount the myriad of problems facing it.
Apart from the monarch, one of the leaders of the Yoruba Pan socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, also reiterated that the call for restructuring and a return to true federalism in the country.
Oba Adeyemi, who spoke as the royal father of the day at the presentation of the book ” 70 years of progressive journalism” and platinum recognition of the Tribune, lamented that the country as presently constituted was moving towards anarchy.
He said Nigeria that as multilingual, multicultural should have a constitution and a system of government that would adequately serve and accommodate the diverse interest of the people.
The monarch noted that many of the warnings given the country by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, were already affecting the polity.
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According to him, recent developments in the country were reflections of the fact that governance had completely collapsed.
He said, “During the constitutional conferences that held in the 50s at Lancaster House, three giants from the country postulated different approaches to Nigerian independence. Sir Ahmadu Bello said the north is for northerners; east for easterners and West for the Westerners. Azikiwe said there should be one constitution, one country, one destiny.
“Awolowo rose up and said No!. We are not talking about the constitution that will be suitable for Nigeria, but what is suitable for Nigeria is when you have a multilingual, multinational and multi-religious country with diverse races.
“That before independence the whole school we had on ground was 123 for the whole of the North while the South had 5,000 schools. There is no way. That illiterate will continue to govern the literate people. It cannot work and it will not work.
“Awolowo projected what will be the question of northeast, north-central. That if you don’t educate the people, the Almanjiri will become bandits. Today, in Zamfara and Yobe, the governments are now subjected to banditry. And they are exchanging these bandits, giving them money. How can the government give bandits money? That is a collapse of governance and government. If you are a student of the constitution, you must believe Awolowo’s views”.
Adeyemi also took a swipe at the federal government and the national assembly over the manner they had handled the issues of security of the people.
He stated that the terrorist group, Boko Haram had continued to kill innocent Nigerians despite the claim by the government that the group had been technically defeated.
According to him, “When you said you have technically defeated Boko Haram, what is the technicality in defeat? Either we agree we have not been able to subdue them and admit it”.
On the controversial hate speech bill, the first-class monarch expressed worries over the attempt by the government and the senate to suppress the people.
He said, “We are moving gradually to an offence of hate speech that attracts a penalty of death. If I have not killed anyone; and I give an opinion that is contrary to the government’s, will it be a sufficient reason for me to be charged for the death penalty? Where are the lawyers in Nigeria? Constitutional lawyers in Nigeria, where are they? Can’t they speak up?
“Nobody is speaking up. If you don’t want to be criticised, then you don’t have to be in government”.
However, Adebanjo charged the Alaafin to lead other Yoruba Obas for the emancipation of the people of the region.
He said the country would not move forward if the present arrangement is maintained, saying restructuring that would bring true federalism is inevitable.
He said, “I am humbly appealing to you (Alaafin) to lead the crusade for the liberation of Yorubaland now, we are already subjugated, we are already surrounded by enemies who are appearing to be friends and our representatives and the government collaborate in our subjugation, we have to getourselves out of bondage.
“Buhari is not ruling the country, he wants to dominate us, there are no mincing words, there is tyranny in the country when the head of state he is not respecting the rule of law when there is no respect for rule of law there is no government again and there is anarchy, lawyers sit down where the president said that and there was no reaction, judges are being hounded all over the country, that is impunity.
“Kabiyesi it is no longer a matter of telling us what to be done, it is a question of leading the crusade that we are no longer going to subject ourselves to this bondage, positive action now should be led by Kabiyesi, Alaafin of Oyo and all the other Obas, the politicians that we think are representing us are not doing so, they are only protecting themselves and for you, as the rulers of the citizens, our hopes now lie in God and you.
He said Tribune has always been in the forefront of the fight for the liberation of the country.
Adebanjo said, “The paper was in the forefront of the liberation for independence when people were afraid, to tell the truth to the powers that be, Tribune’s constituency and progressive journalism started long before independence and we cannot be pushed aside, in the days of the first republic, second republic no paper can ignore what the Tribune said.
“Tribune has been a paper for consistently consistent progressive journalism when people are afraid to say what is right, Tribune will say it, we have a record in history and an antecedent to be proud.
”The founders of this paper looked into the future, they saw what will happen, so when we are talking of restructuring now you will see people asking what is restructuring, unfortunately, somebody that was born into it was even asking us what is restructuring, so what is happening now is that we should have a change in our constitution before any election, if we don’t change this constitution to federalism you are deceiving yourself, you will continue to be subjugated and when they win election they will use the office to cow your own people to be subjected to them”.
Also speaking, a former chief of army staff and minister of defence, Gen Theophilus Danjuma (rtd), said Nigeria is in a hole with happenings in the country.
He, however, said only Nigerians could liberate themselves from the present situation in the country.
He said, “In Yorubaland, everybody seems to have lost their voice, scared. And people appear not to care about what is happening. If I tell you what I know is happening in Nigeria today, you will no longer sleep.
“Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s warning and advice are very timely. We are in a big hole as a nation. And people who put us in this hole have continued today. So, we have to wake up. Only we can save ourselves. The fifth columnist’s activities going on among your people are not helping matters. May Almighty God continue to bless this country. But only we can save ourselves from ourselves”.
The chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, expressed delight that after 70 years of the establishment of the paper, the hope, plan and aspirations of the founders had been realised.
She said, ” Seven decades of success, of battles and victories and of dreams come true are what we are celebrating here today with the presentation of our commemorative book, 70 years of progressive journalism: The story of Nigerian Tribune and platinum awards presentation to deserving Patriots and illustrious institutions across the country”.
She said the book contained opinions of the founders and what elders and leaders of the country had said about restructuring.
Awolowo-Dosumu said, “The book, in short, tells the story of Nigeria as told and foretold in the Nigerian Tribune in the last 70 years. It is also the story of the newspaper itself as seen through the eyes of insiders who work(ed) there – witnesses to it’s past of trials and triumphs”.
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