Opinions

Open Letter to Governors of Southern Nigeria: Rising above partisan politics

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4 years ago

I congratulate the 17 Governors from different political parties in the Southern part of the country for rising above partisan politics and for the 12-point resolution published after their meeting in Asaba, the Delta State Capital on Tuesday 12th May, 2021. If Nigerian politicians have been rising above party politics the way the 17 Governors did, the country would not have been plunged into the problems afflicting the country today.

If the 12-point resolution are properly managed and executed, the unity of Nigeria as a nation is assured and the drift towards anarchy and another civil war would come to an end.

Briefly, the 12 resolutions contained the Governors’ observations (ii & iii), expression of concerns (ix, x, xii), recommendations (vi, vii & viii), declaration of support and gratitude for host governor (i& xii).

Convocation of a National Dialogue/ Conference:

I observed that the Governors recommended that President Muhammadu Buhari should convene a National Conference/Dialogue as a matter of urgency.

It seems to me that the Governors have overlooked the fact that President Buhari has long foreclosed the issue of the convocation of a National Conference/ Dialogue. This was confirmed in a statement by Mallam Shehu Garba, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, at an interactive session with Reporters, organized by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professional Forum in Abuja, as published in The Guardian on May 14, 2021. For ease of reference, I quote verbatim what was reported: “(Garba) Shehu who foreclosed the convocation of a National Conference, called on the agitators to take their grievances to the National Assembly for amicable resolution”.

In view of the declaration by the Presidency, the Governors’ recommendation for a National Conference/ Dialogue seems to have been met with a fait accompli. Any recommendation in that regard amounts to an exercise in futility.

Summit of Hope:

In fact I was aware of the pre-determined position of the Presidency on National Conference/Dialogue. That was why in my address to the Bar at the end of the 10th Aare Afe Babalola Annual Public Lecture in my honour in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, I suggested that the highly respected Ooni of Ife and the Co-Chair of All Nigeria’s Traditional Rulers, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, should accept my suggestion to reach out to distinguished and influential Nigerians throughout the country, including Opinion Leaders and Opinion Moulders of all former Presidents of this country, the Leadership of the National Assembly and States’ Assembly, Traditional and Religious Leaders, Trade Unions, Professional Bodies and Civil Society Organizations to summon a “Summit of Hope” to discuss and suggest how to prevent the country from drifting into anarchy and civil war.

I am surprised that the respected Governors did not refer in their May 12, 2021 Communique to the May 4, 2021 resolution which was enthusiastically accepted by the Ooni of Ife. Furthermore, the decision to hold the “Summit of Hope” was widely published in the media. Moreover, I had briefed the Ekiti State Governor and the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, about the proposed “Summit of Hope” before the May 4, 2021 resolution.

Implementation of the Governors’ resolutions

Again, I observed that the Governors did not suggest the mode of implementation of any of the suggestions/ recommendations in the 12-point resolutions. Nigerians have been met with numerous ideas and suggestions without suggesting how to implement them thereby rendering such resolutions worthless. Ideas rule the world but only those who translate them into reality that change the world.

I therefore make the following suggestions:

The Governors should set up a Committee of Governors to deliberate on how to implement the lofty resolutions in their communique.
The Governors should hold either a Physical of Virtual meeting to discuss the implementation strategy of their resolutions. For instance, the Governors should direct their respective Houses of Assembly to enact laws banning Open Grazing. Afterall, under the Land Use Decree, the land is vested in the Governors. I recall that as a lawyer to the Federal Government in the N2.8 billion Enquiry in 1980, instead of my professional fee of N5 million, I called on the Federal Government to approve a Federal University of Technology in Ado-Ekiti. And it was approved by the President Shehu Shagari Government. When the UPN Governor in the bigger Ondo State then refused to give land for the University, the Federal Government transferred the University of Technology to Akure.
On the crucially important issue of Dialogue/Conference, which the Presidency had foreclosed, as a viable option, I urge the Governors to support the “Summit of Hope” which was hailed by over 21 Obas and over 500 people present at the Bar Lecture on May 4, 2021. The highly respected Ooni of Ife openly accepted the offer and has undertaken to contact past Presidents, past and present Governors on the project. Arrangements are in progress by the Implementation Committee of the “Summit of Hope” to actualize the resolutions which has been commended by well-meaning Nigerians and non-Nigerians from Nigeria and outside Nigeria.

I call on the Governors to support this initiative to which I have committed the sum of N50 million in addition to my provision of Venue, Accommodation and Feeding.

Aare Babalola is the founder and chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti

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