Restructuring: Why we’re reaching out to the North —Olajide

Dr Kunle Olajide is the Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba Unity Forum. The Afenifere chieftain and convener of the Yoruba Summit, speaks with ABIODUN AWOLAJA on President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection politics, the crisis in Benue State, agitation for restructuring and other issues. Excerpts:

 

The police recently declared the spokesman of former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, wanted over the statement released on behalf of the ex-president, but later apologised.

I think the police acted beyond their powers. I have gone through the statement: there is nothing incriminating there and if anybody was to complain, it was Babangida who should complain. Afegbua has been his personal aide for quite a while. I don’t think it is the business of the police, except Babangida complains to the police and I don’t know what kind of complaint he would give.

 

Another former Nigerian leader, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Babangida, have advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to contest in 2019. What do you make of their call?

They are former presidents. In the case of Obasanjo, he was a military president before becoming a civilian president. They are major stakeholders in the Nigerian project and anything they say, must be taken seriously. By no means can anybody describe them as frivolous people. I have read over and over again, the two letters. They are saying the same thing in different words. Ex-President Obasanjo was spot on in his analysis of the state of the nation. The nation is ill at ease. Every part of this country has a complaint about the Nigerian nation now.

 

What effects would you say that the OBJ/IBB statements have had on the president?

I have seen a few steps taken by him since Obasanjo’s letter. For instance, the erstwhile embattled Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has been removed and invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

 

He has been released…

At least, he has been invited and has a file there at the EFCC anyway. Then, the president’s visit to Nasarawa State and proposed visit to Taraba and Adawawa States, to me, constitute a reaction to Obasanjo’s letter because hitherto, he had not left Aso Villa at all. However, Benue was not listed in the president’s itinerary—I don’t know whether it’s been listed now. So, as far as I am concerned, we must give it to Mr. President: he has a health challenge, he is both physically and mentally challenged. We are in the knowledge age and anybody who wants to sit at the top of a nation must have intellectual capacity and must be completely digital in outlook, not analogue, like President Babangida said. For the current president, I think I would join in advising him not to offer himself for reelection in 2019.

He has been very slow in calling his henchmen to order when they misbehave: it took close to nine months before Babachir Lawal was removed. Up till today, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Malami, has not even been queried for going to Dubai to meet a former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, who had been declared wanted in Nigeria. When you begin to see such things, you wonder if we have a government in place at all. Then, Maina was reinstated and nobody has been brought to book. So, one would just sincerely wish Mr. President the best of luck and as General Babangida advised, we should all cooperate with him, at least to the end of his tenure, so that Nigeria can have a breather.

There has been crisis in Benue State since the killing of 73 people on January 1. The spokesman of the Nigeria Police described Governor Samuel Ortom, as a drowning man for allegedly failing to provide security in the state. The governor, on the other hand, has accused the Inspector General of Police of being the spokesman for the herdsmen.

Well, Benue State, as far as I am concerned, typifies the entire Nigerian situation. I mean, for the spokesman of the Nigeria Police to call a state governor a drowning man is most unfortunate. Number one, the Police Force is supposed to be an independent state institution, for maintaining law and order. So, where there is a deficit of law and order, the Police Force itself must feel indicted. Yes, the constitution says a governor is the Chief Security Officer of his state but, he has no control over security. Governors are toothless bulldogs in the area of security in this country, and that is one of the defects in the Nigerian constitution. But to call a governor a drowning man – perhaps, the police have forgotten their own position in the affairs of state.

The Police are a completely independent organ that should act in the interest of the Nigerian citizenry. Once the IGP takes an oath of office, he is now more responsible to the Nigerian state than the president. I’m surprised that the Police appear to be taking sides in the Benue crisis. If you recall, there was a time that the IGP said that the Benue crisis was merely an inter-communal clash. Then, the Department of State Services (DSS) said that the killer-herdsmen were foreigners from Niger Republic, and so on, as if it was the responsibility of us Nigerian citizens to police our borders. It is the primary responsibility of the government to do so.

So, if there is any form of porosity, the government must accept responsibility for its failure. I think the situation is most unfortunate and Mr President must call the police to order.  What is happening in Benue State is very sad. On the first day of the year, people were murdered in their sleep and to make matters worse, a few governors, within 48 hours, came out to endorse Mr. President for a second term, as if they were rewarding the president for successfully overseeing the gruesome murder of Benue citizens. At a time when the nation ought to be mourning, people were endorsing Mr President for election in 2019. I think that our leaders have to be more responsible.  The times are very inauspicious for careless, insensitive statements.  They must be humane in their actions.

 

What do you make of Obasanjo’s Coalition for New Nigeria (CNM) now commonly referred to as the Third Force?

As I said earlier, Obasanjo diagnosed the ills of the nation correctly.  Then, he made a suggestion, which is the Third Force or Coalition for New Nigeria (NN). But my worry is that the members of this coalition have not told us whether they believe in restructuring or not. In the past, Obasanjo was a fanatical supporter of a strong centre and weak regions, and that negates the principle of federalism. That is why those of us who support federalism are very skeptical about his new coalition. I expect to read their manifesto. If you assemble people to run the existing structure, they will fail.

 

Which direction do you think the South-West will move in 2019?

Whoever comes to the South-West to campaign for our votes, we will examine his antecedents and beliefs about the Nigerian nation. Then, we will get a written, publicised undertaking that he believes in what we believe in. I can assure you that this will not be limited to the South-West alone but the South-East and the Middle Belt. We want a commitment to restructuring and voting in the same direction in 2019.

After a lot of agitations, APC finally agreed that something must be done on restructuring. There have been different reactions to the report produced by the APC Committee on Restructuring headed by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State. For instance, Senator Shehu Sani, from Kaduna stated that he wasn’t sure his party was serious about restructuring because a known anti-restructuring advocate was appointed to head that committee. But, others are asking that the party be given the benefit of the doubt. What do you make of the seeming APC’s volte face?

When el-Rufai was made the chairman of the committee on restructuring, I was very disappointed, because he had said it loud and clear several times that the country did not need restructuring. And to make matters worse, in the president’s New Year national broadcast, he didn’t make any reference to that committee. He did not even indicate that his party was awaiting the report of the committee before he made a final pronouncement and sounded what appeared to be a death knell on restructuring. He said the problem of Nigeria, in his own opinion, was with process, not restructuring. I do not want to believe that that is the position of the APC and if it is, then we must begin to question the commitment of Mr. President to his party in the first instance. Well, they’ve come out with a report. However, the process of bringing the report out was very, very defective.

 

Why do you say so?

When committees are set up, it is not the committees that go to the public to announce their report. They submit their report in strict confidentiality to the body that set them up; then, the body will take some time to study the report before issuing its position. If you recall, it was el-Rufai who made the report public before he even gave it to the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, at all. He announced it directly to Nigerian citizens.

 

So, is that a kind of gimmick?

To me, it is a gimmick. I want to believe that it is a vote-catching approach to the issue. I will tell you my reasons. One, I recall one of the early interviews Mr. President granted when he was sworn in. He said he had put the 2014 National Conference report in the archives and that he was not going to look at it at all. Of course, a lot of Nigerians reacted and I was one of those who reacted. If you look at el-Rufai’s report, the committee he just went about almost lifting the 2014 National Conference report. So, I don’t know whether Mr. President has a change of heart now.   Well, I want to give them (APC) the benefit of the doubt. For me, if they do not see the report through the National Assembly, which they control within the next four months, then I won’t take them serious. el-Rufai told us that APC had prepared bills in respect of the amendments to the constitution that they suggested  in their report, so all they need to do is to forward the bills to the National Assembly, which they control. And I don’t see anything that should delay it beyond four months.

During the last Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA) meeting in Enugu, the Middle Belt identified with the assembly’s position, showing that at least four out of the six geopolitical zones in the country are on the restructuring train. Then in the North-East, people like former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, are identifying with restructuring advocacy.  What more does the assembly plan to do to reach out further, so that all zones come on board?

We have been reaching out. In fact, the Enugu meeting was the second meeting. The first was at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja.  We are trying to reach out to those who are yet to be converted to come and join the crusade. The next phase of our struggle is the sensitisation of the Nigerian people— the masses, artisans, professional bodies, student unions bodies, and  so on— on the need to restructure this country. The current system compels corruption and the structure does not promote unity and fairness. So, for us, we have a huge task ahead of us in the next two months.  We want to reach out and we are urging you media people to assist us in every way possible.