There’s a parallel between Osinbajo’s, Diya’s travails —Olajide

For Dr Kunle Olajide, general secretary of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) and secretary of the caucus of delegates from the South-West at the 2014 national conference, there is more to the ongoing power game in the presidency, just as he believes Nigeria is more divided along ethnic lines ever than before. KUNLE ODEREMI brings excerpts of the interview:

As an elder, you should be concerned about the emerging signals of a seeming crack in the presidency. What do you think is the bone of contention?

I think the events of the last couple of weeks clearly indicate that all is not well in the Presidency, perhaps between Mr President and his vice, which is most unfortunate. They worked harmoniously during their first term in office and a lot of Nigerians were with the degree of absolute loyalty of Mr Vice President to his boss, especially when Mr President was outside the country for about three months. The vice president held forth effectively and related well with the people without in any way undermining his boos. But events in the last few weeks show that all is not well. However, I do not agree that Mr Vice President should resign his office. I hear some organisations and prominent individuals suggesting that Professor Osinbajo should resign, he should not resign. President Muhammadu Buhari holds that ticket with Osinbajo. Nigerians voted for the two of them together and if they worked effectively for four years, I do not see any reason why they cannot work effectively for an eight-year tenure. Osinbajo should not resign. My advice to him is to continue to continue to exhibit 100 per cent loyalty to his boss as he is used to do and again, remain people-centred in his activities; thinking about Nigeria and Nigerians. A lot of Nigerians still admire him and believe that, irrespective of what we perceive as being some shortcomings of the president in recent days, nobody can say this situation cannot be put right.

Moreover, it is unfortunate that 2023 presidency is beginning to assume a larger-than-life image when we are yet to complete even the first year this second term; when Nigerians are facing grave challenges. Our people are groaning in pain, hunger, poverty and disease. There is massive unemployment; federal roads are completely broken down, irrespective of what the Minister of Works said; federal roads in the western part of the country have completely broken down. These challenges are there. So, we should think more of the present rather than of the future. Nobody knows who will be alive in 2023. So for me, Mr President and his vice should continue to work together effectively to confront the challenges that are very prevalent now.

No one is too powerful for me to control — Buhari

Do you have other concrete evidence to corroborate your belief that there is a cold war between them, aside what are already in the public space, which the authorities have been trying to deny?

I read from the same newspapers. All of us were in this country; the Economic Management Team (EMT), headed by Professor Osinbajo met and about 36 hours preceding when the announcement of the formation and constitution of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) was made. And we read in the same newspapers that Mr Vice President heard about it, just like you and I heard about it. That is enough for me to show that all is not well. I mean if Mr President wants to have a new economic team for some obvious reasons, I support that move, because the members of the EMT were also members of the cabinet formulating the same policies and they would be more concerned with protecting their offices rather than giving clear-cut advice to the president. So for me, it was a wise decision to bring people from the private sector who are not members of the cabinet , who are not being paid salaries and would want to protect their offices because they will be frank and let the presidency know the feelings of the people. But even then, Mr President ought to have consulted with his vice, who was part of the EMT. So, it was a clear sign that all was not well at that time.

Again, do you have any proof that Mr President did not consult with his vice before constituting the EAC?

The newspapers said this for a week after the constitution of that council and there was no response from the office of the vice president to counter it and say that he was part of the decision. And if he was part of the decision, it is only proper that he would have announced it when they were finishing the meeting of the EMT six hours earlier that, ‘well, the government has decided to now have an Economic Advisory Council, which will take over and continue to advise Mr President.’ So, for me, it is definitely not right. Number two, the vice president was accused by Timi Franks about two months ago, of meddling with the tradermoni and the Social Investment Fund. It was the vice president himself who came out about 48 hours after that he was going to challenge Timi Franks in court. I would have expected the presidency collectively to have issued a statement or rebuttal. So, the vice president was left exposed to decode perhaps mischief-makers or the agents of 2023 presidential aspirants conspiring to pull Osinbajo down. Shortly after, the federal cabinet was formed and another ministry was created when we are complaining that the cost of governance is rising, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and virtually all the social investment programmes under the vice president were removed and taken to the new ministry. I don’t need any other evidence. Again, a few days ago, a number of the aides of Mr Vice President were relieved of their positions. I’m sure that if he were part of it, he would have arranged a form of sent-forth to wish them well, to thank them for their services to and so on. This facts are clear; let’s not continue to live under any illusion.

Let me draw a parallel. I was a member of the Think Tank of General Oladipo Diya, then the Chief of General Staff (CGS). The chairman of the body was Ambassador Yemi Farounbi. Suddenly one night, we heard that General Sani Abacha has relieved all the personal aides of General Diya of their positions. We heard it in the news. So, General Diya sent for us immediately because definitely, something must be wrong.  You can’t lay off the aides of your Number Two man without taking him into confidence. So we went to Abuja. The rest is history. I will not tell you about our own advice to him.

So, what happened at the end of the day? Was the order reviewed?   

Of course at the end of the day, you found General Diya in prison and charged for attempted coup.

Most people are saying the vice president is not complaining; that he has not cried out that he is being victimised…

That’s why I’m saying the vice president should continue in that position. He is a God-fearing man and he should continue with his 100 per cent loyalty to his boss and attend to duties being given and he should ignore his resignation or any quarrel with his boss. There is a lot of politics going on. They were not sacked; they were redeployed, so there is a difference between redeployment and being relieved from a position. So, if in the presidency and the Federal Government, I am made to move from the vice president’s office to the office of the Humanitarian Affairs, I am still doing my job as an adviser on social investment programme. I have not been relieved of my job. But definitely, he has been redeployed from the office of the vice president. That is a separate matter; it is different.

Do you suspect something untoward and what is the suspicion all about?

Of course, I suspect so much. My suspicion is that some people believe that the image of Mr Vice President is looming large; Nigerians are beginning to admire him and would wish for him to aspire for the Presidency in 2023, and because there are some other people who are eyeing this same position legitimately anyway, such people are conspiring and plotting to clip his wings and ensure that he has less of public appearance so that he won’t be able to overshadow them. That’s all. There are some plots going on. And as I said earlier, Mr Vice President knows certain facts that people like us don’t know because he is in government.

In government, the situation is different from what you see outside. So, my advice for him to continue in wisdom to be God-fearing, loyal to his boss and perform his duties effectively and efficiently. Mischief-makers and conspirators will be exposed in due course and God will vindicate the just.

You are regarded as one the elders in Yoruba land. Do you want to tell the Presidency that the Yoruba in general are not with the way the vice president, who is their son is treated at the moment?

Definitely, we are not; we are uncomfortable because the relationship between the president and his vice has been very smooth and cordial but the signals we are seeing in the public domain appear embarrassing to us. In spite of that, we still have absolute confidence in the vice president and the president working together successfully to overcome this web of intrigues.

Are those forces behind those intense intrigues you mentioned within or outside the corridors of power?

They are within and without; the cabal, whether we want to accept it or not, are majorly controlling the affairs of the presidency. For the first time in the history of this country, a president of Nigeria, during the swearing in of the ministers, publicly said whoever wanted to meet him must go through his Chief of Staff (CoS). Some of us are a little bit uncomfortable with that. Yes, that may be the administrative procedure in the Villa or presidency naturally, but it is not for public pronouncement with Mr Vice President sitting down there. That was about conferring power and authority on the Chief of Staff and almost making him more important than the vice president. But it is not for us to read meanings into that. However, the other signs that we are seeing do not, in any way, gladden our hearts. We believe we have a very good and dependable candidate in the office of the vice president.

You talked about 2023 presidency. Is it not like chasing a shadow for northerners to think they will produce president again at the expiration of the two terms of four years each of President Buhariin 2023?

Yes. I have been asked this question in a number of times. Don’t forget that the country that the constitution guarantees. The freedom of speech; freedom of opinion and freedom of association a lot of people speaking in the north and entertaining themselves and perhaps, testing the waters and see how southerners will react. It is now an established tradition in Nigeria that presidency, for the time being, will still continue between the north and the south. The north, by the grace of God, will complete their eighth-year tenure in 2023 and it will be the turn of the South. The reasons for this are obvious.

There is mutual suspicion among the various ethnic groups in Nigeria today. We are yet to build a nation and which is most unfortunate. In fact, this why I’m seizing this opportunity to call on President Buhari  that he has a wonderful opportunity to leave a legacy of initiating  and commencing the process of building a nation out of Nigeria. Up till today, Nigeria is still a country and not a nation because Nigerians are very sensitive of their ethnic origins and in any case, the first term of President Buhari, in fact, worsened the situation. So mutual suspicion now is higher than what it used to be before. So for people like me, the All Progressives Congress (APC) did well in 2017 when they constituted the El-Rufai Committee on Devolution of Powers because this centralised system can never take us anywhere. In fact, time is running out on us.

Virtually all the problems we have in Nigeria today: unemployment, poverty, hunger, dilapidated infrastructure, very poor power supply of less than 5000 megawatts for a population of more than 200 million and insecurity are all products of this centralized system of government. So, the APC took a good step when they constituted the El-rufai committee and the committee came out with substantial reports that its words, power should devolve to states. I disagree with the word, devolve.

The power that belongs to the states were stolen in the first place at gun point by the military and taken to the centre. So, it is not ‘devolve’; it is to be restored to the rightful owners of the powers. More than 90 per cent of Nigerians reside in the states and local governments. The centre, Abuja, is ubiquitous; they collect revenues from the people in the states and local governments,; they take the revenue to Abuja, then the elected governors of the people go cap-in-hand through their commissioners of finance , to be doled peanuts. It’s not proper; it doesn’t happen anywhere in the world.

So, I’m urging President Buhari to summon the necessary courage and defy the naysayers. All parts of this country will benefit from a truly Federal Republic of Nigeria, where the federating units; the states are empowered to explore their resources and deploy such resources according to their priorities and needs in those areas and then pay tax to the centre.  The National Assembly will listen to Mr President and you are already seeing it. The political will of the president is what is required. All the necessary constitutional amendments can be done in four of five weeks, if the political will is there. I think it was the late Margaret Thatcher when she was asked if she would want to come back and contest for prime minister, she said no, she would prefer to be the president of Nigeria; that it is the most powerful office in the world. So, it is the political will of President Buhari if he wants to leave a legacy otherwise, Nigeria cannot move and that was why we made progress in the First and Second Republics to a large extent. We don’t need another conference and if you ask, I will advise the president to constitute a committee of 25 or 30 people to look at the 2014 National Conference resolutions report and the el-Rufai report on the devolution of powers. We don’t need another conference. We did a thorough job in that, as we were working virtually 20 hours a day, especially we the leaders, to examine all the issues. In my own opinion, it was the largest gathering of patriotic Nigerians ever assembled in the history of this country. So, we looked at every issue; we interrogated the ministers. That was why we grouped our resolution into three categories, with the first one to be carried out by executive Order. It did not require taking the items to the legislative arm of government.

Nigerian Tribune