You are from the lineage of political figures, to what extent are you involved in partisan politics, or why are you not involved?
Well, giving to a certain political terrain that you see today, there is no fear of God. And what I am afraid of in my life today is the wrath of God who I worship. And anything that will lead me to worship any other being beside Him, I will not dabble into it. Meaning that a lot of Nigerian politicians though claim to be worshiping God but they are not doing the bidding of that God they claim to be worshiping. For instance, God’s commandment that you should love thy neighbour the way you love thyself. But do they imbibe that divine doctrine? Majority of them are selfish and self centered. In addition to that, are we able to conduct free and credible election that would throw up the real winners of the elections? Where then do I put myself in all this? And because of that, I don’t believe that the type of politics we play in Nigeria nowadays is in tandem with my nature.
That is why I have not thrown my hat into the political ring. But I can assure you that outside the political ring, I have been doing my best to help humanity and I will continue to do so. So, help me God. And part of the way I help humanity and the society is by coming out occasionally like this to make comments on the state of the nation.
In Nigeria, ethnicity is a serious issue, but you are a person with parents and families across ethnic communities; how can you relate that to real life in the country?
It will interest you to know that apart from my parents who were from different cultural backgrounds, I also have a son from the north. From Zaria, Kaduna State, to be very precise. That makes me a completely real Nigerian. Mother from Delta; father from Ogun State and son from Kaduna State. And that is the reason for my fear for this country. Should anything happen, God forbid, nobody would be spared. And that is why we must join hands with the government to salvage the country. I have seen across Nigeria. And from what I see in today’s Nigeria, is disheartening! It is not like how it used to be when Nigerians used to see themselves first as Nigerians before remembering their ethnic origin.
As far as I am concerned, my grand gathers- Alfred Rewane and Dauda Adegbenro came before their time. Now should be their time to teach us how to be true Nigerians who would consider God first, others second and self last.
Our problem is that Nigerians are no more truthful. And the bane of our society today is that we don’t say the honest truth. We know the problem of Nigeria and how they came about. And instead of facing the reality and making suggestions on how to move the country forward, we keep on blaming President Goodluck Jonathan. Yes, agreed, Jonathan is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria today. But can he be everywhere in Nigeria at the same time? What does that suggest? It simply suggests that security of the country, economy of the country and welfare of the country is collective responsibility of all of us all, including you and I.
Whose fault is it?
We are all to blame. Mr. President is a nice person; I don’t have anything against him. But remember he has aides and lieutenants who are supposed to offer correct advice. My advice is that if these aides cannot chip in properly, they should chip out for God’s sake.
Ethnicity and religion have become part and parcel of politics in the country; does it bother you?
It shouldn’t be. Ethnicity, religion should not be part of politics. Let me give you a typical example. My best friend is a northerner and a Muslim. My father is a Muslim. I am a Christian. My wife is a Christian. My son is a Muslim. And we coexist peacefully under the same roof. Why are we using religion to divide us? What has religion and ethnicity got to do with politics and performance in government? Majority of us who sponsor religious disharmony are hypocrites. Some of us who indulge in that have wives and children across all these religions and other cultural bases. What is killing us in Nigeria today is hypocrisy. In addition, pull him down syndrome is also pulling us backward.
What then do you suggest as the qualities to look out for while choosing a leader?
First of all, he must be capable and competent to deliver the common good to the generality of the citizenry. He may be a Muslim, a Christian, a pagan, atheist or anything. Twenty years back, was there computer? But with telecom today, you can order the world around. And the honest truth is that the world has gone beyond certain people in this country. What has happened to the youth between 25 and 35 years of age? Are they still in existence in Nigeria? During 1999 general election, how old were the majority of those governors that won the election? Am I, at my age, 42, still going to meet a father or an uncle as governor? Then, at what age am I going to put in my quotas to the development of my fatherland? We keep blaming ourselves when the real problem is within ourselves.
Take for instance, when we take a flight to London where system works, everybody will behave. But coming back to Nigeria, fifteen minutes after landing, there is already chaos. Arrogance would become the order of the day. This arrogance should be checkmated by discipline. And that discipline is what we have totally lost as parents. Our leaders have lost it also because there is no discipline in Nigeria. That is one of the key areas we have to look at. Or can we move forward without discipline?
How can you access Jonathan administration?
I don’t know Mr. President personally. But from what I see, the problem he inherited had started ways before him. And he is trying his best to aboutaddress the problems. That is why he has some wingers and foot soldiers to assist in addressing the problems. Jonathan must be a supper human and extraordinary person to still remain focused in the face of security challenges that can run a normal human being crazy! Yet, he is still focusing on other sectors that have bearings on the life of Nigerians. But what have we done to assist him to succeed beside needless criticism? We should not see Boko Haram as a northern problem because it is a Nigerian problem. Muslims are getting killed and Christians are getting killed. And whether we are Muslims or Christians, we are all one. When we watch football matches that involve Nigeria, do we discriminate? That is how it should be. If you go back to my grandfather’s days, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a Christian. My late grandfather, Dauda Adegbenro was a Muslim and he was Awolowo’s loyal lieutenant. And he stood by him. We are now talking Muslim/Christian combination. Have we forgotten that the best election we ever had in this country was for Muslim/Muslim ticket in 1993. Didn’t Christians vote for the combination? Why are we using religion now?
So, if you say President Jonathan is bad, give us the evidence. I have not seen the evidence. Then instead of pulling him down, assemble a formidable force to defeat him. It happened in America where Obama was defeated in the mid-term poll.
I have not been to the Villa, but if you ask me about Lagos, I will say Governor Fashola is doing well because I sleep in peace and go about my lawful business in peace because of the security situation in Lagos State.
What is your advice to religious leaders?
They should keep away from politics. If they have any advice for the government, a lot of channels are open to them to offer advice secretly. People say Jonathan has problem, how many of them apart from Dangote, Elumelu and a few others have put their money in the system to help him? Enough of these diversionary comments and criticism!
How do you think we can put the country back on track?
It is simple. Just allow level playing field for all contestants. If I were Mr. President, I would just replicate what happened on June 12, 1993. I would just provide level playing field for all the contestants and let the people’s vote count. So, if a farmer becomes governor, everybody would know that truly, people voted for him and was not imposed on the people by godfathers, traditionalists or whoever. So, let us go back to the basis.
