Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary, Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba social-group, in this interview with NATHANIEL AKHIGBE, highlighted many factors militating against the progress of the country in general and the South-West in particular. He spoke about the inability of some states to pay workers’ salaries, blaming it on the expensive lifestyle of the governors. He also dwelt on several other issues. Excerpts:
Afenifere used to be a voice to reckon with both in the South-West in particular and in the country in general. What has happened to that voice?
Whatever you see in Afenifere at the moment cannot be divorced from the general political malaise that is facing Nigeria. Within that context, politics of value began to take the back seat; money politics has since taken over with its attendant consequences. When you look at the Yorubaland today, people of pedigree, people of character and educated have been pushed to the background since when Babangida started his new breed which turned out to be new greed. So, the new greed are out now with all kinds of illicit funds in our politics; thieves, drug money, stolen funds and all kinds of unearned money have taking over our politics. And in that context, those who want to entrench our values and ideas are not on the front seat. All kinds of strange children have taken over our politics. I hope you have not forgotten that a former deputy Inspector General Police got up in front of the Senate and said ‘this chamber is filled with criminals’. And only few days ago, we saw how all the ‘Mohammed Alis and Mike Tysons were throwing blows at the National Assembly. The people leading Nigeria today are mostly criminal-minded. On the front line today are school dropouts, certificate forgers, people with shadowing characters. Ninety (90) percent of lawmakers in the South West House of Assembly today are people who cannot even appreciate budget. Until we have a restoration of those core values, we are not moving anywhere.
What is the level of unity at the moment within Afenifere in terms of focus and unity of purpose?
In terms of focus and purpose, Afenifere is united. We still stand on the ideals of our founding fathers: that multi-ethnic nation like Nigeria can only prosper and be at peace and rest when all the constituent units are allowed to move at their own pace. What we are having today is a crash of civilisation. Because strange children have temporarily taken over the political space of the South-West with resources at their disposal, they were able to hoodwink a large section of our space. When you look at the last election, it was a referendum in the South-West on the kind of service that we want. We in Afenifere, with others stood on the fact that we want a truly federal Nigeria; not a military arrangement. Not a situation where we will be practising ‘Almajiri federalism’; where owners of resources have to carry bow and go and beg money in Abuja as if Abuja has any resources of its own! But because the structure of Nigeria has made it so to create a treasurer in Abuja who takes the resources and keep it and now beginning to dole out what he likes. We said no. Each state in Nigeria should move at their own pace; we should have fiscal federalism, each state should develop their own resources and pay tax to the federal. Those who were against us at the last National Conference say no because they want to continue to share power and corruption in Abuja; and sacrificing what is core, what they can develop. And when the results came, we have 44percent behind us. Unfortunately, they have 56percent which set back the struggle to have Nigeria restructured. Now they have gone back to share the power and we can see what they are sharing.
Is Afenifere worried that the South-West is at the moment divided along party lines?
No. We are not worried because the foundation and the essence of the Yoruba politics are democratic choices. Even in our traditional institution, when a tribe wants to choose a king, is not one person that is just put forward! There are ruling houses who forward candidates to the king makers who in turn, with the assistance of the ‘Ifa’ (priest) would have to make a choice. That is the beauty of democracy! In the last elections there were people who were in APC and there were those who were in PDP and there were also people like us who do not belong to any political party.
As a participant in the last National Conference which made a number of recommendations, are you worried that non-implementation of such recommendations is at Nigeria’s detriment?
I am not in the list of those worried at all because fact speaks for itself. When you are dealing with truth you can’t bury the truth. In the last elections, the south west APC was able to mobilise all kinds of frustrated children whom I called ‘internet thugs’ who had no argument and understanding of what we were talking about; they were abusing and insulting us. All they were doing was character-assassination and maligning. Many of them know more yahoo than they know history; they respect looters more than leaders; abusing people who are nobler than them and their sponsors. But we are not bothered. Jesus Christ was crucified and buried on a Friday but by Sunday He Odumakinresurrected from the dead; because you cannot burry the truth. When you are guided by that you cannot be bothered for being persecuted for the truth. In less than a month after the elections, we have seen all governors still going to Abuja; asking for bailout and payback. People who have not managed anything before in their lives before coming to government, spending money like drunken sailors. There was a time in this country if you are travelling on the road, you will likely meet two or three governors on the road. Travel on our roads these days, do you meet any governor? They are all chattering flights! My own state was so pathetic! My governor, who was not a man of any means before he became governor, was a commissioner in Lagos State. He suddenly saw money in Lagos; they were swimming in ‘jeun soke’ (chop up) in Lagos. He now took that model to Osun State. I am challenging him to say that they are not true because I have seen documents. Aregbesola was chattering flights from Lagos to Ibadan. He will drive from Osun to Ibadan, instead of driving to Lagos; paying millions of naira at the expense of taxpayers. Let him sue me. Let him challenge me. He moved from there to go and buy a chopper because his colleagues (Rotimi and co.) are buying private jets. They were all carrying money to fund elections here and there; all kinds of frivolous spending; taking loans here and there; states that are not doing any business.
Imagine the chairman of the governors forum saying that they want to see if the banks can reschedule the payment of the loans they have taken for 20 years so that they can pay salaries; a statement that should not even come from a bus conductor. Banks should allow you to hold depositors’ money in violation of the contract you signed with them? Most of them took the money and spent it on parties. You have run the state aground and now you want to run the banks aground!
What would you consider the greatest problem facing Nigeria today?
The greatest problem of Nigeria today is not corruption neither is it indiscipline. It is the absence of true vision. No visionary leaders. Because there is no vision, they cannot think outside this crude oil. Far as long as the essence of leadership in Nigeria remains excess crude, it is crudity. We are going nowhere.
How would you describe Nigeria’s current political climate?
What change are Nigerians talking about again? Change has taken place. It happened on March 28, 2015. Those who have said they wanted their power back got their power back. Power has changed hand and that is the change that they are talking about. You heard what Rabiu Kwankwaso said after the elections. He said the wife of the former president was abusing the ‘Almajiris’ and they used the ‘Almajiris’ to flush her husband out of power; and that for them, ‘Almajiri’ is a thing of pride. But the journalists failed to ask him how many of his children are ‘Almajiri’? So, ‘Almajiri’ is a deliberate demography. If handling power for 35 years out of 50 years, all we have are millions of ‘Almajaris’ roaming the streets, and a governor who piloted the affairs of a state for years and now a senator telling me that it is a thing of pride for them! What change are Nigerians talking about?
What is your take on the latest fracas in the National Assembly?
What is APC? APC is new PDP, plus ACN, plus CPC. Half of PDP decamped to a party and you called it APC! Before the elections all of them raised a bunch of broom and shouted ‘change’. But it is no longer a bunch of broom. It is rather, one stick of broom. Where is the change coming from? Who is giving change to whom? We saw the characters that were talking change; most of them have been in power for over 16 years. We know their system and where most of them are coming from. What binds them together was the common hatred for Jonathan. Anybody that says Jonathan is a fool is a ‘progressive’. Now that there is no Jonathan anymore, the weapons that were used against Jonathan have to be used against themselves in sharing the loots. We have only seen them boxing themselves. In due course, we will see them carrying cutlasses and bazookas. There is no party in Nigeria at the moment.
How do we move on from the current political situation then?
You can’t change the politicians. For as long as we continue with this paradigm we can have it better than what we are having now. Is like going to motor park and say you want to see professors there. It is touts you will see. If I go to the National Assembly today, I can pick them out one by one: criminals, drug barons, tugs, killers and mention what they did before getting where they are now; all because of this sharing in Abuja. You don’t need any skill to carry your own share. No pedigree. No background checks. In fact, the backgrounds checking you do on a driver before driving you in Nigeria is much more rigorous than that of a governor, a senator and a president because there is no nation yet.
For us to move forward as a nation we must first disperse power. Everybody must go home. Let’s empty Abuja. Let Abuja just be handling currency, security and other few things. In the first republic, Amadu Bello considered it inferior to be Prime Minister of Nigeria. He chose to be Premier of the Northern region. He stayed home and sent his lieutenant (Tafawa Balewa) to come and be Prime Minister of Nigeria. Let everybody go back home; and when you get back home, there would no longer be sharing of money. You have to till the soil; bring out the things that are under your soil and make money. When we get to that level, it is then Nigerians would begin to question the people they elect as governors. We will then begin to elect those who know the act of turning kobo to naira. Not those who have never turn N1 to N2 before in their lives. At the moment, politicians are just using government to solve their own poverty problems. We have to reconstitute this country; Nigeria’s problem is primarily structural. If we are societies that live at different civilisation, how do you want to use general civilisation as national conscience? It is not possible. When Jonathan was building the Almajiris schools, Kwankwaso was calling him idiot because he felt northern political power was being destroyed. So, why should my children and Kwankwaso’ children do the same common entrance? What is common between Kwankwaso and me? When I believe every child, no matter the circumstance of his or her birth is created by God to fulfil a mission! Nigeria at the moment is experiencing clash of civilisation. Let’s run common service at the centre and begin to compare notes!
22 years after June 12, what does it represent in Nigeria’s democratic experiment?
We were there when it happened. June 12 represented the possibility of nationhood of Nigeria that was botched which we may never attain. Don’t forget that MKO Abiola’s mandate was pan-Nigeria. Abiola defeated Bashir Tofa in his own state of Kano with a wide margin. Muslim-Muslim ticket won in many Christian communities. But now, we are having a Shekau who is saying that the only thing that will permit Nigeria is the Islamisation of the whole country; we are having a demarcation of the north/south; Christians/Muslims divide. We have moved from an era when a southerner defeated a northerner with votes from the north in 1993, to an era when a northerner defeated a southerner with 80 percent of the votes coming from the north in 2015. All that talk of ‘Nigeria is not negotiable’ is all pretence. Nigeria is not a country. Do you hear the slogan ‘it is our turn’ in countries like the U.S? In nation, is about what you represent! The 3rd Bush is coming out now to be American President.
As a patriotic Nigerian, what is your agenda for President Buhari’s government?
I want to give them hundred days. I don’t want to pre-empt them now; I don’t want to criticise them yet. Let’s see what they are able to do after hundred days; because for me, hundred days is a very long period to solve issues. Let’s see the direction that they are heading first. But for now, we want to give them the benefits of the doubt.
