Former Edo State Deputy Governor Peter Obadan is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He spoke with BEN OGBEMUDIA about President Muhammadu Buhari’s first year in office and other issues.
What’s your assessment of President Buhari’s one year in office?
Before we start assessing the current administration, we must look at the state of affairs at the time President Buhari took over. I think Nigerians were in a dreamland, as they did not know the truth about the economy. When the Buhari administration took over, it lifted the veil, so that Nigerians can behold the truth of the economy and it was only then we came to the realisation that the economy was in dire straits. It was on that premise that Buhari actually drew his action plan and it is the man that wears the shoes that knows where it pinches. Many facts were made known to him, which were not known to the Nigerian public and he needed to fashion out a plan that will structurally re-engineer the country and he was very systematic in realising this. The first thing that Nigerians ought to realise is the perception of the international community of this country; we were worthless in the eyes of the international community and we were in the past window dressing issues and there is a limit to which you can hide the truth and you can never do a thing against the truth because it will always surface. Buhari decided to tackle it and we accepted the fact that we were corrupt beyond pardon and if the international community must have implicit confidence in us, must have trust in the administration, we must first accept the truth and work to redeem it. That was what Buhari did and he took steps by visiting countries to re-assure them and to also request for assistance to help redeem the country from the hands of those that held us bound over the years. Of course, we are all beginning to see the results and you also see what transpired at the National Assembly which led to the delay in the budget, although some Nigerians were blaming Buhari for being slow, but he was conscious of the fact that nothing can be done until the budget was approved. Even when figures were juxtaposed to confuse the ordinary layman by the National assembly, his eagle eyes picked out those variances and he insisted on getting it right. What Nigerians must realise is that it is not the responsibility of the National Assembly to draw up the budget; it is the duty of the executive. The National Assembly was only trying to usurp the duties of the the executive; that is not the way it should be done. We went through that phase, we are beginning to see things being put in place and a look at the budget, presents a detribalised Nigerian in the person of Buhari and I am sure those of us in the Southsouth and the Southeast will be very happy with the content of the budget and you see a man who desires to develop the entire country and not a particular section. I know some who are economically ignorant have spoken about the petroleum issues and unfortunately they are very myopic and that was why I was ashamed of the actions of a section of a faction of the labour union. They ought to have considered the issues involved, rather than playing to the gallery, which was what they did when they embarked on strike. But, thank God for Nigeria and Nigerians, we are becoming wiser. But, I must congratulate them for quickly calling off the strike, because they realised that they have actually failed and government also gave them a soft landing.
What is the way forward for the Nigerian federation?
I want to look at the content of the National Assembly because I know that we derived our constitution from America against the parliamentary system, which was hitherto operated. The parliamentary system is purely British and, in my opinion, when you operate a system in a different cultural environment, it should be subject to modification and the idea of having two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, is wasteful; each section actually has less jobs that is why most of them actually end up becoming contractors instead of legislating. So, I think Nigeria should start looking at an environment where we merge the two; it is either you scrap the Senate or scrap the House of Representatives, which will not only help reduce the administrative cost, it will also inject a measure of seriousness in the arm that will be left. They will then have a lot of jobs to do; let us re-engineer the whole section completely. They will have a lot to do, instead of just working for three four days a week and have the rest of the week free; they will truly earn their salary. If we want to look at the American setting, we must look at the vastness of the setting of that country and the way the country actually came together. In Nigeria, it is not so. Take California for example, it is like four to five states put together in terms of the land mass. So, I think we can re-fashion our own in line with our cultural setting and that will reduce the financial burden for us.
Has the president lived up to expectation?
Talking about Buhari, I think he has done well; if you travel out, you will discover that there is some respectability now, when you say you are a Nigerian. A man is caught with cocaine, he is found guilty, maybe in America or elsewhere; he comes to Nigeria to become a senator and he is hailed by some people. They know that this administration will never support such things anymore, so those who now go out are conscious of the fact that they are representing their country; they are representing a decent country and that is the new image Buhari is giving to us and this is good for the country.
But, people are worried because this is not the kind of change they bargained for…
One elder statesman recently pleaded that Nigerians should be patient with this administration. The delay in getting the budget through also contributed to the inflow of funds to the system and the re-orientation of Nigerians is another thing affecting us. We are still carried away with the money spending culture we developed during the PDP era. Things have changed and you must now cut your coat according to your cloth. We are yet to appreciate that. I also appreciate the fact that the pains are there for now, but if we don’t have these pains, we cannot have a beautiful future. It is a process we have to undergo because of the rot of the past; it is like a sick patient who allowed the wound in his leg to decay and by the time he sees a physician, the physician is going to first scrape out the rot in it before he will start treating for healing and the process of scrapping out is always very painful; it is always unbearable; you will rather want your leg cut off, but because the physician knows what he is doing , he will persist and he knows that when you receive your full healing, you will forget the pains of the past. It is like a woman in labour, during the process of delivery, she will abuse the husband; she will abuse the family. But, shortly after that, she will want the husband back, so that is the process we are going through. Nobody is finding it easy; nobody is happy about it, even those of us that are politicians are complaining, but we know that the future is bright.
Are you worried about the division in Edo APC over primaries?
For Edo State, I think what is simply happening is also political and don’t forget, I conducted the Lagos State primaries and I must give credit to the APC; the system is so transparent that it cannot be rigged by anybody. So, firstly those who are thinking of rigging should just forget it. It cannot be rigged by anybody and we have about the same number of aspirants as we had in Lagos and it was even more fierce than what you have in Edo right now.