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Tag: Adebanjo

  • Adebanjo: I will support Buhari’s re-election, if…

    An elder statesman and a close associate of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, is a dogged fighter. The Afenifere chieftain is one of the voices in the Southwest. He is usually forthright when it comes to national issues. In this interview with RAYMOND MORDI and MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, Adebanjo, who is celebrating his 90th birthday  this week, speaks on the All Progressives Congress (APC) panel’s report on restructuring, next year’s general elections and the import of the herdsmen’s attacks in various parts of the country.

    How did you get into politics?

    I got into politics right from school. I started reading newspapers when I was in primary school and I used to buy copies of the West African Pilot newspaper. This habit of reading newspaper inspired the spirit of nationalism in me. We had a vendor that supplied us early in the morning before going to school. By the time I get to school, my class teacher would have got his own copies of about 10 newspapers. He would say, Adebanjo, have you got your paper? I would open by bag and bring out my copy. That was where I cut my teeth in politics. I read some of the best columnists of those days, including Nnamdi Azikiwe and Magnus Williams. Those columnists were comparable to contemporary ones that make good analysis. Going back to your question, when I was in secondary school, I was very critical of my principal. People were surprised that I got the best testimonial from the school during my time. The principal stated in the testimonial that I am broad-minded, have a strong character and good in moral and literary pursuits. When I was working, I became entrenched in political issues. In fact, I always felt strongly about political issues, particularly federalism, which was the parting way between me and Azikiwe. Zik had postulated a unitary Nigeria, while I stood for federalism, would allow for development of segments of the country.

    You are still politically active at 90. When are you going to retire?

    It is not possible for me to retire from politics. That was the same question we asked Chief Awolowo and he said ‘you don’t retire from politics’. Today, even though Awolowo is no more, people are still keeping his thoughts alive and making reference to what he said at one time or the other. People are still comporting themselves with all that he stood for in character and every other thing. People are still talking about Awolowo’s programme and his landmark activities. At 90, I should not be seen talking politics, if my followers were doing what we expected them to do. I should not be talking politics, if they had followed the way we were doing things and if they had aligned themselves to the Awoist fold. I should be feeling relaxed and saying I have those who will carry on from where we stopped. But, you find lots of those who claim to be supporters Awo not doing what he stood for. You find them reneging from their initial principle when they find themselves in government.

    You have been involved in Nigeria politics since inception. Where did the country get it wrong?

    The military took over and converted the federal constitution to a unitary constitution. That was the time we deviated and we must go back to it. I have said it before that until the country is restructured and we go back to federalism, we will not get it right. We must restructure and put in place true federal constitution; that was the agreement reached by our founding fathers: the Awolowos, the Azikiwes and the Sadaunas and sanctioned by the colonialists in London in 1954 and implemented in 1960. Those who don’t understand restructuring should go and read the agreement and even those who benefited from the agreement and are in office and not obeying the agreement.

    What do you make of the APC Panel Report on Restructuring?

    If they are serious about it, let them go ahead and implement it now. I don’t want to discuss it. The recommendations may not be perfect, but it could spearhead what we want. Similarly, when we went to the 2014 National Conference, some of our people were arguing that it is not sovereign and that it would not serve our purpose. But we told them, look, we are looking for 10, they give us seven and you are agitating for the remaining three. Why don’t you find solutions to the challenges facing the country with the opportunity you have on your hands? I’m not one of those who say that the 2014 National Conference was perfect, but we utilized it to come up with recommendations to solve the country’s problems. Our founding fathers have already given us the template. If they want to amend it, they can go ahead; it is amenable to improvements. There is nothing like true federalism. It is a Nigerian coinage, because the concept has been corrupted by the military. That is why people are now saying we want true federalism. We now have a unitary form of government, but have labeled it federalism. That is why Chief Rotimi Williams said our constitution is a fraudulent imposition. ‘We refer to our country as the Federal Republic of Nigeria, are we federal?’ he once asked.

    In your view, what are the issues that will shape next year’s general elections?

    Until we settle the basis on which we are going to live together, we would not get anywhere. All the issues being raised, such as the Biafra agitation, marginalisation and even corruption are all related to the fact that we are running a unitary system of government. The high incidence of corruption in the country is a function of the fact that the Federal Government has too much money to spend, compared to the states. Under federalism, that should not be the case, because the state controls the local governments and has its police. We should start from all the things that are causing confusion, such as the unwieldy structure of our federation. But by the time you make the centre less attractive, nobody will be bother who becomes the president. When we were in the Western region, all the landmark projects in the capital, Ibadan, were carried out by Chief Awolowo with proceeds from cocoa. We had free education, good roads, medical facilities and it was a very clean region. We are not a nation; the way out is to restructure the country and put in place a constitution under which we are coming together. All the countries that have various nationalities, religion and culture usually have a federal system of government. America, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, Soviet Union and all that look inward to find solutions to their problems. Yugoslavia and other countries that were forcefully brought together under a faulty premise had to break up. Even some Nigerians who claim if they get to power they will do this or that failed in that direction. Look at Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; he had the best chance to restructure this country, but he decided to use the power to his own advantage. That was why he was busy looking for third term.

    The Southwest voted for Buhari in 2015. In your view, how should the Southwest vote in next year’s elections?  

    We should ask Tinubu. I am not one of the supporters of Buhari in the Southwest. Rather, I warned the Southwest of the consequences of voting for Buhari. I told them not to vote for Buhari and I stated my reasons. I want you to now go back and review my position, to see where I went wrong. They said we got money from Jonathan and that is what informed our position. As politicians of our age and by our upbringing we have no price. That is why we are not rich. Those of us, who were critical of what was going on before the election, were criticised; when we tried to make the position clear, they told us that we were on our own. Buhari only claimed to be a born- again democrat because he wanted to win an election. If our decisions are right, it is because we have not fallen into the wrong hands. All the newspapers stood up to for the APC and left no room for critical judgment. Look at the recent incident that happened in Dapchi; the government should have covered its face in shame. What I am saying is for you and not for me; you are the people that must fight for yourself. How can a man who blamed Jonathan for the abduction of Chibok girls allow the same thing to happen again? What is the essence of protecting lives and property, particularly on an issue that had happened before? That was why Jonathan was voted out, but the Buhari government keeps complaining about the man. The man is no longer there and this country has no reason to be poor. But we are victim of bad leadership and bad followership. Bad followership, including you journalists, when you see evil you can’t talk, because they put some butter in your mouth. What about your Vice President who took Obasanjo to court over restructuring of local governments when he was the Attorney General of Lagos State? He now got to Aso Rock and said there is nothing like restructuring. That is a professor of law and a pastor for that matter. With all the killings in Southern Kaduna under his nose, with all the atrocities going on, the Vice President has the gut to insult the nation that there is no nepotism in Buhari’s administration. And here is a man born in democracy and federalism; myself and his father were the followers of Awolowo. He was born in this thing that I am talking about and by the grace of God he is a product that we are proud of. He is well educated, intelligent, brilliant, articulate and anything that is attached to scholarship. Those of us who are not disposed to working with Buhari only joined the fray because of Osinbajo. Those of us who reconciled ourselves with working with Buhari did it because of the Vice President. I don’t believe in the coalition, but I hanged on because of the Vice President. He does not belong to that camp, even if the APC has reason to go astray, he has no reason to go astray. He has his integrity to protect; I am saying this because of his antecedents. He has no reason to serve in that cabinet, because he is putting his reputation at stake.

    Some observers see the herdsmen attacks as a new Boko Haram tactics, while others say it is part of the Fulani expansionist agenda. What’s your take on it?

    It is part of the Fulani expansionist agenda. We should go back to history to justify the fact. It is not just only that Buhari is supporting them, Buhari is condoning them. And I say it without any fear of contradiction. Here is the commander in chief, to protect life and property, but an incident happened more than twice all over the country, but there is no arrest of one person. Even with the Fulani carrying arms in Adamawa, Benue and all over the place, not a single arrest. To show how unfair the government is, how many people did the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) kill before it was declared as terrorist? Buhari is not honest about this country. Here are people killing others all over the country, nobody has been arrested or stopped them. Even Asiwaju Tinubu who led the APC to victory has been sidelined in Buhari’s government. The Vice President is out of the government. Is this the reason he took the Yoruba to that place? Many of you would not know, when the Fulani had issues with the late Lam Adesina of Oyo State, it was Buhari that led a delegation to Oyo to warn the governor over the issue. That is why I am accusing you journalists of not living up to your responsibilities. You people facilitated the success of NADECO, what are you doing now? This country is for you and your generation. They have sidelined the Yoruba in the administration and must be seeing them as complete mumu. And they still have the effrontery to say they are going to win election in Yoruba land in 2019 and in the South as a whole. When all the offices are being occupied from those from Katsina, why would they not ensure that Buhari comes back in 2019? Today, I am telling you the pains of an embittered old man and want you to carry the message further than this. If we must get out of this enslavement Nigerians must do the right thing.

    Given the vested interest of the political class, will restructuring ever see the light of day?

    The voters put them there; they did not put themselves there. That is why I said if the APC is serious about restructuring let them do it before the election. Restructuring could be made a campaign issue. By the time it is settled, there will be no question of anybody asking who they will vote for. So, under what condition will you be casting your votes? If the APC or Buhari is serious about restructuring that is what they should do. If there is no law that empowers them, they should make the law. People are not made for the law, it the law that is made for the people. If there is any impediment, it should be cleared off to give room for restructuring.

     

  • Adebanjo unveils memoirs April 13

    Chief Ayo Adebanjo, one of the old Awoists still standing, has completed his autobiography. It will be launched on April 3 at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos. The 24-chapter book titled, Telling It As It Is, captures several national issues like,”why Obasanjo has always been a kill-joy”  and most of the dramatic episodes in the nation’s political history.

    Accused of treason in 1962 alongside Chief Obafemi Awolowo and 29 others, he documented his role in the allegation of plotting to overthrow a democratically elected government and revealed his life in exile in Ghana, imprisonment in Usherford (Accra, Ghana), Kaduna and Kirikiri Prisons (Nigeria).

    The book, which took over a decade to write, detailed the most dramatic episodes in the life of the lawyer, politician, public affairs analyst and former journalist as he disclosed how Unity Party of Nigeria was formed and those who almost sabotaged its principles.

    The Awoist elaborated for the first time ever, details of the late sage’s (Chief Awolowo) intimate political frustrations and calculations in his ambitious effort to turn Nigeria into an Eldorado, his very private life and family, and his “authentic” political children.

    With more insights into the National Democratic Coalition days during the rage and terror of Gen  Sani Abacha, Chief Adebanjo details how the battle was fought and won including how MKO Abiola’s most trusted friends and allies betrayed him.The book also revealed some of the riveting dramas in the formation of Alliance for Democracy, the fiercest struggle for its  soul and the reasons for its  demise.

     

  • Adebanjo, Tinubu and the Buhari administration

    Adebanjo, Tinubu and the Buhari administration

    Ihis interview published on page 12 of the Sunday Punch of 15th October, 2017, elder statesman and Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, not only proclaimed the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari a failure, he blamed the former two-term governor of Lagos State and frontline leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the emergence of Buhari as president in the historic 2015 presidential election. According to Baba Adebanjo, “I warned Tinubu against supporting Buhari ahead of the 2015 presidential election. What is for Tinubu in this government? He has been sidelined. This government is all about Buhari. The greatest mistake made was for Yoruba to vote for Buhari. The South-west is regretting voting for Buhari. Tinubu is regretting now – he and his supporters are now regretting helping Buhari to become president. It is Tinubu and all his supporters you should be asking: Are you regretting you helped to bring Buhari to power or you’re happy with his administration”?

    Chief Adebanjo is absolutely right that Tinubu played a pivotal role in helping to shape the coalition as well as fashion the strategy that helped an opposition party to dethrone an incumbent government at the centre for the first time in Nigeria’s history. There is no way the history of that epochal event in Nigeria’s political evolution can be told without Tinubu’s name enshrined in gold. But then, what explains the incomparable investment of Tinubu’s resources including time, political relationships, energy, passion, commitment and formidable reservoir of strategic expertise to facilitate the ascendancy of the APC and Buhari to power at the centre? Was it for self-serving interests as implied by Chief Adebanjo’s rhetorical question ‘What is for Tinubu in this government’? A cursory look at Tinubu’s political antecedents would surely suggest otherwise.

    Even discounting the critical, and often existentially threatening, roles he played in the protracted pro-democracy struggles that helped usher in democratic governance in 1999, Tinubu has always been known to opt for the more arduous, tasking and challenging path in his defence of the rule of law, human rights, federalism and democracy in post – 1999 Nigeria. In 2003, for instance, Tinubu was the only opposition governor standing in the South-west following the debacle that befell the then ruling Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the remaining five states of the region. Nothing would have been easier than for Tinubu to abandon the floundering ship of the AD and join the PDP behemoth that threatened to suffocate Nigeria in its one party grip at the time. It would have been the more convenient and certainly the more attractive choice in a pecuniary sense if material gain had been Tinubu’s primary motivation.

    For 12 years after the 2003 electoral devastation suffered by his progressive political platform, the AD, in the South-west, Tinubu remained as constant as the northern star in the firmament of political opposition in Nigeria. He remained impervious to the admittedly enticing attraction of being part of the national cake-sharing gravy party at the opulent centre of the country’s politics. This was a temptation that most Nigerian politicians had always been unable to resist. Tinubu remained a constant factor around which attempts to form viable opposition coalitions capable of wresting power at the centre revolved. He was in the thick of such political formations as the defunct Action Congress (AC), Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that made spirited but unsuccessful bids for power at the centre in 2007 and 2011 until the electoral triumph of 2015 through the APC.

    This background shows that Tinubu’s thought and praxis in government have always been motivated by considerations larger, more expansive and altruistic than his personal interests, thus rendering Baba Adebanjo’s quip ‘What is for Tinubu in this government?’ redundant. The seismic change of guards at the centre in 2015 that Baba admits was largely the product of Tinubu’s exertions has had profoundly positive and irreversible implications for Nigeria’s political development whatever anyone may think of the performance of the Buhari administration so far. It brought the progressives, no matter how loosely defined, to power at the centre for the first time in the country’s post-independence history. The 2015 political change of guards laid the historic precedent of an opposition party displacing an incumbent government at the federal level, a development which no doubt will have implications for future elections. Surely, Nigerian politics, particularly her elections, will never be the same again thanks to the gains of the 2015 polls.

    Chief Adebanjo maintains that he advised Tinubu against supporting Buhari in the 2015 election and that could be true. What was the alternative to Buhari and the APC at the time? It was the continuation in office of the PDP government of President Goodluck Jonathan in all its corrupt hideousness and gargantuan incompetence. Unfortunately, progressive stalwarts like Baba Adebanjo seemed to be quite at home with that government. There is no credible reason to doubt that were Jonathan to have continued in office beyond 2015, the country would by now have collapsed under the weight of its sheer ineptness and incomparable graft. Incidentally, the likes of Baba Adebanjo jumped on the deceptive bandwagon of Jonathan’s National Conference in 2014, even when Tinubu had perceptively dismissed the exercise as a distraction at the time. Of course, there was nothing like restructuring on Dr. Jonathan’s mind and he simply kept the outcome of the conference under wraps even though he had no less than eight months to take concrete steps towards its actualization before his ouster from office through the polls.

    It is difficult to understand what Tinubu and his supporters should regret about Buhari’s winning the 2015 elections. Yes, Buhari was a military dictator in the past. But he contested and won election in a democratic dispensation. He has a fixed term in office and must seek a renewal of his mandate by the Nigerian people if he wants to continue in office beyond 2019. Yes, Tinubu’s influence was critical to the support Buhari received particularly in the South-west in 2015. But that influence with the people did not come cheap. It was the product of a consistency in his politics and an often-demonstrated acumen that has enabled him win the trust and confidence of a wide cross section of the populace especially in the South-west. At the end of the day, we run a one-man, one-vote electoral system. Leaders may recommend to the people but it is the voters at the polls that ultimately determine the final outcome. It was so in 2015. It will be no less different in 2019. The electorate is in the final analysis king and there is little cause for alarm.

    In the words of Baba Adebanjo, “If Tinubu had not gone into an alliance with Buhari, would we be in this position? Tinubu is the cause of Yoruba’s suffering now”. What exactly are the Yoruba suffering now that is worse than what they endured during the 16 years of the PDP in power and particularly the six years of Dr. Jonathan? What did the Jonathan administration do about the chronic infrastructure deficit in the South-west or the pathetic level of poverty and youth unemployment in the region? In spite of whatever may be the perceptions of the Buhari administration’s disposition towards the South-west, at least illustrious sons and daughters of the region are manning critical national offices including the vice presidency as well as the Finance, Solid Minerals and Power, Works and Housing ministries among others. This may not be a guarantee or a sufficient condition for transformation in the region but it is a hopeful step forward.

  • Nwabueze, Anyaoku, Adebanjo, others set for consensus on restructuring

    •Elder statesmen plan to engage with Fed Govt 

    Eminent leaders of thought have concluded plans to mobilise national consensus on agitations for restructuring to forestall degeneration of ethnic acrimony, it was learnt at the weekend.

    This came to light after Thursday’s media interaction organised by a group of elder statesmen led by Prof. Ben Nwabueze, SAN in Lagos.

    Already, it was gathered that a high-powered team from southern Nigeria led by Prof. Nwabueze, including former Secretary-General of Commonwealth Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Gen. Alani Akinriade, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, has already initiated “a major tactical national consultation”.

    Others in the team are: Mr. Donald Duke, Prof. Pat Utomi, Prof. Kimse Okoko, Solomon Asemota, SAN, Obong Victor Attah, Admiral Ebitu Ukiwe, Prof. Akin Oyebode, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, Chief Tola Adeniyi and Prof. Sola Ehindero.

    The group’s Head of Secretariat, Olawale Okunniyi, spoke at the weekend while clarifying issues after the inaugural public intervention of the emergent pan Nigerian Movement on Thursday.

    The move, Nwabueze said, was designed to forge a negotiated consensus among critical stakeholders on how best to restructure the country.

    Okunniyi, who also heads the Nigeria Political Summit Group (NPSG, said regional youth groups and ethnic militias are included in the consultation.

    He said: “This stakeholders driven initiative, under the auspices of Project Nigeria Movement is projected to surpass what PRONACO achieved under Chief Anthony Enahoro and Prof. Wole Soyinka between 2005 and 2007; when PRONACO convened a major peoples’ national conference of ethnic nationalities and social groups in Nigeria, leading to the unanimous adoption of a draft peoples constitution for Nigeria on August 26, 2006…

    “It could, therefore, be reassuring to recall how both progressive leaders rode in the same vehicle into the open hands of Chief Anthony Enahoro and other leaders at the PRONACO Secretariat on June 12, 2006.”

    He said the list of the “Northern/Middle Belt team for the national consultation on restructuring is still being composed by the leaders of the North”.

    Okunniyi said the labour movement and other social groups in the country have also been penciled for strategic consultation and mobilisation before a major interface with the Federal Government on the modalities for the restructuring.

  • Restructuring: Okogie knocks IBB as Adebanjo, Ogbulafor back ex-military leader

    Restructuring: Okogie knocks IBB as Adebanjo, Ogbulafor back ex-military leader

    Former military leader, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, got more knocks yesterday over his call, earlier this week, for the restructuring of the country.

    Retired Catholic Archbishop of Lagos State, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, and Second Republic House of Representatives member, Dr. Mohammed Junaid, flayed  Babangida  for passing off the opportunity to restructure the country when he held sway as military dictator.

    The duo joined the immediate past governor of Edo Sate, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who, on Thursday, said the former military president owes Nigerians an apology for helping to bring it to its present level.

    But it is not all knocks for the former military president as Afenifere frontliner, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, believe that his views were in order.

    Contacted on the phone, Okogie said: “Of course, he had every power, just like President Buhari, to restructure the country.

    “I don’t know what is wrong with this nation. The people who are there to guide us are not doing so. It is as if they are even praying for the fall of this country.

    “We have been crying about this restructuring for many years and it became strong about three years ago, but nobody said a word.

    “Where was Babaginda at that time? Is it now that he is opening his eyes to reality? That is my question for him.

    “You see, there are certain people who, when they are very comfortable, do not care to know what is happening in the country.”

    More damning is the reaction of Dr. Mohammed to Babangida’s call for restructuring.

    He said: “I heard the statement credited to the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, and I consider it mystifying, to say the least.

    “I said this because there is no individual alive today in this country who carries a major responsibility for the mess Nigeria is in today than Ibrahim Babangida.

    “The 200 million people of Nigeria are very educated. We are very talented and we know our history very well; and we do much better than to listen to any soldier on what their future is going to be.

    “If Ibrahim Babangida were to have decency, he should be working hard on trying to reconcile his conscience in the evils that befell this country, of which he is directly responsible.

    “The constitutional crisis which trailed the June 12 election, which he annulled, and the near genocide on a certain section of this country for attempting and insisting on actualising Chief MKO Abiola’s mandate are the primary issues which Ibrahim Babangida should explain.

    “Since he is so keen about restructuring Nigeria now, he should tell us which part of the structure he wants to undo: from the amalgamation of 1914 by Lord Lugard to the latest state and local government creation done by him (Babangida) and his late friend, Gen. Sani Abacha.

    “Ibrahim Bababngida should further explain to Nigerians what he did with government finances plus the reckless corruption of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that led to the recession Nigeria is in today.

    “From the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and the mess in Niger-Delta derived directly from the reckless and irresponsible policies of one man who was never elected into any office whatsoever, he will now want to decide for Nigerians how the country is supposed to look like.

    “I don’t think somebody like Ibrahim Babangida is worth to listening to. In future, the media should help us by simply treating what he (Babangida) said with the contemptuous disregard it deserves. To me, his call is belated.”

    A lecturer at the Bayero University Kano (BUK), Prof. Kamilu Sani Fagge, is also  opposed to any attempt to restructure Nigeria.

    He said restructuring the country will cause more harm than  good, considering the massive number of ethnic groups in the country.

    He said  those yearning for it are doing so on selfish grounds.

    He also argued  that the move will achieve nothing,  rather than take the country back to its earlier regional system of three main regions that will solely rely on their natural resources, while the minorities will still be deprived of their right, politically and economically.

    Fagge maintained that for the country to actualise its potential, the government should adopt a system whereby irrespective of tribe or ethnic differences, all citizens should have a sense of belonging in the affairs of government.

    However, former PDP Chairman, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, said Babangida should not be blamed for what he did or did not do when he was in power.

    He said: “I totally support IBB’s call. Restructuring is long overdue and without that there will be no peace in this country.

    “Those of us from the South East  feel terribly bad. Here in the South East, we have only five states while others have six and seven. This creates an imbalance in the National Assembly.

    “While others are producing more senators, we have less. While others are producing more House of Representatives members, we have fewer. The same applies to the number of local governments.

    “We don’t benefit as much  in the revenue sharing and the resources are from this zone. That is why there is gross agitation for Biafra.

    “We feel that if there is restructuring, it will address those issues. An additional state in the South East, at least to bring us  at par with others will be okay. So, how can Kano State have 44 local governments when Bayelsa has eight local governments, Abia  has 17 and Imo  21?

    “All these put together are not equal to Kano. So, there is total imbalance and that is why our people are shouting and calling for restructuring.”

    The ex-PPD chair added: “How do you think there will be peace in this country with such imbalance? It is not proper at all. So, I totally support the cal for restricting. I support IBB.

    “They should not blame IBB for things he did not do or what he did when he was Head of State. Things crop up at its own time. This is the time people are calling for restructuring.

    “If the call for restructuring had been on the table as it is now, the IBB that I know very well would have done it. So, they should not be blaming IBB for things he did and things he didn’t do. Now, there is a clamour for restructuring and IBB is supporting  it and so,  I support and call for it.”

    Ogbulafor’s view was also supported by a chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who said Nigerians should not crucify IBB because of his past.

    He said: “I accept the call for restructuring. We should  not look at the past. Everybody makes mistake and when one corrects his  mistake, there is no harm in that. “

    Babangida had, in a statement he personally signed on Monday canvassed among other things, devolution of power to states, adoption of state police and doing away with federal roads.

  • Adebanjo, Mimiko, others back Jonathan

    Leaders of the Pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, are seeking support for President Goodluck Jonathan.

    They spoke yesterday at the Post-National Conference Summit at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja.

    The theme is: ‘Tomorrow Begins Today’. It was convened by the Ondo State government.

    Afenifere chieftain Chief Ayo Adebanjo said President Goodluck Jonathan should be re-elected to implement the National Conference held last year.

    He added that Yoruba would have a fair and better deal, if the outcome of the National Conference was implemented.

    Adebanjo said the Yoruba had been sidelined by successive governments.

    He said: “I am not a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member and everybody knows that.

    But, there is one interest which I have consistently and in collaboration with my leaders, such as the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, advocated for which is whereever the Yoruba man’s interest lies, I will go there.

    “I am not saying this because of the coming elections; we have been doing it before.

    “You remember the struggle for the mandate of the late MKO Abiola; the Afenifere group was in the forefront.”

    He said the struggle to assert the Yoruba’s freedom started in 1954, when the Macpherson Constitution divided the country into three regions, which gave the North undue advantage.

    He explained that the struggle to make the Yoruba gain their rightful position has met lots of resistance from those who are bent on dividing the people.

    Adebanjo said the convocation of the National Conference provided the opportunity to restructure the country, noting that the Jonathan administration should be commended for the bold initiative.

    “That is why Jonathan is a candidate of the Yoruba people. He is not a candidate of the PDP.

    “I am not campaigning for him on the basis of his party affiliation but for trying to provide the opportunity for the Yoruba to assert themselves.”

    Ondo State Governor and the convener of the summit Dr Olusegun Mimiko said the implementation of the conference will make Nigeria better.

    He added that the conference would entrench the practice of true federalism that will give power to the states.

    He said: “There is the practice of true federalism, states can now create the number of local governments they want. Persons not interested in political parties can contest election independently.

    “There will be establishment of state police and community police for more effective security coverage. There will be creation of additional states to ensure geo-political equity,” he said.

    Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa said Yoruba must vote for the right candidate in the coming election.

    He said Nigeria is at a very critical moment of its life, which Yoruba will play a role to reshape.

    “Our son, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, did not convene any conference; we must commend the present administration for taking the step to allow Nigerians reflect on how they want to coexist.”

    In the same vein, Dr. Amos Akingba said the Yoruba went to the conference divided.

    “This happened in view of those who supported the conference and those who were against it, but I must say that when the conference started those against it had to join us to project the Yoruba agenda.

    “I must say that Jonathan swore to implement the outcome of the conference even if it will cost him his life.

    “Therefore, we must take part in the next election and vote for him so that he will implement the outcome of the conference.”

    Present at the conference were former Ogun State governor Gbenga Daniel; Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Musiliu Obanikoro, Chief Supo Sonibare, Chief Abiola Ogundokun, Dr. Kunle Olajide, Fredrick Fasheun, National Coordinator, Oodua Peoples Congress, Gani Adams, Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd), Capt. Tunji Shelle, Chief Bode Ajewole, Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Sehinde Arofofa, Mrs. Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, Chief Bode George, Prof. Dupe Olatunbosun, Chief Femi Okunrunmu, Dayo Adeyeye, Yinka Odumakin and others.