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Tag: Akande

  • Akande: Mentor, role model at 80

    As former Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, celebrates his 80th birthday today in his home town, Ila-Orangun, Osun State, Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the career of the astute politician, his ideas and lifestyles, and lessons for the political class and the younger generation.

    HE is a man of honour and integrity. In private and public life, he has led by example; highly incorruptible, bold, brave and courageous; self-disciplined, loyal to the progressive cause and shunning avarice and tendency towards primitive accumulation, which has become the hallmark of political life.

    At 80, Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun, former governor of Osun State and Interim National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is hale and hearty. He will host eminent Nigerians from all walks of life for his birthday at Ila today. His associates and followers will throng the ancient town with gifts. But, the celebrator may only be looking for two gifts: Akande wants the youths to emulate his lifestyle and shun evil. Also, he wants Nigerians to sustain the APC progressive administration in power beyond 2019 with their votes in February.

    The old political warhorse has paid his dues. He is not contemplating political retirement. Yet, political office may not be his priority again. Akande looks forward to a better society, a truly federal nation-state, and a country whose past will not be better than its future. In his view, that goal can only be realised under a selfless, humanistic and progressive government.

    These objectives motivated him to enter politics, not as an occupation, but a vocation. In the various positions where he had served, he left indelible marks. As a ‘councillor,’ member of the 1977 Constituent Assembly, Secretary to old Oyo State Government, deputy governor, governor and party chairman, his public acts were worthy of commendation. Outside power, there is no cause for fear. Unlike some people, he is not in the radar of anti-graft agencies.

    Even, in little things, Akande is honest. Record keeping was limited in the agricultural Ila community of his early time, making him to acknowledge January 16, 1939 as his assumed date of birth. At 13, he entered primary school. At that teenage age, his right hand, placed effectively on his head, could touch his left ear. At the Native Authority Primary School, Oke Aloyin, Ila (1946 to 1952) and Methodist School, Oke-Idanre, he excelled in academics. At Oke-Idanre, out of 21 pupils, he took the first position. Between 1957 and 1958, he was at the Divisional Teachers’ Training College, Ile-Ife, where he served as Health Prefect. From 1959 to 1963, he later did correspondence courses at Wosley Hall, Rapid Results College and School of Accountancy in England. In 1963, he qualified as an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered secretaries of Great Britain. Akande was at the University of Lagos briefly.

    Later, he attended more professional courses in the International Computers Limited Training College, Beaumont Winsdor, England (1974), London School of Computer Technology, England (1975), and International Institute of Public Management, Washington DC, United States (1979).

    At the age of 15, Akande started working and earning income. He was a Shop Clerk with B.M Akadiri Medicine Store, Idanre. He was a teacher in some primary schools in the old Western and Northern regions between 1955 and 1963. Between 1963 and 1979, he was an Accounting/Computer Management Staff in the British Petroleum Nigeria Limited.

    Politics has been in his blood from childhood. The traits of leadership manifested when, as a student of teacher training college, he enlisted in the student, union which sensitized and mobilised the people of Ila into founding the first grammar school in the area. As a grassroots activist, he served as the General Secretary of Ila Union in Lagos between 1968 and 1078. The association fought for the creation of an autonomous council for Ila out of the Osun Northeast Local Council proposed in 1971 by the defunct Western State Government. Also, he was a member of the Osun Northeast Consultative Committee, which fought fought for the creation of the Ila Local Government. He was a member of its management council. In 1970, Akande was a member of the Ila Electricity Planning Committee, which mobilised the people to provide funds for the supply of electricity to the town. When the government later provided electricity for the town, the money realised was used to establish Igbonnibi High School, Ila.

    In 1977, Akande was on the popularity scale. He wanted to represent Ila and Odo-Otin councils at the Constituent Assembly. His rival during the contest was the First Republic politician, Chief Kola Balogun, a former minister, who he defeated. He shone brightly at the Constituent Assembly, thereby attracting the attention of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The great leader, an expert in talent hunt, asked another member of the Assembly, Ayo Fasanmi, to bring him to his house at Apapa, Lagos. ‘I remained determined to use that encounter to study what he was. We both discussed my various questions, without any interruptions, for two hours and 10 minutes. In the end, I became convinced that Chief Awolowo had an enormous mastery of both western psychology and oriental philosophies,” Akande recalled.

    Since he met Awo, he has not looked back. Although he was inclined towards Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) in the First Republic, he joined the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), led by Awo. In 1979, he became Secretary to Government in Osun State under Governor Bola Ige. The administration was dedicated to the implementation of the cardinal programmes of free education, free health services, full employment and rural integration. Akande was loyal to Ige and Awolowo. In November 1982, following the exit of the late Chief Sunday Afolabi as deputy governor, he became the deputy governor. Many believed that the 1983 poll was rigged. Thus, Ige and Akande lost the seats to Dr. Omololu Olunloyo and Olatunji Mohammed. When he was detained by the military ruler who also jailed Ige, he humorously described his ordeal as going to a “higher college”.

    In 1994, Akande became a member of the National Constitutional Conference set up by the dreadful military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha. He was elected to represent Osun Northeast comprising Ila, Ifedayo, Boluwaduro and Boripe councils. However, he later boycotted the conference, following the directive by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which believed that it was a strategy to prolong military rule.

    In 1998, Akande became the Osun State Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). He did not show interest in elected office. At the crucial meeting of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, where the decision on the candidates were to be taken, aspirants were asked to go out to allow the leaders to deliberate. Akande did not go out. Ige told him: “Bisi, go out; you are also contesting.” The rest, as it is said, is history. His contemporaries as governors were Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (Lagos State), Aremo Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), the late Lamidi Adesina Oyo), the late Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo) and Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo (Ekiti).

    Governance was not a tea party while Akande was in the saddle. He inherited many challenges. There included N1.2 billion local debt, US $ 235 million foreign debt, four and half months unpaid salaries, unpaid pensions and gratuities, dilapidated education, health and social infrastructure, abandoned projects, disillusioned public service and Ife/Modakeke crisis.

    Akande worked for the progress of Osun State. He opposed the culture of graft in high places. He abolished the office of First Lady, saying that it was unconstitutional. He rejected pressures to inflate contracts and ran a government of credibility, transparency and accountability. “As public servants, it is a sin to indulge in serving ourselves to the exclusion of the masses. Hence, we have all shunned entreaties for self-aggrandizement,” Akande said.

    In less than four years, former governor built the gigantic state secretariat named after his leader, Ige. He was also frank and sincere. He often cautioned against opulence and covetousness, reminding government officials that Osun State was poor. In his 2000 budget speech, Akande said: “In Osun State, there is neither industrial production nor serious crop agriculture t justify the type of consumption patterns desired by the residents.”

    Testifying to his experience, commitment and capacity, Ige said in 1999: “Except for the three months or so which Col. Leo Ajiborisa (as he was then) spent as  military governor when Osun State was created eight years ago, our state knew no head of government who really cared for the welfare of the masses of our people. By May 29, 1999 when Governor Bisi Akande was sworn in, the state treasury had not only been depleted by administrative and military looters, huge debts by ways of arrears of salary of teachers and workers, littered the path of the new Government of Osun State.

    “It is with confidence that Governor Bisi Akande is tackling these problems, which are not of his own making or the result of his own mistakes. I have no doubt that he will succeed enormously, and the people of Osun State will congratulate themselves for making the obviously right choice of giving him their mandate to change the face of Osun State for progress, justice and freedom for our people.”

    However, crisis broke out between Akande and his deputy, Iyiola Omisore, who left the AD for the PDP, like his Lagos counterpart, Senator Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor. Following Omisore’s defection, Akande appointed Sooko Olawoyin as deputy governor.

    It was distressing to Akande that Ige, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, and Afenifere deputy leader, was killed at his Bodida, Ibadan residence in December 2001 by yet to be identified assassins. In post-Ige era, the crisis in Afenifere escalated. That murder was the baseline for the political earthquake that swept the Southwest during the 2003 elections. Historians will still have to unravel the circumstances surrounding the inexplicable collaboration between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Southwest AD governors in the future. Only Tinubu of Lagos survived the onslaught.

    Although Akande was appointed as the chairman of the Afenifere Reformation Committee, the organisation later split. Up to now, Akande is adamant that the new Afenifere, in contrast to the previous original Afenifere of Awo/Adisa Akinloye era, could be attributed to the efforts of Ige and other patriots in the fold.

    Also, the Ige camp was divided, following the struggling for the AD chairman between Akande and Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa. There were two parallel congresses. Akinfenwa was elected in Abuja. Akande was elected in Lagos. The Akure Declaration signaled the parting of ways. The Acting Leader of Afenifere said it appeared to the group that the Abuja convention complied with laid down regulations. Rejecting Fasoranti as leader, Akande, Tinubu, Osoba, Adebayo, Olusi, Durojaiye and other Afenifere chieftains stormed the Jibowu office of the group and proclaimed Senator Fasanmi as Deputy Leader. Efforts by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), led by Third Republic House of Representatives Chief Whip Olawale Oshun to reconcile the two factions failed.

    When Action Congress (AC) was formed, Ige became the national chairman while Akinfenwa and Chief Michael Koleoso, the Babalaje of Oke-Gun, continued their war of attrition over the AD chairmanship. Akande was consoled by the fact that Southwest recovered from the 2003 onslaught when the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) later produced the governors of Ekiti, Osun, Edo, Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states.

    Akande also had the honour of playing a leadership role in preparing the ground for the dignified participation of the Southwest in mainstream politics. As a key figure in the alliance and fusion talks, he as the interim national chairman of the APC and other compatriots — Tinubu, Audu Ogbeh, Tony Momoh, Ogbonnaya Onu, Bukola Saraki, Aliyu Wamakko, Musa Kwakwanso, Rochas Okorocha — midwifed the Buhari administration.

    Few years ago, Akande became a widower, following the demise of his wife, Sidikat Omowumi. She was survived by children who have made the couple proud.

    When he clocked 70, Akande relocated home, thus escaping from the stress and strains of combustive city life. He said he was returning to farming, the ageless occupation of his forefathers.

    The eminent politician is held in high esteem by Asiwaju Tinubu and other leaders in the Southwest and Nigeria. His is not a prophet without honour at home, where he is the Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun. He has also been honoured by many communities and institutions. Akande is the Agba Akin of Oke Ila, Balogun of Aramoko Ekiti, Jagunmolu Oodua of Ijebu-Ife, Apesin of Ilasa-Ijesa and Basorun of Ilobu. On February 23, 2001, he was honoured with the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration by the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso.

  • Akande: Pathfinder of the progressives

    Elder statesman and former governor of Osun State, Pa Bisi Akande is 80 today. Idowu Ajanaku examines the life and political career of the former Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who hails from Ila Orangun in Osun State.

    THERE are lasting lessons to learn from the driving passion, socio-economic philosophies, leadership style and the political trajectory of Chief Bisi Akande as he celebrates the elusive age of 90 today. Even as family members, faithful friends, political associates and well-wishers gather to clink glasses and toast to express their groundswell of goodwill, what truly matters  are what we can glean from his inspiring experiences, over the decades.

    Without sounding immodest and backed by empirical evidence, Akande stands tall today amongst his peers as a peerless brand of  humility, integrity, financial discipline, prudence, love for the poor,  honesty of purpose, candour and a patriotic fervour  still uncommon here in Nigeria’s effervescent political horizon. A brand, according to marketing expert  Godwin Idahosa, “ is the sum total of the relationships a company, product, service or even a person has with the customers”. It is not a mere living or breathing organism but an experience- a worthy one at that. It is a store of the values it represents. And so it is with Chief Bisi Akande.

    A glimpse at some of the instances when and where he had demonstrated the aforementioned leadership qualities would serve as an enduring guide.

     

    Scoring the firsts

    As the wise ones say, “the morning shows the day”. A true-life story with regards to Chief Bisi Akande’s political roots would amply illustrate that. He was a dutiful member of staff with the British Petroleum (BP) when the search for a worthy son of Ila –Oragun , his home town to represent their political interests began.

    For instance, he was the first son of the soil to win the Ila/Odo Otin seat to Nigerian Constituent Assembly, NCA in 1977, the first to win the Ila/Ifedayo/Boluwaduro and Boripe seat to the National Constituent Conference, CON in 1994 and the first from Ila-Oragun to win elections into any of the National Assembly. Curiously, all these happened at a time the area was not even politically strong enough to be considered a federal constituency.

    Similarly, he was also the first to serve in the cabinet of any government as Secretary to Oyo State government, 1979-1982. As fate would have it, he was to become the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, an onerous duty he combined with the sensitive task of running the affairs of the Commissioner for Local Government, between 1982 and 1983.

    And to cap the series of epochal political mandates, he also became the first indigene of Ila-Oragun to clinch the much-coveted post of the first civilian governor of Osun state and subsequently that of the Chairman, Alliance for Democracy, AD.  When political exigencies saw to the merger of the progressive parties to form the APC in 2014, Akande also stood above others to be appointed as the first Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

     

    Fighting spirit

    As Leo Tolstoy, the globally acclaimed Russian author rightly noted: “No one has ever regretted living too simply”. In spite of how far he has gone with his career — once as a teacher and later across the political spectrum — Akande, unlike several of his colleagues caught in the self-decimating ego trip, never lost the common touch with the people!

    For instance, he was said to have confronted injustice as a young tenant, in his battle to save the children of his landlord from an undeserved punishment. Such caring and compassionate attribute he must have learnt from his loving and doting parents,  as the first son of Pa Bamgbose Akande and the mother, Madam Humani Wuraola Akande (of blessed memory).

    Though the father, then a palm wine tapper from Ile-Asuda in Isedo quarters of Ila- Oragun was by all standards a well-to-do man, in those days when palm wine tapping was a lucrative business,  he grew up to imbibe the culture of humility.

     

    Integrity his watchword

    One remarkable but painful incident that tested his attitude on honesty took place  when he was teaching at Ijama Primary school in Idanre District. Being a young bachelor he rented a room in a bungalow where the landlord’s family also resided. Much unlike his peers who took delight in playing ludo or ayo game after school, he always got himself busy studying to better his life.

    On that fateful evening, the young Akande strolled outside his room into the corridor. Lo and behold, he saw his landlord chewing a piece of meat and suspiciously taking another one from the efo riro stew pot inside the family cupboard. Both exchanged greetings as if nothing unusual had transpired.

    But not long after, the landlady discovered that some pieces of meat were missing from the soup pot. As expected she summoned her two children to explain their role in what happened. They claimed innocence but their mother was not convinced. They were directed to kneel down, ready for flogging when Akande, feeling out rightly disturbed took  the bull by the horn.  Before the family members he volunteered to spill the beans-that it was the landlord, rather than the innocent children- that had committed the odious act! It was like hell was let loose. In outrage the landlord asked for Akande’s summary eviction!

    Another one came up while he was the acting Headmaster at Ijama Primary School. Back then there was the deliberate, yet fraudulent inflation of school enrolment figures if one wanted the location of a school in a new place, to his favour. But Akande was not going t be part of it. So, despite the fact that he could have been promoted to head the new school at Itese village he did not show any interest.

    It is most inspiring to note that ever since, and even finding himself in the murky waters of party politics, the Akande Brand for integrity and insisting that the right things must be done has dawn credible people to him, like bees to the honeycomb.

     

    A brand for financial discipline

    An interesting episode to shed light on this assertion in the inspiring life of Chief Bisi Akande, was once told by Mr. Wale Adebanwi, a columnist (Home Away from Home) with the Nigerian Tribune precisely on Sunday, August 15, 2004. It had to do with his astute and transparent financial managerial skills clearly exhibited during his tenure as the governor of Osun state.

    Back then, an unnamed UK-based International Donor Agency embarked on the mission to assist Nigeria out of her crisis-riddled economy. To kick-start the project the foreign organization working in partnership with the federal government chose six states, with the aim to help them manage their public finances in a much better way. Abia, Cross River, Gombe, Kebbi and Osun were the states selected for the pilot scheme.

    Incidentally, the expatriates who visited these states made Osun their last port of call. From one state to the other of the first five, they discovered, to their sadness,  that none of them was transparent with regards to their public finance management.But it was a different kettle of fish which they discovered when they visited Osun state! Lo and behold, the Akande-led state had complied with the ethos of financial management. They did not waste time therefore, to recommend the state to the donor agency for the long awaited, intended financial support. As such, his honesty and integrity marked him out as the diamond amongst the rubble.

    So outstanding was Akande in handling financial transactions that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(2004) openly affirmed it that, “Chief Bisi Akande of Osun State is the only governor whose integrity I can vouch for”

     

    Free education policy

    Chief Bisi Akande, having been a beneficiary of the popular Free Education policy instituted by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and driven by the love for the helplessly poor ordinary Nigerians ensured same when he was the state governor. He saw the policy as a veritable foundation on which the house of sustainable poverty alleviation could be erected.

    To enhance that, schools that would be the facilitating centres for requisite knowledge have to be built to have solid and stable structures, with well-equipped library and laboratory facilities. They should enjoy a steady supply of electric power, safe drinkable water and also accessible with good road network.

    Furthermore, the presence of well qualified and open-minded teachers is an imperative, as they would act as caring, committed, compassionate yet disciplined parents away from home. He abolished the payment of all forms of school levies-including fees and Parents Teachers (PTA) levies by primary school pupils and students.

    Within that period, 639 new classrooms equipped with furniture at a cost of N341.5million were constructed for primary schools across the three Senatorial Districts of the state. Ditto was the construction of 114 classrooms at a cost of N46.2 million for secondary schools all over the state.

    Furthermore, to quickly resolve the challenge of inadequate science teachers for the 305 secondary schools in the state, he instituted a crash programme for their training in the two Colleges of Education and two polytechnics. And to act as a stimulus for science education in the state several teachers with that background got promoted even as the government built additional 24 science Schools, Seven Technical Trade Schools in addition to the two inherited Trade Centres, all evenly spread across the state.Another gladdening feature of the boost in quality education delivery was the adequate funding of the tertiary institutions in the state, including Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomosho.

    A brilliant feather to the cap of the Akande-led administration’s impact on free education came precisely in December 2002. That was when six out of the top ten students drawn from secondary schools in the state, who took part in the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) National Competition were from beneficiaries of the government’s free education policy. Interestingly, the state clinched the fourth position at the event which took place in Umuahia, Abia state.

    Indeed, the government under him spent N522.85 million from June, 1999 to November, 2002 as subsidy on education. This laudable initiative saw to the increase in enrolment, attendance and quality of education within a short period. Thank God that the products are all over the world doing Osun state, nay Nigeria proud in the comity of nations.

    Having had his tutelage under Chief Bola Ige (of blessed memory) as his Deputy and at another time as the man who took charge of the affairs of local government administration, he knew exactly what he wanted to achieve as the number one citizen of the state. From primary infrastructural development, healthcare delivery through the  provision of quality education, agriculture, housing and transportation he was strictly guided by some administrative principles.

    The first was to ensure that these projects emanated from the wishes of the benefitting communities, articulated as their most pressing needs. The second was to ascertain their cost implications, set the tone for financial accountability and prudence on the part of the contractors. The third was to make sure that the funds for all on-going projects were made available and the contractors paid upon their completion. Chief Akande made sure that almost all projects, and there were over 1,000 of them during his administration, were completed while in office.

    All said, Akande has stood out as a torch bearer in the dark and long-winding tunnel of mass poverty and ignorance. He therefore, represents that missing link between the favoured few members of the political class and of course, the long-suffering Nigerians, defining  the brand of the much sought after, yet uncommon ideal Nigerian politician the citizens have long been yearning for.

    So, as the much-awaited 2019 general elections dawn on us, enlightened Nigerian voters are enjoined to identify the Akandes amongst them and get them into positions of accountable political leadership.

     

  • Akande: ‘I came into politics accidentally’

    Chief Bisi Akande is downright blunt and factual. The former governor of Osun State came into politics prior to the Second Republic. Since then, he has gained national fame through positions such as Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Deputy Governor, Governor and Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). On the occasion of his 80th birthday, he spoke to reporters, including Southwest Bureau Chief BISI OLADELE, on a wide range of issues. Excerpts:

    To have clocked 80, you must have longevity gene in your family…

    My grandparents lived very long, but my parents lived for a very short time. My father died at age 50 and my mother died about age 45. So, if you find the average, maybe I am supposed to live for about 47 years. And that was about the time I was coming out of the prison. I thank God I did not die in prison. Since I came back, I was expecting, thinking that perhaps I took the gene of my immediate parents. I started being careful. Maybe God’s grace led me this far.

    At what age did you overcome the fear of sudden death?

    Honestly, I was in trepidation since about age 50 to 70 – that I might die suddenly, but it was during that period that I was being stampeded into difficult kinds of assignments. I thank God that I didn’t lose my life as a governor. Immediately after I came out of office, I suffered a very serious heart ailment which I would not have discovered if I remained in office because we were brought up to work very hard, both in school and at work.

    Are you saying you were stampeded into becoming a governor and National Chairman of your party?

    I never had any original intention to be a politician at all. I was not attracted by it. I didn’t like being a politician and I didn’t start being one but one way or the other, I was attracted into it or stampeded into it to use the word or commandeered into it because my first assignment in politics was an appointment by the military to serve as a councilor in Ila Local Government in 1971. Oluwole Rotimi was the governor of the then Western Region. I woke up one day, opened the newspaper and saw my name included in the list of the people they called Management Committee of Ila Local Government. What that meant, I didn’t know. But because it never disturbed my job, I had to travel all the way from Lagos to Ila to serve as a member of the committee of the council. It was, maybe, another name for a councilor because we were not elected. I enjoy service. I loved it but it was very tedious because I had to live in Lagos, working with British Petroleum and serving in Ila. So, you know what it means going to meetings. I belonged to committees. I attended to plenaries; I went to committee meetings, all the way from Lagos. No good roads then. I had to go through Ikorodu/Sagamu; the old Lagos Road. I was dragged into it.

    After that assignment, I thought I was done with politics. One day, a message came from Ila that I was to attend a meeting. There was no such word as wards then, we called them quarters. They said I was to attend quarter meeting. I said ‘what’s my business about the quarter meeting? They said the quarter head and all the quarter people wanted me. So, I had to go to Ila. Getting to the meeting, they asked me to accept or to agree to serve as a councilor in the Obasanjo transition to civilian rule in the second republic. So, I was returned to council unopposed for Isedo ward 1 in Ila Orangun. I didn’t very much like it because I thought one of our brothers would go and I had been discussing with that one, trying to encourage him to be ready to go. But suddenly when they brought that idea, I say okay I recommended my brother who was supposed to go. But the man’s family insisted they wanted me, and that everybody in the quarters wanted me. Then, I became helpless. I asked them what they wanted and they told me. They said they wanted roads to their villages. So, I accepted to serve and that was the second time. As a councilor now, the rule was that there was going to be a constituent assembly and Ila was to be merged with Odo Otin Local Government as a constituency to elect somebody to that constituent assembly. Nobody in my place showed interest because the other local government had 16 councilors. In my place, we had 14 and nobody seemed to signify interest. In contesting, I just felt I would just score 14 votes if I had all in my council and somebody in the other council would score 16 and I would be the loser. I am going back home. That was my intention but we went into the election and with one of the best politicians in my area, Chief Kola Balogun, who was the first Nigerian Minister for Research and Information; he too contested. Then, one Dairo, a former private secretary to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, also contested. One lawyer was also in the race. When the votes were counted, I scored 14; the others shared the remaining 16 votes; with each scoring four votes. So, they declared me elected. So, I had to go to the Constituent Assembly to join others to write the 1979 constitution. There, I became friendly or associated with many Nigerians of the Igbo and Hausa extractions and it was about the beginning of my journey into national politics. I thought I was done because my company had to give me a leave of absence to serve in the Constituent Assembly and I went back to my company. I thought I was done. Suddenly, one day, like everybody, I heard that I was appointed Secretary to the State Government in Bola Ige’s government in the old Oyo State. I didn’t even know what it meant. I didn’t know what SSG was supposed to do.

    Did you campaign during the election that brought Ige to power?

    Honestly, I did. There is a big brother, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, who I met at the constituent assembly who was very used to my area. He lived in Osogbo, he passed through my town all the time to go to his own town and because of that, he knew the area very well and he just met me and said Chief Awolowo will like to see me. Honestly, I was over-excited. How can Chief Awolowo want to see a small me? What about? I had never been a politician. I was afraid. He said Chief Awolowo will like to see you maybe tomorrow evening at Park Lane in Apapa. I first of all consented. Later I went back to him and told him that I won’t be able to make the appointment because I was afraid. I needed to carry my people along because I didn’t know what chief Awolowo was going to say to me and I didn’t want anybody to say I have gone to Chief Awolowo behind their back. I knew when I was young as a school boy in my place, if you say mention the name Awolowo, they will cut your head. In my place, we didn’t support Awolowo at all. Anytime Awolowo was coming to Ila in my youthful days, the Ila people, everybody, will go to the farm. So ,each time Awolowo or Awolowo supporters came to Ila, they will talk to themselves because only the entourage will listen to them. It’s like a curfew.

    How was your meeting with Awolowo?

    So, after consulting with some of my friends, they were more excited than I was. They said you ought to have answered him. So, some of my friends had to follow me. We are about four or five and we told Ayo Fasanmi we are now ready. He took us to Chief Awolowo. I had known Awolowo by reputation. I had always seen him in pictures and one or two occasions seen him in life maybe as a chancellor of the University of Ife. I had relatives, personal daughter at the university and I attended the convocation. I used to see him talking. I admired him, I had read nearly all his works by that time but I was trying to find out why is it that my people didn’t like this man. So, because of that I kept reading all his works, all his interviews, all things said about him. All things said in his favour. I read most things before I was invited to meet him and I prepared my questions. I was ready to meet him and to engage him, really. He gave me good time. We talked for well over two hours and I put so many questions that I regarded as difficult because I tried to put questions that will show how he contradicted himself in some occasions. He told me to ask all my questions. So, I asked all my questions and he answered them together. He impressed me and from that moment I knew Nigeria had a great leader

    When was that?

    That was 1977. It must be November, 1977. I enjoyed interacting with him and in life, he appears much greater than I used to know him in reputation and I respected him a great deal. What he actually called me for was that he wanted to do politics again and that in the first republic, my people didn’t accept him. He learnt if he came to Ila through me this time that my people would accept him. I got overwhelmed by that kind of gesture. How can he say I want to go with you to your place? It was too much for me anyway but I didn’t answer to that. I asked my questions and left. Then I became taunted by that request. Awolowo said he wanted to come with me to Ila and he wanted Ila people to accept him. So, that became an albatross on me and I felt I must work hard to see him win election. In approaching my people, I had a lot of problems. All the educated people didn’t want me to do Awolowo’s politics. All the Muslims didn’t want to do Awolowo politics and they were in the majority in my place at that time. But myself being a Muslim, I decided to start from the mosque. I didn’t go to mosque to ask them to follow me to Awolowo but I prevented using the mosque as a campaign ground. I tried to persuade my people not to allow us to use the mosque as a campaign platform and we had all our watchmen in all the Ratibi mosques so that nobody will bring politics to the mosque. Since I got that done, I thought politics would then start. In recruiting people to contest elections, all the Christians refused to answer me .All the educated people like refused. That time we thought graduates must represent us but they didn’t come along with me. So, all the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) candidates that time were graduates and most of them were Muslims. That was when I became really afraid that things might not work well. But we worked very hard to see people vote for the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and we won all the constituencies in my place in the 1979 election. As soon as that happened and Chief Awolowo did not win the presidency, I went back to my job. I had to go back to my job. I wasn’t a politician. I had done what I was requested to do. I was working for British Petroleum. I was enjoying a managerial position with good salary. I was happy. So, suddenly an announcement came that I was appointed SSG. I have never been a civil servant. I didn’t know what SSG mean. I didn’t know what it has to do but I remember when we were at the constituent assembly that was written into the constitution that a position of SSG was created. So, it is a constitutional position. So, I had to accept to be, not with ease too, because I was afraid losing my job. Before then, there had not been stability in Nigerian politics .If I lose my job and accept to be SSG, three months later there was a coup d’etat, what happens, I lose my job? So, I had to write to my company to give me leave of absence. It was granted that I should serve but this time without pay. When I went to the constituent assembly, it was with pay but this time I was granted leave of absence without pay.

    People usually call you Baba omo kekeke..why?

    That was after I had been a governor. It is because I love education. I always said it, the teachers didn’t like me that schools were not made for the teachers, the schools were made for the pupils. A situation where the teachers will own the school without doing well with the pupils was not acceptable to me. I made it a principle and I made it clear to the teachers that they don’t own the school, the pupils own the school. If there were no pupils, there should be no teachers. I created a platform of interaction with people which I called Labeodan. I moved round the whole state letting them know that only good teachers should be in schools. I removed all the bad ones. I removed 4000 teachers to be replaced by good teachers. I wanted pupils to have a good science background in their learning. My schools were flooded with teachers of history, teachers of Yoruba, teachers of religious knowledge, teachers of all that kinds of thing. In the whole Osun State, hardly did we have 20 science teachers. I went to a school where I met a physical education teacher teaching physics. The pass rate then was less than two per cent in the school certificate examination. Those who were making the two per cent were missionary schools. Government schools were having it almost too bad. Everybody was failing. So, the teachers became Kingsley’s of schools. I said No, in service you have to serve the pupils. The pupils should be the king and not you the teachers. Maybe that influenced the idea of them calling me baba omo kekeke. The teachers didn’t like this but the pupils were happy.

    What is your guiding philosophy in politics, and who are your role models?

    My major role model was Chief Awolowo. My guiding philosophy is service to humanity. In my time I told you I served as councilors first for the military and second elected. We were not earning money. No salary. I was living in Lagos, attending meetings in Ila. You know how much it will cost me traveling down for every meeting. I enjoyed it. The government paid us N100 allowance per month which we donated to public service because it amounted to nothing. So, the purpose of acceptance was service. No other thing. And it was also because nobody took money from me. It is like a chieftaincy thing. My people called me and said ‘come and be our councilor, and sent me there unopposed. So, I thought I must serve them.

    So you didn’t spend money to print posters or lobby?

    No! We went to a quarter meeting and the matter was debated and that was the end of it. By the time we finished, they called it Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO). Nobody opposed me. So, I did not need any poster.

    You actively participated in politics from the Second Republic till date…

    I started before the Second Republic because I served during the military transition as a councilor, but I acted actively during the Second Republic starting as SSG. I ended up as Deputy Governor. So, I served in rare political positions during that time…and maybe that was when I was knew what politics was supposed to be, how to play it and Chief Awolowo was still around. We were always by his table, eating with him, cracking jokes, asking questions ,knowing more about why things should be in one way or the other and we thought that was tutelage and I was directly working with chief Bola Ige. He had been in politics since the first republic. He was the Publicity Secretary of the party. He has known a lot about politics.

    You said you didn’t spend money in the early stage of your political career…

    Yes, at all stages of my life.

    You participated actively in the Second Republic. At what stage did politics become monetised and what would you say was responsible for it?

    I can say it started at the beginning of the Third Republic and this republic. At least, if I didn’t know much, I know as a governor and even before then during the military, I contested again to Abacha’s National Confab though I boycotted after I won. I contested in disobedience to my group; the Afenifere and the NADECO. I contested but the instruction was that I should not contest. Don’t honour Abacha and because I was just coming from prison and I wanted to prove to the military that they were wrong to send me to prison for what they call conspiracy to enrich Unity Party of Nigeria which I know was false because I didn’t do any such thing but they said so immediately I came back from prison. The same military formed two parties – NRC and SDP and they were bankrolling the two parties. The government built two houses for them in all the 774 local governments. In other words, it means 1600 houses for parties with government money. They were paying salaries of secretaries and chairmen and so on. They started funding them, trying to introduce money and bribery into politics. I didn’t like it. So, when Abacha was trying to organize the confab I didn’t want those who belonged to that sector to win in my area. So, after the election, to prove the military wrong, I boycotted the confab. In that election, I didn’t give anybody money and in the third republic, go and ask Gboyega Awomolo, he was one of the people that voted for me in that election. There are many of my people who felt you must contest and I contested and I won and I didn’t spend kobo for anybody.

    So, how did we get here?

    I think the military introduced bribery into politics. Those who took over from the military were military fronts, errand boys and collaborators in the PDP. We formed the APP first and those of military collaborators formed the PDP. Along the line, many of such collaborators came to flood the All Peoples Party (APP) and we withdrew because we didn’t want to be corrupted and we formed the Alliance for Democracy (AD). We were not to be registered but after the local government election, we cleared all the local governments in the Southwest and because the Southwest was denied opportunity through Moshood Kashimaawo Olambiwonninu (MKO) Abiola who died in prison, they didn’t want to go ahead without the Southwest. That’s why AD was registered. They didn’t intend registering it and it was through the AD that I contested as governor. That time it was politics of service. It was politics of the people, not politics for money. That was the one I participated in. I contested and won. I have always contested to be national chairman of political parties and nobody has ever taken one kobo from me. I have never received bribe or have a share in bribe with anybody in this country. I challenge all civil servants, all contractors, all politicians to come out to say Bisi Akande shared something. I have never done it, I will not do it. I have never used money to be in any position.

    Have you ever been offered money?

    Nobody will be good enough to offer me money, because I see it as an insult. It means when you are outside bringing your money, you are coming in with my price. Nobody will be bold enough to do that.

    There are allegations of that happening in parties today…

    I don’t know. It might be. When we formed the All Progressives Congress (APC), we formed it with that mind set but after forming the APC, after becoming a party, some people calling themselves the new PDP walked out of their party and joined us.

    Not that you formed it together?

    No, no, no! They only joined. The Bukola Sarakis, the Atiku Abubakars, the Tambuwals and co, they only moved in. They moved in to come and join us after we were already APC. We had formed our party before they became members. Our party was already on but we allowed them in because they appeared to be condemning PDP for what they knew PDP was doing wrong and we thought they were genuine. So we allowed them in but now there has been a mixture of new PDP or old PDP joining old CPC and so on. That’s why you have a lot of people now. So, if you are hearing that some people are using money to get there now, it is a new phenomenon and it started when I had left position in the party.

    If you are to define political parties based on ideology, what makes APC different from PDP ideologically?

    We have clear-cut ideologies. Ideologically, what makes APC different from PDP is that PDP had led Nigeria into a neck-deep problem of corruption which is the foundation of a failing nation. They have led Nigeria neck deep into indiscipline. But we formed APC to be able to introduce discipline, to eradicate corruption and to mop up all the bad economy that PDP had established 16 years before we came to power. We also wanted to save the country from insecurity. If you remember, about 20 local governments in Borno State were in the hands of Boko Haram before APC government came. Before APC came into government there had been herdsmen killing all over the place. Since the drought in the Sahel, since the drying up of water in Lake Chad, there had been pressure from the Sahel into Nigeria and we may not have seen it in Yoruba land until Chief Olu Falae was kidnapped in his farm during former president Goodluck Jonathan’s era. That was when Yorubas started knowing herdsmen. But the mischievous politicians started by calling it Fulani herdsmen. But the moment they see that the two presidential candidates are Fulani, they stopped calling it Fulani herdsmen, they returned to herdsmen .Nigerians can be easily deceived by these people. They are very cunning; they have a lot of mischievous tendencies. When Buhari was becoming very popular and was dealing with their corruption, what had happened 20 years before Buhari started happening again; they started calling it Fulani herdsmen. Nigerians bought into it and said it was the Fulani that were killing. But when their own candidate too is Fulani, they dropped the word Fulani and started saying herdsmen killing. And the herdsmen in question, they are the gunmen killing people in Nigeria 20 years earlier since the first drought that destroyed Mali, Sudan before Libya and some other failing countries in Sahel. When a country fails, there is no more control of the army or the police. The weapons in their hands becomes their own and they turn to mercenaries. Anybody can hire them to do evil and most of these people doing it might not be Nigerians. But the mischievous politicians will say Fulani herdsmen in order to discredit Buhari. And Nigerians are credulous a little. When politicians are deceiving us; we dance round them and that’s why it appears particularly to most people that there are no differences between the APC and the PDP.

    In 2014/2015, you spoke passionately about restructuring. Now, it seems to be one of the failed promises of the APC. Your party has presented Buhari again and restructuring is not on his agenda. Would your party restructure Nigeria in Buhari’s second term?

    I wrote the first book on restructuring in 2002. Restructuring was not in the manifesto of APC when I was the chairman. Devolution of power was in our manifesto and there is a little difference between the two. People don’t know the difference. You can say devolution of power is more or less a restructuring but it is not. I was one of those that began the agitation for restructuring in Nigeria. I believe in restructuring absolutely but that doesn’t mean that my party believes in it. And if I believe in restructuring ,it is my duty to work very hard to sell my idea to my party but I believe my party can’t be persecuted for it .I believe in it, I am not saying my party believes in it. I have believed in it well before now. The agitation for restructuring began when Abiola was denied opportunity to serve when he won the presidency and that is when the idea of restructuring began and I was part of the beginning of it. I signed the first Yoruba Agenda on restructuring under the chairmanship of the late Adebayo Adedeji. I led my colleagues to popularise it by writing and launching what we called the Yoruba Agenda.  The essence of the Yoruba agenda is restructuring. I wrote a personal book with a foreword by Abraham Adesanya on restructuring. It does not mean that APC believes in what I believe but it is my duty to work very hard to sell my belief to APC but if they don’t buy it, we don’t crucify them for it. But APC accepted devolution of power while we were writing the manifesto and what is devolution of power? Allow the states to do more and the federal to do less. That is devolution of power and all you need to do is to change or to reduce what you call exclusive list in the constitution and you do not add it to the concurrent so that it goes into residual. I don’t see a reason why a federal government should engage in agriculture. They have no land. All lands belong to the state. I don’t see a reason why the Federal Government should engage in primary and secondary education because that’s where the culture of people is imbibed and you can’t universalize culture. Culture of the Yorubas might not be the same as the culture of the Itsekiris; the culture of the Igbo might not be the same as the culture of Hausa or Fulani. So, it is in the primary and secondary school that you can expand the mind of the children into the culture so that their outlook in future would create the dynamo that can modernize culture. Because of that, I don’t see the Federal Government participate in primary and secondary education but when PDP came, they said their principal policy was basic education. They used it to steal money. They started by giving me money to build 10 schools. I used it to build 30 of the same standard and structure with the permission of their engineers and their materials. I built 30 with the money of 10 and I started saying it. They stopped giving me money and were awarding the contract in Abuja. By the time I was leaving government, none of their own had left foundation level. I have opened up my own for schools to use. All these things that PDP said they would do, they were using it to steal Nigeria’s money.

    How do you explain somebody walking down to CBN and talking $2.1billion? That is what Buhari has been battling with. If our system isn’t a bad system you would have seen most people in jail. It’s the stealing money which generated into free money of pay without work, prosperity without service or work. That’s what everyone is now doing. They are stealing pants to make money or human body parts to make money. That’s the new culture. It shows a failing in our education. It is because the Federal Government muddled up education during PDP time. If you look at the constitution it never allocates primary and secondary education to the Federal Government at all. But with impunity, without regard to the constitution, the Federal Government appropriated that function to itself to steal money during PDP time. All these are what we saw when we put in our manifesto of APC that powers must devolve from the centre to the states.

    Why has it not been done?

    It is possible for National Assembly to do it, including the state assemblies. Buhari can’t do it. He has no power to do it. And he can’t leave his job of executive service to go and be doing the legislative work.

    Does that not bother your party that you are not able to deliver on your promises?

    That is not a promise. It’s in our manifesto. Our promises are encapsulated into economy, eradication of unemployment, making Nigeria safe and fight against corruption. That’s the plank upon which Nigeria voted us.

    Manifesto, tangentially included devolution of power. We tried, and you know it has been done once during Buhari’s time, when they wanted to amend the constitution all proposals were defeated at the National Assembly. What do you want Buhari to do? He’s not a member of National Assembly.

    With the benefit of hindsight, what are some of the things you would have done differently, either as governor or party chairman?

    Honestly, there is nothing I’ve done in politics that I would have done differently. I believed in what I did. Not all I wanted to do were successful but most of them were well thought out and deep rooted in reasoning and in the interest of the people of Nigeria.

    As one of the major actors that shaped Nigeria, are you ready to take responsibility for the present situation in the country?

    I won’t take responsibility for the present situation in the country but I’m ready to take responsibility for all my participation and doings in the country thus far.  Like I said earlier on, not everything I did succeed and not everything I wanted to do were acceptable. In democracy, you lose some and win some. For all that I initiated or participated, I take responsibility.

     

  • Tinubu hails Akande at 80

    All Progressives Congress chieftain, Bola Tinubu, says the party might not have recorded quick success without its former Interim Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande.

    In a tribute to congratulate Akande as he clocks 80, Tinubu, also the Co-Chair of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, said Akande was a founding father of the APC and its unprecedented electoral victory in 2015.

    A copy of the tribute was made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos by Tinubu’s Media Officer, Mr Tunde Rahman.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Chief Bisi Akande, a nationalist and a former governor of Osun State, will clock 80 on Jan. 16.

    Tinubu, in a statement issued by his Media Officer, Tunde Rahman, said that Akande was one of the few surviving true associates of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Bola Ige.

    According to him, like Awolowo and Ige, Akande devoted his public life to the ideals and practices that can engender a truly democratic and egalitarian society.

    ”He is a founding father of the APC and its unprecedented electoral victory in 2015.

    ”As the interim chairman of the party, he showed extraordinary adeptness and patience in bridging differences and moulding our new party into a progressive force.

    ”Without him, the APC might never have come into existence and it certainly would not have experienced the quick success it encountered.

    ”He helped lay a solid foundation for the party and did so selflessly and with impartiality and a good word towards all.

    ”Baba is a highly perspective and thoughtful leader. He has proved invaluable in serving humanity and his fatherland,” he said.

    Tinubu described Akande as a principled leader, who possessed profound judgment and a sage’s wisdom as well as a compassionate human being and an example of decorum in any circumstance.

    ”This high principled leader, Bisi Akande, stood as a father figure and mentor to many younger politicians across the country, particularly in the South-West.

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    ”Because of his traits as an exemplary leader and mentor, many call him “Baba Omo Keekeke”, meaning the political father of the younger ones who come after him.

    ”He has shown that one can be successful in politics by being kind to all and making concern for the common person and for a just society one’s guiding vision.

    ”He is one of the most humane persons you could meet. To meet him is to like him. To know him is to admire Chief Akande and to be thankful that he is your friend and ally,” he said.

    Tinubu said that Akande gave his best and served his Ila-Orangun hometown, his state, the Yoruba race and the country with commitment and dedication.

    ”He was a stalwart progressive regarding his objections, and proved to have an expert and diligent hand in terms of his administration of the machinery of governance.

    ”He was unwavering in pursuing what he believed was good and desirable for the state.

    ”He governed with a dignity that is rarely found. Yet, he would not flinch from doing what was right even if strong force was arrayed against him,” he said.

  • Taribo, Edafe, Akande light up minds at Footballers Connect

    Former Super Eagles defender Taribo West, Eseoghene Matthew Edafe and Hong Kong international Alexander Tayo Akande lit up several minds with their experiences at the maiden edition of Footballers Connect, an initiative of Hay Sports.

    NationSport reports that Footballers Connect is an event aimed at bridging the gap between up and coming footballers, professionals and ex-internationals.

    Over 200 young footballers, coaches and administrators were thrilled by the experiences of the speakers who shared stories about their travails and success.

    Former Nigeria defender Taribo West revealed that he was a victim of slave contract for close to a decade of his football career.

    “I played in Auxerre for free,” Taribo West said. I was playing under a contract for five years without knowing the contents and conditions binding the contract.

    The ex-Inter Milan and AC Milan defensive trojan stated that he never understood what he signed as it was written in French which saw him perform in unbearable condition, despite being a cog member of the Ligue 1 outfit.

    He advised that every footballer should ensure they are properly represented while signing professional contracts else they fall victim.

    “After the third year, Arsenal, Juventus, Glasgow Rangers and Sevilla Betis came for me,” he added.

    “I went to the coach starting that I wanted to leave but he sat me down and showed me my contract terms with Auxerre. I saw the details of what I had signed. Where my fellow defenders were earning as high as 120,000 French Francs, I was going home with 3000 French Francs.

    “I wanted to set Auxerre on fire that day. Immediately, I called my manager who was turning me left and right [while] enjoying himself in Senegal.”

    He continued: “One day I went to see my coach after training where I met a certain manager who told me about five clubs were interested in signing me up. On the table I saw Arsenal, Juventus, Glasgow Rangers, Betis, Sevilla and Inter Milan.

    “He began to make calls and Inter was the destination,  I signed the contract papers without knowing its content yet again.”

    Taribo West further revealed that while he was working hard on the field of play, with false stories of his lavish lifestyle in the media, it was his manager who was smiling to the bank.

    He, however, urged young footballers to always seek professional help, especially before making decisions.

    Also speaking at the event was ex-footballer turned sports broadcaster, Eseoghene Matthew Edafe who strongly advised that aspiring footballers and their clubs must begin to take seriously how they interact with the conventional media, and the social media.

    He explained that players must understand that the media is a powerful tool which can either make or mar their careers.

    While addressing grassroots club owners, he urged that they make insurance of their players a pivotal part of the developmental process in a bid to secure the future of youngsters.

    Yabian Fude striker Alexander Tayo Akande, on his part, revealed in details how he moved from Nigeria to Asia, rose through adversity with hard work to becoming a cog member of the Hong Kong senior national team.

    Amos Joseph, Strategist for Hay Sports and convener of Footballers Connect added: “We wanted to show people that there is a lot happening in the football space unaddressed and these are affecting young players in their quest to becoming professionals, and seeking greener pastures. It was great to bring the guests along to help us reveal these things”

    One of the beneficiaries, Enitan Ajayi said: “This is a message all footballers must hear. Imagine Taribo’s story despite playing at that level, he still fell victim of slave contract.”

    According to Hay Sports, organisers of Footballers Connect, the next edition of the event is scheduled for the first quarter of 2019.

  • Akande, presidentialism and parliamentarianism

    THE debate over which is the better system of government between presidentialism and parliamentarianism is really yet to take off. It is subsumed under a far more fractious and cantankerous debate over the country’s structure. Since there is no agreement yet over structure, it appears there can be no lasting agreement over systems. The restructuring debate is unfortunately so bad-tempered that it is mediated through cracked ethnic prisms. At the press conference to mark his 79th birthday, former Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bisi Akande, last Tuesday exhumed the debate over both restructuring and systems of government. He easily voted for parliamentarianism for its inclusiveness, transparency and accountability; dismissed presidentialism for being too costly and complicated; and assumed that restructuring the country was ineluctable.

    Whether they call restructuring by the name of true federalism or devolution of power, as the ruling party describes it in its manifesto to the amnestic convenience of its leaders, or restructuring, as most patriots would prefer to see it, it is inevitable that the country must one day come to terms with its misshapen structure and take concrete steps to remake it along the visionary postulations of the country’s founding fathers. Regardless of the country’s preoccupation with the politics of re-election, which is set to heighten in the coming months, Chief Akande is right to draw attention to the system of government he thinks is most appropriate for Nigeria. His view deserves more than a cursory glance, for it is really difficult to separate structure from system. Let the debate be taken together, as indeed quite a number of debaters have done in the past few months.

    In Chief Akande’s words: “President Buhari is my friend and I want him to succeed but he is running a difficult system of government. Nigeria’s democracy is a military democracy of sharing and if we continue like this, there is no how we can succeed. Up to this present age, evidence based analyses has proven parliamentary democracy to be the most accountable transparent form of government in the whole world…It has made the United Kingdom prosperous, and Israel stable, and is also transforming India from acute poverty and hunger into self sufficiency and reliability virtually in all fields. Apart from being transparent and accountable, parliamentary democracy is absolutely inclusive. It appears to be the best form of governmental structure for Nigeria now. In Nigeria’s presidential system of government, lawmakers are elected on party platforms, but as soon as they get to the parliament, the party on which platform they get the opportunity, becomes less important.”

    The former APC chairman is actually right about the evidence-based analysis he referenced. He is also right to conclude, as his party has shown at state and national levels, that lawmakers diminish their parties the moment they take their seats. He knows, as everyone else does, that the APC as a party has exercised little or no influence on both the polity and government since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office. Worse, the party’s lawmakers have acted as if both the party and the executive are aliens. Chief Akande was not just interim chairman of the ruling party, he was also governor of Osun State, making him to experience politics at both party and executive levels. His views and arguments deserve to be examined with seriousness and candour. At least he has shown that since vacating office, he has ruminated on why he had trouble with the Osun legislature, and why the country has appeared not to make tangible progress both in the practice of democracy and in the pursuit of economic development. More importantly, he is willing to engage in debate in order to see whether a common ground could not be found to engender development and stability.

    But in his New Year’s Day address to the nation, President Muhammadu Buhari was characteristically dismissive of the quest for both a new national structure, aka restructuring, and a more workable and less acrimonious system of government, especially the calls for a return to parliamentarianism. Said the president, first with his customary paternalistic airs, then irritably: ” In respect of political developments, I have kept a close watch on the on-going debate about “Restructuring”. No human law or edifice is perfect. Whatever structure we develop must periodically be perfected according to changing circumstances and the country’s socio-economic developments. We Nigerians can be very impatient and want to improve our conditions faster than may be possible considering our resources and capabilities. When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure. We tried the Parliamentary system: we jettisoned it. Now there are shrill cries for a return to the Parliamentary structure. In older democracies, these systems took centuries to evolve so we cannot expect a copied system to fit neatly our purposes. We must give a long period of trial and improvement before the system we have adopted is anywhere near fit for purpose.”

    The president spoke inaccurately of the impatience of critics, which he summed up as a national attitude. Yet, the parliamentary system was in operation after independence for essentially less than six years, when it had hardly been subjected to adequate stress tests. Meanwhile the presidential system has been in operation for about 19 years since the beginning of the Fourth Republic without any indication that it would get better. So, whether parliamentary or presidential, the country has passed through the whole gamut of patience and impatience. What is more crucial, as Chief Akande says, but which the president apparently fails to understand, is that the country must determine whether holistically the presidential system is not more opaque, more costly, and less responsive than the parliamentary system. Entwined in both is the indispensable factor of the country’s superstructure, its national question. What is obvious is that Chief Akande has had time to reflect; and President Buhari has hardly found the time.

    It is even clearer that judging from the president’s January 1, 2018 address he has not found time to study the parliamentary system of government, nor, it seems, can he convince anyone that he has patiently examined the weaknesses of the presidential system. Like anyone else, he is of course entitled to reason and maintain a position, but that position must be informed by knowledge, experience and brilliance, all far above the national average. In his speech, he did not mention one great virtue of presidentialism, nor one great vice of parliamentarianism. Beyond coming down hard on critics, it is important that he must argue his position persuasively, much more than just holding it tamely and inflexibly. Indeed, it must be clear to the president what the definitions of both systems are, and what great political principles distinguish and undergird them.

    It is not the country that is impatient, as the president surmised; he is in fact the one who is condescending. Even if he did not take a position as president and a reformed democrat, as he described himself, it was expected of him to invite rather than stifle discussions on those pertinent subjects. That is what Chief Akande has done. The former Osun State governor did not imperiously advocate one position over another; instead he simply put his observations and convictions before the public, asking them to consider whether the country should not make a recourse to the past. On the other hand, the president, without substance and foundation, called for an end to the discourse on systems and restructuring, when he should have invited more debate. The country needs the debate, only that it must be held civilly. Nigerians must be living in denial to conclude that the current system works and only needs tinkering. Even if there is no agreement on the prognosis, there can be little doubt that the current structure is not working. What will make it work is not patience.

    The president has no reason to stifle the debate on systems of government and restructuring. He should encourage it. In fact, he should join it from an informed perspective. He must not only update his knowledge on systems and structures, as these are crucially vital and indispensable, he has a responsibility, as president, to inspire and lead the debate at a level that is both productive and regenerative. It is not enough for the president to get bogged down with policies and politics, he must find quiet moments to renew himself through the aspiration and eventual application of knowledge. Had he engaged in that refining task of knowledge acquisition as president, he would definitely have anticipated the herdsmen/farmers clashes, developed alternative models, harnessed the debates on the changing structures of the Nigerian economy with reference to dairy farming, and helped the country avoid the needless bloodletting in which it is immersed.

    It is apposite to draw the attention of the president to an entry in Encyclopaedia.com by Maxwell A. Cameron, a scholar who attempts to differentiate the two systems of government. Said he: “A constitution is presidential if the executive and legislative branches of government are elected separately for fixed terms. In parliamentary systems, the executive (typically led by a prime minister) is selected from among the members of the legislature and may be removed through a vote of no confidence. The difference between these types of democratic constitutions hinges, therefore, on two distinctions. First, in a presidential system, candidates compete for seats in the legislature or for executive office by running in separate elections. In a parliamentary system, candidates run for seats in the legislature, and then form a government based on the ability of a party or coalition to win the confidence of a majority of the members of parliament. Second, presidential systems follow fixed electoral calendars. Once elected, the president and the congress typically hold office for a specified term. In parliamentary systems, the government’s term can be brought to an end at any time by a vote of no confidence or an act of dissolution.”

    The president will find that these systems are not as forbidden or unapproachable as he thinks, nor as abominable as those who have taken positions one way or the other imagine. Let the president enrich his understanding by patiently studying these systems, asking for debates and contributions on whether the systems cannot be adapted to meet local needs, as the French and many other nations have done, and seeing whether instead of being constantly and discourteously reactive and offended, he can’t find the good grace and open-mindedness to champion Nigeria into the future. Chief Akande has belled the cat; let the president imitate his courage and learning.

  • Beyond restructuring, by Akande

    Former All Progressives Congress (APC) Interim National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande has a word of caution for advocates of restructuring. Mere sloganeering restructuring without any clear definition, peaceful and workable strategy is an invitation to chaos, the one-time Osun State governor says. In his remarks titled: “Devolution of powers and national restructuring” at the weekend as a Special Guest of Honour at the APC-USA Second Annual Convention at the Hilton Garden Inn, Washington DC Greenbelt, Chief Akande says appropriate amendments must be made to the 1999 Constitution for equitable rearrangement and redistribution of existing local government areas and states must precede restructuring.

    PERMIT me to start by appreciating the leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC) who organise this APC-USA Second Annual Convention and who have kindly invited me to attend it as a Special Guest of Honour. I am excited and challenged by the theme of the convention, namely: “Advancing the APC Change Agenda, the Report Cards and the Role of the Diaspora”.

    In this address, I am merely restating the summary of the APC Change Agenda, which is clearly contained in the APC manifesto launched in 2013 and which should have been well known to most members of this convention as leaders of APC in the USA.

    I am not qualified to talk about the “Report Cards” because, due to my personal phobia for holding public offices in old age, I have refused to accept direct participation in any of our APC governments in Nigeria.

    I would like to invite APC leaders at the convention and our entire members in the Diaspora to research into and to attempt a clarification of what we describe as ‘Devolution of Powers’ in our Manifesto, vis-à-vis its mix-up with what is being described as ‘Restructuring’. The purpose of that clarification is to prevent our opponents from successfully misleading the general public about the “Report Cards” of our various governments on implementing the APC Change Agenda.

     

    The Change Agenda

     

    In a paper delivered by APC Deputy National Chairman for the North during the 1st Convention of the APC-USA held at the LaGuardia Plaza Hotel in New York, from 17 – 18 September, 2015, Senator Lawal Shuaibu said: “the party ‘s manifesto was encapsulated into three:

    • To create jobs;
    • To eradicate corruption; and
    • To bring peace back to Nigeria.

    These three summaries of APC manifesto have since become the ‘Change Agenda’ of our party for Nigeria.

    Please, permit me to adopt as my summary of APC Change Agenda for Nigeria the above encapsulated statement by Senator Shuaibu.

     

    Devolution of power

     

    In my understanding, the means to achieving “devolution of powers” is just persuading the national and state assemblies to reduce the exclusive functions of the central government, and to rearrange the concurrent responsibilities between the central government and the state governments in the lists of functions recorded in the 1999 Constitution with a view to giving more residual powers to the states. With intensive debates and negotiations among all political parties that have members in the national and state assemblies, this can be easily achieved. APC Federal Fovernment alone cannot do it.

    However, the biggest problem will be how to fund the various functions by non-viable states, if Nigeria remains consisted of 36 or more states, and  if the existing crude oil rental economy falters, or is no more.

     

    Restructuring

     

    This is the most complex exercise in nation building.

    Only political illiterates would not appreciate what ‘Restructuring’ involves. It is a function of population manipulation within the ethnic nationality spreads and power redistribution.

    In the South of Nigeria today, for reasons of variables of Western civilisations, majority of men marry one or few wives and majority of women practise family planning and birth control. In the North, however, for reasons of culture, majority of men marry several wives, majority of women when they are young and prefer to have as many children as possible; birth control is even religiously abhorred. There is more tendency, therefore, for the North to continue to have more electoral representative constituencies that the South in the National Assembly as long as its population continues to grow higher and faster.

    By nature, the military that ruled Nigeria for 29 years since independence created states and local government areas according to selfish demands by fiats rather than by any scientific political reasonings during tenures. These states and local government areas have been enshrined by the military decrees in the 1999 Constitution. They might have inequitably created more local government areas per population per state in the North than in the South with a view to making the North continue to benefit from high revenue sharing from the national treasury.

    ‘Restructuring’ is, therefore, the equitable rearrangement and redistribution of the existing local government areas and states per population within the various ethnic nationalities, and making appropriate amendments to the Nigerian constitution to accommodate such rearrangements and redistributions. It is sheer political illiteracy, however, to think that the word ‘equitable’ can be easily defined to convince those who might have had extra advantages under the existing constitution to surrender those advantages easily.

     

    How Nigeria was structured in history

     

    We all know that, it involved series of foreign military expeditions to translate the consulates into the British colony of Lagos in the mid-19th century. After properly taking hold of and settling down in Lagos, it involved another series of British military expeditions to structure together the villages, towns and settlements around the network of rivers that flow into Lake Chad and into Rivers Niger and Benue to constitute the land mass called the British Protectorate of Norther Nigeria later in the same century.

    Hundreds of years earlier, with series of internecine wars, history had witnessed the structuring of what had been known as Bornu Empire, the Zamfara Empire and other empires and kingdoms in the areas being established into the British Protectorate of Norther Nigeria.

    It must also be remembered that the century immediately before the advent of the British witnessed the Fulani military jihads that replaced the Habe dynasty with the Fulani Emirates under the Sokoto Sultanate in the same North. The sole design of the Fulani jihads was woven around what they pronounced as “introduction and reformation of Islam”, which involved series of wars and inter-communal bitterness.

    Towards the close of the same 19th century, by similar series of military expeditions, the British Protectorate of Southern Nigeria was also created. Before then, through wars of expansion of one ancient authority over certain numerous communities, Oyo and Benin Empires has been structured for centuries in the area to be eventually established as the British Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. By the same use of force, the British protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated in 1914 with the Colony of Lagos to establish the British Nigeria colony.

    There were constant intra and inter-communal resentments of the British managements of those “community marriages” called Nigeria. For three or more decades thereafter, the British was adopting all forms of military repressions to sustain the amalgamation of 1914. In 1939, Nigeria was split into Norther, Western and Eastern regions for ease of colonial control.

    From its initial structuring, the geographical entity called Nigeria as the Hausa land under the Fulani emirate governments based on Islamic footings, otherwise known as Hausa/Fulani people. Side by side with the Hausa/Fulani people are the Kanuri, Tivs, Yoruba, Edo, Urhobo, Igbo, Ibiobio and Ijaw (as major ethnic nationalities) that have been interspersed with minor ethnic nationalities like the Gwari, the Margi, the Bata, the Longuda, the Angas, the Nupe, the Igala, the Ebira, the Idoma, the Efik, the Ekoi, the Itsekhiri and such other ethnic groups.

    In the 1950 National Conference at Ibadan, the agitation for merging of Ilorin and Kabba provinces with the then Western Region was initiated by Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife. That was the beginning of agitations for restructuring in Nigeria. Thereafter, the politicians increased the tempo of the agitations for restructuring by demanding for the creation of a Middle Belt from the North, the Mid-West from the West and the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers State from the East. Side by side with the agitations for geo-political restructuring, there were demands for power allocation. While some politicians advocated the unitary form of government for Nigeria, others canvassed for a federal form of power allocation. There might have been some sense in the knowledge of our leaders that reduced those agitations into a series of constitutional conferences that led Nigeria to the adoption of a federal form of constitution up to Independence in 1960.

    The British, knowing that agitations for geo-political restructuring usually tended to involve wars, cleverly evaded those demands but, instead, granted Nigeria independence in 1960. Within the first decade of the independence, there was a bloody military coup and another bloody military counter-coup resulting in a three-year civil war before the military adventurists had the opportunity to mis-structure Nigeria and to misallocate powers as contained in the present unworkable 1999 Constitution.

     

    Geo-political restructuring or nothing?

     

    Therefore, “restructuring” must be seen as a more Herculean major task for all Nigerians than a mere political change of power for which APC was put together.

    The North is a largely Hausa-speaking people, traditionally mix-bred and assimilated with and governed by minority Fulani rulers through Islamic emirate system since two centuries ago. The North has been amalgamated with the South in law and in fact since a century ago. And, presumably, the Fulani has been perceived to be manipulating the North to rule Nigeria since Independence in 1960.

    Even if one does not like the minority Fulani rulers of the North for being hegemonic in characteristics, can one easily separate them from the original majority Hausa-speaking people of the same North? Unless one was ready for another civil war, could one ostracise the whole North in the political considerations of Nigeria?

    It is within that context that those of us who do not wish to wait for another civil war to effect a geo-political restructuring, have decided to go ahead with the APC arrangement, while our opponents are left behind to assume a loud coarse noise on mere sloganeering – ‘Restructuring’ – without any clear definition or a peaceful workable strategy.

     

    Making Nigerian constitution workable:

    The DAWN example

     

    Constitution amendments or not, Nigerians have already begun to see themselves as peoples belonging to the North-western, North-eastern, North-central, South-western, South-eastern and South-southern areas, euphemistically called “zones”.

    The Southwest, on its own, has moved further to create a Development Agenda Commission for Western Nigeria (“DAWN Commission”). The major role of that commission, at the moment, is to conduct research to generate pieces of advisory information for the benefit of each of the South-western state governments on integrated development programmes.

    As a first step, the people of each of these South-western states are trying to key into APC to back up the possibility of their governments to speak with one political voice, using one manifesto under one political party.

    It is an experiment worthy of encouragement and emulation by the people of the other zones for the strengthening of a federal political attitude towards physical and social development within each zone.

  • Blame military for lopsided political structure -Akande

    Successive military governments in the country between 1966 and 1999 were the architects of the current lopsided political structure in the country,former Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande,said yesterday.

    Akande in a lecture “Devolution of Powers and National Restructuring” he delivered at the APC-USA Second Annual Convention in Washington DC, United States of America,said  the various military regimes created states and local governments  solely  for selfish reasons rather than through any scientific political reasoning.

    The effects of those decisions on the country and the citizens now necessitate a restructuring,he said.

    The former Osun State governor said the military might have inequitably created more local governments per population per state in the North than in the South, thus giving the North an unfair advantage in revenue allocation from the national treasury.

    Akande, who is also a former governor of Osun State, said  that the restructuring being canvassed would ensure “equitable rearrangement and redistribution of the existing states and local governments per population within the various ethnic nationalities.”

    The former APC chairman, however, admitted it would be politically unwise to define the word equitable in such a way that it would be easy to convince those enjoying the unfair advantage at present to surrender such.

    The former APC chairman also said constitutional amendments or not, Nigerians have begun to see themselves as belonging to geo-political zones-Northwest, Northeast, Northcentral, Southwest, Southeast and South-south.

    He said the Southwest, on its own, has evenmoved ahead  to create a Development Agenda Commission for Western Nigeria   (DAWN)  to conduct research to generate advisory information for the benefit of the each of the South-west  state governments on integrated development programmes.

    According to him, as a first step, the people of these Southwestern states are trying to key into the APC to back up the possibility of their governments to speak with one political voice, using one manifesto under one political party.

    He recommended this initiative to other geo-political zones, saying it is an experiment worthy of encouragement and emulation for the strengthening of a federal political attitude towards physical and social development within each zone.

     

  • Osinbajo, Oshiomhole, governors, Akande, Tinubu: vote Oyetola

    •Aregbesola canvasses votes for Oyetola

    Osogbo, the Osun State capital, literally stood still yesterday, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) kicked off its campaign for the September 22 governorship election.

    Gboyega Oyetola is the party’s candidate.

    At the event, which was graced by National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, members of the National Campaign Council and chieftains of the party from the Southwest region, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) raised the hand of the party’s candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, and handed over the flag to him.

    The rally, which was held at the Oshogbo Township Stadium, was attended by National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Kano State Governor Ganduje, who chairs the committee; Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; their Ondo State counterpart, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and Ekiti State Governor-Elect Kayode Fayemi.

    Former Osun, Ogun and Ekiti governors Bisi Akande, Segun Osoba and Segun Oni were also on the train.

    The APC is one of the leading candidates in the election.

    Also in the race are: Sen. Iyiola Omisore (Social Democratic Party), Ademola Adeleke (Peoples Democratic Party), Moshood Adeoti (African Democratic Party) and Fatai Akinbade (African Democratic Congress).

    The stadium was filled with supporters who also occupied  the spaces outside the stadium.

    Welcoming the crowd, Ganduje said what they saw confirmed the socio-economic development of Osun under the APC in the last eight years. He pointed out that the mammoth crowd also confirmed the love the people have for the party. He urged them to vote for continuity. He also said the APC believes in free and fair elections.

    Urging the electorate to vote for the APC on September 22, Amosun said Osun is a state of the progressives. He said: “Let nothing change. Let’s troop out in large numbers to speak for the APC with our votes. If you love President Buhari, vote for APC.”

    Aregbesola sang a number of songs at the rally and urged the people to vote for Oyetola. Ajimobi described Oyetola’s candidacy as God’s project. Akeredolu said ensuring success for Oyetola requires collective efforts like the broom, which is the party’s logo. For Fayemi, Ekiti has been restored to the progressives circle. He added: “Osun has been in our kitty. So, let’s keep it intact. Oyetola has been a long member of this struggle. He is trustworthy and reliable. Whoever loves Buhari and other APC leaders will support Oyetola. We shall all get to the promised land.”

    Oshiomhole spoke of the need to sustain the good legacies of Aregbesola. He recalled that he was in Osun several years ago to organise workers strikes. He pointed out that the transformation of the state under Aregbesola in the last eight years has been massive.

    The National Chairman reminded them that Aregbesola  took over eight years ago after years of rot.

    His words: “Oyetola is a finance expert who has passion for the development of the state. No one can help you govern if u don’t have the skills. He has worked very hard and was very successful in the private sector. He has the capacity to translate his vision to reality. He worked hard as a loyal Chief of Staff to Aregbesola. We hereby present to you a tested and trusted human being to be the next governor of this state.”

    While presenting Oyetola with the flag of the party, Osinbajo said God brought a blessing to Osun in Oyetola.

    Tinubu described Oyetola as  a reliable transformation agent, who is loyal and capable.

    He said: “Oyetola is God’s promise indeed. He has been our engine room in years past. He is now coming home to serve you. After succeeding in the private sector, it is good to come back home and serve one’s people. The team will help Osun succeed like Lagos. Youths will gain employment under his leadership.  We were surprised when he declared his intention. He is coming to reform the state. Be patient, jobs are coming. He is not a corrupt leader. He is coming to work for you. We held direct primary and the popular candidate emerged. Don’t let anybody deceive you.”

    Osoba said he came to thank God for having been born in Osogbo 79 years ago. He urged residents to vote for Oyetola.

    Akande explained that the party is the supreme house no member should attempt to destroy, because it is bigger than any member. He added: “Let’s support APC to keep it strong.”

    Oyetola thanked God for the day, describing it as special. He said some refer to him as a Lagos boy to discredit him. ” But I’m a true son of Iragbiji. Look at the good works Aregbesola’s APC government has done in the last eight years. Vote for me for sustenance. I have learnt the ropes before coming out to contest. Just do it right on September 22.”

     

     

  • Ndanusa, Akande, Ohuabunwa, others join Pearl Awards Board

    Pearl Awards Nigeria has announced the appointment of some notable Nigerians to its Board of Governors from corporate Nigeria.

    Among the people appointed are Dr. Suleyman Ndanusa, OON; Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande, CON; Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, OFR; Mr. Olufemi Awoyemi, FCA;  Mrs Toyin Sanni and Prince Abimbola Olashore.

    According to a release signed by Olalekan Adekoya, Secretary, Board of Governors, the board was reconstituted as part of efforts to strengthen its governance and enhance the performance of the Awards Project towards the realization of its objectives and to further contribute meaningfully to the growth of the capital market and by extension, the nation’s economy.

    The new board members are top-flight and respected professionals whose wealth of experience spanned the capital market and the financial sector of our economy.

    Dr Suleyman Ndanusa was Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and served as Chairman of Board of SEC between 2013 and 2015.   He is currently the Group Managing Director/CEO, Global Mandate Consulting Limited.

    Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande was the immediate past President, Lagos Chamber of  Commerce and Industry (LCCI). She is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School and the International Institute for Management Development.

    Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa was the Chairman /Managing Director of Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc. He was also past President, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).

    Mr. Olufemi Awoyemi is the Founder/CEO, Proshare Nigeria Limited and WEB TV. Prior to this, he served as MD/CEO, P2P Media Partners Limited. He had earlier worked as Head, Treasury and Management Account, British American Tobacco.

    Mrs Toyin Sanni, a lawyer, chartered secretary and stockbroker was until recently the Group CEO at United Capital Plc.

    Prince Abimbola Olashore is a seasoned investment banker with vast experience and knowledge in the capital market and in financial

    advisory services in the public and private sectors. He was Managing Director / CEO, Lead Bank Ltd.

    The PEARL Awards Nigeria instituted in 1995 is a private sector, not-for-profit, non-partisan and Non-Governmental Organization initiative to reward companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for Operational and Stock Performance based on objective and globally accepted parameters, thereby enhancing vibrancy, growth and development of the market.