Former Chief of Defence Staff Lt.-Gen. Alani Akinrinade is the Convener of the Yoruba General Assembly. He spoke with Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU and Political Correspondent MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE in Lagos on the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term by Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group, his experience as a delegate to last year’s National Conference, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) protest in Lagos, the general elections and the challenges that will face the next President.
Was the Yoruba Agenda met at the last year’s National Conference?
No, it wasn’t.There are certain things that are sacrosanct to the Yoruba people. For instance, when we talk about true federalism, you don’t just do it on paper. All the elements that go with it like derivation, fiscal federalism must be there. You must have responsibilities attached to the power held. You must have the power to discharge the responsibilities. You don’t give a state police and say that there is a national police being paid for by the central government, which people are free to use, and that, if I want a state police, I must pay for it myself. That is not a fair way to organise true federalism. The major issue is that we wanted a government that is more accountable to the people and the one that is close to the people. It is the parliamentary system that gives that kind of atmosphere to make the government accountable. But, there was no reasonable discussion on it, not to talk discussing the merit of it. The conference was not the kind of assembly that I liked; where you are given a tough subject and you are told to stand up in front of cameras and speak for just three minutes. That is not good enough to articulate real issue or discuss the import of the subject you had to push. To that extent, the Yoruba wants to regroup to look at those reports given at the conference. We want to point out all the areas where they are not acceptable or satisfactory to the Yoruba people. I can tell you that some of our people, I mean other nationalities in Nigeria, are very suspicious of great ideas. In the kind of atmosphere that we are, communities that we live and everywhere in the world, true federalism allows each one to act on his own. Federalism allows a lot of things to be done in their own way and ability. You are never going to have peace the way things are done in the country. You don’t have peace in Nigeria now. Today, if it is not MASSOB, then, it will be another militia. Just like yesterday, the Oodua People Congress (OPC) or whatever they call themselves, were carrying arms on the streets of Lagos to harass people. That is not a federal system that we need. You can’t have a governor here, who is responsible for law and order, and some people are subverting the peace of the state. They said they wanted to march, but they were harassing people. They were even given protection by the federal police. They are wielding guns in the streets of Lagos. How can that happen in this 21st century? These are the issues that we must look into. The Yoruba must sit down to look at all these. They are using our men to destabilise our society. They are using our own young people to cause trouble. They even brought militants from the South or East to Yorubaland to foment trouble. This is unacceptable. These are some of the reasons for us to sit together occasionally to review. We must sit together to look at issues that affect us as a nation. I believe today, we are just deceiving ourselves. When we hear people talking about unity. Is it the unity of the donkey and the owner? How can we be talking about unity when people are not happy to relate with themselves?
Afenifere leaders who attended the conference have endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan because they believe he will now implement the report…
This is difficult to explain in non-offensive ways. There are internal synergies in Yorubaland. It is also important to say that there are groups of people who sold us for pittance. They misled us by trying to move us into what they call mainstream politics. All those who stood against the mainstream politics were regarded as their enemies. There were all sorts of things or information going around in town about some of our eminent politicians, who people don’t want to recognise. But, I believe during the hours of need in Yorubaland, some people stood up and did very well for us. If it is not for them, we should have been into the mainstream politics of Nigeria. That is not a very good idea. It is full of corruption, almost in a position of brigandage. We cannot accept that for the Yoruba people. There was this group that said it endorsed the Presidency of Jonathan for the Yoruba for another four years. You can do that anytime. But, you cannot do that on behalf of the Yoruba people. You don’t have to do that for me. I don’t believe that everybody in Yorubaland would like to support Jonathan. We have always been broad minded people, who can think and decide what they want. You have to convince them about it. I am not convinced that the so-called elders were now looking at the Yoruba Agenda vice a vice what we went to do in at the conference. The results have not been encouraging. There are important things that we did not touch, in the name of trying to preserve the unity of the country. I think our countrymen must understand that there are lots of nations in Nigeria that are bigger than many countries in the world and they are doing well. Lagos State alone is bigger than Singapore. Singapore has a name in the world. The people who built it started from the scratch. Some of our leaders are so decadent. They think without oil money nobody can go anywhere. Therefore, you think you can enslave your people simply because you want to have money from oil. These are matters you must think about. Back in the 50s, we did not have anything like oil. Those were the glorious days of Western Nigeria. We had independence before anybody else. The self-government was attained individually. The West took its own and Awolowo made a real gain out of it. Other people began to see that it was possible for the black man to govern himself and they can do better than the colonialists. Awolowo opened a new television station; the Yoruba people were moving at a better speed of development. The Yoruba man cannot go and teach the Hausa man how to produce the millet. If we want unity, it cannot be the unity of donkey and the rider.
The Yoruba General Assembly complained about the marginalization of Yoruba. Has anything changed between then and now?
They gave us the Chief of Staff position in the past two years. I think we must put a line between what we call marginalization. In a democracy, there is a government and there is a constitution. The government will have to deliver on its manifesto; that manifesto has to make the difference. Maybe, there is some coincidental similarities. Therefore, when you stay in the opposition, you allow your government to govern. And if a government feels it can tap from the opposition, it can go to the opposition and take very good people, who are specialists. It happens in America. The Secretary of Defence in the time of Bill Clinton has always been a Republican when Democrats are in government. The one there now is a Republican and he is serving under the Democrats. But, they must be good people, and not the type of thugs we have. Not people charged for murder and so on that they go to Yorubaland to pick to serve. So, when you talk of marginalization, it is when you go into some institutions of government like the federal court, education and things like that you don’t find our people as if we never went to school. It is as if we never produced a Nobel laureate. They are there. Look at the case of the lady in the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN), who was not appointed to the top job. They brought another fellow when they sacked the one she was next to. She is a competent Yoruba woman who had grown up on the job. They side tracked her. These are the issues and they are staring one in the face. Now, they employ thugs carrying guns round the streets of Lagos. If you had done what you should do over the years, you don’t need gunmen to get votes. You don’t need a Gani Adams and his people to harass people. They even brought Delta militants to come and parade the streets of Lagos. It is offensive, very offensive to the Yoruba people and to me in particular.
What are your fears for the general elections?
There could have been no fears. In the old days, the electoral body belonged to the regions. It did not belong to the Federal Government and we had elections. We now have a Federal Government that people say you have to be in that Federal Government so that you can lord it over some people. That was how the matter of election rigging became a subject. We never had electoral commission that is so pervasive like we now have. We now have a Federal Government that is so strong that it can do anything. That is the reason it has become a do or die affairs for some people. These are the challenges that have taken over election matters in the country. If elections are meant for real service, will people try so hard to win? It has got to the level of brigandage where they are hiring thugs to win elections. Look at governors that have worked so hard. Babatunde Fashola, for instance, who I am older than with about 30 years. He has grey hair. Look at Bill Clinton, look at Barack Obama; that young man. They have grey hair. That is the life of service. In their case, it is a honourable thing to do it. Their legacies are going to endure the history of America. That is what is called service. It is not service where they have depleted the monetary vault. You are going to wake up one morning, to write a cheque and nobody will honour it. That is the position of Abuja right now. That is the reason why everybody wants to go there. Let us turn this thing to a life of service and we will have a better political system. That will now also affect our elections. There are ridiculous stories of sharing dollars on the streets. If I have my dollars, why should I be giving it to you because I want to serve you? I don’t have great hope for these elections. There have been too many imponderable reports surrounding it. People, who should embrace technology in this age, when people are landing Roberts on the Mars, want to take us back to the Stone Age. Ordinary card reader is what they are arguing about. Why the argument? The moment all that happened; we know that they don’t have a clean mind to conducting elections.
So, the American prediction that Nigeria will break is real?
Americans are honest people. They put all the parameter in front of them and had analyzed it. They can almost see tomorrow and we have people like that here like in the days of Awolowo. That is what has happened. They put the indices together and they looked at us, they looked at the point we are going to have problem. Even at that time, when they said 2015, I did not think it was in the terms of election. They saw tomorrow and that is what happened and if we look at the stage as it is now, they are right. We are the one who will prove them right. What is the purpose of casting doubt in the minds of the people, whether they are going to have elections or not. Democracy is the only weapon the people have to defend themselves. Now, we are trying to discourage them, still arguing about the system that we left half a century behind. I think the Americans know what they are saying. It is not that they wish us evil, but that is what is happening, when you put the parameters together. Now, that we start another elections year, it looks to me that they are good analysts.
What is your position on troop deployment to elections?
There is no point for troop deployment. Even the police are hardly us in elections anywhere in the world. It is only us that continue to consign ourselves to the Third World syndrome, black man syndrome. To where you cannot be honest, you cannot do things in a way, where everybody is above board. What do you need police at elections for? In fact, there is work on election days. In our own case, we are going to take a whole weekend off and we are going to deploy soldiers on the streets. You don’t need them on the streets. Let those who want to vote for behave themselves. They are the ones who hire the thugs. If the army is still what it used to be, they should go to Sambisa and get the people out. Kick them out of that territory that is the job they are hired for.
If a General in the Army is contesting for the Presidency and he says the certificate is with the military secretary, should that be politicised?
The people who started that argument did not know how much they devalued our country. How much they faulted the intelligence of our people. You know already that all our institutions have been bastardized by the Federal Government and I don’t know if the army is exempted from it. General Buhari himself was the Military Secretary, and the Military Secretary is the custodian of all the documentations of all army officers. No one at the time Buhari joined the army could have got into the army without a proper qualification. There was no way General Buhari could have gone into the military without his certificate. There was no ways he could have become a General without passing through all the military trainings. So, why debase us by starting that kind of argument?
What are the core challenges that will face the next government?
First of all, he will inherit a country that is heavily divided. He will inherit a country that is broke. He will inherit a country that is infested with some form of virus that has really made them difficult to perform. I am talking about institutions of state that are responsible for justice, law and order. The real import of the economy that is collapsing is there. A lot of companies may not be able to pay their workers and other challenging issues like that.
