Chief (Dr) Femi Majekodunmi is a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State.
In this interview with Bola Joseph, the Bada of Egbaland bares his mind on the state of the nation, especially the current security challenges, like banditry, kidnappings and terrorisms across the country and how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been tackling the menaces headlong, the developments which have achieved the desired results.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has been accused of muzzling the oppositions to achieve its one-party state agenda. How would you react to that?
APC with a one-party state agenda? That cannot be true. It is true that the APC is the only strong and functional political party today in this country. When you look at the political situation in the country now, and considering all the other parties around, the APC is really doing well. Which other party is doing well now? Almost none. Consider the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is nowhere to be found today. Consider the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that has just started. Maybe they are preparing for the 2031 general elections. I can’t see ADC doing anything. What else do you want to mention? Accord or, what do they call themselves? In fact, I can’t recall the rest having come to focus in any way. They are not doing enough to be considered as viable parties for the forthcoming 2027 general elections. So, it’s not true that the APC is muzzling the opposition to achieve a one-party system. If it’s a reality and it’s happening, it is because others are not functional, then it’s not the APC doing so. It’s all the other parties that are dying.
What in your opinion that’s fuelling the current wind of defections to the APC?
Our incumbent President (Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu) is a strong factor. He is a very intelligent person. He’s a sound, and a knowledgeable politician with tremendous experience over the years. He had done it in Lagos State. From the time he became the governor of Lagos State in the first term, you could see that he was all over the place. And he was able to administer Lagos to the best of his ability. All could see the results that emerged. No wonder he has taken up the whole country in the same pattern. The way he is working, performing, since he became President is unprecedented. He has put so much seriousness into governance. And people might feel that virtually everything has been done by him. No o! It’s just that many people appreciate him for his contributions in solving many problems he met on the ground. I believe if he’s given time he would solve many of Nigeria’s problems. He can take it one-by-one. See the way and manner he solved the Rivers State crisis. See the way and manner he solved the problems at the Lagos State House of Assembly, and so many other problems. See the problems he’s solving Donald Trumps’ fearful threats. I am saying it; give him time he would do better.
Can the APC genuinely and honestly exonerate itself from the crises in the opposition, especially PDP?
Well, like I said, the APC is very strong and everybody can see it. Tinubu is even stronger. I see Tinubu as a God-given President at this time of our history. The problems are many. And the way and manner he is solving these problems, definitely, has generated comments, both supportive and antagonistic. But, then, he is just a smooth, silent operator.
He doesn’t make noise and I can’t see him muzzling these problems . He has been solving them accordingly. Now, the current one is the security problems. They are being solved today. The way and manner he has been solving them, because he believes there are collusions and many, many problems even within the ranks and file of our security operatives. He’s tackling them in a no nonsense way. And if this continues many of these problems would be solved. We are talking about the Sambisa Forest and it’s still there. Why is it difficult for Nigeria, the military, especially the army and the Air Force to tackle them? Why are they finding it difficult to dismantle whatever is in Sambisa Forest? The Chibok Girls were taken there. Many of these people were taken there, and we don’t hear, up until today, of their movement, how they got there, what they are doing there, getting there and bringing them back to their homes. That means there is serious collusion. All these things are going on. With the way Tinubu is tackling them, it is a matter of time, things will be better.
Do you see the ADC as a threat to the APC, because we have seen powerful figures, like Atiku, El-Rufai, Aregbesola, etc who have defected to the former?
It would take time to know what is happening in the ADC, with Atiku and all big politicians joining them. The way I see it, like I said earlier, the best they can do is to start preparing for 2031 elections. Because I can’t see them achieving anything in the forthcoming 2027 general elections, because they have problems already, with those that have been managing it. They have had problems with those who have been in the ADC for a long time. And ADC has never been a strong party, nationally, anyway. So, what are they going to do now? They have to solve the problems, to start with, and the party’s preparedness for the general elections which is less than two years away. So, all we hear is talk, talk, talk. I don’t know how they would organise that party to be ready for any election, when we talk of competing with a party like the APC. A party like the APC is definitely a winner as far as this forthcoming 2027 general elections, with what we can see on ground.
How have Nigerians fared under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu?
Well, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came in at a time when we had problems. And the problems are still there. But the way and manner he is tackling them, I have a strong conviction that he would solve these problems.
People talk of Tinubu not being prepared for governance, what preparation do you require from a person who knows what to do at any given time?
He fits into what they call ‘small body with big engine’. He has that big engine, God-given one that he’s using now to do many things in this country. And what surprises everybody is that he has been doing them, solving many problems, noiselessly and yielding results from time-to-time.
When you consider the economy, money to some extent is being made available, and with time, the economy will keep on improving because the indices are there.
Another important aspect of it is the suffering of the people and that’s still on at the grassroots level. When the problems are solved, things will improve too. We can see prices of commodities are going down. So, what do you expect?
We can only pray for Tinubu. In uniting Nigerians, he has been very, very careful, not to set us against ourselves. We have many dichotomies, religion. He is carefully making sure we don’t have a religious crisis.
Like I said, it is a matter of time, Tinubu will excel. We should all continue to pray for him. He means well. He’s doing well. He’s doing it to the best of his ability. He is someone who doesn’t want to offend anybody. He wants the job to get done and he wants a good life for every citizenry. It takes time. Nigerians should be patient with him. I can’t imagine what would happen within the next one year because many of what we haven’t seen would be apparent. We will see Tinubu excelling.
Has Tinubu done enough in governance to deserve a second term?
He has done more than enough. There’s no strong opposition for Tinubu today, because he’s working hard to solve many of the problems, even if not all the problems. What else do we have to do the work, either now, or even later? That’s what he is doing now, because we don’t have an alternative to Tinubu right now. And that’s why we should pray for him. The others are just more rabble-rousers. We should pray for him. He hasn’t finished the work, but the best we have now is considering the nation and the circumstances, generally.
Is Nigeria winning the insurgency and terrorist war?
We are very much in it, now. We can see that Nigeria is winning. And that’s one of the reasons Tinubu has changed the Service Chiefs. And that’s why I said earlier that he means well. He’s leaving no stone unturned to make sure he deals accordingly with the security challenges. And he’s going to win. He’s likely to turn many of the criticisms, including Donald Trumps and others, to a force that would assist him to solve many of the problems.
Whatever the opposition, by way of criticising him, that’s prevailing right now, should be used as a kind of caution. It should be used as a weapon to solve many of these problems. He’s not going to fight anybody, for what? In any situation that, people are talking to you; criticising you, there would be one, two or three points that would help in solving these problems. And when a good leader does accordingly, using some of these things, he’s bound to succeed with time, and the opposition with their criticisms would come down. They will keep quiet. It’s one of the strategies he’s using, instead of fighting those who are criticising him, he’s managing them in one way or the other. He’s a strategist on his own.
