The National Chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Professor Bankole Okuwa, in this interview with Musa Odoshimokhe, speaks on the challenges facing the party and the preparation for the 2019 election and other national issues.
How would you assess the UPN since you came on board as the chairman?
The UPN is the party that Chief Obafemi Awolowo built in Nigeria. It was in operation in the Second Republic. The then UPN was more committed to national development than what we have today. Again, the UPN is the only party that I have been associated with; I have never been to other parties. When the new UPN was formed, I had to join then when I came back to the country. At its inception, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun was made the temporary chairman of the party. I was very critical of him. I wondered why they could make such a man the chairman because he was never close to Chief Awolowo. If he did not understand the man, how can he represent his interest? But, I think because of the Oodua People Congress (OPC), that was why they brought Fasehun as the chairman. Within that short time, Fasehun got involved with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government and went into alliance with them. The idea was that the election for 2015, the UPN will not present candidates for President, House of Representatives and not even state assemblies. I wondered what kind of politics Fasehun was playing in view of the development. When the first congress of the party was called by summoned by Otunba Olatunde Rotimi, it had to contend with some of the undemocratic challenges, the Fasehun period threw up. Rotimi was in love with Awolowo, he did not want to contest but wanted to sponsor someone, but could not get anyone reliable. He is one man who is fully committed to the ideals of Chief Awolowo and he acted in conformity with the late sage position. We later had our congress in Ogun State, where the templates for the operations of the party were ironed out. As the chairman, we are doing everything possible to position the party for future elections and I tried to lead by example. I must say that we are being embraced because people are hungry, they need services and going by the Awolowo, when I was a member of the Ogun State legislature, it was the best during the his days. When I was a member of the Ogun State assembly, our purpose of going there was to render service. Today, these people just go there for self edification. Chief Awolowo was the most effective leader this country had ever produced. The late Emeka Ojukwu described him as ‘the best President Nigeria never had’. It is in view of the impact of Awolowo, the Southwest remained the most developed part in Nigeria.
What should Nigerians expect from the UPN in 2019?
I can tell you that we are not going to contest the Presidency, but are going to have candidates at the governorship level. We may not have candidates in all the states across the country. I am sure we will have in Ogun State. This is because the people of the state have welcomed the revival of the UPN in the state. When I was a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly, I moved the motion for the creation of Ogun State University and other UPN states followed suit. They did not know the circumstance leading to that. The reason I moved it was that the number of universities in the country could no longer accommodate the increasing population of our children passing out of schools and they needed to further their education. I moved a motion for the creation of the road safety corps because lots of people were dying from road accidents. When it was established, I went on the road to join them in the campaigns.
Your party seems not to be known, except in Ogun State. What are you doing to give it a national spread?
In the last election, Fasehun declared UPN support for Jonathan. It was really not in the interest of the party. We later had our convention and I was made the chairman of the party. Fasehun could not believe what happened when I emerged. He did not attend the congress. Like I said; I told them that the man does not know anything about politics. All he wanted to do was to bargain and make money. As far as public service is concerned it is zero on his side. So, right here in Lagos, the fact that he was romancing the PDP affected UPN greatly. I don’t know why they were afraid of him. They could not correct him and it affected the party. It is in this country all sorts of things happen; now states are calling for state police. They really want to cause anarchy; these governors that we have will take you to your room and kill you. We seem to be lawless, but those of us who will truly lead this country out of this mess are not really getting to such positions. Most of these governors just want to make money. A good number of them don’t know about governance. Again, some of them have tried; former Governor Bola Tinubu, for instance, tried for Lagosians. I am not saying that Tinubu got everything right but, I must say he is aware of Nigerians’ need. He has done so much, but people blame him for this and that. Even Chief Awolowo, who happened to be the only political leader, was charged and put in jail by the Nigerian government. He was sent to Calabar to serve the jail terms. He was put in the library, so if you wanted to read books, Awolowo would be the one to provide them. When he was being tried here in Lagos, they put in the vehicle and drove him all around, they wanted to frustrate him and make him lose hope and die. But, the man had a lion’s heart. That was Awolowo for you; he wanted everything good for the country. He was for the entire country, but our problem is that we are operating within an illiterate society.
Restructuring has been making too much noise, what is your position?
The country needs to be restructured and that takes me to several warning by opinion leaders that if we don’t restructure, there will be problem for this country. They have said the likely consequence will be colossal. Chief Awolowo did say something similar. Restructuring is very important because the north is very huge. Many people don’t even know that the North is not homogeneous; they don’t know that it has large number of ethnic groups. Uthman Dan Fodio is not a Nigerian. He came from the Futa Djallon Mountain and entered what is now Nigeria today. Nigeria did not exist until 1914, when the European came; they gave the name to the region which they called Nigeria. The South was close to the European who came through the coast, they provided them with western education and western enlightenment. I also think that regional autonomy is one very important. When we go back to regional autonomy, the centre will be made weak. When the country is restructured, the regions would be allowed to develop independently. The South has the petroleum; we develop the north with the proceeds from petroleum. The people whose land produced the petroleum products are not properly treated. The children of the people from the region that produce the product are jobless, they don’t have something doing. That is why they carry arms and are prepared to fight the state. The state must rise to its responsibilities, it has to provide for the people and create the enabling environment that will make the country progress. The lesson from the Biafra war was very bitter and it was because the late Ojukwu did not listen to advice. Awolowo was very bitter about it, he was going to tell Gowon that, if Biafra goes because they were not fairly treated, the West would go. But, Ojukwu was so ambitious. The restructuring we are talking about will allow every region to tap its resources because there are mineral resources in the north, just like we have in other parts of the country. Again, education matters a lot for us to understand what restructuring is about. In the south, there is no problem about that, in the north there is a major problem of education. Let me remind you that Maitama Sule became a federal minister at 20, now tell me how much does 20 years old man know. What kind of training has he passed through? But, Maitama Sule was a good man; he was the only outstanding star among the northern leaders. He was from Kano, he was living in his village until 1993, when M.K.O Abiola was campaigning. But, when Abiola got to Kano, he could not find him; he went to his village and met him there. This man had been a federal minister, he had been at the United Nations and had held several other positions. He did not join NEPU which was the party for the Talakawas, he joined the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), but he stood out despite oppressive nature of the party. The orientation people have matters a lot. Let me also make it clear that Chief Awolowo’s cabinet in the western Nigeria was the best in the country. Those who were in Awolowo’s cabinet were schooled to follow his orientation and value.
Today, Ogun State, where Chief Awolowo came from, is one of the worst governed states in the country because the current crop of leadership have throw away the value and orientation held by Awolowo.
