Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes. ....George Santayana Nota Bene! ......They are fake in the sense that they don’t pursue the principles of Awolowo. Take, for instance, the issue of federalism, you know we were part and parcel of National Democratic Coalition, NADECO. And during the NADECO days, we were the only ones shouting about the issue of Sovereign National Conference for the restructuring of the country because the federation was an awkward one. It was not balanced. And it was because the military choked us in 1966. The Constitution the colonialists gave us at independence was jettisoned after the 1966 coup. And that is why you saw arbitrary creation of states and local government areas because the people there were northerners. And we said we don’t want the country to separate; for us all to live in peace, let us all sit down and restructure the country on the principle of federalism. Federalism is the system whereby the various ethnic nationalities that formed the country can grow at their own space and then still keep the country as one, that was what we insisted upon. You would also remember when Abdulsalami; Abubakar (former Head of State) said we should go for election, and we said no, we should first of all hold a conference that would lead to a new Constitution which we would all be happy about, but he said, ‘No, I am in a hurry, when you get your civilian government, you can go and do it’. That was why one was held during the Obasanjo time. All those with us during the NADECO time that insisted on National Conference are the same set of people saying now that the Goodlock Jonathan conference was a diversion. That was what Bola Tinubu said. I have said it before, let him challenge it. Sovereign National Conference was one of the manifestoes we used in electing him into office as governor of Lagos State. It was part of the Alliance for Democracy that there must be a National conference. When we won elections in 1999, it was because we reluctantly took part in the election because we didn’t want people we didn’t believe in to win elections in South-West and claim later that we were not representing the South-West. That was why we contested the elections so that everybody could see that we had the support of the people. After the elections, all the six states in the South-West where we had our governors, Afenifere leaders toured the Houses of Assembly led by late Papa Abraham Adesanya, for them to pass a resolution that there must be a National Conference. Tinubu was there. Now because something does not suit him, because he has some motive now, he says the National Conference was a diversion. Is that consistent with our policy? Now, what you find these days is imposition of candidates which is against the principle of Awolowo. Take the issue of free education, you hear free education in Lagos, have you been to their primary and secondary schools and see the number of children there? Can you find any of the children of these ministers in any of the public schools? Is that what they inherited? It is matter of principle. This is what separated us the Afenifere from the ACN who called them selves progressives. It is not a personal thing. Q: Where do the Yoruba people stand in the February elections? I think that would also be a matter of principle. The question of South-south is a matter of principle of Papa Awolowo that a minority would also have the right to aim for the highest position in the country. That was what I was trying to point out about the recent National Conference we had. That conference has taken care of everything concerning Nigeria. Like the issue of power, it is no longer going to be the North-west, whenever it get to the North, it must rotate within all other regions in the North. The same thing for the South, it is no longer about South-west but all other regions in the South such that everybody now knows when each of the regions would be president, it is no longer the issue of we are born to rule. Why I am supporting Jonathan is because he is the only man who can implement the recommendations of the National Conference which was set up to bring equity to Yorubaland and to Nigeria. He is the only man. And once he does that, all these things we are complaining about will be rectified. People talk about corruption but they never care to know the root of corruption. The thing is that the Federal Government has more money than all other tiers of government. Now, we have closed that gap in the confab. We have done it in such a way that the states now have more powers which may not be palatable to those ones in the North. For example, how did you have more local government areas than the South? How are the local governments in Kano and Jigawa more than those in Lagos? The military at that time just allocated states and local governments to themselves. There was really no criteria with which they arrived at those local governments. So, they now went further by allocating funds on the basis of the number of local governments. You will recall that Lagos State was denied local government funds even when the Supreme Court ruled that it should be paid. That is the kind of wholesome power the Federal Government has,and that is one of the reasons I feared if Buhari should govern under this Constitution. Q:Why? Because they have the mentality that they are born to rule. And that is why I think this romance with the South-west of picking a vice presidential candidate with him is just a mere gimmick. That is why I am insisting that all the recommendations of the confab should be implemented before the elections because, the inequality this country has been suffering all this while has been rectified with the recommendations of the confab. All the things that could cause us conflicts have been rectified. So, all our problems have been attacked from the root. And, that is why those who think it is not to their advantage don’t want it done. Everybody believes that this present Constitution is bad and we then say let us all sit down and harmonize it,what is wrong in that one? We have done it now but yet you don’t want it to be implemented. And where is the antagonism coming from ? From the beneficiaries of the awkwardness of the constitution. And they still want the Yoruba to continue to go along with that? If some Yoruba follow them sheepishly, probably because they don’t know the background, that can not happen to someone like me. And part of the inequality we are talking about is what has come out in the Buhari certificate matter. In the first republic, you set up a standard for everybody but when it comes to the northerner, you set another standard, that is exactly what happened in Buhari’s case. Those of us who knew all these things from the beginning are not surprised by the new turn of events. You heard that his principal sent a letter to the military that he was capable and that he expected that he would pass his examinations. That was what was happening in those days in the North. Go and ask serious federal civil servants in this country, many of the permanent secretaries that were senior to them whether they were not superseded without being qualified. They cannot deny that. If you have read General Isama’s book, you will find it there where he said when they were about to be commissioned, the standard set for them was usually lower for the North. I am sure he never anticipated a situation like this. And do we have corruption on selective basis? Look at the PTF which he superintended. Even though Obasanjo was trying to cover him up, has he denied anything of such? He knows that if he does, the document is there for everyone to see. There was the issue of the N25b there. It is all in the report. So, how can I, as a NADECO man, come and support a dictator. All his antecedents are dictatorial and military like. Q:That was then. Don’t give me that. When did he become a democrat? What has he done to show he is a democrat other than the fact he is saying he is being punished because he is now a democrat? When he first came as a military man, he was issuing retroactive actions to convict people for murder. We are all living witnesses to what he did with Decree 4, so, that is the type of man you want me to vote in a civilian regime? He says he is not a fundamentalist. It is just that people forget about records easily. Here was a man who campaigned in the North and said Muslims should vote for Muslims. Here was a man who said he was going to work for the operation of Sharia through out the country. He has not denied it neither has he apologized for all the anti-democratic things he has done. I won’t be deceived by bringing a first class technocrat as running mate. Q:That is where I was going that if you cannot support because of Buhari’s personality, how about that of his vice? That is not possible because the running mate has no political experience. He is a first class technocrat, a distinguished lawyer and a nice gentleman, but if you are talking of politics, it is another matter entirely. They just brought him in. Tinubu brought him in as Attorney General, he was never in politics. He comes from Ikenne. Does he know the politics of Ikenne? vanguardngr/2015/01/february-poll-grave-mistake-nigeria-cannot-afford-pa-ayo-adebanjo-afenifere-leader/ vanguardngr/2015/01/february-poll-grave-mistake-nigeria-cannot-afford-pa-ayo-adebanjo-afenifere-leader/
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 22:48:13 +0000
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