Kanu needs guidance. He’s throwing away goodwill, support and trust of millions. His language is increasingly belligerent, uncouth, his logic tilting towards the irrational and his attacks on Christianity, the Clergy, individuals, groups and other institutions, untenable and unnecessary.

He should limit himself to issues that solely have to do with the restoration.
There presently is a huge leadership crisis in the land under a comatose leader, who can’t tell his ankle from his knee. Kanu could seek ways to take advantage! Offer a strongly interesting alternative!

In addition, he could look for ways of stirring up the awareness of the people as banditry, terrorism, killings, corruption, erosion of every single national value have plagued the country.
So many people are disillusioned and will buy into the struggle if he displays tact and maturity!

Kanu could play down on that Elohim stuff.Dwell more on quota system, federal character and their inner workings. Nnamdi could say little on Jubril, reveal more on the injustice of oil wells ownership and the destruction of the ecosystem of the Niger Delta. Mazi could focus less on events in Aso Rock and tell us more about the untapped wealth in the bowels of the earth in SE and how it will be harnessed. Wealth deliberately unexploited by the FG!

Nwannekaenyi could draw our minds to what Biafra could do for the thousands of creative, innovative, well-gifted young men and women in Nnewi, Onitsha and Aba who could singlehandedly put us on the world science and technology map when given the right impetus, excellent environment and moral support!

Onye-ndu could and should harp on the bright side of Igbo/Yoruba relationship; the goodwill of individuals like Fani-Kayode, Adekunle Fajuyi, T.O.S. Benson, Adeniran Ogunsanya, Bashiru Owoade. Men who remained loyal to their Igbo friends/bosses/proteges. Make a narrative from the goodwill of the Western regional government that returned Igbo properties at the end of the war!

This is better than cast aspersions on an entire people, a good number of whom acknowledge that Igbos and people of old Eastern region have been dealt a bad card.When you highlight the goodness in inter-ethnic relationships, many people key consciously and unconsciously into your struggle; you further undermine those who have created the stifling and oppressive system that has retarded the country and left it broken, battered, bloodied and destroyed!

The church is a powerful institution. Kanu should realize there are people far more eloquent and persuasive on pulpits scattered across the land than he is! They could undermine his immense support and destroy his struggle!
I have heard pastors, priests and bishops stick out their necks to rail against the status quo and support the agitation. Where does this blanket tagging of all of them as criminals and unsavoury characters leave them and their churches?

He could call on clerics to preach equity and justice, condemn terrorism, impunity and cluelessness of the state. He’ll find far more resonance with the clerics when he does this than when he alienates them. They too have been victims of the slaughter of herdsmen, Boko Haram and bandits. Co-opt them as comrades in the struggle instead of this humiliating chastisement.
Kanu could retain his fiery exterior without recourse to insulting sensibilities of people or sections of the populace…It is also not every criticism he should respond to.

Many may not like this post, but Igbos are eternal democrats. We speak our minds! It is not his fight alone! We all are stakeholders. Great hunters of old used to say…”Ihe meturu nwanza ga-emetu nwaobu.” – That which disturbs the Sparrow will hurt the Robin…”

Do the elders not say the length of the night does not give an impatient man a hunch back? You have done well thus far, but in the way of Ndigbo and related people, we ask you to discard the baggage that brings opprobrium!

Source: Chetam Obilo

KING Philippe of Belgium descends from his heavenly throne this week to sign a letter to President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, acknowledging for the first time in 113 years, Belgium’s genocide in that country. Philippe danced round the subject of his country’s massacre of over 15 million Congolese men and women, children and adults, the old and the young.

He mentioned “deepest regrets” for the “suffering and humiliation” Belgium inflicted on the African people. But he never rendered an apology. That would be too much for a Belgian monarch, one of whose  predecessors, King Leopold II, led Belgians to inflict unconscionable pain on humanity. Rather, he talked glibly about  the need  “to further strengthen our ties and develop an even more fruitful friendship”, adding “we must be able to talk about our long common history in all truth and serenity”.

It was to mark this Tuesday, the 60th anniversary of the DRC’s independence, one which lasted three months before the murderous Belgians and their British and American first cousins unleashed another round of atrocities, murdering more Congolese for another four decades.

Belgium’s genocide in the DRC has been the bloodiest, most atrocious, most inhumane and most outrageous in human history. While the Holocaust in which some six million Jews were exterminated by the Germans in one of the most insane acts ever perpetuated by human beings is still being talked about, documented and made into films with memorials, there is silence in the Congo case which had three times more casualties.

The difference is that those killed in the Holocaust were Whites while the victims in the Congo were Blacks. That is why the beneficiaries of the African tragedy who, until today, swim in the riches stolen by King Leopold II cannot apologise not to talk about returning part of the stolen wealth.  Leopold II  from his business of killing so many human beings and amputating hands and limbs, made  a personal profit of some 220 million francs (or $1.1 billion in today’s dollars) from a country he never set foot.

In his insulting letter, King Philippe, a cousin of the butcher Leopold II wrote: “Our history is made of common achievements but has also experienced painful episodes. During the period of the Congo Free State, acts of violence and cruelty were committed, which still weigh on our collective memory.” What are the “common achievements” between the robbery squads from the Belgian monarchy and governments, and the Congolese people

Leopold II wiped out villages that did not meet his rubber quota demands, children as young as five years were amputated if they were found not to be hard working; it was death penalty for adults who did not meet quota allocations. For education, the Belgians allowed only orphans to be taught in Catholic schools, to be soldiers or workers for the King. His criminal enterprise also brought people from China, Nigeria, the Caribbean, Zanzibar and other African countries to slave in the DRC.

Although they were all colonialists carrying out forced labour, theft, exploitation of the African peoples and massacre of the colonised people, and despite being first cousin of Britain’s Queen Victoria, the European establishment thought Leopold’s atrocities were too extreme and moved against him by establishing an International Commission which confirmed the genocide. But rather than allow the Congolese to be free, the country was handed over to the Belgian government whose further 52-year rule was better only by degrees.

If the King cannot apologise, what about the Belgian government?  In 2019 during a visit to Belgium, a team of United Nations Human Rights experts established “clear evidence that racial discrimination is endemic in institutions in Belgium”. So, will such a system apologise to the African people?

Yes, there have been Black Lives Matter protests in Belgium during which some made critical remarks against Leopold II, but there are many in the country’s leadership who see nothing wrong in his criminalities. Just in June, Prince Laurent, King Philippe’s brother, rose to the defence of  Leopold II with the unintelligent talk: “He never went to [DR Congo] himself. I do not see how he could have made people there suffer.”

He, however, said whenever he met African heads of state he always apologised “for the actions Europeans have done to Africans in general”. That is his way of saying Belgians were not the only criminals who looted Africa blind. A possible difference is that while other Europeans looted Africa as governments or traders and colonised it, Leopold II saw the DRC as his personal estate over which he had proprietorial control over its people, resources and lands like a man owns a farm and its animals.

Yes, to him, Africans were not human beings, they were at best animals who were not even entitled to animal rights. Yet the size of the DRC is 2.345 million kilometres while the entire Belgium  is 30,689 kilometres, which means the DRC is 7,581 percent larger.

Despite the documentation of his unspeakable Hitlerite actions, Leopold believed he was a missionary. He was quoted as saying: “I undertook the work of the Congo in the interest of civilisation and for the good of Belgium.”

The DRC was led to independence by a principled trade unionist, Patrice Lumumba, a former postal worker. Within weeks of the June, 1960 independence, the Belgians sent troops to strengthen a revolt in the Katanga region. As Prime Minister, Lumumba asked for United Nations troops, but under the influence of Belgium, Britain and United States whose  President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered Lumumba’s assassination, the UN troops put Lumumba under house arrest.

He escaped from the UN troops but was captured in flight. Taken to the rebel enclave of Katanga where he and two other senior officials were tied to trees in the forest and executed under the command of the Belgian troops. The corpses were then butchered and soaked in acid. One of the Belgian officers, Gerard Soete, took Lumumba’s teeth as trophy which until today, is kept in his house in Belgium.

The DRC, Africa’s richest country in terms of natural resources, remains unstable until today with local and international gangsters  roaming the country and looting its resources.

Source: Owei Lakemfa

In this era, as the world grapples with scapegoating the digital citizens, this caveat seems necessary and compelling. All internet users starting from the digital natives (the iGeneration) through the digital pioneers (Millennials or the Generation Y) to the digital migrants (Generation X) should bear in mind that the Internet neither forgives nor forgets. Similarly, the digital strangers (Gen. Boomers) can and do also experience the boon or bane of the Internet.

Everything one enjoys in life has a price. There is no free lunch even in Freetown, for, generally, someone pays. This reality informs why we need to be careful in our indulgence with the Internet. Every action has its consequence; nothing is free. Except for the Christian faith, which teaches that salvation is free because Christ has paid in full, every other thing in life has a cost. Therefore, one pays for everything else, somehow, somewhere and sometime; and the Internet is no exception. You pay! The Internet has no debt cancellation program. It never forgives. It never forgets. Beware!

Besides the fact that someone sees and can locate whoever is using any device that has a tiny front camera (cell phone, tablet, laptop or desktop), you leave digital footprints each time you use the Internet. Is it not surprising that often the search engines and online marketing platforms suggest to you things similar to what you have already searched for or bought? This fact is possible because you leave digital footprints.

These footprints are indelible on the Internet so long as the Internet exists. Deleting is a pure scam because it gives you the impression that the stuff is gone. But it remains. It is gone from one level of internet operations but remains at other deeper layers. All our digital footprints and records are all stored in the cyber cloud. A simple analysis of your activities on the Internet for the past ten years will shock you the extent the Internet remembers.

With artificial intelligence, the Internet can write your biography with surprising details probably only known to your intimate circles, especially your confessors and best friends. The Internet keeps tracks; it follows you and introduces you to your interviewers, prospective employers, suitors and contract awarding authorities. It acts like a spell that spells the lives of unsuspecting fellows. Undoubtedly, the Internet has assumed the status of a critical stakeholder in the lives of many, who, often, are not mindful of its character.

God always forgives, humans forgive sometimes, but the Internet never forgives. While the human mind is a faculty that forgets, the Internet never forgets. With its alluring charm, the Internet ruins the lives of some who, out of youthful exuberance, depression, the euphoria of pleasure or power, untrained emotion or sheer indiscipline, engage in shameful, reprehensible and disgusting acts online. Some of these unwholesome acts could be criminal and fraudulent transactions or even uploading of nude pictures and videos, thus succumbing to exploitation through cyber-sex. In so doing, they barter their peace and happiness.

It is common knowledge that those behind the internet platforms engage in a sort of digital voyeurism, thus unethically prying on users. The hi-tech guys and digital eavesdroppers follow you about such that cyber-world is not a haven. Each time you visit any site, you leave footprints and can always be located. These footprints cannot be erased. Any website you have visited is retained and kept in memory for you.

Deletion is a scam; it is deceptive. It is also a fact that with digital technology, ubiquitous online spies and hackers have made worthless the concepts of obscurity and privacy. The internet voyeurism by the proprietors of the cyber-tech companies and smart guys out there has made the Internet not safe for any person with disreputable intents. They use data from you to advance their businesses.

The Internet makes users, many of whom firm their lives on the pillars of social media, easily susceptible to blackmail. The young ones innocently abandon themselves to various forms of atrocities ignorant of their repercussions and ramifications. The Internet tells the world of your deeds, good or evil. As such, the consequences of stripping or dancing naked for money or engaging in online fraud (yahoo) on one’s personality in later life are dire since the Internet remembers.

Not a few have missed dream jobs, wonderful opportunities or privileges because of unconscionable acts like lying in connection to politics, uploading nude pictures,  and engaging in all manners of evil online. The Internet leaves them devastated.

Yet responsible use of the Internet can be a boon for a young person such that it is unlikely to have a smartphone and be poor. A stitch in time saves one from falling prey to the gripping destructive ramifications of the abuse and misuse of the Internet. Rightly said, unexamined use of the Internet and irresponsible indulgence with the social media stages psycho-socio-emotional turbulence that upsets progress and ruins a person.

While engaging the Internet, be mindful that your activities today can work against you in near, distant or eternal future when you might have grown or changed. What you do with and on the Internet when you are unknown can promote or destroy you when most people know you. Refrain from doing or writing stupid things. And avoid foolish and silly trends to prevent shame, regret, defamation and pain in future.

The Internet never forgets; so be cautious of your activities on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Whatsapp and Pinterest. While engaging in social media, project into the future, so as not to allow the Internet doom your dream. Indeed, some suffer dire consequences because of their naivety, carelessness or ignorance. Keep in mind always: the Internet neither forgives nor forgets.

Pray for my dad, Patrick Adimike, who died on the 11th of June. May he find peace and happiness in the embrace of the Eternal Father’s welcome, amen.

Source: Fr George Adimike

In just the space of about one week Nigeria, “the giant of Africa”, was involved in no less than two, maybe three, diplomatic debacles, each of which can be traced to an incremental reduction in the quality of governance over so many years that has now resulted in the country’s loss of influence among Nigerians and the rest of the world.

The first piece of depressing news came out of the Ghanaian capital, Accra, where the Nigerian High Commission was besieged by what could be described as a well-organised mob. In plain sight of security agents, a residential building in the precinct of the High Commission came under direct attack as it was demolished in gross violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to which Ghana is a signatory.

Under this Convention, the premises of a foreign mission are inviolable and can only be accessed with permission. Acting otherwise could even be viewed as an act of war that could at the very least lead to a breakdown in relations between concerned countries. But not only were what might be considered the hallowed grounds of the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana violated, but parts of its residential area were also reduced to rubble under the onslaught of bulldozers in the service of Ghanaian citizens.

An attack like this could easily get out of hand as happened in Libya after the ouster of Muammar Ghaddafi when the American Embassy in Tripoli was attacked and the ambassador was murdered in cold blood. Any of the Nigerian occupants of the residential building could have been injured or, even worse, killed given the belligerence that characterized the incident as captured on available video footage.

It stretches credulity that Ghanaian authorities could not be summoned early enough to respond to the distressed cry of the Nigerian occupants of the building for the period the attack lasted. We are not here talking of some surreptitious activity by ordinary thugs or petty hoodlums. What was on display was organised thuggery executed with the probable connivance of the Ghanaian authorities.

The goal was apparently to embarrass the Nigerian government for its alleged failure to live up to its responsibilities. For the point at issue, one line of narrative claims is that the lease Nigeria took on this property in which it houses her diplomats had lapsed without the High Commission either renewing it or moving out. Not only did Nigeria fail or refuse to do either of this, it went ahead to construct additional structures on the property that is owned by the Osu Traditional Chieftaincy, a private entity that resorted to self-help in the apparent face of official, though foreign, impunity.

If the claim of the expired lease is true, then the authorities in Ghana could not have executed the demolition without ruffling diplomatic feathers and risking the ire of Nigeria. Which then stands to reason that what Ghana could not do by direct use of force, it did through the moral authority and outrage of her private citizens. Ghana has, however, in the wake of the attack regretted the action of the perpetrators of this heinous act while admitting that Nigeria bought the piece of land on which the High Commission constructed its property 20 years ago.

Except Ghana is engaged in some tongue-in-cheek exoneration of Nigeria from the irresponsibility of not paying due rent, then it ought to bring the full weight of the law to bear on the perpetrators of the demolition. This should be in addition to its apologies to Nigeria and promised reconstruction of the demolished portion of the High Commission. But should it turn out that Ghana is only trying to help Nigeria save face after embarrassing her publicly, then it serves Nigeria right as this country has no business conducting itself as outlaws outside her borders.

An increasing number of Nigeria’s missions abroad appear distressed with reports of staff with a backlog of unpaid salaries working in dilapidated buildings and even rundown office spaces that aggravate the already deplorable image of the country in certain quarters abroad. For effective and proper management of resources, including cost-saving, Nigeria could cut down on the number of its diplomatic missions or reduce the status of some.

We do not need ambassadors in every nook and cranny of the world. In some cases, there is no justification for this proliferation of embassies other than to provide jobs for the boys, compensating associates, cronies and friends among scores of other political lackeys and journeymen and women masquerading as diplomats. Let us do this and save ourselves the embarrassments of angry creditors setting thugs on diplomatic staff and thereby putting diplomats lives in harm’s way. The dust from the demolition job in Accra had hardly settled than there was an invasion of the Nigerian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

This time the attackers are (wait for this) Nigerians protesting against their treatment in the hands of Indonesian immigration agents; in this instance, leading to the death of a Nigerian who allegedly plunged to his death from the ninth floor of a building while running away from agents that wanted to arrest him. It is not at all clear how these angry Nigerians thought the embassy could have been of help.

But their sense of moral outrage was such that their only line of defence was to make Nigeria accountable for their situation. In expressing their grievances, they set upon the embassy’s property, vandalising vehicles and desecrating the Nigerian flag. While such actions are neither new nor peculiar to the embassy officials in Jakarta, the protesters need to know that being Nigerians does not excuse any anti-social behaviour nor can an embassy provide cover from the law for Nigerians thought to have violated the laws of their host nations.

It is sheer foolishness to think otherwise. Fugitive or no fugitive, foolish or not, it is a reflection of a high level of cynicism that the gap between the rulers and the led has so widened that it has, in turn, resulted in a loss of faith in Nigeria as a country worth living in or dying for. This is why Nigerians will without scruples sooner deny their country than affirm faith in her survival. Nigerians must begin to reappraise their relationship with their country and not tie their disillusionment with the country’s leaders to the very idea of having faith in Nigeria as a country.

Nigerian leaders are not Nigeria and their conduct at any time, in or out of office, should not be viewed as representative of the Nigerian character, dream and worldview. What could have been a third incident was again a self-infliction, namely, the reported closure of the Nigerian embassy in Germany. What’s this about? Another non-payment of lease disguised as the need for repair work? What a week!

Source: Rotimi Fasan

Buhari at the APC NEC meeting that resolved a lot of issues

When a couple of days ago I wrote that APC, unlike PDP, will soon resolve her issues, some didn’t believe.

It will implode, it will soon disintegrate so said the so-called analysts.

They never wished our party well. This is not to say there are no genuine critics of our party.
I argued then that even if our problems are as high as Mount Everest we have wise leaders in President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and our National Leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as many of our governors too who are reasonable and patriotic. They are not all self centred. They are men ( hope we have women soon ) who subscribed to the ideas and ideals of our party and not only what they can get .

As you have all seen, all of that brouhaha of last week has subsided if not vanished. My friend and brother Giadom came like a comet and vanished. My Comrade brother Oshiomole won one and lost one and we are matching forward to the future.

Don’t get me wrong . I am not saying things are perfect now. But think about it: no organization, just as no human being, is perfect. Wherever two or three people are gathered in pursuit of interests there must be conflict. It is the ability by the custodian of the larger interest to resolve the conflicts that makes for the resilience of such a group.

Make no mistake about it, there will still be conflicts in the future. It is the way we are able to resolve it that makes the difference between us and PDP.

When as soon as the emergency NEC was over three days ago I called and talked to the dramatis personae including Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and they all expressed their gladness with the way it went. I knew we have disappointed our party’s enemies.

We are still a very young party.

ANC is more than a hundred years old and yet members and blocks within the party disagree. In the Republican Party today there are disagreements between President Donald Trump and some whose families are synonymous with the Party.

APC was formed in 2014. As we go along we will continue to perfect our acts and internal mechanisms.

We shall work assiduously to keep this party together and grow it because for many of us we cannot go to another party . It is either the progressive movement or retirement from public affairs .

As I said today on a radio programme if I die and someone brings PDP flag close to my coffin, I will wake up , tear it, burn it and go back to sleep.

We therefore thank all our leaders as well as the entire members of our party for their love for the progressive cause. Let us stay resolute to our commitment to bring about meaningful change to Nigeria. Let us serve our people more. Let the people put in charge of our public till imbibe the character and integrity of our dear President . Let us think more of our people than our selves.

Let us rededicate our lives to the service of our Nation.
Just as the task of rescuing our country is a work in progress so is the building of a virile and unassailable APC .

Now we know we will go to election in Edo and Ondo without any legal encumbrances. The party too and the gentleman governor from Yobe State handling her affairs for the next six months has promised to look into the grievances of members across the country. We also have the Chief Bisi Akande Panel.

We shall all listen and cooperate with them as we pray for the committee to organize a successful convention in no distant future.

APC survives! Thank you President Buhari. Thank you all our leaders. God bless our teeming members and supporters. Let us continue to keep the faith.

Source: Babafemi Ojudu

Bishop David Oyedepo has again lashed out at the governments of Lagos and Ogun state over the continous closure of churches. 

The founder of the Living Faith Church International aka Winners’ Chapel in his sermon on Sunday June 28, alleged that Lagos and Ogun have been inflicted with anti-church virus rather than the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Oyedepo wondered why marketplaces where people no longer observe social distancing or hygiene will remain open while churches have not been allowed to reopen. 

He said; 

“No handwashing, no nothing, everyone is in the market running over each other every day of the week and there is no outbreak from the market but there is now outbreak, perceived outbreak from the church. Prophets are God’s voices to the nations. Caution!

“Now, freedom of worship is no longer a constitutional right but now determined to buy some individuals. It is a hard thing to kick against the priest.

“This is no longer coronavirus in Lagos and Ogun. It is now anti-church virus clean and clear.”

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He also claimed that 10 members of his church testified to being healed from the disease in the last one week. Oyedepo insisted that there would have been more testimonies if churches have been allowed to reopen. 

He added; 

“Can anybody silence the church? Never! I have never heard of anybody that God healed in the market but people get healed in every church day and night, real tangible healing. We have recorded 114 coronavirus healing testimonies. We got 10 this week.

“And that is the place that is vulnerable, not the market.”

Source: Linda Ikeji

Elder statesman and a leader of Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-political organisation, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, speaks with OLALEYE ALUKO on the spate of insecurity, restructuring of the country and other issues

How would you react to the rumblings in the APC? Do you agree with the sacking of the members of the party’s National Working Committee?

A house founded on sand will crumble. The APC is a conglomeration of incompatibles. There is no principle binding them together. It is a question of sharing of offices and power – no abiding ideology. It is the question of ‘who is the master in the sharing of money? The law is there but they choose (the parts of) the law that they are going to obey. So, what is happening to them will happen as long as they are not a democratic organisation. They don’t obey the rule of law and they do politics of convenience. So, I have been following it but I am not surprised. All those who will be talking now will not say the truth because they don’t know where the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), stands. Where the President stands is where they want to stand, not on the side of the truth. So, it is an organsiation, that I have no doubt, is going to crumble eventually. I take pride in the fact that since the Action Group metamorphosed into the Unity Party of Nigeria and later into the Alliance for Democracy; those who have been in that group have never changed.

What is the implication of this for the political future of a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu?

I am worried for him. He knew all these things before but he was relying on Buhari, and working to make him the President. And I said it before, publicly, that Buhari is deceiving Asiwaju and Asiwaju is deceiving Buhari. Everybody is trying to use the other. Why can’t Tinubu hammer on restructuring knowing that this was what brought Buhari to office? The solution here is that, let Buhari get out of office, dissolve this government now and restructure the country. Until we have a truly federal constitution, we will not get anywhere. As far as I am concerned, nothing in this country will impress me until Buhari institutes a system of restructuring now. Everybody knows that we are being ruled by an imposed constitution and this is what is causing this trouble.

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You were among those who warned former governor Tinubu not to drag the zone to the APC in 2015. What did you see then?

I knew this because I have been in this game for 70 years. So, many of those who are talking now were not born then. That is the truth – even Buhari was a toddler; he is now 74. So, each time I tell you, why should Tinubu, the Vice-President (Yemi Osinbajo)  and all those who were in AD run to the APC? Why are they hesitating now to stand for restructuring? They can’t talk. All the things I am telling you now – it is not the first time. I said both Jagaban (Tinubu) and Osinbajo should get out of the APC. I said it openly. It is a disgrace and disservice to Yorubaland. So what is happening now shows there is nothing to bind them together.

The resurgence of banditry, kidnapping and killings across the country has become a source of concern. What do you believe has gone wrong with the country’s leadership and security architecture?

We have all been living in denial. How can anybody tell you that what is happening now is a surprise? We ought to have passed this stage even before Buhari  was re-elected. Talking about this upsurge in killings in the South and in the North, can you recall the southern Kaduna killings in 2015? I made a statement at that time that this man (Buhari) is incompetent.

The authorities denied that the herdsmen were from any tribe and they bamboozled even the media. But when the Governor of Benue State (Samuel Ortom) went to seek an audience with the President at that time, he was told to go and make peace with his neighbours and let the people and herdsmen live peacefully together.

To show the negligence of this President, he said at a time that he had given the Inspector General of Police an instruction to go to Benue State since January and the IG did not carry out the assignment as of March. The President was able to tell us that he did not know that the IG did not go and the same police boss was still in office. That also went away.

Thereafter, not long ago, the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, reached out to bandits and said he had reached an agreement with them. That was another drama. You know how many times Nigerians have clamoured that this set of service chiefs should be sacked and that they are not competent? The President turned a blind eye. Now, the President, in his latest meeting, said to them that they must prove themselves. This is not the time to tell the service chiefs to prove themselves. They have proved to be incompetent and inefficient since you have been in office. They are already within retirement. So, what do you say?  It is only in this country that Buhari would still be in office till now; it is only in this country. He should have been compelled to resign. Law and order have broken down. Where in this country can anyone boast that he can sleep with his two eyes closed?

Prof. Ango Abdullahi, I and others have spoken out before. They said we were talking politics. But you remember that when the Fulani herdsmen killings were at the peak, the President said the herdsmen came in from other countries. Are you saying people came from outside, they are now invading your people and you cannot tackle them? This shows the level of impunity and incompetence that we are facing.  So, what are you talking about? And right now, every day, they tell us they have finished the Boko Haram terrorists and that they are winning the battle. Yet every day, they kill our officers and soldiers. So, who are they talking to? I am tired of this situation.

With the establishment of Operation Amotekun in the South-West states, what empowerment do you think they need to enable them to tackle insecurity, especially in the South-West region?

Ideologically, the question of Amotekun is begging the issue. I have been saying it is rather the question of state police and local government policing, which are the ingredients of restructuring. This is because when we are talking about restructuring, a lot of things are embedded. It is like patching the question when we continue to say Amotekun, Amotekun. Is it just Amotekun that you (the Federal Government) can give us?  At the time they killed the daughter of our leader (Pa Reuben Fasoranti), I challenged Buhari by saying, ‘Don’t ask the governors to go and do something, give them the power and the control of their regions and see what will happen.’ He didn’t do that. That was when the government now started the discussion of community policing and local policing.  How can the governors serve as the chief security officers of their states and they have no control of even the police? There is no federal system anywhere the governor or the mayor or somebody has no control over his security apparatus.

And I added that, again, if you are not giving state police at the moment, then all the federal policemen in a state must be the indigenes of that state. He (Buhari) pretended that he did not hear. And I said at that time, ‘How can you say you can take care of my house better than I can do?’

Did you give the governors authority over their police? The policemen in their states are not bound by state authorities. How can you ask a Fulani man to go and police an Ijebu community in Ogun? What does he know about the terrain of the communities? The police say they don’t get intelligence reports; how can you get intelligence reports when you don’t understand the language of the locality? When we met at the 2014 Sovereign National Conference, I challenged the IG at that time (Mohammed Abubakar). I asked him a question; I said since we are practising a federal system like the United States of America, have you heard anything like the Inspector General of Police in the USA? No! No! They don’t have such.

Naturally and geographically, Nigeria is not sincere with itself. It is only in Nigeria that the nearer the desert, the more the population increases. The geography you and I learnt says that the vegetation area have the most population. It happens in New Zealand, India, Japan and China, but in Nigeria, they tell us otherwise. What a fraud. That is why they will not do restructuring.

Some Nigerians have said Operation Amotekun and other regional outfits could be a precursor to the state police people have been clamouring for. Do you believe that?

Again, that is still begging the question. The regional outfit is only assisting us. There is no doubt that Amotekun will improve the situation. But it is still begging the question – it is an attempt to water down the operation and benefits of state police. Why is the President afraid to give the governors the power which they are entitled to under a federal constitution? My view is that Buhari is intentionally frustrating the country by not doing the right thing. He has failed to secure lives and property of Nigerians. Our economy also is bad. What was the value of the naira to the dollar when Buhari came into office and what is it now?

The Buhari government criticised (former President Goodluck) Jonathan for wasteful spending. Now, Buhari has been going to the National Assembly to secure more money and take loans to fight Boko Haram and undertake the economy. And what has been the result? What I expect now is that Buhari should resign. That is what I am saying.

As it recently played out in Ondo State, some public affairs analysts have argued that state police may become an oppressive tool in the hands of governors to silence the opposition and deal with perceived enemies.  What would you say about that?

Yes, that question is apt. But is the Federal Government not using the police to oppress states that are not their own? They are just talking nonsense. That is not an excuse. If any state governor does that, the judiciary will deal with them. The state House of Assembly will deal with them. But how can you claim that you can take care of my house better than me? And how can you question a son how he spends the money of his parents? Is that your business? All the elections that the Federal Government has conducted and won in those states; was it not federal power that was used?

Northern elites have lamented the rising insecurity, especially banditry, in their region and there have been widespread protests. Do you think that state governors in the North are playing adequate roles in curbing the security problems?

What role can they play? What roles have been accorded to them by the constitution? You can only accuse them if they are in control of their police or security. That is what I am saying. When I am talking about the state police, I am not referring to the South alone. Even in the case of the Boko Haram terrorists, it is only when you involve the locals that you can win the war. The Commissioner of Police gets instruction from Abuja before he carries out a major action. Until we get down to the rudiments in this country, we cannot solve our problem. For the greater part of my life, I have worked for the unity of this country. In 1979, I campaigned a whole year for the Unity Party of Nigeria in Borno State. If I wanted a separation, I would not be there in the North. I was a lawyer and we worked for a progressive government. But now, we have narrow-minded people in power, who are also putting inefficient people in positions. That is what we are talking about. You don’t keep anyone who is due for retirement in service; you may consider them if there is good performance. But how do you keep in office those who are due for retirement and who also have not been efficient?  Nigerians are shouting, “Send them away”. Yet, Buhari is telling them, “You will see my red eye.”  What are they (military chiefs) going to do? Is it when they (criminals) finish all of us?

You have said Nigeria’s current political structure is not balanced and that the country needs to return to true federalism. What specific  steps should the Federal Government take in that direction now?

That is not a new thing. It is an obvious step. Our present system is a product of the present constitution. So, we cannot use the provisions of an awkward constitution to rectify the system. And the recommendations of the 2014 Sovereign National Conference are there that Jonathan handed over to this government. If Buhari does not believe in that, let him set up his own and let us move forward.  What is it that you don’t agree with, then take it out; what is it that you believe in, then put it in, and let us move forward. But when they want to deceive us, they say, ‘Well, there will be devolution of powers and we can restructure by looking at state police.’ They are just deceiving themselves. I have said it before that with all these things that are happening, Buhari has shown that we cannot rely on his words. We in Afenifere supported Buhari in 2007 when he said he would undertake restructuring. I have asked Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu (Buhari’s spokesmen) to renounce that statement and they have kept quiet. Restructuring was also the first campaign promise of this government in 2014; till now, they have not done it. They set up a committee headed by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir  el-Rufai, but till now, they have not embarked on restructuring. What are they taking us for?

Despite the perceived non-performance of Buhari in his first term, a good number of Yoruba leaders still supported his re-election. Is it that the Yoruba cannot speak with one voice?

What do you call a democracy? Even when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was ruling the Western Region, did he have a 100 per cent support? No. He only had the majority support and that is democracy. And those who are opposing should remain to keep the government on its toes. That is what democracy is about. Look at Britain and how Brexit happened when the country said it was exiting the European Union. It was controversial but the majority supported it.

Our own amalgamation has been for over 100 years and those who handed over independence to us gave us a federal constitution in 1956. I have repeatedly said that it was the military that changed the constitution in 1966. We must continue to repeat that the problem we are having now is the problem of the military.  In 1999, when the military wanted to go back to the barracks, we told them, “If you (the military) are going back to the barracks, send us back to the constitution you met.” This is because the constitution we have now is not our constitution. And I repeat, restructuring is the constitution that Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe got before independence.

And I put the question: Is Buhari more intelligent and Fulani than Sardauna or Balewa? They have not answered that question. So, let us go back to the Independence constitution as agreed on by the political leaders. But the government is saying that it is not so.

I am not happy. I am conscious of the fact that my life is short and I am only living by the grace of God. All that I am saying now is not for me. If you change the constitution of our country now, I am not going to be the President. It is the younger ones that should do something; if they refuse to fight for this country, they will suffer for it.

People cannot feel touched as I am. You know why? It is only very few of us that are remaining now who fought for independence. I fought for it as a student. I know what we fought for. I know what I am talking about. I know what we were able to achieve under the regional governments.

Now Jagaban is thinking they (Buhari and his team) will hand over the government to him; he is just deceiving himself. I don’t support anyone to be President of Nigeria under this present constitution; it is an unjust constitution. We must have a just constitution agreeable by all the federating states and stakeholders and then we can move on. And we have done the greater part of it, which was the 2014 Sovereign National Conference. And I challenge Buhari that we cannot assemble a better crop of Nigerians than the 2014 composition. The personalities, the quality, the diversity and religious groups were there and they were professionals. You cannot assemble a better composition than that. But this is a military government in the hands of civilians.

This is the second year Nigeria is celebrating June 12 as the nation’s Democracy Day; as one of the leaders of the National Democratic Coalition, do you agree that the government has done enough about June 12?

I have said it before; Democracy Day was changed – are we democratic? The essence of the June 12 struggle is to create an egalitarian society and wipe out poverty. Are we wiping out poverty? The man who said he was going to wipe out corruption and was complaining about his party that he had to go and borrow money for his nomination form; what has he done since he came to office? How can one expect a young man to come and contest a political position when you don’t have money? When we were supporting Buhari in 2007, we thought he was the cleanest among the candidates. We went to Adamasingba (Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo State) and we campaigned for him. That is why I look at Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu when they are defending what should not be defended. I don’t have anything personal against Buhari.

Nigerians have been talking about the zoning arrangement and some people believe that it is proper for the South to produce the President by 2023. Do you agree with that rotational arrangement?

They are all pretending. If they really want to keep this country together, it is obvious that the North, South-West and the Ijaw people (South-South) have had it; why are you denying the Igbo from power if you really believe that we are one?

Mind you, my own position is that I don’t believe in any election until we have restructured this country. So, anything I am telling you about where power should go is after we have restructured this country. This is because under this constitution, if you conduct any election, Buhari will rig it. Anybody can spend money and rig the election in this country. They will say you can go to court. You will go to court and come back to square one. Therefore, let us break the constitution. If anybody wants to be corrupt and rig election, let it be in their own region. On education, agriculture, health and other sectors, let us have a real constitution where the states can be allowed to develop their regions. If you want Sharia, bring it on in your own area. Let us go back to the basics. Why should we say we want to go back to the constitution our forefathers gave us and that should be a problem if we are really sincere? That is the truth. This is the way to go. I don’t have anything to benefit. It is for my grandchildren. But we must all work for the unity and progress of this country. We need people to take action because this country belongs to all of us.

Source: Ayo Adebanjo