PRESIDENTIAL POLL: Why Jonathan deserves second term –Pa Olanihun Ajayi

Afenifere leader and associate of the late Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, Pa Olanihun Ajayi, 87, in this interview speaks on the
build up to the general elections, expressing disappointment in
the quality of offerings of the political gladiators.
Pa Ajayi stressed the need to return to the path of true
federalism to avert break-up of the country. He also spoke on
why he believed President Goodluck Jonathan should have
another term in office.
Excerpts:
The state of the nation appears cloudy. What do you think?
I am really devastated about what is going on. The politicians
there are, in the true sense of it, very few. What they are doing
really irritates, saddens and, of course, disappoints me.
In specific terms, what do you see that makes you sad?
I don’t see what I expect to see, patriotism. What I see is, ‘oh,
how am I going to get elected so that money will flow?’ ‘ How
can I continue to be in power and authority?’ That is what I
see. I don’t see seriousness, or deep sense of commitment, as
you would find in Cameron (British Prime Minister), or the
chancellor of Germany or as you will find in Obama (American
President). I have said on several occasions that the pillars of
democracy here are malfunctioning, if they are functioning at
all. The first of it is the executive, what sort of executive do
we have in Abuja or in the states? The executive is very bad,
very irresponsible. We don’t have a strong, confident and
powerful judiciary. And the judiciary is the most important
part of democracy. It is not performing.
Even with the reforms in the judiciary?
Well, the lady who just retired started putting in place some
reforms, but before we could begin to see the real impact of
the reforms, she left. And they put another one there who may
retire in two years time. Then the legislature, the National
Assembly people are self-serving. They are the highest paid in
the world. I used to have a senator here. I didn’t know him. Is
it not surprising that I didn’t know the senator in charge of my
district? In England, it is not so. If you have any problem, you
go to your representative in the House of Commons. It is not
so here. And yet we are so wealthy. Our lawmakers are self-
serving people. How many bills have they passed since they
went in there? The fourth pillar of democracy is the press.
There was a time when we used to have a wonderful press in
this country, particularly during the Babangida and Abacha
time, oh fantastic, very strong and committed. Immediately
after the Abubakar transition, we discovered that most
journalists were being bought over by the governors, they were
given cars, appointments, etc, and those things shut their
mouths. And you find out that some of these governors buy
into the papers. Of course, when I own my paper, I dictate
what you write. By the way, which of these political parties
has ideology? Have you read their manifestoes, do they even
have at all? Of course, if they have, they don’t do it the way it
ought to be done. The First Republic, I love that period very
much, I have a lot of regards and gratitude to God for that
period, it was the golden era, particularly in this part of
Nigeria. If you go to Lagos now, you find that some roads are
made while some are neglected. If you go to Ibadan or Ijebu-
Ode, or Abeokuta, you find fly-overs, you find roads well done
but if you ask what the governor of Oyo State paid per- ki­
lometre, and then ask the governor of Ogun State the same
question, you will see that the difference is wide, very wide,
and, of course, if you ask who the contractors were, you will
discover that the companies are owned by a governor or a
politician. So, tell me how can we perform honourably in that
sort of situation?
What advice can you give in order to return to that golden
era?
What advice would I give them when election is already here?
We are going into serious danger because the Niger-Delta
people are saying if Jonathan loses, you are going to see hell
and, of course, the boys in the North are saying should Buhari
lose, you are going to suffer. Where are we? In any case,
someone will win. If there is no stalemate, someone will win. I
think the advice will be in form of question, and that is, what
are they going to do for us? The rhetoric we hear from time to
time is, ‘We are going to do some roads, we are going to do
this.’’
I think you should ask them how much you are going to pay
per kilometre of road? Or if you are going to provide housing,
how much would a two, three-bedroom house cost . If you
say you are providing classrooms, how much will a classroom
cost? Today, if you want to buy foodstuff, you go to the
North. What if they shut their gate, what are we going to do
about it? Where do you have better land for agriculture? Is it
in the North or here? It is here, but government is not doing
anything about it? If I were in government, I would have a
special arrangement with all my chairmen of local government
areas that, based on expert advice I received about a
particular local government, potato would be very good to
plant there, cassava will be good. ‘So, therefore, go and find
land where we can plant all that I have mentioned. When you
get the land, I will provide the money to implement the cultiva­
tion’.
Afenifere recently endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for
re-election. What informed the decision?
Well, quite frankly, the question of presidential election should
not arise in this country at all. In this place called Nigeria,
there are so many nationalities, these are different countries
before we became Nigeria, but, the white people just came,
uninvited, and began to take positions as if you were taking
positions in a farm. So, putting us together, as it is now, is
absolutely wrong. We don’t need a monarch, or an emperor as
we have in Nigeria; we are running a unitary form of
government. This is not true federalism. We don’t need a
president. Let everybody be on his own so that he can be
making progress. When that happens, there won’t be ani­
mosity, hatred or witch-hunting and jealousy as we now have.
Until we do that, Nigeria cannot have peace; you know what
happened in the defunct USSR, before 1989/91, where there
was implosion in the place and the many regions there
decided to break away from Russia. In Czechoslovakia, there
were, two dominant nationalities and there was no love lost
between them, but they were staying together. Then the
leaders met and said they could not continue like that.
Eventually they met and agreed that the Czechs should return
to their side and the Slovakia to their own side, and there was
peace. There was also the issue of Yugoslavia, a country
precisely like Nigeria with about eight ethnic nationalities, but
they were never the same. They said the unity of Nigeria is
not negotiable, stupid people! It is those who benefit from the
irregularities going on in the country that are saying that. The
earlier we can sit down as we did in March to August last year
and negotiate our unity, the better for Nigeria.
Why did the Afenifere endorse Jonathan for second term?
(Cuts in) Afenifere is dealing with a sta-tus- quo issue. What
do we have and what have we been having? Since 1960, we
have had about 36 years of Nigeria’s rulers coming from the
North. And, now they are saying they want power back. And
they are saying `if you don’t give us you are going to see hell’,
and the other people who are holding on to it are saying ‘if
you let the thing slip from our hand, we are going to show you
pepper’. Now, talking about our approval of Jonathan for a
second term, I think he is the third or thereabout of a civilian
president that would be coming from the South. In this kind of
situation where majority of the presidents had come from the
North, do you think there would be satisfaction and peace?
So, this president is a southerner and we have not had
southerners as we have northerners as President or Head of
State. And, of course, Jonathan is trying to do a second term.
I think we should give him.
So, it is a matter of supporting the minority.
Yes. What I detest, of course, is the boasting in the Niger-
Delta that should Jonathan lose, heavens would come down.
And on the other side, the northern boys saying if Buhari does
not win the election, there will be hell here on earth. But
maybe be they should go ahead and do whatever they like
because the situation should not have arisen at all. Nigeria
does not need President. I think we should have something
similar to what is going on in Switzerland.
How do we go about that one?
The conference we had in March was rubbish. Yes, we came
back with state police, local government autonomy, devolution
of power. This means we have shrunk the exclusive list. In
1960, we had 28 functions in the exclusive list. When we
became republic in 1963, the thing was about 29. In 1979, I
think it went to about 60. In 1999, everything just went up. I
think what we should do now if we don’t want trouble is to
negotiate how to live together because we are not immune to
what happened in Yugoslavia, it can happen here. I hope you
remember Operation Wetie.
There are people who benefit from the irregularities going on
in the oil sector, they don’t want the status quo to be
disturbed. They want it retained.
So what do you see happening in this election now?
I don’t know what is going to happen. Anything may happen.
But quite frankly, neither of the two main presidential
candidates has come to say I am going to do 1,2,3,4 and each
is going to cost me xyz amount and this is where I am going
to get the money. The Afenifere endorsement of Jonathan will
obviously pit it against the ‘progressives’ in the South- West,
or what do you think?
We just had to make a choice. Before APC came, it used to be
ACN. But then, we had some boys who broke away from A.D
and from PDP and formed ACN.
It is a question of six and half a dozen. There is no much
difference between APC and PDP. I don’t know the ideology of
APC because I have never seen their manifesto, ditto the PDP.
I see the election as the shadow of our crisis that is
thickening and our body politic is not well and very vulnerable
particularly when you hear the reactions of the Niger- Delta
people and the boys from the North. I hope we would get it
right but not at a great cost.