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…Afenifere leader speaks about Tinubu, Atiku, Obi on Saturday polls
By Agatha Emeadi
Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the 94-year-old leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, has stood out like a sore finger, standing radically Obi-dient without whose ox is gored.
Pa Adebanjo in an exclusive interview with Sunday Sun went down memory lane and traced the history of rotation, equity, inclusiveness, and strongly stated that power should go to the Southeast to which Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, comes from. He also spoke on the poor state of the nation and many more. Excerpts:
Watching you last week Saturday at the TBS podium during the Obi-Datti mega campaign in Lagos; even as the leader of Afenifere, you said if Obi fails at the 2023 presidential election, we should forget Nigeria; what did you see in Peter Obi that other political figures are not seeing?
I have told Peter Obi that I have a stake in him more than himself. It is a matter of principle, I did not know Peter Obi before now, but for the equity on ground, the basis of how Nigeria came together. Those things we agreed to do together in order to be one, we are not a nation, but Nigeria is a geographical expression of several nations which include Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Hausa and we were colonized sectionally. Most people do not know why we set up rotation; it was because there was Lagos, Western colony, Niger Protectorate, Lagos colony by itself separate from the Western colony, then the Southern Protectorate and the Northern Protectorate. It was not until 1914 that Lord Lugard said he could not maintain the Northern region on his own and has to merge it with the South to make Northern region viable, that was how Nigeria came to exist. This is the reason we tell the people who are cheating other regions, especially the oil-producing section, claiming that the oil there belongs to them. It was that merger that brought them to have a share because we all are together now. The likes of Ango Abdullahi and some northern elders should go and read the history of how we came together. The northerners also claim they have the population and, therefore, power should be negotiated with them before the president would emerge from the other regions. I, therefore, ask, what gave them the right to say no other tribe can become the president except they negotiate with the North because of their population, which is questionable. As far as we are concerned, Afenifere has been disputing it. The North keep saying, they have the number, no; and, therefore, no one can say it is his turn, instead come and negotiate. The basis of coming together is to have rotation, in order not to cheat one another and that is why I say if Obi fails, forget Nigeria and I am not just boasting. If you break the terms of the basis of coming together, you cannot tie us to the terms because you have broken it. And this was the background before independence, there were northern crisis which people did not know because it was a tug of war then, even for the late Chief Awolowo or any southern party to campaign in the North was almost difficult. To the extent the helicopter that Awolowo was using was refused to land in the North before forces came in and said there should be freedom of movement. The crisis we had before independence led to the Constitutional Conference of 1954 where Chief Anthony Enahoro moved a motion for self-government, but Sarduana of Sokoto said no because they were not ready and not as advanced as the South. So many of them have forgotten the background and, therefore, coming out of the legislator of that day, people who were outside the parliament, the Sarduana said …Arabaa, arabaaa, which means we are no longer together. This people who are shouting united Nigeria now, but Chief Awolowo said no, we can be together, but not under the uniform of government as multi-national, multi-lingual, multi- cultural organizations, by the system, we can live together by federalism where every autonomous unit will develop as its own space and each autonomy will be independent under the federation and we agree on what subject to give the Federal Government. It is either a system with the autonomy of federated or the residual part in many regions. On this note, having persuaded them, that is why we have Federal Character in the constitution because having agreed on education, health and everything that concerns people to be in the region, the subject that was put in the centre was currency, shipping, airline etc, and the presidency. Then we said the presidency now will be by merit and the population that Ango Abdulahi and Ahmed are talking about now…. It was Harold Smith who told us that they mismanaged it for the North; where has the North got the population that everybody is shouting about; I have said it before that the North cannot claim this population except, they count the cows and the cattle. They have not got the population and cannot rule us under a false population and that is why we say this constitution is fraudulent because it is the military who changed the Independence Constitution in 1966. That is why President Buhari is reluctant to do restructuring which will remove all these things, and what Afenifere is saying is that it is not a new thing, from the word go, when the military was going back to the barracks, we said go back with your luggage of the constitution or send us back to the constitution where you met us or we have to sit down again and come together and that was the history of Sovereign National Conference. It was the time of NADECO championed by Afenifere and others. Remember when Obasanjo came in, we did not want to take part in the constitution law of 1999, it was Abdulsalami Abubakar as a matter of fact, the Alliance for Democracy, which was sponsored by Afenifere was not qualified by the time the military came in. The same Abdulsalami said we cannot have another election without the Yorubas because it will be another problem, so that election was contested on protest. The same reason I accused Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Osoba etc, that they betrayed the Yoruba people because we contested that election on protest that once we get the mandate as we won the election in Nigeria, do not go to Abuja until the constitution is changed. Let them refute what I have said; but having got there, they sidelined Afenifere leaders and continued instead of refusing to take part in the federal constitution, it was that agitation of the national conference that became the restructuring which is not a political philosophy, but to restructure Nigeria back to federalism. Now, we cannot have the federalism under this system. It is those who do not want restructuring that are confusing it and giving it all sorts of meaning. Federalism is a global philosophy in America, Australia, Newzealands, it has no connotation except people want to rule it over. It is on that basis of we must share federalism…If you remember when they said we would have this election, Afenifere was opposed to it and said change the constitution first before the election, but many people did not agree. We said okay, if we must have a free and fair election, we will go on along as a democratic organization, but Buhari used restructuring to deceive Bola Tinubu who allowed himself to be deceived as restructuring appears in their manifesto. The moment we restructure, the position of northern people will cease. All these clamours for oil and resource control we got it in 1954 under deregulation. Though as at that time, the western region had plenty of money from cocoa, the North had groundnut and the East had palm kernel based on the revenue sharing. It was the British that changed it presently when they created more states and local government in the North and said the revenue would be shared according to the number of the local governments. Have you seen the fraud? Those who couldn’t contribute a pound are now taking 20 pounds. It is all these cheating that is contained in the present constitution that we are opposed to. So, that agitation was on until Abiola almost came in and when General Babangida annulled Abiola’s election, they think they could pacify the Yorubas by going to the prison to bring in Olusegun Obasanjo, but Ernest Shonekan was brought in as an interim head before Obasanjo. The stand of the Yoruba was that if it our turn, you cannot choose our leader for us, and that was why we didn’t support Obasanjo at that time; but when they imposed him on us, we had no choice. After Obasanjo, the leadership went back to the North because North and South were amalgamated and Musa Yar’Adua had it followed by Goodluck Jonathan from the South and then back to the North with President Buhari and after that, it should come back to the South. The North and South have had it, therefore, it should be turn of the Southeast. The Afenifere were the first to say that the presidency should go to the Southeast, and none of the parties has had their primaries, this is how Peter Obi came in based on principles of equity, fairness, and constitutional equality, it is Southeast. For those opposed to Obi, I asked them if APC said there is no Southeast member in their party, PDP re-wrote their constitution to make it possible for Atiku to contest, that is one of the problems they have in PDP now. Both presidential candidate and Chairman of the party all came from the North and that is why Wike is not happy. Based on all these, we chose the candidate from the Southeast that we considered to be capable, efficient with the knowledge to carry the problems we have now and that is how we arrived on Peter Obi.
Obi’s first attack by opposition parties was he had no structure, but through his campaigns, structure has joined forces in almost all the states to support him; as someone who has witnessed elections over the years, do you think that all these massive crowd would translate into vote especially from the Yoruba nation?
They were the ones who organized it on the principles of merit. If you read the statement made by Afenifere why we support Obi, we traced the history as I have told you now, we stated that we were cautious of the fact that our fellow (tribal) man, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is contesting, but this is the matter of fairness. We cannot say because our fellow Yoruba man is contesting, therefore, we should relegate the principles of equity and inclusiveness. When someone said ethnicity is ruling Nigeria, to us, it is not about ethnicity, but that of equality. That is the man we consider with the intellect, competency, honesty and integrity that will feel the present situation for the better.
I read that you worked closely with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who is your mentor, if he was alive today, do you think he would vote for Peter Obi?
The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was my mentor! Well, it was Awolowo that asked us to vote for Obi; he told us, we must work with the Southeast, even when he was stoned by Southeast people in Aba during his campaign days. We went to campaign before the independence as Obi came to campaign here in Lagos, and the Igbos stoned us, but it was for Awo’s cap that prevented the stone, he did not show that anything happened. It was when we got back to review the campaign and he opened up to tell us that the Igbo people stoned him. But then, he quickly said you have to work with them, if you don’t work with them, you will die in the hands of these northerners. After the election of that year too, he told Azikiwe, do not go with the North, our two parties Action Group (AG) and NCNC, if you defeat them, you will be the Prime Minister and I will work under you. I have said it to all our members that this is what Awolowo said; then again, with the series of what is happening, the northerners know that when the Igbo and Yoruba come together and join forces, that is the end of their domination. That is why they do all that is possible to break us.
How will you rate the eight years of President Buhari’s leadership?
Disastrous! I have told him this in various interviews, not once and not twice. Now, what was the exchange rate, cost of petroleum products, foodstuff, goods and services? How were the educational and health systems like, the roads and security before he came into power and now that is piloting the affairs of the nation. Since President Buhari came into office, he has been having soft spot for his people. We are talking about Fulani herdsmen; it came to the front burner when Buhari came into office. I was a young man in my village in Ijebu when we see herdsmen parade sticks, not AK 47 and none has been criminalized. If they do not have the support, there should be a law against illegal possession of arm by anyone who is not licensed to carry it. We are praying God to save us in the remaining few months, so he can leave. He remains the worst government in the history of this nation and that is the rotten government Tinubu wants to continue. You are being warned now because it will be your problem. In 2014, when Buhari was contesting, I warned that no one should make the mistake of voting for this man because he is a tribal jingoist, fanatical Islam, go and read the interview I granted to another national newspaper and see if what I said then has not happened.
How will you react to the scarcity of Naira which opportunists might want to use and support vote buying?
It is one thing that the present government has done and I support it 100 per cent. The only flaw is the deprivation of printing new notes and that is what they are now doing. I agree with it entirely. The cry of the situation is only from APC, they have always been winning election by buying votes. Buhari has said, he would conduct a free and fair election, therefore, all the corners that are being used as rigging powers are being blocked. I support Buhari on that.
When you were a young civil servant, activism and boldness manifested in you early enough and in fact that terminated your job from the Ministry of Health then, what was the problem then?
I was an NCNC man which Dr Azikiwe brought all of us to, including Awolowo. Dr Azikiwe opened our eyes and brought nationalism into us. I read West Africa Pilot (WAP) with the motto ‘show the light’ from 1942 when I was in Primary 5, it was from my pocket money that I bought (WAP)as a young student. Zik’s articles then was mind blowing. It was my copy that my class teacher used to read before the vendor brings his because I get mine very early in the morning, he would ask me, Adebanjo where is your own paper, I will pull it from my pocket and give him. Then I was in the Medical Headquarters in the registration of births and deaths in the Ministry of Health. So, this white man came and asked where is the dental office, and I asked him, is this how you say good morning in your country? He couldn’t believe his eyes and went to report me to my boss who queried me and I refused to apologize. That nationalism consciousness was speaking through me because I asked is it because you are a foreigner and we are blacks, we are also civilized and my appointment was terminated and I left, by that time I was already the Secretary of Egbe-Omo-Oduduwa, we have founded the National Emergence Committee where I was an executive opposing the colonialists for killing the Enugu miners. We brought the ticket and put it on my tie even as a civil servant, so they found it easy to give me termination, I said thank you.
With the comments allegedly ascribed to the Oba of Lagos who allegedly says that he doesn’t want to see any other presidential candidate in his palace, does it mean that as a Yoruba leader, he does not know these stories?
Oba of Lagos was a young person when we were fighting for independence. He is in his 70s, which I have said before. But for Chief Awolowo, he would not have been Oba of Lagos. It was Awolowo who made it compulsory for Obas in Lagos to rotate, if not it will remain in the family of Dosunmu which I have said before, let someone deny it. That was why we supported Adele against Adeyinka Oyekan at that time. When Lagos was merged with the West, we made the chieftaincy law to be rotating among the royal families in Lagos, so he is a beneficiary of the struggle of Awolowo.
How do you react to threats from APC members against supporters of the Labour Party as we saw last week during the campaign?
It is typical of them to attack opposition parties. Their rottenness cannot be exposed except another party comes in. What the APC is fearing is not someone that would lead the government, it is how they would be exposed after their departure. I tell you people to shine your eyes. For me, I might be enjoying myself in the grave when the calamity will fall, but God forbid! Next year, I will be 95 and will I say God has not done enough for me?
What is the position of Afenifere now, because it seems there is a faction…?
(Cuts in) Do not use that word, where is the faction? Anytime you talk about Afenifere, who should you address? They broke away and where are they? I have challenged them, who among them from Tinubu downwards, I made Tinubu governor of Lagos State when I was the chairman of the party, it was the goodwill of Afenifere that brought Tinubu, Osoba and others to power and that is why I say they betrayed the people. I have said that press men are in a hurry to spread the news which is not faction, but breaking away. When Tinubu abandoned us as we said they should not go to Abuja, but they sidelined us, have they been able to make it? They all broke away all because we said this is the way government should be. I wish one of you should ask Tinubu why he broke away from Afenifere? Am I expecting a job, appointment or contract from him? I invited him sometime and asked him, do you think Buhari will hand over to you, because that is the reason you are closing your eyes to all the iniquities happening in the land? What people do not know is that everybody is living in denial. They know I am saying the truth, the reason they cannot accuse me of anything. They cannot! Two politicians came to me and said they wanted my co-operation, they all know that Ayo Adebanjo is priceless, I told them that I do not trust Fulani. I take responsibility for every word I use. When I say that Buhari is behind Boko Haram and I challenge Lai Mohammed to come for me for fake news. A lot of other people have said that there are Boko Haram in Buhari’s cabinet, there are sitting governors, Senators and House of Representatives members who are alleged Boko Haram, but each time I raise it during interviews, they are removed. The negotiators know where they are, but our DSS does not know where they are. If things are done normally, should APC have the courage to contest election in this country?
What is your relationship with former President Olusegun Obasanjo?
Now, it is good, but before, no, until now, does he believe that Nigeria is not one? When we went to Enugu and some people saw us together and said you and Adebanjo, I said Nigeria brought us together. It is true, all along I was critical of him, he did not agree with me on the question of keeping Nigeria together. That is all.
Do you think we should remain together as Nigeria or are we too many to be broken into different entities?
Thank you. Did you hear me say if Obi does not win, forget Nigeria. Sometime ago, there was a meeting held at Abuja and I was there and said, it is on the basis that if they will not treat every region equally, then what is the meaning of coming together. I do not know how the southerners will feel. I heard Atiku Abubakar during his rally that he is a unifier; he is not a unifier rather a divider; where is the legitimate right of the Igbo because you changed the constitution of your party to usurp their position and that is the truth. How then are you a unifier? How can the northerner rule for eight years and want to go back there; are other tribes mumu? That is the basis of my support for Peter Obi. It is my support for the Southeast which Obi is a beneficiary having come from that region. Obi is not my relation, even though, but some people have accused me of having an Igbo mother. The fight is for the young ones, but many of you do not know the battle you are fighting. You cannot compare Obi with others.
