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…Says 2027 will determine country’s fate
• Bemoans politicians flaunting stolen funds, acquisitions
By Christy Anyanwu in London
Delly Ajufo is a Nigerian statesman and thought leader from Delta State. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Association of Professional Insurance Brokers and is the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of BIDAC Insurance Brokers.
Ajufo has been quite vocal about his views on politics and governance in Nigeria. In run-up to the country’s 65th independence anniversary, Ajufo, popularly known as ‘Uncle Delly, spoke with Sunday Sun in BexleyHeath, London, about Nigeria’s polity, his desires for the nation, and other issues, shortly after celebrating his 80th birthday.
Is this the Nigeria of your dreams?
I keep telling people I was at the stadium, Tafawa Balewa, on the day the green-white-green went up and Union Jack came down. Our expectations have been dashed. This is definitely not the Nigeria we dreamt about. Today’s Nigeria is far from the dream of our founding fathers.
Please, explain more.
Well, you see, shortly after independence, the world looked up to Nigeria. I don’t know whether you ever saw the video of Tafawa Balewa’s visit to the United States and the reception he received. Then, Nigeria was looked upon as the giant of Africa, as the hope of the black man, as the hope of Africa.
We have progressively gone from top to bottom. And today, we are not regarded as anything by any country in the world, most of the African countries have no regard for us. And that tells the kind of situation we found ourselves. It is sad, but that is the truth.
Corruption is so rampant in Nigeria, the leaders are not exempted. At what stage will the right kind of leaders emerge?
We have thieves in government. Capital thieves with just a few exceptions. I dare you to go to the National Assembly, they don’t care what happens to the masses. All they care is about themselves. And, you see, people are just overrating themselves. We have a saying in Nigeria, ‘one day monkey will go to the market and it will not return’. The corruption has become so brazen.
They don’t steal in millions anymore. In fact, we have graduated to stealing in trillions, no longer millions or billions. It is brazen stealing.
The government awarding contracts without due process? It is never done. And we have become so tribalistically divided. We have become so divided that we don’t even begin to see ourselves as one nation.
That is a fact right now. We don’t even begin to see ourselves as a nation. A country where you don’t feel safe, to stay in a particular part of the country.
It’s a sad situation.
So much attention is now focused on the 2027 election. I know that you have soft spot for Peter Obi. Some people say you are one of the obedient people. So, what are your thoughts about 2027? Are you still with Peter Obi?
Until I see somebody who has produced a better roadmap to the future which I dream of. He is the best so far. I am not saying he is probably the best in the country. But of those who have shown interest in governance in Nigeria, he has a blueprint that is second to none.
And I dare you to tell me who has a better idea. Not the current administration that is waffling at every step. Not thinking of policies before they implement them. A government that is so tribalistic in its approach and appointments. Check President Bola Tinubu’s appointments. What do you expect? Some years ago, Tinubu told us he doesn’t believe in one Nigeria.
And he is living it out. People say former president Muhammadu Buhari did the same thing. No way.
In your assessment, which government is better, Buhari or Tinubu?
Compare Buhari’s appointments with Tinubu’s appointments. Tinubu is a tribalist, nepotistic in everything he does. As far as he is concerned, Nigeria starts and ends in Lagos.
So, if we are to compare Buhari’s administration and Tinubu’s administration which one is better?
Buhari was a saint compared to this administration. His was even better ideologically and administratively. And that’s to tell you how bad it is. Buhari had better plans and he was better than this administration. What indices are you going to use to judge this government? Is it the price of the food in the market? The cost of living? The employment rate? The improvement in the health facility? I was opportune to go to one of the federal hospitals, the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba, Delta State.
I had a cousin who was shot by armed robbers. And I went visiting. I was appalled at what I saw. The stench in the hospital. The crowd. People lying on the floor. No space. I think life expectancy in Nigeria must have reduced under this administration. Yes, it has. Under this administration.
So, in your 80 years on earth, what lessons have you learnt about life?
Are you talking personally or about governance?
About Everything?
I think I’ve learnt a lot about life. At 80, I expect to have learnt a lot. I’ve been married for 45 years. That is a lesson in itself. And I have children. That’s also a lesson. My relationship with them is a lesson. And there’s something we must understand in Nigeria if we are to progress. See everybody as your brother.
Growing up in Lagos, we saw each other as friends and brothers. Today, the cry I hear is, Igbo must go. And people are keeping quiet.
When tribalism comes from the government, and nepotism cry comes from the government, and you see the people on the streets shouting the same slogan, you begin to believe it’s a government policy. Recently, just before the election, we saw the wife of the president use a slang in Yoruba, ‘amajogun awon Ibo’. I’m sure you speak Yoruba. Please translate it. ‘Amajogun Awon Ibo’. Yes, she said it. I’ll look for it and send you the video if you want.
Then, Bayo Onanuga, the supposed illiterate spokesperson of the president, warning Igbo that the next election will not be like the last time when they were given free reign to vote as they wished. Tell me something. Tinubu rates himself as a democrat.
I thought democracy was about the freedom of choice. Why must I be bulldozed and bamboozled into voting somebody that I don’t want to lead me? If you want to be a leader, allow people to choose you as a leader. You don’t force leadership on people.
So, I wonder sometimes when people begin to intimidate voters to vote for a particular candidate, it’s no longer a choice. It’s manipulation. So, we are no longer free. At 80, I still hope I’ll see a better Nigeria before the good Lord calls me home.
What do you think about the polity as 2027 is around the corner?
I don’t think 2027 is going to bring anything different for Nigeria. But it might just mark the end of this nation. Tinubu will just be the last president of a united Nigeria.
Unless something changes. The choice of the next chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is going to be pivotal to what happens in 2027. Again, the choice of the method of electing our leaders. Are we going to have electoral reform such that your vote will be transmitted directly like they did in Ghana and in Kenya? I’m not going outside Africa. Why must Nigeria be different? I’m ashamed. You travel out of the country and people come to you and say, you’re there, why does this thing happen? They don’t know that I don’t have any power to effect changes.
I only have one vote. And they wouldn’t even let that vote count. The late president Nelson Mandela of South Africa, said Africa would be liberated when Nigeria gets it right. We are far from getting it right. And until we get it right, the white man will never take Africa seriously. There might be a revolution in the country.
What type of revolution?
I don’t know. But there might be a revolution. And I hope it’s not bloody. That’s all I’ve said. The average Yoruba man says Igbo must leave Lagos. The people who are saying Igbo must leave Lagos are they Lagosians?
He’s still not a Lagosian. He is, by and large a Lagosian. Why are they speaking for Lagosian? They’re Igbo-le, Igbo-le. They’re Igbo-le from the South West. Why don’t you just speak for your own stats? If you assume, because you live in Lagos, I have lived in Lagos for the better part of my life. Before some of these scallywags were born.
And they dare tell me that I must leave Lagos. Leave Lagos to go where? And you have Yoruba people drilling oil from the South East and South South and you expect that when you chase us away from here we will allow them to continue to drill the oil. We are magnanimous, we don’t think about this.
But if they have any brains they will realize that the moment you chase majority of Igbo people out, those people drilling oil in the oil drilling areas will stop. They will not be allowed to drill our resources and take it to develop their region. So, I don’t think they have any brains.
That tells you the calibre of people who are living there. They think about aye, aye, aye. You tell Igbo people to go and you’re drilling their oil and their gas to sustain the Nigerian economy.
They better think. I don’t want the situation where this will happen but it will happen if you must chase people from the East and to a large extent South South from Lagos. They will stop any human being from drilling oil in our region, definitely.
And you see they are so unintelligent that as far as they are concerned, once they pass, then it is alright.
So, what kind of leaders should we expect in Nigeria?
We want leaders that are honest, forthright and believe in freedom of speech, freedom of expression. Never, not even under Buhari, the military leader, did the opposition people get sent to jail. Opposition members are being hounded now. What for? You don’t want freedom of expression? How can you claim to be a democrat? You are not a democrat.
We need to change our attitude in Nigeria. I want to see Nigeria lead the world. We have the potential.
We have the resources. What we are lacking is good leadership. When we have that, the black man will be proud of being black man.
But with the kind of characters we have in the leadership strata of Nigeria now, both in the legislature assembly and the executive arm, I think it’s a far cry. We have a problem. When the National Assembly will keep mum over the excesses of the executive, I weep for the country.
Senator Natasha Akpoti has now resumed her duties at the Senate. What thoughts went through your mind regarding her suspension? Was her suspension right?
That is part of what I’m telling you. We don’t have people of character. One, the National Assembly does not have the power to suspend her. That has been determined. And not more than one month, if at all, to suspend her. But now it’s six months, and before she was recalled, the Clerk of the National Assembly said, it was a matter for the court to decide. The court has no business with this. You suspended her. She went to court to challenge it. And the challenge may just be, admittedly, for future reference. And I think there has been a decision on that before.
But their attitude was like, ‘I do what I want.’ And like I said, ‘’one day monkey go go market, he no go return.’
It’s a popular saying in our parlance. They are overusing their authority. Which brings me to the issue of state police.
If these human beings are given power to handle state police, you cannot walk the streets. You cannot talk. And it’s part of education that we’re talking about.
You have illiterates in government. All over the country, really. Look at the one in Benin. Telling a whole presidential aspirant that he has to get clearance from him before he visits the state. On what basis? On what basis, for God’s sake? Does he know what he’s saying? But he says there’s a new sheriff in town.
Can he spell sheriff? Sorry, my dear. But you know something? In all these, I blame the journalists.
How?
Every governor is described as an executive governor. What is the meaning of that? Do we have a non-executive governor? It has continued. I’ve questioned this matter over years. Why do we address our governors as executive governors of a particular state? Do we have non-executive governors?
The press brought late former President Richard Nixon down in America over the Watergate scandal. The governor of Kogi State who is being charged by EFCC for embezzling $80 billion and the state government sent him congratulatory messages on his birthday and he ordered members of the state assembly to sit on the floor. What impunity. And we’re just accepted it as normal.
It shouldn’t be. That man shouldn’t be on the streets of Nigeria. He should be in jail. I feel ashamed to be called a Nigerian when I see such characters and they call them our leaders and nobody questions them. People like that should be in detention.
