By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Hon. Wale Oshun, the leader of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), is not known for frivolity. His economy of words would not even allow him to say anything that would be controversial.
However, in this interview, he literarily threw a bombshell, warning that President Muhammadu Buhari might be the last President of Nigeria, if he decides to walk away without addressing the agitation for restructuring of the country.
The National Assembly has transmitted the re-worked Electoral Amendment Act to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent. What is your take on the issue of consensus candidate and the clause demanding the resignation of appointed public officer holders before going in for an election?
I think the clause asking appointed public officers to resign before going in for an election is a very reasonable request. I am of the old school when it comes to discussing whether public office holders should play politics or not play politics. I have always expressed the view that public office holders should be totally non-political so that in the discharge of their duties they can always be patriotic and responsible towards the social needs of the people. So, if you are a public office holder and you intend to contest an election, then it makes a lot of sense for you to resign so that the issue of conflict of interest will not arise. Most of the times, the people stay in office to contest an election and later go back to their positions. It is wrong. They must take a decision; you either choose to be a politician or be an appointed public office holder. But regarding the second issue which has to do with consensus, my view is that the National Assembly is usurping the functions of the political parties. Let them make their rules. Those who join political parties know what their obligations are. Nigeria is a diverse country. When you speak of consensus in certain parts of the country, one or two people can sit down and speak for the whole candidates because of the feudal system or something. But in another part of the country, when you speak of consensus, you are talking of a market place. So, we don’t need to enforce the same regulation. To my mind, I believe political parties should have been left to decide or define what consensus is. What should concern the electoral agency (INEC) is ensuring that the parties comply with their constitutions. That is why the issue of direct primary was thrown out. I subscribe to that so that parties can decide the best approach for themselves. But then, we have little or no time now before the next general elections. I think delaying signing it into law might also throw up its own hindrances. The President can weigh all the available options, but to my mind, the election is around the corner and all the processes that guide the conduct of these elections are subject to this particular law. Perhaps, it will make sense for the president to sign the law and then seek an amendment, if there is dissatisfaction with any of the clauses. I think that may be a better option. That process is always there because there is no law that is sacrosanct.
Do you also believe that what the National Assembly did was a move to check the overbearing of the governors?
The interesting thing about Nigeria is that all public office holders are dictators. Most of the times, the interest of the common people is always secondary. What you speak of the governors you can also speak of the National Assembly. When the National Assembly initially decided to adopt direct primary, they were also thinking of themselves, they were not thinking of the nation, they were not thinking of independence, the need for people to take their decisions. To them, they were using their position to favour themselves. So, if the governors are doing likewise, it all boils down to the same thing. I can only hope that Nigerians themselves can begin to put their hearts where their mouth is.
The presidential race is already on…
(Cuts in) I don’t want to talk about the presidential race now because there is time for everything under the sun. This is February; we are still talking of a whole year before the election. Right from the moment this government came in, people have been talking about presidency, people have been talking about governorship. We should be talking about governance. We have politicised governance in this country. Nobody is speaking about productivity, the net import over export. We import more than we ever export. Nobody is talking about all that and that is governance. Nobody is talking about education; that is governance. Everybody has become a politician. In a serious country, less than five per cent of the population is involved in politics. Others engage in various productive ventures. In Nigeria, more than 80 per cent of the populace is playing politics because it is the only way you can earn a living now. Recently, they are talking about rice pyramid, but it is not only rice we eat in this country. What is happening to maize, the input for livestock feed?
But you cannot also neglect the people’s clamour for power shift from across the southern part of the country. Do you subscribe to the view that Nigeria has outgrown the demand for equitable power sharing?
This is a diverse country and everybody will like to have a sense of belonging. So, if we must have a sense of belonging, every part of the country must be involved in governance. That is where the issue of power shift may come up. If power has been in one side of the country, other parts will want to be a player as well, which was the reason when Jonathan was there, the North was clamouring for power shift to the North. Now, Buhari has spent eight years and the South is clamouring for power shift to the South and we too should have it. May be in another 25 years or 50 years, when we must have developed a seamless system; if the different component parts of Nigeria have not gone in their own ways, it may be possible for people to harp on the best candidate leading the country, regardless of whether such individual is a Fulani, Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo man. It will take us a long time to get there because what has been happening is that when our leaders get there, they try to concentrate development in their own region. It was only Obasanjo who tried to spread development across the country even to the extent of denying his own people worthwhile infrastructural developments. Every other person is focusing on his own place. For as long as we have that, there will continue to be clamour for power rotation. And that is why some of us have been talking about restructuring. Let us have the country restructured to what it was at independence so that every federating unit can run its affairs and determine its developmental goals. If we have that, nobody will be interested in having these national positions. People will want to develop their own area and every federating unit has its own potential to grow. There was a time when the East was clamouring for unitary system of government. Agunyi Ironsi got there and declared a unitary system of government and the North was up in arms and insurrected. But as soon as they took power, they went the same way that they said the East should not go. That is why we keep saying let’s go back to the drawing board so that each region can develop at its own pace.
Are you saying in effect that those who are clamouring for the Yoruba agenda under the present arrangement are right?
Nobody has agreed with the unitary system with anybody, the military imposed it on us. If we don’t make it possible for the people to come to the negotiating table to lay out their own terms, then there will always be agitations. So, anybody asking for a way out is right to do so. Let’s have negotiation, let people come around the table and discuss how they want to be a part of this country. That is not asking for too much.
If eventually the North decides to concede power to the South…
(Cuts in) The question of conceding power to the South does not arise. When Obasanjo was about finishing his tenure, the clamour was that power should move to the North. Yar’Adua came in, but unfortunately death aborted his tenure and, of course, by the provision of our constitution, Jonathan came in. But no sooner had he come in than the clamour started that the North should complete its tenure and eventually the country bowed and it went back to the North. In the same way, power should come back to the South. It is not the question of if they concede. It is not for them to concede. That is what the country demands of them.
In that regard, do you see the Yoruba presenting a consensus candidate?
When we get to the bridge, we will cross it. We don’t even know how many Yoruba are contesting as we speak. There is no point speculating.
At every forum now, President Buhari speaks about the legacy he wants to leave behind. What legacy do you think he would leave behind bearing in mind the record of his activities from the inception of his administration till date?
If the President will listen to ordinary Nigerians, his greatest legacy would have been leaving behind a united country, a unity that is voluntary and not a country united by the force of arms. And that can only happen when people have spoken to one another and agreed on a term of cohabitation. But he is walking away from it. Other than that, he is only leaving a keg of gunpowder. That is why people are saying that he could be last president of this country.