BY OMONIYI SALAUDEEN
Chief Ayo Adebanjo is one of the apologists of former President Goodluck Jonathan who openly campaigned for his reelection bid during the last general elections. In his assessment of the state of the economy of the nation, he declared the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led administration as clueless and unprepared for the onerous task of governance in this interview. Excerpts:
This is the beginning of a new budget year when oil revenue is dwindling. What alternative source of financing should the government be looking at now?
My dear, the government is there to rule, I am here to be satisfied that they get their mandate right. They must have had the programme of how to do things right before they got to the office. So, it is not for me to suggest what to do to them, it is for me to see that their promises are fulfilled. They should have done their feasibility before they came to power. All of us know that the situation in the country is not very good.
At the same time, those in power now also knew what went wrong with the past government, which is what they are there to rectify. So, this is not the time for excuses. They have to prove to us that they have better idea of governance than the previous government. Yes, the situation is bad, solution is what we need. President Barack Obama did not look for the fault of George Bush to get to the office. He met some problems and he rectified them. That is what All Progressive Congress (APC)-led government should do. This is not the time for lamentation or setting up of committee on what the government should. It confirms the cluelessness of this government. When they were campaigning, they only agreed on how to send away Jonathan. Now, Jonathan has gone. What next? This time around, excuse is not going to work.
You recall in the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the revenue accruing to the western region was largely from cocoa production. Is there a way to regain that glorious era?
How can you regain the glorious era when they have spoiled the system? Since the last effort made by the former Minister of Agricultural, Prof Akinwumi Adesina, under the Jonathan administration, have you heard anything about the policy of this government on agriculture? This is the background to the present position we have found ourselves. The present situation didn’t meet us unaware. Any fast thinking politician would have seen it coming. They must give us the idea of what to do to rectify the situation and put the experts to implement the idea. Is it necessary that MD of IMF should come down to advise them on how to increase taxation? When Chief Awolowo was going to do free education and we knew we hadn’t got the money, we introduced capitation tax, we introduced lottery without asking the colonial government to tell us what to do. That shows a government that has plan and how to get there. The APC as a party is only good in criticizing government of the day without having a solution.
Are you insinuating that the IMF MD came on the invitation of the Federal Government?
No, I am not saying so. But the Minister of Finance said IMF came to advise them on how to increase tax and how to find a way of ameliorating the financial position of the government. What I am saying is that they don’t need the IMF to tell them on what to do. All the Ministers appointed, there is no programme given to them.
In other words, you are saying that the situation would have been different if Jonathan had remained in government.
That is another matter. I am not a PDP man. And I don’t forget, my support for Jonathan had nothing to do with the administration but restructuring of the country. I strongly believe that the basic problem of this country is restructuring.
If we restructure the country, a lot of problems facing us now will be minimized. So, don’t connect me with Jonathan. It is that angle of Jonathan’s policy that attracted me to his government which the present administration is not willing to look into at all, which is fundamental to the stability of this country. Until we solve the national question, we can’t get peace in this country. That is my stand.
Your theory is suggesting a link between restructuring and agitation for self determination. Isn’t it?
Everybody wants autonomy. If there is restructuring and autonomy in the regions, all these problems will be located to the areas belonging to them. Every problem will be localized. Take the issue of police, how can you ask a Yoruba man to be a police officer in Enugu? How can you ask an Enugu man to go to Zamfara? Does he understand their language? The progress the army has made on Boko Haram is because they involved the local people. The governors are just Security Officers of their states by name; they don’t have the power to control the police. We have gone to root cause of our problems and we have solved them at the confab. Seek ye political solution, all other things will be given on to us. We are talking of corruption today because there is too much money at the centre. And the confab had addressed all that through devolution of power. The question of presidential election had been carefully debated and all delegates agreed on rotational presidency. Every region knows when it will be its turn to rule the country. Fight to the finish attitude to election cannot help us.
To what extent can those agitating for Biafra go in their quest for self determination?
It is a small thing now. What we are saying is, ‘don’t let it expand. That is why we called everybody together at the confab and trashed out all these questions. If you go into all the recommendations of the confab, you will see the solution to all these things there. The present day politicians don’t understand the root cause of our problems. Those in authority should find a way to keep the troublemakers quiet.
Just some couple of days ago, the former Acting national Chairman of PDP, Haliru Bello and the party’ Spokesperson, Olisah Metu, were arrested by the EFCC on allegations of corruption. What do you make of the anti-corruption crusade of this present government?
This is the style of the administration. They are doing the right thing the wrong way in my view. All these people might be guilty.
But can’t he balance it up by arresting from both sides of the political divides or he is saying all people in APC are angels? You may say it is past government they are probing, but those who ruled the country in the last administration are also in his cabinet now. Is he saying all the PDP members who joined the APC have become saints? He said 16 years of PDP rule brought us to this position, but many of the people in his cabinet werev with the PDP until three years ago. So, their joining the APC has purified them? I am not saying they shouldn’t arrest them, but perception is very important. You and I know some of the corrupt people in APC. Let them take one or two among them to give some sense of balancing. The impression now is that he is deliberately making effort to ruin the other party. They may have just cause to arrest all these people, but we are in a political society. Certainly, you and I know that there are corrupt people among their leading members.
I don’t know because I don’t have the facts.
Are you telling me that they are all saints?
I am not in a position to pass judgment.
What I am saying is that there are corrupt people in PDP just as there are in APC. If that were so, then he should do the balancing. You can’t prosecute them at the same time, but don’t do the prosecution on one side. The summary of my submission is to have a balanced the prosecution. Don’t give an impression that you are against one side. Let us see that you are doing holistic prosecution, not persecution.
President Buhari has said some corrupt past leaders have returned their looted funds, but their names are not yet made public. Are you in support of those calling for their pardon since they have admitted guilt and returned their loots?
That is why I said it is the style of this government. If there are looters, we want their punishment to be known to everybody to serve as deterrent to others. Surely, it is true that some people have returned their looted funds. In fact, those we thought are cleans, we have now seen that they are not clean. But they should publish their names. If Ayo Adebanjo is involved, put his name there. Clean the Augean stable in a way that is procedurally correct under the rule of law. You don’t use military tactics to clean corruption in a democratic society. The question of a court giving a ruling and you disobeying it is not right.
This is one of the reasons I accused Buhari of being a dictator, who does not believe in the rule of law. When he was military head of state, he applied the law of murder retroactively in the execution of an accused person. And I used it to campaign against him during the last election and people said he won’t do that under a democratic government.
Now, what is happening? The constitution says everybody is regarded as innocent until found guilty. The trial on the newspaper is not right.
All investigations should have been thoroughly done before they were arrested. After arrest, go to prosecution. You don’t arrest and then begin to do investigation. That is what they are doing now. Is that the rule of law? If government continues to disobey court order, we are looking for anarchy.
Would you say the government has achieved its target to end Boko Haram insurgency by December 2015?
As far as Boko Haram is concerned, the government has not done badly. This sporadic action they are doing should be expected. I give them credit where credit is due.
What is the way to achieving a stable polity?
The bottom line is restructuring. That is the way forward. And it has been resolved at the conference. Let Buhari do it now. All this time we have been talking about the implementation of the confab, I have not heard any APC person say this is what is wrong with the recommendation. And you recall that before this time, the whole country agreed that the constitution must be redrawn.
In fact, the late FRA Williams described the constitution as a fraudulent document. Constitutional confab recommendation is the peaceful way to the unity of this country. Those of us who love Buhari have been telling him what should be done.