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‘Abiola’s brother still
campaigns for IBB’
Prof. Edward Adedeji is a Business
Administration lecturer at Covenant University, Ogun State. At present, he is the co-ordinator
of Vision 2007, the campaign
machinery for former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida. At an inerview with our correspondent,
TOPE OJO, he spoke about the plans of the group to capture the
South-West for IBB. He also denied
reports that Mubashiru Abiola, younger brother of the late MKO Abiola, had
dumped the campaign group following the condemnation that trailed his
membership. Excerpts:
You are one of the co-ordinators of the campaigns
for General Ibrahim bangida in his bid to become president in 2007, what informed your decision?
The people that have come out are all fine men and I
believe they will all do well. But again, when you compare these other people
with IBB, I believe IBB is the one that can do a better job. He is an
experienced administrator, he ran this country for eight years. He’s done
well and he’s made mistakes. I think with the past experience, his next
outing will be an improvement.
Do you think he is powerful enough to displace
Atiku considering the support Atiku is getting from members of the Peoples
Democratic Movement?
PDM is a very strong group. PDM is PDP. Yes, Atiku
has built PDM with Yar’Adua and the people are loyal. It’s not
going to be easy for IBB if they are coming out from the same party because IBB
has his own structure on ground too.
I don’t believe he will give up what he has built for so many
years. And now, if it becomes competition between who gets the PDP ticket, I
think, it’s going to be a narrow defeat.
A narrow defeat in whose favour?
A narrow defeat in IBB’s favour
What do you think IBB is coming back to do
bearing in mind that he ruled this country for eight years?
IBB is coming to re-write history. When you look at the time he ruled this
country, he did wonderfully well. Most of the economic policies adopted today
emanated from IBB. He started Structural Adjustment Programme. The problem with SAP was that the
implementation at the it was introduced was probably not proper. And the reason
for that is that, the pool where he chose managers were so narrow as opposed to
what is obtainable today. He had to use many of the military administrators
then.
Before I forget, people blame the problem with this
economy on SAP. What people don’t understand is that, people were not
ready for it then because Nigeria was under socialist system and IBB was
transforming it into a system which will encourage transition to a democratic
system. So many people were
against it, but IBB went on with his reform and IMF, World Bank, and others
started looking towards Nigeria. But the people that came in after him did not
follow the SAP policies up. For a
program to be strong, there has to be follow up.
What exactly is he coming to do about SAP now?
If you look at what Mr. President is doing, it is
part of SAP. He is reforming SAP. That was what I was saying originally. If
Obasanjo came immediately after IBB, probably SAP would be stronger than it is
today. Mr President has gone back to SAP; he is the new builder now. So whoever
comes after him should continue with the same policy. If IBB comes in, he is
going to look at the reform programmes of Mr. President and strengthen them
where they are weak.
Looking at the South-West factor. How do you intend to wipe out memories
of the annulments of June 12, 1993 election and get enough support for IBB?
I don’t think Nigerians are stupid. Nigerians
are educated people. When things
happen everybody gets mad. But you cannot keep getting annoyed. Things would
get worse.
June 12 is unfortunate. It happened and I’m
sure IBB has spoken about it before, so I don’t have to go through that
again. My understanding was that he wasn’t the only one that did it. He
had people assisting him then and being the leader he had to take the blame.
I’m sure he will deal with it. But the Yoruba
must begin to understand something in this country. I want us to look at ourselves as a people and find survival
for ourselves. Yes, we will offend ourselves, but we must try and forgive,
because God forgives us. Who are we not to forgive ourselves.
Unfortunately, people are using June 12 as an
instrument for political gains. After Mr. President won the election, he took
people that were part of June 12 struggle to serve in his administration. If
June 12 was that bad, they shouldn’t have allowed their daughters serve
as special assistants.
Some are using June 12 to become senators,
governors, legislators whereas the people at the grassroots that died for June
12 have not moved an inch. They are still where they are;
I’ll just say, let’s leave June 12 alone.
Yoruba people should come together. Come 2007, a Yoruba man will not beome
president. Probably in the next 16 years we will not be president. Why
don’t we sit down and see what we can get from the next president.
How do you intend to, through your campaign,
erase the bad memories of June 12 from the minds of the people.
I wish I were God. I can only assist people but I
cannot overcome. If I offend you and I say I’m sorry, you’ll say I
accept. But you’ll never forget what I did. June 12 is just like that.
People lost loved ones and they can’t forget. No. You can only forgive.
But IBB has not really come out to say, this is
why he did this and that he’s sorry?
He did say something like: during my regime, I did some good things and I’ve done
bad things. I as IBB, I claim the good and I claim the bad. He said that. If he
said that, you might as well interprete it either way. He has claimed the bad
ones too. On the basis of that, we
are going to go to the people and try to show them why they should vote for
him. It is in the interest of their own family, improvement in
the economic situation of the future, reduction of unemployment etc.
So, what are you doing to help Yoruba’s
realise this?
I am a member of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE).
This is one of the things we do. I spoke to Baba Alayande, the chairman of YCE and
the new secretary. We are coming together to fight for the Yoruba cause. If we
are not in the presidency in 2007, we should be bringing our people together so
that we can look at what will happen in the future. We must take care of
ourselves for the next 16 years.
What plans do you have for the South-East and
the South-East factor? How do you intend to bring them to support IBB?
You see, this is what has come with zoning. I have
never supported zoning. I’m not saying they cannot produce the president.
In fact, they can even produce the best president. Now, when you begin to
rotate the presidency, I think that is dangerous for Nigeria. We are playing
with a time bomb here and that bomb will explode one day. It is better we
dismantle that bomb before it
explodes. They should do away with zoning and let the best man rule the
country. If the best man comes from the North, let him rule; If he is from the East of South, so be
it. let everyman have the right. If you are so good, come out and convince the
people. Let people vote for you. Why must you want to get to the presidency
because it is your turn. It should not be.
If zoning is not done away with, it is a time bomb.
What will happen and which is happening already is that every other zone will
start complaining of marginalisation.
Mubasiru Abiola is reported to have withdrawn
from the IBB camp. Is it true?
Absolutely untrue. He is still a patron of the camp.
Again, this is democracy and people write what they
want. I know this man. I’ve
worked with him. I see him almost
every week. He has never said to me, Prof. I am withdrawing. As I speak to you,
he is still an active member.
The bid to capture the South-West has polarised
Afenifere.
And this group is important if anything meaningful is to be done to get
Yoruba’s vote for IBB come 2007. What are you doing about this?
Let me start first by saying we have to start mending
fences. In any group of people, everybody cannot see things the same way as
others. So, that is what is happening
in Afenifere. In Afenifere, we have a lot of intelligent
people and they cannot all think one way. There is bound to be factions.
As I speak to you, even if Afenifere comes together today, there is
still going to be factions. The only thing is that we will have to let the
factions answer if their decision is helping the Yoruba as a whole. I am Afenifere too, even though I’m
PDP. We within Afenifere must first get our acts together.
We must try to understand each other. We must understand that we cannot have
two leaders at the same time. Whoever that is leading, we should rally round
the person and support him. Lets mend our fences.
IBB cannot do anything about it. The people should
solve their own problems, then he will seek their support. If he goes into them
now, he will be meddling in their affairs.
As the coordinator of Ogun State for IBB, I’m
going to work with other states chairmen, that is, Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Ondo and
Ekiti states and work towards getting Afenifere to support us.
How much support does he have so far in terms
of statistics, and in terms of who is who in the political arena?
When he flagged off IBB Vision 2007 off in Ogun State
on July 31 this year, and even during my trips in buses just to feel
people’s pulse, we realised that out of 10 people, eight would say we are
waiting for IBB. Two would say No,
No, No. And when I ask why,
they’ll say ‘the guy is good but for June 12.’ It is like
that in all the states of the South-West.
Under what party is he coming out from?
I don’t know. Right now, I know it is PDP.
Is there any possibility he could change?
I don’t know
How do you source funds for this project
Right now, I am putting in my money. And members of the
Vision put in their money. If we have any major activity, we tell the state
executive to collect certain amount and we go to some good guys who give us
money. IBB has not put a kobo in.
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