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 Daily Independent Online.
* Friday, July 23, 2004.
I
don’t regret serving under Abacha— Jakande
In your days as Lagos State
chief executive, you refused to live in the Governors’ Lodge. You refused
to use an official car. These remain some of the legacies left behind by
those of you who served in the Second Republic. These days what we read
in the newspapers are allegations of public office holders, particularly
governors, converting public funds into private use, carting away money
and dumping them in foreign accounts. What do you think is responsible for this change in
societal values?
In
one respect I feel sorry for them. In another respect I’m angry with
them. I’m angry with all those who do that because I see it as an act of
wickedness to convert public funds available to you into private use,
thereby depriving the people of the use to which these funds should be
used, punishing them in the process. The money the country has belongs to
the people. Priority must therefore be providing services to the people.
I can assure you that if every governor believes and acts accordingly,
you won’t have money to take abroad. In fact, the money won’t be enough.
To that extent I’m angry with them.
The ordinary Nigerian should not be made to suffer.
On the
other hand, I pity them because at the end of the day when the time comes
for them to die, they cannot take the smallest item to heaven. I told
someone recently, that if these fellows could tell me that there is a
place in heaven where the money that they are amassing now could be
stored so that when they die they would have money to spend, then I
congratulate them for their foresight. But whether you build 10 or 20
houses, you have money in all the banks, the day that God requires you,
you are gone. What is the use of amassing wealth then?
The
minister of finance once said that five days after the Federation Account
has been disbursed, the dollar rate rises because some governors are
siphoning the money away. I pity them because they will only destroy
their own name forever.
Now I can
tell you that it is very, very rewarding to serve the people you’re
governing. When you serve them, you are planting a tree that would never die.
When you serve them diligently, your name remains forever and the good
you have done for them they will never forget long after you are dead.
And so it is far better, if you had money, use it to build schools and
hospitals. They will remain forever. But if you send the money to
Switzerland, that money would be used to develop their economy. All you
would see are bank balances.
I’m very
grateful to God for giving me this foresight. I also thank Him for making
me an instrument of change and development. I can never thank God enough. So many years after I
had left office I still enjoy the goodwill of being a former governor.
The other
day, I was at the Airport travelling to Abuja when somebody I had never
met before; somebody from the South Eastern part of the country, came
over to me and offered to pay for my flight. When we got to Abuja, he
offered to give me a lift in his car to my hotel. When we got to the
hotel, he paid for my accommodation and offered to give me lunch. It was
while we were taking our lunch that he told me why he did all these. He
introduced himself as an executive director in one of the banks and said
but for the free education programmed of my government, he probably would
have ended up being a tout. He said but for that programme, he would
never have gone to school.
What can
anybody say to that? That is the joy of serving the people. I was so
moved by the gesture that I would never forget it. You can never quantify
the fulfilment I had that day in terms of money. You cannot buy it even
with millions of naira. And I get this type of treatment all over the
country, wherever I go to. It is therefore more rewarding, to me, to use
this money to serve the people than to hide it somewhere in a bid to use
the money for yourself.
Why are you in the All Nigeria
Peoples’ Party (ANPP) when most of your colleagues in the Awolowo
Political School are in the Alliance for Democracy (AD)? I’ve asked the
AD Chairman in Lagos State, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, the same question
when during an interview he nostalgically referred to you as his
leader. He said during the
formation of political parties in 1998, when other delegates moved from
APP to AD, you refused to move with them. Why did you not move with them?
The
AD was a child of intrigue. What happened was this: We in Lagos State
were part of the Peoples Consultative Forum (PCF) that decided to join
the APP. Remember we had only PDP (the People’s Democratic Party) and APP
then. But then the PCF went out of the convention and launched a new
party. It was formed in a hotel room, just on the eve of party
registration. The party did not organise any convention. You were not
supposed to hold your convention in an hotel. That party, the AD, did not
fulfil the law. INEC just registered it to avoid noise making. That was
how they formed the AD. I believe that the AD was formed because I was at
that convention.
You mean the AD was formed in
reaction to your person, your presence at the convention? Why?
Yes.
It was in reaction to my presence. They were not expecting me to come.
But they found that I was there, the PCF withdrew, went to their hotel to
form the AD. That was what happened.
Well, since you have touched
on the bitter differences between you and your other colleagues at this
time, may be I should ask this question now. Before you served in the
General Sani Abacha Administration, you were perhaps the most popular
political figure in the South West after Awolowo. When you were asked to
resign from that government by NADECO (National Democratic Coallition),
why did you not resign?
First
of all let me say that I never applied to Abacha for office. I didn’t
even intend to serve. My expectation was that if MKO Abiola had formed
the government I would have recommended some names in Lagos to him for
appointment. But when the Abacha group eventually took over, General
Oladipo Diya invited me and told me that they would like me to join the
government. The first
question I asked him was, why don’t you hand over to Abiola? He said all
members of the group were admirers and supporters of Abiola. He said
there was however a strong opinion against Abiola, and that if government
was handed over to him straight away, that group might foment trouble and
they didn’t want that. He said what they planned to do was to organise a
conference that would decide the future of the country. I didn’t give him
my word. I said I would think about it.
When I got
home, the first thing I did was to telephone Chief Adekunle Ajasin. Then
on Thursday, Chief MKO Abiola accompanied by Bola Tinubu came to my
house. Abiola said he had come to beg me to join the Abacha
administration. My reply was, MKO, what about June 12? He said: “This is
June 12” He then added there was going to be a conference that would zone
the country. And since the North has had its own share, it would be the
turn of the West. Abiola even said there could be elections but he was
sure no one would oppose him.
My second
question to Abiola was when would these people leave office? And he said
it wouldn’t be long; something like nine months or a year. My next
question was: Do you trust them? And Abiola said absolutely. Abiola then
told me that the ministry they were going to give me was Works and
Housing. Even at this point, I didn’t say yes or no.
Now, here
was the candidate and chieftain of the party urging me to join the Abacha
administration. That was not all. The next day, that was a Friday,
members of the National Missionary of Ansar-Ud-Deen, to which I belong,
about 10 of them, came to pray here. They said Abiola had told them that
I had refused to join the Abacha government and that they had come to
convince me to join the government. The following Sunday when I reported
to my political group that meets in my house here every Sunday, members
also concluded that I should join the government. That was the point at which I
just felt I had no alternative. I told myself that this must be a divine
call. It was the following day, which was Monday, that I contacted Diya
to tell him I had accepted to serve in the new government.
Looking back now, do you have
any regrets serving that government?
I
think it was the best thing for me to do at that time. The economy was
bad. The country was in confusion. You see, if things got worse, people
would say but they called you to come and help but you declined. I felt
God has a purpose for asking me to join that government and I’m very glad
that I did. In the first place, as soon as the cabinet was announced,
tension in the country went down. Secondly, the economy was bad. That
team improved the economy. We met a deficit budget. We turned it to
surplus budget. The foreign exchange rate was left floating just as we
have now. But we fixed the foreign exchange rate at N22 to the dollar.
And that helped the system. Now we pay around N140 for that same dollar.
On the day
we had our first meeting, Abacha appointed me to be chairman of the
Economic Committee of Government. The Minister of Finance was Kalu Idika
Kalu and he too was very sound. Rimi was there. He was in charge of
telecommunications. There was Adamu Ciroma, Olu Onagoruwa, Ebenezer
Babatope, and Mrs Osomo. It was a very formidable team. I believe there
was a purpose why God wanted me to be part of that team.
Then, I
initiated a housing programme, the National Housing Programme, with the
aim of constructing 121,000 houses. Abacha liked it and supported me and
we started it. In a short time, we built 38,000 houses and several people
benefited. Several got contracts. Several got houses. And the prices of
the houses were low; some N200,000, others N300,000. All that was within
the period of 14 months, from December 1993.
Unfortunately,
in February 1995, that cabinet was dissolved. Unfortunately, those who
took over did not follow what we had put down. But I can say in all
honesty that in the 14 months I spent in the Abacha administration, this
country had a good federal
government ever. Now, what happened after we left government, I don’t
know. But I can testify that in the first phase of Abacha administration,
for those 14 months, Nigeria had the best possible federal government.
The bone of contention still
remains that when NADECO asked you to leave that government, why did you
refuse?
First
of all, let me say that NADECO didn’t ask me to pull out. But there was a
meeting of some Yoruba leaders in Ibadan. I was not invited. All of us in
government were not invited. But I read in the papers that they passed a
resolution that all Yoruba in government should resign and come home.
Now, no reasons were given and nobody told us what we would be doing at
home. I was surprised that any group of Yoruba leaders could take that
decision. It was a thoughtless and dangerous resolution. In the first
place, if it were those in government that you wanted to change, there
would be no problem since the Yoruba would still be in government. But if you ask the Yoruba to pull
out of the Federal Government, what are you saying? Are you saying that
they are pulling out of the federation? If so, where would it end? I
would not put myself in a position where we would say the Yoruba are no
longer in government. That would be a great disservice to the Yoruba.
Because what it meant is that the Yoruba would set themselves against the
rest of the country. June 12 was not a Yoruba issue. It was a great
national issue. June 12 was a victory for the progressives in the
country. I would not be a part of those who want to reduce such a great
issue to a tribal one.
But when it became clear that
General Sani Abacha was only interested in perpetuating himself in
government, why did you continue to serve under him?
First
of all, it was not Abacha government that annulled June 12. It was
Babangida’s government. Now, the Abacha government came to power with the
active support of Abiola himself. As I told you, Abiola himself told me
‘this is my government’.
Having said
that, I must also say that Abiola was being misled into taking some wrong
decisions without consulting those of us in government to protect his
interest. For instance, we woke up one day to hear that he had declared
himself president. That was at Epetedo area of Lagos. How could you have
declared yourself president when there was a head of state in office? Despite the fact that the Police
declared him wanted, the government didn’t really want to arrest him but
to caution him. Then he announced that he was going to appear I think at
Campos Square. It was at this stage that he was arrested. Of course, what
do you expect the police to do?
To be quite
frankly with you, I was very angry with him. Nothing could have been more
thoughtless. I hate to go into all this again. I think it was those who
pushed Abiola into doing these who should be blamed for his misfortune.
There were some people who were profiting from it all. I don’t think any
calculating person would have told Abiola to go and declare himself
president. No government would allow it to happen. It was an unwise and
unfortunate thing to do.
What in your opinion could
have been the solution to the June 12 issue?
There
was going to be a National Conference. Abiola should have been a member
of that conference and that conference should have taken a decision that
the conference wants Abiola for President. Abacha and his team would have
been put in a position they couldn’t resist. That was the best thing to
do in the circumstance. But see what we got at the end of the day?
As an Awoist, why this sharp
difference between you and your other associates? For instance, you were
a foundation member of Afenifere, why did you stop attending its meetings?
Bola
Ige and myself created this Afenifere we have today with some younger
people. We were doing very well until we had this crisis. That was when
they departed from what I would call the Awoist approach to conflict
resolution. NADECO was formed shortly after and all we were hearing was
that the Yoruba wanted to break away. That was never the Afenifere line.
Basically,
people of violent intentions hijacked Afenifere. That was when I decided
not to be part of it.
You mean Afenifere led by the late
Pa Ajasin was a violent organisation?
Well,
Papa to the end of his life was a peace-loving person. He never believed
in violence. But I can assure you that Afenifere lost focus at a point.
If they had kept to our original intention, all of us would have been
together. Our intention was essentially to bring together the Awoist
family and try to promote the ideals of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
How do you think the differences
between you and these people can be resolved?
What
we need to do is to go back to basics. Let us know our principles, goals
and convictions. Then let us bring Awoism to the fore. Let us propagate
all those things that Awolowo stood for. Let us also insist that our
governments implement them.
I’m a
member of the Yoruba Council of Elders. I think YCE can do a lot by
bringing the various groups under one umbrella. There could be
differences of opinion and so on, but the common goal of serving our people
must be there.
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