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We never had it so bad Lam
Adesina
For sure, Alhaji Lam
Adesina, former governor of Oyo State, does not shy away from controversy.
He recently called the bluff of the Afenifere leadership over its handling
of the AD crisis, but it was the state of the nation that really gives the
AD chieftain worries. In this interview with Assistant Politics Editor, Habib
Aruna, Adesina accuses the PDP government of drawing the nation backward
with its policies and why Nigerians should not trust Oshiomhole.
Excerpts:
On this
issue of national conference, how feasible is it and how do you see the
argument that there are already elected bodies that can do the
job?
Yes.
The President and the governors were all elected by their various
constituencies, but this national conference is going to comprise all
ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. Look, why are the people of the Niger
Delta fighting? Why are they fighting? Do they not have their
representatives at the National Assembly? Don�t they have various Houses
of Assembly? Why are they fighting? Yesterday, I was listening to this NTA
programme, a political programme, there was a phone in and somebody was
saying that they were urged to vote and they voted. And when things are
being shared, the leaders now say we have six geopolitical zones.
You
know, honestly, I did not realise that until that man made that point.
That they will like to share things based on geopolitical zones. What
about these ethnic nationalities, many of them have not been sensitised,
have you realised that yourself? So, the representatives at the National
Assembly do not mean the same thing as ethnic nationalities. That is why
it is very important that we should have a Sovereign National Conference.
That is one.
Two,
anybody who is going there, whether you are Ijaw, Itshekiri, you are
Yoruba, you are Hausa or Fulani, you are Igbo, we are one. You will go
there with the particular mandate of your people. And questions such as,
as Igbo, we have not been given our due share in the scheme of things in
Nigeria, what is our offence will be asked. They will be there to defend
themselves. We are Ijaw, we are Itshekiri, you are tapping our oil and
taking it away without giving us our dues, and then something will be
done. It is not a matter of anybody deciding for anybody. Nigeria cannot
break up.
The nation
is once again on the verge of a major strike going by the ultimatum given
to the Federal Government by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). What is
your reaction to this turn of events?
NLC
is a toothless bulldog. This is not the time for Oshiomhole to be crying
wolf. They�ve got the golden opportunity before. Ask him what has he done
with the opportunity he had before? If he says there must be a strike,
then you hear him saying he is going to Madrid or somewhere. Then later
you hear him say they have negotiated with the government. Oshiomhole
thinks he can deceive us in Nigeria. Let NLC not deceive Nigerians. People
who can fight are there, the civil society. Whatever they want to do let
them do it. The only thing they can do is talk and talk and talk. This is
just empty threat.
How in your
view do you think the AD convention would affect the party as a cohesive
force in the democratic process?
Definitely,
this is going to be the turning point, because we are going to get a
united AD, a brand new AD, devoid of rancour and controversy, an AD that
is determined to move Nigeria forward.
Some
Afenifere members are not at the convention, how do you think this would
affect the much sought unity of the party?
Am
I not Afenifere, am I not one of the founding fathers of Afenifere? Am I
not one of them, why are these people here? People that are not here are
Akure Afenifere. Where you don�t see me, I�m not boasting, either in AD or
in Afenifere, you know that those two groups are not existing, and I am
not boasting.
But the
fear is that this schism might signpost a breakage of the
group.
No!
We would not allow it to break. Those of us who founded it will not allow
it to break. We have the backing of our people. Those people who went to
Akure and said they are Afenifere, do they have the mandate of their
people? When you talk of Lagos State, who is having the mandate of the
people, is it not Tinubu? When you talk of Ogun State, is it not Osoba? Or
you talk of Oyo State, is it not myself? Or Osun State, is it not Bisi
Akande? That is the fact of the case. Who are the people?
They
are using our goodwill to exist and we are saying no, you can�t use it
again! It is Chief Obafemi Awolowo we follow, we don�t follow you. And we
have seen that your politics is an anti-Awolowo politics. So, if they want
to create a crisis, they should go ahead, we are ready for
them.
Are you
disturbed things appear not to be moving in the right direction in the
country? Some said that in fact it is getting worse?
As
you lay your bed so you lie on it. As a journalist, you know what is
happening in the land today. Number one, it was clear to anybody that PDP
rigged the 2003 elections in Nigeria. It was not a government elected by
Nigerians themselves. But it was not properly articulated by the Nigerian
press. I think you agree with that. Two, ever since the PDP assumed power,
either at the state level or at the federal level, we have not been
getting truly revealing articles from the newspapers.
Gone
were those days when you have the Areoye Oyebola, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo. But
we have not been getting that kind of critical analysis in this
dispensation. They were sworn in in 2003, end of May, and we are now in
2004 September. Is it not gradually showing that everything is grounding
to a halt? But how many people have been talking? But since we were
silent, those of us who have been talking in the past, there is nothing we
can do again.
Unless
there is an effective opposition in a democracy, that democracy will not
work for the people. Look at the country today, they have not got any
opposition, constructive opposition. But when they have silenced us, there
is nothing we can do. But I do believe that at the end of the day, the
people will react.
Nigeria
will be 44 in a few hours time. People believe that our hopes in 1960 have
turned to despair. As one of the leaders, do you feel guilty that things
have not turned out as expected?
I
just came into the leadership position between 1999 and 2003, and the four
years I spent in office, I do not think I destroyed anything. I
contributed to the development of Oyo State. So, I should not be regarded
as part of those who spoilt Nigeria. At independence, I was already out of
secondary school, and everything was good. Our leaders promised. And I
think Nigeria was to be great at independence until the soldiers came, and
there began the problems. That is the problem we are having up till today.
We
are in serious foreign debt. We got the money to pay the debt; we didn�t
pay. We are in serious unemployment problem, over 85 per cent of Nigerians
are not employed in Nigeria today. Is that not true? The various
facilities that should be put in place are not there for the people. Then
coupled with that you add more price to fuel.
And
as much as you do that, the commuter will react, the commercial vehicle
owners will increase the transport fare, and from there, everything will
be in disorder. Well, the long and short of the whole thing is that
Nigeria has never had it so bad.
And
Nigerians are suffering. There is nothing to celebrate at 44. Unless you
want to celebrate unemployment, poverty, hunger, squalour, corruption,
there is nothing again. My message is that all Nigerians should be full of
prayers so that God almighty will touch the minds of our leaders that they
will do the wills of the people.
But it was
reported that you have been suspended by the AD in Oyo State.
All these
419 politicians, you know, we have 419 politicians, they want to get a
name. I am not ready to join issues with them or the PDP. Because they
cannot go to their wards let alone their local governments. That is part
of the game. And they call themselves AD stakeholders. I belong to AD. AD
original, real AD; so since you are not a member of AD stakeholders, how
do you want to expel me? I belong to the real AD. You know, if you are a
stakeholder, if I belong to your group, it is then you can expel me. I
belong to real AD. I don�t belong to stakeholders, so what do you want to
expel me for.
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