Buhari is Nigeria’s problem – Ayo Adebanjo

ELDER statesman and one of the leading voices in the South
West zone, Chief Ayo Adebanjo is afraid that Nigeria may
break up if she is not restructured soon. He also expresses
doubts on the possibility of holding the 2019 general elections
under the nation’s present structure. In this interview with
WILLY EYA, he was in his elements and spoke on various
national issues.
What are your reflections in the New Year with regards to
Nigeria? With what happened in 2017, should Nigerians
embrace 2018 with hope for a better life especially in view of
the fact that this is a year before another general elections in
the country?
As far as I am concerned, President Buhari is the problem of
Nigeria. Any sincere leader that wants this country to stay in
peace and ignores the question of restructuring, we should
write him off. It means that such a leader does not either
understand the problem of the country or he does not love the
country. There cannot be development of any nature in the
country without restructuring. Nobody should doubt that. The
South and Middle Belt will not continue in peace under this
obnoxious constitution and until the national question is
settled, nobody should talk about a peaceful co-existence.
And the fact that the Head of State who is supposed to be the
president of all does not appreciate that fact means he is the
problem of Nigeria.
But it is not as if President Buhari has completely shut the
door against restructuring. If I understand him, what he is
saying is that the right process of restructuring the nation
should be followed. Is that position the same as shutting the
door against restructuring?
What is the right process; it is just because we are
approaching another election. If restructuring is not done
before the election, forget it. They will rig the election under
the present system and Nigerians would continue to suffer if
the system is not restructured. How many times has he
promised to do it before an election? He promised it in 2007;
he promised it in 2011 and he promised it in 2015, but what
has he done. He is not reliable again; do not let anybody
deceive you. We are in a country where the Fulani herdsmen
are killing, raping women and burning people’s houses all over
the country. Everybody has been complaining about that and
you now deliver a New Year speech and you did not make any
reference to it, about the solution to the problem. The people
are carrying arms openly against the law of the country. You
close your eyes and when some people complain, you send
military helicopters to destroy them. Is that the way the
president of the country should behave? And people are now
saying give us a constitution that would give us freedom and
that would allow every state to develop at its own pace, you
say no. We say let us go back to the constitution that was
handed over to us, you say no. Anybody still trusting Buhari is
still deceiving himself. The recent broadcast really exposed
Buhari that he really wants to rule Nigeria by force. And
because he has all the instruments of his position, all the
security officers are Muslims. But as I said, they believe in all
these forces and all that but we believe in God and God is not
a supporter of anybody who does not believe in justice.
The restructuring you are talking about, do you think it is
realistic now considering that it is barely one year to another
general elections?
My dear, what is sacrosanct about the 2019 general elections
if there is no peace? If it requires postponing that election to
have peace in Nigeria, so be it. You want to conduct the
election and the country would tear to pieces. The man is not
made for the law, rather the law is made for man. Anything
you can do to bring peace in the country, you should do it
even if it means postponing the general elections. You want to
go on and do the elections and the country would go into
pieces. What is the sense about that when everybody is
opposed to what you are doing; you are saying there is going
to be Nigeria after the election. That is the realistic view. If
President Buhari loves the country, why is it that across the
country, everybody is talking about restructuring except
himself? Does it mean you are seeing everybody as a fool? As
far as I am concerned, if it requires postponing the election to
put the country in a stable condition and to get Nigerians
together, it is worth it. And all the whole talk about
constitutional impediments to amending the law does not
mean anything be- cause we made the law. Make the
provision for the amendment for the unity and peace of the
country. We want to stay together and there is no doubt about
that, but we cannot stay together where a section of the
country continues to oppress others. That is impossible and
that is just the matter. If Buhari is sincere and loves the
country, he should restructure the country and when
everybody is satisfied, we can then go to the election.
Why do you think that the All Progressives Congress(APC) is
reneging on the is- sue of restructuring after it took over
power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015?
Are you asking me or you should ask them. Let the truth be
said; they are not reliable. President Buhari’s integrity is
diminishing day by day. Anybody saying anything to the
contrary is just playing to the gallery. If they want government
appointment, they would be saying he is doing this and that.
That New Year broadcast has exposed Buhari more than
anything else and it is a pity for those around him. They are a
big disappointment to Nigeria. How can anybody in this
country with all we went through in Nigeria last year about
restructuring, come and talk about it in the flippant manner
that he did as if he was not in this country. That is why I am
saying that restructuring is not the problem; Buhari is the
problem.
Recently, President Buhari released a list of Board
appointments including some dead people. Since the
announcement, many are questioning the capacity of those in
the APC-led government. What is your take on the
development?
When I said Buhari has lost integrity, those are the kind of
things I am talking about. He is no longer trustworthy. How can
a government give out a list of people including dead ones? Is
it by negligence, is it natural or what? How do you explain
that? A government of a country before it sends out even an
ordinary letter, somebody has to vet it. If they draft a memo,
before you sign it, don’t you read it? That is the right thing.
As a leader in the South West geo-polit- ical zone, what do
you think is the kind of politics the Yoruba should play ahead
of the 2019 general elections?
My dear, I have a single agenda for 2019.
Anybody or politician in this country who does not talk about
restructuring is talking bunkum. We need to restructure and
get up. Any other thing is just begging the question.
What is your view on the $1 billion facility that the Federal
Government is seeking from the Excess Crude Account to
tackle insurgency in the North East of the country?
That shows you that the integrity of Buhari is waning; it is for
asking for $1billion to fight insurgency that you said you had
won about one year ago. Government said it had won the war
and you said you want to mop up and you say you need $1
billion. They want to use the money for the general elections
and they should not try to deceive anybody. We are no babies
in Nigeria at all. And they have not even agreed on it; the
governors said they want to use it to fight Boko Haram but the
Vice President said they want to use it for Boko Haram and
other security issues in the country. They want to use the
money for election and they should not try to deceive anybody.
They are giving all sorts of excuses. Is that a government? A
government that declares somebody wanted and allowed the
Attorney General to go after somebody declared wanted! What
do you think about that? You declared the man wanted for
corruption and the Director of Security Services now said he
had booked the Attorney General to go and meet the fugitive
offender under President Buhari who has zero tolerance for
corruption!. That is the man who is ruling us. What I said now
is known to you; is it a secret. How do you reconcile that? You
said somebody is wanted and he is a criminal but your
officials now look after him and meet him with the approval of
the security people. Then how secure are we because under
the same government, two security forces engaged each other
in public. Is that a government? Does that show that Buhari is
in control? Who appoints the chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); who appoints members
of the State Security? These are the questions you should be
asking and you should help us get out of this quagmire.
You sound so critical of President Buhari’s administration but
so many Nigerians are already rooting for his comeback in
2019. Does it not appear to you that he will be re-elected in
the next general elections?
My dear, do not believe that. These are all staged statements;
these are organized and sponsored statements they say to be
politically correct.
Many agree that Nigeria is not progress- ing 57 years after
independence and it is ob- vious that the world is not waiting
for us to catch up with its pace. Are we going to con- tinue
like this; what is really the problem?
Are you in Nigeria or in America? You are part of the problem.
In other climes, from his actions, Buhari should not have been
there six months ago on the question of the activities of the
Fulani herdsmen. The public could have risen against him.
These people are carrying arms unlawfully, killing, raping and
doing all sorts of things and not a word from the Head of
State and he said he is the president of the country? And what
are you saying; are you not part of the problem?
So, at this seeming crossroad in Nigeria, what is your advice
to the people?
My advice to Nigerians now is that whether you are of the PDP
or APC, whether the Sun or the Moon, Punch or anything, rise
up and tell Buhari to restructure the country because any other
way, you are looking for trouble without restructuring the
country. If any leader is saying look any other way, you have to
know that the leader is the problem of the country. If you
restructure the country, there would be no Biafra, IPOB,
Oduduwa Republic. The problem is that we have failed to
make people stay in Nigeria on an agreeable condition.
Do you have any fears about Nigeria’s future?
My fear is that the country would break up if we do not
restructure Nigeria. I have no doubt about that in my mind.
President Buhari is deceiving himself if he believes that he can
force unity on this country. It would not work. He may believe
in all these forces, but we in the South believe in God and God
is not one of in- justice. God would fight for us.