AYO ADEBANJO is an elder statesman and leader of Afenifere as well as Southern Middle-Belt Forum. In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he says the future of Nigeria is bleak if urgent steps are not taken to restructure it. He also assesses the 2019 general elections, among other issues in the polity. Excerpts:
How do you react to the emerging of Ayo Fasanmi-led faction of Afenifere?
They are people with questionable characters; they are rebels. We have said it before and they could not refute it. All they are doing is because we have this Southern and Middle-belt leaders gathering and they see that we are succeeding and so they gathered themselves together to support Buhari.
All this time we have been issuing press releases and talking about issues, where have they been? They called a rally in Ibadan, what was the outcome?
Why did they lose Oyo State which is the seat of the Yoruba land? They also lost the governorship position; even the governor of the state lost his Senatorial election bid. These people are being sponsored by Bola Tinubu.
They lost Oyo state, it is an indication of their rejection. We went to Oyo and talked to our people not to vote for them and you can see that they failed. They lost in Osun and Oyo states and these are areas they were commanding before; how far did they perform now?
But they have always been winning elections?
They only won elections when they were with us. Tinubu himself and others won election under my chairmanship; they broke away after then and were now saying that because they won election we should be bowing down to them.
But when issues concerning the Yoruba’s came, he could not talk because Buhari would not be happy with him and then you are going about making statement that you are Afenifere because you have money, we don’t dispute it with you because the Yourbas know their leaders.
That is what they have done in these elections. Because you have money and you have been buying votes in the past and you cannot do it this time. They like to confuse people; sometimes they would say Afenifere does not represent anybody. If that is the case, why don’t you organise your own? Don’t call it Afenifere. They would say they are Afenifere renewal. You are in government you don’t you set up your own and call it another name and let’s see what the Yoruba’s would say?
What is your assessment of the general elections?
The elections were a farce; I don’t regard Buhari as president. He is INEC declared president; when we get to court; we would know who is the real president.
How can you call Buhari president with the way the presidential election was conducted, in a 21st century Nigeria? Look at the elections; they was completely militarized. Corps members were openly kidnaped to rig the elections.
Nobody wantS to tell me such election would be recogniseD by the court. We would not go for violence; let the court ignore the evidence that would be put before them.
Are you surprised that gubernatorial elections were declared inconclusive in some states?
That is part of the irregularities; it is in all the states they know PDP would win. Even in Lagos State they were snatching ballot papers, intimidating the voters from voting , they harassed the Igbos who they knew would vote for restructuring of the country; they scared the Igbos with military officers. All this should tell what is happening. If you are popular, why send military to help you rig elections?
What is your assessment of INEC and its chairman?
The chairman has performed below expectation. These elections were one of the worst elections in the history of Nigeria. The misrepresentation of Atiku at the collation centres, the cancelled votes and other irregularities. In so many states there were irregularities, if you look at it well, Atiku won by more than 3 million which Buhari claimed to have won.
We will go and place all our facts in the judiciary and we know they would deliver. I am not one of those people who would say don’t go to court, why would I say that? Atiku would get justice there. If he does not get justice, he would get justice in the court of the people who know the true. I am telling the judiciary to disgrace themselves by ignoring the facts.
Were you surprised with the way allegations against Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen was handled by President Buhari?
The removal of Onnoghen was part of a script that Buhari has got ready. He wanted to harass the Judiciary because he believed he would lose the presidential election and so appointed a CJN who would appoint judges to head the election tribunal.
You were part of the Southern and Middle-belt Forum leaders who held a meeting with Atiku last week, what did the forum tell him?
We give him courage and told him that we were solidly behind him. Go to court, in spite of what some people are saying. How can you ask the man who was cheated to go and congratulate the man who cheated him. That is bad.
That is condoning fraud. I am condemning those who say that. They should have encouraged him to go to the tribunal and seek justice. Anybody including the members of the peace committee discouraging Atiku not to go to court is abetting fraud.
How is your assessment of the peace committee?
They have not demonstrated peace retention enough; they should have said let’s maintain peace and no violence,; but Atiku go to court.
You also met with the newly elected governor of Oyo State last week; what was the discussion about?
No, he came to visit me; we were in Oyo State before the election and told our people to vote for him. He also went to Ruben Fasoarnati, realising how important our messages have been. I told him to continue the fight because we know Buhari would not restructure the country and if Buhari does not do it, that means he does not want Nigeria to remain as one and that is what Clark was telling you.
The only thing to keep this country together is to have a federal structure where every unit would be autonomous and develop at its own pace. But to do that you have to restructure. Restructuring is not a magic thing; it is just for us to stay together as one country, but let us agree on a constitution that would bind us together. By the time you restructure, the separatist group in the east would calm down and the Avengers would stop their agitation.
These issues would be solved and the crisis and killings would stop. The killings in Southern Kaduna would stop because the people would be given their state and autonomy. There is crisis there because the people ruling them are oppressing them and it has to stop.
The government looks away as if it does not know what is happening; how can that be?
People are being killed and you are pretending as if you don’t know, the killing is still going on and nothing have been done. There can be no remedy because those opposing you are the ones in control. I told Makinde that, until we agreed on restructuring, any government under this constitution is a lame-dock government that lacks authority. That is what is also happing in Benue State where they are killing them and they are turning blind eyes as if they don’t know what is happening.
But President Buhari said restructuring is not the way forward for the country; what do you think?
Buhari does not understand what he is talking about. We have been talking about restructuring before he came in; before the first election was held.
The Vice president who is from your region does not seem convinced about restructuring?
The Vice President is a dishonest intellectual. Tinubu and Osibanjo came to office on the basis of restructuring; and it was on the basis of restructuring that Osibanjo took Obasanjo to court when, during his time as president, Obasanjo did not release local government funds when he was the Attorney General in Lagos State.
They know about that, but are just turning blind eyes to it. I know Osinbajo well; he is my son. Intellectually and academically, he is a first class, but he is a disgrace. Somebody who was born into restructuring is saying he does not know what restructuring is all about. His father and I were the key followers of Awolowo.
The VP has been involved in sharing the Tradermoni; how do you react to that?
My anti-government stance is not about that. It is a disgrace for Osibanjo to be doing that. Why can’t the minister of trade and investment be sent. You turned the VP to a marketing officer and the man does not even recognise him. The Yoruba’s there are just senseless. Which government controls Lagos? We have problem of trucks in Lagos. The vice president came, no solution, but when Buhari came the trucks disappeared.
When the general elections came, they disappeared again. How can anybody tell me we are equal partners in this government. What they did for the Igbos in Lagos was not because they are Igbos; it is because they joined forces with the Southern leaders forum to advocate for restructuring of the country.
Am not a PDP man, Afenifere is not PDP, but all the Southern leaders have agreed that any party that agreed to restructure the country was the party we were going to vote for because that was the party that would solve the problems of Nigerians.
But PDP was in power for 16 years put the country in this mess?
No, it is because of what they wanted to do. That was why we were supporting them. To show that we have been consistent in Afenifere, we had supported Buhari before. In 2007 Afenifere supported Buhari’s presidential ambition when he agreed to do a sovereign national conference. He has not denied it. He bought uniform that we wore in Adamasigba stadium in Ibadan. We supported him then because of what he wanted to do for the country.
