Leader of the pan Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has charged President Bola Tinubu to write his name in gold by changing the current Constitution of Nigeria, so as to save the country from breaking up.
The nonagenarian, who said Tinubu should forget about doing a second term, stated that the military plunged the country into a myriad of problems as currently being experienced. He spoke with EMMA NJOKU on several other issues including the spate of insecurity across the country, the 2023 general elections, the corruption at the National Assembly, President Tinubu’s order for implementation of the Orosanya report and the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, among others.
What are your reflections on the state of the nation today?
I’m a sad old man! Why? Because I don’t think there’s anybody in the field today that has my passion, except those who were with us right from the beginning. All those who are talking today are merely supporting what we did. Why we did the things we did they don’t know. And that’s why they fumble. Immediately the military came to power, they disrupted everything! You needed to see how good life was in Nigeria under Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello (Sardauna of Sokoto) and Chief Michael Okpara.
All the problems that arose from a plural society as a result of a unitary government were solved in the 1954 London Conference. That was before Nigeria secured her independence. That was when we established federalism in Nigeria. There was allocation of revenues on the basis of derivation. State police, local government police, devolution of power and all these things people are now arguing about were all settled. And life was moving on. Awolowo did all the wonders in the Western Region. He gave free education and built the Cocoa House in Ibadan, among other things; Sardauna built the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna and other infrastructure in the Northern Region and Okpara built so many infrastructure in the Eastern Region. All these were possible because each region generated and kept its revenue.
Then the military came in 1966 and changed that constitution to favour a section of the country – the North, and that gave rise to all the problems we have today. So when people are talking about restructuring, they don’t really understand what it means. The military set aside the federal constitution which gave us peace. The idea of a federal constitution was for each region to develop at its pace based on the revenue it generated. Each federating unit (region) was autonomous and independent of the federal government. The regions were not subordinate to the federal government. The military abolished that constitution and created 36 states. They created more states in the north than in the south. Kano, which had the same population as Lagos, was divided into two states. That was how Jigawa State was created. They went ahead to create so many local governments in Kano and Jigawa, while Lagos remained the same. The reason for all these was because every military officer in the north wanted a local government in his place. And they now said all the revenue generated by each state should be taken to Abuja and shared among the 36 states. So the north was benefitting from the revenue generated from the south while they contributed next to nothing to the national treasury.
You can see that the current Nigerian constitution is a fraud and it has to be emphasised! We didn’t make the constitution. That’s why I told you that I’m a sad old man. When I hear people calling for restructuring, they don’t really understand what the military did to us. Some people talk about amending the constitution. Which constitution? A constitution we did not make!
Besides the unfair creation of more states in the north as against the south, they now said the revenue generated from the states would not only be shared among the 36 states, but the sharing formula would be on the basis of land mass, even if the land mass is made up of a desert without human beings. So, Lagos and the rest of the West, in fact, the entire South that generates the bulk of the revenue would get the least allocation. When you journalists are writing, you need to point out the evils in this current constitution. It is a lot of injustice! A lot of fraud!
The Parliament has been amending the constitution since former President Muhammadu Buhari was there. They will never do it! So, I’m not a happy old man because there is a lot of fraud, a lot of injustice and denial; people pretend as if they’re not aware of evil. And that is why I’m emphasising that President Bola Tinubu should leave a legacy. He should change the constitution now!
But despite all the advantages enjoyed by the north, there is prevalent insecurity in the area with insinuations that some vested interests want to sabotage the current administration of President Tinubu. What’s your take on this?
That’s diversionary. Those behind the Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of terrorism were known to the former administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, but they refused to act on it. Commodore Kunle Olawunmi (retd), during a programme on national television, said Buhari commissioned a committee of 20 service chiefs to find out the people behind Boko Haram, and the committee gave him a list of those involved in 2018. That programme was aired last year, 2023, and the presidency has not reacted to the list. The report stated that those financing Boko Haram were in his (Buhari) cabinet. Some of them were part of the sitting governors then, some were in the Senate and House of Representatives. Then. I have always brought this to the front burner; unfortunately the press has not emphasised it. I accused Buhari of connivance with the terrorists and I dared the then Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, to come and challenge me for accusing Buhari of connivance with those terrorising us in Nigeria. The evidence I’m using is the committee’s report disclosed by Commodore Lawunmi. Remember that the former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, once announced that they had got the list of 200 people behind Boko Haram insurgents.
Have you seen the list till today? The United Arab Emirates caught and imprisoned some Nigerians and sent their names to the Federal government. Did you know who those people are till today? So President Bola Tinubu should not just tell us that he has given the military a marching order to fetch the terrorists, he should match the order with implementation in the Presidency. Those behind the terrorists are known. Why are they afraid to act? They set up a committee, just deceiving us, when they know the terrorists. The Yoruba have an adage that “the insect that is spoiling the vegetable is inside the vegetable”. So all the banditry and kidnapping happening in Zamfara State and other parts of the North, the perpetrators are known to the government. How come Gumi knows where the terrorists are and negotiates with the list of those abducted? He goes to the camp of the terrorists and comes out, not once, not twice, but on many occasions. And the military are telling us they don’t know where the terrorists are. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. President Bola Tinubu has to clear his name because all these are on record. Even those who are eating our money in the petroleum sector are known. He should go after them and the problem will be solved once and for all.
