Senator Smart Adeyemi is Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory and represents Kogi South in the parliament. In this interview,
He says it is not yet the turn of the North to produce the President. He also says that General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is not the candidate of the North, pointing out that he lacks the qualities of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who held sway as the Northern Region Premier in the first republic. Excerpts:
Senator Smart Adeyemi is Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory and represents Kogi South in the parliament. In this interview, he says it is not yet the turn of the North to produce the President. He also says that General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is not the candidate of the North, pointing out that he lacks the qualities of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who held sway as the Northern Region Premier in the first republic. Excerpts:
With the delay in the general elections, the military seems to have overcome Boko Haram in the North-east. Do you think that should be the end of this campaign?
First, let me commend the Federal Government for its determination. Let me equally say that, maybe as a senator, I have some information which an ordinary Nigeria will not have. This insurgency took us this long to conquer because, out of the conspiracy against Nigeria until about four months ago, the arms required were not made available to us. We had the money but we were not allowed to acquire them. When you have that kind of situation, you cant fight a war . The United States began to sell arms to Nigeria not quite two months now. Now what I am saying in essence is that the problem of fighting the insurgency over the years was as a result of the inability of Nigeria to acquire those arms and, don’t forget, until this administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, there were no attempts by the administrations before him to acquire military hardware required to fight this kind of insurgency.
There was the fear of equipping the armed forces which will make them capable of carrying out coup against civilian administrations in time past. So, all the years, we have neglected the military. The infrastructural facilities for their well being were at the zero level and the training required for sophisticated weapons was not just there. So, now that we have acquired the weapons, we have seen the same military that we used to know, Nigerian military that participated in international campaigns and they came back with merits, with commendations. Now that we have almost won the war, the question is, what next?
Well, there is still the second war that we must win. The second war to win in the North-east; is to win the war against poverty. We must improve the infrastructural facilities in the North-east; we must equally put in place the master plan that will galvanize the socio-economic development of the region, we must do all that we can to improve the well being of the whole of Nigerians and the North-east. There is the need for us to come out with a robust master plan that will assimilate those who were victims of the insurgency, compensation for those who have lost families put in place, industries established to galvanize socio-economic activities and engage people. These are the issues we must start thinking about. We thank God that we are winning the war. I commend the military. I commend President Goodluck Jonathan for his determination to see an end to this war.
Jonathan is re-contesting because there are more challenges to be resolved and one major achievement of this administration is the fact that now we are seeing the government winning the war against insurgency.
You have been consistent in your support for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan while you seem to maintain a deep seated patriotism for the North. Now, since a northerner is the candidate of the man opposition party, if truly you are patriotic to the North, why are you supporting a Southerner for the position of President?
General Muhammadu Buhari is not a candidate of the North. The fact that he emerged as a flag bearer doesn’t make him the candidate of the North. Buhari emerged as a result of the coming together of aggrieved people in the PDP who formed APC. If the North wanted to have a candidate, Buhari cannot be the candidate because the North will be looking forward to having somebody who will be a replica of the Sardauna of Sokoto. Buhari does not fit into the shoes of the Sarduana because he lacks the qualities of a leader for the northern region. Buhari emerged as a result of people who are manipulating the political system in Nigeria. People believe that if Buhari is allowed to come, they will be able to use him because of his age. By the time you have someone who is over 70, he is out of this generation, he doesn’t know what is happening. At my age, there are things I don’t know about the world that my children tell me even as a senator today not to talk of Buhari who is a father to me.
The North will not be seen to be making progress to adopt Buhari as a candidate. Are you saying that we have not been able to raise new generation of leaders after Buhari when he was a head of state? Buhari, to me, is being used by those who want him knowing fully well that age is not on his side and, perhaps, as it is being said, that his state of health is not strong enough to carry the office of president. So, they want us to experience another crisis which may come if you have a president who is not strong, a president that cannot meet his obligations. When that happens we will have a situation where the vice will become the de facto president.
That is not good for our system, that is not good for our diversity as a people. If the North is to produce a president, it will look at the 19 states and bring somebody it feels will deliver; somebody that all of us will rally round and be proud to say this is a leader and not a man with the kind of background of Buhari. Buhari’s background is not challenging enough, Buhari’s background is not a background that is good for democracy. Buhari emerged as a leader through military dictatorship. Buhari truncated the democratic government in place, he owes Nigerians apology for some of the atrocities his military government committed.
Now for you to have another military government is to remind us of that era when people were whipped on the street. Buhari’s government was draconian, it was a government that oppressed the people, it was a government that showed no human face, it was a government that messed up our tertiary institutions, traditional rulers were maltreated. Buhari government came and oppressed us to the point of death. I do not see how I can support that kind of a man who has not apologized to the Nigerian people
How will the second term of Jonathan benefit the North?
It will benefit the North because Jonathan will complete some of the projects he is embarking on that affect the North. If you go to Lagos today, you will see the expansion of Lagos/Ibadan express way, they are now making it four lanes. The implication is that the bulk of the movement of goods between the North and South will pay the North because more than three quarter of the trucks and trailers we have in Nigeria today are owned by northerners. Look at the number of universities that the administration has established, look at the number of power stations that are under construction in the North. Look at the number of roads in the North that are under construction.
A lot is at stake for us in the North if Jonathan does not come back. But, more importantly, let us look at it from the political point of view; if you don’t have Jonathan, the question will now be, what is the position of the Niger Delta because Goodluck represents the South-South zone? After Goodluck, you cannot have another president from the South-South zone in the next 50 years except with the hand of God in it. After Jonathan, the mantle of leadership will cross-over to the North, so, whenever it goes to the North, it is for the North to decide, we will have northerners running virtually in all the political parties. Don’t equally forget that the most diverse region in Nigeria is the North.
Now, we have political reforms, National Conference where suggestions were made for creation of more states and local governments, restructuring of this country. The asset of any government is the people, the North has the highest population. So if we have Jonathan back, he is going to implement reports of the National Conference which may give us more states. I support creation of more states because I believe it is going to galvanize socio-economic activities, it is going to create more job opportunities and it is going to probably reduce corruption because you share what you have. It is not a must that states must operate on the same frequency.
If your state can afford 50 commissioners and my state can afford only five, let my state govern itself with only five commissioners, but what is important is you have the opportunity of developing at your own speed; that was the way it was in the region before. If we have Goodluck back, it pays us because we will now have a candidate from the North after him, four years cannot kill the North, we will now have a candidate that will now run full fledge eight years from the northern region. It will amount to still birth to ask Goodluck not to complete his tenure.
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