BEVERLY HILLS, March 15, (THEWILL) – Professor Tunde Adeniran is a former Minister of Education. He is also a former member, PDP Board of Trustees. He later dumped the PDP and joined the Social Democratic Party before quitting active politics. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on the current insecurity ravaging the nation. He also speaks on the issue of creation of State Police, monetisation of Nigerian politics, movement of politicians across the parties among other issues of national interest. Excerpts:
How do you see this prevalent insecurity in the land? Kidnapping of students, payment of ransom even by the state governments and so on. There is also the resort to self-help by the people who believe the government has failed to provide them with security. How will you react to the situation in the country?
It is unfortunate and it is something that we really have to tackle with more seriousness than ever before, so that every category of Nigerians will feel safe to do their business. This is because if there is no security, there won’t be productivity. And if there is no productivity, the country is likely to suffer seriously because farmers will not be able to work. Those who go to schools will not be able to do what they are supposed to be doing either. So there will be no development in the country and that is not good for us. So it should be taken more seriously.
The one aspect of it that I believe we have to consider is that there had been over reliance on government to stop the situation. We shouldn’t leave everything to the government. We should know that the citizens themselves too also have a role to play to make sure that we constitute ourselves to not just vigilante groups or something like that, but intelligence groups to give necessary information to the security agents.
There was this case of Sunday Igboho who in Oyo State went to send the Fulani out of Igangan in Oke Ogun area. Can we tolerate such individual effort in curtailing insecurity?
Well, the self- help is not necessary once the government does what it should do. What we need to do is to work closely with the government and then ensure that we all cooperate in getting rid of criminals in our society. The role we need to play is to work hand in hand with the government, not to supplant the government or to leave everything to the government. In other words there is need for cooperation at all levels.
Many people believe that the restructuring of the country will solve many problems especially that of insecurity. What is your position on restructuring?
I am committed to restructuring because I know that with the problems we are having in the country, if the country is properly restructured, there will be better governance, there will be more commitment and there would be some fairness and justice in the carrying out of governance for the people. That is very important. And then, of course, there is going to be competition among the Nigerian people and everybody would be able to have sufficient commitment in making sure that what concern them in their areas, they are involved and once they are involved, there will be sense of belonging which is very important in whatever we do.
Some people are saying the National Assembly should handle the issue of restructuring, others are saying we should have constitutional conferences. What is your take?
Well there are different approaches but what I believe is that we could go back to history and see what happened in the past. If you look back, you will see that there is this Constitutional Conference even under the Late General Sani Abacha that was done at that time. There were some good recommendations that were made and all that was required was to subject such recommendations to a referendum. And after the referendum, it would have been the constitution of the people. And there was another one that was carried out during the Jonathan era, in 2014. Nigerians gathered from all walks of life and so much went into it. And at that time what one expected was that most of those things ought to be carried out directly by the government through Executive orders while the others could have gone to the National Assembly and enacted into law. So right now, what we can still do is to have a look at some of those issues, if we are still going to revisit them, of course there is the need for referendum. And there is time for it: Because we cannot have the constitution of the people without people’s participation. It is not possible. And I have suggested in some areas that what we can do is for the National Assembly to look at the decree that led to this constitution that we are now operating, the constitution of 1999, that decree should be abrogated by the National Assembly . And then from there, they go ahead and proclaim into law the constitution of the people.
Right now, the easiest thing will be, if they are afraid on some decisions of the past but they cannot run away from the reality on ground now. So the people must be involved and the involvement of the people is to say what are the issues that you want us to look into. So people must debate their future on their own and a referendum held within a short period and they will be together. And whatever is not agreed upon should be put aside. If you keep on insisting that what pleases me or what pleases you are what we are going to do , of course we are going nowhere. But we must see it as give and take. What would be in the overall interest of the people, equity, fairness and justice and an environment in which our people will live together in peace and harmony, there will be progress, and there will be development that is very important.
Some people are also saying that creation of state police will help in curtailing or reducing the incident of insecurity. What is your position on this?
I believe either you call it community policing or state policing, that will also help, policemen should be familiar with the environment where they work and be familiar with the whole locality where they function. Then of course, the terms of operation, how they are structured, how they function also matters. Because when you have most of those things, there should be designated areas to be covered by those police, either you called them community policing or state police. It is very important, there are some areas for them to cover while the national police will cover some other areas.
The 2023 presidential election is getting nearer. Many people are urging the parties to zone their presidential candidates to certain geo political zone. What is your position on zoning of the presidency?
Well, the constitution, which was proposed under the Abacha period thought about zoning. That is when something like president supposed to be zoned and rotated among the six geo- political zones but that was not adopted. What we have now does not give room for zoning; there will be confusion. So I believe that what we should do now is to look for the very best from any part of the country that will bring about unity, peace and progress to the country, the very best.
But many people are saying the South East is being marginalised and that it has not produced the president since 1999 when we started this democracy and that they should have a fair share in what is going on in the country. How do you feel for the South East?
I believe any part of this country could produce the president and that depends on the parties because we don’t have independent candidates. If any party could come with a good material from a particular part of the South East, Nigerians will endorse it, will embrace it because there is nothing against somebody coming from South East, nothing stop anybody coming from the South East from being the president. So long as the person has the capacity, and he is patriotic and has a vision for the country.
Then, there is this issue of politicians moving from one party to the other. If you noticed, it is more common during this period of APC registration of members. Many PDP leaders in PDP are moving to the APC especially in the South West. This kind of movement, what does it say of our politics?
It shows that many people are playing politics of convenience, politics of opportunism rather than politics of principle. And it also shows that between the two major parties, there is hardly any difference.
Looking at the fight against corruption under President Muhammadu Buhari, the Acting EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, was removed in a controversial circumstances. A new Chairman has been appointed, Abdulrasheed Bawa. If you were asked, how would you advise him?
The new EFCC chairman, Bawa, my advice to him is to do his homework thoroughly, to be courageous, to be fearless and also to employ capable hands that will assist him in the prosecution of cases. Otherwise he will just be there wasting time, wasting resources and dampen the hope of Nigerians that there will be fairness and justice. If he does not have competent hands to prosecute cases, of course there will be no result. So what need to be done is look at cases, frivolous cases should not be the one that will pre-occupied them. Genuine cases should be brought up, investigated and prosecuted, that is what will make people regard EFCC as truly a commission that is worth it. Otherwise before you know it, people will be talking about scrapping it, as it is not doing any good for the country. He should ensure fairness, he should not be partisan in the approach, those things are very important.
As one of the leaders in the South West, this period is not the best of time for the people of the region. Fulani herdsmen are attacking them. There is raping, killing, kidnapping of the people. How will you advise the South West Governors on how to handle?
My strong advice to them is that they must unite. They have this outfit, the Amotekun and the Amotekun will go a long way, if they will equip the Amotekun with necessary training, necessary discipline and proper direction so that they will be able to carry out what they need to do to put an end to the killing , to the maiming and to the raping of our women and of course the kidnapping of our people . That is very important. It is something that must be taking with all seriousness more than any other thing. This is because if there is no security, the farmers cannot go to the farm, the women will not be able to do anything and of course , even going to school will be difficult for students as time goes on . So it is a very important thing that should not be taken lightly.
Looking at monetisation of our politics, good and intelligent persons may find it difficult to get elected into position because of the high money required. For how long do we continue like this ?
The monetisation will be changed, when the constitution also changes. What we have presently now encourages such. Because it is so attractive, you now look at political parties as businesses. They will go and look for money because if you go in there you are going to take back as much money as possible even if you do not develop the people and you do not develop the community. But once you have a constitution that makes public office less attractive and does not give room for the looting, the manipulation of the system for personal enrichment, then of course, people will not put too much money on it. But now, yes it is very expensive, because people see it as an avenue to take as much money away as possible. People put much money into it because they want to get huge money back.
So we need to approach it from three angles. One the quality of people that go in should be men and women of character who feels that they are going into politics for service. Two, the constitution with which they have to operate should be such that does not permit, or allow people to go into office for embezzlement. And that it does not require you to spend too much money before you get into an office. And thirdly and finally, the mechanism, the institutions that will really monitor, all those institution like INEC that has to do with performance in public should be such that prevent anybody that has ulterior motive from carrying them out , that is very important.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
