Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi, is a public affairs analyst, an advocate of good governance and Convener, Apostolic Round Table (ART). Dr Akinyemi, Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of Project Victory Call Initiative, aka PVC Naija, in this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, speaks on crucial national issues. Excerpt:
Nigeria celebrated 25 years of uninterrupted democracy. How would you say the country has fared under this period?
It has been 25 years of uninterrupted scam! What we have in place is not democracy, but a military invention of keeping power in proxy and sustaining their grip on the jugular of the nation. Nigeria is not breathing. At best, since our leaders are not wearing khaki, we can call it ‘militocracy’!
This year’s Democracy Day was celebrated on June 12 with fanfare and a national parade at Eagle Square. How do you see the event?
What was held at the Eagle Square is nothing but the celebration of a man’s turn. Like I said before, ‘militocracy’ is an agreement between a few people to rotate power among themselves and their cronies. The ‘Emi lo kan’ philosophy is the expression of a man from among them whose turn he won’t allow another person to take. Our vote doesn’t count! It’s a ‘turn-by-turn’ thing. While he was celebrating his turn, Nigerians were mourning in regret of his turn. Never have we had it this bad. The electoral process is what defines democracy. It must organically reflect the DNA of constitutional democracy, ‘We the People’. Structurally, it must respect and ensure the choice of the people. It has to be free and fair. How can actors of the 2023 election, the most fraudulent election in this country, gather together celebrating June 12, the only free and fair election ever held on the shore of Nigeria? Some men truly have no shame!
By declaring June 12 Democracy Day, would you say the Federal Government has really rewarded Chief MKO Abiola, who sacrificed his life for democracy to thrive in this country?
Abiola needs no reward. The dead can’t be rewarded. The only honour we owe Abiola would have been to relive his vision: One; Farewell to poverty. But, this administration has opened the door to national poverty like we have never seen before. Two, the reparation ideology should have been revisited, not because Europe and America have anything to offer us, but to see justice done and to redefine our relationship. This idea of looking for a solution to the problem is strange to human intelligence. Slavery ended in principle, but has continued in our reality.
What is your take on the call to rename Aso Rock Villa after Chief Abiola?
Whatever they want to name after Abiola can’t make up for Abiola. What was lost in Abiola was a free and fair election, the rule of law and human rights. How can you say you are celebrating Abiola by naming the Villa that held him down to incarceration till he died after him, while Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is still languishing in incarceration again? What happened to his rights to freedom after the court freed him? Are we waiting for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a man held against the constitution and his right to justice to die in a ‘democracy’ before we do the right thing? What a democracy!
How do you see the level the Rivers State crisis has reached? How do you think peace could be restored in the state?
There is no peace for the wicked. What is ongoing in Rivers State is the height of wickedness of the power game. Make no mistake, the power game is not a game of football where a winner and loser are expected and the game will be over in 90 minutes or drag into extra time or even penalty to decide the winner and the game will be over. Power games are warlike! One group has to consume the other. Forget about the narratives of deception trying to keep it within the coloration of intelligent processing. Rivers State is at war. A war that may consume not just Rivers State, but Nigeria, if the pretence of Mr. President regarding what is going on is sustained! Some persons from River State sensing their final of the dynamic of power, held a walk to appreciate the support of Mr. President and to assure Wike of their continued loyalty to his political leadership of River State. Days after them Eleyi of Ogun State and the priest at whose shrine ‘turn by turn’ was reaffirmed, spoke on behalf of South West Governors of their support for Fubara on the tenure of Chairmen of Local Government. APC’s brand of internal democracy is confusion institutionalised. A politician in confusion of itself can’t lead the nation to peace and prosperity.
Some federal lawmakers recently called for the 1999 Constitution to be amended for a return to regionalism and a provision of a single tenure of six years for the President and State Governors. How do you see this call?
The kite was flown successfully and it’s flying! The smartest politician is in power and his approach to keeping power is multidimensional. He is sensible enough to know that everything must be done to avoid the failure awaiting him in 2027. There is no way APC can win a free and fair election with their performance in power so far. The six-year term is his interest to elongate his four to six and if he is lucky with the ongoing manipulations, he may end up with 10 years in power; the present four and if the review sails through, plus six. We sincerely shouldn’t make that our burden. Our desire should be how to free the constitution of military imposition of decrees and align it to the spirit of true democracy, which is ‘We the people’. Once ‘We the people’ is institutionalised, we will come back to inordinate desires of components troubling our democracy and constitutionally, we will tame them. The constitution review discussion has been very interesting and revealing. Old champions of it like NINAS (Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, a multi-ethnic Alliance of the indigenous peoples of the Middle Belt) are back on the block. They remain a strong supporter for a fresh start. To Dr Akin Fapohunda, belongs the present Kite. I had disagreed with him and we are talking in the interest of our motherland. Though, ‘If tongues and tribes may differ’, since tongues are property of mothers – mother tongue – Yoruba nation should have been our motherland and Nigeria, our collective fatherland. But, the President has decided otherwise. Our focus must not be broken the annexure of Decree 24 of 1999 as the life of that document. This is the reason it will never profit us collectively as a people.
There is the Nigerian Christian Elders Forum. They, like the Apostolic Round Table and Indigenous Group for Restructuring, are for the repeal of four junta decrees to pave way for lifting of suspension of 1963 Republican Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) for amendment with contemporary realities; to birth American style federation, plus modifications. The Patriots led by His Excellency, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, wants the report of 2014 Confab expressed in draft for passage. Several other groups are in the ring for the fight for the life of our new nation. Still looking for Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and unfortunately, the Pentecostal leadership are held down to unprofitable debate on tithes and offerings by the voice of Jacob speaking to the deceptive hands of Esau stretched out from the church over our political space. The orthodox churches collect more tithes than the Pentecostal. But, they are not as disturbed as the Pentecostal. Why? One represents institutions, the other individuals. There is a destruction of the controls of those who call themselves Pentecostal Fathers of the church in the name of doctrinal correction by a preacher from Uyo, that is the Jacob in the church with the hands of Esau in the political space. Go watch his recent session on mainstream television. He told us that Jesus never confronted tyranny of power, and limited Christians to prayer for the government and those in government at best to participate. But, we must not speak against those in government. He failed to realise and understand that had Jesus been here under the tenet that demands accountability from power called democracy. He who came to fulfill the law would have been in duty to contemporary law of the day demanded the same accountability from the powers that be. The Bible talks about men who fear not God and men. Could that be our experience at this time? Men who have devised multiple tricks beyond the purview of politics at keeping power and determined to pull down everything they assume is standing in the way.
Some political leaders are now discussing the possibility of an alliance or a merger of opposition forces to oust the APC in 2027. Would you say such an alliance can work at this period?
We joke too much in this country. You have already allowed the most liquid and most powerful politician to snatch, grab and run away with power. There is no alliance that can stop him in 2027! What is up in Kano is part of the agenda to keep power. How do you explain the return of Emir Sanusi who under Ganduje, was dethroned and under the same Ganduje as the National Chairman, is restored to the throne. Sanusi was a victim of state politics. He is now a beneficiary of national politics to protect the grip of an individual in power. Have you thought of the possibility of his candidacy, or his pairing with Obi as some permutations suggested? He was brought back on the throne to reduce the tsunami his candidacy could pose. The present game is beyond what we are familiar with. The more we look the less we see.
How do you see the looming crisis over the inability of government and Labour to reach an acceptable national minimum wage so far?
I am not sure Nigerians have ears! This government in defence of the state of our economy based on empirical facts, said they inherited a Dead Economy from Buhari. What can anyone make of a dead economy? Those who are skilled in propaganda have a way of speaking about issues without attending to them. Labour is at the table with a figurative idol of oppression that is deaf and dumb. Where is Akele? Ayodele Suyi wrote a piece he titled, ‘Remembering Lagos’ late Labour Leader’, reflecting on the visit of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s death bed in 2009 and his plea to BAT to ‘forgive’ Ayodele Akele and assist him by talking to his liegeman Raji Fasola to pay Akele his ‘Entitlements’. That plea of a dying man was rebuffed. But, the same man was honoured in death with Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, which has become the centre of human rights activism in the country.
Though, I don’t see anything coming out of the present engagement. Labour should bear in mind their history with those who bear the rule and let it guide them. Stubborn is one word from Professor Wole Soyinka with which he has consistently described the head of this administration. If we apply that, we are dealing with a stubborn spirit. Men without regard for God can’t honour their words with men!