Elder statesman, Senator JKN Waku has cautioned that agitations to dismember Nigeria will never bring a lasting solution to the myriad of problems facing the country. Making this assertion in an interview with TUNDE THOMAS, Waku spoke further on this and other national issues.

How would you react to the recent declaration by Prof. Ango Abdullahi that if Nigeria wants to break up, it should break up and that people should stop saying that the North is afraid of Nigeria’s break up?

I will like to say that issues can’t be resolved through anger and provocation. There has been a lot of provocative statements being made by some unpatriotic Nigerians, and this to a large extent, can provoke anger in others. This I believe must have happened in Prof. Ango Abdullahi’s case.

I don’t believe Nigeria should break up. I don’t believe in the break up of Nigeria. The nation’s founding fathers like late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, and the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello didn’t hand over to us, a broken nation. So, why should Nigeria break up during our time?

If you look at Nigeria’s history, there has been series of incidences that were capable of threatening our existence as a nation but we’ve always found ways to navigate out of troubled waters.

I believe we should embrace dialogue to resolve our differences.

In 1964, late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and the then Premier of Eastern Region, Dr Michael Okpara travelled to the North to hold a meeting with the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and this was during the period of political turbulence in the South-west. These great leaders realized that there was a budding crisis capable of threatening the nation’s corporate existence, and they all agreed to discuss it, and proffer ways to resolve it.

Even during the period when General Yakubu Gowon was in power and the civil war broke out, in spite of Gowon’s youthful age as Head of State, he didn’t allow a break up of Nigeria.

My advise is that Nigeria should remain one. We should embrace dialogue in resolving our differences. And even where we feel our leaders have not lived up to expectations, we can use the ballot box, that is our votes to push through our agitations. We are in a democracy, and democracy allows you the freedom to exercise your rights through voting. A nation that resolved to violence in resolving its differences is looked down upon as a nation without discipline and development indices.

Are you saying that Prof. Ango Abdullahi’s declaration was as a result of provocation?

I can’t speak for Ango Abdullahi as to whether he was provoked into making that statement or whether he was expressing his own mind or the feelings of the members of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF of which he is the General Secretary.

However, our constitution guarantees freedom of expression. As long as that expression is not in conflict with the laws of the land. But for me, break up is not the answer to any of our problems.

I have always been an advocate of one indivisible Nigeria. I’ll forever oppose anybody calling for breakup of Nigeria. If you look at Ango Abdullahi’s statement, the man has not called for break up of Nigeria, he is only saying that people should stop blackmailing the North and that if anybody wants to go, he or she should be allowed to go.

Ango Abdullahi is not calling for a separate North as a new nation unlike what the Biafra agitators are doing. For those clamouring for Biafra, it is a call for secession, and my belief is that the Federal Government should deal decisively with those agitators. They should not dialogue with Nnamdi Kanu. What Kanu and his co-travellers are doing amounts to treason and they should be made to face the laws of the land.

People believe that this issue of agitations here and there, and debates will not go away until the issue of restructuring is addressed, what is your take on restructuring?

I say a big no to restructuring. What are we restructuring? If at all there are needs to look into certain issues as they affect our co-existence as a nation, we have our elected representatives at the National Assembly. Different ethnic groups and the six-geo-political zones are well represented at the National Assembly, so grievances should be channeled through their elected representatives who will then address the issues.

We have to be very careful on this issue of the so-called restructuring. We must be careful not to play into the hands of anarchists and those who want to plunge the nation into chaos.  We should be careful not to allow irresponsible action of some individuals to throw this nation into crisis.

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Restructuring, if not well handled is an invitation to anarchy. What are we restructuring when we have an elected government and representatives in place? Most of the people behind the calls for Restructuring are not sincere. They are hypocrites. Their calls for restructuring are not driven by patriotism, but they are just out to satisfy their own political interests.

What is your reaction to the killings in Southern Kaduna?

I have been outside the country for some time. I have been in the United States for some months, and I’ve just returned. But already, I’m doing my own independent investigations with a view to finding out what is happening there, and at the end of my findings, I will come out with a statement. I want Nigerians to be rest assured that I Senator Joseph Waku will surely speak out on Southern Kaduna killings.

What is your take on the ongoing debates and controversies arising from President Muhammadu  Buhari’s trip to the United Kingdom for vacation  and subsequent health challenges requiring him to undertake medical check up ?

Nigeria is a most disappointing nation. I can’t say I regret being a Nigerian, but I feel highly disappointed about the way some people have been discussing the Buhari issue as if Buhari is not a human being or as if Buhari has not done the needful constitution wise before travelling abroad.

Buhari has done what he needed to do by writing to the National Assembly transmitting power to the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo while away. Therefore, there is no power vacuum in the country.

It is sad and very unfortunate that some Nigerians are fabricating stories about Buhari. It is highly provocative what some Nigerians have been saying about Buhari. The President is a human being. We should even give kudos to him for accepting that he has health challenges.

What I had expected Nigerians to do is to pray for him, but instead of that, what we have are all sorts of  rumours flying all over  the place.   For Buhari to have handed over power to the Vice-President is commendable. How many of our ex-Presidents and leaders had ever done that? When former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in office, he travelled outside the country more than 180 times. Both myself and late Chief Gani Fawehinmi were counting the number  of trips he was undertaking .And for that number of times  travelled, Obasanjo  didn’t deem it fit to hand over to anybody.

I won’t appeal to those wishing  Buhari dead to  stop their evil work, but I  will however, like them to remember what happened to  those who wished Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe dead during his lifetime.

What is your reaction to calls being made by some  Nigerians for the resignation of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr David Babachir Lawal over his  indictment by the Senate?

The Senate is right in asking Buhari to fire the SGF. Lawal must go. Nigerians calling for Lawal’s removal from his position are right. Lawal has become a baggage and big liability to Buhari’s  government.  His continuous stay in Buhari’s government is a big  dent on Buhari’s well known stance against corruption. Lawal must go since he couldn’t provide satisfactory answers to allegations of corruption against him. He should go.

On the mega party issue, how do you see the development, that’s talking about the coming together of some Nigerian politicians  drawn from PDP, APC, and a host of other parties with the aim of challenging APC in 2019?

Personally, I don’t see any need for the formation of any mega party for now. Is Buhari not doing well? One thing Nigerians must remember is this, APC didn’t win the election in 2015, it was  Buhari’s name that won that election for the party.

I will say yes, mega party, why not? But that will only happen if Buhari didn’t live up to expectations. But I still maintain my stand that it is still too early to judge Buhari. Buhari is not a magician , we should give him time to work. Nigerians should exercise patience with him. I’m talking as a realist. I believe that if Nigerians should give Buhari a   chance, he has all it takes to pull Nigeria out of the woods.

A lot of permutations, debates and talks are going on among  politicians over 2019 general elections, how do you see this development?

Only God knows tomorrow. We are in 2017, and people are  already talking about ambitions, plans and programmes, who knows what will happen  tomorrow? It is only God. Man proposes, but God disposes. Look at what happened to my good friend, former governor of Kogi State, late Prince Abubakar Audu. He was waiting to collect Certificate of Return for winning the gubernatorial   election in Kogi state from INEC, but what did he get? He got certificate of death from God. That’s God for you. My advice to those plotting about 2019 is that they are not God, they should leave everything in the hands of God.