By Omoniyi Salaudeen
The recent coup alert is still a talking point in the polity. Apart from the fact that it has created some mutual suspicions among the constituent parts, it has further eroded the confidence of the populace in the military as a neutral national institution. In this interview, Chief Supo Sonibare, a chieftain of the Afenifere, describes those nursing the ambition of truncating the present democratic dispensation as living in ‘fool’s paradise’.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is already two years old. What is your assessment of the APC-led government so far?
The administration has had to face the challenges of a hurriedly put up association of various political tendencies whose main aim was just to win power. There were no real ideological directions and that has been the main challenge the government has had to face. If a party comes into power without settled policies on how it wishes to govern, then the difficulties they are facing now cannot be unexpected. Unfortunately, the main person in whom most people have some hope for his integrity than majority of individuals that were in that coalition appears to have health challenges. That too has made governing in the true sense of it difficult.
But the APC is often too quick to say that the problem of the economy is the fallout of the maladministration of the past government, especially the failure to save for the rainy day. Isn’t there a sense in their argument?
I recall them saying that they wanted a change because the country was not being administered properly. So, they knew there were challenges. They actually painted a more dismal figure of the state of the economy than what we found. They pointed out the deficiencies of the Jonathan administration and made presentation to Nigerian people that they would make a change and that they had the priori and the competence to make a difference. So, complaining about what was there before is not an excuse. I do agree that Jonathan administration could have done more to curtail and combat corruption than he did. But on the issue of saving, with great respect, most of the people in the present administration are to blame for that. Apart from President Buhari and the Vice President who were not in any government, most of the people in the present administration are to blame for not saving for the rainy day. I recall the finance minister then, Okonjo-Iweala, insisting on Sovereign Wealth Fund. If that had happened, they would have saved some money. But the state governors who are the majority in the present administration were the most vocal among those insisted that the money must be shared. So, if we are talking of pervasive corruption in the Jonathan administration, I can’t exonerate many of the people in the present government. Those who made saving impossible are now the majority in the present government.
Is it normal that the health status of the president who is now on medical vacation is kept in secrecy?
In other climes, the health status of the people who are governing is usually a public matter. But here, we are a bit more reticent in revealing our health status. The bottom-line is that we are under a constitutional democracy and there are processes to follow when a president is unable to perform the functions of his office. And unlike the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, the president has transmitted a letter to the National Assembly for transfer of power. It is now left to the person who takes over, which is the vice president, to govern well and ensure continuity. At the moment, the buck stops on his table. So, there is no vacuum in that sense. In the context of Nigerian environment, you can’t insist on disclosure of the health status of the president.
The fallout of the health matter of the president is the raging controversy over the coup alert recently raised by the Chief of Army Staff. And as it is often said, there is hardly any coup without collaboration of the political class. At this stage of the nation’s democracy, do you still expect any civilian to participate in any coup attempt?
I think it is self serving to say that there has been no coup without involvement of the political class. Has there been any coup in Nigeria when the consequence of the coup led to the emergence of a civilian president? Coups are largely favoured by soldiers themselves. They might have had politicians’ cannon fodder, but the greatest beneficiaries have always been soldiers themselves. Civilians might have assisted, but soldiers are always the ones taking the risk. The coup is a risky venture. Several coup planners have been killed in the past. It is only those in the military that are capable to staging a coup. For me, there is no point looking at the civilian angle. So, the Chief of Army Staff should look at his own constituency. And if there is any member of his constituency violating the rule of the military, he should know what to do. Military commanders should be more concerned about instilling discipline within the ranks than speculating about civilians’ adventure into coup plotting. This is an allegation that is consistently becoming repetitive. I have never seen any coup in Nigeria that has elevated a civilian to being the beneficiary of the coup. If the army is planning a coup, it is for its own benefits, not the politicians. And if the politicians think it is for their own benefits, they are under illusion.
There is this feeling that some particular interest groups in the North might not be too comfortable with the emergence of Vice President as acting president. Can you preempt what such people can do?
If the North think that they can foist their agenda on the rest of the country by encouraging a coup detat to subvert constitutional democracy, then they are under illusion because Nigeria can only be ruled now by consensus. There is no part of the country that can insist on a particular direction without the consent of the rest of the country. We have gone beyond that stage as a nation. There is no longer master-servant relation between one part of the country or the other. All the six geopolitical zones of the country have equal rights. No one can ignore the wishes of one region and impose its own on the other. Anything that happens in Nigeria has to be by consensus. Anyone that thinks he can foist an agenda on other region must be living in fool’s paradise. Besides, the consideration of international community has changed from what it was in the 50s and 60s.
Why do you think the North has been consistently against restructuring?
I don’t think you should generalize by saying the entire North is against restructuring. In any event, it is not a matter of being for or against. It is a matter of looking at the structure that we are operating and coming to the realization that it is not healthy. Even the notion of assisting the North-east with special marshall plan consideration from our collective wealth is restructuring. Otherwise, we should have left the states in the North-east to deal with infrastructural challenges that are now facing. We need to fast forward infrastructural development requirements, we need to achieve growth, we need to have a stable polity. We have been using unitary system to meet issues of development in our polity and we have not been successful. Do you continue doing what you have seen that does not benefit you? Even the North itself will not survive as an entity if restructuring is not done. We have accepted the concept of six geo-political zones. Why don’t we have those geo-political zones exercising the functions of the Federal Government? Why is that such a difficult thing? Why is that more of a southern agenda or Northern agenda or Eastern agenda? Restructuring is inevitable and most desirable thing to be done in the interest of all of us. Whatever you think about the 2015 National Conference, it addressed the issues of equality of states. I think that is an issue we have to seriously look into and find a way of resolving. We need to restructure to lessen ethnic tendencies in the polity. To be able to achieve growth, we need to restructure. To stop gradual drift of Nigerian entity, we need to restructure. There is no multiethnic nation in the world that is practicing unitary system of government. Those who are insisting on unitary system are assisting in breakup of the country.
Lagos State Government recently launched Neighbourhood Safety Corps which appears to be its own way of strengthening community policing. With the direction of things, is there no possibility of the states taking over the functions of Federal Government by way of natural evolution, if there is no consensus on restructuring?
The truth of the matter is that Federal Government is not capable of sustaining the police. I doubt if there is any state that is not supporting the police formation even including states that are struggling to pay salaries. There is no state that is not subsidizing the police. People take tax payers’ money from their state coffers to support the police and then someone is insisting on giving directives from Abuja. I think state police is inevitable.
There will be inevitable evolution in this country. Whatever anyone says, power will be devolved. There is nothing sacrosanct about a united country. It is not given that all countries must stay together. People should encourage the constituent parts of a nation to feel that there is still some camaraderie in staying together. If people don’t feel any benefit in a union, they won’t stay in the union. We have to make people see the benefits of being in the Nigerian entity.