Wilfred Eya

Senator Ayo Arise who represented Ekiti North district between 2007 to 2011 believes that only a rotational presidency arrangement would stabilize the nation. In this interview, he spoke on various issues including the deteriorating security situation in the country.

 

What are your reflections on the deteriorating security situation in the country especially with regards to the promise by your party, the APC to make the country secure? 

The security challenges the nation is facing now is not about the party; I feel that it should be of great concern to all Nigerians; whether you are in party A or B or no party at all, it does not matter. The security situation is not a creation of the APC. It is generally an outcome of several years of mismanagement of our resources, lack of adequate planning, population explosion that we are witnessing and of course still lack of planning, not knowing how to absorb the people who graduate every year. What plans have been made to absorb the graduates into the economy? Of course, I think there are some attempts, now under this dispensation, for a lot of creativity towards moving people into the agricultural sector, providing funds for people with innovative minds and those who want to go into the Small and Medium Enterprises. We have such facilities being provided by the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and so on that people can now leverage upon; the government is trying to ensure that the nation achieves industrial revolution. The more we grow in number, the more the market but the question mark is what is the buying power of the population? That is why it is important to diversify the economy and that is what the government is working on. But generally, the situation in terms of security is worrisome. It is of concern to everyone. So, yes, it is true that my party is at the helm of affairs now and you can see that a lot of the policies are geared toward correcting many of the developmental initiatives that could have been put in place many years ago. I believe the government is on course as some of their policies are already yielding results in terms of increment in employment and other positive areas.

President Muhammadu Buhari just assigned portfolios to his ministers; how do you see the calibre of people in his new cabinet?

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The commentary on the caliber of people we have in the new cabinet is something that one has to be very careful about. I know that we can never have a perfect cabinet for any government. Those who have benefitted will always think it is perfect but those who have not benefitted would think otherwise. I believe that everyone of them appointed has something to offer and many have performed or served Nigeria in one capacity or the other in the past. By and large, they share the vision of the president of the country. Now, they are people who are known to Mr President and he will feel very comfortable with them. It is not in my place to say that somebody is good or bad; the president knows them and has reasons for appointing them. I believe that every Nigerian that has been given an assignment is actually a tested. We have to pray for them and let us move forward. By and large, it is not a bad list considering the fact that they have worked one way or the other for the success of the party. Those who are on the sideline who probably feel they could have been called upon would usually have their own complaints. But the truth is that it is not everybody that worked could be given ministerial appointments. That is what I keep on telling people. Let us pray for those in power now to make sure that they succeed in their assignments.

As a Southerner, how do you feel when you hear some prominent Northerners saying that power should remain in the North in 2023 after eight years of President Buhari’s tenure? 

Again, it depends on how we want this country to move forward. This is because honestly, we know that those who thought about rotational presidency understand the politics of this country. We are a multi-ethnic nation which means that it requires a different solution for its existence. We have to manage our differences and guard it jealously. So, the idea of rotation should be embedded in our culture but at the same time, it is still a question of people going to the polls and voting for the candidates of their choice. But I believe it is too early to start talking about power remaining in the North or coming back to the South. We have to be very careful in playing the game. Nigeria is a very delicate country and we need to sustain every effort to ensure there is balance in the politics of this country. The South should play the right politics because if we don’t and it goes to the North, we should not say it is because the Northerners do not want power to go to the South. But I think the leaders understand that we should play this politics the best way to unite this country and bring everyone together. I believe that rotation or zoning as the case may be is one of the ways that will ensure that we bond together and become one entity. I hope for a time when where you come from no longer matters but what you can offer. It means that somebody like me can go to a place like Kaduna and say I want to run for Senate and nobody will question that my name is Ayo Arise. I must have shown evidence that I have resided in that place for a minimum of one year. That is what I advocate in our constitutional amendment. People have been practicing this presidential system and it is working there. We should put it in the constitution to erase this tribal politics and the idea that people can do whatever they like when they get to power. The sole objective is to provide for the needy, to provide infrastructure for the people to make us a great country like other nations of the world. If the railway is working and the airlines, hospitals,  education, health, electricity and other sectors are working, nobody would any longer bother about where the president is from. This tribal politics, we need to find a way of getting rid of it. I believe that government should encourage efforts that will make everybody to have a sense of belonging.

One of those touted as eyeing the presidential seat in 2023 is the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai and he has come out to say he does not believe in rotation; do you think he is being fair to other regions that have not tasted power?

If he says he does not believe in rotation, it does not mean that his party, the APC, does not believe in rotation. He was only expressing his opinion as an individual. Let me take Ekiti which is one of the most homogenous states in the federation for an example; people have been saying they need to move the governorship seat to the South Senatorial zone and many of us have said it is not as if we have different ethnic nationalities. But in situations where we have different ethnic nationalities in a state like Ondo State for example where we have the Ilaje, Akoko, Owo and Ondo, and they speak different dialects, there might be the tendency to talk about zoning or rotation. Because of the fear of domination by a particular tribe, there would always be clamour for rotational arrangement so that power goes round. In Nigeria, we have the Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba as the major tribes and for that sense of belonging to be there, that rotational tendency must still come to play. But if the Kaduna State governor says he does not believe in it, it may be because he wants to run. It does not mean that he does not believe that it would be fair to all. Like I said, I hope for a time when rotation would no longer matter but we must put structure in place for everybody to feel comfortable. I believe that somebody can leave Umuahia, come to my village and live for a year and can now feel free to say he wants to run for the Senate or House of Representatives, governor and so on without anybody saying oh, he is not from here. As long as the constitution guarantees that, it would be our very first step toward erasing where one comes from in our politics. We must bring ourselves to the level that would erase suspicion and make the leader not to feel, let him concentrate in his region more than others. If things are going the way they are and we do not put the structure to remove ethnic sentiments, it would be difficult to do away with the rotational arrangement. There is hunger everywhere and that hunger is not about this particular president or the APC. If you look at the list of the ministers for instance, you might be surprised that the ones that would work for me might not be from my tribe. I have a practical example; a child is born in Sokoto but the parents are from Kogi, tell me why the child cannot claim Sokoto whereas he was born there. I do not understand it. If we allow that to happen, that is the only way we can integrate well. I do not think it is practicable for now to continue to say that one particular ethnic nationality will continue to be in power. We tried it before and it resulted in a fiasco. I do not want anything that will take our unity in the wrong direction. I personally support rotational presidency but that does not mean others cannot run. The leaders should come together and agree on that until we stabilize this country.