Confab recommendations can address Biafra agitation –Sen Mamora

Adeleke Olo­runnimbe Mamora is a name that rings a bell in Nigeria’s medical, social and politi­cal spheres. The 62-year-old medical doctor was the first Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly in this dis­pensation. (1999-2003), be­fore he got promotion to the Senate in 2003.

The vocal and outspoken Senator was the deputy di­rector-general of the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC), Presidential Campaign Orga­nization that worked cease­lessly for the enthronement of an opposition party as the ruling party.

In this interview with Sunday Sun in his Lagos residence during the week, the fair complexioned au­thor and politician spoke on several issues of national in­terest such as agitation for the state of Biafra, military/ Shi’ite clash in Zaria, the re­cently held national confab and restructuring of the pol­ity. Excerpts:

Distinguished Senator, permit me to start on a lighter note. Your admir­ers felt disappointed when your name was not on the list of the ministerial nom­inees. Personally, how did you feel and how do you still feel now?

Well, people are free to have expectations and that is not an unexpected. I thank my well wishers, my ad­mirers, men and women of goodwill who have expecta­tions over my appointment and all that. But for me, there is no way I wont be eternally grateful to Mr. President, General Muhammadu Buhari as he was then, who found me suitable to be appointed as deputy director of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation. And of course, through him, I thank the lead­ership of our great party and the party itself for consider­ing worthy of that position.

But, for me, it was a call to service and I did everything possible within my God-giv­en ability to put in my best. And to the glory of God, APC won that presidential elec­tion. And as today, we have Muhammadu Buhari as the President of the Federal Re­public of Nigeria on the plat­form of the APC. Well, I think that in itself is gratifying and naturally, one should feel elated about that because naturally, you cannot rewrite that history the other way. When the history is written about the first time an oppo­sition party won a presiden­tial election, the name of my humble self would be written as the deputy director-gener­al of the Presidential Cam­paign as being part of it. That is the gratifying reality that has been part of history.

But having said that, they should also know that appoint­ments are not over. There are so many other appointments that are there. And Mr. Presi­dent, I told you is a very thor­ough person who takes his time in what he does. It is his prerogative and I believe that at the appropriate time, when he finds me proper and suit­able for a particular position, he will appoint me as he deems fit. I don’t feel bad in any way and I can assure you there is no cause for alarm as Mr. Presi­dent knows what he is doing. I am very happy with myself. It is a call to service and when I am called upon again for more service I am available. However, my loyalty is unflinching to Mr. President and of course to my party because it is the govern­ment of APC ably headed by President Muhammadu Buhari at the driver seat of that govern­ment. So, any time he needs me to serve in one position or the other, I will feel honoured and I will be available. I don’t feel any sense of disappointment at all because there is no cause for it because the appointments have not been exhausted. So, at the fullness of time, Nigerians’  expectations would be met.

How do you feel when you hear people say that this administration is slow?

Well, I have heard the people say such a thing. But for me, you need to take it in context of what Buhari administration met on ground. And if you look at revela­tion coming out now, you will appreciate that things had gone so bad, so bad that President Muhammadu Buhari has no choice than to take his time in order to gradually reset the country in terms of governance. Where does he want to start from? Is it the issue of corruption? Or the high level of impunity, mismanage­ment, misappropriation or misapplica­tion of funds? I think Buhari administra­tion has no choice than to take his time in trying to put things in place and reset governance processes so that we won’t be back to square one. And I thing that is what is happening. I don’t think it is the issue of being slow. It is a question of the administration taking its time to ensure that things are done properly and the wrongs are righted, so to speak. And gradually, as they say, easy does it. Slow and steady, they say, wins the race.

Do you blame the people for ex­pressing their disappointment?

I don’t blame the masses for being impatient because their expectations are justifiable. People voted change ac­tually. But change cannot be achieved overnight. I understand and appreciate the people’s high level of expectations. But at the same time, as I said earlier on, change cannot just happen in one fell swoop. We have just had a new govern­ment and effecting a change is a gradual process that cannot happen in one fell swoop.

Take for example the three major cam­paign issues of the APC as a party during the electioneering. The issue of the fight against corruption, the issue of security particularly fighting the insurgency espe­cially, the Boko Haram. And finally, the issue of economy.

And if you look at the approach of President Muhammadu Buhari, he has been tackling the issue of insurgency ef­fectively. Yes, insurgency is a worldwide phenomenon and not something you can just get right immediately. But no doubt, our security forces have done so much. I agree we are not yet out of the woods but gradually and steadily, we are recov­ering a lot of lost ground, we are recover­ing every inch of Nigeria’s territory that had been earlier captured by the insur­gents. And then, we are getting support from our neighbours and from the inter­national communities. Gradually, things are being put under control. Though we are not there yet, definitely we are get­ting results.

From there, Mr. President has moved to the issue of corruption. And you can see that the anti-corruption agencies are now more active than ever before. In fact, leadership has changed and we are beginning to see mind boggling rev­elations which hitherto were not known to be real. Even those apprehended have confirmed that it is true that they were given the money that was to be our com­monwealth. Then, some of the money was misappropriated, misapplied while some were not appropriated for in the first place. And the whole thing has be­come what I usually call a national ba­zaar! They were just sharing money for purposes they were not meant for. It was the money that was meant to procure military hardware to stem the tide of in­surgency.

In fact, it was so unfortunate that we are looking at the situation of some sol­diers being court-martialled and even sentenced to death. These soldiers pleaded that equipment to fight were not given to them and that, that was why they deserted, as it were, only to see it now that truly, the equipment were not bought. And the money for the weap­ons was not used for the purpose it was meant for.

This is really shocking. We were even told that a lot of people have returned money and some people doubted that. But the President has confirmed it and has even directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to publish names of those who return money and how much they returned. This was not considered initially so as not to jeopardize the pro­cess of others who would want to return money. So, the anti corruption drive is on course.

And if you look at the economy, for­tunately, we all listened to the budget address that was presented to the Na­tional Assembly. From Mr. President’s address of the 2016 budget estimation, we can see that if that budget is imple­mented scrupulously, then, we should be expecting a turnaround in the economy in 2016. So, in essence, what I am saying is that the hope of Nigerians would not be dashed in terms of what they expect from Buhari administration. My own charge to the people is to be patient with the administration and that, slowly but steadily, better days would come.

If you were to be the Chief of Army Staff, how would you have handled the Shi’ites episode in Zaria?

Well, the first thing is to commiserate with that group especially the families of the loved ones that lost their lives in that unfortunate incident. It was re­ally, really unfortunate. Having said that, you see, any issue of religion has to be approached in a very, very careful man­ner because it is usually very sensitive. It is even more sensitive in our situation where we are battling with insurgency is­sue which has a tinge of religion associ­ated with it. Yes, Boko Haram people are making their claim that they are fighting an Islamic cause which has been highly refuted that it is not so. They are just a bunch of criminals trying to undermine the Islamic religion which I also share.

But be that as it may, we have to be very careful. It is unfortunate, it shouldn’t have happened under any circumstance because it is a delicate and sensitive mat­ter. Without wanting to be personal by mentioning the Chief of Army Staff, just let us say the military as an institution ought to have considered the totality of the situation at hand. We cannot afford to compound an already bad situation. So, I would have expected that the issue be handled in a very different way. This is because whichever way we look at it, it still amounts to extra judicial killing, which itself is against the constitution of the land. I will, with all sense of respect for our military, say that they still have to handle the matter in an amicably man­ner by going extra mile in trying to calm frayed nerves. Even the loss of one life in an extra judicial manner cannot be justi­fied in democracy not to talk of so many lives and all that. Fortunately, a high powered investigative panel has been set up to really look into the matter. In fact, it is even before the Human Right Com­mission to look at what really transpired and let us wait and see what the outcome would be.

My own appeal is for all concerned, both the religious sect and the security forces and the government to find a way to calm frayed nerves. We cannot afford, in any way, to escalate the situation. I will once again commiserate with the group and families of those who lost that lives in that unfortunate incident.

What is your take on the renewed agitation for the State of Biafra?

Well, again, it is an issue we cannot af­ford because it is a detraction to gover­nance. We cannot afford it. I am not com­fortable with it to answer your question. We have to approach it with the high sense of diplomacy. And we must also appreciate that these people are still our brothers and sisters. They are Nigerians. They may not do what they are doing in a right manner, but they want to be heard. So, we should listen to them and hear them out.

Yes, I may not agree with the process, particularly a process that is violence-based. But, in democracy, we must lis­ten to people, moreso when they are not violent. That was why I said I don’t agree with the violence that has been in­troduced into it. But they are Nigerians who are seeking to be heard, may be in a wrong way. Having said that, we must listen to them, we must hear them out. What do they want? How do we assuage their feelings? Do they feel marginalized in the commonwealth of Nigeria? Well, rightly or wrongly, we need to listen to them. We need to find a way of assuaging their feelings and find a way to let them have a sense of belonging within that commonwealth of Nigeria. And I believe that once they are assured and given a sense of belonging, the situation would change and we will live together happily thereafter.

Do you think implementation of the recommendations of the recently held National Conference could have prevented the agitation?

Yes, I said that before even though I was one of those who were opposed to the confab. It was not the concept or the idea of the confab I was opposed to then. But I was opposed to it for a number of reasons then. One, the time was wrong. It was at the twilight of the Jonathan ad­ministration. Two, it was political. It was just like dangling a carrot especially to the south-west which has always been in the forefront of the struggle for eman­cipation, the struggle for federalism and all that with due respect to other zones of the country. It was a way to capture votes in the south-west. Three, there was no enabling Act backing it. It was just a presidential pronouncement which can­not amount to law. Four, we had it be­fore under Obasanjo. What came out of it? Nothing. Five, the period assigned for the exercise, three month and again an­other month or so, could not be enough to really discuss in a robust manner, the problems of this country. Seven, the manner the delegates were virtually and mostly handpicked by the government.

Those were the grounds for my own personal objection or disapproval of that conference then. It is not that one is opposed to sitting down to discuss the national question. The Yoruba have this saying that, “when we sit down together, we get wiser.”

But in spite of my reservation on the confab which I have expressed, I still be­lieve that some of the resolutions ema­nating from that confab are useful to us. I believe that we should not throw away the baby with the bath water.

So, back to your question. I believe that if some of the resolutions are im­plemented, they would go a long way in correcting the perceived imbalance and injustice in the country. Of course, one of the recommendations is the issue of federalism. That is allowing the geo-political zones to be in charge of certain affairs on their own. And of course, to a large extent, some political zones are made up of some states as well which should be allowed to develop at their own pace. And that the geo-political zones should be established formally to be in the Constitution. For now they are just conventional. They should be recog­nized and formally accepted in the Con­stitution.

Another recommendation which I think this administration should look into is the issue of the State Police as well as the issue of devolution of power. Too much power concentrates in the hand of the Federal Government. Look­ing at the Executive and Legislative lists, we need to take some things from the Executive list to the states. Like I said, there are some of these recommenda­tions that if implemented will go a long way in restructuring the country to give states and geo-political zones a sense of belonging that would go a long way to ensure a balance structure of the federa­tion.

Credit: Sunday Sun