Yinka Odumakin is the national publicity secretary of the pan Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere.
In this interview with RAZAQ BAMIDELE in Lagos, the Osun State-born author and columnist asserted that the Yoruba nation is not interested in the 2023 presidency because the structure on ground cannot guarantee the survival of the country till that date. According to him, it is only the political traders in Yoruba land that are clamouring for Yoruba President in 2023.
Odumakin also spoke on other topical national issues like the alleged siege of Fulani herdsmen to Yoruba land and its consequences, the impunity in the country and looming hunger among others.
Which of the factions of the Afenifere do you speak for?
The one and the only Afenifere, of course. I don’t know of any other Afenifere. I am not aware of any other. In terms of commitment to the ideal of Yoruba people, the values, the saner interest of our people, we have only one pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, which is Afenifere of which I am, by the grace of God, the national publicity secretary.
Since the Fulani herdsmen have been killing, maiming and kidnapping our people, it is only one Afenifere that we have heard in all this. When there was war in Ile-Ife and the police bundled our people to Abuja and detained them, we heard only the voice of Afenifere. In all the challenges facing the Yoruba people, the siege to our land, the kidnap of our people, all kinds of atrocities being committed against our people, we heard only our voice – the Afenifere.
So, if any group went to gather somewhere for the people, serving interests against our Yoruba people, and they call themselves Afenifere, they are only misnomer; they are impersonators, they don’t mean well for Yoruba people, and therefore, nobody should take such people serious.
And if anybody wants to use the name Afenifere for selfish interest, for promoting interests that are antithetical to Yoruba interests, to give cover to those who are destroying the lives of our people, then, they have a case with Awolowo in his grave.
What is your take on the state of the nation vis-a-vis 20 years of democracy in Nigeria?
Well, I will not say 20 years of democracy. I will say 20 years of civil rule because we have not had real democracy in the last 20 years. What we have been practising has been civil rule. What we have been experiencing in the last four years has even moved away from civil rule; we are now moving into elected dictatorship. So, there is no sense, in my imagination, that anybody can really say that what we have in Nigeria today is democracy. Yes, it is civil rule because we don’t have the army in authority, though we still have military personnel in charge of our civil rule.
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How do you mean?
Well, the critical ingredient of democracy is the principle of separation of power where you have three arms of government that are independent and functioning independently. There is check and balance. In the last four years particularly, that has largely been destroyed in our civil rule. The situation now is that we have the judiciary that if it makes a bold pronouncement, people would be surprised and thank God. So also the legislature. At a stage, the Department of Security Service, DSS, invaded the National Assembly. At a stage, somebody went and took the Mace. One of those who were alleged to have taken the Mace is now rewarded.
Today, we have a rubber stamp legislature because it is in the pocket of the executive. The judiciary has also been pocketed by the executive. You saw a situation where a senator cannot appoint a media aide. He has already appointed, on merit, a media adviser; then the APC started wahala. He was summoned to the Villa and instructed to go and reverse what he has done. So, he had to reverse himself.
Even as bad as it was recently, could Osinbajo (Vice President) call Saraki and instruct him to go and reverse what he has done? Wouldn’t he ask him, have I appointed him for you? So, where we are today is elected dictatorship.
What do you think would be the consequences of such?
It is very clear. Once you remove the principle of checks and balances within democracy, it is no more democracy because between military rule and civil rule, there is only one difference which is the legislature. Under the military, we have only the executive and judiciary. But the situation where you have a rubber stamp legislature and judiciary is under assault and we have only one arm of government, clearly we have a dictatorship. And when we have a dictatorship, we cannot have democracy. And where there is no democracy, there would not be human right. And where there is no human right, the liberty of the citizen is constrained. And in that situation, citizens cannot express their happiness because they are under dictatorship. They are under iron curtains. And therefore, we cannot expect the best practices. And when the government is not on its toes, the capacity to develop would not be there. There would be sheer impunity.
It has been almost a month now that this government was inaugurated. And those tenured appointees, who are time bound, whose tenure has expired with the last administration, are still in office. When the man took oath of office, did he reappoint them? He didn’t do so. They still stay put in office. Garba Shehu is still issuing statements on behalf of the president. That is the kind of impunity that people have when we don’t have democracy in place and when you have only one arm of government riding roughshod over other institutions of government. And in such situations, you cannot have the best practices; you cannot see values of democracy. Governance is about development of polity, it is about promotion of interest of those who hold them in power.
Can that then have adverse effect on the economy?
It is not an accident that the absence of democracy in Nigeria goes hand in hand in deepening poverty in our land. Today, Nigeria is the global headquarters of poverty. In the world today, the poorest people are Nigerians. The rate of suicide has increased astronomically that the newspapers have stopped reporting it. All kinds of crimes like kidnapping are on the rise. Banditry everywhere. Kidnap for ransom. Murder and ritual killings. We read about a man who said he was selling a human head for N700,000. All kinds of things!
Nigeria is becoming a failed state. The governable citizens today in Nigeria are shrinking. Most of the citizens today in Nigeria are ungovernable. The essence of development is predicated on government being responsive to the people and, therefore, always looks out for the greatest good for the greatest majority of the people. But when you have a government defined by impunity that cares about nothing for anybody, that does things according to its whims and caprices, which cannot be in the best interest of the people; you can see that virtually most of the decisions being taken in Nigeria today, you cannot see the best interest of the people being taken into consideration.
So, the economy today is not even in negotiation. In the days of Obasanjo, Yar’adua, Jonathan and the rest of them, they put some things in place. When people like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala were talking, you would see that they were talking about the government and its policies. They were talking about the economy and they were making sense. In the last four years, who were the people of that calibre that could talk and people would listen and agree with them?
We are now in a situation, where because of impunity in the land, government does not even know the bounds. The last time that Obasanjo spoke that the agenda of Miyetti Allah and Boko Haram is to Fulanise Nigeria and so on, till today, have you heard Miyetti Allah or Boko Haram disputing Obasanjo? Who are the people responding? Garba Shehu! He is responding on behalf of Miyetti Allah and Boko Haram. In fact, Garba Shehu even carries it to a silly extent when he said Miyetti Allah should be seen as Afenifere and Ohanaeze.
So, you would have seen the way, because of impunity (that) law and order is being enforced in the country. The Fulani herdsmen, when they go about killing, they also admit that they do the killings. They are causing mayhem here and there.
Even in the South-West now, most of the people that were kidnapped have come out to say they were kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen. Can you see any of them in detention today? And when that continues to happen, what they are doing is very clear. The hunger that is coming to this country now, is just a few kilometres away. Today now, people can no longer go to their farms. People are afraid to be kidnapped. Those people that were kidnapped paid ransom. So, the hunger that would kill Nigeria, only God can save us.
And sadly, you cannot expect meaningful development in the absence of democracy and dictatorship that is benevolent.
What are you saying about the siege to Yoruba land?
Well, we have not been folding our alms. We have not been keeping quiet. The only weapon that we have is our voice. And we have been raising our voices clearly against the siege.
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When Afenifere called the attention of the president last year to the fact that he had to make a choice between being the President of Nigeria and Grand Patron of Miyetti Allah, that there is a conflict of interest between his duty as a president, who swore with the constitution of Nigeria to protect every citizen of Nigeria and to enforce law and order, and his being the Grand Patron of the Miyetti Allah, a group that the Global Terrorist Index classified as the fourth terrorist group in the world.
Tell me, if you are a policeman today, would you arrest a member of Miyetti Allah and put him on trial and call him a criminal or terrorist when the president is their Grand Patron, the Commander-in-Chief? Who says there wouldn’t be conflict of interest? The president should choose one. We were not listened to. And it is said that when crime is not punished, the heart of men would be in iniquity. Miyetti Allah has been doing all kinds of things without consequences. Now, the impunity has gone so much that the people of the North are saying they want vigilante in the South-east.
I recall a former Commissioner for Environment in Ondo State was telling us recently that there was a problem between Akure community and northern community. And because he wanted to know what was happening, he called the Hausa community in Akure to a meeting in his office and asked why is this conflict? The Hausa community told the commissioner; ‘you don’t know what you are doing.’ He said, ‘we are Hausa and we are traders. We sell commodities; we sell tomatoes and other things. The only thing we do with cows is that we kill cows and sell suya. But if you are talking about those who are raising cows and causing problems, go and talk to the Fulani, not us. We are not the ones.’
The commissioner said, he then called the leaders of the Fulani community, and the man told the commissioner, ‘go and tell the Deji of Akure that there would be no peace in Akure until they stop trespassing on our land.’ Your land! Which land? And the Fulani community said; ‘the land we bought for grazing on.’ When did you buy the land? He said 15 years ago. So, there was no Akure before 15 years ago before you bought the land?
So, they are waxing strong in that impunity, poking their fingers in the eyes of other Nigerians because in Nigeria, they can do anything without consequences. And that is why we are raising our voices. We are warning about the danger going on.
This country has gone through civil war before. Let no one take us to another war. And for any groups to think that they can drag the country to war and have their way, they should remember, if they read history, they should go and re-read their history of those who won the last civil war. We know those who won the war. And without the participation of those who won the war, those who are riding roughshod on us today would not have defeated the Igbo on their own.
And then, let them also know that the coalition that gave the victory of that civil war is no longer in Nigeria today.
Are you an advocate of Yoruba presidency in 2023?
We are not interested in that nonsense. Mainstream Yoruba leadership thought we are concerned about the safety of our people. We are concerned about a Federal Nigeria where we can run our affairs in relative autonomy like it was in the years before the military took over in 1966. That was what we call restructuring. That was federalism. If Nigeria practises federalism today, what is our business about who is the President of Nigeria?
People have forgotten that even for the North in the First Republic, Ahmadu Bello considered it infradig (an insult) to be Prime Minister of Nigeria rather than Premier of the northern region. He chose to be in Kaduna while he sent his lieutenant, Tafawa Balewa, to go and be Prime Minister in Lagos.
So, it is only Yoruba political traders, who are talking of 2023 presidency. If what we experience now continues, can a country successfully go to vote in 2023 the way we are? Nigeria is disappearing before our very eyes. So, for us, we are on the same page with the Ohaneeze, who said the Igbo are not interested in the presidency under this structure. Yoruba are also saying that we don’t want to be president under this structure.
