Restructuring: Unending war as protagonists, antagonists trade tackle over 2014 Confab

By Razaq Bamidele

In the past three decades or more, the one agenda that has polarised Nigerians, particularly the political elite, more than anything else, is the ‘restructuring’ mantra. And the mantra, like a recurring decimal, has refused to go away. Whenever it appears that the hydra headed monster is fizzling out with the passage of time, the more it rears its ugly head with more ferocity.

And the root of the vexatious political sing song can be traced to 1966 when the military made its incursion into the country’s political sphere through a bloody coup. The coup and counter coup that followed made nonsense of the 1960 constitution, which gave the country a federal system of government. The military junta replaced the federal system with a unitary arrangement that abolished the regional autonomy that was in place at the time. The federal system, which allowed all the ethnic nationalities to develop at their own pace now yielded ground to a situation where too much power was concentrated at the centre.

So, it was not surprising when agitations for a return to the status quo became loud and deafening during the various military regimes that held Nigeria rooted to one spot.

Leading the list of the protagonists of federal system was the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The former Premier of the Western region devoted his time to the clamour for a federal system of government throughout his political life and in his numerous writings.

Awolowo was succeeded in the clamour by other leading Yoruba politicians and non-political figures, who were and are still prominent in the activities of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere. Such people include Senator Abraham Adesanya, Chief Bola Ige, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Comrade Ayo Opadokun, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Dr. Femi Okunronmu, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Kofowola Bucknor-Akerele, Chief Lam Adesina, Dr. Beko ransome Kuti.

Mention could also be made of the likes of Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, Prof Wole Soyinka and Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Olu Falae, Segun Osoba, among others.

Some of the agitators came to national prominence with the annulment of the 1993 presidential election by the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and the formation of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO. Although, the organisation was populated mainly by people from the South-west, there were also notable figures from other zones like Chief Anthony Enahoro, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd.), C.G. Onoh, Mohammed Arzika, Lulu-Briggs, Yohanna Madaki, Uma Eleazu, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Ebitu Ukiwe, among others.

The June 12 1993 presidential election was considered to be the freest, fairest and the most credible in the history of Nigeria. It was annulled, as business mogul, Chief Moshood Abiola, was coasting home to victory.

Agitation for the de-annulment of that election led to the formation of NADECO and other pro-democracy groups.

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Interim National Government

When the agitation for the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993 election was becoming unbearable for the regime of Gen. Babangida, he had to step aside, but not before he had caused another unprecedented political contraption, called the Interim National Government, ING, with Chief Earnest Shonekan, Abiola’s townsman, as the head.

Chief Fawehinmi, the Convener of the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria, JACON, instantly predicted the fall of Shonekan.

He said: “Shonekan would go faster than he came.” The prophecy came to pass, as the late General Sani Abacha booted him out of power within 83 days, after a court had declared the contraption illegal.

Abacha also dilly dallied over transition to civil rule. He compounded the country’s political woes when he planned to transmute into a civilian president. But the cold hands of death cut short his ambition.

NADECO agitation at this time was not limited to the revalidation of the June 12 election; it dovetailed into clamour for true federalism and resource control by the regions that make up corporate Nigeria.

Transition period and polarisation of pro-democracy agitators

Interestingly, when there was assurance that the new man at the helm of affairs, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, would handover power to a democratically elected government in the shortest possible time, pro-democracy groups went to war against one another. While the likes of Fawehinmi, Falana and Beko Ransome-Kuti preferred the formation of Government of National Unity, GNU, that would usher in true democracy through election, the likes of Adesanya, Adebanjo, Opadokun, Tunji Abayomi and Tinubu preferred going along with the military on its transition programme.

Their take was in line with the Yoruba adage that says, the fox should be chased away first before coming back to deal with the fowl. They were of the view that after the military must have handed over power, the civilians could clean up the Augean stable by organising clean elections later to usher in real democracy.

But Fawehinmi and his troop felt otherwise. According to them, the military could not be trusted to midwife the enthronement of true democracy, accusing those in the opposing group, as political opportunists. This group believed that the formation of a GNU would allow a window into the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, SNC, which would guarantee the restructuring of the country before an election could thereafter be conducted.

They contended that conducting elections with the structure the military would bequeath to the country would not be an ideal thing to do, adding that nothing good could come out of any faulty structure.

Evidently, the Adesanya group won, as the military conducted the election that brought to power, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, whom the restructuring protagonists thought would convene a SNC.

But they were shocked, as Obasanjo, spending eight years in power, refused to convoke a conference, sovereign or otherwise. His successor, Umaru Yar’Adua did not also make any attempt despite spending two years in office before his demise.

2014 Confab

In 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan, who succeeded Yar’Adua, summoned the courage and convened a National Confab, which he said was in line with the aspirations of Nigerians. But some pro-restructuring agitators, most especially from the South-west opted out of the exercise, claiming that it was a selfish political agenda meant to ensure a second term for the president.

However, Jonathan defended himself at the public presentation of a book by Senator Femi Okunrounmu titled: ‘The Dream: Pursuing the Black Renaissance Through the Murky Waters of Politics’, recently in Lagos, where he stressed that his administration could not implement the recommendations of that Confab because it did not have enough time to do so.

According to him, the 2014 National Conference was convened because he believed that the call for a national dialogue could no longer be ignored, in view of the yearnings of Nigerians for reforms.

He said: “It was a decision taken to reconcile ethnic differences, heal old wounds and promote peace,” adding that the nation needs to implement the recommendations of the conference, in order to make progress.

Making a case for the implementation of the 2014 conference recommendations, Jonathan said: “The call for reforms has continued to grow louder, gathering the kind of momentum that should no longer be overlooked, if the nation must make real progress.

“I believe that the solutions to most of the problems we face today lie in our honest assessment of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference. If we take politics out of our consideration, there is every likelihood that a diligent implementation of the key recommendations of the Conference will lead the nation out of the woods. This will heal frayed nerves, promote solidarity, engender peace and reposition our nation for meaningful growth and sustainable development.”

On why his government could not implement the recommendations the former President noted that the report was submitted to him less than one year to the end of his tenure when the nation was already in the mood of electioneering.

He said further: “Then, the members of the National Assembly, whose duty it was to consider and validate the process were preoccupied with the battle for political survival.

“I believed that given the nature of the consultations and due deliberations involved in advancing the process, an orderly and systematic implementation could not have been conducted in less than one year. It was obvious we did not have that time before the end of my administration. I did not insist on a rushed implementation because my administration did not embark on the conference to achieve political popularity but to genuinely advance the course of nation-building.

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“We assembled 492 reputable individuals, drawn from all walks of lives and shades of opinion, who emerged through a rigorous selection process, to conduct diligent deliberations over a period of 120 days. We did this not to score a political point, but to come up with ideas on how to strengthen the pillars of our democracy and build a new foundation for sustainable nationhood.”

Backing Jonathan on the 2014 Confab, an elder statesman and chieftain of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo in an interview said: “If anybody is serious about restructuring, implementation of the reports of the 2014 conference organised by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration stands as a guide for restructuring we are talking about.”

According to the 95 years old loyal disciple of Obafemi Awolowo, that conference was the most representative conference in this country, asserting that, Buhari can never gather people who gathered in 2014 again in terms of their quality.

In his own reaction, Comrade Ayo Opadokun, a lawyer, human rights fighter and National Secretary of NADECO, in an interview asserted that although, without restructuring, Nigeria would not go far, but the former General Secretary of Afenifere said the 2014 Confab were efforts that have been over coloured and imprimatur by military agenda.

He said that could explain why people were asking for additional 30 more states or thereabouts in the so called conference, which he called a very ridiculous exercise.

On the way out, Opadokun has this to say: “It is for the current political operator, President Buhari, to be pro-active to call ethnic nationalities’ leaders to elect through their traditional customary ways their representatives so that they can sit down. And the basic paper should be the 1960 constitution which was negotiated by ethnic nationalities’ leaders and nationalists so that they can discuss and resolve the national question.

“That is the only lasting legacy he (Buhari) can leave behind. All his efforts at securing the nation, security wise, including the economy, fighting corruption would not yield result. Reason? It is because these are the symptoms of a malignant state which is the human efforts to subjugate others when it is human endeavour to be free and independent. He must have the right to belong to a place and not forced into it.”

Dilemma

Now that the pro-2014 Confab and its antagonists are unanimous on restructuring, the question is how they would meet at an agreeable point to achieve their common goal.