A few hours
after the meeting of the Southern Forum ended in
his state, the Enugu State Governor, Dr.
Chimaroke Nnamani, told newsmen that the
brouhaha over a third term agenda for President
Olusegun Obasanjo was only an elitist deceit to
divert attention from the critical issue of the
review of the constitution. DOTUN OLADIPO was
there. Excerpt:
Few years ago, to
hold a meeting that would be accepted to all the
political leaders in the three geo-political
zones that make up the South was unthinkable. As
the main brain behind the Southern Forum
conference, how did you achieve this?
Yes. Such a meeting may be unthinkable
few years ago, but it is all part of
globalisation. Nigeria has joined the global
village, it has mixed up with the comity of
nations. All these CNN, BBC, Channel O, with
democracy people, are becoming more assertive
and independent. You know that the years of
military rule came with wanton degradation and
erosion of the dignity of our people. Democracy
is six years in the country and I believe that
dignity is being restored. People are becoming
more assertive, more independent and more aware
of their rights. You can see from the response,
that is the attendance at the conference,
despite the short notice, the passion of the
discussion. The energy was palpable, the
conference was a natural response to what is
going on. There is a genuine attempt for people
to restate their position in the Nigerian
project. Not just for themselves but for their
children and for posterity.
You said the
conference was the people’s response to what is
going on. What do you mean by that?
The
Nigerian project. If you listened to and watched
my address, you would have heard where I talked
about self realisation. The Nigerian project is
not a forced project. It is a voluntary project.
Our fathers discussed before coming together.
The Nigerian nation was not forced on us. The
various regions – the Eastern Region, Western
Region and Northern Region – were somewhat
independent. They had pacts with foreign nations
and we agreed to come together. If not that we
agreed, each of those region could have gone on
its own. But our fathers agreed, even with the
Mid-Western Region, they agreed. But because of
what I choose to describe as neocolonialism, the
African nationalists, the tragedy was that those
who essentially fought for independence were not
the people in control. You now have a group of
new Africans, new colonialists, if you choose to
call them so. You have a polity that is there
but not essentially for capacity building to be
able to handle the needs of independent African
states. Of course, we had the hostilities and
many years of military dictatorship. There was
no debate. That gave an impression that the
Nigeria project is a forced project – forced in
the sense that the parameters were carved on
stone. They were not carved on stone. But like
any union, any partnership needs a continuous
trial and debate to fine-tune it, to make it
viable. I believe there is a sudden realisation,
especially by the people in the South, that
there should be a continuous negotiation. The
Nigeria project is a project under a democracy,
that needs a continuous negotiation and
re-negotiation, unlike under military rule when
the union was carved on stone.
At the
conference, participants agreed that power
should shift to the South-East or South-South?
Why was it difficult to decide between the two
zones?
I must make it very clear that
the meeting had nothing to do with powershift
and had nothing to do with the presidency. The
issue of who gets the presidency is almost
personal – personal when you consider the level
of maturity of the polity where the actors and
addresses on the stage, as it were, are not true
leaders or true politicians. They are mere
artisans; we have pedestrians in the corridors
of power. They are without an ideology, moving
from party to party and from one administration
to another. So, the big issue is not who gets
the presidency. The big issue is about
restructuring. The big issue is about the
Nigeria project – how do we live together; how
do we govern ourselves; how do we protect
ourselves; how do we share our resources through
physical and fiscal federalism?
So, the
highlight of the conference is not who gets the
presidency. It is about constitutionalism. How
do we amend our constitution to reflect the true
Nigeria project to answer the national question?
How do we plan; how do we get viable statistics?
It is about derivation. In a largely
underdeveloped Nigerian politics, I don’t
believe the issue is essentially who gets the
presidency. I think it is about hunger, about
gender empowerment, about universal basic
education and maternal mortality. If all these
problems are solved or correctly addressed,
whoever gets the presidency becomes immaterial.
The struggle for power in our polity is because
of an aggressive search by some for the little
available resources. That is why everybody
targets the presidency. The presidency is
important. But for me, it is almost ephemeral if
the main issues are addressed. That is my
personal opinion.
Before the conference,
it was widely rumoured that the meeting was
convened by President Olusegun Obasanjo to
endorse his third term bid. What is your
reaction to this?
The press, sometimes,
I wonder whether you realise the level of
responsibility that you have. Few years ago,
journalists would not be allowed in that
conference hall. They just come and take
pictures and go. I must say that some of us
realise the importance of communication and
transparency and that was why journalists were
there all through. What you saw, did it look
like an Obasanjo-sponsored programme? Was it
Obasanjo that sponsored (Chief Olu) Falae to the
conference? Was it him that sponsored (Retired
Commodore) Ebitu Ukiwe to the conference?
Sponsored Senator Femi Okorounmu to sign the
communique? Third term does not mean anything.
It is totally meaningless. I have been waiting
for somebody to define it. Is it third term of
what? We have a democracy, a true democracy that
guarantees two terms of eight years. How do you
do third term? Remove the constitution because
you want to do third term with or without an
election? Impossible. There is nothing like
that. How do you do third term when you have a
constitution that says two terms of eight years?
Is it to amend the constitution and have a third
term? There is nothing like that. Why do you
people believe that the President of Nigeria
will convene governors to a meeting at Enugu and
come out with a communique that will endorse
third term? How does he do that? Give us money?
How would he get Ebitu Ukiwe, Falae, etc to come
down to Enugu to discuss third term? The Enugu
gathering has never been witnessed before. Let
us work on fact not on speculation. I can tell
you that there is nothing like third term.
Nothing like that at all.
If there is
nothing like third term, why did you choose to
hold the meeting at a time when it is the
dominant issue?
We cannot allow the
issue of third term or no third term to blind
our eyes to the necessity for constitutional
review. If the meeting was not done, last year,
two years ago, why not now? I don’t think you
understand the level of the problems of this
country. Do you realise that we are in 2005 and
you cannot get a flight to Enugu Airport? When
the Enugu Airport was established, how many
airports were in Nigeria? If not for the
distortion in the Nigerian debate, if not for
the displacement of the Nigerian values, how can
we have things as they are today? When this
country started, by the time Chief Michael
Okpara and Nnamdi Azikiwe were building the
Enugu Airport, how many airports were in
Nigeria? Because of a man shirking his
responsibility, that is why we are looking for
planes to land in Enugu Airport today. And you
are telling me third term. Do you know how this
country was set up? Do you know how Nigeria
started? Our fathers made enormous sacrifice to
bring about Nigeria. Who is talking about third
term? I have not come all the way to this place
to talk about third term. I have come a long
way. I am a professional. I didn’t come down
here to talk about third term. The third term
talk is a confusion, it is an elitist deceit.
Our focus is not about third term. It is
about true and fiscal federalism; it is about
sharing resources; it is about self respect and
dignity. It is about self-determination. I have
told you earlier that our polity is not mature
enough. Our politics is not based on ideology;
it is not based on right or wrong. We have a
society where over 90 per cent are poor. Their
wives die in child labour; their kids die from
diarrhoea, it is a society where hunger is the
norm. The issue is not third term, it is not.
The press has a responsibility to help shape the
debate. I have told you that political office in
Nigeria is not personal, it is not based on
ideology. How many people can come out and say
they want to be governor and stand by that? It
is not when you contest governorship and do not
win, you will be compensated with the Senate. If
you fail in a local government election, you
turn your back and say ‘can I go to the House of
Representatives?’ No vision. Pure artisans –
people who are not competent, who otherwise on a
level-playing field do not even have what it
takes to compete, but because of the years of
arbitrary military rule threw up mediocrity, we
have all these people. Commissioned agents,
contractors. They are those we call politicians.
Why some of us are involved is to do
what is right; to show some example. Apart from
a few parties, what are the identities of other
parties? Do they engage in reward debates? There
is a disconnection between the politicians and
the people. Ignorance, total ignorance
everywhere. If you were in the developed world
and you were talking about a third term, the
people would not listen to you. But not in
Nigeria where 98 per cent of the people have no
idea about where the next meal will come from.
When you go to America, people go to the
congress for a definite reason. Some go there
because they were injured socially and they want
to enthrone a new order or that they inherited
wealth. That’s why Americans go to the congress.
They go there either because their parents are
rich and they inherited wealth or they have a
personal goals they want to achieve. There is no
deceit.
So, the issue is not third term.
The issue is about going back to where our
fathers started so that we can achieve our
objective – self-respect, dignity and
self-fulfilment. This is very important. It is
not about third term. I don’t discuss third term
because it does not mean anything to me. If
there is an amendment of the constitution, it is
going to state whether it is going to be four
years; and whether it is four years of how many
terms. If it says four years of three terms, it
is 12 years. If it says five years of two
tenures, it is 10 years. I don’t know where this
third term is coming from. Are you saying the
National Assembly will just go and make
constitutional amendments and say there is an
extra four years for the President? Even if it
is four years of three tenures you want, are you
going to bend democracy? Are you going to bend
the rule and you say you are joining
globalisation?
