Wednesday, February 08 2006

Vol 18 No.152

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It was reported recently that you were a participant at the Governors Forum meeting held lastweek in Abuja. What was it about and what was the outcome of this meeting?

Thank you, gentlemen. The interaction we are having here tonight is consistent with the dialogue expected in the constitutional democracy that we have in Nigeria today. Specifically, barely five to six days ago, governors met in Abuja, about 24 or thereabouts and some represented by their deputies. It was a widely publicized meeting and a communiqué issued to that effect. It had to do with, one, general concern expressed about regional groupings, about the ability and potentials of such regional groupings to further divide the nation; a clarion call by governors to discourage such regional alliances that were possibly associated with some of the problems we had in the past. So governors agreed among themselves and would also encourage their associates in government to de-emphasize regional groupings or groupings that are akin to regional divisive sentiments, partly because these fora are being abused, "by public office seekers" and we agreed that such people are free to use organs as political parties to pursue their political ambitions, rather than use regional groupings.

Secondly, we also looked at the ongoing debate about constitutional amendment. The governors agreed that it should proceed as fast as possible, under due process, to address the over hundred issues that have to do with the polity and to be concluded by this administration. Those were two main issues addressed by the governors. We also addressed issues that have to do with security and other matters.

I don’t think what the governors discussed was in isolation of what are the current issues in the nation. There are current issues that have to do with constitutional debate and amendment. I don’t think that governors need to be teleguided to discuss such issues. They are current issues and there is no doubt that when such meetings hold, it is normal that such issues would be discussed. I can say clearly that that meeting was not teleguided by anybody. The issue of constitutional amendment is a current issue, regional grouping is also current.

 You are bringing the question closer home, rather than looking at it in an abstract nature. You are talking about the continuation of President Olusegun Obasanjo in office if nomination is offered by the PDP and accepted by the PDP, consequent on a constitutional amendment? I believe that is what your question is. It is easier to discuss that issue, rather than talk about an abstract issue of third term or third termism, as people have come to feast on. I can say clearly that for me, our relationship with the president dates back about seven years now and in those seven years, we have had cause to align with him politically. We have had cause to belong to his political family, come rain or shine. I believe that our respect and admiration for the President are based on analysis of history, antecedents and analysis of a divine calling, if you may describe it as such. We have had cause, so many times, to mention in public fora that God, at various times, has placed him in positions of history, right from the point of the time of the hostilities of 1967 to 1970; the terminus of the Murtala administration. We have had cause to make reference, even in writing, to what I believe was his humane attitude to the cessation of hostilities that otherwise, if mishandled in the midst of a celebration by victors, other massacres could have occurred. I believe he brought his experience, his wisdom and gentle disposition to bear to ensure that the war ended the way it ended. Even, we have had cause to discuss his first administration, the expansion of the economic base, infrastructural base, universities, colleges of education, the seaports, shipping lines, airports, Nigeria Airways, the Enugu/Port Harcourt, Enugu/Onitsha expressways etc. We have had cause to refer to his foreign policy exploits and the famous statement, ‘Africa has come of age’, the restoration of the dignity of the African nation in the area of foreign policy, that led to easier and earlier liberation of the South West African countries: Namibia, Zimbabwe and his government played a role even in the economic restriction of South Africa which eventually led to freedom in that land, as well as such restoration of dignity to the African in Nigerian foreign policy, nationalization of Shell, and banks. That first coming came with a lot of history and expansion. And of course, the second coming, we have had cause to say, time and time again, in both public and private fora, the advantages: the removal of the so-called pariah status from Nigeria, and the re-admittance of Nigeria into the comity of nations, as well as the aggressive pursuit of globalization which is essentially information technology, privatization and stakeholder-driven developmental governance. This aggressive pursuit of globalization has led to a plethora of goodies which include the debt relief, the $18 billion debt relief, expansion of the telecom industry, deregulation of the energy sector, expansion of the transportation industry and of course, his foreign policy forays and economic diplomacy that have had impact in Congo, Sao Tome & Principe, Togo, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Cote d’Ivoire and recently in Liberia; an economic diplomacy that has had effects in France, Europe and even in the Americas, a prominence in G77, even the recent economic summit at Davos and even the influence of peace- keeping in Sudan.

I have no doubt that the second coming has had major impact and effect on the polity. So, if the constitution is amended and a situation arises where the PDP offers President Obasanjo nomination, he accepts and runs, I believe he is a good product. I believe he is certainly a good candidate and when you consider the stature of the personality involved, the role he has played as a detribalized Nigerian, his constituency: former military constituency and now, civilian constituency and experience… There are certain things you cannot buy, I believe he would be a good candidate. If the party so decides, his would be a candidature that can stand against any other candidate anytime any day.

Let’s look at his records, a record of a detribalized Nigerian, record of a General that brought the civil war hostilities to an end without major massacre, record of a Head of State that pioneered the restoration of Africa in terms of foreign policy, a record that saw a huge expansion of infrastructure. Or is it a record that saw to the removal of the pariah status? Do I need to repeat them all over? This is statistics, it is data. Or even the war on corruption, the effect in the area of communication and transparency? The other day, we saw the BB Minus rating. I don’t think we have been rated this high before. The fact that the country could agree to subject itself to such rating is gladdening. Even though you may describe me as being partisan, but I am going on record based on statistics and available data. And of course, more importantly, his being able to hold the country together in the last six and half years, despite the restiveness, aggression, ethno-religious desperations here and there. And despite an aggressive opposition, aggressive opposition in a truly democratic state, with freedom of _expression, without an attempt to restrict people. The opposition has been allowed to have their say. I believe the records are there statistically.

I don’t agree with that. What we have in Nigeria is a democracy. We have a democracy based on a constitution, that states clearly the tenure system for a leadership. That same constitution provides means and mechanisms for amending or changing that constitution under a democratic setting. So if that constitution is democratically amended and changed, under due process, it is legitimate. Therefore, actions pursuant to that are also democratically legitimate. So, the idea of a sit-right syndrome does not arise. It is not an issue of declaring a state of emergency, declaring a one party state. There is opposition in the land and it is a vibrant one. And the press is free, freer than many press of other places, even freer than the American press. Some of the things we write here, we can’t write them in the United States, nor the UK. So I am saying that if the constitution is amended under due process, under the tenets of democracy, that actions pursuant to that amendment are also legitimate and therefore, sit-tight does not arise.

In the first place, you would notice that we have tried as much as possible to stay away from third termism. What we are saying is that we have a constitution that has a tenure system. We are saying that, among other things, that constitution is subject to amendment. And if amended democratically, that political actors have a choice to seek political office under that circumstance. In the case of President Olusegun Obasanjo, clearly, there are proponents and opponents of his staying on, and in a case where the PDP offers him nomination and he accepts, it is democratically legitimate. If this happens, then sit-tight does not arise, third termism does not arise, and he would now be operating under an amended new constitution.

Regarding us personally, I can say clearly that our foray into this present second term was more or less because we felt we have something to prove in Enugu State. We went through a four-year battle and if we had left after the first term, I am sure that they would have thought that we abandoned ship. Regarding whether we would be beneficiaries of such a situation, that issue does not arise because unlike at the federal level where there are obvious tension and agitation for the president to stay on, I don’t think we have such in Enugu State. So it does not arise. I have not seen anybody agitating that we stay on here! (laughs). So our own case is different. We don’t have Obasanjo’s record. We have a mere record of six and half or seven years, we are still little guys and have not institutionalized enough for people to call on us to stay on.

I don’t know but I can tell you clearly that the perks, the joy, the grandeur of office have still not hit me. They still have not hit me. This has still been a job, a very hard job, exerting both mentally and physically. That big deal with it has still not hit me. And being on a single job for eight years is a long time.

I think the political leadership has to rise up and say something. You would recall that various stakeholders in the nation state Nigeria have had cause to sacrifice, in order to maintain the sanctity of the nation state and I believe that the Igbos, more so, have also made a lot of sacrifices, both in human lives and material costs, to maintain the unity of this nation. I also believe that apart from MASSOB, there are agitations among other aggrieved ethnic groups. All I can say is that under a democratic milieu provided for us in Nigeria today, non-violent means should be used to pursue accommodation, equity, justice and self respect. So, I believe that it is the responsibility of the leadership to discourage acts that can be associated with violence or divisive tendencies and preach peace and accommodation to our people so that grievances can be resolved through non-violent means and democratically provided mechanisms. We believe that such organizations should subject themselves to such.

My brother, what we need to be careful about is such terms that tend to confuse the whole thing. Things like third termism, extension, sit-tight. They do not arise here. This is a true democracy. They say if it ain’t broken, you don’t fix it. The party chairman, the party organ, even the South West the other day, have, time and time again, said things are working, things are getting done right. We talked about economic diplomacy, debt relief, liberalization of trade, deregulation of energy sector, maintenance of the unity of the nation, peace in the nation, etc. If the party says we have a good candidate in President Olusegun Obasanjo and they are not in a hurry to change a good thing, or not in a hurry to try a new hand and this is done under a true democratic principle, done under due process, it is legitimate and should be supported.

No. What is the Southern Forum initiative? To pursue a constitutional amendment, constitutional provisions that would guarantee true physical and fiscal federalism, where you have devolution of powers so that the federating units would demonstrate true federalism in terms of their relationship with the centre and the marginal units. The Southern Forum initiative is to guarantee the inalienable rights of people to control their resources and say because of the vagaries of the Nigerian situation, 25 per cent graduated to 50 per cent. It talks about ethnicity and religion in the census data, creation of the sixth state in the South East for geo-political balancing, retention of the President in the Southern part of the country. You have to look at that in realization of the feelings of the dominant party which is the PDP and its membership. So it can never be done in isolation.

I can say clearly that for us in Enugu State, our National Assembly representatives, without question, are certainly interested and are certainly pursuing constitutional amendment without question; the eight members of the Federal House of Representatives and the three senators from Enugu State are certainly interested and working hard to achieve constitutional amendment. And for us in the state, when it comes to our House of Assembly, I have no doubt that the leadership, working in consonance with the House, would also pursue and possibly effect constitutional amendments, conducive to our people, under due process. So I can say clearly that I was at that meeting of about 24 governors and I can say without exception that all the governors were in agreement to pursue constitutional amendment. May be one or two had reservations about the seeming haste involved but I can say that in totality, all these governors were in support of constitutional amendment, done under due process and legitimate democratic structures used and to effect it in the life of this administration