If this trend is not checked and nipped in the bud, what might likely be the end result of these agitations on this nation?
We have seen the effect already. Every day, you cannot get power because the gas supply to the power plants has been cut off. Sometimes we don’t have light for a whole week. So, it is affecting everything.
If the agitation in the Niger Delta is sustained, the Biafra struggle is sustained, and the Boko Haram insurgency in the North east is not contained, what is the possibility of survival of Nigeria as one indivisible country?
That is the big question mark. Nigeria may disintegrate. But we must continue hoping, we must not lose faith in ourselves. We must continue to hope that somehow this phase will pass.
So, effectively Nigeria is already on the path of disintegration?
Yes, it is. It is a process and is already going on. If we are not able to terminate the process and we allow it to continue to go on, we may disintegrate. But I hope and pray that it will not go on like this.
This then brings to question the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari who fought for the presidency for four consecutive times to get there. Is it for his lack of vision that the economy of the country is on the reverse trend?
You are right; he fought for the presidency in three successive elections and he persisted. He failed the first one, failed the second, failed the third and finally won the fourth attempt. One would have thought that the man who went through three elections and emerged at the fourth attempt would have a vision of what he wants to do for the country not advancement of some personal agenda or sectional interests.
It is a complete betrayal of our expectation as to what motivated him to go on fighting. What we have seen is a complete betrayal of our expectations. Nobody would have thought that the man who fought four successive elections to become president would be there only to advance some sectional interests. It is difficult to reconcile. But that is what we have. We must continue to hope that the trend will be reversed and that he will give up this tendency to advance the Northernisation and Islamisation agenda. But what is happening today is clear that his agenda is Northernisation and Islamisation of the country. If he realizes the danger that is implicit in the pursuit of that agenda and that it contradicts the expectation of the people, he will look into the report of the 2014 national conference and implement it.
There is a loud agitation for restructuring almost everywhere in the South, whereas a sizeable number of people in the North still believe that the country should remain the way it is configured at present. What do you think is the fear of the Northern people about the idea of structuring?
Their own thinking is different. Their main thinking is supremacy. If we restructure, they will lose supremacy. If we restructure, the power of the Federal Government will go down. They can maintain this dominance only, if the powers of the Federal Government are retained as they are now. Restructuring means not only altering territorial structure, but also altering power structure. At the moment, the Federal Government at the centre is too powerful and the whole idea of restructuring is to reduce it to at least what it was in the First Republic, which they don’t want because that would affect their ambition to control the country. But they must realise that they can’t go on resisting this. We cannot continue with the arrangement that gives to the Federal Government excessive powers. We must reduce it and redistribute it to the six geo-political zones. It must be done. They don’t want any diminishing in the powers of the Federal Government at the centre which they want to control. They don’t want to control nothing but they want to control something.
So, what should the concerned stakeholders do to get out of this quagmire?
They should continue the agitation. That is all. They should continue the agitation employing all constitutional means. The hand must be forced to accept restructuring.
Going back to the Biafra agitation, there is on one hand a section of the agitators who prefer to toe the line of constitutional means, which you have just suggested to achieve their demands. According to the report, they have gone to court to seek intervention in their struggle for self determination. There is yet another group which believes in violent protest to achieve the same goal. Which of these two options is more viable?
I don’t believe in violent method. I don’t think it will pay off. It has not paid off in the past. The secession of Biafra for three years didn’t bring any dividend to us. Agitation by means of court action I do not think also will achieve the purpose. If you go to court, what do you expect the court to decide in a case like this? Will the court tell you that you have the right to self determination? What is self determination? That is a very ambiguous term. If you go to court to say you want self determination, let’s assume they grant you the right to self determination, how do you enforce it? Due process or constitutional process is not really about going to court. There are internal and constitutional processes that can force a change.
In what way? Could you define that constitutional process?
There are many of them. There are many processes that can be used to force the hands of government. Impeachment is one of them.
You mean impeachment of the president?
Yes. I don’t advocate that, but if you can muster the necessary majority and you impeach him that will teach everybody a lesson. There are other constitutional means of forcing the hands of a government that is recalcitrant. I don’t believe in violence, but it is unfortunate that they are following this trend. This country cannot progress without restructuring. It has to be restructured. Restructuring means reducing the powers of the Federal Government at the centre.
