Key Excerpt:
AWONIYI: So remember Bamanga
and I had decided to support him [OBASANJO], then I said how many of the other
contestants have signed, they said all of them have signed, so it turned out
now that it is my candidate that has not signed. How do I save him from
himself? So I said, give me a piece of paper, and they gave me a writing pad,
and I wrote, "I so, so, so have seen and read the document you asked me to
sign in the interest of the North or to preserve the interest of the North, I
see nothing in the document which a reasonable man can object to."
That was my draft, but in my own case, in view of my special relationship with
the North, please do not force me to sign, judge me on my past relationship
with the North. I am speaking from memory now, but this was the import of the
draft, but I remember clearly saying there was nothing in it that a reasonable
man can object to. Then I handed it over to Jibril Aminu to say Chairman read
this, then as he was about to read, I said no, give it to me, my handwriting is
so bad, you will not be able to read it, and I remember he said you know you
forget I am a medical doctor and we all laughed and he read it beautifully, and
he handed it over to Obasanjo, Obasanjo read it through and then quibbled,
because no matter what you draft for Obasanjo, he must try and have an input
which is legitimate of course if he is going to sign or read the thing, so he
quibbled about whether he should say a reasonable person or any reasonable
person, I can't remember which one he chose now, then I said turn the document,
you are supposed to sign and copy this my draft at the back of the document and
sign it, and that was what Obasanjo did that day, he copied it and signed it
personally. Now some of the younger chaps were taken aback, so one of them said
let me see it, so he read it and looked at Obasanjo's signature and said no, he
hasn't signed, he has merely initialed the document, and I said no he has
signed, that is how Obasanjo signs, his signature bearing in mind is probably
one of the most forgeable in this federation and I happened to know.
That is how he signed decrees when he was in power, that is his signature, not
initials, then one other boy picked it up and said look sir, Ranka dei dei, he
hasn't signed, I said he has signed, what more do you want, he has written an
essay and signed the essay, saying you should judge him on the basis of his
past relationship with the North, and I think that should be acceptable. He has
written an essay, he has not just signed, he has written an essay at the back
of your document and said take me on trust, I will be fair to you in the past,
and then the temperature came down and that was how I saved him from himself,
because if those chaps had, if I had not done what I did, and those young men
had gone away to tell the whole world that he did not sign, if it was the will
of God, I know he would be President, but our task to make him president would
have been much, much, much difficult because Ekweme had very, very powerful
support and I had no doubt in my mind that some of the younger men, it would
have been impossible for me to hold them to continue to back Obasanjo. Now,
that is the story of what happened. The document was taken away by Jibril Aminu,
so he would have the document and I heard him on the Voice of America, Hausa
service, saying, Yes, that the documents were not supposed to be made public at
all, and that he was very sad and disappointed that it had been brought out in
this form.
Read complete article
This Day: October 5, 2002
'Obasanjo Signed'
Chief Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi, the Aro of Mopa and a former member of the People's Democratic Party, is a man known for his frankness and independence. Formerly an ardent supporter of President Olusegun Obasanjo, he fell out with the president when he was
"schemed" out of the chairmanship of the party. In an interview with some newspapers last week, Obasanjo had said that he was told to sign some documents before the PDP presidential primaries in Jos in 1999. The documents, he said, were put together by some Northerners to protect the interest of the North and "whittle" down his presidential authority. Reacting to this allegation in this interview with Kola Ologbondiyan, Awoniyi decries what he calls Obasanjo's attempt to demonise the North while at the same time insisting that Obasanjo actually signed to protect the interest of the North.
Excerpts:
Kola Olobondiyan (KO): In
a recent interview with some newspapers, President Olusegun Obasanjo dismissed
reports that he signed agreement with the North before he was voted into power.
The President mentioned your name as one of the northern leaders who were part
of the said agreement process. Can you avail us with what transpired at the
meeting?
Sunday Awoniyi (SA): It will
be difficult to give a proper answer to this question without giving some
background information. At that point in time, there were seven contestants for
the ticket of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
These were Alex Ekwueme, Don Etiebet, Jim Nwobodo, Francis Ellah, Graham
Douglas, Phillip Asiodu and General Olusegun Obasanjo. All these men except
President Olusegun Obasanjo were people with whom we founded the PDP. He came
much later and joined the PDP and declared his interest in wanting to become
the President. The northern group within the PDP backed different candidates.
Incidentally, Ekwueme who had been the interim chairman of the PDP until that
time was supported by very strong northern personalities. Adamu Ciroma, Asheik Jarma,
who used to be the governor of Borno State, Lawal Kaita, a one-time governor of
the old Kaduna State, Aminu Wali, who had contested election for governor in Kano
state under the National Republican Convention (NRC), Garba Nadama, who was
governor of Sokoto State, late Ali Baba who was at one-time the Minister for
Internal Affairs under Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Audu Ogbeh. All of these and
some other people supported Ekwueme. On Obasanjo's side, I was supporting him, Bamanga
Tukur was supporting Obasanjo and so were Jubril Aminu, Iyorchia Ayu and Jerry Gana.
It was decided that among these seven contestants getting in touch with the
north, a committee should be formed to work out what were northern interests
which they would require any of these candidates to support if they were
seeking our support. As it turned out, they did a write up, which was later
presented. I wasn't there and approved as what should be presented to the
contestants and Aminu, Professor Jibril Aminu, was made to chair this
committee. I did not have hands in the interviews of the gentlemen at all, but
one evening, late evening, I went to see Bamanga Tukur at Hilton Hotel and as
he was leading me out, we walked along one of the corridors and we heard some
noise and he said Chief, some people are making noise here. He then opened the
door and it turned out that there were some 12 young Northerners in there, and
when we walked in further, we saw Olusegun Obasanjo sitting on a lowly chair
and opposite him was Aminu Kano, with some of these 12 Northern chaps, sort of
talking from a high table on him, even the arrangement of the table was a
little bit disadvantageous to him, to Obasanjo, it wasn't deliberate and it was
the most comfortable chair that they gave him, but there was a dining table on
which these other ones were sitting and then talking down on him with the
chairman, Professor Aminu on his left side and then they were talking and he
was saying I will not sign, I cannot sign, Northerners are my friends, I have
worked with them, in fact my first regime, they made it possible for me to be
so successful and he named some of those who were his friends. For instance, he
said he and Bamanga Tukur built the Tincan Island, on and on and on and on, so at one point, I said gentlemen, where is the document you want him to sign? Then they gave me the
document and I browsed through, I browsed through and I said, I don't see
anything objectionable in this document. He said well, if I signed the
document, it means I have to take documents from Igbo, documents from Itsekiri,
documents from Yorubas and sign. I said what is the problem, if people are
going to give you their votes and they said they want certain things to be
taken care of by you, you became president, you agree with them or you don't
agree, but from what I see here, I do not see anything that a reasonable man
will object to, and he said yes, I just don't want to sign because of my
special relationship with the North. That is what Obasanjo said that day.
Present at that meeting were Abba Dabo. Bashir Yusuf was the Secretary, then
one Architect Mohammed from Kaduna, they were there, but Lawal Kaita was not present. We
just chanced into the meeting. I didn't even know the meeting was holding. It
was just accident, one of these accidents that tend to happen to this Obasanjo
man. So remember Bamanga and I had decided to support him, then I said how many
of the other contestants have signed, they said all of them have signed, so it
turned out now that it is my candidate that has not signed. How do I save him from
himself? So I said, give me a piece of paper, and they gave me a writing pad,
and I wrote, "I so, so, so have seen and read the document you asked me to
sign in the interest of the North or to preserve the interest of the North, I
see nothing in the document which a reasonable man can object to."
That was my draft, but in my own case, in view of my special relationship with
the North, please do not force me to sign, judge me on my past relationship
with the North. I am speaking from memory now, but this was the import of the
draft, but I remember clearly saying there was nothing in it that a reasonable
man can object to. Then I handed it over to Jibril Aminu to say Chairman read
this, then as he was about to read, I said no, give it to me, my handwriting is
so bad, you will not be able to read it, and I remember he said you know you
forget I am a medical doctor and we all laughed and he read it beautifully, and
he handed it over to Obasanjo, Obasanjo read it through and then quibbled,
because no matter what you draft for Obasanjo, he must try and have an input
which is legitimate of course if he is going to sign or read the thing, so he
quibbled about whether he should say a reasonable person or any reasonable
person, I can't remember which one he chose now, then I said turn the document,
you are supposed to sign and copy this my draft at the back of the document and
sign it, and that was what Obasanjo did that day, he copied it and signed it
personally. Now some of the younger chaps were taken aback, so one of them said
let me see it, so he read it and looked at Obasanjo's signature and said no, he
hasn't signed, he has merely initialed the document, and I said no he has
signed, that is how Obasanjo signs, his signature bearing in mind is probably
one of the most forgeable in this federation and I happened to know.
That is how he signed decrees when he was in power, that is his signature, not
initials, then one other boy picked it up and said look sir, Ranka dei dei, he
hasn't signed, I said he has signed, what more do you want, he has written an
essay and signed the essay, saying you should judge him on the basis of his
past relationship with the North, and I think that should be acceptable. He has
written an essay, he has not just signed, he has written an essay at the back
of your document and said take me on trust, I will be fair to you in the past,
and then the temperature came down and that was how I saved him from himself,
because if those chaps had, if I had not done what I did, and those young men had
gone away to tell the whole world that he did not sign, if it was the will of
God, I know he would be President, but our task to make him president would
have been much, much, much difficult because Ekweme had very, very powerful
support and I had no doubt in my mind that some of the younger men, it would
have been impossible for me to hold them to continue to back Obasanjo. Now,
that is the story of what happened. The document was taken away by Jibril Aminu,
so he would have the document and I heard him on the Voice of America, Hausa
service, saying, Yes, that the documents were not supposed to be made public at
all, and that he was very sad and disappointed that it had been brought out in
this form.
KO: According to the President, those who were present at that meeting were Kaita,
Adamu Ciroma and two other persons who were there and four other persons,
including you, who were said to have left the PDP and Kaita now went further to
say that you signed on behalf of the President.From your positio,n sir, did
actually sign the document on behalf of Obasanjo?
SA: Not at all, it did not
arise. Ciroma was not at that final meeting.
KO: But were there previous meetings that were held and he was present?
SA:I wouldn't know, I
wouldn't know, but the one at which Obasanjo was interviewed and they told me
that was the only meeting they had with him, At the meeting at which he was
interviewed, it was the same thing, Ciroma was not present, Lawal Kaita was not
present. They might have attended other meetings when they were crafting the
document, I don't know, but at this meeting where it became necessary to ask Obasanjo
to sign, these two were not there. The only senior Northerners who were there
were myself, Bamanga Tukur by fair chance and Professor Aminu, all the rest
were younger people, I know one of them is dead now, a very nice chaff, an
Architect, Mohammed, he is gone, and in what way the thing was brought out,
what is so wonderful about saying two were dead, he the great one is still
alive. What is the use of saying some had left the party and dragging the names
of Lawal Kaita and Ciroma and myself into this thing. I was the only one along
with Bamanga present.
KO: But did you sign on behalf of Obasanjo?
SA: Not at all, I had no
business signing. He was there, he copied my draft at the back of the document
he was to sign and signed it by himself. And when one of the boys took the
thing and looked it, he said no this is an initial, it is not a signature, there
was no basis in my signing for him. What for, he was there physically. I am not
his agent, I did not sign, there was no reason to sign, it was the contestants
who were supposed to sign, six signed, my man hadn't signed. I took it along
this route and he signed my draft, the little statement that he should be
judged on his past performance and past relationship with North. Now Obasanjo
has given the impression today as if all the others partook of some sinister
Northern agenda, a sinister Northern agenda which Awoniyi, Bamanga, Ciroma and Kaita
helped to facilitate. There was nothing like that, there was nothing that was anthetical
to the fortunes of this country that was being pursued at all. In any case, if
people are going to vote for you, if I have a thousand votes in my pocket from Okunland
and anybody wants it, today in view of my recent experience, I will negotiate.
What are we going to get for our 1,000 votes? I would ask and these were the
type of things that citizens, political operators have been doing in the
country for a long, long time. Now his attempt is to rubbish the other six as
if they were cheap, easy Nigerians who could not stand firm because they wanted
to be president and could not stand firm against the machination of the North.
It is not correct, Obasanjo was not the aggressive-looking Obasanjo he is today
when he wanted to be president so much. At that meeting, he was calling the
names of a thousand and one Northerners who had helped him and that he was a
friend of the North and was going to be fair to the North. Commit it into writing,
that was why I did what I did to save him from himself, to really save my
candidate.
KO: Sir, from your insight knowledge about what the document was about, what
were contained, what could you remember?
SA: In fact, I cannot
recollect the content of the document. I thought it was only about two pages. I
said it was only about two pages. I cannot recollect anybody saying he wanted a
particular ministry of petroleum, I cannot recollect. In any case, when you go
into this kind of negotiation, you are not God, most people will sign and do
their best and if you could not fulfill, you will tell the people that you can
no longer fulfill what you asked me to do as you can see now like President
Bush saying he would not increase tax, watch my mouth. But when circumstances
changed in America, he slammed taxes on, this is the art of governance
and the art of political activities. Now to come and give the impression that
something horrible has been done by a cabal from the North, is a typical Obasanjo
performance - ingratitude for assistance rendered. Now, when you look at it
again, this great born again Christian chose a Sunday, two days to his
independence broadcast, chose a Sunday to grant a syndicated interview to six
Sunday Newspapers, and bringing out this impression as if something sinister
had happened which he the great and only wise ruler stood against on behalf of
Nigeria. It isn't so. He did not in any way stand up for anything that day. He
was cringing, and I had to say this. Now Lawal Kaita, poor man, I grant him
that there might be a little bit of loss of memory because we are in our
seventies now and he worked for Aso Rock, he is an Aso Rock man, so for him to
now turn round and lie, Lawal lied, but I am prepared to be generous that may
be it was a slip of memory, I did not sign for Obasanjo. I did not mean to sign
at all and he was not present at this meeting and the meeting did not take
place at Agura. It took place by chance as far as I am concerned at Hilton
Hotel. From time to time, Lawal Kaita would come out and attack Chief Awoniyi
as being of no political consequence, never mind that I won a senatorial
election, I won an election to be a member of the constituent assembly earlier
on. He will say it is only because of Adamu Ciroma that Awoniyi is of political
relevance, he said that over and over again, and attacked me and said he
supported me, but he didn't like what I was doing. I don't mind him, I don't
and I will tell you why, in age, I am six months older and as you get on in
life, you begin to be more patient with your age group, particularly when you
are creeping towards 70, poor Lawal works for Aso Rock, you never know whether
one day he is solely for the President or the next day he is solely for Atiku,
but this is his style, running with the hare and hunting with the dog and as a
matter of fact, I am told that people who don't need to lie that anytime he
engages in this type of activity, particularly it gives him a huge personal
gain at Aso rock, his relevance is in harm and the economic well-being is
somehow improved. So I think I say well, if God uses me to suffer his economic
need by his abusing me from time to time, I am grateful to God that I am of use
to him. It may be loss of memory, but he wasn't there. Again as to me not being
any political sage, I don't want to be anybody's political sage, and as for his
having assisted me, I didn't need his assistance. This was a man and I am
appealing to all my age groups in this country, when you hit seventy or 65 and
go on seventy, you are at the last chapter of your live, and they say that is
the most difficult chapter to write, whatever good you might have done in the
past, if you are not careful, you now write it wrong, so I am appealing to my
age group and co, to have the decency to move back a little bit and let the
younger ones have an opportunity to perform. And I do what I preach. Take
example the civil service, when I was deputy secretary to the premier, having
earlier been a secretary in Jos, in charge of the entire Plateau which is now a
state, much, much earlier on the secretary to the executive of Northern
Nigeria, we were in the same civil service with Lawal Kaita. He was at that
time a Superintendent of livestock in the ministry of animal and forest
resources, so I had known him from time. It is true politically, he became
governor of the old Kaduna State, but what has happened since then, his
political relevance became eroded and terminated and reduced to a status
whereby in the last local government election under PDP, I am told and I have
since then... and one young man has said it fluently in Hausa, in BBC Hausa
service some few weeks ago, that his political relevance has become so
attenuated that he could not deliver his local government to the PDP,
surprisingly, it was AD that won Lawal Kaita's local government, but it is all
right to parade oneself as young and politically relevant because Nigeria is a
large country and people don't know themselves, they will know others too well.
KO: What is actually the demand of the North? The perception people tend to
have is that look, the North is giving Obasanjo these problems because it has
stopped to be business as usual, certain people who are milking the country no
longer have the opportunity, particularly those from the North. What is the
demand of the north in the full sense of it? Why is the North giving Obasanjo
problems?
SA: The north is not giving Obasanjo
problems. This is one thing I will really want people to expect, the north is
not giving Obasanjo problem, it is the north that said Obasanjo has not done
well for the country and a President that high hopes have been raised, but
today, corruption has never been averred, today inter-ethnic antagonism has
never been averred, today, the economy is a shambles and today law and order
has broken down to an extent which is unimaginable, and that his style of
governance has made it impossible for Nigerians to produce their best, because
he has surrounded himself with people whose devious tendencies are very well
known. There are those in the north who say they don't like him because he has
removed certain people from the post. Those are people who are directly
affected, but the north in generality thought they were voting for a man who
will sort of regenerate this nation, the north believed in him and that was why
that pact... then I said look, he has signed to say you should judge him on his
relationship with the north, the young men accepted it. Now you are bringing to
the fore certain unfortunate relationship in the past, which we are about
putting behind us. Look at religion. Nigerians were great enough to accept at
the highest level of governance a Moslem-Moslem ticket in Abiola and Kingibe.
This was one of the greatest examples of religious harmony in this country.
That a man's religion was not important in deciding who governs them, religious
antagonism has never been as bad as it is today. Two, tribalism, here is a man
whose own people rejected him and said we have nothing to do with him. I knew
what we did to bring AD into the same party with PDP. When we launched the PDP,
it was Ige, the late Ige, we said should speak on behalf of that party, and
there were some young men who were crying that day with joy that Nigeria at
last was coming together. They left, formed APP, and finally formed AD, we
followed them and there we gathered fantastic in brokering an opportunity for
us to meet, we even said we are going to change the name of PDP to whatever
they like, but let us form one strong party in which whatever you want can be
argued and contained, rather than you staying outside and throwing stone into
the temple, but it didn't work. They voted solidly against him. He could not
even win his own ward, and we saw this is the greatest blow against tribalism,
in that his people said they didn't want him, and the rest of Nigeria said
we've gone beyond that. Even in religion, we've gone beyond that, we accepted a
Moslem, Moslem ticket the other time. We are prepared to accept a man not
because of his tribe, but because we believe he can perform, and they gave him
the mandate, but ethnicity has never been as bad as it is today. Everybody has
gone back to his own camp, and this man is responsible. If he has played the
role of a father figure, bound these parties together, taken the right steps, we
wouldn't have been in this mess. And when people say eh, they don't want him to
perform, Who is stopping him from performing? There is nothing Obasanjo wants
to do today that he cannot do, nobody is holding his hands, the constitution we
have is a constitution which is fantastic if it is run by a man who is God
fearing, not just talking about God, God fearing, man fearing, and not so
obsessed with his own image in history and his own popularity internationally.
Look at corruption, the normal police system of investigating corruption has
been put aside and we are looking at the anti-corruption commission. Can that
single commission try every corrupt official in this country? We thought the
big crime of corruption would be dealt with by that commission but in any case
it was starved of funds and a brilliant man like Justice Akanbi whom I like
very well is wallowing in the difficulty of making that thing work. When you
then read his speech it is always about integrity, patience, love of country
and a lot of sanctimonious statement about how to fight corruption and how
corruption is a scourge. Largely, that speech is not intended for the Nigerian Republic
because the people know that it is all talk and no action. It is intended for
the external audience that this man is fighting corruption day-in-day-out and
even produced a book, a law, there is nothing in that law that does not already
exist in our laws. It is not decrees that we want now but we want the deed. Not
the talking but the working to achieve it and people know that there is so much
hypocrisy and insincerity which make it impossible for people who want to help
to assist. It is terrible! You see, the impression is created that it is the
north that is giving him problems. That is the easiest way to look at it. Cheap
but it is not true. MD Yusufu said the other day that what the North wants is
for Nigerians to pick a President of quality and that as far as the North is
concerned it may be Obasanjo. Nobody attacked Yusufu for saying that and it is
all right by me if that is what Nigerians want - a repeat of what they are
having now. That is okay. Nobody in the North is saying that Obasanjo is
completely precluded from seeking his own political interest but he must not
destroy the country in the process of doing so like trying to forge an
electoral law, manipulating an electoral act. When I sit down at times I wonder
if this is Obafemi Awolowo's country. Is this Tafawa Balewa's, Akintola's, Nnamdi
Azikiwe's, Okpara's, Sir Ahmadu Bello's country? I cannot imagine any of these
people taking their pen and forging an act of parliament, and it didn't even
cross their minds and then you want to ram it down the throat of this nation
and yet you are talking transparency and integrity. Look at the people around
him. Show me the company you want to keep in governance and I would tell you
the kind of government you are likely to have. It is as simple as that and you
say that people are saying you are difficult.
KO: Are you saying the support the North gave to Obasanjo in 1999 was based
on the hope of future performance not to oil self interests?
SA: What is my interest and
don't forget that I'm one of those who worked my guts out for him. What do you
mean by interest? I wasn't going to be his Secretary to the Federal Government.
I wasn't going to be his Head of Service and I was not going to be an
ambassador and I was not going to be a contractor. Of course, everybody's
interest was different because if a man spent ten million naira running around
helping to campaign and lodging him in his house. He might expect that when he
gets into power he would not forget him. Do you know that at times even just
going there and having breakfast and going home, we are in it we are part of
government is all that some people want. There may be of course some of those
that may need patronage which is natural. Churchill said he was not in politics
to enrich his enemies and he gave contracts to his partymen but they were
performers. There are those of us who believed that this man tried the other
day, let us give him a chance since we are saying let the South have power that
was what happened. But it is being orchestrated now as if certain people in the
North wanted to achieve certain things and because those things are not
achievable now they want to destroy him. How do you destroy a President? Go and
read your constitution. He appoints all his ministers, he has an executive
council he can over-rule, all the principal officers of corporations and things
like that are appointed by him, he is the most powerful man we have ever got.
But when God gives you the power of a giant, don't use it like a reckless
giant. Use it humanely and carry everybody with you that way people would
respect you. There is a thing called the mystique of authority. If you are in
power, without even doing it, your presence should command certain type of
actions which are healthy for the society. But when people know that you are a
dribbler and liar and that corruption right under your nose which can be
investigated is ignored, then you destroy gradually the mystique of authority.
You destroyed your party and those whom you helped to install are now in the
process of contesting the Presidency against you. You destabilized the Senate
and those whom you enthroned over and over again are now in the process of
impeaching you. Couldn't the man have stopped to say how could I have done
these things so wrong? When there is no sincerity in what you are doing, so
many holes develop in your system and it is impossible for you to plug all of
them, your ship of state would leak and that is what is happening.
Talking of people of my age group, like the Lawal Kaitas, I keep telling that I
left the civil service at the of forty-four years three months and I could have
continued for another fifteen years but if I stayed for that long what
opportunity do those coming behind me have to become permanent secretary. It
means they will not achieve that until they become fifty-something. But they
would say politics is a lifetime game, you will continue for ever because Awolowo
continued for ever. This is Nigeria and not India or China where political tutelage begins at seventy and if you are lucky you may be Prime Minister at the age of eighty something. This is
Nigeria where there are better educated young men eager to perform give them
the opportunity and thye benefit of your experience but they sit there wnting
to be worshipped whereas our generation has become relics and are hardly
relevant now except to the extent which we can coniduct ourselves properly and
be of use to the younger ones coming up. And for people who are prepared to
divide this country on ethnic ground, God will punish them because this God's
country. Look I'm a Yoruba man and everywhere I go I say my name is Sunday, I'm
a Christian, Bolorunduro is a Yoruba name, Awoniyi not just says what my name
is in Yoruba, it talks of my trade, we are traditional herbalists, we cure
society. I'm a Yorubaman and there is nothing anybody can do about it. I can't
do anything about it but I'm a Yorubaman who by an act of the British
Government decided to put me in the North. I couldn't have gone to the Western Nigeria
to pick a scholarship and I attended the best schools in the North. So how do I
pretend along with you that I'm not a Northerner? I'll say it everytime that
I'm a Yorubaman and I'm a Northerner. But my own Yoruba maybe it is a little
different because I often wonder that how badly must my tribeman perform in
public office before I've the right to say that in the overall interest,
brother, you have not done well. I can't go and say that Yoruba right or wrong.
It is not correct because it is not in the interest of this nation and that is
why people don't like my face. And that is why they are out to portray Sunday Awoniyi
as a Yorubaman who is promoting some sinister Northern interests against a
Yoruba President. I'm interested in a Nigerian President. He may be Igbo,
Hausa, from Okunland, Nupe, Itsekiri, Ijaw, name them, but he must have certain
respectable qualities one of which must be the love of this country and the
determination to keep the nation together, integrity and fairness in rulership,
justice and possessing the best ability to move this nation forward. A man who
is not so obsessed with his own ego that he merely wants to use the nation as
brush to renovate his international fame and collection. A man who is more
obsessed with his role in history and not his role today as the leader. We need
a catalyst that would bind this nation together. This was what Sardauna
achieved in the North before he died at the age of fifty-six. People are not
just ready to look at their history. Now they say the amalgamation of 1914 was
a crime. Are we saying we are more knowledgeable than Awolowo, more
knowledgeable than Sardauna of Sokoto and the Prime Minister, more
knowledgeable than the Zik of Africa who sought something in what the British
were trying to do and were determined in making a success of it in Black
Africa? This is the place where the Blackman has the opportunity to make it and
make it good but jokers, military jokers, have messed us around for too long
and politicians whho better described as groupings looking for office to
perpetuate loot are not helping matters. Can you imagine the situation in which
a councillor earns N125, 000 while Surgeons down tools in the hospitals because
they are asking for N80,000? Is it not madness? If this kind of incompetence in
relationship can be achieved in the open, only God knows what horrors are being
perpetuated under the cover of official secret files.
KO: You earlier mentioned the issue of impeachment and you inferred that
those whom President Obasanjo enthroned are now working to impeach him.
However, there are feelers that those who the President enthroned had been
hijacked by the Northern interests to get the President out to fulfill the
Northern agenda. How much do you agree with this?
SA: This wonderful North. I wonder why people have not sat down to look at the
North. With the creation of states, Ohanaeze became a very strong organ of
taking of the interests of the Igbos, Afenifere became the organ of taking care
of Western Nigerian interests. The truth of the matter and I can say it is that
everybody in the North went to his state. The only meeting ground was joint
staff services and Murtala Mohhammed came and abolished it and it became
everybody for himself. As a matter of fact what brought the North together
again and for which people are very grateful is the conduct of Obasanjo in
relation to the North. Where it was becoming difficult to get the Federal
Government to react to situations which it ought to have reacted like the
ethnic clashes. Like some roads that have been neglected for years, like the
collapse of education, religious strife which were managed effectively in the
North in times past and there were no crises etc. It was discovered that except
the North have a forum, the little amity left would disappear. And this was in
the national interest of the nation. For instance in the Arewa Consultative
Forum (ACF), there is nobody sitting down and plotting this or that. How can
anybody say the not is plotting to remove Obasanjo for how many months. In the
House, Na'Abba has a Southern deputy and in the Senate Anyim is from the South
how can the North plot with them. It is the way my wonderful, all knowing, all
performing Blackman that ever lived President has handled the situation.
Instead of relating to them as a father figure, no, in an argument you must win
and if you don't win you must destroy. It is unfortunate that the picture being
painted is that of a Northerner thing, it is a national problem. Poor Atiku, he
has toiled for this man, earned himself a bad name in some places because of
the way he had to reacted to certain individuals, the way he was set up over Sharia,
he has suffered a lot. Now put Atiku there for how many months? The problem is
that Obasanjo is not even helpable. You can't help him.
END INTERVIEW
ALUKO COMMENTARY:
As the Yoruba would “asiri ti
n’tu die die” – meaning “the secret machinations (in dark places in Nigeria
political structures) are being revealed in small doses!”
Are these latest revelations to the consternation of this writer – or to many other readers for that matter? Not at all! One is only surprised at the “horse” whose mouth is revealing said
secrets – Obasanjo – and its timing: a desperate juncture in Obasanjo’s presidency of our “nascent” democracy when he is fighting against an impeachment threat. The central role of Ambassador Prof. Jubril Aminu in all of this Northern-cabalistic events also raises a little eyebrow, and the urbane professor’s unhappiness that all of this has now been revealed in the open is quite understandable.
Who is to be believed – Obasanjo (who said that the did not sign the “document”), Lawal Kaita (who said that Sunday Awoniyi signed on his behalf) or Sunday Awoniyi himself (who said Obasanjo signed the “document.”?).
I daresay ALL OF THEM within limits: it depends on what we mean by the “document.”
Let us first forgive Lawal Kaita’s memory – about Sunday Awoniyi signing for Obasanjo, which was always a curious (and improbable) event anyway. Sunday Awoniyi’s denial is completely
believable. Lawal Kaita’s genius however, was that he remembered DISTINCTLY some very high level of Sunday omo Awoniyi’s involvement, which the erstwhile Secretary to Sir Ahmadu Bello has now fully confirmed.
Awoniyi’s desperate bid was
to get Obasanjo to sign SOME DOCUMENT – so apparently he drafted one which was
different from the one that was originally circulated – and which had been
signed by all the other candidates except Ekwueme.
How do I [SUNDAY AWONIYI] save him [OLUSEGUN OBASANJO] from himself? So I said, give me a piece of paper, and they gave me a writing pad, and I wrote, "I so, so, so have seen and read the document you asked me to sign in the interest of the North or to preserve the interest of the North, I see nothing in the document which a reasonable man can object to."
It appears that all that General Obasanjo did on this day was to play the typical soldier’s deception of this retinue of “bloody civilians”: sign some “document” but build a deniability into his action! In short, he did a "Maradona"! I am sure that if there had been one or two other generals in that room, they would have said, “Hey, something fishy about this document signing business!”
In short, the civilians/politicians were suckered.
The only thing though was that Obasanjo had already long been decided upon even while in Abacha’s gulag by the Northern establishment, whether he signed or not, and that was what Awoniyi understood when he asked him to just sign something, anything - and those others were willing to go along, despite their apprehension.
As for signing of documents, one does not have to agree with EVERY SINGLE WORD of a document to sign: one can agree with a central thrust, provided those aspects that you don't agree
with can be disagreed by "reasonable persons." But if an item in the document commits you to something either CRIMINAL ("we shall kill this person when you win”) or downright UNCONSTITUTIONAL ("you shall reserve these political positions for the North when you win"), then you have no business signing in front or at the back of the document.
Politicians are not known to be straightforward, but it is generally considered a bad trait, their lack of straight-forwardness, that is. Even Awoniyi understands that, hence his “Read
my lips” quotation of Bush. However, like Ekwueme, Obasanjo should not have signed ANYTHIHNG at all on this occasion - and should have let the chips fall where they may. The way he did it, people will be forgiven if they don't trust him. When you get to certain heights of leadership, you can't afford to do even these little kinds of "mago-mago." People respect you more if you draw a line - and I believe that is part of Chief Awoniyi's beef against OBJ.
However, unfortunately, deceit to soldiers is an acceptable trait and straightforwardness a recipe for battle losses, because to outwit your enemy on the battle field, you have to
deceive him about your actual number; deceive him about the timing of your battle-plans; deceive him about the direction that you are actually headed.
And so on.
Until we civilians know that soldiers win wars through deceit, we will never know that it pays us to stay away from them in the area of civilian governance.
In the coming days, it will be interesting to see the Northern establishment backlash resulting from all this kiss-and-tell. The Northern caucus and others in high places can certainly
not be happy about all these revelations, and the obvious pound-of-flesh would be in denying him nomination of the PDP, wherein he was first installed upon their wishes. The question then is the following: will the rest of the country stand for such a palpable assertion by the North that “we install at our pleasure, and de-install ALSO at our pleasure”? If denied PDP nomination, will another party adopt him an incumbent, and then start all over again an
ethnic squabbles a la June 12?
Time will tell.
Abo mi re o!
Bolaji Aluko
Amused at the Obasanjo-Awoniyi-Kaita Saga of the Northern Document’s Signature. And Watching with Keen Interest and Some Apprehension Political Developments As to
Hegemonic Influence
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