General Ola Ishola-Williams (retd) is the former Chairman, Transparency International, Nigeria chapter. In this interview, he speaks on sundry issues affecting the nation. AYO ESAN brings you excerpts:
How will you react to the arrest and continued detention of former presidential candidate, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, over his Revolution Now campaign?
The Federal Government made a mistake by ordering Sowore’s arrest .By arresting Sowore, Buhari’s government has turned him to a hero. By arresting him, they’ve made Sowore more popular. If those in government are wise, they would have let Sowore continue with his protests and his calls for a revolution. After some time, he would get tired as his call for a revolution will not be heeded by Nigerians. Revolution can never happen or take place in Nigeria.
How do you mean?
It is very simple, our leaders who want the status quo to remain will play Nigerians against one another. They will use the ethnic card to polarise and divide Nigerians. One point to note again is this, most people are just shouting Buhari, Buhari; it is not only Buhari that is the problem. Obviously, Buhari is failing. He has not been inspiring, and any Nigerian who put any hope in Buhari is wasting his time. But what about the state governors? The state governors are big burden on this country. Apart from behaving like emperors, many of them are not using their state resources for the benefit of their people. Many of these state governors are self-serving. Many of them are not comfortable with Sowore’s call for a revolution. Some of the state governors warned Sowore and his supporters to keep away from their states. They are afraid of a revolution because they have skeletons in their cupboards.
Then look at what happened when late MKO Abiola declared himself president. How many Nigerians came out to support, and back him? It was only Abiola himself and a handful of his supporters that were with him. Nigerians deserted him on the day he declared himself president, and this was why it was possible for late Gen. Sani Abacha Abacha to order his arrest. But if Nigerians across all ethnic divides had turned out en masse to support Abiola, it would not have been possible for Abacha to order his arrest.
What is your reaction to the worsening insecurity across the country?
It is sad, alarming and frightening. It is very unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari has not treated the situation with the urgency it deserves. It is sad that Nigeria is gradually being turned into a banana republic, where bandits and kidnappers have become a serious threat to the well-being of the nation.
To tackle the insecurity challenge, President Buhari told the whole nation that Nigeria needed a new security architecture to solve the problem, but he has refused to back his word with action. Some Nigerians have called for the removal of the service chiefs so as to inject new blood into the leadership of the nation’s security apparatus; even though it is a good idea supported by many Nigerians, Buhari has refused to act, and since it is Buhari that appointed these service chiefs, there is nothing anybody can do. To me, it appears Buhari doesn’t know what to do again on insecurity issue and unfortunately the problem is festering. Some state governors are now panicking; some are even confused. The situation has become that bad. It is very unfortunate.
Some state governors, in order to ensure that their states are safe and secure, have started giving amnesty to bandits and kidnappers. How will you react to this development?
Well, as the chief security officers of their respective states, those governors can say that they take such steps in the interest of peace. But how do you explain it, giving amnesty to bandits? The danger there is that giving amnesty to bandits may encourage others to take to banditry. If some people realised that they will be given money by government if they take to banditry, many more will go into it. So, instead of solving the problem, giving amnesty to bandits may worsen insecurity.
What then do you think is the way out?
Serious efforts should be made by the government to block the source of illegal arms flowing into the country. Where are these illegal arms coming from? Those in charge of our intelligence services should be able to detect the sources of illegal arms in-flow into the country, and block them. Although government has been telling us that these illegal arms are coming from Libya, I don’t think so. I don’t believe that. There must be other sources which our intelligence officers must find out and block. Then we should also embrace community policing. The idea of a central police operating from Abuja is no longer ideal, and workable. Community policing will help to tackle insecurity.
Professor Wole Soyinka said Nigeria’s problems have overwhelmed President Buhari, and that a national conference should be organised to discuss Nigeria’s problems with a view of proffering solutions. What is your take on that?
I don’t think the challenges facing Nigeria today are so enormous to the extent of overwhelming Buhari. But sincerely speaking, Buhari, through his action or inaction, has not shown or demonstrate the signs that he is up to the task. My sincere advice to Buhari is that he should resign if he feels that he has been overwhelmed by Nigeria’s problems. It is not a big deal if Buhari throws in the towel. If he resigns, he will not be the first leader to do so. If Buhari demonstrates the zeal to tackle all these challenges, he can tackle them successfully. But the question is this, is Buhari demonstrating that zeal? My answer is a capital NO!
What about the call for a national conference by Soyinka and Obasanjo?
That is needless. There is no need for another conference. How many national conferences do we want to be organising? What is wrong with the implementation of the confab reports organised by Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan? When Obasanjo was in power, he organised a national conference, but the confab report and recommendations has been gathering dust for many years now; same with Jonathan confab of 2014. Organising another conference will amount to nothing but a jamboree, and waste of national resources.
Everybody knows that the solution to Nigeria’s problems is restructuring. The moment we restructure, by returning to true practice of Federalism, we will overcome all these challenges. It is those people that want the status quo to remain that are opposed to restructuring, and as long as those people are opposed to it, Nigeria will remain in this quagmire.
What is your assessment of President Buhari’s administration. Are you satisfied with his ‘ Next Level’ agenda?
That’s deceit. It is a deceit by APC and Buhari’s supporters. Those who are talking of next level are politicians deceiving Nigerians.
