National Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere Yoruba socio-cultural group, Comrade Yinka Odumakin, has insisted on the restructuring of the Nigerian state, saying the issue is bound to determine who becomes the President next year. In this interview with IBUKUN ROBERT, he also sneers at the anti-corruption crusade of the Buhari government, describing it as mere propaganda. Excerpts:
2019 is coming and there are agitations for the youth to take the reins of power. What is your take on this?
At this point, I think Nigeria needs to inject its youths into leadership. But it should be the youth that are built with ideas, who can build a new vision for Nigeria; youths who understand that Nigeria lies in prostrate and there is a need to rebuild. I remember that in 1999, a lot of young people came into politics, who were governors, and many of them ended up in the EFCC net after their service. So it is not only about age; it is also about the age of their ideas. We have youths today who are as rotten as anything and old people who are equally
as rotten.
We need the infusion of the young and the old to move this country forward. But the young people we need today should not be those just with young age, but the young persons who have commitment; young people who have vision; young people who have integrity, who have character, who have what we need to move the country forward. And not just young people who want to jump on the bandwagon, that will get to public office and swallow money. Yes, we need young people but they must come with integrity and good ideas, which will drive other young people to come into politics.
Has Afenifere not been sidelined now, in the march to 2019 election?
It is not possible (for Afenifere to be sidelined) because there are territorial issues in Nigeria today. But within those territorial issues, we must first deal with the issues that affect our young people, which is unemployment. Most of the issues that you see at the peripheral level have their vertical link to the issues going on in Nigeria. So, organisations like Afenifere or Ohanaeze Ndigbo cannot be sidelined in 2019. Some months ago, the British High Commission in Nigeria said 2019 was likely to be determined by restructuring.
Now, all kinds of things are happening: soldiers begging farmers to go and search for the girls. So it is clear that the unsettled polity of Nigeria, the crisis of the country’s polity, which has caused the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, is also what has led to the kidnap of the Dapchi children
But do you see restructuring coming to play on or before 2019?
What I am sure of is that, restructuring will determine who will become president in 2019.
Many have been criticising the Federal Government on the recent kidnap of the Dapchi school girls. Some believe that like the 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls before the 2015 election, this kidnap is not unconnected with political reasons. What is your position of this?
It is very unfortunate. They say history repeats itself twice, first as a tragedy and second time as a farce. What is happening now is farcical. If you look at 2014 and now, you will see that all the lines are the same. Before the abductions, all the military personnel at the checkpoints disappeared. And how would you carry 115 human beings; not chickens? If you put 115 chickens in a truck, the police will know you are carrying something, not to talk of 115 human beings; and nobody was able to see them! And just like 2014, they claimed that they had found them. Now, all kinds of things are happening: soldiers begging farmers to go and search for the girls. So it is clear that the unsettled polity of Nigeria, the crisis of the country’s polity, which has caused the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, is also what has led to the kidnap of the Dapchi children. So it is the same thing all over again. And like the Yoruba say, ‘When you see a bubble dancing on the river, a drummer is under that river. So there are drummers under the rivers and the drumbeats of evil have grown all over Yobe that we now see their effect in Dapchi.
What is your view about President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war, looking at the recent ranking of Transparency
International?
Transparency International has just said it all. Corruption today in Nigeria, in the third year of the Buhari government, is worse than when he came into power. Forget all the media noise by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, about trial. Go to EFCC today, all the monies they said they had recovered; where are the monies? All the assets they said they had recovered, where are they? Obviously, they can’t show you anything. The loot they recovered has been re-looted. The aircraft they said they seized from some people; where are the aircraft now? Everything is just
propaganda.
But some people argued that the ranking might not be true since Transparency International did not indicate the indices used in arriving at their conclusion.
Do you need any indices now to evaluate the Buhari anti-corruption crusade? If one is honest enough, the indications are everywhere for everybody to know what is happening. You appointed someone in NIA the first day, 44 million dollars disappeared. Baruwa and Kachikwu’s fight over illegal awards of contracts in the NNPC worth $25m, you covered it up as family affairs.
There are monumental wastages in the government. This government has done two budgets; they have borrowed N10 trillion in 30 months and they have not commissioned one project.
What is your take on Obasanjo’s Coalition Movement?
Well, it is a good thing that people like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo know that things are not going well in this country. Now that he created the movement, I believe that as time goes on, the best of the best will produce fruits that will germinate and take Nigeria forward.