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Yar`Adua Will Surprise - Olanipekun Vanguard (Lagos) Posted to the web 1 June 2007 By Gbenga Oke Both in and out of office, former National President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria has been making waves. In this interview, he outlines qualities of the President-elect, Alhaji Umaru Yar\'Adua who has been his client over the years and says he expects so much from the in-coming president as the first university graduate to occupy that office. Excerpts: Looking at the just concluded presidential and governorship elections, different people and organisations have been making serious allegations of gross misconduct in the elections. What is your reaction about the process and what suggestions do you have? One will not give an opinion in isolation because if you want to give an opinion, you will want to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction, you want to consider the many variables and imperatives that surrounded the election. I have always tenaciously held to the view that our electoral umpire, which is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has to be independent in fact and indeed, in theory and in practice - independent of the executive and the legislature and also independent from any influence from any quarter. In like manner, our Police Force should have nothing to do with the conduct of election and the Police should equally be totally independent of parochial and home-grown influences. We must fashion out a realistic electoral law that painstakingly appreciates and sympathises with our immediate and past mistakes and boldly takes steps to prevent their reincarnation or repeat. A lot of comments have been made concerning the outcome of the last elections. People who feel cheated or rigged out of the elections are going to the tribunals and frankly speaking, those who are aggrieved should go to election tribunals and make their grievances known. The point I want to make in this regard is that those who feel satisfied or dissatisfied with the outcome of the elections must all remember the saying that one should not throw away the baby with the bath water. One thing Nigerians are not talking about is that however fraudulent the election might have been, a point has been demonstrated and that is the desire of the people of Nigeria for a change from the status quo; it is victory for democracy, victory for the will of the people, victory for the corporate decision of ours that come May 29, 2007, Obasanjo must give up the reins of power, that come May 29 2007, Obasanjo is no more the anchor man. We are losing sight of that without knowing what God has in store for this country. Obasanjo has been President for eight years and most of the problems Nigeria has today are traceable to him and his administration. There is so much disaffection, poverty and the system is collapsing. Nothing is working. Electricity has eluded us, our water pipes are dried up, the roads are bad and in deplorable state; there is unemployment and insecurity of lives and properties. All these were supplanted into the Nigeria psyche within the past eight years because of the way we are governed. The way I look at the mistakes of Obasanjo, is different from the way others see them. However, the survival of Nigeria is paramount in my mind. He is one person we should quietly ease out of the way. For me, this period presents us with that opportunity. The two alternatives before us are: Whether we should return to the pre-May, 1999 era of military dictatorship or allow Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to ease out on May 29, 2007 so as to enable us sit down, frankly and frontally discuss our problems and realistically proffer solution to them. In my humble opinion, we should stick to the latter alternative. We have to choose between two alternatives, we need to make a choice; the way I look at it is this; Yar’Adua is coming in, the declared President-elect. What are your expectations from him, I mean Yar`Adua? Let us see some fine points in him. We should not write him off; he is the first Nigerian graduate to become the President of this country. General Gowon today has a doctorate degree, but when he was the President of Nigeria, he was not a graduate; Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was a grade I teacher when he was our Prime Minister; ditto for Alhaji Shehu Shagar when he was President. General Obasanjo to the best of my knowledge was not a University graduate as at the times he took over power in 1976 and 1999. When Muritala succeeded Gowon, he was not a graduate. Yar’Adua being a graduate will make a lot of difference because if you pass through a university and it passes through you, it makes a lot of difference. It is a benchmark on its own for understanding governance and societal aspirations, needs, sensibilities and peculiarities, although I’m not saying anybody who passes through a university is a good leader. Winston Churchill didn’t go to any university, but he remains one of the best leaders Britain has ever produced. Let us give Yar’Adua the benefit of doubt so that he can express himself, his ideological inclinations and his leadership potentials to the people of Nigeria. I have noticed some Nigerians congregating in twos or threes to appraise the situation of things vis-à-vis the man that has been declared as President-elect. Nobody has anything specific against Yar’Adua; nothing negative has been said about him either. What they have against him is what we call “transferred aggression” from Obasanjo to him. He is going to inherit a lot of prejudices which are not of his own making. Forget the politicking, it all depends on how he takes things and handles them. Nigerians are now telling him that we did not fare well under the Obasanjo regime. In this wise, the question we should all pose to him is that are Nigerians and Nigeria going to fare well under him? I expect him as a university graduate, a university lecturer, two time governor and a cool-headed man to ponder over all of these in charting his own course in power. I know him and he is a gentleman per excellence, and a humble person. For the past five years, I have handled some cases for him at the High Court, election tribunals and Court of Appeal and in the process, he has struck me not just as a client who respects and appreciates me, but also as a most humble personality, notwithstanding his position and pedigree. I believe when a leader is humble, every other thing will follow. You will be able to talk to him, advise and counsel him. A humble leader will not say he has every solution to all problems, he will not say his own knowledge surpasses that of all of us put together. A humble leader will not say he knows law more than the lawyers, such a leader realises that the greatness of a Nation is a function of our collective wisdom and efforts. Yar’Adua has to stretch his hands to Nigerians and his duty is to unify and make friendship with all ethnic groups in Nigeria, build bridges across all divides and act just as an epicentre for our national reconciliation. To my mind, Obasanjo did not act as a statesman during his tenure. Strangely enough, I rated him as a statesman and international commodity before he assumed office in May, 1999. He started as a politician and ended like a politician and my advice to Yar’Adua from the day he is sworn in as the President of this country is that, he should shed the toga of a PDP chieftain. Even talking about the 22 million votes he had, they are not PDP votes and my admonition to him is that he should be President of Nigeria not PDP. Yar’Adua is advised to put up the toga of a statesman, of a leader of Nigeria. He must not restrict, compartmentalise or cage himself. There are a lot of recycled people in Obasanjo’s administration that have served in various military governments in this country. One would expect Yar’Adua to dispense with them, he is the President-elect. I have not heard anyone say that he is President-elect of PDP. We are talking of President-elect of Nigeria, I think he has all it takes to change this country for better because he has good manners, experience; apart from his humility, he is also a humane personality. Again, we have come to the realisation, particularly those of us from the South-western part of the country that were saying the Presidency should be zoned to the South-west, we have seen it all, it has been given to us. What have we achieved and gotten from it? What Obasanjo has demonstrated to us is that it is not when a Yoruba man is there that Yoruba interest will be taken care of. It is a lesson for all Nigerians. The interests of any sector of any society are best catered for by those who understand the dynamics of leadership irrespective of wherever the leader hails from. With due respect to President Obasanjo, he never cared about the interest of the Yoruba race, and the Yorubas must realise quickly that for the next eight years to be unrealistic or 24 years talking realistically, the Presidency will not come to the South-west. Obasanjo has taken our own opportunity with nothing for the Yoruba race to show for it. My heart bleeds anytime I travel between Lagos and Ibadan to Ilesha through to Akure and through to the heartland of Ekiti or travel between Ilorin and Ogbomoso or pass through the totally broken down road between Ogbomoso and Oyo and the collapsed road between Oyo and Ibadan. The entire South-western zone looks like a war-torn zone in terms of the so-called Federal roads. My own area of Ekiti was deliberately abandoned by the Obasanjo administration. I invite him to come to Ekiti after May 29 as he was doing before and travel by road (not by helicopter) between Ado-Ekiti and Otun and whether he can still say at the end of the trip that he dey kampe. So, we have to talk to Yar’Adau to come and repair our roads, give us electricity and water. My advice to Yar’Adua is that he must not be pocketed by any religious group, what should concern him is the corporate interest of this country regardless of party or religious affiliation, that is how to be a good President.
In fairness to President Obasanjo, some people had to bring him in, some people had to support him. When I was campaigning as the President of NBA, some people supported me, but I knew what I wanted and I had my own idea on how NBA should be run. I believe in NBA being in the vanguard of Nigerian renaissance that other associations should follow and that is exactly what I did to the best of my ability. How did Obasanjo become President? Have we forgotten the role IBB, Atiku and Abdulsalami played in his emergence through manipulations? They brought him out of prison, the following week, he joined PDP. He even said he didn’t want to be President, at the end of the day, he became a maximum ruler. I think Yar’Adua being a university graduate and a lecturer is not a fool and we should agree that Obasanjo was brought by people. We should also recall that there was a coup which Gowon knew nothing about, but the coup brought him to power. The same goes for Buhari. It was only Babangida that was part of the coup that brought him to power. That has been the history of Nigeria. I believe whoever God wants to put in power, he has to use some people, but once he uses them, that is the end. I believe that is the role God wanted him to play in the life of Yar’Adua and both Yar’Adua and Obasanjo must appreciate it, but he should step back and let Yar’Adua govern. I don’t see Yar’Adua kowtowing to the whims and caprices of Obasanjo because he will be the one to be held responsible. Whether we like it or not, what seems to be a long expected term of Obasanjo will end by May 29, 2007. Despite the third term gimmicks and arrangements, the end has come because whatever has a beginning must have an end. We have now come to the end of Obasanjo’s second coming and we are about to experience a new dawn and how it would be depends on Yar’Adua who now has a date with history. In the interest of our nation and the oncoming generations, we cannot but wish him success.
I am a lawyer and I should have faith in the tribunal and court of law. Just last week when the call to bar of graduates of the Law School took place, the President of the Court of Appeal, who is also the Chairman of the Body of Benchers said to every member of the election tribunal, “engage yourself in corruption this time around and go to jail”. I shouted and clapped. After the session I said to him, “you have said it all and so we give our support to you”. I must say that in the past, some election tribunal members got themselves engaged in corrupt practices and they were disciplined. Some were retired while some were dismissed. I want to believe those who are coming on board this time around must have learnt from the mistakes of the past and when you are a Judge and you have been called upon to adjudicate on a matter pertaining to your own fellow country men, you have been put in a position higher than that of the ordinary man. God is the only Judge who does not make mistakes and every other Judge holds justice in trust for God. Thus, whoever indulges in the perversion of justice as a Judge and messes up the task of justice, God will mess him up too. We have laws and an Electoral Act which say election shall be conducted and results shall be declared and that anybody dissatisfied with the results so declared should go to the tribunal. We have to follow what the laws say. We have two alternatives, either to follow the civilised way of doing things according to the rule of law or go down the drains. Let me make the point clear that as a lawyer, I do not believe that we should be agitating for an interim government because it is not constitutional and, in addition, we had a sour experience which produced an Abacha when last we toyed with it. Rather, I would advise Yar\'Adua to form a government of national unity. This does not detract from his presidential powers, instead it will foster national unity and integration. Let us come to terms with the reality that whatever have been the shortcomings of Obasanjo, democracy is still the best and I believe it is the best we can have. We have to find a way of nurturing it, water it, and tender and allow it grow. The only way for it to survive is to allow the judiciary have its way. We have faith in the tribunal because if not for the judiciary, our political actors wanted to make this democratic dispensation a sour experience, but thank God for this judiciary that bailed us out. So we must have faith in the tribunals. Also, I want to salute the courage of candidates that have gone to the tribunals and having submitted their grievances, they should be patient enough; they should not say this is the end for Nigeria. As a former President of the NBA, do you subscribe to lawyers boycotting the Court as a way of protesting the election results? Nigerian Bar Association is my association and to the glory of God, I am one of its leaders. Whenever NBA takes a decision, any lawyer in this country should honour and abide by it. Fortunately enough, we have some governors and governors-elect who are lawyers. They are also members of the NBA and they must respect it. In NBA parliament, they do not just take decisions without thorough discourse and at the end of the day, the President will say this is where we are going and the majority will support it. It is the decision of our association and everybody must respect it. I remember calling for a one-day boycott of courts when I was President of the NBA in 2002 to protest the animalistic, barbaric and heinous murder of Mr. Barnabas Igwe and his wife (Abigail) at Onitsha. All branches of the NBA kept faith with the boycott call. You do not expect me as a former NBA President not to support the association. If I may add, it was also decided at the same last NBA-NEC meeting that aggrieved politicians should not call for breakdown of law and order but should take their grievances to the tribunals. In other words, NBA believes in the tribunals and due process under the law. Various reactions have trailed the instalment of a Sole Administrator in Ekiti State and the outcome of the elections in the state produced another PDP government. Considering the circumstances that led to Fayose\'s exit in Ekiti State, what do you foresee in the next dispensation in the state? I don\'t belong to any political party, but I have clients and friends in all political parties in Nigeria. When it comes to Ekiti matter, I feel like shedding tears. What is happening in Ekiti today is not a story that we should tell and beat our chests about because we see the mighty falling. Those who should be leaders in Ekiti participated actively in decimating the place. Ekiti represents the conscience of the Yoruba nation. It is true we don\'t have money, but we have something better than money - honesty, integrity, hard work etc. We also have education backed up by a good heritage, but what is happening in that state today is very sad. President Obasanjo came there the other time. He said all our education has not paid us. I was one of those who did not support the perceived excesses of Fayose and I remember when Fayose and Chief Afe Babalola, (SAN) had some lingering problems, a few of us - Justice Ademola Ajakaye (now the Oluyin of Iyin), Chief S. K. Babalola, Chief Toye Olofintuyi, myself and Fayose were held up in an hotel in Abuja to find a truce between the two of them. I was the only one who could talk to Fayose one-on-one and I told him what he has never heard before. I told him, "Your Excellency, you are our Governor today but remember today will always become the yesterday of tomorrow." He called me later that I was too harsh on him and I said I had to be harsh on you because you are rude to an elder. But whatever has happened in Ekiti State today, I for one will not agree that we should drive away Fayose and bring in a Sole Administrator. Let us face the reality, when a Sole Administrator was announced, somebody from another state was brought. I have nothing against Brigadier Tunji Olurin, but the fact remains that Ekiti State has produced several generals, Obasanjo could not get anyone of them as Sole Administrator for Ekiti State. I was the only one that challenged it, others were clapping and happy that Fayose is gone, forgetting that it is rubbish. They were acting on the spur of the moment and again, they were acting on it ignorantly. Some were after what they would gain and how to pocket and cage Ekiti as their own personal estate and harness its resources for personal aggrandizement. That is what most of us are fighting against. What we want is the liberation of Ekiti State because it is moving from one form of imperialism to the other and my fear for Segun Oni is the problem of imperialism on ground, the tyranny of a few people. People believe if you are the governor of that state and you don\'t come to see them, it means you have to go. It should not be like that, once a governor is elected, allow him perform. Again, in fairness to Fayose, we can now read between the lines. We now realise what happened after all. Now, Oni\'s election has been challenged in the tribunal, which is the way it should be. Anybody is free to do that, but they should not burn the few houses remaining in Ekiti. I won\'t subscribe to that. Whether the election is challenged or not, will Oni have a free mind of his own, will they allow him to govern? Is there any economic ambition attached to the supposed support given to him by some people? Will Oni allow himself to be pocketed, will he allow Ekiti to be mortgaged by some individuals and will he stand for the liberation of the people? These are the things, basic things and they are very fundamental and paramount to people like us who genuinely love Ekiti. No Ekiti man will tell you that for the past eight years of this Federal Government, anything has been done for that state. Even most of them that claim they are close to Obasanjo, how many of them from Ekiti have oil blocks allocated to them, how many Ekiti people are the beneficiaries of the Federal Government, what position did he give Ekiti - ministerial wise, how many of them were on boards of corporations or companies during his time? Despite everything, a number of us are asking, did we bargain for this when we were leaving Ondo State? Let us remind ourselves that it was the Ekiti people that fought for the creation of Ondo State in 1976; it was Ekiti people who nurtured the state right from Murtala regime. We need an all Ekiti meeting where we can talk to ourselves, it is very imperative because a lot of people who parade themselves as leaders of that state do not love the state. They are thinking of what to gain from that place not what they can do for the state. I have a goal and that is to do my best for Ekiti State, but those who call themselves leaders of the state have refused to cooperate. We have to prevent the state from being hijacked by some individuals. That is the major challenge Oni will face and will continue to face except he faces it squarely and joins forces with the people who want liberation for Ekiti. We don\'t want home grown imperialism and tyranny, what is going on in Ekiti is very complex and we must appreciate this complexity.
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