In your own assessment what do you think
will be the future implication of all these things that have happened to the Nigerian
military, a situation in which the chief of army staff,the chief of general staff
and their commander-in-chief were trading accusations and counter-accusations over
an alleged coup plot on video and in newspapers? (Pause) We have here a juxtapose
position of power-play in the military and in the ethnic complexities of the
country.That's my own assessment and this man [Abacha] was a phenomenon.The way
he wanted to succeed himself without any pretence at all was quite nauseating
... but, you see,the question would have been easier to answer if the man was still
alive. He is gone and the new man seems to be dismantling the man's structures.
I don't know whether I have answered your question. No, we want you to assess the implications of Abacha's misadventure on
the military,and on the country itself. And we have these layers of conspiracies,
you have spoken about the power-play within the office of the head of junta,the
ethnic dimensions and the implications of the oligarchy's continuing hold on to
who ever is in power ...(Cuts in) I'm happy you said that. The ambition of
the oligarchy to hold on to whoever is in power ... sorry if I had to digress.
Abacha might have been there and might not have had any interest in protecting
any Northern interest,just that he wanted to be in power and therefore whatever
could help him and Northern oligarchy would capture him. And this makes me to
say that I have this strong feeling that if [MKO] Abiola had assumed power in 1993
without this prison experience, the Northern oligarchy would have also captured
him and used him for their own purposes. And this is why I want to now warn Nigerians,
Southerners as well as Northerners, that is,rational southerners and rational Northerners,
that the statement being made by some people that the solution is a Southern president
is very dangerous.It is not just having a Southern president that is the issue,
it is meaningful,fundamental power sharing [restructuring] that can solve the
problem because you can be president but if you are not in charge of the army,
police,prisons, security forces you are not in power. If you are not in charge of
the civil service, you are not in power. If you are not in charge of the
parastatals, you are not in power. It's like, say for a parastatal,you say 85
percent of the staff are from the West but the chief executive,the director of
finance, the director of administration are from the North.Definitely, who's in
control? Is it the 85 per centtypists,messengers,gatemen,clerical assistance and maintenance officers that are in power or
those three? Same thing when somebody is in power and the head of the military
intelligence is from the North, the head of the army is from the North, the
head of security service is from the North and so on and so forth,definitely
you are not in power.You are just a president without a base, a sitting duck
ready to be pushed aside if you do not dance to their tunes. So, what Iam
saying in essence is that whoever is in power,the Northern oligarchy would use these
agencies to capture him and put him in their pockets. So,this idea that Jibril
Aminu and others have been echoing that we must have a Southern president is
very misleading. It is not just having a Southern president, it is having a
true federation, a true and meaningful federation in which power will be
devolved to the states.In fact, it will be good if the president only deals
with the defence and foreign policy and the powers of the defence should be
split in such away that all zones are represented.So, it's not just having a president
because I believe it is all a ruse this unusual promotion by the Northern oligarchy
that there should be a Southern president. By the time they produce their
joker, you will all be shocked. You will get a Southern president but you'd wish
you never bargained for it.No doubt, the fire of radicalism in you is still
glowing but we are sure some of your students would be wondering why you, a radical
academic, should opt to serve a military junta in the firstplace. Any regrets? The only regret I have is
the treatment I had in the hands of somebody like El-Mustapha because I told
you, I am not being boastful, the way I carry myself intellectually and disposition-wise.
I am like a jewel messed up in the mud the way I was handled with the inhumane,
vicious, venomous,unexplainable and unjustifiable treatment I got from those
boys.There was no basis for it. Its hows the poison, the venom,the prejudice
behind these people's perception of me.To me, I am a Nigerian and a nationalist.
Now, I have no regrets at all because the purpose for going into government was
to assist a friend, general Diya. He invited me in July 1994 to form an advisory
committee to deal with policy issues and give him advice on related
matters,excepting security or military matters. I worked with all my brain and
heart for the CGS.I made a lot of contributions and inputs into certain steps
he took but I'd say this that some of my suggestions were not shot down
directly by him but in around about manner. For instance, I'd write a policy
paper for him on an impending national issue. He would later discuss with the C-in-C.
That one would take it to the Northern oligarchy who would advise against his
carrying out the suggestions because, as they always say,they were not in his best
interest and that of the North. And that would be the end of the matter. They frustrated
many moves. Again,for instance,if you say government has not done this thing
about NITEL or NEPA, they would say that it was because the PRC had not met on
it to approve the white paper. But when they do something, like say they
appoint new members of a board, without your knowledge and you raise a question,
they would say, ehnn,but it was recommended in the proposed white paper. Are
you getting me? They would always do only those things that benefit them directly
and careless about your own sensibilities. That's why you may never see the
white papers of any panel or probe reports. They would rather use those recommendations
favourable to their interest: and when you raise query about the whole issue,
they always have a ready answer, Ah, it was recommended by so so so panel.That
is how they have been using the results of more than 14 probe panels set up by
the government but up till today the reports are yet to be officially
released.With all these complexities in government and the bastardisation of
democratic principles (by the previous administration), do you think this new junta can midwife democracy?I will give two answers.
One,spiritual, the other rational. The spiritual is this: in [TheGospel according
to St.] Luke 1: 37, "For with God, nothing shall be impossible."And I
believe that even though we human beings are the architects of our own fate,
sometimes divine interventions do come in if you believe in God.Take my own situation.
As a person, I was discharged and acquitted but they were not going to let me go,
the stumbling block to their wish must have been the sudden death of the head
of state. So by some divine intervention,the man just passed away. The new one
said those who had been discharged and acquitted should be released and those
who had been sentenced to death and various terms of imprisonment should have
their sentences reduced.Perhaps without that passing away of [Abacha]maybe I'd
still be in detention now. Maybe some people would have been executed. So, my
first response is that we pray for divine intervention that these people would
be wise.Secondly,for what I know particularly of this head of state, he seems to
me to be an officer and a gentleman. Now, whether or not this would reflect in achieving
the objective of successfully running a transition programme would depend on how
he sanitises the armed forces. It will depend on hisbeing honest with his own conscience
because when people are inpower, sometimes their conscience gets dented by people
advising them,by people holding offices, by people blocking them from hearing
the truth.So, if he could be the man I knew, I think he might mean well.
So,whether he midwifes or not, would depend on what God has decreed for us and
on the way he is able to deal with his fellow generals and the officers corps of
the armed forces. It also depends on the civilians. Remember that it was the
civilians that decided to trade away their mandate [in1993]. After the
annulment,both the NRC [National Republican Congress, one of two parties
set up by military dictator Ibrahim Babagida for civilians to join] and
SDP [Social Democratic Party, the second political party authorized by the
military government] agreed, to have an interim national government,ING,abi [isn't
that so]? If they had not agreed I don't think ING [Interim National
Government set up by Babagida and headed by Shonekan in place of elected Moshood
Abiola]would have been possible and I don't think the annulment would have survived.
Again, look at the five-party endorsement of General Abacha as their common presidential
candidate.If they were the democrats or serious politicians, such a travesty would
never have happened. In essence, I'm saying that our politicians must have a genuine
desire for genuine democracy.Without that, true democracy will continue to
elude us.
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