Sophia Michaels
According to Pa Ayo Adebanjo, an elder statesman and former leader of the socio-cultural organization Afenifere, President Bola Tinubu, Bisi Akande, Segun Osoba, and their counterparts who served as South-West governors in 1999 during Nigeria’s return to democracy, retreated and disappointed Nigerians by not boldly advocating for a constitution that truly serves the people.
Pa Adebanjo said this on Friday when he appeared as a guest on a Channels TV programme.
He said that having failed to insist on federalism as Lagos State governor in 1999, President Tinubu now had the opportunity to rewrite the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, being the Nigerian President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation.
According to Adebanjo, Tinubu, who was Lagos State governor from May 1999 to May 2007, was among the six governors of the South-West who “chickened out” from demanding a Sovereign National Conference after the then military Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, decided to return the country to democracy after the death of ex-military dictator Sani Abacha.
He said that Tinubu currently has an opportunity to rewrite the mistakes of the past by ensuring that Nigerians decide on a constitution they agree to govern their coexistence as against what he described as the “military-imposed constitution” still operational in the country, even 24 years after.
The elder statesman noted that a brand-new people’s constitution would end some of the existential problems in the country, especially the menace of insecurity as a people’s constitution will make room for state police.
He said that “There was a clamour for a Sovereign National Conference at that time (in the buildup to the 1999 election). The military said they were going back to the barracks and we said, ‘Well, go back to the barracks with your constitution; it’s your baggage and return us to where you met us. If you are not going to do that, schedule another conference and we will agree on how to live together’.”
Pa Adebanjo said that the Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere refused to take part in any deliberations with the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime but later agreed to take part in the 1999 election after getting assurances that there would be a Sovereign National Conference thereafter.
“So, we contested that election on protest,” he said, adding that “This is why I disagreed with Ex-Governors Bisi Akande and Segun Osoba. When we were campaigning for them to be governors, it was on the heels of federalism, and the Sovereign National Conference.
“We insisted that the constitution must be changed. So, when we (Alliance for Democracy) came in, we got the mandate of the people; we won the election in the whole of the Western Region, we told all our governors including Bola Tinubu not to go to Abuja until the Federal Government changed the constitution but they chickened out; they were involved in the paraphernalia of office… that is the beginning of the struggle of Nigeria.”
He said that all the six state assemblies in the South-West at that time passed a resolution for a Sovereign National Conference but “all our governors disappointed us”.
According to him, “If the Western Region didn’t take part in any of the activities in Abuja, the Eastern Region would follow us and we would all be forced to come back to the table again.
“They (South-West governors) chickened out, they sold the Nigerian people, they disappointed us. And that is why I said the wrong at that time, Bola Tinubu is in a position to rewrite it now by changing the constitution now to what we wanted it to be. And it is not a long thing to do; take the 2014 National Conference Report, take the (ex-Governor Nasir) El-Rufai Constitution Recommendation of the APC, set up a committee to reconcile the recommendations and we will move on.”
On the issue of establishing state police across Nigeria as a way of fighting insecurity and insurgency, kidnapping and other crimes in the country, Pa Adebanjo said that critics of state police are talking “arrant nonsense.”
He said that “We are now talking of insecurity, kidnapping, how can insecurity be solved when those fighting it are in Abuja? It is not possible. All the governors have been clamouring for state police, for the policing system to be localised…When security is localised, they will take care of their people.
“We copied our federalism from Britain and the United States but have you heard of the Inspector General of Police in America? All you have is the Cosmopolitan Police”.
Pa Adebanjo described as “arrant nonsense”, criticism and the defence put up by opponents of state police that governors would abuse state police.
He said that “The constitution says that governors are chief security officers of their states but you deprive them of the role,” adding that Nigerians are tired of empty promises and reassurances.
He said, “We are tired, we want double action. Until we go back to agree on conditions for us to live together, we will never get peace.”
