26
THE NATION MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011
POLITICS
Yoruba is culturally enslaved, says Akande A
CTION Congress of Ni geria (ACN) National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande has lamented what he described as the “cultural enslavement” of Yoruba within Nigeria, adding that hope for the ethnic group under the 1999 Constitution is dim. He said: “The Yoruba, as presently positioned in Nigeria, can never be economically and politically viable to mobilise the Diaspora. Until the ethnic groups are granted absolute autonomy to manage their peoples’ internal security, transportation, agriculture, education and health, there is no way Yoruba in the Diaspora can be effectively mobilised for development. “Like the American Jews from Israel since 1948, Yoruba in Nigeria is waiting to be mobilised into freedom of unfettered opportunities by Yoruba in the Diaspora”. The former Osun State governor delivered a lecture in New York, United States, titled: “Yoruba beyond 2011: Utilising synergy of economic and political development of Yoruba nation to mobilise Yoruba in the Diaspora”. It was part of the activities marking the 19th national convention of ‘Egbe Omo Yoruba in North America”. The guest of honour was Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Southwest Economic Integration, Rev. Tunji Adebiyi. The governor reasoned that, there was the need for the race to look inward and brace up for the challenge of returning to the basics. Fashola said that Yoruba should return
By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor
to agriculture, which was the mainstream of the regional economy in the days of former Premier Obafemi Awolowo. The governor asked the government and people of the zone to ponder on the negative impact of the loss of the income-yielding occupation, which boosted the internally generated revenue of the pioneer progressive government that performed the magic of “Life more abundant” in the old Western Region. Akande dissected Nigeria, saying that, despite the restoration of civil rule after decades of struggles, it has not moved from the quasi-unitary form of centralised authority nominally called federalism. He frowned at the penchant of the federal government for pegging down the developmental moves of the component units through the obstructions of their efforts to establish railways, build roads and generate electricity. The ACN chairman recalled that the suppression of the states by the federal government got to a peak 28 years ago when former military Head of State MajorGeneral Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) cancelled the metro-line mass transportation programme embarked upon by former Lagos State Governor Lateef Jakande. He also berated Obasanjo Administration for appropriating all megawatts of electricity generated by Tinubu Administration on the excuse that the railways and electric national grid were in the exclusive lists.
Urging Nigerians to ponder on the existing lopsided federalism, Akande said: “Our problem is the erosion of the country’s federalism between 1966 and now. The appropriate solution to this problem is a steadfast struggle by Yoruba, along with other ethnic nationalities that want to have cultutral freedom, to modernise their own sections of the country”. The elderstatesman said the manipulation of democracy since 1999 had created room for electoral insanity, pointing out that the devolution of powers to states or regions to facilitate their development in consonance with their cultural values has been blocked. Akande said, despite the huge resources allocated to the central government, it has failed to judiciously use them to carry out the responsibilities given to it by the constitution. He highlighted the areas of failure, contending that rail transportation and power generation, which are in the Exclusive List are at ground zero. The former governor stressed: “The 1960 Constitution had 44 items on the Exclusive List and 28 on the Concurrent. The Republican Constitution of 1963 had 45 items on the Exclusive List and 29 on Cuncurrent. In 1963, the ratio between federal and regional responsibilities was 3:2. The situation became worse under the 1999 Constitution. 68 items are on the Exclusive List and 30 on the Concurrent. “With the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions, Nigeria had been
‘Southwest ‘ll be back to Awolowo days’
F
ORMER Minister of Power and Steel and chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State, Dr Olu Agunloye, has said that his party programmes would revert the dwindling Human Development Index and return the state to the glorious Awolowo years. Agunloye noted that Chief Awolowo’s example of good governance, welfarist agenda anchored on agriculture, urban development and establishment other projects, placed the Western Region as a leading light in Africa. In this dispensation, what the current governors of the ACN were doing was to go back to that lofty glory, which placed them ahead in term of Human Development Index ,but had slipped backward for lack an integral marshal plan. He said: “It is more about the people taking over governance, they want to go back to their root, where social justice was supreme and human development was paramount. They want to go back to Afenifere days when HDI had remained number one in the country since 1952 to 1959 under Chief Obafemi Awolowo and he managed to keep that, maybe to the last seven years, but now we are behind in the zones in Nigeria”. The former minister explained that the people want to go back to that era and their leaders are not pretending about it. “The leaders like Asiwaju Tinubu, Baba Bisi Akande, Rauf Aregbesola, Ajumobi, Fayemi, Oshiomhole and Fashola are not pretending.
* Agunloye By Musa Odoshimokhe
What they are simply saying is that the HDI must improve, they are not performing magic ,but are saying let do it the way our forefathers did it so that we can get result”. Citing the case of Osun State as example, he said: “Even though the revenue generation of the state is low but within the first 100 days they have hired 20,000 people. I was in Osun State once when those hired were giving testimony; one of the people who were hired sent money to his father and the father brought the money to the mosque for prayer. The father said he had always given money to that his graduate son, he never believed his
son will earn money and send to him, so dedicated to the mosque”. Making reference to the current obstacle orchestrated to derail the ACN leadership, he said: “They seem not to understand what Nigerians feel about the case they are trying to pursue. They also don’t seem to understand how the millions of people feel in the Yoruba nation. They also don’t understand that people know that even their prosecutors have dollars in their accounts, houses and foreign accounts scattered everywhere. They also seem not to understand the implication of this that literarily that people in the South-west believe that this is a politically motivated witch-hunting but for Nigeria to move forward they someone like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to contribute to that development”. “They need to engage him into what is known as participatory development for good governance because I am really worried that if they push this matter too far, it can go out of the hand of government and the hand of Asiwaju himself. The situation may start where he may not be able to face us and people of the South-west and say don’t fight, calm down because he is not the architect of the emotion, he may not be able to control it if it escalate.” Dr Agunloye, who is currently in the saddle to ensure that ACN makes an in-road to Ondo State ,believes that the current government was an epitome of a pregnant woman who was in labour but refuse do deliver.
• Akande
‘With the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions, Nigeria had been moved from federalism back to the Lugardian model of centralised authority or amalgamation of geography, people and cultural values’ moved from federalism back to the Lugardian model of centralised authority or amalgamation of geography, people and cultural values”. Akande viewed the Boko Haram violence as a contradiction because the sect is violently opposing education, which is cherished by the Southwest, adding that Yoruba parents who still take loans to educated their children are embarrassed to hr brim. He also revisited the debate on state police, flaying the central government for monopolising the security system and law enforcement agencies. Akande said: “With a central police force that is controlled by the federal government, the threat to life and limb in Nigeria is worse today than what happens in countries that are at war...The police reforms of former President
Yar’Adua called for additional funding to be sourced from money from the Federation Account, which belongs to the states as well. is it not less cumbersome and more cost-effective to open the field of law enforcement to the states as it is done in other federations across the globe?”. The ACN chairman reiterated his call for regional autonomy, adding that the fight for true federalism should be re-invigorated. He added: “It has to be fought the way ur forefathers fought for independence. Yoruba and other self-determination organisations at home and in the Diaspora need find ways of working in tandem to solve a problem that may, if not solved, keep their children in the Diaspora away from Nigeria forever and, eventually, rob them of their cultural identity”.
‘What is Nigeria celebrating at 51?’ By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor
H
OUSE of Representatives member from Agege Constituency, Lagos State, Dr Samuel Adejare, has lamented the leadership crisis in the country, saying that Nigeria has not developed because of lack of transformational leadership at the centre. The legislator told reporters in Lagos that lack of stable electricity supply, insecurity and collapsed infrastructure were products of bad management. He said: “There is nothing to cheer or celebrate at the independence anniversary. Nigeria is 51, but it is still crawling. This is a country that is full of potentials. This country is blessed with abundant human and material resources. We have no excuse for this sorry state. We have not got our focus right. Political and ethnic differences on the Plateau, violence by Boko Haram, poverty , squalor and unemployment make the country to lay prostrate. “We have voted for leaders who have turn round to oppress us.The lesson is that we should learn to use our votes wisely so that we can have good leaders in the future at the centre”. Adejare blamed the government for reneging on its promises to the people. But he also flayed Nigerians for being docile, saying that we close our eyes to bad policies and inaction, instead of protesting the injustice. He ruled out the chance of getting to the promised land under Jonathan Administration. Waxing philosophical, the legislator added: “The eye thay will last you for a life time will not give you trouble at the prime”. Adejare alerted Nigerians to the opportunity offered by the prioposed constitution amendment. He said the exercise would be meaningful, if it paves the way for true federalism, fiscal federalism, decentralisation of power and fair distrubution of resources. He added: “The amendment should also accord Lagos a special status within the federation as former Federal Capital Territory.”