Otunba Gani Adams is the coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and a delegate member of the last National Conference. In this interview with Ojoduwa Adah, he speaks about his experience at the conference, the forthcoming elections, achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan and why he should be re-elected for a second term. Excerpts:
Some people criticised the conduct of National Conference last year while others regard it as one of the major achievement of President Goodluck Jonathan. As a member of that conference, do you see the conference as a major achievement of this government?
In the actual fact, those who criticised soft-pedaled before we got to the middle of our deliberations and got convinced of what we were doing and started having a re-think. Majority of those who started the criticism came from the opposition parties because they believe if the conference succeeds; it would be a major achievement of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government but thank God at the end of the day, it was one of the best conferences Nigeria ever had in the country.
The conference had about 630 recommendations out of the 20 committees. There was no committee that does not have new recommendations, even the recommendation for restructuring of the country was exactly like that of the U.S. We borrowed this presidential system of government from America but when we started operating it, we twisted it to our own selfish interest. But the conference afforded us the opportunity to put thing right both in structure, security, intelligence, human rights, religion, environment, derivation formula and judiciary to the extent that it recommended the setting up of Supreme Court in every state of the federation, the conference also recommends that every state should have its own constitution as practised in America.
The conference also recommended for the establishment of state police, creation of local government based on available resources to its state, the local government before existed as a third tier of government where state governors starve them of funds by sitting or embezzling their allocations from the federation account. But under the new arrangement, as recommended by the conference, they exist under the state control where state government share money to the existing councils, if the governor like he can create or reduce the number of the existing local governments in the state. So by and large the conference was one of the best achievements of Jonathan since he became the president of this country in 2011.
The 2015 general election is few weeks away from now, many people are afraid that the present democracy could be truncated as a result of violence. Do you have that kind of fear?
I don’t have fear that the 2015 will degenerate into violence. In the beginning I have that kind of fear but when I started monitoring the campaigns of the two main presidential candidates, I realised that there should be little of such fears that we should allow to exist in our heart. I said this because the two main presidential candidates have held rallies in more than five states now and we have not heard of violence in the camp of the two major parties even when Buhari went to south-south, the base of the incumbent president, there was no crisis and Jonathan came to the south-west where we have about four APC sitting governors and there was no crisis. The way things have started and moving, my fear is being reduced with every passing day and we are growing through holding democratic elections.
I just watched a workshop held in Abuja where all the presidential candidates were called to sign undertaking that there would be no violence after the general elections. This is a new thing in our democracy, day by day we are learning on how to conduct a violence free election in the country. I don’t have fear that crisis or violence will erupt after the general elections in February.
In your assessment of the present administration, do you think Jonathan deserves a second term in office?
I will not agree with that. Those who are saying that Jonathan does not merit second term are those who are eager to take over power from him, if Jonathan can survive with the presence of Boko Haram and the attack from MEND at the beginning of the government, and in 2009, we witnessed an economic crunch which in grammar you can call it economic meltdown and for him to survive and at the end of the day our GDP is the first in Africa, definitely if we can have him in second term without much problem. He can do more than we expected, and I saw him as a detribalised president who does not have the mind of tyranny. He is the only president that people will abuse and he will not ask the security agents to arrest and try you. What members of the opposition did to Jonathan with the mind of maturity he absolved it, they cannot do10 per cent of it to former President Olusegun Obasanjo when he was in power. His simplicity cannot be compared, his humility is something to write for others to emulate. So, he is a president that can build a strong foundation for Nigeria’s nascent democracy.
If we continue with the way President Obasanjo governed the country for eight years where we have democracy with a nucleus of a dictatorship our democracy would have suffered greatly, but if we have the opportunity to continue with the way President Jonathan has been running the affairs of the country, we will be able to stabilise and look for a reliable person to take over from him. So, I believe he merit second term, no matter the way you abuse him, he would laugh and not even respond. Kinsley Kuku told me that when he responds to some of the president’s critics and members of the opposition group, the president had to caution him that those people are elder statesmen. So Jonathan is highly matured to the extent that the opposition will say that he is too soft to be president of the country, and if he changes his character, they will call him a dictator. I believe he is a president that believes in a peaceful society.
Do you think Jonathan stands a better chance of getting support in the south-west?
Don’t think that south-west is APC states. South-west is a place that you cannot use the media to deceive. We are highly exposed and highly educated. For you to say we should go one way, it is impossible, I don’t think that the south-west will vote for Buhari en masse. Don’t forget the pain caused by the June 12 annulment, it is still fresh in the mind of our people many died in the cause of June 12 struggle, many lost a lot of properties. I don’t think our people will trust a Hausa/Fulani man from the north this time around.
What is your assessment of our elected politicians in terms of delivering dividends of democracy?
People are blaming Jonathan for hardship in the country, they cannot blame state governors and law makers in the country who are being given constituency allowances but everybody is blaming Mr. President when I talk about politicians I speak without exception. Many governors and local government chairmen could not give account of what they collect every month from the allocation account. Before the current fall in the prices of crude oil, some were collecting about N6 -7 billion every month and all they do is to embark on elitist projects that have no direct impact on the lives of common people only to come and accuse Mr. President that he is not performing. One thing I respect Jonathan for is despite pressures from the ruling PDP, he refused to influence the result of elections as we have witnessed from the result of Anambra, Edo, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states governorship elections. We were surprised when a large number of security agents were sent to Ekiti and Osun states during the last elections, it was later we got to know that some members of the party gave him a wrong assessment of the situation that there will be crisis during the elections.
Source: Nigeria Today newspaper
