No confab report, no Nigeria, Falae insists
’Buhari owes explanation on herdsmen menace, grazing reserves’
Shocked by reports quoting President Muhammadu Buhari as saying he would want the report of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s National Conference go ‘into the so-called archives’, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, yesterday insisted that the country’s future and progress would depend on implementing some of the recommendations of the document.
While speaking at a public lecture with theme “Welfare Ideology and the Future of Yoruba Nation” to commemorate the 90th birthday of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Akure, the capital city of Ondo State, Falae explained that the 2014 confab report, though never conceded to all the recommendations made for the welfare of the Yoruba people, would actualise 80 per cent of the nation’s aspirations if implemented.
The Afenifere chieftain, who also participated in the confab, noted, “there will be no Nigeria without the report.”
Prior to Falae’s comments at the ceremony, Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, had put forward what it said were measures to enhance the peace, prosperity and sustenance of the Yoruba people across the nation, demanding certain explanations from President Muhammadu Buhari on the persisting herdsmen attacks.
Guest speaker, Prof. Banjo Akintoye, stressed that the Yoruba people across Nigeria wanted to live an independent and progressive life, but the country’s situation had been a major setback.
Akintoye stressed the welfare ideology of the ancient Yoruba society before the first European explorer stepped into the interior of Yorubaland in 1825, to the amazement of a German professor, Ulli Beier, who lived in Yorubaland between 1950 and 1960.
He lamented that the constitutional defects in the country had affected the progress of the Yoruba nation, saying: “Nigeria has been drawing us back, and now we have to take decisions to stop Nigeria from drawing us back,” especially the recurrent herdsmen attacks on farmers.
The guest speaker faulted President Buhari on his declaration in a recent interview with Cable News Network (CNN) in London, asserting that the notorious herdsmen who have been killing farmers across the country, are Libyan militiamen and fugitives trained under Muammar Ghadaffi.
“Why did the government of Nigeria not inform Nigeria about the problem, and why did the government not take action to stop them from coming into Nigeria? Why have some Fulani spokesmen been threatening that they would break up Nigeria if these Libyan militiamen are thrown out of Nigeria?
“How do ordinary nomadic herdsmen afford to buy expensive things like AK47 rifles? How do they get trained to use such weapons? Is any rich or influential person or group supplying them with these weapons, and or training them? If yes, who are these rich or influential persons and what are they trying to achieve?”
He continued: “The president of Nigeria owes Nigeria a clear and certifiable statement on this situation. The president of Nigeria also deserves, and must have, the support of the Afenifere nation, and of other Nigerian peoples, as he investigates these matters, as he explains to Nigeria, and as he strives to remove this immense new challenge from the life of our country.”
The professor tasked Afenifere to “find ways to mobilise unity and strength at home. We Yoruba must conceive the Afenifere ideology anew as the ideology of our whole nation, and not merely the banner of a group, or of a partisan section among us.”
On the proposed grazing reserves, he expressed concerns, saying: “Are they designed by some people to house illegal armies of occupation in the states of the Middle Belt and the South? Are they meant to be also jihadist instruments for forcible islamisation of Nigerians? Or are they designed as weapons of one ethnic group’s conquest of other Nigerians?”
Chief Ayo Adebanjo lamented the defects in the constitution of the country, which led to the restructuring effected by the military after the 1966 coup d’etat to dissipate the independence and sustainability of the erstwhile regions.
“We have been clamouring for change, but the only change which the country needs is the change of the constitution,” he said, noting that the power at the federal level makes the Nigerian president the most powerful in the world at the expense of the federating states.
Adebanjo remarked that President Buhari cannot take decisive measures against the Fulani herdsmen menace in the country because “he himself is a cattle rearer.”
Governor Olusegun Mimiko confirmed the menace of the herdsmen and the impending danger it poses to the peace and security of the nation if proactive measures are not taken to curtail it.
Mimiko stressed that the safety which the Yoruba nation and other states have in the constitution against the new grazing reserve policy is in the Land Use Act that vests exclusive powers in the state governments. “In Ondo State, there is no land for grazing,” he said.
The celebrant, Fasoranti, recounted his experiences during the pre- and post-colonial eras; and his followership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, noting that Afenifere is the “Soul of Nigeria.”
He appreciated the members of the group for organising such a public lecture in his honour and Governor Mimiko, who named a 42, 000 square metres park after him in Alagbaka; and the Afenifere Renewal Group led by Chief Olu Adegboro for presenting a portrait to him.
Others who attended the event included: Chief Iyiola Omisore, Asiwaju Seinde Arogbofa, Chief Korede Duyile, members of Afenifere and representatives of pressure groups across the country.
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27 Comments
Very interesting and educative,we need to start ask these questions put out here by Olu Falae….
Good
Let Falae go explain the stolen money that PDP shared with him. Nigeria is not interested in his confab story.
Who are you to say Nigeria is not interested in confab? church rat like you speaking for Nigerians, go back to school and learn how to make statement using the right word.
Lol, some of them believe Osinba shall soon take over from Buhari. So retaining the failed unitary government system with almighty Abuja is it for them to continue the looting.
Zoo citizen.
Nigerians are not interested in the obvious he has spoken? What made u to think that? Fool!
Truly 9ja is holding down the progress of d afenifere nation and other similar nations that could have fare better on their own…how will 9ja survive without restructuring, how do we sustain this huge cost of governance with little to show for development? They say unity in diversity, until the leadership have the courage to recognize this diversity and implement fundamental changes in the structure of Nigeria, it may be difficult to have a united and verily country that is desired.
KennBest you are a fool who reasons with his backside….worst type of fool.
you are a mad man…so all you can say is he stole money omo ale, eranko
Your father is a mistake…. if your father give birthday to an IDOIT like you them is either your father is a stupid man or he made a mistake!
Wise Man.
GOD BLESS YOU SIR FOR SPEAKING OUT. NO CONFAB NO NIGERIA. LET THE LAZY HAUSA KNOW THAT TODAY.. STOP FIGHTING FOR POST ONLY TO ENRICH YOUR POCKET FIGHT FOR THE GROWTH OF THE NORTH AND BE EDUCATED SO THAT YOU CAN MATCH THOSE IN THE SOUTH.
Every rational Yoruba knows that this Afenifere group does NOT speak for the Yoruba, and that the Afenifere is actually just a tiny, non-influential set of politicians, both electorally and politically. That’s the truth. And to think that it was the group Jonathan hand-picked to represent/speak for the West at that so-called National Confab? Hmm.
The Guardian is just wasting her newsspace giving prominence to this Afenifere group.
P34c3
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you are not yoruba, I am and they speak for me and my tribe.
@duwdu: You mean every irrational Yoruba. Please dwudu will you stop defecating through your mouth. It is very irritating.
Either they are speaking for themselves or for Yoruba nation, the truth in what they said cannot be controverted. Nigeria as presently structured is not only stupid it is also nightmare to every sane person. How can a poor nation like Nigeria sustain 36 state assemblies and a do nothing national assembly of almost 500 people including the retinue of civil servants that serve them? While I am not a fan of GEJ’s government, the national conference report will take us closer to the promise land if implemented. However there are some people especially from the north who is afraid of their interest in various oil blocks that have been illegally allocated to them by previous administrations. They will rather see Nigeria go into flame than see a true federal structure in Nigeria. I think they are only postponing the evil day and Buhari will be wrong as much as I support his government to think that the report is a mere jamboree and waste of money.
The Yoruba must take the lead in the push for a restructured Nigeria and the Igbos must align with them on that. Even Mr Tinubu, the asiwaju of Lagos or wherever and whatever he believes in these days, knows deep in his heart that the only change that could make any meaning and difference in the lives of all Nigerians [not just the Yorubas] is change of the constitution from a unitary to a federal constitution. Let’s set aside this going rhetoric about economic diversification and attracting fdi. It will all fade away the moment oil price rebounds to huge profitable margins. Speaking frankly, if sharing oil and gas rent is taken out of the Nigerian equation right now, how many of the loud northern opponents of a truly federal union will still be inclined to oppose it? I bet that even Junaid Mohammed, Hakeem Baba Ahmed and Professor Abubakar Siddiq among others, will not be interested in centrally sharing livestock or tomato proceeds with the 17 states and local governments in the south. We can all deceive ourselves for as long as we like that this unitary, all-powerful-centre arrangement is working or will ever work, the fact remains that unless and until we return to an updated [modified] federalist structure along the same lines designed by our founding fathers after lengthy deliberations in Ibadan, London, Lagos and elsewhere, Nigeria will continue to wobble along mired in insecurity, instability, ethnic distrust, irredentist movements, corruption, low productivity, abject poverty in the midst of plenty, and popular discontent. The choice is ours to make , when and how. President Buhari has no divine authority to decide for Nigerians the type of polity and governance structures they must have. Putting the report of the 2014 confab in the achieves as the President has said he would do, cannot resolve any of our country’s contentious problems. Everything said and done, the Yoruba put him in power, a united Yoruba nation can and should make him change his mind.
Fortunately for the Yoruba, we know our true leaders!
Na waooo upon all the taxpayers money given to olu falae for his own enjoyment which he had pocketed but the man still got the gut to allow his mouth to run diarrhea telling us about confab which billions was spent unnecessarily despite the economy situation of the country. The president did not say that the confab won’t be look at but that it should stay in the archive for the time being.,as there are other pressing matters that needed urgent attention like the economy which need total revamp. Confab can’t put food on the table of common man nor would it be able to find them jobs. Confabs recommendation benefits the elites and politicians than the the common man looking for his/her daily bread.
Lol,
You left the message and went to attack the messenger.
President Buhari is merely buying time as he seeks to use all the powers his office has to sustain the extant rigged and lopsided political structure crafted by Buhari clan under this increasingly exaggerated unitary government system, both of which enable the Buhari clan to suck up more of oil and other revenues to the north of Nigeria than what the south gets.
Through the undue political over-representation derived from the undue large numbers of 19 states and hundreds of local government areas proliferated all over the north by northern Nigeria soldiers, Buhari clan politicians breathe upon the necks of people from the rest of Nigeria politically and financially, dictate what can or can’t be in Nigeria.
Even a former US ambassador to Nigeria and veteran writer on Nigeria’s affairs, John Campbell recently wrote and urged Buhari to use the recommendations of the last CONFAB to close the political fault lines in Nigeria.
If Buhari doesn’t accept the recommendations of the last CONFAB, he has to establish a no-holds-barred sovereign national coference.
Else, Nigeria MUST be a gone country soon if the Buhari clan continues to use the undue political advantages it got from the political structure and constitution it established and imposed upon Nigeria by military fiat.
Buhari clan has made enough money from having the south of Nigeria as war booty for about forty years, time to stop.
Did Olu Falae just wake up from a looooooong slumber? Has he returned his share of the loot. Where was he all these months when Jonathan kept the Confab report in his drawer?
DEFINE PRODIGALITY PLEASE!!
There is no doubt that tribal mistrust is rife here and this is a result of our common experience with one another through the years.
Let us have the courage to accept that we do not ALL trust the President.
Let t he President accept the fact that most tribes, especially in the South and the Middle Belt, do not trust him.
I still believe he is the most decent man to occuppy that post. I cannot assess his mental and emotional ability to carry everybody along, but on the issue of keeping his hands off the pocket of the Nation, I think he carries most people along.
So, if this ONLY non-thief still does not engender universal trust, how can we assume our problems can be solved within the current operating administrative parameters?
We need to look at those Confab Recommendations and see if there are possible ways out.
We just cannot trash them because we did not support the processes that produced tham.
And for my President to say he would trash a N9billion document, without even looking at it sounds rather arrogantly PRODIGAL to me!
HOW CAN WE TELL THE RICH (STOLEN MONEY RECEIVER) COUNTRIES WE CARE FOR OUR MONEY WHEN WE ANNOUNCE WE ARE TRASHING THE RESULT OF N9BILLION OUT OF SPITE FOR THE PROCESS IN WHICH IT WAS SPENT?
WHY WON’T THEY TREAT OUR CROCODILE TEARS WITH CONTEMPT?
Yes it is true sir. After all the tidy sum of a hundred million Naira – a paltry “donation” by the PDP to your party though your goodself- is not so easy to count let alone account for. Its best we pretend on other issues until the furore is distracted by such absolute demands as the one just made by you.
If we can all speak with one voice or echoed Olu Falae Nigeria will change for better. Some states want to continue living a parasitic life producing billionaires from oil in Niger Delta but they have forgotten that ”there is nothing sweet that last for ever’. Take for example, with all the Federal Allocation the Northern States are collecting, many of their citizens are Almajiri.
NO CONFAB REPORT, NO NIGERIA. NO CONFAB REPORT, NO NIGERIA, NO CONFAB REPORT, NO NIGERIA
Lets sing it together……..
A healthy and peaceful pill for the continue corporate existence of Nigeria.
Which nigeria is he talking about? Is it, the Nigeria, they have killed or the one they have splashed the bloody of the innocent ones by sharing the money that supposed to fight Boko harm? Which Nigeria? or he want more money on top of #500 million he got? Which Nigeria? Moral upright people should talk for us not those that messed up their generation, sell their children birth right.
We will review and take appropriate action.