Southern governors recently declared a ban on open grazing and called for restructuring of the country. Why agitations like these popping up lately?
THE southern governors are sounding like a broken record. You know what a broken record does? It cracks. I expected them to be more educated people with the responsibility of governance. Each of those governors is under an oath of loyalty, and of preservation of the sovereignty of this country. That means that each of them is duty-bound to stay away from any act, or word that has the tendency to be perceived as being separatists.

I was a governor for eight years, and I know what The Governors’ Forum is because I headed it for five of my eight years in office. Before that, I was chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum. So, the secretariat that you see, and the bureaucracy were set up during my time.

But those that took over from us began to have a situation because we are in a democracy, and people will give to the president, shopping lists from their different zones. There are people in the cabinet, the National Economic Council, and the National Council of States, who once they get themselves out there, begin to talk for their states or their zones only.

Before the Asaba Accord, there was a meeting of all the state governors, and about 36 of them were there. And less than a week after that meeting, some people came out and claim to be members of the Southern Governors Forum. Really, there is nothing wrong with regional bodies, but these governors know the constitution, and they know that every Nigerian has the right of movement, association, and the right to pursue legitimate goals. However, if these governors are saying no to cattle routes and open grazing, what are the alternatives that they have provided? If northern governors come together and take a position, what will happen? What right have you to tell Nigerians not to move freely? If northern groups also say no to southern businesses in their domain, how will that end up?

There are killings of northerners going on in the South, but if the North decides to retaliate, we will call it genocide. What is happening to us? We only know about problems, but not solutions. People are openly calling for a break up of the country.

So many things are happening simultaneously in the country. But what do you make of the current situation?
It is my first time since coming of age that somebody will just get up and say anything about the government and go scot-free. A lot of people are daily sabotaging this government, including those who are under oath. There are also those who are willing and lurking by the corner to do bad things, who now have got the leverage since they now have people that are even in government, but are not showing satisfaction, loyalty, patriotism. So, what do you expect? These are some of the issues that have joined forces to place us where we are today, and nobody can single-handedly, no matter what power you give him, get us out of this mess. All Nigerians must be ready to get the country back on track. This is not to say that Buhari’s government is blameless. I am not suggesting that at all. What I am saying is that we are contributing more to creating problems for the government than what we are doing to solve the problems created by the government. This government is our government; it was elected. No matter what we say. The National Assembly has members from the PDP, APGA, YPP, and the APC. So, everybody is there. Indeed, there are people from every part of this country in the National Assembly and in the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The idea behind every state having a member in the FEC is for them to bring value and add to Buhari’s capacity. But where are they, and what are they saying today? Is there anything in this country that says that a minister cannot talk? If a governor can talk, can’t ministers also talk? But everybody is just folding his/her hands, and unfortunately for us, Buhari is not the talking type. If he were to open up, you would wish you were down the drain. But God has given him the capacity to absorb. It is part of the characteristics of a leader. Yes, there are certain things that have happened that he was supposed to react and respond to, but we have people who are not patient. You see a problem today and you want a solution today. I don’t want to sound like I am justifying what you may see as a failure, but I am giving my thoughts as to why I think we are where we are, and why I think most Nigerians who have the responsibility are not living up to expectations.

If I am in government, you expect something from me. I am also part of the government and cannot exonerate myself. Most of us that are educated, even if we went to missionary schools, benefitted in one way or the other from the government’s contribution to our education. So, there is a contribution that the government has made in preparing us to be where we are today. And as patriotic citizens, one would expect some level of concern, and the concern would not be genuine if we become critics. Even a critic can be positively critical, but where it is just a matter of picking whatever you want to pick and then throw it out without caring about the implications, it is not good. It is just bad.

Some of the agitations are blamed on President Buhari’s leadership style. Do you agree with this?
It is too wide a statement to make. When you’re talking of somebody’s leadership qualities, you don’t just pass judgment. We have the misfortune of battling Boko Haram insurgency alongside other forms of security challenges. It is unfortunate. We must get one fact very clear. This thing didn’t start with Buhari. I cannot deny that there are a few cases, and in fact, an increase in general insecurity. That will be unfair. But the major problem is the failure of state administrations to take up the issue of security seriously. Just like Buhari, every governor has taken an oath to protect the lives and property of the citizens. They get money from the Federation Account and also generate revenues from their states. These are the facts. We agree that the central government needs to handle the issue, but states have to play complementary roles in tackling the issues too. Go and take an inventory of the number of states that are paying salaries today. This is not just about Buhari. States are not paying salaries even with the Paris Club refunds and others that they got. If you have small problems from the various states over time, they aggregate and become big problems. Suddenly, they refer to the problems as Buhari’s problems. Every state government has a responsibility to provide for its people. Nobody said that Buhari is an angel; nobody also said because Buhari is now president, every state governor should abandon his responsibilities. 

But why are these agitations soaring?
Some of these agitations are induced. A few years ago, were they talking about the break up of the country? Why now? Political leaders are in support of what their people are doing. They cannot speak up and challenge them. They just lament; they want the president to handle it. They are talking about restructuring. What is new there? When you and I know that we passed a law in the National Assembly trying to free states’ assemblies and judiciaries. Is Buhari responsible for that?

Local government councils were created by law, and we have tried to free them, but governors are opposed to it. Is Buhari responsible too? How long have we had this aberration? They operate a joint account with local governments. But do these funds go to them directly?
I was a governor and local governments used to get their funds directly. We created some development areas, followed the law, and not a dime was taken from the local government areas. Now, local governments can’t execute projects; they don’t see any money; they don’t even get their money. These issues are affecting our democracy. We want to give Buhari a bad name.

Were efforts made by the National Assembly to free local government councils, states’ assemblies, and state judiciaries part of moves to restructure the polity?
That was part of a restructuring. What is even this restructuring? Those saying it wants us to take a look at the exclusive legislative list. We don’t have to fight over restructuring. We have two chambers that can handle that. Both were elected, and this is our job. If you’re dissatisfied with the issues in Nigeria, you can bring these issues to the National Assembly. They don’t want that, they want to blame the president. There is nowhere that the president can alter the constitution. He can’t even give an order for that to be done. And these agitators are educated, people. Take the issues to us and Buhari will assent to it. We keep saying that Nigerians didn’t write the constitution. Was it Buhari that wrote it? Why is everybody calling Buhari? It’s sickening. There is a limit. Not that we can’t talk. We have the capacity to do more. But what we won’t take lightly, is for any part of this country to think that they have a louder voice. That is not true. When the North starts talking, maybe there will be sense. If we want this country to stay on, we will. I speak as a Nigerian of northern extraction. I will defend that as long as I live. Those who want to leave can go. We will continue to exist as one Nigeria. Let’s see where they will go. Separatists are taking laws into their hands and we are tolerating them. The next thing they would shout about human rights. We need to stop. It won’t do us any good. No country has survived two civil wars. Army generals have told me that. We must watch out and guide against another war. We should be careful about what we say. These agitators can go. But we will remain.