ODUMAKIN: Regional Autonomy Is Our Cardinal Demand From Jonathan

Spokesman of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said the regional socio-political group has the right to endorse any candidate of their choice. SEYE OLUMIDE reports. 

Why we endorsed him

FOR the Afenifere, we are not a monitoring group and we are not an NGO, but we are socio-political organisation founded, nurtured and sustained around the ideas of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

  Awolowo was not a commentator, neither was he an observer, but a person who gives direction, who organised around certain ideas and the crop of his ideas from the fifties till he died was that the country cannot make progress except it is organised along true federalism.

   In 1967, while Awolowo was in Calabar Prison, he authored a book titled ‘Thoughts on Nigeria Constitution’ in which he made it clear that any attempt to run Nigeria on a unitary constitution would also be productive of disharmony among the ethnic groups in Nigeria, wastage in governance and that the administrative machinery of governance would be grounded to a halt unless we have a Superman to run the country.

  Everything he projected has happened to the country today. So as a group founded on his ideals, Afenifere has to continue to pursue that goal that would lead to the reconstruction of the country and to grant autonomy to the constituent units. The Yoruba want autonomy.

   For Ohanaeze, the Igbo Socio-cultural organisation, they have their interest to protect. For the Arewa Consultative Forum, they also have their interest to protect. So, in democracy those groups are free to make their choice and support whoever they feel will benefit their interests. I don’t see how, in this age of self-determination, we can stop people from making their preferences.

Not anti- 

  The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southwest is jittery. They are the ones raising all kinds of inconsequential people to make all manner of statements. For instance, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has never been part of us. They are never part of our decisions. So if they have taken any position they should tell the Yoruba people.

  They should educate the Yoruba why their candidate should be voted. We are saying that Yoruba should vote somebody who has shown us what we want. We want autonomy and somebody has convened a National Conference, which enabled us to dialogue. That is the change that we need.

  If someone now believes that we are Koma people or Almajeris, such that somebody is now promising us that one meal a day for our children in school is what we need, in a region where Awolowo organised free education as far back as 1964, where over 400,000 students were in school one day, we have the right to say no. In 2015 someone is now erecting billboards saying they will feed our children with one meal a day, it is funny.

  On the Ekiti imposture, I must say there is no reason to dignify him by response. The last time we saw the Ekiti imposture in Afenifere meeting was about 11 years ago. He was an appointee of the former governor of the state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. But because the APC is rattled, they are raising all manner of people to talk nonsense.

  Well that is for those who are wallowing in delusion that we have resolved the national issue. Social scientist have argued severally that a social problem is not resolved by pretending that it does not exist or place behind the doors. Look until you have nation you don’t have a nation and until we resolve nationhood we would continue to have crisis.

  What we need today is to decide whether we want to live together and that could only be decided through the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference and that is reason Afenifere endorsed Jonathan.

  It is only Jonathan that has the courage to convene a conference and since he assumed power what he promised to do, he has done them. When he came to us in Afenifere he told us that if he should send the recommendations of the conference to the present National Assembly it would die. But he told us that if he comes in for second term before the end of the first year he would implement the report.

Afenifere’s Strength 

   We are strong and that is reason President Jonathan is consulting with us and other groups from other parts of the country. Mr. President has given us his words, clear and irrevocable commitment, but if he decides to do otherwise after getting there we will mount the battle against him. But for his opponent we can’t mount anything against, but then the APC is the only political party that did not support the 2014 National Conference. The party campaigned vigorously against the conference and up till date, the only person in the party who spoke on the recommendations of the conference is the spokesman of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who said, “we will study the report” so we cannot hold them to it, but we can hold Jonathan to it.

  Don’t forget in 2012 when Mr. President increased pump price of petrol, we took people out on the streets and from then till now the government has not increased the price of petrol. That power is still there.

  When the cabal wanted to deny him from becoming the president after the death of Umaru Yar’Adua we mobilised people to the streets and he was sworn in. I don’t think Mr. President would want to underestimate the power of the people to hold him to his words.

The stake for Southwest

     I wonder why some Yoruba cannot take advantage of the present situation to impress it that regional autonomy is our cardinal demand. The issue goes beyond whether President Jonathan performed or not, but some just feel power must return to their region at whatever cost.

  What has any past president done in terms of performance that the incumbent has not done and what has he failed to do that any of his predecessors did right?

  What the Afenifere is demanding is that Nigeria should be restructured along true federalism. The present system is drawing us back and Mr. President has given his word he will address it during his next four years in power. That is the basis of our endorsement of him.     

On INEC’s readiness

  If it is the decision of the Council of State that the election should hold lets wait and see how INEC is going to overcome the problems of logistics and other challenges. All people are saying and which I agreed with is that the INEC has not shown that it is ready for the elections. The law is very clear that if we hold this election on April 28 we are still in line. So what has anybody got to lose by shifting the date of the elections?