Guardian

• It Is Time For Us To Save This Country And Secure Its Future

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State does not shy from confronting issues. For a man so passionate about democracy, who was part of those who made sacrifices to ensure that democratic rule returned in 1999, how does he feel with general state of things in the country - the insecurity, rising poverty level and shrinking democratic space? The man assures that this democracy is not a failure yet. He spoke to ABIODUN FANORO.

Huge sacrifices were made to restore democracy in 1999. But Nigerians are now asking questions whether this is the democracy they fought for, because the dividends are not really following…

THE part of the country where I come from, modesty dictates that one should be very circumspect in blowing one’s trumpet, so as not to be labeled as engaging in self-praise, but to allow one’s achievements and the people do the praising. It is also not appropriate to jump into a blanket conclusion that it is in all parts of the country that democracy has not delivered. Certainly, we cannot have a blanket judgment on democracy, its depth in Nigeria, benefits to the people and its prospects.

Why?

From my own angle, it is impossible for anybody to dismiss the gains of democracy in Lagos State and in most parts of the Southwest, and today’s Edo state, where my colleague, Adams Oshiomole is performing un-relentlessly. Not even the blind and dumb would say this area has been stagnated from 1999 till date. To that extent, I will not subscribe to the view that democracy has been a pain and per adventure, a futility for the people. Yes, on a national scale there could be ground for disappointment and despair, but in some sections of Nigeria, certainly, there are some visible exceptions.

But the situation is so bad now that our hospitals have declined from being consulting centres as they were referred to in 1983, to something else that now makes medical tourism the order of the day for the rich.

What you are saying is that the lives of Nigerians have been devalued, I agree with you. But even as gloomy as it is nationally, we must not fail to recognise some pockets of genuine efforts at giving democracy meaning in the lives of our people. How would you want to situate Lagos, is it in healthcare, is it in infrastructure, is it in security, is it in waste management; in every aspect of life, the progressive administration in Lagos State since 1999 has made considerable impacts on the people and the environment.

The other states in the Southwest equally made substantial efforts at improving the lives of the people, especially in the first four years of the civilian dispensation. I don’t call it democratic governance. We have to be very careful, as much as I want to believe that we are operating a democracy, it is however more appropriate to describe the setting as a civilian administration. In the first four years of the civilian administration, starting from 1999, all the governments in the Southwest made strenuous efforts at translating into action, in the lives of the people, the credo of the Action Congress, which was freedom for all, life more abundant. As these efforts were on, then there was a hiccup, a personality desperate for his position in history, scuttled the process by crash manipulation and malfeasance, which denied the people of the region their true democratic expression.

But it was reported that the Southwest governors submitted to the agreement between them and the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, who needed the zone’s support for his re-election bid?

Well let’s wait for what actually transpired, whether there was a willing submission of the reigns of governance or a capture that took place under duress. Capture comes by force, no capture is voluntary.

The point I am making is that the eight years of reactionary takeover of a section of the West (of Nigeria) adversely affected the psyche of the people and the pace of the development in the region. We have just again begun the process of recovering from the losses of the locust years in the region. The performance of the various administrations in the region today, have clearly shown that it is not impossible to impact on the lives of the people and the environment.

There is no doubt that on the national scale, there exist evidence of failure of governance, as you have in unprecedented insecurity, embarrassing power and energy failure, collapsed road and health infrastructure, abject poverty, mass unemployment unbridled corruption, and so on and so forth. On all these I agree, but so as not to throw away the child with the bath water, we must endeavor to separate the wheat from the chaff. After all, the governors and the administration in this part of the country, including Edo State are working to make this era meaningful to our people. What I am therefore driving at is that, as disturbing as those trends of vicissitude that were the lots of the region between the era of 2003 to as far as 2010, we should break away from it and move on, using it as a challenge to enter into a covenant with our people through enduring performance, that never in the history of this region must these charlatans be allowed to mount the reign of power.

Is that why your party is forming a merger, to have more strength and reach?

We are forming the political party to solidify, and strengthen the platform so as to be sufficiently capable of taking PDP (People’s Democratic Party) out of its unmerited position of piloting Nigerian Affairs. The PDP, by my own estimation has done more harm to Nigeria and the people, more than any group or situation. The PDP, rather than securing a viable place for the country, where Nigeria would be the first country of destination in every noble thing, has regrettably secured an un-enviable place for us as a pariah nation. Probably more than any other known country, Nigeria remains the country where lives and property are not safe, yet we are not in war, no thanks to the PDP, which contemptuously say, our suffering is not enough and is not over, and that it would extend it till the next 60 years, which it has vowed to force itself on the people. I am not satisfied with that arrangement. My dissatisfaction is part of why we are working towards a more robust, stronger and capable platform to displace PDP at the centre.

The Southwest has attempted a model in governance, could this not be rubbished by this plan to reach out in the merger arrangement?

We told the world at the Progressive Parties’ Governors’ Forum and at the general party level, that our desire is not just to get power for the sake of it, but to use the power to harness the vast resources of this country for the overall good and benefit of everybody; without exception regardless of status, age, religion, political party, level of education etc. The people we are engaging from other political parties and individuals that would join the merger on their own, from all indices are progressive elements who had for long been separated by one minor differences or the other, but who are now being wedged together by the common challenges facing our country, which have reduced our people to lesser beings.

I sincerely appreciate the sentiment you expressed about the Southwest model. We too are equally conscious, that those flowing with us are genuine progressives whose traits and records have proven that, so also are some new comers that have been baptized by the progressive ideology as modeled by the Southwest. We are very sure that the people, women, youths, children, the jobless graduates, the pensioners and the traumatized workers are with us and would lend their hand in efforts to wipe sorrow and suffering from the land, which the PDP stands for. Our youths are daily undergoing excruciating pains and agony. How does this pain come, it comes by government’s abnegation of its responsibilities to the citizens.

Looking at real efforts to frustrate the merger, what gives you stakeholders the belief that government cannot use state powers, like phantom corruption charges to frustrate it?

Where have those strategies or tactics worked? They don’t work. Intimidation, harassment and assault have not been successful as tools to managing or suppressing opposition. Before the situation of any country boils to the level where workers would on their own demand regime fall, definitely that leader is no longer fit to be there. I am of the opinion and I expect those in powerful position of authority to see it that way, that the situation where major parties voluntarily dropped their logos, names, all elements of their various identities for a common platform and by extension, a common superior goal, it is not a joke, it is a serious matter that any responsible leader ought to take either as a call to sit up or to abdicate.

What is happening in All Progressive Congress (APC) is a mass movement of the people, which state power or any other illegitimate means cannot stop. Any attempt to do so will spell doom for whoever the perpetrator may be.

Nigerians may be eager for change, but sometimes they are timid to take action. In order not to fail, how would those behind APC confront the docility of Nigerians?

It won’t be fair on the Nigerian people to say that are docile. Few of them could be, but majority of Nigerians are bold and courageous people. Nigerians were the people that heralded the struggle for independence at Ivah Valley; Nigerians were the women of Aba riot that demonstrated against colonial oppression.

Nigerians have shown the world that given the favourable condition, there isn’t anything they cannot do for their independence, for their liberty etc. I want to believe that majority of the Nigerian people can no longer tolerate mis-governance at the unprecedented level it is to today in the country. Nigerians know that this not the time for any one to be docile, slumber or sleep, doing so they equally know would be at a cost no one could quantify. Don’t forget that it is the same Nigerians that fought for the sanctity of the June 12, 1993 presidential victory of late Chief M.K.O Abiola. It is this same Nigerians that sacrificed their comfort to get democracy that is in operation today in the country, whose dividend they are regrettably being denied. Those Nigerians that you say are docile, and of course I totally disagree, do they like power failure, do they like unemployment, are they happy with the level of insecurity in the country, do they enjoy traveling on dilapidated roads? This is not time for blame game, rather, it is time for all of us to swim together, save the country together and secure its future together.

The cost of governance in this democracy is simply too high and getting intolerable; how do we reduce this huge cost?

I am not a lawyer, not to talk of being a constitutional lawyer, but even at that, I know that the present Constitution has too many loopholes, it is highly deficient; it is not meeting our needs and aspiration as a country and as people. It is a fact that could not be denied, the architecture of governance in Nigeria is too expensive; no country does what we are doing. Nigerians would greatly appreciate whatever could be done to reduce the cost of governance to the barest level, the earlier we do this the better for the country, so that the roof would not collapse on all of us.

It appears that the governors have abandoned the issue of security to the federal government.

Is there an issue in this? The Federal government has appropriated the issue of security in the country. Can any state run its own Police?

If the answer is no, then the federal government carries the can. We can only try, but we cannot do much. What we do is that we support the Police, which is not in any way subservient to the governors. We must tell the Federal Government to take squarely its responsibilities to the people. The federal government must address frontally the issue of Boko Haram and kidnapping, which are features of mis- rule in the center.

Why does it appear that the ACN governors are not interested in the politics of Nigerian Governors’ Forum?

How could you say we are not interested or that we are indifferent to what is happening there? Have you not been reading our communiqué on the platform of the Progressive Governors’ Forum? I want to believe nobody can say we are indifferent, what maybe probably said is that our action is still not radical enough. But let me quickly add that when you occupy a position like this you cannot afford to be as radical as you were before.

You rarely visit Abuja as opposed to what some of your colleagues do. Why?

(laughter), I will start going.

You have some labour-related matters on your hand, how are you coping with them?

We have resolved the major face-off between the union, and us, which is the union under the ministries. But there is the resolved one, which involves staffers of tertiary institutions outside the university. We are still negotiating with them and I am hopeful that reasons would prevail at the end of the day.

The opposition in the state says you have not performed and therefore you don’t deserve to come back.

I will be careful in answering that question because I am not God and they too are not God. It is totally irresponsible of anybody to want to play God. I am happy you are in Osogbo (state capital) yourself, you and other visitors to the state could best answer that question. Move around other towns and villages in the state, then, answer the question yourself.

I said at the beginning of this interview that I will not sing my own praises, let the projects, the beneficiaries and visitors do that and score me by known standards. All over the state projects litter everywhere. If they are not being mischievous, then how come members of the opposition have become blind that they could not see these projects? With this attitude from the opposition, one is forced to ask what is their motive. Their motive could not be far fetched. It is, to call a dog a bad name to hang it. What this means is that they are seeking to create ground for manipulation in the forth- coming election. I want our people to shine their eyes, because a person who promises to give you a nice clothe, you should first look at him well and examine how well dressed he is. If a man is guaranteeing good attire for you, you must be very sure that he is not wearing tattered attire.

Those locusts were here for seven and half years, they did nothing worthy to show for it. If the deficit of development they left behind were moderate, honestly speaking, our efforts just in these three years would have made Osun the best state in the country.

It is because of the gulf they left in the name of deficit, that it took us time to level, to fill up the gulf, before real developmental project took off.

We are doing our best, and our great people are very appreciative and supportive.