Tinubu dragging Nigeria into one-party state –Oladipo, ex-Reps minority leader

He is the National Deputy Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Oba Olaitan Oladipo was the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003. The politician turned traditional ruler addressed the media on the state of the nation recently, OLAOLU OLADIPO was there for Saturday Telegraph. Excerpts:

You have been out of the media radar for some time sir, what has been happening?
I have been preoccupied with a lot of issues relating to my new status as the traditional ruler of my community but be that as it may, I have been contributing my little quota to the advancement and progress of our group, Afenifere, being the deputy national leader. I speak on behalf of the group whenever I have been asked to do so by our leader and that is what you are now seeing with this press briefing which you are attending today. We come out from time to time to speak on issues relating to the state of the nation. You can now see that I have not been totally out of the radar as you tried to suggest in the question.

There won’t be any iota of doubt for anyone to say that the current president is well known to you, look at his conduct now that he is power as well as his programmes, policies and actions, would you say that you are disappointed so far considering the role he (the president) played in the restoration of democratic rule in the country?
For now, it won’t be wise to make any form of categorical statement on his conduct as it relates to the performance of his government. I will want to give him some time to be able to do that since the government is not too old since coming on board. One thing that is a little bit disturbing and worrisome so far has been his attitude and disposition to the issue of restructuring of the country. If you can recall, he has spent a considerable period of his political career advocating and making sure that the country has true federalism. He had always mouthed and espoused it before coming on board as the president of the country and because that is not on the front burner, makes it a little bit disturbing for me. I would have felt that it should be one of his first assignments since coming on board.

Why do you think he is reticent to restructure the country now that he is in power?
(Cuts in) Because he hasn’t done anything about it, he hasn’t moved in that direction from all I can see of him and his government. Is he not over one year in office now? If anything, from all I can see, he has been doing everything not to make it happen. He has been doing everything against it.

Why do you think his disposition to it has changed since coming to power?
I don’t know. I can’t read his mind and I don’t think it is wise on our part to undertake any form of speculation with regards to why he hasn’t done it being an advocate before coming to power. But under him, I can say that the democratic space is shrinking and that the country is on the road to a one-party state with the look of things. You know what that means for the country. The way things are, we are moving there (one party state) gradually.

What are the things you have observed so far for you to come to that conclusion?

assume that we all know and understand the concept of a confederating states or confederation as it were? We have the Federal Government, we have the state governments as well as the various local governments across the country. Which of these tiers can be described as the confederating units in the country today? Imagine a situation whereby INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) is the sole body to conduct elections to fill all the elected public offices in the three tiers, you know what that means? A one party state.

If you are to meet your friend, I mean the president, what are the items or issues that you consider as important for the country if you are to give him a charter of demands?

The reality of life and human existence is that nobody lives forever. I know him as a person and a personal friend, I love him so much as a fantastic human being on a personal level, I will only advise him to write his name in gold for posterity to record a positive verdict on his rule and regime. What I am saying is that, he should do the right thing and lead the country well considering his political background. I am pleading with him that he should do the right thing.

What are the right steps that you want him to take?

The right thing for him is to look at the interests and needs of the Nigerian people. He should prioritise the wellbeing of the people over and above any other thing or consideration. He shouldn’t do things to favour or advance the interests of selected friends and relatives. He should always do things for the greatest good of all and not the greatest good for the few.

Apart from this, which has to do with the disposition of the president, how would you rate the government in terms of its performance on deliverables to the people?

(Cuts in) What have you seen? How do you rate him, yourself?

I have my personal views and opinion about the government sir.
(Cuts in) Which is likely my views and opinion too.

Let’s take a holistic appraisal of the current Fourth Republic, which started in 1999, would you say the democratic journey so far has met with your expectation as someone who fought for the restoration of democratic rule?

No! Certainly not, even though 1999 till date has been a long time ago.

What have you observed that have made you harbour some reservations?

I have seen a situation where the country is moving steadily and gradually to a one party state rule. This is what I have seen and this is what is going on in the country. A one party state structure will not work for the collective good of the country and its people. The current government is doing everything possible to turn the country to a one party state. They are also turning it into a police state. That is what is going on. We can all see it and it is clear. Those in government are not even pretending about it. They are working to make INEC conduct elections at the federal, state and local government levels. The funny thing about all this is that we are pretending to be operating federalism. Unfortunately, we are not. It’s very obvious.

What is the way to go for us as a nation in this democratic journey, I mean how can we make democratic rule work for the collective good of all Nigerians?

There are several things or suggestions in that direction, one is to democratise our public institutions to guarantee service delivery and performance. We must demand and ensure that we strengthen our public institutions. We need to look at the current federal system that we are practising. If you ask me, the current system we are running is damn too expensive. It is not too good for us considering the current realities on ground. We should go back to the parliamentary system that we practiced before in the First Republic. This winner takes all attitude is part of the things that we do now that are not good for us. We have over 250 ethnic nationalities making up the country and you are having one person preside over the affairs of the country. If you go round the Presidential Villa, you will discover that no man or one system can effectively rule over this country. Our founding fathers saw this challenge and they ensured that the country didn’t operate a unitary system of government that we operate now. What we operate now is a unitary, not a federal system. The current president is entrenching a unitary system in every step that he has taken so far.

Let’s leave the realm of politics, how would you rate the performance of the current government in area of the economy?
(Cuts in) To answer your question, let me ask you: do you like being a debtor? If you don’t like being a debtor, you are not likely to like this government.

But the government says that it is instituting some reforms which are already bearing fruits…
That’s what I am saying. The government is further digging the country into unimaginable debtedness. Do you like that?

But it is doing a lot in the area of tax reforms…
(Cuts in) That’s what I am saying. They are further sliding us into serious indebtedness.