Former presidential aspirant
and chieftain of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Chief
Reuben Famuyibo, speaks, in
this interview with Abiodun
Awolaja, on salient issues in the polity. Excerpts: HOW would you assess the
administration of Governor
Abiola Ajimobi in Oyo State? I think the administration is in
a hurry to develop the state. A
lot of activities are going on.
On road networks, he’s trying
his best there. At the same
time, the state is wearing a new look. Approaching Ibadan
from the Lagos Expressway,
one sees that he is doing a
wonderful job and when you
go to the interchange at Iwo
Road—when the last governor was there, I gave the advice
that it was an eye sore—you
know that you are entering a
city. To be fair to Ajimobi, he’s
trying his best; the rot he met
on ground was much. But
there are some other aspects
that need to be touched and
people need to be educated: packing dirty things and
putting them on the road is
not good. Before the Waste
Management people pack the
dirt, it creates a filthy
environment. When you are passing through Oke-Bola, you
will notice a very filthy area. There are complaints that
alternatives were not
provided for most of the
displaced traders... I think that we are a bunch of
lawless people. Before the
traders were sent away from
Dugbe area, I had about 350
shops in my complex but we
were not able to rent out more than 10. The traders preferred
putting shanties on the roads. I
am a good supporter of traders
leaving the roads so that they
can take up my shops
(laughter). At the same time, I believe that he should create
an alternative space for
vulcanisers and other artisans
even though it is not binding
on him because an illegality is
an illegality. There is a hypothesis that
the South-West is being
deliberately marginalised by
President Goodluck
Jonathan. Since the zone
opted for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the last
election, would you say that
the alleged marginalisation
is self-imposed? I wouldn’t say we are just
marginalised: we have been
finally forgotten.
Marginalisation is a very light
word to use to describe what
is happening to the South- West. Yes, we made a mistake
by going en masse to one
political party, but Nigeria
belongs to all of us. President
Jonathan cannot close his eyes
to the South-West. If he is having a personality clash
with former President
Olusegun Obasanjo, that does
not mean that his ethnic
nationality should be forgotten
completely. From my research, in the
Customs, the last time a
Yoruba man became
Comptroller-General was over
40 years ago. Ditto the
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC); they do not put Yoruba
people there. I don’t know
what offence we have
committed. Look at the
ministries we have. What is
the percentage of Yoruba there? Look at the Nigerian
National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC). We don’t
know whether this is a
punitive way of paying the
South-West back for not voting the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), but the South-
West voted massively for
Jonathan. In my state, despite
the instruction given to the
South-West states, we voted massively for Jonathan. The
only state he lost was Osun. I
expect Yoruba leaders to come
together; let us forget about
our political differences.
Enough of playing politics with the life of our children. I learnt that in the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN), out of over
400 staff employed in the last
three years, less than 50 are
Yoruba. Similarly in Customs, I
learnt that out of the about 300 people employed, we
have less than 20 Yoruba. So,
where are we going? The South-West lost the
speakership to internal
bickering... Yes, that was as a result of the
dirty politics played by Chief
Bola Tinubu. I believe that we
should forget about party
matters and see our ethnic
nationality as one: something loaned to us was given freely
to another zone. Now, we
should be able to ask Jonathan,
before we give you support,
what are you giving to us? How do you assess the recent
Oby Ezekwesili, Federal
Government bickering over
alleged squander of $67
billion? The government has not
debunked anything. Nigerians
want to know what
transpired. Sincerely, I think
that the Senate and the House
of Representatives should invite Ezekwesili and the
Information Minister, Mr
Labaran Maku, and beam the
whole thing live on television.
If it is true that they
squandered $67bn, they should be made to account for
it. Ezekwesili should come out
with the documents because
she cannot just say anything
for saying sake. If possible, let
us bring Obasanjo in; let him come and tell us how much he
left in the treasury. The issue of former director
in the police pension office,
Mr John Yusufu being given a
fine of N750,000 for stealing
N32 billion is still raging in
the polity. As a lawyer, do you think that this is because
our laws are weak? I think that many things are
being kept away from the
prying eyes of the public. I
cannot run down a high court
judge on the pages of
newspapers as a very senior member of the bar with over
32 years’ experience. But there
is still a question mark on why
the respected judge should be
so lenient with somebody that
stole so much money. I was dazed, but maybe the guy had
refunded some money; we
don’t know. Maybe he plea-
bargained and maybe the
value of the 20 houses seized
from him will be sufficient to pay the money he stole. But at
the same time, I think that a
life jail is not too much for
such an offence. Some people say that plea
bargaining only gives room
for people to steal the more That is the bitter truth. I don’t
support plea bargain. If you
have stolen, go to jail. As a
matter of fact, I was one of
the people that recommended
during our last constitutional conference that there should
be death penalty for
corruption, during the Sani
Abacha regime.
Look at what Ghana did; they
sacrificed a few people and there is sanity in Ghana. The
people that stole Nigeria’s
money, by the time they line
up about a hundred people and
fire them, there would be
sanity in this country. We don’t need more than 60 people to
be made scapegoats to restore
sanity. If you know that if you
steal money, you would not be
able to enjoy it, then you
would not steal. How would you assess
President Jonathan’s seven-
point agenda? I don’t know about the seven-
point agenda because I have
not seen any. The only thing
that I have seen improving is
electricity. Then, we have seen
a lot of action in agriculture and our foreign policy is not
too bad. Outside that, I don’t
think that Jonathan is a serious
president. Let him pack his
things and leave. But the
northerners are now telling us that the presidency is their
birthright, no! I was at the Constitutional
Conference as a member of the
Committee on Devolution of
Powers. What we
recommended then was that
every zone should be allowed to taste the presidency. We
have produced the president in
the South-West and the South-
South has done the same now,
what about the Middle Belt
people? What about the South- East? A single term of five or
six years should be
recommended for the country. The Igbo are there. They are
our brothers; they are
Nigerians. We are cheating
them and they have been
suffering for a long time. I
think that they have suffered enough punishment due to the
Civil War. They deserve to be
given the presidency in 2015. Some people are saying that if
they don’t get the presidency,
then Boko Haram will kill
everybody. But that will not
work. I don’t think that we
need violence in this country. They have ruled Nigeria for a
very long time. Now, about the
idea of Jonathan running for a
second term, I don’t see any
need for that. What he has
done in the last three years is nothing to write home

I think you deserve an applause on some sacrosanct points you raised, however, the issue of Igbo Presidency is what really catch my fancy because I am a die-hard proponent of that move and even create a thread on this forum regarding that on behalf of my Igbo compatriots! But I believe an Igbo Presidency will be good to fly in 2019 and not 2015 as you suggested why? Jonathan is working, and as a result of that he should be allowed to finish his race come 2019! Thank you

tomakint: I think you deserve an applause on some sacrosanct points you raised, however, the issue of Igbo Presidency is what really catch my fancy because I am a die-hard proponent of that move and even create a thread on this forum regarding that on behalf of my Igbo compatriots! But I believe an Igbo Presidency will be good to fly in 2019 and not 2015 as you suggested why? Jonathan is working, and as a result of that he should be allowed to finish his race come 2019! Thank you

^^^Bros.....and you think the Hausa/Fulani will stand by and allow that to happen? Your argument might be that they will understand, seeing as we're all part of 'one united indivisible country', and hence (with their kind thoughts of fairness towards Igbos and Ijaws in mind ) it shouldn't really matter from where the President comes from provided he spreads development evenly throughout the country......right!? E be like say you never know these people well.

Southeast is not losing sleep over Presidency Oh...

Dat is for the Southwest and North.