Sad Falae: With kids carrying other nations’ passports, I am afraid of what would happen to my legacy

By Duro Adeseko





Saturday, September 26, 2009


Frontline politician, Chief Olu Falae, is a worried man. This is because all his grand children and some of his children are foreigners. And his concern is what will happen to his legacy after his death.


Olu Falae



http://odili.net/news/source/2009/sep/26/500.html

He said: “Majority of my grand children were born abroad. They are foreign citizens. If all my children are citizens of America and Britain, what happens to my legacy?”

Falae asserted that the same thing applies to many men in high positions in Nigeria.

He argued that if the situation in Nigeria were ideal, to realize the goal people set for themselves in life, there would be no need to become citizens of foreign countries.

“It is common to see people in the middle class and those in the upper class discussing the future of their children. The in-thing among the elite in Nigeria is to train their children abroad. Those in the middle class who are unable to afford training their children outside Nigeria don’t usually take their children born in the city to their villages. Many children of the elite who were born and trained in the city don’t know the road to their villages. Consequently, the children don’t bother ever going to their villages after the demise of their parents,” Falae lamented.

The former finance minister said the issue is a serious one, adding: “It is about our national identity and the longer we suspend it, the more expensive it becomes to solve.”

He spoke on these and other things.

Is the mega party movement on course?

By the grace of God and the sake of Nigerians, it is on course. I want to explain what is going on about the mega party movement. We looked at the Nigerian situation and we found out that the ruling party has no ideology, manifestoes and programmers. It has ruled Nigeria for 10 years and achieved disaster. And we feel something needs to be done to ensure that undemocratic forces are not encouraged to intervene. The movement was an attempt to rescue Nigerians from one-party situation. There is no way three parties can face PDP and defeat it in the next election. The votes of the other political parties would be stolen by PDP.

So, already we have the answer. If the PDP were doing well, although one-party system is not good, it would be tolerable. But this one is a total failure. We have seen corruption and ineptitude. Yet, it doesn’t want any other party to have a chance. After 10 years of ruling Nigeria, it is only fair for another group to be given a chance. But how can they leave the stage if there is no alternative? So the mega party is an attempt to create a viable political party that would be an alternative to the PDP.

It is better, in the sense that it is being based on the articulated preference and wishes of the people. It is better in the sense of being led by the most credible people in Nigerian politics. We want to provide the electorate a clear alternative. That is the sole purpose of the mega movement. We call it a mega movement because everybody who is interested can be part of it. If it is already a party, it is closed. If you have a chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, it is already a party. No, it is still a movement. We don’t want to close it yet.

We want people and ideas to flow in. So, when it finally becomes a party, it will be a party that is preferred by the overall majority of Nigerians. It will embrace programmers that they want. We have over 50 parties already. But none of them was formed after the summit of Nigerian leaders have been held, where their opinion has been distilled into a programme and embedded in the party manifestoes. So this is what we want to do with this movement. In the next one or two months we want to hold a summit of the Nigerian thinkers and leaders, politicians, academics, media people, professionals, business men, to hold discussions. It is sad that an oil producing country, like Nigeria, has no road and security. Ghana and others are moving forward. Nigeria is moving backward.

Before we lapse into permanent decadence, we think we should try one more time to give Nigeria a virile party, which, if given power, can start on the road to development. It is proposed as a solution to Nigerian problem. People are afraid that it would fail. Well, if it fails it is our fault. If need be, we should pray and fast that the mega party should succeed. If it does not succeed and Nigerians are left with only the PDP, which they don’t want, you can begin to think of what will happen. Out of desperation and frustration, anarchy can be unleashed, which God forbids. At 71, I am running around Nigeria trying to encourage people to come to the mega movement so that we can, together, create a formidable party to save Nigeria from anarchy. That is the purpose.

It is the party of all Nigerians and let us pray that it succeeds. It should be clear that some of us couldn’t be entertaining any electoral ambition because of age. It is because I love this country. I believe in that the nation has all it takes to be a first class country. What is missing is leadership and the mega movement is designed to produce leadership. That is why I am involved. I am involved also because I have children and grand children and I want them to live and actualise their potentials in this country. Majority of my grand children were born abroad. They are foreign citizens. If all my children are citizens of America and Britain, what happens to my legacy? It will become blank? That is what happens to most men in Nigeria. It is a serious matter that should concern us.

It should not just be a matter of becoming a senator or governor. It is beyond and above all that. It is about our national identity and the longer we suspend solving our national problems the more expensive it becomes to solve. Once you lose your mental resistance to poverty and you have come to accept it, as it is bound to be, then it is finished. If you are angry, you are still fighting, but when you are depressed it means you have accepted that things can never change. I don’t think we are far away from that threshold of accepting that nothing good can happen to Nigeria. We are still very enthusiastic about Nigeria. We are still optimistic. What do you want us to do? To give up? I will be one of the last to lie down for anybody to walk over me because I believe we can still right what is wrong.

What is wrong is leadership. Unfortunately for us, from independence, most of the time, very incompetent people have ruled Nigeria, We shuffle the cards and very often a joker comes to the top. Some 15 to 20 years ago, Ghanian graduates were doing menial jobs in Nigeria. But the good leadership they had in Ghana today saw them through their problems. Ghana is moving ahead. They don’t have oil; they don’t have our population and yet because of good leadership they are moving forward. They have focused leadership that have conscience.

They are making progress so much so that Barack Obama went to Ghana and shunned Nigeria. We want to form a mega party to provide solution to Nigeria’s problems; so that people can have a party to vote for, in the hope that this parties will begin to do the things that most of us had wanted government to do. If we fail, we have all failed. I pray that we will not fail.

There are so many ambitious people in the mega party. They could not step down for each other in 2003.

That exactly is the problem. They were in two different parties and formed an alliance; it doesn’t work, but now all of us will form a party. That is the difference. Once we form one party, we all submit to the rule of the party in picking people for any position.

Under the arrangement you mentioned, each party had its own management, its own identity and its own executive. Which one is going to step down for the other?

Now, we march into one single party and the party convention will pick those who will be governor, senator or the president. Once we are in the same party, we all adhere to the same set of rules for choosing our candidates. There is nothing wrong with ambition as long as the process is transparent; if you want to give Nigerians good governance we cannot afford not to be transparent in our own internal democracy. If you are not democratic within your own party, how can you be democratic when you are ruling Nigeria? As long as the process is democratic, clear, transparent and fair, the winner will know he has won the contest fairly. The loser will also know he has lost fairly.

How would you assess the state of the economy today?

There is no coherent programme to develop the Nigerian economy. In the past, we had a national development programme and that programme is spelt out in education; what government was going to do for the next three to five years. It will spell out in health what it was going to do; the road transportation network. You could see a coherent picture of what government was going to do in various sectors of the economy and how they all worked together. What ever you dream of in your ministry, you take to budget office.

When he dey born dem for yankee, him no remember his lineage?.

foolish man and senseless comments.
was he and his children forced to give birth to their kids abroad?
are their no hospitals in Nigeria?

What if his children fled abroad as adults because of hardship in Nigeria , does he have control over that?

lol

Aloy.Emeka:

What if his children fled abroad as adults because of hardship in Nigeria , does he have control over that?

are you kidding me

Going through your comments, one would think you all are perfect beings, with no regrets in life.
The man is 70 years old. At that age, that's typically when one starts looking back at life and reviewing the mistakes one made with regret.

At least he's concerned about his legacy. How many other Nigerians have showed that same concern? CErtainly not the likes of IBB and OBJ.
Give the feller a break!

Your wealth is your legacy in Nigeria.

Aloy Emeka, i have read several of your comments about Yorubas and I reckon you seems to have so much hatred for Yorubas, you can't even spell Yoruba correctly (Yoruba). I believe you can do something more productive with your time rather than inciting tribal hatred on NL, all your bad comments about Yorubas is just confirming how much fear your are habouring about Yorubas greatness and bright future. Comments being made by people like you is of no value and won't even go beyond your ceiling. hiss

texazzpete:

The man is 70 years old. At that age, that's typically when one starts looking back at life and reviewing the mistakes one made with regret.
At least he's concerned about his legacy. How many other Nigerians have showed that same concern?

My sentiments exactly.
Great post texazzpete.

Obviously his statement is meant for the young Generations. He is trying to let us know his mistake for us to avoid doing same. But what can we do? Nigeria is not habitable for us thatz why we are all running away to get away pikin so that when it gets more rough they can take their away passport and be useful to themselves. Many of us will feel like him when we get to his present age. I can feel his loneliness.

presido1:

Obviously his statement is meant for the young Generations. He is trying to let us know his mistake for us to avoid doing same. But what can we do? Nigeria is not habitable for us thatz why we are all running away to get away pikin so that when it gets more rough they can take their away passport and be useful to themselves. Many of us will feel like him when we get to his present age. I can feel his loneliness.

So true

This is the most thought-provoking article I have read in recent times, coming from an intelligent, articulate , and the best President Nigeria never had.

Aloy.Emeka:

What if his children fled abroad as adults because of hardship in Nigeria , does he have control over that?

They did not 'flee' abroad. I am sure he sent them there to school and they never came back .

Whether you respect politicians or not, there's no alternative medium to achieve positive changes in our nation- politics must be played and politicians are the players.

We must separate the wheat from the chaff and fashion the way forward for our dear country.