•Restructuring not Yoruba agenda •We reject unity of the horse and the rider

•The military changed constitution to favour north

•We liberated masses of the north

By Dapo Akinrefon Chief Ayo Adebanjo is a First Republic politician and a staunch Awoist. The former member of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, does not shy away from issues that affect the country.


In this interview with Vanguard, the octogenarian lampoons northern elites who are opposed to the restructuring of the country even as he corrects the wrong impression that restructuring is a Yoruba agenda. Adebanjo, a chieftain of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, also disagrees with President Muhammadu Buhari over his comments on the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari.


Excerpts: The First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari recently raised the alarm that the government headed by her husband has been hijacked by some persons. Do you believe that Buhari-led administration can be ‘hijacked’?


I regard that as an affair of the APC and Buhari, but Buhari being a public figure will warrant me to comment. On what the First Lady said, she is in a better position to assess who and who worked with her husband and who are in government now. Which fair-minded person can fault her observation except you are gender prejudiced to say who is that woman talking?

Not in this age. For the president to make the comment that his wife’s position is in the kitchen, in the country in far away Germany where a woman is the head of the country shows you how extremely conservative the husband still is. It is unfortunate he made that remark. From my own observation, nobody can fault her (Aisha). You could read the comments of members of the APC that what she has said is true.

The President’s spokesperson has however clarified that the president was merely joking.

That was an afterthought, that is what we call damage control after the damage has been done. Those of us who know the president well will tell you that it is in his character and culture to speak that way about women. He (Buhari) still belongs to the conservative north, anything to the contrary is pretense except many of them who are trying to modernize. We started the universal voting for women because, in 1959, Chief Obafemi Awolowo pressed for it.

It is not in their (north) culture to respect women but I am not surprised. So, no fair-minded person can fault the First Lady’s statement, that is the bottom line. I don’t want to comment much on the controversy, what people have been saying was what the First Lady said, she has not said anything new and the reaction will only surprise those who don’t know the husband and his background.

One year and five months down the line in the administration of President Buhari, as an elder statesman, how would you assess his government?

I was never a supporter of Buhari or the APC government. I am not surprised at what is happening but I am surprised that Buhari has not disappointed me. Before the elections, I had accused him of being a dictator, that he does not respect the rule of law and I had said that voting him was the greatest mistake Nigerians must not make then.

That is why I now say I am disappointed that he has not disappointed me because I am expecting that, from the criticism I gave him and from the support he got from his supporters, I should have been disappointed. To be honest with you, I expect that and I did say even at that time that if he did that, I will go to him and apologise to him.

At the earlier stage of his government, I said it was early to judge him but after a year, it warranted my statement that I am disappointed that he has not disappointed me. I am disappointed that he did not live up to the expectations of those who thought he was going to disappoint me because of the new dispensation. It is unfortunate that it is to the detriment of the country. I was praying that he should disappoint me because that is the only thing that can bring progress.

fter 56 years of independence, we cannot be campaigning each time about our head of government. Our problem in the country is leadership. So, I would have thought that with the clamour and everything people were saying about him, he was going to spring a surprise. What have we got! I have asked those, who clamoured for a change then, what change have they got now?

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/11/yoruba-agenda-no-restructuring-no-nigeria-ayo-adebanjo-replies-tanko-yakassai/