•Says restructuring a Yoruba agenda
•Renewed agitation is gang up against north
•Why the north continues to dominate Nigerian politics

By Abdulsalam Mohammed, Kano
When the Action Group sent a large
contingent of lawyers to Bornu to fight the
NPC tactics, the NPC got the lawyers
arrested immediately they arrived and sent
them to detention centre. They were made
to remove their shoes, their wigs and
trekked to detention centres where they
were all locked up.

Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, elder statesman is
known for his frankness when it comes to
issues of national interest. In this interview
with Saturday Vanguard, he took us down
memory lane and declared that the
renewed agitation for restructuring of the
country was a Yoruba agenda that has
refused die

Excerpts:

Nigeria is 56 years old, what can you say of
the journey so far?
Before we can objectively assess how far we have
gone, we have to take stock of what we have
been able to achieve so far and also look at where
we have failed. At independence, the British
created a democratic system of government
which was followed by our leaders who took over
from them.
We madeappreciable progress in the transportation
sector.
Although the British left us with a functional rail system, our leaders however extended the rail to boost the transport system in Nigeria
.
On water transportation they decided to dredge
the river Niger to facilitate water transportation
to the north for increased commercial activities.
By independence, the road from Kano to Lagos
was not tarred like several other major roads we
have today, but the story is different today.

Thousands of kilometer of road network has also
been built across the country. As at the time of
independence, roads were classified as federal
road, regional road and local roads. If you look at
the statistics, you would agree with me that a
tremendous progress was made in this sector.
Similarly, we have Nigeria Airways, Nigerian
National Shipping Line, we built a number steel
industries such as Ajaokuta and Katsina steel, as
well as Jos steel rolling mill and host of others.

I can vividly recall that by 1959, the only tertiary
institution we had was the University College,
Ibadan which was not even a full fledged
university, but today, we have over one hundred
tertiary institutions. But for the misfortune we
had to be ruled by the military, our progress
would have surpassed that of our peers then in
the world like Brazil, India, Korea, Pakistan,
Malaysisa, and Singapore.

Brazil today has an edge as it has started
producing home grown automobile at a time
Nigeria’s assembly plants such as Peougeot,
leyland and host of others are either moribund or
have packed up. Three military coups that took
place in Nigeria destroyed our future.

The 1966 coup destroyed the foundation of our
political development. That single sabotage
destroyed the foundation of the leadership, and
without leadership, you can not achieve anything
in this world. The second coup of 1975
destroyed the fabrics of the civil service of
Nigeria, because the tenure security of civil
service as practised globally was compromised.

In the civil service, there was due process to be
followed. Those who committed an infraction
would be warned and queried, and if it happened
again, the same processes must take place.
Unfortunately under the military, a permanent
secretary would leave his home to his office only
to be informed by his messenger that he had
been dismissed via a radio broadcast.

Faithfulness was sacrificed. The affected officials
were not only dismissed but they also lost their
gratuity and pension.
Therefore, civil servants who hitherto flaunted
unflinching loyalty started registering companies
for business. The morale, the commitment, and
loyalty of civil servants were destroyed over night
and after the destruction of political leadership,
the man who would develop the idea, and the
other that would translate it to reality are
destroyed, then what is left.

That was how the fabric of the society was
destroyed. By the time the Sardauna, Awolowo,
and Azikiwe started their development effort,
they were working side by side with the people
who would take over from them before they were
overthrown in 1966 and between 1966 and 1979,
it was military rule all through for 13 years.
Luckily, we still had the disciples of the first
generation of leadership, people like Bola Ige,
Shehu Shagari, Lateef Jakande, Maitma sule,
Michael Okpara.

During the second republic, we attempted to
replicate what our political leaders started in the
first Republic. These disciples started with a
brand new constitution, and were learning fast on
the new constitution when the military struck
again in 1983. They held onto power for 19 years
before handing over to one of their own again in
civilian uniform.

General Obasanjo was tactically released from
prison while the military was in a hurry to create
their own version of Mandela, but they forgot it
was a different scenario. Obasanjo was in power
for eight years, and went ahead to install his
successors in office.

General Obasanjo’s style of leadership was purely
military in nature as he bulldozed his way to get
whatever he wanted with complete disregard to
democratic ethos. Now we are back to the same
situation under General Buhari. These are the
reasons we have a stunted growth and what
happened over these long years since independence was a big step forward and a
multiple steps backwards. Nigeria needs a brand
new experiment on democracy where every actor
would be a bloody civilian to enable us rediscover
our self.

Don’t you think that bitter political rivalry
among the elites across the country was
equally responsible for our stunted growth?

No, no. The struggle for power was on a personal
basis or how do you explain IBB coup against
Buhari, how do you explain Vatsa abortive coup
against IBB, it was purely a military thing, not
North and south thing.
Can we continue to live like this?

No, we can not continue to live like this because
it is wrong, and I am praying that we will in not
too distant future have a leadership that will be
committed to the Nigerian project, that would not
think of where he hails from, that would not be
bias, no nepotism, but think of the totality of
Nigeria, while appointment would be guided by
competence and not because of friendship.
But the problem with the military is that when
they are in power they appoint friends and
relatives. And you can see what is happening now
under Buhari, the military mentality of
appointing people close to you. We can only get
out of it when we insist on having a pure
democracy. You cannot have it when the man at
the helm of affairs is half military and half
civilian.
Why are you so afraid of restructuring
Nigeria?

No, no, this kind of agitation is not driven by
patriotism, it is driven by hate and envy. I will tell
you the genesis of this campaign, it started with
some politicians in the south west way back in
1959…

Are you saying agitation for restructuring
preceded independence?

Yes, before the independence. Originally, Action
Group as a political party was not formed to rule
Nigeria. The leaders of Action Group were only
interested in controlling the Western Nigeria. It
was their intention to make the western Nigeria
first among equals and in fairness to Awolowo, he
declared free education that placed the Yorubas
ahead of other ethnic groups in Nigeria.
They produced first class lawyers, engineers,
quantity surveyors, architects and other quality
professionals. But human nature been what it is,
they realized that when you have knowledge,
there is need to control political power, and that
was how they started the idea of ruling Nigeria.

This was captured in a document tagged Yoruba
Agenda. In that idea on how to rule Nigeria, they
plotted to secure the largest representation in
the parliament which would put them at an
advantage to form Government. Their calculation
was to support the minority in the North and
consolidate on the home soil and in the process
secure the nod to form Government.

They planned well, made alliance with minority
groups in the north, and in the east as well, and
provided the desired fund for the project. But as
they were planning, the NPC also planned.
Already, the constitution guaranteed the north to
provide 50 percent of the elected representatives
of national legislators and NPC concentrated her
effort on that in the north and they never in 1959
bothered to sponsor a single candidate in the
whole of southern Nigeria because the calculation
was to capture the fifty percent to form the
largest block.

Subsequently, they employed all sorts of tricks,
both wholesome and unwholesome. Opponents
were harassed, intimidated, hounded into jail,
and if you go through the electoral results of that
era, you would notice that NPC won unopposed.
Bornu Youth Movement held sway in Bornu, and
the Action Group was attracted and formed
alliance with them and their calculation was that
Bornu Youth Movement would join them.

But NPC decided to go brutal. When the Action
Group sent a large contingent of lawyers to Bornu
to fight the NPC tactics, the NPC got the lawyers
arrested immediately they arrived and sent them
to detention centre. They were made to remove
their shoes, their wigs and trekked to detention
centres where they were all locked up. However,
they were granted bail on the adjourned date and
the moment they secured their freedom, none of
them ever stepped on Bornu soil again.

Eventually, NPC emerged the largest block, and
were invited to form government. After that
experience, the Action Group went back to the
drawing board again to plot how to break the
North monopoly in Nigerian politics. They
sustained the agitation by propping up different
groups and in the end, so many movements
sprang up here in the north.

The intention was to plant discord among the
northern elements to allow them have easy ride
in the next election. When the election came in
1964, the NPC used the same strategy and got
the majority. The Action Group then started to
campaign that the north was too big to be
allowed to remain like that and should be split
into smaller units.

During the military, they were somehow silent
but during the civilian regime when Ojukwu was
about to declare a cessation, minority leaders
from the East met the late Military Governor of
Northern Nigeria, Hassan Katsina and appealed to
him to use his good office to press for a state of
their own. A week before the cessation, South
Eastern state was created.

Having divided the east into three, the federal
Government was forced to divide the west into
three. The North accepted the creation of six
more states and that was how 12 state structure
was adopted. But when we had a shot at another
election in 1979, NPN led by Shehu Shagari won
the Presidential election, and that was when it
occurred to the Action Group leaders who formed
Unity Party of Nigeria that splitting the North into
whatever number would not be a solution
because the South is naturally divided into three,
but the division in the north is not clear cut till
today.

That was why they came up again with the idea
of zonal arrangement. The idea was that the
states would be Republics unlike the
arrangement we have now. They were expected
to have full constituent power. In their own
thinking, that would make the three southern
states to have an edge with their mistaken belief
that the North central state which shares border
with the North West and North East will work
with them.

Unfortunately, I came to realize, in this blind
pursuit, that most Nigerians don’t understand
their country. They don’t understand that an
Igala or an Ebira in the North Central shared so
much affinity with his brothers in the North West
and North East.

They think alike like their brothers from across
the region as far as Nigerian politics is concerned.
Their mentality and approach to national politics
are the same. Because of these setbacks, they
now came up with this idea of zonal
arrangement. Unfortunately, the proponents
could not come up with a comprehensive
definition of what they want, some would ask for
true Federalism, some are calling for fiscal
federalism, and there are others who combined
the two and are calling for restructuring.

From Action Group to UPN, to NADECO to
PRONACO, the agitation for restructuring has
always come from the people of the west Nigeria.
The whole thing originated form Action Group,
and the intention was to deny the North the
benefits of its population and land mass. The
agitation for restructuring was not borne out of
good intention but a gang up to deny the north
the benefits it should get for being richly
endowed.

They know that they have evil intention on this
idea of restructuring and to date no body has
come out with a blue print on what this
restructuring is all about, because they don’t
want to expose themselves, as people will be
against it.

The idea is impracticable because before you can
force Nigeria to restructure, you have to change
the constitution, and to change the constitution,
you must have the support of a number of
legislators in the states and 2/3 federal
legislators and without the North you can not get
the 2/3. Unfortunately, the intricacies of the
situation have made it difficult for anyone to
nurse such ambition.
www.vanguardngr.com/2016/10/north-tamed-yoruba-ambition-tanko-yakassai/

Cc:lalasticlala
Cc:HERSLEY

Ok

Cut the long story short, no time

Hahahahahaha...


Yeruba ntooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor

YO RU BAS don finish

Nawa o!

Yourba wan play aboki..na eim aboki com play beat them with the rest of the south join.

Okay o..

this is different from the other version I read earlier.

Despite these glaring facts exposing the afonja abobakus,u will still see them carrying hand lens searching for rats and anything ipob or igbos...like their sophisticated lives depend on igbos for their beloved amala

psy buhari zombies ewedu creeps

.

If this were a 'shinedu' or ipob thread,afonja zombies wudda've ensured it had gotten to 10+ pages....buh see how they are hiding their amala mass,dey view thread from dark corners,see coolitempa and antiipoop for dia.. na joke o

op,yakasai/mallam yaff finished these ever willing mallam experimental guinea pigs...

i cant believe this is my once beloved afonja

Justiceleague1:
Despite these glaring facts exposing the afonja abobakus,u will still see them carrying hand lens searching for rats and anything ipob or igbos...like their sophisticated lives depend on igbos for their beloved amala

psy buhari zombies ewedu creeps

Very true my dear. Those people called Yeribas have a very very big problem. I just cant understand.... a very useless.sss race.

He said this about yorubas " The intention was to plant discord among the
northern elements to allow them have easy ride
in the next election."

Yoruba planting discord among other ethnic groups since immemorial. Yorubas cannot compete in a fair and egalitarian society, they always wish for their competitors to be injured, divided or disadvantaged to compete with them. What yorubas fail to understand is...The Northerners know you people very well and know how to deal with you people when the time comes. Tinubu will be cut to size like they did with MKO Abiola, Awolowo and Diya after using them.

The major suporters of buhari are the Yorubas but the Hausas are fighting the Yorubas daily here to subjugate them

Lalasticala

This clown again?

"Look child, don't be like Tanko Yakassai, he's no good at all!" That's the only thing this nincompoop is fit for. He's disturbing the cyber space with his nonsense.

Idiots leaving future generations with a lot of cleaning up to do. His mouth always runs a mile a minute while his brain plays catch up.

Hmmmm i c

Afonjas would never learn. Bunch of illiterate zombies dat suffers from amnesia

Clinton9000:


Yoruba planting discord among other ethnic groups since immemorial. Yorubas cannot compete in a fair and egalitarian society, they always wish for their competitors to be injured, divided or disadvantaged to compete with them. What yorubas fail to understand is...The Northerners know you people very well and know how to deal with you people when the time comes. Tinubu will be cut to size like they did with MKO Abiola, Awolowo and Diya after using them.

that is wat Master slave relationship begets

Clinton9000:


Yoruba planting discord among other ethnic groups since immemorial. Yorubas cannot compete in a fair and egalitarian society, they always wish for their competitors to be injured, divided or disadvantaged to compete with them. What yorubas fail to understand is...The Northerners know you people very well and know how to deal with you people when the time comes. Tinubu will be cut to size like they did with MKO Abiola, Awolowo and Diya after using them.

I like this.

iconize:
Lalasticala

Why are you calling lalasticlala?

I can't remember passingshot quoting me and schooling me on how politically smart yorubas were with APC


The north know yorubas too well to trust them


Fulanimafia knows what he is saying

This is total trash, and half truth, this kind of lying old men are abound in the North, Sw and in the Se, always coming up with conspiracy theories, this man is Ffk to the north, half truth and half lies is called fallacy.
The only thing that bound the North is the Fulani hegemony, which they use Islam to propagate and the form of rulw before independent was indirect in the North while In the south, it was direct, whats the difference between fiscal and true federalsm, is not normal for the North to have 50% Seats and south 50% too?
the 1St republic was not a total majority government, it was a coalition government between major parties in the North and South East, this man should noy rewrite history for us, if the landmass and population is what they deem as "gift " and advantages, let those who do not see it as advantage to them go or restructure the system, laws are made for men not men for law, if things do noy change under buhari, the catastrophe that the North will experience after a rebellion from the south Will be worse if they don't allow calls for restucturing of the system of government. How can we be lying to ourselves calling our self "federal republic " while the center collect royalties due to the states, pay traditional rulers money till they die, a secular country with religious laws paying for people to go to Israel and Arabia.
Baba continue to lie to yourself until the economy collapse on you, we are in recession now, if care is not taken the country will enter depression, No region can rule without alliance from other regions #Fact, the North did not rule alone in 1960, 79 and 99 all the government were Alliance between the North and South East, Obj was a northern Puppet too before he turned and broke the myth of power among them.

.

malton:
This clown again?

"Look child, don't be like Tanko Yakassai, he's no good at all!" That's the only thing this nincompoop is fit for. He's disturbing the cyber space with his nonsense.

Idiots leaving future generations with a lot of cleaning up to do. His mouth always runs a mile a minute while his brain plays catch up.

but you guys hailed him when he was lambasting GEJ?
Umu afonja self.

This is really becoming embarrassing for Yorubas...
How in the world did they get themselves in this position yet again?
Now the greater Southern regions don't consider them as one of them and the North is hell bent on humiliating them...
Hmmm... Typical case of how the conner stone has become the rejected stone.
Yorubas should go back to the drawing board,redesign or reidentify the path of their socio-political future ( without leaning on one man or any other group),focus on it.
When the time is right,other like-minded group will be drawn to them;not the other way round.

I thought the fllatties said the SW is scared of restructuring ?

We have been championing it since before independence. The north considers the SW as its biggest rival, they knows the SE and other minority are no threat to them.

We are proud of who we are.

Justiceleague1:
If this were a 'shinedu' or ipob thread,afonja zombies wudda've ensured it had gotten to 10+ pages....buh see how they are hiding their amala mass,dey view thread from dark corners,see coolitempa and antiipoop for dia.. na joke o

op,yakasai/mallam yaff finished these ever willing mallam experimental guinea pigs...

i cant believe this is my once beloved afonja

what is this one saying now