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INDEPENDENT WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2017 /<strong>Independent</strong>ngr @independentngr www.independent.ng D3
Politics
Why Fayose And Buhari Must
Work Together – Owolabi
What is your assessment of
the President Muhammadu
Buhari administration so far?
A government is the reflection
of the society; no
government can perform
better than the ability of the
components of the society.
The problem we have is that
there is character deficit in
Nigeria, not only in terms
of the leaders, but also of
the followers to the extent
that they are now so corrupt
that they are now looking for
thieves, armed robbers and
the most corrupt elements
as people that they will vote
for because they will buy
them. There is no magic this
government, the last one or
the future will perform without
the transformation and
change of attitude of the followership.
But, it is the job
of the leader to put in place
a mechanism to change the
attitude of the people voluntarily
and not by coercion as
we are doing in Nigeria. It
has to be a deliberate effort
to use knowledge and wisdom
to transform the minds
of the people. So, I call upon
all professionals, all those
who have gone through the
walls of tertiary education
to come out, no good job
can be done by an individual.
You remember when the
former President of United
States, Mr. Barack Obama
came to Ghana in 2009, he
refused to come to Nigeria.
He sent a missile to us, he
said, ‘you guys are looking
for strong men, you should
be building strong institutions.’
If we cannot have
leaders who have the capacities
and the desires to work
together, we cannot develop
Nigeria
Do you think this present government
uses coercion, rather
than wisdom and intelligence
to govern the Nigerian people?
The government we inherited,
civil or military,
has been indoctrinated in
the culture of command and
control leadership. That is
why we operate a military
system, while we are supposed
to be a democratic
country. Democracy is the
government of the people,
for the people and by
the people. It is a team approach.
But, here, we have
been indoctrinated to believe
that there is a magician
who will come and solve a
problem that is for all of us
to solve. So, we have people
who abuse authorities
and think they are not part
of the problem. We need a
leader who understands the
human needs, body, psyche
and has the knowledge to
help the people. But here in
Nigeria, we are recycling
‘Dr. Makanjuola Owolabi is an All Progressives Party (APC) gubernatorial aspirants in the
forthcoming 2018 election in Ekiti State. In this interview with OLUSEGUN KOIKI, he spoke
on the performance of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and his ill-health, as
well his plans for Ekiti State, among other issues. Excerpts:
Owolabi
The captain may be
better than you, but
he’s not the deputy
God. We are prone
to errors, but we can
only be safe if we
operate as a team.
That is what we are
lacking here and that
is why we are failing
people who are motivated by
passion to capture power by
any means, even when they
cannot remember what that
power is supposed to be used
for. This is why we are in a
mess today.
There was a protest recently
in Abuja against President
Buhari’s stay in UK due to his
continued ill-health. What is
your take on the absence of the
president from office?
My opinion is actually
based on the training that
I have been giving professionals
in the past 40 years
because in aviation, we have
come into a position where
we now know that it is the
entire team that would be
responsible for the survival
and safety of the aircraft and
not just the captain. President
Buhari is not the only
one who will rescue Nigeria.
Has he not got ministers?
Are they spare tyres? Has he
not got a vice president? The
constitution puts the power
in the hands of an Acting
President. It is the attitude
of the ministers and the followers
that is causing problems
because we should have
our loyalty to the nation and
not to a human being. This
is clear in the oaths that we
take. The loyalty is to the
flag and not to an individual.
When you go to London,
New York or even Dallas, do
you need to know their governors
or President or Prime
Minister before anything
works there? Unfortunately,
we have a culture of command
and control in Africa.
But, we need to start changing
it. Culture is meant to be
dynamic.
There are several ethnic
agitators across the country,
demanding for restructuring.
How do you think Nigerian can
move forward as a nation?
Nigeria is a country manufacturing
answers and forgetting
the questions. That
is why it has taken us 18
years to have a nation. A reasonable
people and country
would have sat down to look
at the mechanism, structures
and the modalities.
That would have been number
one issue over 60 years
ago. But, here we are today
still doing trial and error.
Restructuring is a disaster
that has come because of our
attitude and mode of operation.
I served in the Nigerian
Air Force, I lived in Kaduna
for over 40 years and three
out of four of my children
were born in Kaduna. When
it came to politics, to get an
ordinary party card, despite
my years there, I was being
reminded that I was not a
son of the soil. I had to come
to Ekiti State to have a party
card.
We don’t have a country
based on patriotism. Chapter
2 of the Nigeria Constitution
actually made it very clear
on what should be done. But
we are not doing it. If we can
make Chapter 2 justifiable,
we would all be Nigerians
first before you remember
where you came from. An
American is an American
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