03082019 - Worsening Insecurity: Suspected herdsmen kill Catholic priest in Enugu

More documents

Recommendations

Info

12—SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 3, 2019 Why Yoruba don’t speak with one voice Afenifere scribe, Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa bemoans •Tells Nigerians to watch out for a united tribe •Traces division to Awolowo’s exit •Frowns at Yoruba leaders who have turned beggars •Asserts that ‘We’ll rise against them at the appropriate time’ •Recalls what Obasanjo did to Bola Ige •Restructuring will save Nigeria By Dayo Johnson Akure NATIONAL Secretary of the Pan- Yoruba socio- political group, Afenifere, Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa recently turned 80. He spoke with Saturday Vanguard on a number of national issues. He gave an insight into what led to the crisis in Afenifere and the allegations and counter allegations of those who destroyed the group, spate of insecurity in the south west, the vexed RUGA Programme and appointment of new ministers amongst other issues of national interest. Excerpts-: There are allegations and counter allegations of those who destroyed Afenifere. Can you give us an insight as to what led to the crisis. l will say ego was one of the reasons, inordinate ambition of some, indiscipline and what we now call the youths’ idea of trying to be on the fast lane. These are the main reasons. During the time of Pa Obafemi Awolowo, there was discipline even though, there were already signs of inordinate ambition that could cause a lot of havoc. After his (Awolowo) death, it became more manifest. You would recollect the story of some people claiming that his shoes were rather too large for them. The struggle was already there. After that episode outsiders penetrated the Afenifere and the situation became worse. For example, when President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted a second term, they had to play the governors against one another to such an extent that only one of the governors, the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati stood with the Awolowo’s philosophy. All the other governors went the way of Obasanjo. You know Obasanjo is a military man, and people said he lured them by promising to assist them to have a second term. And in that kind of situation, you could remember his relationship with Bola Ige. They were very close and for reasons best known to Bola Ige, he went to Obasanjo. And when he got to him, what Obasanjo did to him is now history. He was said not to be fair to him. Again, Chief Falae and Bola Ige contested for the presidential candidacy of AD. That was said to have really annoyed Bola Ige to such an extent that he found it difficult to cooperate with the leadership of Afenifere. So from there, a lot of things started happening with different factions coming up. One house was not handed over to Baba Fasoranti then because it was already a divided house and that is what we have been trying to manage ever since. As at the time Chief Adesanya was leaving office apparently because of ill-health and Chief Fasoranti was made the leader jealousy crept in on the leadership and we can’t rule out Tinubu’s role in this kind of situation. I’m aware that Afenifere literally begged him to come in and let us know what he had in mind so that we could come together. I wouldn’t know why he refused that opportunity and the gap became wider and wider. Only those who see Afenifere as a philosophy are the authentic. We are the authentic Afenifere. We are the ones who have the inheritance from Awolowo to Baba Ajasin to Abraham Adesanya and now to Chief Fasoranti. It has never been in history where all the Yoruba people come together and speak with one voice. When Awolowo was there, Yoruba people did not speak with one voice, but majority of the people were with Awolowo and he was able to bring them together. While he was fighting for true federalism not all of the members were in support. He wanted Yoruba to have a voice, not just follow, follow voice. This is what has been happening in Afenifere for a long time. It is not that coming together is not possible, but everything is being monitized as some are lured away with During the time of Pa Obafemi Awolowo, there was discipline even though, there were already signs of inordinate ambition that could cause a lot of havoc. After his (Awolowo) death, it became more manifest •Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa money. That is why I said, our own Afenifere has an ideology, it has a philosophy, it is about welfarism and if you preach welfarism, you can’t be popular, the leadership can’t be popular. What we do know will happen is this, at a point in time, when we suffer, all of us will see reason to be united. It happened during the time of Abacha. We were exceptional. We fought Abacha to a standstill without firing a gun. Yoruba people will come together. A Yoruba man doesn’t want an insult but he will fight for what belongs to him. Not everybody will come under Afenifere, it is not possible, when it started, it had never been like that. But all I know is that circumstances will bring us together. Why is it difficult for Yoruba leaders to speak with one voice The Yoruba man that I know is highly cultured, highly exposed, cerebral. He wants to develop a new idea and follow his mind, all these things make it difficult for anybody to just tailor the thinking or the mind of an average Yoruba man. From time immemorial, except in time of crisis, Yoruba people have always found it difficult to come together, they rationalize on issues. If you look at Yoruba history, you will discover, even though very late, that Yoruba warlords were able to rally their people in the Oke Mesi war when they were able to bail themselves out and put an end to the Fulani menace. Even during the time of Awolowo, despite all he did, the Yoruba people did not speak with one voice, but the majority were on the side of Awolowo. Not everybody was with him and the reason is clear from what I have said that Yoruba man doesn’t want to be a “follow, follow man” at all. But at the right time, maybe when Yoruba people discover that they are being enslaved or conquered or tortured, they will forget their differences and come together from different groups to fight their cause. What is happening now is not far from what happened in the past about various divisions among Yoruba groups and leaders. Apart from materialism that has crept into our politics which has accentuated the situation, I am not surprised at what is happening. The word ‘Afenifere’ is generic, anybody can say he’s Afenifere, no problem about that because Afenifere means “you like me and I like you” and Yoruba people like one another when they are in groups or in their homes. The issue of religion doesn’t separate or divide them , anybody can claim to be Afenifere at any time. But in our own Afenifere, the one headed by Pa Rueben Fasonranti, members of the group see Afenifere as a philosophy, far away from the generic terms, to us Afenifere is a philosophy. That was what we inherited from the founder, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Ajasin, Papa Adesanya down to Fasoranti. The Afenifere we inherited from these people is Afenifere that has a philosophy and what is this philosophy? Welfarism, service to the people and this is espoused in the welfare philosophy of education for all, that’s how we show our love to the people, that once you have education you will be a better somebody. Then job creation for everybody, if you look at what is happening in the country now, unemployment is becoming the bane of the country. So our philosophy is that able bodied people should be gainfully employed. Then, another philosophy is that healthcare should be accessible to Continues on Page 13
SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 3, 2019—13 Frowns at Yoruba leaders who have turned beggars Continues from Page 12 everybody and not just a few, that is, you have a right to live and be catered for when you’re sick. Also, we have vast land here and there, farming and rural integration. Some of our governors have abandoned that aspect, whereas it was from agriculture that Awolowo made western region what it was then. We codified all these things into our own philosophy and that is why we are different from those who called themselves Afenifere or those who came to be Afenifere sometime but disappeared for a long time and had to go and take the toga from where they put it after a long time and claiming to be Afenifere. You should know that it can’t fit because they have abandoned the philosophy for a long time. But we noticed that the Nigeria situation doesn’t favour us, it favors those who are more concerned about what they can get from the government or the people, unlike the philosophy of Afenifere where we will make sacrifices for the people and not the leaders getting from the people or government. But nowadays, they will take from the less privileged and stab one another to get rich quick and follow the fast lane, get to the government to make money and not to serve the people, all these are strange to Afenifere philosophy. Yes, we may be divided now, but at the appropriate time we will come together, although some of our people may be deceiving themselves but when the chips are down, surely we will come together. We, Yoruba are great people and that’s why they have respect for us, we must retain that pride, proud but not to be arrogant, not to be subservient and should not be slaves to other people. We should always ask for our right and fight for our rights. What we are doing now in Yoruba land is asking and fighting for our right, it is not the best for people to come and take what belongs to us by force but we can negotiate. I’m sure that at a point when we have to save our people from penury, all these leaders who are thinking of themselves alone will be abandoned, when the common people realize and understand the real people fighting for them, they will follow those fighting for them, it has happened before and can still happen. A typical example was what happened during the NADECO days when people joined the NADECO leaders when they saw that they were fighting a good cause. So, I am sure that all will be well but before things get worst we will appeal to our brothers that they have to re-assess their position on very many things and we have to live together to make a success of our existence No doubt the inability of the people of the region to speak with one voice must have deprived the states of some benefits This is exactly what I’ve been saying that it will rob us of some things, it will rob us the respect as a people and this is the most painful aspect because the Yoruba man is a very proud man, but if he starts behaving in a stupid way and starts crawling and behaving like a slave, people will stop having respect for us. As to other material things, we can’t gain material things by being crawlers or beggars but by asking for our right and following our right. What we have at the federal level belong to all Nigerians but some people are just going there to beg and a time will come when those from whom they go to beg will start making fun of them, and that won’t be good. Again, if you look into the past, some of our leaders have always talked about being in the mainstream, I don’t know which mainstream had benefitted us. During Abacha regime, we were talking of being in the mainstream, but what did we gain? During Obasanjo too, they were talking of mainstream, we gained nothing, our roads are the worst, the ports were not developed, hospitals and education were nothing to write home about, so what’s the big deal about mainstream. Honestly, I think our leaders should wake up, Yoruba still parades a lot of strong Yes, we may be divided now, but at the appropriate time we will come together, although some of our people may be deceiving themselves but when the chips are down, surely we will come together people, people of character but they should just wake up, look back and know where they are coming from and try to let us come together and save us from disgrace. We are not beggars, no, a Yoruba man had never been a beggar, except for now that we are seeing some begging in actions and this is very pathetic, we should rise to stop that kind of situations. I don’t know what our leaders in Yoruba land are doing, they are respected people and if they come out to meet the Federal Government without being subservient, without disparaging one another, they will respect us. Other people respect us in this nation. The Yoruba man is a key factor in anything that is happening in this country and they should not allow us to lose it. We respect other people too, we are very homely and respect one another but we need to be very careful, we should just not lose our respect over material thing. Nigeria is no doubt going through trying and turbulent times going by the submissions of leaders of thoughts across the country. What is the way out of these challenges. The way out is for us to find the solution to the imbalance in the country. In other word, we want to restructure the country to give way for federalism that respects our diversities. A federalism that respects what each of the people stands for, a federalism where nepotism will be a thing of the past, a federalism where human dignity and human life will count, not the type of skewed federalism we have now, and until we wake up and know that what we are having now will not help us, we won’t go ahead because things have gone so bad that the country has to be restructured. That’s the only way out, we have to respect one another, religious intolerance has to go. What are these challenges that this administration is battling with and they seem difficult to resolve.. Take for example, the issue of killings and raping in the land. The government must be seen to have arrested some of these criminals and prosecuted them and not to pretend as if nothing is happening. The situation in the country is not the best for now, people are suffering, people are hungry, angry, jobless and whatever the government claimed to be doing are not being seen, the results are not positive and we will like the President during his second term to make life better for Nigerians. The situation as it is now, is not best. The federalism we expect is the one Latin scholars would refer to as the Head of state being primus inter-pares, in other words, the Head of state should be first among equal. By this I mean that all the state governors should see themselves as being very important just as the president is. Since the President is not a military President, and has not seized power through force, but through the will of the people, he should see himself as first among all these governors. Secondly, the President should not see himself as being the President of just a political party that has brought him to power, no. Once he becomes the President he should see himself as the President of everybody. It would have been a thing of joy if what President Buhari said on assumption of office had been followed when he said “I belong to nobody, I belong to all”. But unfortunately there are certain things that have been giving us worries about the sincerity of that statement. For example, how does one agree with his appointments, especially appointment of important office being limited to his household or people of his ethnic area. That doesn’t show that he’s following that maxim. We know that politics brought him in but why showing favour to governors from his own party, through his actions, this won’t help. Like in America and some more civilized countries, once you’re the Head of State, you belong to everybody and same applies to the state governors. Once they assume office they should see themselves as belonging to everybody and try to canvass for votes and prepare for the election through what they are able to do for the people and deliver in terms of welfarism, good education, transportation, healthcare delivery, job creation, industrialization and many others. These are the things they should focus upon to attract people so that they can say that really, they are leaders and not what is happening now. Recently the governors in the south west region held a Security meeting to halt the spate of insecurity in the zone. Do you think this will put an end to this menace? The summit is a welcome development and a sign of better things to come, that they were able to come together irrespective of their political differences. That they came together was something we should appreciate them for but whatever they want to do, they should do it with sincerity of purpose. Dialogue is part of governance and having said we should come and dialogue on how to proffer solutions to our problem is commendable. But we don’t want them to be teleguided and they have to realize that first and foremost it is those that are living in Yoruba land that elected them into office and it is those that elected they should be afraid of and not any outside power, not the federal government, not the President because the President is primus inter pares, and that is how it should be. Let them be bold enough and learn to win the heart of the people they govern. It is then they can enjoy the cooperation of their people . It was a good thing that they came together and they should tackle all these security challenges more forcefully, let them come out and speak out, our governors should speak out and let them decide if their people want this RUGA they are talking about. There should be no hide and seek game about this, no, they should speak out. I think their coming together is a good thing for Yoruba people but they have to work harder and make sure that everybody is carried along in the struggle because they had been elected and they are our leaders and the Chief Security Officers. I think what the governors did recently is a right step in the right direction. New ministers have been nominated and screened by the senate, what is your assessment of the new appointees, can they change the people’s perspective about this administration. I would have expected the President to go extra mile in his appointment because of the present situation in the country. He has been too political in his appointments and that is not what Nigeria needs now, he should have made use of all the various professionals who could really help him to make a better change. The President should have picked people from various fields to energise and give more life into his administration. Concentrating solely on those who helped to bring him back to power is not the best. Like in a very big house there are so many rooms, he should have first of all compensated those who assisted him in putting him in office with some political appointments which are equally juicy but just appointing them ministers just because they helped in putting him in office, I don’t think is the best. I am not saying all the nominees are bad but there are people in various fields, brilliant people who could make things better, whether in the academic, medicine, business, law and other areas where people make things move. Like I said earlier since the major criteria has been political, they will be limited, even the initiative, the newness, the ability to deliver to make the country better without political consideration will be limited. They will be more concerned about political consideration , so that is the problem. •Arogbofa About the suspended RUGA by the Federal government, do you see this programme ending the incessant clashes between farmers and the herders across the country? If we want to do the right thing, let them go back to the 2014 CONFAB report. I heard Garba Shehu talking about ranching, we recommended ranching there, and he was saying RUGA is ranching, why are they equating ranching with RUGA, this is wrong. Even after his explanation we suddenly heard that the President had suspended RUGA, but I saw this as a kind of divide and rule. This was why I said earlier that for us to have the best in this country the President must treat everybody equally, if he had that feeling that Nigerians should be treated equally, I am not sure his lieutenants have the same feelings. The offer of assistance to implement RUGA is like a deceit to the people, people had been deceived, because those who don’t want it had been deceived and we should not allow ourselves to be deceived. And looking at the South West, do we have the land? Take Ondo state for example I listened to a programme where a Fulani man was saying that the reserved area in Ose local government area of the state and other places should be cleared for RUGA, this is unfortunate, in this area where we have cash trees where we make money and they want us to destroy all those things for some people to make personal money, and some of these people we are told are not even the Fulani we know, they are people from Libya, and other areas. What is then going to be the fate of our people? I think the type of RUGA they are talking about is not the type we want. Let our people buy their own cows and do their own cattle ranching in Akunnu Akoko and other places in the state. These ranches should not be given out because we are going to suffer. This RUGA is going to create more tension amongst our people, the RUGA hasn’t taken root here but there are cries about the Fulani herdsmen maiming our people, killing our people, raping our women, harassing them, kidnapping them and so many other things, especially those who are said to be coming from other parts of west Africa, through our porous borders. The few we knew we are told are not the one doing it but we have become suspicious because we can hardly differentiate them now, unlike in the past. So, all we are saying is that we don’t want this scheme, it is alien to us, we are not used to it and you can’t take our land and use it to for personal gains.
Page 1 and 2: C M Y K
Page 3 and 4: SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 3, 2019
Page 7 and 8: Probe alleged secret burial of sold
Page 9 and 10: Four men plead guilty to illegal po
Page 11: SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 3, 2019
Page 25 and 26: ot d e ns a e n e s . ts I joined r
Page 31 and 32: By Chris Onuoha Against the backdro
Page 33 and 34: SATURDAY Vanguard,AUGUST 3, , 2019
Page 37 and 38: C M Y K They came out in good numbe
Page 41 and 42: Our focus now is to increase brand
Page 43 and 44: Juliet Ebirim 08137897935 juliet.eb
Page 45 and 46: ton SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 3, 20
Page 47 and 48: Three August giants in Nigerian Foo

03082019 - Worsening Insecurity: Suspected herdsmen kill Catholic priest in Enugu

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?