Home / Interview / ‘Jonathan’s Response To Buhari’s Victory Was Statesman-Like, But He Is No Statesman’
‘Jonathan’s Response To Buhari’s Victory Was Statesman-Like, But He Is No Statesman’
By Ajibola Amzat on April 18, 2015
AdeniyiChief
Tola Adeniyi is a familiar name in the Nigerian media industry. The
Africa’s first Newspaper Ombudsman, 1974/75, Chief Adeniyi, a.k.a. Aba
Saheed, has held executive positions as Deputy Managing Director
of Sketch Newspapers, Director Times Journalism Institute,
Editor-In-Chief Nigerian Tribune Newspapers, Chairman/ Managing Director
of Daily Times of Nigeria, and Chairman/ Publisher of The Stamp and
Naked World newspapers. During Abacha regime, Chief Adeniyi relocated to
Lancaster University UK as visiting lecturer in 1994, and later moved
to Canada with his family in 1995 to establish Canada College of
Business and Technology and Canada University Press. He is the founder
of Global Intelligentsia, one of the intellectual forces that led the
campaign of General Muhammadu Buhari in the Diaspora. In an interview
with AJIBOLA AMZAT at his residence in Lagos the day after May 28
elections, the newspaperman and political strategist spoke on the
outcome of the presidential elections, the reaction of President
Jonathan to Buhari’s victory and expectation of the GI for the new
government. How do you view the response of President Jonathan to the election results?
I actually felt like calling for a press conference on that Tuesday
when he called Buhari and congratulated him because I had imagined that
the contrary would have been tragic for the country because there were
pockets of resistance by antagonists who could have unleashed terror on
the country. Even If Jonathan had won, and Buhari waited for the
election results to be announced before congratulating him, there would
have been a serious backlash. Thankfully, that did not happen. But that,
whoever won had the courage and statesmanship to call the winner and
say ‘congratulations’ before the announcement of the results was
concluded saved Nigeria lot of problems.
As a student of history, knowing what happened in 1959 after general
elections, knowing what happened in 1966- 1967 after the counter coup
and knowing what happened in Ondo state during Ajasin-Omoboriowo saga, I
knew what would have happened if the results were announced and there
were silence on both sides. And because Jonathan took advice – of course
he must have been advised by several stakeholders – even though that
was the first time he was being his own man because all along he had
appeared like a weakling, he fooled all of us. We thought he had no
sense of history, given his antecedents in the last six years. But that
he was able to accept the election results, I think we should commend
him. And I wanted to say ‘thank you’ for saving about 5000 lives that
could have been lost immediately after the announcement of the election.
I also want to commend the prayer warriors, Christians, Muslims,
animists and traditional religionists who had prayed fervently for
months to avert any after-election pogrom in the country because I think
their prayers were answered by Almighty. So because he had done that, I
almost went as far as saying all his sins should be forgiven despite
the fact that the nation’s treasury was depleted during his
administration, and allowing terrible women who were daylight robbers to
work with him, and despite the fact that he tried covering so many
atrocities that were committed under his administration.
I wanted to say that as far that moment was concerned, his entire sin
should be forgiven, but it was not for me to say that, rather it was
for Nigerians and posterity to say so. Notwithstanding I was really
impressed by his response. I know from the intelligent reports that
there were hawks urging him not to accept the result of the elections,
but he chose to ignore all of them. That he could summon such courage
at the most critical moment in Nigeria history, and choose to be his own
man was commendable. Would you say that singular action is sufficient enough to
describe President Jonathan as a statesman as many people have chosen to
describe him now?
I don’t think that action alone confers on him that prestigious
title of a statesman. In one of my write-ups, I said his response was
statesman-like, but he is no statesman. They are two different things. I
don’t think the President has behaved as a statesman all along in the
last six years. The actions that were carried out under his watch were
not actions that a statesman should condone, especially the abuse of the
military institution. No statesman would drag his country’s military
into politics. And he was so brazen about it. What he did in Ekiti,
Osun, Rivers and Imo as reported in the media and the rumour that
several thugs were given military uniforms, an allegation that PDP has
not yet denied; all these would certainly put a minus on President
Jonathan’s claim to statesmanship. What connection does your group has with Buhari?
You won’t believe that I had not seen Buhari all my life, and I
don’t think he will recognise me from the crowd. But his picture has
been on my phone since 2011. But I believe that Nigeria needs to be
rescued, it is not just question of change. Because of the way we are
going, I blew the alarm that we are actually on our way to Somalia.
After the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991, the country has not had a
central government since then. And I fear that if that should happen to
Nigeria, we would be in serious soup. With about 180 million people,
there is no country that can take refugee from us. So I have been
speaking on different TV programmes and writing on pages of newspapers
that we were on our way to Somalia. And the man who could rescue the
country among the candidates is Buhari. He has the discipline, the
charisma, confidence and the stamina and also enjoyed people’s
affection.
Those who are against him are those saying he jailed some people in
the 80s when he was the head of states. He jailed people who were very
close to me too; I mean he jailed Bola Ige. I remember always visiting
Bola Ige at Agodi prison, but that is not withstanding, I believe that
Nigeria needs a strong hand on the lever. In fact, for me, it was short
of calling for a coup. There was so much money in the hands of the
Nigerian political elite that only a divine intervention or military
coup could stop them. Politicians owing oil blocks, controlling 30
billion dollars, there is no way a honest man can fight those ones
through elections. Therefore I see it as a task that Buhari needs to be
supported in order to mobilise our people towards rescuing the country.
That is what informed my forming of the Global Intelligentsia. I put
a call to a few of my friends in Canada, Australia, and Asia and
suggested the idea of forming a group that will wok essentially for the
emergence of Buhari as president.
The group is largely constituted by academics, not the hoi polloi.
Our engagement is more of ideas, logistics and intelligence, but the
members also contributed some money into the cover of the campaign. .
When they were going to postpone elections we are the first to sound
the alarm about it. We also had the fear that they may cancel the
results of the elections and hand over to the interim government, and
later to the military. We asked them which military they were going to
hand over to.
There are three distinct military formations in Nigeria: the
Jonathan’s military, the Nigerian military and the military that were
neither here nor there. In concrete terms, in what way did GI’s contribution assist the victory of General Buhari?
I think that we will be ascribing too much to ourselves, an action
which may amount to self-flattery. And that is why General Buhari also
has to be careful because several people will be crying that they were
the one that made him win because as the saying goes, ‘success has many
fathers, failure is an orphan’. We cannot come out and beat our chests
that Buhari victory is due to our efforts. What we could rightly claim
is that we also made our own contribution intellectually. And we also
reached out to our people in Europe, America, and Asia, and ask our
members to influence their family members back in Nigeria. What is the expectation of Global Intelligence for the incoming government?
As a matter of urgency, we expect the government to fix the challenge
of electricity in the country. Though this cannot be done overnight,
but they can go about it from day one. And the easiest way to do that is
to decentralise it, which the present administration has done
half-heartedly. Take the power generation out of the exclusive list and
let every state bear the responsibility to generate its own power. The
catch here is, if FG announces, say by May 29, that that first three
states that celebrate one year of uninterrupted power supply, the
federal government will give those states one billion naira each. I am
sure within a year, miracle will happen in the sector.
The second of course is to tackle insecurity. And the way to do that
is to send a word to the National Assembly to immediately pass the bill
to decentralise the police, and establish the state police, if possible
local government police just as they have it in the United States. We
had it before 1966. There is no country in the world now that has
centralised police except Nigeria, none. Not even Ghana, or Togo. In
Canada where I have lived for the past 20 years, almost every city has
its own police. And they still have the federal police including US.
There is no reason why Nigeria should be having 360,000 police force
headed by only one man. According to the international police to
population ratio, 360000 is not even enough for Lagos alone. What should the Nigeria do to redeem its image in the international arena?
We need to address the issue of poverty. By poverty, I don’t mean
economic poverty alone, it includes mental poverty. If you see the way
some Nigerians argue you wonder if they have brain at all. Nigeria must
free itself of mental poverty and spiritual brainwashing that we have
suffered for generations. We also have to solve the problem of massive
stealing.
The funeral of the late Dr. Yosef A.A. ben-Jochannan
Derek Muhammad
While there is no dismissing the glorious encomiums for the late
Dr. Yosef A.A. ben-Jochannan—and they were as full of praise as the
many dispensers—the priceless item at his more than three-hour funeral
service at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem was the printed
program. One thing was certain upon being lucky enough to get one was
the prediction that they would not have a sufficient supply for the
massive turnout.
An even safer prediction was that many of the hundreds of admirers of
the great scholar would not be able to get in the church in the first
place, and like the overflow crowd at the wake and viewing on Thursday,
many had to settle for the celebration outside the church at the end of
the services.
Professor James Small had the awesome responsibility of moderating
the “service of commemoration and the Initiation into the Duat,” as the
ceremony was called. Looking at the long list of speakers, performers
and proclamations he advised the participants that “you have two minutes
for your remarks,” he said, “and only Dr. Jeffries can have an extended
African two minutes.” It brought the expected laughter from a packed
church, especially from those familiar with Dr. Leonard Jeffries’ long,
history-laden speeches. And later he and his wife, Dr. Rosalind
Jeffries, would speak in tandem, both stressing an “African identity”
and keeping to the limits.
“Dr. Ben is not gone, he’s right here,” said veteran activist and
cultural maven Camille Yarbrough during her delivery of the libations.
She asked the audience to “just breathe” deeply and reflect on Dr. Ben’s
spirit.
After the collective breath was exhaled, Minister Akbar Muhammad was
called to the podium and, for the most part, he read a message from
Minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam. It was a
message of unity and solidarity with understanding that Dr. Ben was a
historian “from whose lessons we can learn from the past.”
Listening to someone read from the Book of Vindication must have been
a first time experience for most of those in attendance. And it was
during this reading that “Mut the mother of heaven” was mentioned and
“heaven” would be almost a running gag for the rest of the ceremony,
particularly where it was variously located by different speakers.
Professor Small, a leopard skin print draped over his shoulders, kept
things moving at a good clip, and often dropping his own observations
of his mentor. “Dr. Ben gave us the foundation to understand our
eternity,” he remarked before asking Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts, III to read
the obituary. Among the highlights of Dr. Ben’s enormously productive
96 years—he joined the ancestor on March 19—Butts recalled was that he
was a versatile genius who wrote more than 40 books. “He will be
remembered as a brilliant historian, committed to the uplift and
enlightenment of the global African community. He will also be
remembered as charismatic with an enormous sense of humor. And at the
same time, as being straight, forthright, and even confrontational if he
detected lies, deceit, or falsehoods.”
Dr
Ben will always be important to myself and a great many more every last
one of us is grateful for opening our eyes to the glorious ness of who
we really are as a people his spirit will forever be with us
i
owe such much of my understanding to Dr.Ben was in the darkness to my
existence as a black man in America thought the bible was the truth an I
was the this descendant of a slave with no past just the one that the
Europeans wrote for me. Dr.Ben showed me I had a history an knew GOD
long before this faireytale book f lies Dr.Ben an Dr.Clarke will never
be forgotten.
Thanks
so much for the LIVE STREAM of Dr. Ben's celebration of his life and
for allowing me to meet family members, historians, ministers,
attorneys, and others who talked about the realities his life and
works,..Dr. Ben taught me the truths about me, my people and opened my
mind to further research, readings, teachings to carry the African
Centered baton of his findings,..He will always live on through me and
others,..
The
Great Pharaoh is on his journey sent with great love, admiration and
respect, I was blessed to attend the Wake which was phenominal... I
laughed, I cheered, I cried, I sighed, but most of all I Gave Thanks for
his life and his legacy...
Yes....just
as there were hundreds clamoring to be a part of this moment,
physically..... I, like many others, were there as we "watched", very
closely, every movement on and offstage...thanks to AMSTERDAM NEWS and
LIVESTREAM...... We were THERE.....and we are STILL there.....
AKOBEN!!!!
I AM A BLACK AMERIKKKAN WHO 32 YEARS AGO WENT BACK TO AFRICA/YORUBALAND/NIGERIA TO RAISE 4 OF MY 5 CHILDREN AS CULTURALLY BASED YORUBA CHILDREN WITH THE LANGUAGE AS THEIR MOTHER TONGUE.
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