New Telegraph

Only new constitution can address Nigeria’s challenges –Falae

Chief Olu Falae is the former Minister of Finance. In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on the killings at a Catholic Church in Owo, insecurity across the country, need for state police and a new constitution, among others. ANAYO EZUGWU reports

What are your thoughts on the Owo church killings and spate of killings in the country is Nigeria getting better or are things really getting worse?

Nigeria is really at war with itself and what happened at Owo on Sunday is a further manifestation of this state of internal war, which has been born by the fundamentally flawed political arrangement in Nigeria. We have just one single police force pretending to be policing a nation as big as Nigeria and the complexity of Nigeria. The size of the Nigerian police today is less than the size of the Indian Railway Police. The police force of the Indian Railway Corporation is bigger than the Nigerian Police Force. So, how can we expect the Nigerian Police Force to singlehandedly police Nigeria effectively, particularly in these days of extremism and unprovoked violence across the world?

Are you recommending state police as an option or you will recommend that vigilante groups like the Amotekun would be the best option for Nigeria to adopt across various states of the federation?

Unequivocally, I recommend and have been recommending for many years the establishment of state police and local government police as well. When I was a child here in Akure, Akure Native Authority had its own police force and the western region had its own Western Region Police Force and we also had the Nigerian Police Force. We had three police forces in the colonial period but when the Civil War came other two police forces were abolished with personnel giving quick training and absorb into the Nigerian Army. So, the sooner we return to what made sense in the colonial period the better for us. The establishment of Amotekun was as a result of the failure of the power that be to agree to states having state police forces. I believe and I said so in my book, “The Way Forward for Nigeria” that any government at whatever level, federal state or local posses’ inherent powers to have a police force to enforce its enactments within laws, regulations or bye-laws. Even universities and institutions have a police force abroad. I don’t know why it has become such a huge issue here that states as a matter of course have police forces. State police forces should have been in existance since independence, which is the truth of the matter.

What would say about the issue of state police and how it is linked to the constitutional amendment?

My position is not about the minor adjustments that the National Assembly has been carrying out, saying that they are amending the constitution. What Nigeria needs and must have is a new constitution that addresses fundamental flaws in this system. Fortunately for President Goodluck Jonathan after a lot of hesitation and delay agreed to set up a National Conference.

I had the privilege to have been a member of that conference and when I got there I was elected unanimously to lead the Yoruba delegates from Ogun, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Yoruba delegates from Kwara, Kogi and Iskeri from Delta. So, I was in the very centre of operations at the conference and at that conference, all the issues playing out in Nigeria were discussed. Of course, there was a lot of disagreement and argument but at the end of the day, we reached a consensus on virtually all of them. And we passed over 600 resolutions by consensus. By that, I mean not a single person raises his or her hand to press for a vote on any matter.

That report is with us. In fact, the draft constitution based on that report is with me and it is available to Nigerians to take as a working document and give us a new constitution. This issue of amending the constitution is a complete waste of time. so, we have no excuses anymore. The problems engulfing us should convince all of us that this constitution has failed. After 62 years, we are getting not better but worst in terms of poverty, unemployment, and insecurity among others. It has not worked and we should have the courage, honesty and nationalism to agree that we need a new constitution. I’m not interested in all these amendments.

With all the insecurity going on, your farm has been attacked, do you think we are building a nation that is sustainable with all that is happening in Nigeria?

We are not building a sustainable country. We are not even building any country. On the contrary, we have been deteriorating, national unity is at its lowest ebb, therefore, the question of building a sustainable nation does not arise and cannot arise in this situation. Until and unless we return to the political covenant reached in London before the independence, which gave considerable autonomy to the regions. But unfortunately, the military took over in 1966 they threw away the constitution along with that consensual covenant that sustains Nigeria. We must return to a consensus as a foundation of a new constitution. There is no other way except consensus. In a heterogeneous nation like Nigeria because it is now clear that any other formulation has not worked. The military imposed the present constitution, which is a quasi-unitary constitution and it has failed. So, let’s go back to the consensus and start devolution of power and resources to regions and the local governments that is when we can make a fresh start.

You were the presidential candidate in the 1999 general elections, at that time the AD had to do a partnership with APP in order to get a candidate and you were the consensus candidate, can you tell us how that discussion went?

The situation in 1999 was very unusual, remember that AKO Abiola had just died and that concentrated the minds of Nigerian leaders to the point they agreed almost by consensus that the presidency should be conceded to the South-West. So that made matters considerably easier to handle. Although before I became the candidate of my party, I have to go through the informal selection processes both in Ibadan and Abuja. So, the Abiola episode put a completely new dimension to the political domain and that was why it was relatively easy for me to emerge without a major fight for the nomination. Similarly, General Obasanjo, by the way, was my former boss, although he had to contend with Dr Alex Ekwueme at the convention in Jos, the fact that Abiola had just died and the nation was in sympathy with South-West to produce the next president, it was not a do or die affair. And so, both Obasanjo and I emerged relatively easily as candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999. But now what I see is what I can call politics of desperation. As an elder statesman, I’m now 84 years of age I can only appeal to those who are active in the field to please calm things down and take desperation out of politics. Whoever wins and whoever loses, life will continue, therefore, we should not be desperate in what we do or say. At all times, we should be calm, fair and reasonable.

The reason Nigerians struggle to take power is that people don’t believe they can get justice unless and until their tribesman is in charge of the government. What we need is a government maybe like General Yakubu Gowon, who treated all Nigerians equally.

That is what we need and all these tribalistic and sectional brickbat would disappear. After all, other nations have diverse populations but because they solve their fundamental problems, it does not matter whether the British Prime Minister is from Scotland or Wales or England.

The British people know that whoever becomes the Prime Minister would do the needful for everybody. That is what we need here and it is my appeal that whoever emerges as president or governor should do right to every citizen. He would be supported and voted for again because if you do well, you don’t need to fight to have a second term. But the tragedy really is that in Nigeria people win elections not because the electorates willingly vote for them but because they use money and they are genius in election rigging to win their positions. So, they don’t feel they owe anything to the people.

So, when they are in office and they know they can’t have a second term, using the same combination of obscene use of money and election rigging to return to the office. So, they don’t feel obliged to them and they don’t look after them, therefore, there will be a disconnect between the people and governance. So, I’m appealing let’s allow the people to elect you and vote for you so that you can remember them and take care of them while in government. If we don’t do that this crisis will continue.

Read Previous

APC Presidential Primary: Winners and losers

Read Next

2023: Longest-serving lawmakers who may return to Green Chambers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *