Aare Onakankanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has been in the forefront of other Nigerians clamouring for the restructuring of the country. For him, the country will stabilise and become a better nation if restructuring is carried out.

In this interview, he spoke about the state of the nation, political developments, culture and why he took a new wife. Excerpts:

Looking at the state of the nation as regards 2024, what is the way forward?

The President Bola Tinubu government is just six months old. That is not enough time to assess him for now, but we just know the government should do the needful in the case of restructuring Nigeria. If Nigeria is not restructured, I don’t see any magic any living human being can perform. Actually, before the government was installed, corruption had been institutionalized in Nigeria. But if you want to put an end to it or to turn things around, you have to allow the prevention units to be so that they will meet you in the centre, in Abuja. With the burden of governance reduced at the centre, the federating units can sanitize the zones. They can bring creativity, innovation to governance and every regional leader can try to sanitize his own region. By then, the burden, the blame and responsibility on the Presidency would reduce. The responsibility of security would not be in the hands of the number one citizen. The centre will be controlled by the number one citizen and he will delegate some responsibilities. Policing in the local government, the state government, regional government and the Federal Government would be delegated. On the issue of the economy, every regional and local government should look inwards and come up with how they can develop with the resources they have in their region. Over-dependence on oil will reduce. There would be proper coordination from the regions. You will know the actual figures of your population. From the regional, state and local government levels, you can ascertain your population. When you ascertain your population, there will be proper economic planning. You will be able to detect criminals through the database and registration of the people or the regional identity card and even the national Identity card. Moreover, the regions can bring investors who will have confidence and guarantees to carry out certain projects in the regions and in the states and, by then, there would be some changes within a period of seven years in Nigeria. Compared to many of the big countries of the world, there is no big country like Nigeria that runs a unitary system of government. It is either they use provinces, regions or they use a stronger statism. If Nigeria allows federating units to be run as a means of government, corruption would be reduced, effective security will arise in the country, there will be development rivalry. Imagine, when we had three regions back then, people would ask questions. Anything Western Region did, the Eastern and Northern regions would follow. But in the situation we are in now, the governor prefers to shift the blame to the Presidency. Most of the issues caused by the governors would be blamed on the president. Even with the allocation given to the governors, they won’t utilize it well in the states. But the people of the state would say it’s the fault of the President. There are certain things the President should delegate to the federating units that nobody on earth will blame the president for. The Presidency does not need the Ministry of Agriculture, the Presidency does not need the Ministry of Water Resources. The Presidency does not even need the Ministry of Power. Out of about 48 ministries today, the Presidency does not need more than 12. In America, the ministries run by the Presidency are not up to 15, as big as America is, and they run the presidential system of government. Most of these things should be done by the regions or states. So, the grassroots have lost the advantage of people-oriented government. The people in the local government are not feeling the advantage of the government. Most local government chairmen may not even go to office for up to 10 days in a month because the allocations have been taken away from them by the governors. Some of them do not even have revenue. When they go to the office within those 10 days, they stay there for just two to three hours. Of the three tiers of government, the local government is the worst off, the governors are killing it directly or indirectly. If we don’t respect our federating units, we are deceiving ourselves. We must allow the local governments to be. We must allow states to have autonomy and have the regional governments for checks and balances, and the Federal Government as the overall coordinating government. By then, we can have hope that Nigeria will move forward. Whenever people say Nigerià would move forward, I just look at them, because you are pouring water on top of the eggs, you know, pouring water on the eggs, which does not hold anything. That is the way I see things in this country and we have been saying this for the past 20 years. The president, too, was an apostle of federalism from the beginning of his own struggle, even in the time of NADECO (National Democratic Coalition), and even when he was the governor of Lagos State. On the basis of ideology, on the basis of what he believed from the outset, I think everything needs to be done to restructure Nigeria, to stop the bloodshed we are witnessing every day in the Middle Belt, in the North and in some other places. Today, you can’t just go to the East without having the government’s backing. If the government does not give you security cover in some places in the East, you are bound to be kidnapped or killed. About 70 per cent of the Igbo population travelled to the East last Christmas to enjoy themselves during the festival period before they returned to Lagos around January. Lagos, by December 23, was empty this year, but for the past three or four years now you couldn’t know the difference. People from Ondo and Ekiti living in Lagos would have travelled to their place for Christmas and New Year, but because of the security challenges in that environment, people from that region are afraid to go back home to celebrate Christmas. The only solution, for Nigeria to move forward, is to restructure Nigeria to federating units.

But restructuring could affect people’s income, going by the exchange rate, high inflation and rising cost of living…?

Restructuring will affect the country positively. It will bring a lot of good things, even in justice. A clear case is the verdict of the Supreme Court. In an election, even when there’s manipulation, when you are popular and you overwhelm the system with manipulation, not the INEC and the security agencies, you are not sure of the electoral tribunal. You can’t sleep well if you win an election in Nigeria; the rigging, the injustice, has metamorphosed from the INEC, the security agency to the judiciary. You can see the kind of situation we are in. The politicians have already decided. Okay, if your popularity overwhelms our candidate, you will meet us in court. You just wake up and see a popular candidate that won an election has had his victory annulled and there is nothing anyone can do. Nigerians, in the past few years, have lost hope in the executive; later, people lost hope in the parliament; but now Nigerians have lost hope in the third arm of government, the judiciary.

What do you have to say about the most recent corruption case, the ongoing investigation of Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu?

It will still continue, If we don’t restructure. If any precedent happens at the local, state and regional level, the Federal Government will wake up from their slumber. Sometimes, if you don’t marry two wives, you may not enjoy your home. If you continue to stay married to just one, you won’t know the best out of other women. Sometimes, destiny would say you must not marry two wives, but sometimes, if you don’t marry two wives you wouldn’t know the best of women, and it happens in the government. If we don’t allow the third tier of government to be, we are deceiving ourselves. We have three, but the present condition has reduced it to two. And the most effective one that the grassroots enjoy is the local government, but gradually they have destroyed it. Before now, a local government chairman was like a mini-governor, but in a situation where the local government is powerless, where do you expect people to enjoy government? How many people can go to Alausa to meet the governor, or go to Abuja to meet the president? How do you expect people to enjoy governance? People do not have access to the governor of Lagos State, you cannot have access to him just like that. People who were close to Asiwaju in Lagos don’t have access to him now because of the Presidency. The only chief executive you can have access to is the local government chairman. Before, the local government chairman tars the roads, builds schools and markets. The state government has taken over from them in building schools. The local government does not build schools, markets and tar roads anymore because the governors have taken over from them. All these mini-roads, construction through direct labour was done by local governments in the past, but now the governors are using these projects as their own project because the money that was to go to the local government is taken from the local government. The governor has taken over everything from them. The local government chairman doesn’t do anything; even a road that is not even up to 100 metres long, when the governors are marking two years in office, they start showcasing it in the media; and that should have been the responsibility of the local government chairman. With a local government chairman being given up to N500 million in a month and the responsibility of building like four to five kilometres of road every month, before you know it, all the streets are tarred. Houses will not be dirty. When you travel abroad, every road and cranny is tarred by the municipal (local) government. The port in Holland, from which about 80 per cent of the vessels carrying goods and consignments set out, is owned 100 per cent by a municipality. Municipality is just like a local government in the United Kingdom. In America, every state has its own laws. There is a governor in the US who told the president that if care was not taken, he would pull out of the US, if he didn’t abide by their law. When President Biden refused to create a law to stop Mexicans and all those illegal aliens, the Texas governor went ahead and created a law. That is the way democracy runs. That is how a country respects federalism.

When President Vladimir Putin was coming to South Africa, a province in Cape Town said, if the South African government allows Putin to come to South Africa he should not come to Cape Town or they would arrest him. Provinces are like a region and every province’s leadership has its own power. Ghana has about eight regions. So, why are we running from it? We said military Government was not good. Military government changed our constitution from the way our founding fathers got independence and agreed to our union in 1963; and we have had a civilian government since 1999, 24 years now, but we haven’t returned our constitution to the people’s constitution. If we don’t move our constitution to the people’s constitution. Who are we deceiving? And the constitution is a template of governance. It is a function of governance. If you don’t have a people’s constitution, a popularly accepted constitution on the basis of the will of the people, there is no way you can move the country forward. It is just like a solicitor that is going to court and does not prepare his papers. By the time he gets to the judge, it’s a different ball game.

You have not addressed the Betta Edu saga…?

I believe a lot of things would unfold, if they start investigating some ministers. The president should start investigating them. The Edu woman was careless by transferring the money directly to one account. There are some smart people that would use like 15 to 20 accounts. Women don’t know how to steal money, women don’t have the heart to steal money like men, and, if you dig deeper into that ministry, the former Minister of that Humanitarian Ministry, a lot of things happened, even messier, during the time of Buhari. If they dig into the case of (Edu’s) predecessor, they would see nothing less than N100 billion to N300 billion looted. In such a case, when you hear about bad governance and the goings-on, you will not be happy, and you won’t blame those people who Japa out of the country because, by the time you analyze our polity, you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that you don’t have a future in this country, the way things are going like this. And that is why those of us who have a voice are saying the truth. We have been saying the solution. If you wake us up 100 times, we keep saying we need to restructure this country so that this mess can be reduced gradually. There is no strategy you can apply. Bring the best economist into this country, the civil servants are even more corrupt than politicians. Some civil servants have turned themselves to evil servants. Some of them, at federal, state, and local governments, say that if you don’t rub their palms, their palms will not move. They have their own mafia that is even worse than the political ones, sometimes. They are the ones who teach political appointees that this is how we do it. When you go to other sectors, they are messed up. Is it educational institutions? That’s why people are withdrawing their children from public schools to private schools. If your child is brilliant, the cultists would threaten them. The lecturer will not do anything. If she is beautiful, they say you have to join them or befriend them, if you don’t do that they threaten to kill you and nothing will happen because some of the lecturers were also in the cults before they became lecturers. When you go to the health sector, the public health sector has been destroyed. Some business people and politicians even go and build their private hospitals. I don’t know when last I took my children or family to a public hospital. The only thing that can correct all these is good governance. When the government repackages itself for a good image, every sector would follow.

Many were surprised you took a new wife, knowing how close and loving you are to Ayaaba Mojisola, even through the days of seeking the fruit of the womb…?

There’s nothing to it. I have been with my new wife for seven years.

How did you keep it secret?

No, it was not marriage. I have been befriending her for the past seven years. I just decided it’s time for me to marry her. She’s from Urhobo, from Abraka. I just decided I should have her as my wife. There’s nothing wrong with it.

Was it Ifa that told you to take another wife, and soon there will be a harem of women in your compound?

No o! I don’t copy. I follow my own style. But it is part of Yoruba culture to marry more than one wife. Some people are bringing sentiments that the Bible says one-man, one-wife. In some places in the Bible, most of the big prophets married many wives, but pastors will not go to those chapters, they go to chapters where the prophets married one wife. You can’t use religion to judge your destiny. Everything lies on destiny. Muslims give room that you can marry as many as four, if you have the capacity. Even the Cherubim and Seraphim and the orthodox churches allow you to marry more, but the pentecostals say one wife and you can have many concubines. Many of them have many concubines. In Yoruba culture and tradition, you are entitled to marry many wives, inasmuch as you have the capacity. Our forefathers married many wives, they went to farm with them, to give them children that would help them in their farming, and they survived it, they controlled it. I may tell you publicly that I won’t marry another wife, but you can’t tell your first wife that you want to marry a second wife. When you give her that impression, that is the beginning of war. So, this issue, I just believe it is time and destiny.

As Aare is this the beginning, are you marrying more wives?

It depends on destiny. Wife is destiny. Children are destiny. If God has destined you to have 50 children and you don’t marry 10 wives, your concubines will give you the children. In this modern life, people forget about destiny and use the verses that they want in the Bible or Koran that favour them. That you are a journalist today is destiny. You have been destined to be a journalist.

Your wife Is not seen much in the social circuit. One would have thought you would marry a celebrity or a Yoruba Nollywood actress, because they flock around you so much…?

I don’t have that capacity. I don’t want wahala. Most of them are my sisters and my friends. We are like partners. With the nature of my job, there’s no way you can do without the Nollywood stars, in terms of promotion of culture and social activities. Before I became Aare, I was very close to many of them. That does not mean we must marry. We are working partners, not on the basis of marriage. I don’t know what destiny says in the future o, but that is it for now. (Sunday Sun)

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