DR Wunmi Bewaji, a legal practitioner and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003 under the banner of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), in this interview by KUNLE ODERENMI, speaks on the weaknesses in the existing party system in the country and how to resolve the constitution conundrum, among other issues.
What are some of your fond memories of the days of the pressure group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO)?
The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) could be described as an amalgam of strange bed fellows comprising politicians, pro-democracy activists, opinion leaders, concerned professionals, who came together in 1994 with the principal aim of rescuing Nigeria from decades of the vicious grip of military rule. In this regard, I want to pay tributes to heroes like Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Bola Ige, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Pa Alfred Rewane, Dan Sulaiman, Dr Wahab Dosunmu, Senator Ameh Ebute, Senator Bola Tinubu now the president of the country, Pa Anthony Enahoro, Dr Fredrick Fasehun, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, Lieutenant General Alani Akinrinade and a lot of others, as well as the media, which played very important role in this regard.
What were some of the core values espoused by the coalition and to what extent have those values been achieved?
The values and ideals espoused by the coalition are principally three. One was the restoration of democracy that was on the basis of the actualisation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was overwhelmingly won by Chief MKO Abiola. Under that mandate was the rejection of what could be described as pseudo-democratic ideas being promoted by then president, General Ibrahim Babangida; such pseudo-democratic ideas included the Interim National Government (ING) and the idea of diarchy. Some people might have forgotten that Babangida promoted diarchy, which was supposed to be a form of democracy, that is, both the military and civilians running the country together. On the ING, it was supposed to be a precursor to the actualisation of June 12. It was the principal aim of NADECO; restoration of democracy on the basis of the June 12 election.
The second aim of NADECO was restructuring of the country based on regional autonomy. This, of course, was an idea that later came into the fray as the organisation continued to evolve. Coupled with restructuring was devolution of power. This was also part of the objectives; devolution of power for the purpose of resource control. Under restructuring, there was also the idea of state police. The third objective of NADECO was the convocation of a sovereign national conference, whereby the union itself was to be reviewed and pertinent decisions taken to ensure that the basis of continued federation would be discussed and agreed upon because, since the 1959 Constitutional Conference in London that led to the 1960 Constitution and eventually the 1963 Republican Constitution, Nigerians have never really sat down to discuss. Every political arrangement and review that we have done were by the military. So, that was why the holding of a sovereign national conference was important to NADECO at that time. But, have we achieved these aim and objectives? I will say we have not because I think that a huge mistake was made in 1999, when General Abdulsalami Abubakar handed over power. Our leaders at that time, including Pa Adesanya and Chief Bola Ige, were embroiled in some personal fight, which was probably orchestrated by another leader. Eventually, we lost it because we kept our eyes off the ball and instead, concentrated on political power, all to the detriment of the bigger aim and objectives of NADECO. So, it was as if democracy came in 1999, NADECO as an organisation with its aim and objectives, died a premature death. That is not to say that we have not made progress because, as we speak, Nigeria has enjoyed 24 years of uninterrupted democracy, which is unprecedented in the history of the country since independence in 1960.
We have also witnessed a person-to-person handing over of government; from one president to an in-coming president. We have also seen from party-to-party handing over; from one ruling party handing over to a previously opposition party, which we had never witnessed in the history of this country. That itself is an achievement. Then the fact that since 1999, not a single illegal attempt has been made to undermine democracy is a significant and remarkable achievement. That Nigerians have enjoyed this democracy is a huge achievement. For me personally, I think that the Nigerian Armed Forces, our men and women in uniform, have been the greatest beneficiaries of the democracy because just some months back, we did some review and discovered that that we have more than 100 major generals in the Nigerian army, which would never have happened. Once you are a member of a set at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and there is an attempt to truncate the system and you are remotely ‘implicated’, you are retired from service, regardless of your rank. Now, our men and women in uniform, be it in the Army, Navy, Air Force, are able to reach the pinnacle of their professional careers.
Besides, people now freely talk about insecurity in the land, they have forgotten that for almost two and half decades, the Nigerian Armed Forces had deliberately been funded by whoever was the head of state. They raised their own personal command, headed by their friends, almost at the neglect of the services. The Nigerian Air Force was abysmally neglected: no equipment, no aircraft, nothing! That time, no equipment was procured for the Navy as it should be done. Even in the Army, if you are in a division and you don’t have somebody at the top echelon, equipment will not be provided. Remember the case of Mamman Vatsa and Babangida. So, the idea, I think, was to limit access to arms and ammunition. The Nigeria Police Force was brought to its knees; it was not properly funded and equipped. So, that era of about two and half decades of lack of equipment culminated in depleting the striking power of our Armed Forces such that they later became cheap meat for Boko Haram and bandits. That was not the military that we knew.
Some of the major challenges that characterised the era you have just analysed also subsist under the civilian dispensation. What concrete steps need to be taken years after the NADECO struggle for a new political dawn in Nigeria?
On how we can realise those lofty aim and objectives of NADECO, the first thing we have to do is to put emphasis on citizen participation. We must organise; we must mobilise and we must fight voter apathy so that our people can continue to believe in the ballot. The second thing, which I also think is critical, is that I believe that for the sanctity of the ballot box, the sanctity of our democracy, that the result of the June 12 election ought to be announced. Of course, we have the result, but it ought to be formally announced by the electoral empire and the winner declared. Yes, as president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari recognised and conferred the highest national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Chief MKO Abiola, posthumously, and his running mate, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe given Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), but I think there is no point talking with tongue in the cheek. The electoral body ought to come out, directed by President Bola Tinubu to announce the result of the June 12 election. That result should be announced so that we can have a final closure on the matter. Let the winner be declared, even if it is posthumously, let that be done. We should stop all pretences concerning the act of injustice perpetrated through the annulment of the election. The formal announcement of the result will close that chapter forever.
Are there other changes we need to effect in order to make things add up in our democracy in the light of those grey areas earlier underlined?
We need to strengthen our multi-party system. What we have presently are not true political parties. What we have in the country as political parties are just personality cults. There is hardly any political party in the country today where you remove one or two people that the party will not die. That is not a true definition of a political party. For you to have true democracy, you need to have a very strong multi-party system. That is what can strengthen our democracy. If you remove Bola Tinubu and Buhari from the All Progressives Congress (APC) today, the party is gone. If you remove former Vice President Abubakar Atiku and maybe one other person from the Peoples Democratic (PDP), the party is dead. If you remove Mr. Peter Obi from the Labour Party, that party is gone. So, this is not the definition of a multi-party system in a true democracy.
So once we are able to strengthen our parties to become institutions insulated from the whims and caprices of powerful individuals, we can shout hurray?
There is another fundamental step that has to be taken. We need to hold a sovereign national conference that NADECO clamoured for. The reason is that we need a true constitution. Yes, we have a National Assembly, but it can only amend, review the Obasanjo Constitution, which I call a parchment of iniquities put together in 1977/78. We need to have a sovereign national conference of ethnic nationalities. A lot of benefits will accrue from such important and critical conference because when people are able to ventilate, whether it is the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) or whatever organisation, let everybody come together at a conference and table their demands, grievances and issues. Let people discuss. Leaders of the ethnic nationalities and the people come together, discuss and agree on how they want to live together. We have never done that since 1959. Let’s do that and review what we have because since 1959, we have fought a civil war; we have had a number of coups and counter-coups, and there has been mutual suspicion among the ethnic nationalities in the country. We need the conference because, when people talk about kinetic and non-kinetic approach to security, I think a sovereign national conference will do the magic. The last but not the least I would say is restructuring. It can be a by-product of a sovereign national conference but then, what we must realise is that for us to even get out of the economic mess that we have found ourselves, we need to restructure.
When we talk about restructuring, some people always think it is all about politics; that it is about breaking up. Such people are missing the point. It is not so at all. The thing is that the sub-national governments we have based on the 36-state structure is not viable. Labour is asking for N651,000 as new national minimum wages when some states are not paying even the existing N30,000 minimum wage. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that only about six states or so can survive without receiving allocation from the Federation Account. This 36-state structure means you have 36 governors, 36 state Houses of Assembly, 36 speakers, 36 structures of principal officers. It is unwieldy. It is killing us financially. It amounts to a huge financial waste and endless haemorrhage, as well as unbearable burden. There are 774 local government areas across the country. This structure is also a huge drain and a burden on our economy. People have forgotten that each of the 774 LGAs has cabinet, parliament and principal officers. That is why every LGA makes its huge budget and at the end of the day, everything goes into recurrent; everything goes to overhead and less than 20 per cent or thereabouts goes to capital expenditure. When you analyse the capital, you discover that a huge proportion of it is recurrent in nature. So, when we talk about restructuring, it is not all about politics. You have about 500 ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) at the federal level doing nothing. Most federal infrastructure in the state and local governments has virtually collapsed. Look at federal roads, they are almost death traps. Someone will sit down in Abuja and be determining what should happen in one remote area in Ilaro in Ogun State. That director has never been to that place before, so it a huge waste. We need to restructure. If we don’t restructure, it will be extremely difficult for Nigeria to survive as a viable political entity.
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