What is your take on the arms deal scandal?
The major problem of Nigeria is corruption, it used to come in form of inflating of contract or using some unscrupulous ways to do some cover-up, but that of the arms fund that was taken directly from the Central Bank of Nigeria and shared directly is a new phenomenon in corruption in Nigeria. We did not know it was that bad. When last I met the president and the press accosted me, I made it known to Nigerians that the depth of the rot was great, it was when we came in that we knew that we are in for a big problem and the country is in for a big problem because the level and the extent of corruption was so deep that I am becoming afraid. We need to be ready for the fight against corruption and the government alone cannot do it. Let the Nigerian people support the government in fighting corruption because if the monster, corruption fights back, the whole country is likely to be in trouble. The extent is unimaginable and threatening very frightening indeed.
What is your reaction on the alleged missing budget document in the Senate?
Honestly, I read the story in the newspapers as you people read it and you should know that I live here in Ila-Orangun and it’s far from Abuja. The budget was presented in Abuja; the story was being brandished in Abuja. And what we first heard or what I first read was that the budget was lost or was missing and they were going to investigate how it got missing. When I asked one of my representatives in the House of Representatives, he said it was not missing. Only the budget of the senate was missing. That leaves a complication into what is happening. You know, it’s borne out of the same indiscipline that led to the hijack of the national assembly. When the foundation of an assembly is indiscipline, until you remove the cause, you will continue to have this kind of problem in your hands. That assembly was not constituted the way my party planned it, it was through indiscipline that it was hijacked and constituted. So you can expect any kind of dissatisfactory stories from such assembly, it has nothing to do with my candidate who is now the president of Nigeria. It can be mishandling of some people who are in position and not supposed to be there because when you are in position and you are a small man, you take the position to your level and the situation becomes small but if you are a big brain, you bring the position to a high level.
There are two ways to look at the development of any country, the individual and the institution and it depends on the quality of the generality of the individuals, and the quality of the institution that are made of this citizenry. When you talk about Nigeria, and you are comparing it with China and America, you know you are small in the brain and you are small technologically, definitely, you will bring all the positions in your hands to your level, and the institution will become as small as you are. So, don’t blame it on any political party or the president or anybody, blame it on Nigerians and blame it on yourself.
Are you worried about the mass defection from PDP to APC?
It is like bringing together two pieces of wood to make furniture.If the wood is weak, the furniture will not be strong enough. It is true that we put the APC together in a hurry and we put it together by merging political parties. But before it became a political party, before it glues into one, election had come and we seem to be more concerned with election than the making of the party. Immediately after the election, indiscipline set in and definitely, with such a situation, there will be bickering. It is the duty of elders including myself to remove the bickering and bring the party together make it stronger and we are going to achieve that.
What is your response on Hon Abike Dabiri’s statement on defection from PDP to APC?
You know, in a country where most leaders are parasites, a parasite, when it kills the original host, it will have to go to another host and kill it. Only we in the APC should be careful. The defection is not a strange thing but I know it is always done by parasites. I have always remained in one line of politics. I wasn’t a politician before, it was Baba Ayo Fasanmi in 1977 who took me to Chief Awolowo and introduced me to him. If I would use his words and the words of Chief Awolowo, Chief Awolowo said he was rejected in Ila before that time, and he had not been in Ila since the beginning of the military and that he wanted to come back to Ila through me, he wanted me to be his friend and he wanted to come back to Ila through me. I felt flattered and humbled and I didn’t know how to respond to him but I put some questions to Awolowo which he answered satisfactorily, From that time onwards, I came back to Ila to work very hard to see that Ila people accepted Awolowo and I am happy that Ila people have accepted Awolowo since then and they still accept Awolowo till today and that is why I belong to the Awolowo’s politics.
Do you believe in Fiscal federalism for Nigeria?
Well, I belong to an old school and the old school which I belong never believed in 36 states. The old school which I belong believes in maximum of 18 states and minimum of six.In other words, the whole Yoruba states will be one state because I believe in the creation of state according to cultural unity of the people and the strongest element of culture is language. I believe in the creation of state according to linguistic basis and the whole of Yoruba land will be only one state. And definitely when it was like that, the old Western government was lending money to the federal government but today when you have 36 states, some of which are not bigger than a local government, if you are talking about fiscal federalism, I don’t know, one way or the other, merging would start because I will support it anyway because fiscal federalism means to live according to your earning, live within your means and every state will have to find money to manage its own self and it won’t be wrong then if my state is having three commissioners, your own state might have seven, the next state might have ten and the other might have fifteen; its just like when you are getting money from federal government because, the idea of fiscal federalism came because of the sharing of the crude oil money, I don’t believe in that, I believe in sharing money by derivation; whatever grew from my state into the federal treasury should come back to me. If I am going to pay royalty or tax or anything, I should do it within me. So, if Ila-Orangun becomes a state, its from the okro we sell that we should be able to run the government and if the government is such that you have only the governor who will not have commissioners, so be it.
What is your take on the call for the implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference?
I don’t know what is in the report of the conference but I don’t believe that the way the conference was set up was Nigerian. That conference never included APC which is at least the largest party as shown by election; so, if the largest party is cut out of a conference, the result of the conference to start with, is not tenable but I don’t know about the report in it, therefore I cannot tell you if the report should be implemented because I refused to read the report because I didn’t believe in the setting up of the conference by not sending delegates to that conference so that conference is not believed by us and the report of it may not be tenable as such.
What is your reaction on the Biafra’s agitation?
Well, those who were born when the idea of Biafra first muted would be trepitated seeing anybody talking about Biafra today. If Nigerians want to disintegrate, they can do it by negotiation, well, what can anybody do about that? But if Nigeria would try to separate the way Biafra demanded between 1967 and 1970, it might be too bad. I was alive then, I was wise enough to know that war was not good and I will not pray that what befell the first Biafra should befall the new Biafra.
LEADERSHIP
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