…Asserts, ‘I must say that Buhari came deliberately to ruin Nigeria’
By Christy Anyanwu
Aare Ona Kankanfo Gani Adams is a Nigerian activist-cum-politician who holds the traditional title of Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land. He is the 15th holder of the title in Yoruba land.
Adams is known to be very vocal in matters concerning the country, particularly the Yoruba nation.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, he spoke extensively on the annulled June12, 1993 presidential election, among other issues affecting the country. Excerpt:
What comes to your mind when you think of June 12?
That is an opportunity to refresh our memory on what we passed through in Nigeria to have democracy. June 12 is the symbol of freedom for Nigeria from the hands of the military. There are a lot of lessons that Nigerians have to learn from June 12. Most Nigerians have not realised this during the transition of power from one administration to another, we couldn’t learn the lessons of June 12, that’s why we are in trouble today. That’s why we are in this situation as a country. June 12, 1993, was an election that was adjudged as free and fair, but unfortunately, Nigeria did not learn about the content of this day, June 12. We decided as an organisation, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), to begin a lecture/symposium bringing scholars, whereby we pick a topic for them to come and deliver lectures so that Nigerians can learn from what happened on June 12, 1993, and even put in place a mindset for building a modern democracy, but unfortunately, Nigeria never learnt any lesson. Any country, any ethnic nationality or tribe or any family that does not earn from history will eventually keep facing unnecessary problems. In terms of June 12, my mind reflects on the sacrifice, the doggedness of Aare MKO Abiola, what he possessed before the election and after the election. In addition, there was the economic impact on his family after his demise in 1998. At the same time, some of the people that benefitted from his struggle, my mind always reflects that they couldn’t even learn from his struggle to enthrone democracy.
You said June 12 was a free and fair election, but how would you compare the presidential election of 1993 to that of 2023?
We have to give credit to Prof Humphrey Nwosu (chairman of the National Electoral Commission that conducted the 1993 election). This year, June 12 will be 30 years. I believe Humphrey Nwosu would have been in his 80s by now. Firstly, I have to give credit to the man for being sincere, being a credible umpire. I remember vividly the military intimidated him and instructed that he should not go ahead to announce the remaining results, but he went ahead and he was arrested. He was silent. I have to give credit to Prof. Nwosu and his team that worked with him. Secondly, I have to give credit to the progressives of Abiola’s party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The military truncated their mandate, but they stood up to fight for it. They fought for it for a period of five to six years. If not because of June 12, maybe we would still have a military government in Nigeria today. Africa’s political space would not have been demilitarised. That’s why I believe Nigeria is a pacesetter in Africa. Hardly would you see three military governments in all the 52 countries of Africa right now. I have to give credit to Prof. Nwosu and those who fought for justice after the election was annulled. I have to give credit to some of the officers in the military. Even though they were in the military, retired or serving, they stood their ground that the election should not be annulled. I have to give credit to Nigerian activists. The majority of the people that fought for June 12 did not even benefit from it. Only a few people that benefitted from June 12 were politicians and the politicians were just about 10 or 15 per cent of the people that stood against that injustice. The remaining 85 per cent, maybe we have about 10 that benefitted from this democracy. But I thank God, from my own side, even though I did not benefit politically, I have had the opportunity to hold a greater chieftaincy title in Nigeria. We have to thank Nigerians, not only the people that fought as the arrowhead, here we are talking about the masses as well as Nigerian students. That was the time we had very strong NANS, not now that NANS has been politicised and some of them have been compromised. Among the activists, for instance, there was Frank Kokori, the NUPENG secretary. He was not the chairman then, but he was more radical than the president. Kokori was one, and when Adams Oshiomhole was still Adams Oshiomhole, not now that he has turned into a politician that has been against activists, we have to give credit to them. Then, the late American ambassador, Walter Carrington, the Canadian embassy also. Do you know that the Canadian embassy had to shift because of the annulment of June 12? They protested and moved their embassy to Ghana. I remember most of the airlines left Nigeria, most of the multinationals also. The white people always see what will happen in the future. We blacks don’t know the implications of the annulment of that election. But the international community realised that it would be the beginning of problems for this country. I give kudos to our great clerics, His Eminence Sunday Mbang, His Eminence Ola Makinde , Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye and Bishop Olubunmi Okojie, they stood their ground to fight for freedom for Nigeria. Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti, Ayo Obe, Olisa Agbakoba, a lot of them. When people now say Igbo don’t support Yoruba, I am surprised. Maybe people don’t learn from history. I remember the Eastern Mandate Union, Clement Nwankwo. He stood his ground till the last day of the struggle and I don’t think that the man benefitted from this democracy. What of Rear Admiral Ebitu Ukiwe, is he not an Igbo person? He used his house for NADECO meetings. There were lots of Igbo that stood for Abiola and Abiola was a Yoruba person. Among the activists, the majority of them were Igbo; after Yoruba, Igbo and a few Niger Deltans fought for the struggle. That is why when politicians are bringing tribal sentiments to politics, I don’t listen to them because I’m a student of history and I’m keen about history. We may have our own shortcomings as a tribe, not that when politics arise you condemn everything that happened. Uba Sani who became governor in Kaduna State was an activist for June 12. Shehu Sani who became a Senator in Kaduna was an activist for June 12. Dan Suleiman from Plateau State was an activist for June 12. We had a struggle that cuts across, although some of the activists chickened out at a point, but some stood by the struggle till the last day. We were the first organisation that started the programme of commemorating June 12, even before Lagos State government started theirs, and that’s an organisation people say is an illiterate organisation. Somebody brought up that idea in our national committee council and that person was Mr. Ojelade. In 2000, he said, why can’t we start something like a conference/seminar to make sure we do not forget the name of Abiola? We did it the first year. The second year we upgraded it, by the third year we moved to Excellence Hotel. After two years, Lagos State saw sense in the programme, they started their own June 12 programme in LTV 8. After two years, when the now President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was governor of Lagos State, he gave a public holiday on June 12. That was how June 12 started growing among activists. OPC was the first group that started the June 12 seminar or conference before other activists like Joe Odumakin started June 4 to remember Kudirat Abiola and that was how the programme grew. Dr. Beko went to join the Lagos State programme, but later came to us to partner with his own group; we had a programme with Dr. Beko for two years, before his demise. While we were having these conferences, journalists used to ask me if I still believe they would immortalise Aare MKO Abiola. I told them we organised the programmes to call for recognition of his mandate, even a posthumous award as President, GCFR, they should give him his own award. And, glory be to God, even with Muhammadu Buhari’s poor performance, he did it in 2018. That was one of the things I salute, the courage of President Buhari. Although we that fought or even agitated for it were not invited, we didn’t mind. The most important thing was that our struggle over June 12 was not in vain. And the person we fought for, even though he did not get his mandate back in his lifetime, he got the honour that will be there for life. All his family was invited to Abuja, even some of his family that did not join us in the struggle were fighting to go and represent their dad. I was just 23 years old when the election was annulled. I was not a beneficiary of his campaign money. I did not have close contact with Abiola, and I was young. I was a product of a poor family; I couldn’t have access to the PA of Abiola by then. I was living in Itire in Surulere. That was the first election where I would have the opportunity to vote. By the time you look at his campaign strategy, the aura, the composition of his songs for campaign, you would like Abiola: “We are waiting for our President, on the march again, MKO…is our man o.” His antecedents of what he had done, helping the masses, giving about N2 million to every tertiary institution in Nigeria. Anybody that had access to Abiola, his problems were solved. Imagine how he invested, he helped to reduce the job market in Nigeria; definitely, we believe he would have delivered as a good President. When the election was about to be held, food prices were going down. Without even announcing the result of the election, the people that hoarded rice started selling it. They believed, when he became the president, rice would become cheaper. Unfortunately, they annulled the election and that was what led me to join the struggle in Campaign for Democracy as a member in Mushin Local Government. Unfortunately, after the annulment of the election, even before Babangida annulled it, in July, I lost my mother. After her burial, I realised it was a chain that could stop me from being in the struggle. When she passed on, I decided I was free to do the struggle. We were only two (boys) from my mother. So, she was very protective when she was alive.
So, in all, June 12 is something that we have to reflect on and inculcate in our younger ones and children. Definitely, we will continue that programme so that our people will learn lessons from it. If they don’t learn the lesson now, they will learn the lesson in future. But, unfortunately, with this election, it is clear Nigerians have not learnt their lessons.
How would you compare the June 12, 1993, election with this year’s general election?
You cannot compare them in any ramification. What was the population of the people that registered as voters in the last election? In the 1993 election, the percentage of people who registered was about 70 per cent, but in the last election, the people that voted for the three major political parties were not up to 30 per cent. Even the winner got eight million votes out of 87 million people that registered. You would realise all is because there is no justice in our electoral system. The major problem is that the election umpire and the security agencies messed things up. If we can have honest electoral officers, INEC, and security agencies who are ready to do their job well, we will have a free and fair election in Nigeria; but these two agents of government are not supposed to be agents of the government (party) in power. In a situation whereby INEC officials do not do their job, we will have problems. Even though you use the state’s apparatus to suppress people, what of the guardian angels of the citizens of the country? Some people, as human beings, may not have the power, but their guardian angels are spirits that are very powerful. When you don’t do justice in an election, you won’t get it right. I’m being careful because of the position I am holding as the Aare Ona Kankanfo. Assuming it was the time when I had not been made Aare, I would have come out in a different position, but this is an elderly position that you have to be reserved in your approach to issues. I prefer to make calls underneath as an elderly person than to just go to the press and pour out my mind.
What is your take on fuel subsidy removal?
I made calls about fuel subsidy removal to two people today. This issue is biting. Even if you want to remove subsidy, it should be a gradual issue. It’s not something you remove once, because we have started feeling it. Immediately after the pronouncement of the president, we started feeling it. About 90 per cent of the filling stations sealed their petrol stations and the few 10 per cent immediately increased the price of fuel. We were going to a meeting in Ikeja yesterday and we bought fuel of N15,000 for each of the three cars we drove. That is N45,000 against the former N185 per litre, just N5,000 for each vehicle (N15,000) to ikeja. It now hits me that, if I’m going to my country home, Arigidi, in Ondo State, to and fro, filling five vehicles would gulp N1 million just to buy fuel. This is a serious problem. I was forced to call one of the people close to Mr. President this morning. They should do something fast. We know the damage has been done by his predecessors, not even Buhari. Even from the military. They deliberately destroyed the refineries. Why don’t you take your time? Even if you want to increase the price of petrol, just N15 to N20, maybe you could increase it to N200; and not immediately in your inaugural speech because, in our culture, as a Yoruba person, a king that comes to power with hardship on the first day, it is assumed the country will pass through hardship throughout his reign. So, he could have done it gradually. I’m not saying President Tinubu caused the problem, but he could have made sure he averted that trap. It is a trap put down on ground for him by Buhari. Because we noticed it was not included in the budget. It is a trap and Tinubu should not fall into that trap. If you think you have the power as Jagaban to suppress the NLC, suppress everything, take a court injunction, what of your image in the eyes of the masses? The people that surround you in the political terrain could say, Oga, do anything, you are Jagaban, nothing will happen. But the people that are facing that hardship will be destroying your image in every community in Nigeria. Don’t forget that what destroyed the name of Babangida was fuel price hike. What led to the removal of Shonekan in his 83 days in power was fuel price hike. The Abacha government, though he was wicked, ran the economy well. But one of the things that destroyed his image was fuel price hike too. What destroyed the image of Obasanjo was fuel price hike and third term agenda. Yar’Adua, for almost three years in power, did not increase the fuel price, he even reduced it. Today, nobody can say anything wrong about Yar’Adua as a president. President Jonathan went and increased the fuel price immediately he won the election in 2011, and that was how Jonathan lost his goodwill, about 70 to 80 per cent, and he couldn’t recover it till they went into the election in 2015. In my own opinion the President Asiwaju could have done it gradually. Even if he wanted to increase the price, he should be in power for two months, maybe increase it from N185 to N200, and by then he would be working on the refineries that were deliberately destroyed by the cabals, and privatise the four refineries. I understand that even the Dangote refinery may not work this year and I’m not sure it would work early next year. Even NNPC was telling us that the Dangote refinery working will not change the fuel price. So, we could have worked on our own refineries and made sure we repaired them and privatised the running of the refineries with the private sector. It’s an insult to Nigeria that we are one of the largest oil-producing nations in the world and we export this crude, instead of 13 barrels that we bring out of that crude to Nigeria they will bring only four barrels and we don’t even understand this issue of subsidy. There are different versions. They are giving us the impression they are spending only N7 trillion a year. Some say it’s N2 trillion, so many stories. Even if it’s N7 trillion, the government is the parent of its citizens. Asiwaju should not see himself as Asiwaju of Lagos, he’s now the father of the nation. So, he has to make sure the grassroots, the masses and the middle class will not suffer, because the essence of government is to make sure that citizens are comfortable. When the citizens are not comfortable, there will be security threats. The issue of petroleum in governance is complicated and the person at the helm must be very careful. Yoruba believe that a good name is better than riches. So, Mr. President has to be very careful. Anybody in the Presidency is like someone in a cage; you don’t know what is happening anymore. The people that had access to him in Lagos will not have 20 per cent access to him as president, the procedure, the protocol is more rigorous and when they go to him, they will not tell him the truth. They will be giving the president wrong advice.
Before Buhari left, he said Nigerians should forgive him; what’s your position on that request?
It’s only God that has the power to forgive. But I must say that Buhari came deliberately to ruin Nigeria. I said it in 2015 that this man would not help Nigeria, rather, he would destroy Nigeria more. They were shouting that I was saying that because I was very close to Jonathan. I did not get any appointment from President Jonathan, and, sometimes, I might not meet Jonathan for up to two years, but the opportunity I had was that those who were close to him, I could call them, give advice and they would take it. What I said then was that Buhari would put us in trouble and he has already put us in trouble. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of the people that brought him to power. Now, he has put him in trouble. When he was leaving, the last thing he did was to remove subsidy and he did not allow the removal to disturb his government when he was in power. He built a booby trap for Tinubu and, deliberately, he did not put the subsidy in the budget. It’s a trap, but there’s no damage that happens that does not have a solution. The president has the right to call on the National Assembly to work on a supplementary budget for him as a matter of emergency to take care of the budget for subsidy. The main thing is that our refineries need to work. It’s so stupid that the government is buying shares in an individual’s refinery and destroying their own refineries. I have never seen any government in the whole world that does that. You have already created an impression that you are not capable of governance, if you can’t manage the property of government, that means you are not capable. If Dangote as an investor built a refinery of $19 billion and you bought 20 per cent shares of it, and you ruined your four refineries, Kaduna, Warri, Sapele and Port Harcourt refineries, how much would it cost the private sector to build a refinery in the six geopolitical zones? Some of our investors, you could back them up with a loan of N4 billion to build small refineries in every region. Through the regions, they take crude and refine it in their own regions and sell it at their own price, according to the environment. Edo State has a modular refinery now. The governor started it and he has completed it now. What stops every governor from having a refinery in the 36 states and managing it in their state? Why are you bundling everything to the Federal Government? A Federal Government that cannot manage an airline and brought this serious embarrassment to partner with Ethiopia? While you are talking of the oil sector, I have some investors that want to go into solid minerals. I mean 10 solid investors in solid minerals. Even in the oil sector, I have investors, but I am being very careful to watch the government so that I won’t put myself in trouble. One of them even wants to build a refinery in Nigeria with the money from their country 100 per cent. But I’m being very careful. They are giving me pressure, 100 per cent funding, not borrowing from any bank. They are bringing their money to come and invest, but when I see what’s happening around me and on social media about the refineries in Nigeria, I’m very careful and scared because the only thing I have to protect is my name. They have googled my name. They know I’m a radical and I have never soiled my name or put my hands in any dirty business. The money they proposed is even more than the investment in Dangote’s refinery, but I’m being very careful.