Govs vindicated by subsidy report – Fayemi

Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was recently prevented from delivering the 5th memorial lecture of former Ondo State governor, late Chief Adebayo Adefarati in Akure, at the state capital. In an interview with journalists, Fayemi spoke on the botched lecture, South-West politics, fuel subsidy report and state of insecurity in the country. AYODELE OJO, who covered the session, reports:

What really led to the botched lecture you were to de-liver in Ondo State?

It was an ugly event and I was surprised by what hap-pened. I found what happened strange because I have re-gards for the governor of Ondo State, Dr. Segun Mimiko. Within the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) fold, I am seen as the closest link to him.

The relationship goes be-yond personal because we were together in the trenches even though he was in the Labour Party and I was in the ACN. We even exchanged notes and did many things to-gether, developmentally.Mimiko was one of the first persons I spoke to when the Adefarati family asked me to give the lecture.

I told the family that the memorial of a governor and a leader of the progressive movement shouldn’t be partisan. I asked the family pertinent questions: Who are the people coming? Have you told the governor of Ondo State? What role would he play at the event?

The family members made it clear to me that they have informed the governor, even though they experienced difficulty in seeing him, they handed over the letter to his Chief of Staff. About two days to the event, I called him (Mimiko) and confirmed to him that I would be coming for the lecture.

He complained that he did not like the way the event was being handled and expressed his feeling of a political undertone over the event. I explained that for me, the event was important because Mimiko was a commissioner under Adefarati. We agreed to attend the event together.

Before I left Ado Ekiti, the advance team informed me that there was an altercation between LP and ACN sup-porters at the venue. Again, I called my brother and said this is what I am hearing about the place and I hope it is proper for me to come and he said that he too have heard that there were problems; the LP members were prevented from entering the venue.

That was his perspective. But when I got to Akure, I discovered that it was pointless going to the place; I went to the house of a party leader, Wunmi Adegbomire.

I was there with Chief Bisi Akande and oth-ers watching development. When I decided to leave town, I told Mimiko and we agreed to see subsequently.My fear now is that the event could be a rehearsal of things to come in Ondo.

I was surprised when I discov-ered from evidence shown to me later that elements closed to the party and government in Ondo State were at the cenre of everything that happened. I don’t know if my brother was aware of the role they played because it is also possible the governor’s supporters and their key actors may do things that he is not privy to.

But I have it on good authority that at least three of the drivers of the fracas are key officials in his party and government, were central to organising what happened in Ondo State, the day I was to deliver the lecture.

This was something that was planned. It was not spontaneous. It was not ac-cidental. It was organised.

In fact, some of the people they used even had the effrontery to go to an event where the governor was presented an award same evening to lodge a complaint that the money they gave to them was not enough and I don’t think that is something I really want to associate with the governor of Ondo State.I have seen a lot of reports in newspapers, attributing what happened to all sorts of funny things; ACN aspirants fighting among themselves, Labour Party members not being allowed to come into the venue. What is more fun-damental is the potential that the incidence holds for de-mocracy in our region.

The South-West more often than not is the trigger for crises. Some people are also worried that the recent developments in Osun State are not uncon-nected with the October 29 governorship election.

I am an unapologetic advocate of regionalism. I do not believe that we must belong to the same political party for regional in-tegration to take root.The speech I was to deliver has to do with mechanism for conflict resolution and even security as the basis of peace because the purpose of the lecture is in honour of somebody we known as Baba Peace in the politics of the South-West.

That was the focus of my lecture. It did not make a single reference to the impending election in Ondo State neither did it talk about the relationship between my party and the LP. It was focused on how we can rebuild this society on the basis of equity, fairness and justice.

One of the governors elected on the platform of your party, Rauf Aregbesola, has been accused of planning secession. How do you see the development?

The ACN is not apologetic in any way about the way we see Nigeria today. We have complained about the present structure of the country, the weakness of the present con-stitution and we have advocated for true federalism. It may be easier as governor for me to relate with my predecessor in a matter that is different from the way another governor will do.

We have our differences.We have a flag in Ekiti; Lagos has a flag.

We have an anthem and we also have our crest. We do not even have the Federal Government coat of arms on any of our docu-ments in Ekiti but that does not mean we are not part of the country; it is only about our identity. If you have 10 crests put together, you won’t be in doubt about our crest.

Maybe, this is what Aregbesola is trying to do, but with more passion.

Honestly, I do not see any seriousness in most of the al-legations.

It is not feasible for Aregbesola to plan secession. What is wrong in his building a state that is self-sufficient and responds to the needs of its people?

I don’t think these people are really worried about secession but about what the effective performance and popularity of ACN in the South-West and Aregbesola’s activities in Osun will do to their already damaged reputation.

It is still the same old battle between the reactionaries and progressives. The re-cent allegations are organised, funded and to some extent has Abuja connection. We have no issues with the Federal Government. What we want is already known. We want to develop and make this region better.

The issue that we have with the Federal Government, we have put them on the table; the lopsidedness of the relation between the cen-tre and the states.In their view, Aregbesola is the most recalcitrant of the ACN governors.

If you can crush him, Fayemi is easy, Amosun used to be with us (PDP) we can get him back, Ajimobi is a nice man, Fashola is a technocrat. That is their own estimation and that is what is driving what they are doing. Unfortunately, for them they are on the wrong track.

The House of Representatives Ad hoc committee prob-ing the petroleum subsidy has released its report; what is your take on it?

The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) prompted this. Even before the January protests, we cried over the illegal deductions from the federation account particularly the allocation for the purpose of funding the NNPC importa-tion of fuel. At a point in October and December last year, we rejected the allocation. Today, we feel vindicated.

The reason we find ourselves in this situation is that even basic information is not available. No one can tell us how much fuel we import and or the quantity of crude that we export and the earnings in an accurate verifiable manner. This is why the National Economic Council set up a committee to get accurate record of what Nigeria exports and imports and the aggregate quantity.

The way the report is being politicised now is like find-ing an escape route. All organisations mentioned are now making statements, claiming that the committee has ma-ligned them. I think there is an aspect of this report that was not properly handled. There is enough in it to convince any person that a great deal has occurred.

The report has just been submitted and debated and we have seen the mob reaction. It is said in some circles that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is going to be impeached for al-lowing the report to be submitted, and the man that did the report should kiss his governorship ambition goodbye. No country can progress if we have this much stench in the system. People just look at Nigeria as a huge joke.

How do you see the Boko Haram insurgency in the country?

Nobody is comfortable with the way things are with se-curity in the country today. What I think is the fundamen-tal issue in our approach to security management is the co-ordinating mechanism. Our intelligence services have not been put to optimal use.

Although we are improving on the level of our electronic interception, security monitoring and surveillance, when we put everything together, some agencies are still not coordinating.

The approach must be different in dealing with a threat that is not seen. That is an area that I think the national security intelligence has to put in more effort because we are no where near under-standing the Boko Haram phenomenon.

It is easy to be tempted to say it has a religious or ethnic phenomenon but is that really the driver? It is much more political and economic than ethnic and religious.We need to tighten local security arrangement and by that we must go back to the old age issues. State police is an imperative because the Nigerian Police is over burdened and incapable of responding to these issues in a way it ought to.

In fairness to former President Olusegun Obasan-jo, his era had a quiet but very effective anti-terrorism unit that was properly trained. It was dismantled immediately he left power and we broke the chain. We are now worried and surprised that we do not have the intelligence required to address terrorism.