2015: Forget IBB, power must remain in the South —Ajasin, ACN chieftain

Posted by admin Ibrahim Babangida (1985-93), Latest Politics, Presidency Friday, May 20th, 2011

Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, son of the former executive governor of the old Ondo State, Chief Michael Ajasin, has slammed the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (retd) for saying that power must return to the North in 2015. The chairman of Atayese, a Yoruba socio-cultural organisation and chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in an interview with Daily Sun, urged Nigerians not to take Babangida serious. Excerpts:

Babangida not serious
Babangida is not serious by saying that power must go back to the North in 2015. On what basis did he rest his argument? What about the Igbo? If the Igbo feel like giving it back to the North, then that is their own problem. But as far as I am concerned, rotation of power is not the solution to the problems in the country.
We need to restructure this country so that every area will have autonomy based on ethnic nationality. When we have that, every other thing will take care of itself.

Why does a northerner want to be president? It is because of the oil money. I don’t want oil money. I want to use my own God-given resources and initiatives to better the lots of my people and not to start looking at other people’s oil money. That is what is causing the problem.

As far as I am concerned, the South South can hold their oil, we in the South West don’t need it. Let everybody fights for his own money. If we all see ourselves as one Nigeria, why must we be saying that power must come or go there since we are all Nigerians?
I strongly believe that the power of the Federal Government must be whittled down. If the oil people retain their oil and another section of the country wants oil money, they will go to the South South. Don’t tell me that you will stay in Abuja and be looking for oil money in the South South. My reason is because every ethnic nationality has its own God given gift. Even if they don’t have it in the ground, they may have it in their brains. Even if some people have it in the ground but they don’t have the brain to develop it then it becomes a waste.

The North is blessed with a lot of mineral resources so they should develop them. Even if they don’t have, they should use their brain to create wealth. People use to give example of Nevada in the United States. It is nothing but a desert with no mineral resources but they made it the gambling capital of the world as well as a place you can get the fastest divorce in the world. People are going there for gambling and divorce. They devise a lot of things that people want and people are going there and the state is making money.

Even if the South South has all the oil, they cannot be swimming in it. They must look for some place to enjoy the money. Then why can’t a place like Bauchi develop a tourist centre so that the South South would be coming there to spend the oil money and with that they would be getting their own money? These are things we all need to do. They have to work for the oil money to come to their area.

Victory of ACN in the South West
We have taken back our stronghold. The only thing is that my own state that is Ondo is not among those that were taken over by the ACN. But I am hoping that very soon we will be in total control of the entire zone. This is very important because it is only then that we can plan for the South West as a body. The Yoruba have a way of running government from the days of the Action Group (AG), which is quite different from the way things are done now. We want to take the opportunity of total control to rectify things that have gone wrong.

Being in opposition
It is a misconception to say that we are in the opposition. The fact is that we are not in the opposition. We have our own government. The unfortunate thing is the way things are being done now. We have a federal system that is not really federal. If we are practicing true federalism, when we have our own Western Region, we will administer it the way it should be. When others see it they would want to ask themselves how manage this region is progressing and we are behind. Then they would begin to blame themselves.

Since the PDP is currently at the centre, if that is what you mean by being in the opposition we need a viral alternative to keep them on their toes. When they default, the alternative would take over. Before we had a mighty Federal Government. Right now, the party at the centre is standing with one leg. They have seen that they can be voted out since it is no longer business as usual. That would make them to sit up because if they don’t, the alternative can take over.

Obasanjo took Yoruba to the mainstream
What benefit did we get when Obasanjo took us to the mainstream? The roads were not constructed. They are still bad. Look at the Lagos –Ibadan Expressway, Lagos-Abeokuta Road. Infrastructural decay everywhere. What have we derived from been in the mainstream? Nothing. But if you concentrate on your own, you would do more. The way the system is structured, it is just for “chopping” money. When the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) then organized free education programme, there was not even enough money to execute the programme let alone going into personal pockets. But in the centre today, there are no programmes and that is why there are lots of money to “chop.”

-Sunwp_posts