Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is the Convener, Apostolic Round Table; Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Project Victory Call Initiative, aka PVC Naija, and CEO, Masterbuilder Communications. Akinyemi, an advocate of good governance and One United Nigeria, in this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, speaks the removal and appointment of new Service Chiefs by President Bola Tinubu…..CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
What is your take on the retirement of the former Service Chiefs and the appointment of new ones, especially as it affects the war against insecurity?
Absolutely the way to go – confirmation that Buhari and his team were nothing but failures and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu knew but played along. Understanding of the law of power at play and very well applied. A proof that Tinubu knows what to do to get the lame duck security structure of the country back on its feet and set it forward. It further revealed that Tinubu is a master strategist in the game of politics, for how do you relate this with his electioneering statement of “continuing where Buhari stopped” which was a principal reason beyond the Muslim/Muslim ticket that made persons like myself say a capital ‘NO’ to voting Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT). This is a complete detour from Buhari’s style of leadership. Let us keep our fingers crossed as we await more surprises.
Against recent tradition, President Tinubu appointed Nuhu Ribadu, a retired Assistant Inspector of Police (AIG) as National Security Adviser instead of someone with military background. Do you think Ribadu will get the cooperation of the Service Chiefs who are expected to report to him and take instructions from him?
Give this again to Tinubu: although there are speculations concerning the personal reasons for which Nuhu Ribadu was considered, which bothers on possible attempts to get his file revisited, knowing that Ribadu’s investigation is the foundation upon which any frame on him can rest. Same finger is pointed to him for Bawa’s suspension. That said, why then do I say we must give it to Tinubu? Our biggest problem is the sustained structure and undue recognition beyond what the recommendation should be of the military institution in a democracy. Police is the institution that must lead the internal security of any responsible country in a democracy. That lesson I learnt way back in the 80s, seeing the movie, ‘First Blood’ starring Sylvester Stalon. Even when the National Guard was called in, led by a Colonel, the Sheriff had his honour of leadership intact. Tinubu’s appointment of Ribadu comes to me as a decision of positional advantage of building an enviable police and by extension our democracy.
Do you think that going by the way the 10th National Assembly leadership emerged, the legislature will not be a rubber stamp to the Executive as was the case with the 9th National Assembly?
On this, I have my doubts, and Lagos is a case study. Just observe the state from 1999 and you will conclude that the legislative arm is nothing but the armchair on which the Emperor was rocking for so long. We are entitled to our opinions, but the onus is on the National Assembly to prove us wrong and they will do well to make it so.
In the House of Representatives where the leaders were elected by voice vote instead of secret ballot, do you think there is need for the Standing Order to be amended to be in sync with what obtains in the Senate?
It is imperative to have the Standing Order amended to bring it in sync with what is obtainable in the Senate. Barbarians, we are told, talk in thousands. It is outdated to still allow voice votes in a 21st century democracy in the House of Representatives having 360 members when the voice of one man with a baritone voice can drown 10 normal voices. It is crafty, cunning and unreasonable. It has to be done away with.
How do you see the choice of Tinubu’s Special Advisers? Many feel that the president used the positions to compensate his longtime loyalists. Don’t you think so too?
What I think against the norms in politics is irrelevant. Politics is a system that is built and designed to reward loyalists. Is it me that the President should appoint as his Special Adviser on Communication? With all the havoc I did to his Muslim/ Muslim ticket! Come on! Those who were there through thick and thin are the ones deserving of Special Adviser! It is not a role for ship jumpers like Femi Fani-Kayode or speech traders like Festus Keyamo. They may get roles in operational units of his government. But, not an ‘Adviser’ that is ‘Special’. That is his first ring of influence, I beg, they better be loyalists!
What advice would you offer Mr. President in his choice of ministers?
We have seen the beautiful contributions of career focused technocrats appointed as ministers since 1999. Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela is a good example against the damages done to governance by layabout politicians who bought NEPA bills as certificates to justify being qualified for the appointment. I need not mention names. Let me make that a take away assignment for every Nigerian, starting with Mr. President, list three technocrats and three layabout political appointees or ministers in the past 24 years of our democratic experiment and juxtapose their impact. Consideration must be informed by commitment and commitment must be balanced by competence.
How do you see the recent suspension, arrest and ongoing investigation of the CBN Governor?
How do you see the suspension of national social life, arrest of productivity and suffering that greeted Nigerians with trauma during the Buhari-Emefiele currency swap? Our short memory notwithstanding, when being held accountable becomes a culture in leadership, we will no longer easily forgive erring leaders on the fancies of our sentiments and emotions. There will be a sitting up. The government, however, must frown at media prosecution of Emefiele or any other person for that matter.
The president also suspended the EFCC Chairman, Bawa. Do you think that the action was right?
The many shortcomings of EFCC notwithstanding, the brand has become the pretense of our national fight against corruption. Given that Bawa once moved to investigate Tinubu in Lagos. With the moral burden on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom many regarded arguably and possibly as the most corrupt politicians in the history of this country. I would have expected that Bawa is left to a process of probity to determine his fate than an executive pronouncement.
Several past EFCC chairmen had always been accused of corruption. Why is this so?
Who has not been accused of corruption in Nigeria? We are all corrupt! That is the truth! A bad tree can never produce good fruit. To make the fruit good you have to start from the tree. It is so because our tree system as a nation is corrupt, that’s the tree from which we are all feeding. Garbage in, garbage out.
Don’t you think the EFCC and the ICPC should be merged into one agency?
The insanity of duplication of duties is not limited to EFCC and ICPC. The most powerful department of the Nigeria Customs Service is Drug and Enforcement, it used to house NDLEA operations before the agency was formed. That department was where Atiku Abubakar left the service from pre-NDLEA. Post-NDLEA saw Ade Fadahunsi’s exploits in the service, now a member of the Senate. We must of necessity collapse back many of our past duplications. The purpose of duplicating them is obviously defeated. Oronsaye’s Committee’s baby of a report must be retrieved from wherever it was thrown with the bath water. We cannot continue like this, apology to Omoyele Sowore…..CONTINUE READING
