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As Fayemi says protest against fuel subsidy removal in 2012, was mere politics
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Former President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has accused the nation’s founding fathers of failing to integrate Nigeria into a proper nation, saying that they operated as individuals.
Jonathan noted with regrets that they (the country’s founding fathers) did not envision Nigeria as a nation during the struggle for independence.
The erstwhile President spoke in Abuja at a national dialogue in honour of a social critic, Prof Udenta O. Udenta who clocked 60 on Tuesday.
The former President, who was the Chairman of the occasion that also coincided with the presentation of 21 books authored by Udenta, noted that unlike former President Julius Nyerere, who championed the cause of a nation for his country, Tanzania; Nigerian founding fathers focused on ethnic politics at the expense of national cohesion.
Jonathan said, “Have we been able to convince ourselves whether we are a state or a nation? If we are a country and a state, how do we become a nation?
“I am not blaming our founding fathers but they failed to integrate us into a proper nation. They operated as individuals and so on.
“Of course, if you have read some of the comments of our former leaders, someone like (Obafemi) Awolowo made it very clear that there was no nation called Nigeria. That it is a geographical entity, it is a country, it is a state, it has laws but there is no nation.
“The country was so polarized especially during the early political party formation and the parties were regional parties. “There was no sense of commitment to integrate Nigeria into an entity that you can say yes, this is a nation with core values, common philosophy and people will be patriotic to that nation.
“Most of the parties that time belonged to regions and there were no alliances for the purpose of ruling the country.
“When I compare Nigeria and a country like Tanzania, I feel that Julius Nyerere made his vision clear to make Tanzania a nation.
“They have different tribes, maybe not as many as Nigeria but one nation was at the height of his thoughts”, he said.
He however pointed out that like Nigeria, Tanzania is made up predominantly of Muslims and Chirstians, adding that in spite of the strength of the two faiths, Nyerere championed a one party state to prevent political parties taking on religious colouration.
Jonathan thumbed up the ex-Tanzanian leader for adopting a common language to create a sense of oneness among his people.
According to him, “He (Nyerere) made sure that every person from Tanzania speaks that language, those who go to primary, secondary and tertiary schools quickly adhered to this as Nyerere made education compulsory.
“So, you hardly see somebody who didn’t get at least basic knowledge of the language in what we call the first nine years of school education. At that level, you communicate in Swahili”.
Former Chairman of Nigeria’s Governors Forum and immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi , on what appeared like an open confession, said that the ‘Occupy Nigeria’ protest that practically grounded the nation when the Jonathan-led government removed subsidy from petrol was mere politics.
Fayemi stated this in his keynote address at the event.
The former Chairman of NGF equally faulted the winner-takes-all syndrome in the country, stressing that all the parties parties ought to bring their manifestos to the table at the end of election to build consensus.
Fayemi disclosed that the last time Nigeria witnessed economic development was during the era of Jonathan administration.
His words, “Today, I read former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s interview saying our liberal democracy is not working and we need to revisit it. And I agree with him that we must move to a political alternative. I think we are almost at a dead end.
“What we need is alternative politics and my own notion of alternative politics is that you can’t have 35 per cent of the vote and take 100 per cent of the spoil. It won’t work.
“We must look at proportional representation so that the party that is said to have 21 per cent of the vote will have 21 per cent representation in government. Adversaries politics bring division and enmity.
“All political parties in the country agreed and even put in their manifestos that subsidy must be removed.
“We all said subsidy must be removed. But we in ACN at the time in 2012, we knew it was all politics. That is why we must ensure that everybody is a crucial stakeholder by stopping all these.
“Put the manifesto of PDP, APC, Labour Party on the table and select all those who will pilot the programme from all parties”, he said.
