ABOUT
PROFESSOR TAM DAVID-WEST
Professor Tamunoemi Sokari David-West 
was born on August 26, 1936 in Buguma, Kalabari, Rivers State. He has had a long and distinguished career as an academic, virologist, civil/public
servant and administrator. Professor West was educated at a number of universities around the world; beginning
with the University College, Ibadan, now University
of Ibadan,
1956-1958; Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA, 1958-60 (B.Sc); Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut,
1960-62 (M.Sc);
and McGill University, Montreal Canada, 1964-66 (Ph.D).
He began his teaching career as a consultant virologist and senior lecturer at the
University of Ibadan in 1969. He
was appointed professor of virology, at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, in 1975.
Professor David-West has served his nation in several capacities, beginning with his
appointment as Commissioner for Education and member of the Executive Council of Rivers State, 1975-79. He was
appointed a member of the 50 man Constitution
Drafting Committee setup by the Federal Military Government
under General Murtala Muhammed in 1979. He also served the General Muhammadu Buhari military government as Federal Minister of Petroleum and Energy, from 1984 to 1985.
Professor West was retained as a federal minister by the General Ibrahim Babangida regime after the palace coup that removed
Buhari.
From January 1986 until September 1986, Professor West served as the Minister of Mines,
Power and Steel in the Babangida regime before being dropped during a cabinet reshuffle. Following disagreements over
matters of conflicting interest, Professor West was jailed for one year by the Babangida junta for allegedly accepting
a gold wrist watch as bribe, from a foreign business man, while he was petroleum minister. That decision was adjudged controversial and a plot by the junta to humiliate David-West. Today, Professor Tam David-West continues to be a prolific writer, critic and commentator
on public policies and wears his prison experience as a badge of persecution for speaking
out about “the sleaze” he believes took place in that regime.
About Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, former senior editor and correspondent at ThisWeek magazine and
The
Guardian newspapers in Lagos, holds a BA from the University of Ife (now
Obafemi Awolowo University)
and an MA from the University of Lagos.
A freelance writer, journalist, poet and novelist, he is the author of The Missing Link, a novel about "the last man".
About Paul
Odili
Paul Odili is a Lagos based journalist. He currently works at the Vanguard Newspapers as the
Assistant Editor Politics.
THE
INTERVIEW
Prof; I would like to
begin our discussion with the issue of leadership. Is leadership the trouble with Nigeria?
DAVID-WEST: Nigeria’s problem is not that of follower-ship. Nigeria’s problem is the problem of leadership. If you have good leadership, it will energize follower-ship.
First, we are not lazy. We are not a stubborn nation with set ideas or mindset. Nigeria’s problem is squarely a problem
of leadership. Chinua Achebe hit the nail on the head in his small,
but very profound book, The Trouble with
Nigeria.
Should one place the blame
on the long years of military rule?
DAVID-WEST: To say that 
the failure of leadership
should be blamed on the military is just a safe, convenient excuse, as it is to blame all our problems on colonial
rule. When the Nigeria-Commonwealth association invited me for a lecture, I had my title: “Fighting with the Past.”
We are always fighting with the past instead of correcting the present – “Oh, we are like this, because Britain subdued us for so long; we
are like this, because they gave a greater majority to the North. We are like this because the military ruled us
for so long…. It’s all vacuous nonsense!
We are enabling failure by our constant reliance on an alibi. The British
came here with their own programme; they didn’t come here as a humanitarian body. They were very honest. Even in
1914 when Lord Lugard amalgamated
North and South, he was honest about his intentions. He used the word “amalgamation,” and for those who studied
elementary chemistry, there is a difference between “amalgam” and “compound.” Britain never colonized Nigeria in order to create a compound
of a nation. It amalgamated the various ethnic groups for its own interest.
Now, the British handed over to Nigerians on October 1st, 1960. This is April 17, 2005, and we are still
complaining about and blaming colonial rule; we are obviously
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not serious, then! It is precisely the same thing with blaming the military…no military government has come to
power without Nigerians hailing it as “the new Messiah!” So one begins to ask – at what point did the messiah become
the villain? We are not serious, not serious at all!!! And then we have this nonsensical mentality that the best military government is worse than the
worst civilian regime. That’s stupid! Nigeria’s problem is to be blamed on Nigerians and begins with leadership; sadly, we have had only two
examples of non-leadership crisis.
One was during Murtala Muhammed’s
administration; his style was unique. And whether one likes it or not, Buhari’s administration; Muhammadu
Buhari’s regime was only the
second example of a successful leadership. I believe that if Murtala had lived longer, however, history would have judged him differently. Fortunately, he died very
early. He came at a time when Nigeria needed discipline. And he provided it. I served under Buhari and Idiagbon,
and Murtala Mohammed, too as
Commissioner of Education in Rivers State
from 1975 to 1979. I worked with Buhari,
and I can stick out my neck anytime to say that there is no leader present in Nigeria that is like Buhari, like General Muhammadu Buhari; none. Obasanjo
is a very poor, poor, distant…I can’t even call him second. Why am I saying this? Buhari gave leadership by example, not sermons. He gave discipline,
and possessed personal discipline. Without personal discipline you can’t get anywhere.
Prof, you served Buhari and later, Babangida. Buhari was accused of civil rights abuses by Babangida who appears to be planning a come back after Obasanjo…
DAVID-WEST: (cuts in) If God loves Nigeria… Alright, I’ll come to the topic of Babangida. I shall compare Buhari,
Babangida, and Obasanjo without any apologies. When Buhari came into power, I believe that it
a time of triumph for Nigeria. Buhari is
as straight as a needle. He brought corporate, societal discipline through War Against Indiscipline (WAI), and such a good thing will always survive -- like cork in water; it can never sink. Now, something
as simple, but necessary and projecting orderliness as queuing in lines has been established in Nigeria. To me, that’s a great credit
to that regime! As ministers under Buhari,
the greatest amount of money we could spend without giving account was N200, a month. Anything more than that,
you had to give account. Finally, Buhari
increased it to N250. I remember we clapped and thanked him in the Executive Council meeting. When Buhari moved into Dodan Barracks, he never changed the furniture or the curtains.
When I asked him why, he said: “Look, they are usable. Why spend money unnecessarily?”
Others would have awarded contracts. As Minister for Petroleum, I had
very good relationship with him. I had a hotline with him. One day I went to visit him, and he asked me what I
would like to drink. I told him I wanted Fanta. He called his steward and said: “Please bring Fanta for the Professor.” The steward left, and for good five, ten minutes, he didn’t come back. Finally,
he came back, shaking, and said: “Commander-in-Chief, there is no Fanta.” So Buhari
laughed and said: “Professor, there is no Fanta in Dodan Barracks,
so let’s go on with our interview.” (Pauses) Listen to this: there was no Fanta in the fridge, not in the entire Dodan Barracks!
If you send Buhari a memo, within a few hours you’ll get a reply. Throughout that particular regime, General Idiagbon, without fail, to the country and
the world on national television: “This is the amount we made, and this is what we are spending.” Transparency
and accountability… I went to work seven days a week because my leader would be there. He would always telephone
me. On Saturday and Sunday, I staggered my staff. If that regime had remained in power; if Babangida had not overthrown it for selfish, personal reasons,
we would not be in the mess we’re in now. As for Babangida - he was about to be retired -- let him deny it! We were touring in Jos. Buhari said: “Those who don’t like our discipline should please
leave the Army. I have two alternatives: either I am killed or I go back to my village as a farmer.” Buhari, as Head of State, not as a megalomaniac
President, made profound statements. The very first bold statement he made was: “This generation, and indeed, future generations of Nigerians have no other country other than Nigeria. We must stay here and salvage it together. ”
Few Nigerian leaders have made statements that have been immortalised,
like Lincoln and Kennedy. And most of these statements are impromptu. Buhari talked of a fifth columnist and now, I can make the connection. How did the British know that Umaru Dikko was in the cage? If British Intelligence knew ab initio, Dikko would
not be caught at Statton Airport; the whole affair would have been frustrated from the beginning. Somebody in Nigeria leaked it to them to embarrass
the government. I do not support Dikko
being caged, but I am showing you the dynamics of the system…
Would you then say Buhari played into the hands of Babangida?
DAVID-WEST: Babangida had
no programme. I worked with him. He is a public relations man. He is glib. He has the gift of the gab. I don’t
think he is very intelligent. The economy was looking up during Buhari’s time. We were down, and everything was done to bring us down. There was the rumour that they would
overthrow Buhari within three
months. When we cut our oil price, we shook the world. They wanted to price us out of the market. For the first
time, a despatch rider had to take me to Dodan Barracks. Buhari
was once Oil Minister, so he knew the intrigues. I told the Commander-in-Chief: “We have three moves. First, don’t
move. Second, shave off exactly the same price as the competitors. Third, shock the world!” He laughed and said:
“Shock the world to show them we can survive; shave off two dollars!”
We shaved off double the amount that the rest did, and consequently,
they panicked. Britain never expected this nor Norway. Those people who wanted to bring us down never expected this. Buhari, I can walk through fire for him. That’s leadership. Sheikh
Yamani had to fly in here to
Lagos. We had
to meet later in a secret place on the outskirts of Geneva --the world press was focusing so much on me. I had to change cars three times for camouflage.
Then we sat down to negotiate whether Nigeria would get in line. I said we would not do so. I asked the British Oil Minister: “Mr Walker is it
true the Americans gave you two billion dollars or one billion dollars to undercut us?” He laughed it off with
an: “I hope it is true….” But I noted that he never said an outright, “No.”
From what you are saying,
you and Buhari stood up to the most powerful nations in the world.
What then explains the cult of mediocrity in Nigerian leadership?
DAVID-WEST: The cult of mediocrity and corruption came with Babangida. Babangida
claims credit for what he didn’t do. In the history of OPEC it has never happened that one country was singled
out and given an increase of a quota of 150,000 barrels a day. When we accomplished this in 1984, Zik sent me a letter, and that letter is
more important than anything: “From an old-timer, one of your greatest admirers, Zik.” Beautiful handwriting… “You are easily one of the most
efficient ministers produced by our country Nigeria. Zik.”
So to round up on Buhari -- had every one of our major projects become tied to oil barrels, Nigeria would not have had any problems.
We would have been able to make the IMF
irrelevant… and I can tell you that we were in the process of doing so. We had already received N2 billion through
what I called our “repayment strategy.” London Financial Times of May 1984
said it was an extraordinary strategy. If Babangida had not overthrown Buhari, Nigeria should have seen the light. I told OPEC that counter trade was a programme for survival. Saudi Arabia traded with billions of
dollars worth of crude oil not in their quota; they started before us. We had all everything, numerous resources,
yet our industries were closing down. We had no spare parts industry; there was no money, and the plan of certain
nations was to overthrow us. But we shocked the world with good leadership and good programme.
Now take the issue of oil bunkering. When the Buhari government came to power, on record there were 18 registered
bunkerers. Many people misunderstand
bunkering to mean oil-lifting. Bunkering is like going to fill your car at the petrol station. We had over one
thousand illegal bunkerers.
Buhari, Idiagbon, and little Tam David-West; we fought these illegal
operators to a standstill and dismantled them. Today, however, almost everybody in government is a bunkerer. There was a law created by Buhari in 1984: anybody found bunkering
would face capital punishment. I had over 20 letters from Amnesty International to please ask the Head of State
to reverse the law. But I replied: Oil is the jugular of the Nigerian economy. I don’t like blood. Those who want
to destroy Nigeria by destroying its life source oil, have no right to live. The law is still there, but bunkering
has become an everyday practice by those in government.
So everything changed
once Buhari was overthrown?
DAVID-WEST: Yes. Babangida
had no programme. Admittedly, he is a good PR man, and this has cost the nation dearly, because of his self interests.
One of the reasons he gave for overthrowing Buhari was that Buhari
was applying 40% of our revenue to the servicing of debts. Babangida complained that this amount was too much. But the first budget Babangida was to broadcast to the world was the same amount --
40%. The brilliant Navy man from Lagos in council observed this, as I similarly noted it. He looked at me and smiled then mentioned it
to Babangida who said: “What
page is it? Take 10% off.” Yes, is that a leader? Buhari inherited what Buhari
had set in motion. When Buhari
was forcibly removed, we had some money in an Austrian Escrow Account through counter trade between the Austrian
company Voest-Alpin and Nigeria. When I, Tam David-West, went
to inquire about the money, I discovered that the money was used up, and I reported this to Babangida and Abacha. (Pause) “Today, I don’t know where that money is. Babangida is a man suffused with personal ambition, a terrible megalomaniac. They call him Maradona…Babangida is not a Maradona.
Babangida is the most predictable
man I have ever worked with. All modalities broke down during his time. Let me give you an example. To buy Nigeria’s oil, you must own a company
of at least 20 staff members, and a turnover of at least $100 million. You must have a refinery or a long-term
contract with a refinery established not less than ten years. Babangida broke all these rules. Nigeria’s crude oil was sold and bought like palm oil or groundnut oil in supermarkets.
This dovetails into the
issue of corruption that Obasanjo is fighting today…
DAVID-WEST: He is not serious. Obasanjo cannot fight corruption. Babangida institutionalised corruption. (Points at a picture.) That’s me in the picture, in Black Maria for wristwatch
and coffee. (Laughs.) Corruption became a state policy during Babangida’s time, and Shehu
Musa said it very well: “In
Nigeria it is not that officials are corrupt, but that corruption is official.” (Laughs.)
Babangida bastardised all the
rules. He has not been able to account for $12.5 billion of Gulf War oil windfall unearthed by one of the greatest
economists, my friend, Professor Pius Okigbo. May his soul rest in peace... I was in Dodan Barracks when the report was submitted -- over 100 copies. Later Obasanjo said they were lost. All of them lost!!! Obasanjo cannot do anything, because Babangida financed his election. General
T.Y. Danjuma was the one who said he would play Andrew (go on exile)
if Obasanjo was not elected.
Danjuma bailed out, saying:
“I cannot work with you. The government is run by a clique, like a cult.” No, Obasanjo cannot fight corruption. You don’t fight corruption
with theatrics, histrionics. You don’t fight corruption selectively. It is cosmetic.
How is it cosmetic?
DAVID-WEST: I’ll explain why. The late Chief Sunday Afolabi was an accounts officer
in this university (University of Ibadan). He later became Deputy Governor to the late Chief Bola Ige in the old Oyo State.
Great political heavyweight… He disagreed with Bola Ige and joined the NPN.
Great Awoist… Obasanjo was not popular here among Yoruba
people. Afolabi made it possible
for him to be taken seriously. Now, if Afolabi was not so highly admired, no Head of State gives the position of Minister of Internal Affairs
to an outsider… Obasanjo gave
it to him. Buddy-buddy,
chummy-chummy… Then when Obasanjo appointed Bola Ige
into his cabinet, talkative Tam David-West, I said: it is like putting cat and mouse in the same basket. Obasanjo knew that there was no love lost
between Ige and Afolabi. Now Afolabi is paraded as a thief, via the ID Card Scam. When did
he become a thief? Did he, all of a sudden, become a thief? Who appointed him to his post?
Another example that exposed Obasanjo was that he orchestrated the disgrace he meted out to Afolabi to take place at the time the Commonwealth Heads of State were gathered in the country. I’m not
condoning corruption, but razzmatazz diverts attention from one as a serious person fighting corruption. It is
the same thing with Balogun
(Inspector-General of Police). It’s a great indictment on Obasanjo. Machiavelli says you judge a prince by the type of people he appoints as ministers. . Birds of
the same feather go together. You appointed Tafa Balogun, Inspector-General
of Police; you gave him double promotion, and in October 2004 you gave him a CFR, the third highest national honour… He rigged the elections
for all of them. Rivers
State population
is 3.1 million in 1991 census, but Obasanjo and Odili had
over two million votes; that is to say that 2/3rd
of Rivers State is adult. Demographic heresy!!! When
did Obasanjo find out that
Balogun had become a thief?
It’s an indictment on his personal judgemental competence.
Let’s talk of transparency,
because it appears to boil down to that. How transparent is the incumbent regime?
DAVID-WEST: There is no transparency; it’s opaque. Obasanjo’s regime is not transparent. How can it be transparent?
But the Minister of Finance
is publishing monthly allocations to states and local governments…
DAVID-WEST: That doesn’t impress me. For banks to get fresh mint from the Central Bank, they have to pay…to
bribe. I have evidence from two banks. Central Bank is also dripping in corruption. There is no transparency. I
was indicted in the case -- the Federal Republic of Nigeria Vs Tam David-West -- on charges that I signed off $57
million to an American company in New Jersey; a company I had no interests in whatsoever… and I was jailed. So
issues such as this impact me, perhaps, more than it does other Nigerians. I have been jailed for life, and then
the Judge admitted he was wrong. The only thing that was held against me in terms of corruption was the charge
that I drank tea and accepted a wristwatch, which was not true. But for that, I was sentenced to life, which was
later reduced to 20 years.
If Obasanjo wants to fight corruption, let him begin with himself. Buhari was detained for 40 months by Babangida. It was so sadistic. Buhari’s mother died when he was in detention, and Babangida never let him see his mother. Buhari told Babangida:
“You have kept me here for 40 months; I challenge you tell the world what my corruption is.” He equally told Obasanjo to tell the world of his corruption
in PTF. If Buhari was corrupt as the head of PTF, Obasanjo would not have waited to knock him off from the election. In Obasanjo’s case -- the only way I can respect any President is
for him to declare his assets in public.
I just read that the tax
returns of American President George W. Bush were made public. Presidential spokesman Fani-Kayode says Obasanjo makes N30 million a month out of Otta Farm; however, he did not mention whether tax had been
paid on it…
DAVID-WEST: The Bible said: Hosea,
sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Obasanjo should, as a farmer, know that where a farm makes N30 million a month, one can sow the wind and
reap the whirlwind. (Laughs.) Fani-Kayode
has no antecedent of democracy; we all know what his father did. If he tells us that Obasanjo’s farm makes N30 million monthly, he should also tell
us how much tax he pays. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Let Obasanjo publish the certified tax he has paid the state; from Otta Farm alone, N30 million profit is multiplied by 12. I call such wealth photophobic wealth. Photophobic, because such wealth is
afraid of light. Fani-Kayode tends to open his mouth to defend
the indefensible as when he tackled that great man Col. Abubakar Umar. The question
that should be asked of him is this: out of the N30 million profit made by the president, how much of it is taxed or declared as assets? We desperately need transparency
on transactions of this nature…
The
Nigerian Tribune published that in Aso Rock, N14 million in pound sterling, deutsche marks and dollars were found in Obasanjo’s daughter’s room. The stewards working there were arrested and locked up. Their family raised hell
and The Nigerian Tribune got the story. There was a protest that it was not true, so the Tribune published the name of the girl - the daughter. And
what about Obasanjo’s cousin
-- the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence -- Makanjuola and his N450 million scandal? He received a mere slap on the wrist; just a pat on the shoulder
and told to go.
Compare that with the Prof Osuji 55 million naira matter. I do not condone the man’s behaviour; but he had intended that N55 million
for the purpose of making more money for the operation of his ministry. He was not taking the money home to Abia or Anambra State; he was simply a victim of the system. He didn’t learn how to be corrupt at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. They
taught him how to be corrupt in Abuja. Everyone knows that in Abuja, the taking and receiving of bribes is the norm. So why does Obasanjo have to make such a drama out of it? Balogun took billions of Naira while Fabian Osuji was paraded and disgraced for only N55 million.
If you want to fight corruption there must be transparency, there must
be equity, there must be justice. And the light turns on you first. He who is going for equity must have clean
hands. Neither of these people have clean hands; perhaps, only Ribadu of EFCC, because
somebody charging with such force like he is cannot have a skeleton in his box. But this same system charged Deputy
Senate President Mantu and
others, and allowed the Senate to clear him; that is, the man becomes the judge in his own case? Why could he not
be charged to court as in the case of Osuji and the others? There should not be selective justice. What we are witnessing is the establishment
of personalised law…and what I refer to as personalised laws are laws directed or targeted at a particular person.
It is plain injustice.
Well, I do not expect much from a government that is personalised in
any case. Obasanjo behaves
like Louis XIV: “I am the state.” I have a letter here from Obasanjo, signed by him (shows
me a handwritten letter to him from Obasanjo). I had personal respect for him in the past, but I can no longer work for him. I cannot work for
someone in a situation that is fraudulent. Why? First, he said Abiola was not the messiah. But it appears that he is glamorising himself as the messiah, which he is
not. Secondly, he has been around for 20 years. Tam David-West as a Nigerian refuses to accept that for 20 years
Nigeria has been held at a standstill. What is being implied is that for 20 years after Obasanjo left the seat of power, Nigeria has been unable to produce
anyone other than Obasanjo,
himself. That is laughable. Nigeria, my country, is not as decadent as that. I refuse to accept it. All we have is personalised leadership.
I am even ashamed that these people are not themselves, ashamed of themselves. Everybody knows that the lastg election was rigged. Former US President Jimmy Carter came in 1999,
and left without congratulating Obasanjo
up until today. George Bush has not congratulated him, and this, to the extent that when Bush was to be inaugurated,
Obasanjo was not even invited
as the Chairman of the African Union.
According to Fani-Kayode, Obasanjo was
invited, but chose not to go.
DAVID-WEST: If Bush had invited Obasanjo, he would have raced to attend his inauguration. Bush did not invite him.
Can you comment on corruption
and retention or otherwise of the immunity clause in the Constitution?
DAVID-WEST:
I do not support the retention of an immunity clause for a governor or the president. An immunity clause should
be removed completely. I mean, why should we address the governor as your Excellency and his wife as her Excellency;
does the Constitution recognize graduated citizenship? So there is no reason whether you are select or an elect;
if the first citizen and first lady are in power to steal from the nation, why should there be an immunity clause
for such corrupt individuals? And all this razzmatazz about anti-corruption; if the people I mentioned are the
only ones in government that are corrupt then we have a government of angels. I have said it before that public
servants should declare their assets in public, and there should be a clause stating that assets not declared either
deliberately or in error shall be forfeited to the state for ever.
What role does ethnicity
play in the crisis in the country?
DAVID-WEST: Ethnicity was originally 
the magic wand. Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani. Of course no one talks about the
Ijaw…as if the group does not
exist. The Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba say they are pushed to the wall. But the Ijaws have constantly and always been at the wall. You don’t have to push us. (Laughs) I go back to the First Republic. Ethnicity played a major role then. At that time, could we have escaped it? If one wants to be
intellectually honest, odious and reprehensible as it was, one had little choice in galvanising the people. But
the tribal drum has been beaten for far too long. As much as we needed the tribal drum to galvanise, to mobilise
the people, we should have known where to stop; sentiments such as “the North for the North” expressed by Sardauna, for instance…Nkrumah actually
galvanised Ghana in the same manner.
Was it not Zik who gave a lecture: “Tribalism as a Pragmatic Instrument for National Unity?” That was a fantastic
lecture. And a great man... These divisions and diversities …is it not said that “though tribe and tongue may differ,
in brotherhood we stand”? Then we said: “Remove it [the emphasis on tribe or ethnicity] as if when they are removed
the problem has been cured.” Nonsense.
Or the amusing case of Nigeria Airways changing its elephant logo and never taking off again! We are always too
superficial and superstitious. Ethnicity, for this generation of Nigerians no longer works, because people have
woken up to realise that touting the ethnic group card cannot and will not get anybody far. One might be an ethnic
hero, but never a national hero. So whoever wants to come to national prominence should be playing down the issue
of ethnicity.
The Nigerian civil war, to me, was a blessing in disguise. It was traumatic,
because we lost a lot, but Nigeria woke up to a certain
knowledge. That Biafra was defeated,
to me, is a non-issue. Arthur Nwankwo
said in his book, Nigeria: the Challenge
of Biafra: “Until the contradictions that made Biafra possible are taken care of, Nigeria has anything but a rosy future.” Why can’t we sit down and see the lessons of Biafra? Nobody really wants Nigeria to disintegrate, but on what
grounds are we going to stay together? It cannot be Nigeria, good or bad. We must talk. We argue that Britain created the situation we are in; but how long are we going to complain, instead of sitting down
to examine the reality of our association? Why are we not asking the basic, significant question -- how are we
going to keep the country together?
But the Nigeria-Biafra
War still rankles, at the highest levels in Nigeria…
DAVID-WEST: Civil war, reconstruction, reconciliation etc. Are we reconciled? Have we been reconstructed? When
I hear a great man like Justice Oputa
-- my principal, one of the greatest -- say that the Igbo are still marginalised, that people are still behaving
as if the Civil War is still being fought…it is true. I am not supporting a Biafra come back; however, Nigerians
have failed to sit down with honesty, sincerity and seriousness to examine what made Biafra possible; what made
it collapse in the first place…
What workable system do
you recommend for Nigeria in order to move forward?
DAVID-WEST: Let me say the unsayable.
I advocate a confederation. I stick out my neck to say this. I have written about it; a confederation. Detractors
of the system might complain that this is akin to The Satanic Verses. That is their business. Are we not sorry
for ourselves that after so many years we are still discussing the possibility of going back to the parliamentary
instead of the presidential system? I was a member of the 49 member panel that drafted the 1979 Constitution. When
we opted for the presidential system, it was not because the United
States had any influence in the choice. We opted for
the presidential system, because Nigerians desired it. The majority of memos sent by the public recommended it;
the preponderant majority of Nigerians wanted the presidential system. Murtala Muhammed in
his inaugural address to the CDC (Constitution Drafting Committee) gave us a carte blanche: from a non-party to
multi-party system.
Nigeria is not serious. Sadly, we are neither sincere nor disciplined in this country. If the Nigerian
system is failing it is not because it inherently is a failure, but that Nigerians themselves are enabling failure.
How can democracy or federalism succeed without discipline? Federal character…how is that implemented? After putting
everything into due consideration, as General Gowon said in his first broadcast: “there is no basis for unity, but for a confederation.” And we were
there before. When in the First Republic,
agriculture was a major success – the cocoa, pal moil and groundnut industries were booming; there was clear revenue
allocation, derivation and distribution for everybody. But then, the oil boom occurred, and my Papa, Chief Awolowo became deputy to Gowon as Commissioner for Finance. The man who earlier said that
Nigeria is “a geographical expression” was now serving in a regime that advocated keeping Nigeria one as a task that must be
done. This was an outright contradiction in terms (laughs).
Awolowo was forced
to rethink his philosophy, and finally changed from derivation to a Federation Account. That’s why we are suffering.
So, to go back to your
recommendation of a confederation, sir…
DAVID-WEST: Why do I say we should adopt a confederation? In a true federation, the centre cannot be so powerful
as to dictate to the federating units. What we have is not a federation. It is a monocracy, wearing the veneer
of federalism. When Obasanjo
can, like a schoolmaster, ask a state governor to do
this or I’ll deal with you, to the extent of even sending soldiers to a
party chairman to force him to resign, then it’s time to rethink our sad situation. Since we are unable to practice
true federalism, we must then go confederate.
But if we have a sincere
leader who applies the federal constitution, won’t you accept that?
DAVID-WEST: Indeed, I shall have no problem, whatsoever, with this. If we have a sincere leader, the structure
will come together. A statesman thinks of the future while a politician thinks of the present. Most of our leaders
only think of the present. Nigeria has no future with them, and to avoid further disintegration, the only recourse is in forming a
confederation.
Should the confederation
you refer to be based on ethnic groups or the existing states or the former regions or the six geo-political zones?
DAVID-WEST: Without a doubt, ethnic nations.
Religious conflicts continue
to dog the nation. There is the issue of Sharia, and the recent call to Jihad by the Muslim North…
DAVID-WEST: Nigeria is a very interesting phenomenon. Nigeria is like a one-act play, like a broken disc permanently stuck in a groove. Detractors often claimed
that my leader, Buhari, is
fundamentalist. We’re talking of religious conflicts? Obasanjo has much to do in fuelling this. He has fuelled the situation inadvertently or by act of omission
or commission, or by too much political calculation. Since Independence, how many Muslim Heads of State have we had? Balewa.
Murtala. Shagari. Buhari… None of them made Nigeria an Islamic state. All the Muslim leaders realised that it’s a no-go area…
But Babangida dragged the country into the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) in 1986…