A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Francis Fadahunsi is a frank man any day, speaking his mind on broad spectrum of issues.
In an exclusive interview with DAILY POST,’s Timothy-Enietan Matthews, the retired Assistant Comptroller General of Customs bore his mind on the 2015 general elections, the perceived worsening condition of Osun State workers, snail speed of the Buhari presidency, National Assembly leadership and other sundry issues.
Excerpts:
How will you appraise the 2015 general elections?
The last general elections were generally peaceful, particularly the presidential and the National Assembly elections but unfortunately, we did not have upto 60% turnout of voters. It was a grave mistake on the part of the then government to have allowed the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Atahiru Jega, to use card readers for major elections for the first time.
We were shouting in the South West that he should use the House of Assembly as a test run and not the presidential election. It was also a consensus in the South that card readers will not work in the North because of the attempt to short-change the Southern part of the country generally because of the level of illiteracy and the war in the North East.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan did not agree with us until he was held for hours trying to get accredited with the card reader. For him to now tell the whole world that card readers should be discarded and incident forms should be used, the election was almost gone. So we had low electoral turnout in the South while in the North, you had all sorts of human beings, including the underage voting.
People like us, who have traveled all over the country, knew it was time up for him. The election went as planned and it ended well.
Are you saying the election was manipulated?
Yes! It was manipulated to favour a particular group.
But why was it that the government that was in power could not do anything about it?
I was once with the former President and his wife and I once told him that with the way he was using presidential power, he will be the first President to be disgraced out of power if he did not manage it well and after that, he will go to prison. He is the first President I have seen that not negotiate his political exit. He did not put conditionalities at all and he did not negotiate his political exit. A northerner or anybody else would have done that. He has also forgotten that the people taking over from him are much more politically inclined.
Well, he has gone and prediction number one has come to pass and the second prediction is coming. You can see all manner of allegations of corruption flying around. Billions of dollars are alleged to have been stolen and President Muhammadu Buhari may just close his eyes and move against him. We all know he has disgust for corruption.
Agreed that he has disgust for corruption but what about the people that Nigerians say they don’t trust that are around him?
Well, when you talk about revolution, it can come in any form. Revolutionary leadership can be thrown by all kinds of human beings. The important thing is that the person who was assisted by the same system people are complaining about is still the same person; it is still the same Buhari.
You can see that things are already happening in the polity with the way the Jagabans of this world were waved aside and Saraki came up. Before they knew what was happening and rush to the National Assembly, the election was already over. Even though they are powerful, they are not as powerful as God.
Are you saying the emergence of Saraki and Dogara is good for the country?
Better! It is better because there is no single human being that will control the Senate and the House of Representatives against the executive. Tinubu nominated Lawan and Gbajabiamila and if he happens to have a problem with Buhari, he can just call on them to remove him but God said no.
There are people who say what happened in the National Assembly is wrong because Asiwaju Bola Tinubu played a major role in installing the present government…
He played a major role? Does he think the Federal Government is Lagos State Government or Ogun and the rest of the South West? This is no regional government where his money plays enormous role, where people worship money. Where we have lost our integrity as Yoruba race, where we play into the hands of political money bags.
The truth now is that with the power back in the North, except the North, with their assumed political majority willingly return power back to the South, it will never return. Chief Obafemi Awolowo tried it instead of limiting himself to the region and maintains political leadership, he died frustrated. Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe also went the same way. The same thing happened to MKO Abiola. Only former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan succeeded with the backing of the North.
You contested in the last general election to represent Osun East at the Senate but lost; what happened?
There is little I can say about that election at the moment because we are at the tribunal. I do not want to jeopardise the case or be seen to be in contempt of the court but every sane person in Osun East knows what transpired. There was nothing on ground for the APC in the senatorial election but because the governor had decided on what to do with INEC, we got what we got. But the truth is that the repercussion is there for the people to see. We have left everything to God and it is also in the court of the people. We are waiting for the judgment of the tribunal and we know justice will prevail.
Osun State workers have not received salaries for six months and you are one of the people that have donated food stuff to them; what is the motivation?
Number one, I am from Osun, a political leader in my own right and I am okay with what I have.
When we were telling Osun people to be careful with the government in the state, they thought we were blackmailing. I was singled out by the governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and his group, blackmailing and abusing me for more than five hours. He called me several names; I have the video clips. He said I am not grounded Today we can all see what is happening.
Osun is a poor state no doubt, but a reasonable government would have taken advantage of the agrarian nature of the people and invest heavily in agriculture to promote prosperity and enhance its income. By now, Osun would have been one of the richest in the country. But because they met money, they thought it will keep flowing. Osun is today having problems because of misplaced priority and corruption. Things are so terrible that he said they are beyond him.
Now, if a governor can come out to say the problem of the state is beyond him, and people asking him to resign; what do you think is the right thing for him to do?
I will not say he should resign because he said things are beyond him but I will rather appeal to the Federal government to give the states a general amnesty, even if it means giving them extra money. If things are left the way they are, you can only imagine what will happen to the poor workers in the states. But then President Buhari must ask them what they did with the money they have been receiving.
Even if you say Aregbesola should resign today, the damage has already been done. Let him stay there and carry his cross. Election is coming, if the people of Osun are all blind, let them vote for his party again.
When the governor took over, he met a monthly overhead cost of N1.8 billion and about 5000 people left the workforce either voluntarily or through sack. He has not employed more than 300 people since he took over, yet his monthly overhead cost has shot to over N4 billion monthly. Is that not administrative and establishment fraud. The overhead should have gone down and not going up.
Senator Omisore recently said the state government is owing about N480 billion but the governor denied that; if the state is actually owing that much, how do you think it can survive?
The truth is that I see the state looking inwards. They have started labelling houses, including those that wind blew their roofs, for the purpose of generating revenue. The question is, will they pay? For me, the only way out of this will be for the federal government to bail them out.
President Buhari was sworn in almost a month ago but up till now, he has not made any major appointment; what do you think is happening?
I want Nigerians to know that President Buhari is not the same agile man they used to know; he is a 72 year old man. He is president today by the grace of God and it is also only God that will allow his health to sustain him to carry the problems of the entire nation. I would have wished he got this opportunity immediately he showed interest in 2003. But for now, we have to beg God to give him wisdom with the type of people surrounding him and with the type of society he is governing.
It is generally accepted that Buhari hates corruption, which is a major problem in our society. If Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. Corruption is a creation of human beings and they are still living with it. How do you kill it? You have to kill human beings! Democracy does not allow us to kill human beings, so you have to take it easy and reduce corruption.
It is advisable for him to take things easy before making sensitive appointments. Who is he going to appoint that has not being tarnished and tainted by corruption? Who will he appoint now that Nigerians will not say look at this person? Who do you want him to appoint as Chief of Staff? Is it Ameachi or Fashola? Who will he appoint as NSA? Is it Danbazzua that is running after him everywhere? But he has to put somebody.
What is your message to the suffering Osun workers?
Well, Osun people should continue to pray that God will forgive the government in the state for misplacing their priority and for fake Lagos life. Aregbesola is from Lagos, he grew up in Lagos. If he had been baptized with the poverty waters of Osun, he would have known the pains of the people before taking any decision. A good manager will first take care of the wages of workers so that their sweat will not dry off. Their sweats are dried and they are dying. They should pray for God to forgive him.
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