Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) was at the weekend honoured with a Merit Award by his kinsmen in a socio-cultural organisation known as the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII). The award was in recognition of his contributions to the development of Ibadan ' his home land. In this interview with SOLA ADEYEMO, Akintola on sundry national issues. Excerpts:How do you feel about today's conferment of merit award on you by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII)'Well, I thank God. I give glory to the Almighty God for His mercies on me. Even though I have received many awards across the globe, I think this is the climax because if you are honoured at home, it is the greatest of honours one should be joyful about. In fact, I rejected this opportunity four, three years ago and even last year, but I turned it down because of the political situation then.As you know me, I am a man of principles, and so, I believe there is a level to which a human being should not descend, no matter what. And when I saw some characters that were to be honoured alongside with me, I said I would not take such award. Don't forget I am an Ige boy. Uncle Bola Ige has this philosophy that what you won't eat, don't take it near your nose. It means that there are certain people you just should not associate with. And so I believe I should not just jump at any award. I cannot imagine myself sitting in the midst of some charlattans. So, I politely turned down the awards on the three occasions. It was not out of arrogance but just based on principle. That is why I have come to receive this merit award and I thank God for it.How far have you gone in the struggle for the creation of Ibadan state'If you look at the geographical entity called Nigeria, you will observe that Ibadan province is the only one that remains without being made a state. And if you look at the over 4 million population of Oyo State credited to us by the 2003 election register, which did not even agree with the voters register for this year election, it showed that we have 4.78m people as registered voters in Oyo State. Of this figure, 1.7m is from Ibadan alone. This is more than two, three states put together in this country. It is unfortunate that most of our rulers don't understand the political arithmetic of Nigeria and even the political arithmetic of the area they govern. As of today, Ibadan land controls two of the three senatorial districts of Oyo State. Ibadan land alone controls eight federal constituencies and it has 16 of the 32 state constituencies. So, from all intents and purposes, Ibadan land deserves a state of its own.And talking of viability, when it comes to the creation of Ibadan state, 92% of all the Internally Generated Revenues accruable to Oyo State comes from Ibadan land. From all factors, Ibadan land deserves a state of its own. This is a stuggle we have been on for about ten years and we shall continue to pursue it. I have been involved and I am neck deep involved and by the grace of God, our prayer will be answered one day and we would have Ibadan state.What is your position and comment on the recent removal of the EFCC chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri by President Goodluck Jonathan'Well, first and formost, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the power if he thinks in his wisdom that an occupier of any executive office is due for removal. It is within his purview to so do. Eventhough, Section 10 (2) of the EFCC Act says, 'for certain reasons', one would have thought that a President of Federal Republic of Nigeria would oblige Nigerans the reason why the amiable woman was removed. This is because in her own right, she has tried her best. She has done very much within the limit of her capability and within the limits of resources available to her. This is because when you look at Nigeria as an entity, viz-a-viz issue of fighting corruption, you will realize that we are just not there. We are not ready to fight corruption. It is like we are clapping with one hand. If we have to fight corruption, we need to bring all stakeholders together. And as at today, all those stakeholders are not there. Fighting corruption without bringing in the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Federal Inland Revenue, the Corporate Affairs Commission, is not complete. Those are agencies of government that should form a kind of synergy to be able to fight corruption. I do understand the inner workings of that commission. I do know that the commission was not well funded during her time. The facilities are not there. They do not have enough staff. You can't believe it that EFCC has no presence in Oyo State and also in so many states. And we have 779 local government areas across the country.So, for us to be able to fight corruption, we need the presence of all these agencies and they have to be properly staffed and funded. They need to be given vehicles. The gadgets at just not there. All the instruments they need to work with are just not there. And the government is itself interfering from the top. They cannot deny this.So, with all these, I believe the woman had tried her best within the limit of resources made available to her, and the limit of her capability. You cannot give what you don't have.Do you look forward to having a retired Judge as successor to Mrs Waziri, as it has been advocated by many lawyers'Well, to an extent, but one will be guilty of fallacy of hasty generalization if one says a retired Judge would be the best. But I think for now, if we go by the experience of the ICPC, particularly where Justices Mustapha Akanbi and Emmanuel Ayoola were there as chairmen, the kind of arbitrariness we are seeing with EFCC were not there in ICPC. This idea of arresting people before looking for evidence is not there in ICPC. That is why people are advocating for a retired judge. But for me, I will even prefer a serving Judge, a very young and vibrant Judge, who will be ready to leave his appointed post, but of course where his appointment will be secured.In other words, such a serving Judge would not lose seniority for leaving the Bench for the chair of the EFCC or ICPC.
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