Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, a former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Vice-Chairman, South-West, was one of the delegates at the South-South/South-West maiden meeting held at the Ikenne home of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, penultimate Saturday. He speaks with Tunde Oyekola on expectations from the forum, warning state governors to be mindful of their utterances in this period of the national history.WHAT is your idea of the South-South/South West Forum and what informs its formation at this point in time'With every sense of history, that there is no better time than now for Nigerians, from our age-long traditional association, to come together and take with both hands our collective destiny as a nation because it is the quality of response that people gives to challenges facing them that will determine their destiny. On the part of all of us from the South-West, we regard this forum as affording us the golden opportunity of building on the tradition of identifying with people of the minority race with a just cause, while refueling the spirit of social justice in which the Yorubas have always stood by the oppressed class and championing their noble cause.Our coming together under this renewed forum is also a reunion of people of common interest that stood together and fought for a just cause. Whether in the First or Second republics, we as Yorubas have always interacted with the people of the South-South and they have no cause to doubt our integrity. This is why they initiated this meeting and, with the striking remark from the leader of the South-South delegates, Chief Edwin Clark, describing it as home-coming and one in which they have come to reciprocate past gestures. It is clear that it is from this settled habit of the past that we can conveniently build for today and tomorrow. At a time like this also, we all believe that it is on this tested and faithful platform that we can forge close relationship and achieve total unity and political unification of the entire country.The forum appears to be a pleasant surprise, especially with the coming together of political actors from the South-West who are considered as belonging to different political divides. What does this portend, in your view'Look at it from this angle, true development is people-centred and at the same time, the true man should not be one whose only exclusive concern is where cheap gain lies, but where duty lies. Such resides in championing the overall interest of the people. In fact what many people see as a sharp political divide is not so at all. There is not one of the functional political classes here on the Yoruba side that has not, at one time or the other, belonged together in one or two political camps, even as political interest demands. This is in line with the common parlance that there is no permanent friend in politics but permanent interest.Now let me stress it here that just as certain good traits worth pursuing are peculiar to people and evidently form the life blood from which some virtues flow and determine their bent, so also it is with us in the South-West as we readily stay to be counted in the common goal of championing certain heroism. As the old Greek culture is known for the legacy called democracy and Americans for their avowed commitment to liberty, the Yorubas, collectively, are known for demonstrating a sense of justice anytime, anyday, regardless of their different camps.For instance, as the Secretary of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and Secretary to the Oyo State Government in the Dr Omololu Olunloyo administration, we believed in one nation with one destiny. When the military wanted to turn all politicians into objects of sterile experiment in their interminable transitions, we saw the need to unite, first in the first truly grass roots platform by General Musa Yar'Adua and later in the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which was a consolidated fulcrum of the Yar'Adua outfit and on which we worked for the emergence of Bashorun MKO Abiola. As one of the conveners of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West, we kept on the struggle to redress the injustice meted on us in the daylight robbery of our June 12 mandate. Hence, I was in the forefront of the group that went to Otta farm to draft Chief Olusegun Obasanjo into the equation by presenting him the ticket of consolation on a platter of gold. Thereafter, when some cabals were bent on using the illness of former President Umar Yar'Adua to rob the then vice-president of his right on flimsy ground, we all came and were counted on the side of truth.This is why, if you make meaning from what the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, had always said, 'Be rigid on matters of goal but flexible on methods', the common goal by Yorubas on social justice as our sense of legacy is non-negotiable, even when we tend to different areas. It is the same cause that has now brought us together in this historic Efunyela Hall where we are serving the cherished memory of Awolowo for what he stood for, even as we are sending a clear moral message to those who profess Awoism and are still yet to be counted to do so now.How do you view the active presence and participation of royal fathers in the deliberation at this maiden meeting'It is affording the forum the opportunity to pursue an understanding and effective royal cohabitation among our powerful traditional rulers in the South-South and the South-West. This would strengthen us to jointly actualise their desire to be given constitutional role towards serving the people better. Since charity begins from home, it is a forum that has the prospect of pursuing legitimately a Yoruba agenda within the constitutional framework of true federalism. Hence, we expect a total assemblage of who-is-who at the forum; this means that past presidents, Heads of State, governors (past and serving) and other key stakeholders currently at the helm of affairs would take part actively in the business of moving Nigeria forward.It would readily be significant as the forum would checkmate anyone with the tendency to ride on Yoruba solidarity now or in the future for the pursuance of individual goals that may be inimical to the political fortune of the Yoruba Nation. As it is expedient at a time like this to provide a cohesive front for rallying strong support for President Goodluck Jonathan, all hands are on deck to do so through this joint forum in which the traditional institution is highly favoured.One of the burning issues discussed at the forum is the unending call for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). What is your take on the issue'A situation where we have elected parliamentarians who are fully representing our collective interest and are not leaving any vacuum in their legislative responsibilities should rather make the call for a sovereign national conference unnecessary. We should rather have what I would call a national convergence wherein we should be discussing common inclination towards building a stronger and virile nation. I think we have come to a stage in our national life when we should be amending our political dictionary to read the act of seeing conference as carrying together rather than as carrying go on individualistic selfish interest. We should also start to assign reasoning faculty to our past experiences and glean from them certain lessons that are capable of moving us forward instead of festering on sentiments.What am I saying' It was Awolowo who often stressed this moral philosophy that 'if you don't trust him, don't engage him, but if you thus engaged him, it is not right to doubt him'. At least, we are all witnesses to the Doctrine of Necessity propounded actively by the National Assembly at a period when the nation stood stagnant for months and was tottering to a great fall but was saved by the acts from our law makers. The matter which many intend to bring up for the conveyance of a sovereign national conference, with ulterior motives that appear to incline towards diversities, is not going to help us and the different catastrophes which nations have experienced from unnatural break-ups should serve as a moral lesson towards appreciating the opportunities that our unity in diversity can offer.But with the ultimatum handed down by the Boko Haram sect that southerners should quit the North, amid the attendant killings in hundreds, what would you make of the predictions by America that Nigeria may split in 2015'Let me borrow some food for thought in what Ambassador (Dr) Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu said last Saturday at the end of our four-hour closed door. She opined that certain dynamics operational in the coming together of the fronts at the forum have worked miracles at the end of the day. Such is the prospect that divinely awaits Nigeria where scientific reasons, proffered by advanced nations point to disintegration, may result into a more united cohesive force. It is one thing for man to propose it is quite another for God to dispose. If we go back to history, there have been occasions when advanced nations gave up on us totally, believing that we have gone beyond the point of being redeemed, but somehow we bounced back.Let me add here that, as an active participant in the politics of South-West in particular, we need to be magnanimous and courageous enough to advise our younger politicians who are now at the helm of affairs as chief executives to be moderate in their utterances, actions and comportment so as not to give the wrong impression that political rascality is part of governance. This is why there is a need to commend President Jonathan for his capacity to absolve all the vituperations heaped upon him in the guise of protest against subsidy removal. It is unbecoming of anybody aspiring to lead the country to cast vicious attack on elders and innocent authority.
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