Dr Dejo Raimi, a former Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), speaks with Assistant Editor, Dapo Falade, on issues bothering on the fate of the Yoruba nation in the polity, among others. Excerpts:AT the advent of the current democratic dispensation, Yoruba occupied a very important position in the polity. Can you say the same of the race now' Well, we occupied a place befitting our intellectual contribution to the project, Nigeria; place befitting our number; a place befitting our development. But also at that time, we did not understand the politics of federalism which is wrongly being played in Nigeria. For anybody who is a student of politics, he or she will agree with me that what we are having in this country today is not true federalism unlike what we had then. All the money is now concentrated right in the centre; gone are the days when you will vote for your zone to be excluded from the federal might. The federal resources belong to all of us; therefore, if in your own zone, you vote yourself into opposition as Chief Obafemi Awolowo did in those days, then there is a problem. During his (Awolowo) period, we were practising true federalism and every state (region then) could go on developing at its own rate, in accordance with the resources available to it. Things were okay then. But now, for you to go the opposite direction while the majority is going the direction of the power at the centre, that is the Presidency, then you are doomed. But we have the Federal Character principle entrenched in the constitution to ensure equitable distribution of resources among all the zones and among the people... It is true, we have the Federal Character provision, but the constitution didn't spell it out. We have to thank former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme who, in the days of the late General Sanni Abacha's constitutional conference, brought in the issue of zoning. Go and read the constitution; there is nothing like zoning written there. It was Ekwueme that brought it in for ease of distribution. But it has now taken the centre stage and it's now a culture. In as much as I agree with the people who said we are been marginalised, I will say that it wasn't intentional, but if not corrected on time, latest by the end of the year, Yorubas will come out with something that will shake the foundation of this country.The South-South was given the President; North-West was given the number two position, the Vice-President, the North-Central was given the Senate President; South-West was given number four, (speakership in the spirit of zoning); the South-East was given the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), while the North-East was given the national chairmanship position of the Peoples democratic Party (PDP). But for reasons best known to Honourable Aminu Tambuwal (and which some of us know), he decided to go against the PDP zoning principle and install himself as the Speaker of the House of Representatives He spent a lot of money to fight Honourable Mulikat Akande-Adeola.But we also went into that contest with a divided house. Why' We, in the PDP in the South-West went to Abeokuta, where some important people, including myself, former Governor Adebayo Alao-akala of Oyo State sat down with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and presented Honourable Muraina Ajibola from Ibarapa as our candidate for the speakership position. You can confirm this from Obasanjo, he's still alive. Only God knows how Mulikat suddenly emerged. To make matter worse, the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan, was said to have imposed Mulikat. I am sure that if Yorubas understand the culture of an average Hausa man, you will realise that their religion and culture would never allow a woman to rule over them. If it had been Muraina, on whom we all agreed, it would have been a different. For the northerners, the place for a woman according to their culture is in the house; that is why you have the women in purdah, covering all part of the body because you are not suppose to see them.Tambuwal had to spend money to run away from prosecution because he was an insider; a deputy in former Speaker Dimeji Bankole's inner caucus. Bankole was under fire and they were with him and his (Tambuwal) own name was already mentioned with the EFCC; he had to find a way out. So, he spent a lot of money to contest for that position so as to avoid the prosecution from the EFCC.So the number four position has now gone to the North-West (where Tambuwal comes from), along with the number two position. The South-South have the number one position; North-Central has number three; South-East has number five position and the PDP chairmanship position has been reserved for the North-East, while the South-West has nothing. Oro yi o ni le wo; ki olowo le gelete, ki iwofa le gelete (literally meaning it will be war for the owner and the servant to fight over same position). Something has to be done before the end of this year; otherwise, I am telling Nigeria that in the South-West, a Yoruba man will come out to contest for the Presidency in 2015. My advice to my friends in the North is that they should quickly relinquish this position (speakership of the House) and give it to the zone where it belongs if they are interested in power going to that zone in 2015. We won't wait further beyond the end of this year. Why is it that the Yorubas are now missing in virtually all important positions in the polity' The Yorubas are not found wanting; they are capable but are not put there. The Yorubas are not found in any of the top 10 positions in Nigeria. But I am telling you, this marginalisation cannot go beyond the end of this year. The seed of what is happening now in the judiciary was sown as far back as when we attained independence when it was mainly occupied by the Yorubas. It was then that the Hausa started to recruit people of northern extraction into the Ministry of Justice, and they did it to a ridiculous extent that when maturity time came, the most senior judicial officers were northerners because they planned it.Also what they did in the civil service was a deceit. They went to pick somebody to replace the former Head of Service, Professor Oladapo Afolabi. That was a marginal mistake by whosoever that made that decision because I learnt that about 10 people were short-listed out of which there are two or three Yorubas. If they had been politically wise, they should have, at least, included one of them to be the Head of Service so that we will be compensated for this marginalisation. It can't stay like that and I am sure the Presidency is thinking in the same way.Let me tell you, I am in a vantage position to say because, last month, we had a very good audience with Mr President in the villa, that is, the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), led by General Adeyinka Adebayo. Luckily, the president called all Yoruba permanent secretaries and Yoruba ministers to the open meeting where we lodged our complaint and luckily for us, immediately after that, we had a behind-the-door meeting Mr President (myself and General Adebayo) where we discussed a lot of things bothering on national unity because the Yorubas meant well and President Goodluck Jonathan realised that. We discussed the issue of marginalisation, and, of course, we made him to understand that the treatment being meted out to Bankole is unacceptable to us.Do you see the travails of the former Speaker as part of marginalisation process' Of course yes; and it is not the first time we are saying it; this is the second time but we will not take it the third time. I mean a former Inspector General of Police, in the person of Tafa Balogun, was handcuffed and was displayed on the television for the whole world to see. Now, Dimeji Bankole, another Yoruba man and a former Speaker, was rail-loaded to the EFCC. We will not take this anymore and I am sure the Presidency is hearing me. We must cultivate a culture of respecting our past leaders.Even when the leaders go wrong, or are you saying they are above the law' When they go wrong as past leaders, you point it out to them and the Yorubas have ways of pointing it out to them. They are not above the law, but they are being ridiculed; that is the meaning of what they are doing to our leaders. I mean what have they done, that has never been done before' The fact that they ruled you, they demand some degree of respect and even in the law court, they demand respect. Look at Tambuwal now, he has no immunity but they are not touching him because he is the Speaker and that is what made him to go against the zoning principle of our party. Who doesn't know what he is up to' He said that he is apologising to the party. Has anybody given an answer to his apology since then' He should drop what he has taken wrongly; the owners are asking for it. Muraina is waiting by; Mulikat is there.Don't you think that the fact that the PDP lost out in the South-West was an indication that the party is not performing' The PDP performed, but the south-westerners decided to vote for the opposition. Are you telling me that former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala did not perform in Oyo State' He performed; he did roads; there was no armed robbery in his time; there was law and order; he was very good with the cultural and institutional organisation; he repaired Mapo and Atiba Halls; he repaired virtually all the roads. What else do you want' But it is unfortunate that he is from a place where the voting population is about 240,000 as against a place where the voting population is about 1.6million. He even said it that he should not be judged by his place of birth, but the voters didn't see it that way. The PDP remains the issue in Nigeria politics.But don't you see the ACN taking over'No, it can't happen; we are in court and we will see some of these governors removed. It has become clear that Senator Bola Tinubu bribed Justice Ayo Salami of the Court of Appeal and, of course, he was retired because of the whole thing. Some of us have the tape recording of all that went on between them. They believe in buying position; they stole our votes and they took Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, everything from us. Tinubu was throwing about his empty weight and spending the money.Don't you see the man providing some form of leadership for the Yoruba race' Which Yoruba race' What are you saying' Do you want to kill the Yorubas' Do you think Yoruba is Lagos' Where do you want to put people like General Adeyinka Adebayo, who is the Yoruba leader as of today, after the death of Chief Obafemi Awolowo' Tinubu is not part of the equation, unless you want to say that you are looking for the most criminally-minded leaders in Yorubaland. Adeyinka Adebayo is an undisputed Yoruba leader; he was the governor of the defunct Western Region; as a young soldier, it was he who advised Yoruba politicians at that time to pick a leader among themself and they picked Awolowo. The man is alive and you are now saying Tinubu. I pity people who don't know anything. Tinubu went for the inauguration of President Barak Obama in the US but he could not enter Washington; he was detained in New York by security officials and he was not released until the inauguration ended. The story is the same at many international borders.I was reading a story in one of the national newspapers recently and it was written that while he was in office, he failed to declare that he had foreign accounts and that is why he is standing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Please, don't talk about Tinubu as a Yoruba leader; but he can be the leader of the ACN in Lagos. How can you mention Tinubu when we still have Richard Akinjide, Idowu sofolarin, Adeyinka Adebayo, Chief Omigbodun and many others' How can you refer to somebody who doesn't have a certificate as a leader' Where is the credibility of the man and I feel sorry for him. It is against the culture of the Yorubas to insult elderly people. When Mama HID Awolowo gave him some tough words, the repercussion has started on him. How can you go and touch someone like Awolowo in Yoruba land whose performance is there for everybody to see till today' Tinubu went beyond his limit and, of course, our culture doesn't tolerate it. In Yoruba land, epe agba (curse of the elders) is a very serious thing; I will advise him to get some respectable elderly people to go and beg Mama HID Awolowo on his behalf.
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