Decrying the present political and economic state of the Nigerian Nation, elder statesman and popular columnist, Chief Tola Adeniyi has given up hopes about any likely sudden turnaround for the country, if revolutionary actions and constitutional amendments are not urgently made.
To the fearless commentator and one-time Chairman/Managing Director, Daily Times of Nigeria, his painful verdict is that “Nigeria has come to the end of the road” because, according to him, “it is appearing as if there is no government at all in the country”.
Chief Adeniyi spoke on Sunday night while featuring as Guest Speaker on the popular monthly interview discourse, Boiling Point Arena, hosted by a media professional and public relations strategist, Dr Ayo Arowojolu.
The current affairs programme was transmitted via Zoom and broadcast live on six radio stations across Lagos, Ogun and Delta States – WASH FM, Sweet FM, Roots FM, Eri-Nbe FM, Women Radio FM and Kruzz FM.
Topic of discourse was: “The Legislature and the Waning Principle of Checks and Balances in Nigeria.” The event was chaired by a frontline traditional ruler, Olówu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Prof Saka Matemilola.
Blaming the military for the foundational error of foisting a system of government which he tagged “Khakistocracy” which is being mistaken as democracy, he said the system being operated currently makes the President an Alpha and Omega running governance as a bunch of incompetent people who are traders and businessmen.
Hear Chief Adeniyi: “We have military dictatorship constitution which made President Bola Tinubu almost as powerful as God. It’s a constitution that allows the head of the Executive Arm to be the most powerful individual on earth. He appoints the Police IG, appoints the Chief of the Army. Appoints the chief of everything. He may even appoint the man who guards your toilet.
“Because he is so powerful, the Legislature which is supposed to be the most important arm of government has been pocketed by Mr President to do his biddings.
“And so, the Legislature comprising men with low quality leadership are in their respective chambers to do business have become powerless and are worse than rubber stamp and lapdogs. The legislators have just gone to sleep. They don’t just exist. Meanwhile, they are really to checkmate the excesses of the Executive.
“Given the insecurity in Nigeria, the Legislature, if they are serious, ought by now to have made laws that will empower the citizenry to defend themselves by carrying light arms and weapons to confront terrorists. Of course, many of these legislators did not win any election. They were simply hand-picked while many stole ballot boxes.”
Two main factors accounted for the present rudderless state of the nation, according to the elderstatesman who spoke for a two-hour duration. First is the absence of political parties with discipline and ideology. The second is the fact that almost every sphere of our national life has
been compromised.
His words: “The last time we had political parties was around 1979 to 1983 era when we had UPN, NPN, GNPP, NPP and PRP. At that time, we had Parties that had leadership that was responsibleness and respectable.
“The political parties we have now are Almagamated Private Company(APC), Peoples’ Dividends Pocketed(PDP), etc, etc.This is laughable but tragic because these define the character of the people we call our leaders who are basically shareholders”.
Chief Tola Adeniyi also said further: “The Nigerian dilemma is compounded by the fact that, we have the death of the judiciary and the death of civil societies. And, unfortunately, it’s also made worse by the fact that the citizens are poor. They are timid. They are frustrated, and they are alienated.
“And we also have a compromised armed forces, very, very compromised security services and the police, they’re all compromised. And these are factors that have impacted negatively on the legislature. We also have death of cherished values and virtues.”
As a way out of the country’s present political logjam, Chief Adeniyi canvassed that the respective regions and nationalities within the present day Nigeria be allowed to go their separate ways in a way that the errors of the 1914 amalgamation could be corrected.
He stated: “So let the Yoruba man be Yoruba nation. Let them have feudalism. Let them have their constitution and form government based on their culture, their tradition. Let the Igbo, forever republican, but they still have a system that you respect. Let them have their own constitution based on their cultural tradition. Then if you don’t meet at the center, let those, traditional imperatives of each of each nationality decide which we can use as a block or which we can jettison.
“In other words, we must have home-grown means of controlling ourselves. But I will submit that the solution for now is that every nationality in Nigeria, the majority of them should go their separate ways and begin to form their own government according to their own cultural tradition. If after a hundred years, two hundred years, they will have the better they can still come together and stay in a place they called Nigeria, so be it.”
