By Dapo Akinrefon

Fani-Kayode
I will like to disagree with our father and eminent personality in the person of Chief E.K. Clark when he spoke about soldiers on the streets of Lagos. There is a distinction between putting soldiers on the streets of the Niger Delta cities that are being burnt and places in the north where Boko Haram is striking and killing people and putting soldiers on the streets of Lagos where people are exercising their democratic rights.

Having said that, there are a number of issues we really need to tackle. I am very worried for the future of this country. Let those that believe we don’t have a problem recognize one fact, there were three amalgamations established by the British.

One was the Sudan, the other was India and the third was Nigeria. India has fallen into three parts since that time; Sudan has fallen into two, the only one remaining is Nigeria. I believe in Nigeria and I will stand for Nigeria any day, anytime but not the type of Nigeria that is silently emerging today. The type of Nigeria we have today is the situation whereby some people believe they are more equal than others.

I want to acknowledge the fact that if we do not have a national conference in this country and I speak of a sovereign national conference, whose findings and whose resolutions are binding on the government of the day; if we do not have that, your Nigeria is finished.

We have taken our unity for granted; we want to get our unity back. We need to sit and talk; we need to iron out the issues. The threat of Boko Haram is not an academic issue anymore; it is not something we should just be discussing anymore.

Femi Fani-Kayode

It is time for the full force of the Federal Government, not just go after Boko Haram, but those that are behind them. I stand with everyone that thinks that we need to have a sovereign national conference and I call on every Nigerian to stand up and say enough is enough.

The constitution Nigeria needs, Balarabe Musa

How did Nigeria get to its present predicament?

It is the failure of the federal system of government adopted by the country. One of the failures is the inability of the leadership to identify the problem confronting the country. Of recent, the leadership of the country has been able to identify the problem but yet to know its root cause. However, the root cause of the problem militating against the growth of Nigeria is the system which is based on the self-interest.

During the colonial time and first republic, the first consideration was the public interest and, as politicians, we played down self-interest in spite of the efforts of conservatives and neo-colonialists.

But today, we are guided by a system based on self-interest first and public interest second. That is the system that gave birth to Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), commercialization and deregulation to mention but a few. That is directly responsible for the present negative state of the nation and to get out of it, we have to change the system.

Why do you think the problem persists?

The problem will continue until we stop scratching it at the surface. Now that we have been able to identify the problem, we must strive harder to find out its root cause and proffer lasting solution.

Isn’t there a better option to national conference since the sovereignty issue always thwarted it?

Sovereignty belongs to the people. There is need for people to sit down and decide how they want to be governed not the other way round. Nigeria is on the verge of becoming a failed state in every respect.

Nigeria remains one of the poorest nations in the world and to reverse the ugly trend, there is need for people to sit down at round table and makes their own law not the Decree 24 that was adopted as 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

What if the government fails to heed the advice for convocation of a sovereign national conference?

Then, we are going to do what other nations in the world that found themselves in similar situation did to survive. Right now, we have Arab spring.

Do you support the clamour for a new constitution?

Of course yes. The constitution and its operators are subjected to the environment, while the environment, in turn, is a product of the system. The system adopted by the country will lead us nowhere, hence the need  for new constitution.

The present state of insecurity, is it a product of the system?

Security is a product of the system. If the system fails to be based on self-interest, we will have a workable security system that will comply with the 1999 Constitution that emphasizes the need for welfare and security of the people.

We must talk or… – Yerima

What is your view on the two day national summit held to proffer solutions to the problems facing the country?

I think it is a welcome development. It is good we sit down and dialogue and begin to think of how we can have a better Nigeria. It is obvious that if measures are not taken immediately, there are possibilities that we will end up finding ourselves in a dilemma.

So, I think this is heading towards a very good direction and we want to call on the attention of those who are perpetrating evil, if they truly mean what they are saying, they should come so that we discuss the issues once and for all, so that we can have the Nigeria of our dream.

A group protested outside the venue of the conference alleging that delegates present were not representing the interest of Nigerians. They also alleged that the conference would end up in a jamboree. Do you think so?

I do not know by what they mean by the participants do not represent the interest of Nigerians. The conference is strictly about eminent Nigerians, where people were selected based on their constituencies and relevance on issues that affect Nigeria. And if you are not invited, that does not mean you don’t count.

But then, all of us cannot be in a place at the same time. So, it will be wrong of anybody to begin to think otherwise of this conference in order to discredit it.

You raised an issue about the way people criticize the north instead of…

What I mean is that I find it so funny when some of us fighting a common principle, despite out differences, despite our ethnicity and religion, saying ‘this oil is our oil, the president is our president’.

We forged an alliance with these people other groups from the south-west and other places and today, such people look into faces without regard for some of us.

If we truly want a national conference, if we truly want a situation where we can be united as a country, then we must drop the idea of casting aspersions on certain interests for whatever reason. It is not about whom you are or what you are, or the tribe you represent, it is about Nigeria and that is a critical issue.

There are some people who do even though how we came about where we are today, but we know what we did against all odds; against even the collective interest of our people, especially where I come from. Even during the onshore/offshore dichotomy issue, we supported not because we were bribed but because we felt it was injustice.

CBN governor, Mallam

Lamido Sanusi, recently stated that the issue of derivation is responsible for the activities of Boko Haram and the growing insecurity in the land. How do you react to this assumption?

I do not agree with him. I think he is being misquoted, but if he said so, then, I will say he is not correct. The issue of allocation is not supposed to be reason why anybody should take up arms and do whatsoever he is doing.

The truth of the matter is that there are certain misgivings, there are certain misinformation and because people were left in the dark, coupled with lack of education, they are bound to see some of those things because this is a deliberate calculation by some people who do not want others to be exposed because if they are exposed, they will begin to ask a lot of questions on how they will be governed.

There have been previous attempts to convene a national conference. What is the assurance that this will not end up in futility?

I have that fear because we have been in so many where such summits were organized. For the past five or six years when the PRONACO conference rounded off, the awareness has become clear to people that there is need for a national conference. The average man believes that the only way out and the only option left for Nigeria is for us to have a sovereign national conference.

But one of the problems I have is that, such kind of conference, all over the world, is not organized by government and government does not have any input.

I also have a problem where you have politicians involved championing this type of cause. I do not think they could be that sincere or courageous enough to confront issues. That is not what the younger generations are asking for, we are asking for a total overhaul of the whole system and a restructuring of Nigeria.

Some of them are direct beneficiaries of what is happening today; we do not want anything in it because they are beneficiaries of. We are saying that we need a total change so that we can guarantee our future and even those unborn.

We, the people, do not have our own constitution – Idika Kalu

Some Igbo leaders are calling on easterners in the north to return due to the Boko Haram killings. Do you think coming back home will solve the problem?

The first requirement is for the Federal Government to come out with a very clear statement. When you say clear statement, it should also demonstrate its power as it should do in cases of this nature. It should use the security agencies to make it trivial for anybody to come out and say we (Igbo) should come back. We have very clear indications that there are communities mourning seriously; what we need at hand is a very prompt reaction.

We can’t have one single human life ended like that. You can’t have churches, places of worship in a country like this being burnt; and people should not retaliate because that will not work. The primary function of securing lives and properties should have been more prompt.  The Federal Government should have deployed the soldiers and police, and by doing so, nobody would be killed.

Seeing the state of the nation, do you have any fear about the future of this country?

Well, it depends on how you look at the facts. Historically, a lot of people despite the advantages I already listed, these tendencies vary with various groups. If you go to my part of the country, you see every group there, although, they may not be in large numbers; but the significant thing is that people feel free to move about.

It is either you agree to that or you have to redesign explicitly what it should be. So, if you look at the fact that people have been staying together, you can say there is still hope. The minute the Federal Government stands up and says we can’t have this, unequivocally, that gives people some hope that we stay together.

But when you look at the history, a lot of people cannot understand why it is still possible for us to be so hopeful. It is a mixed bag. Since we had serious problems in the past, you will think we will never make it. That means there is something more abiding in the ability of the nation to survive.

There have attempts in the past to hold a sovereign national conference.  How optimistic are you that this planned conference will yield the desired result?

I am hopeful. When we recognize the fact that we are just a small group here, no matter the representation, it is better for us to reach out to those who are not here. We have to get more people involved. We have to let those who are in the various assemblies, House of Reps to understand that whatever we are discussing is of interest to everybody. It is not just for some radicals in Lagos or for some radicals spread across the entire nation. It is for the nation to the extent that we are able to involve more people; then, I think there is a hope.

We all agree that we borrowed the federal system but the federal system in the United States started off appropriately. We, the people, do not have our own constitution. We all acknowledge the crisis that we have had. So, everybody should agree that we need to have a format to discuss this crisis. We all agree on the problem and the need to discuss and resolve the problem.

Our house is not in

order —Ankio Briggs

Why do you think we need a new constitution?

The present constitution we have is not a constitution of Nigeria, it was a military decree. Really, Nigerians are clamouring and singing that they want to sit around a table and define the methodology that is going to galvanise this country.

I keep repeating myself that Nigeria, today, is not a great country but we have capacity to becoming a great country. 150 million people and rising is not a small figure and so, we must be able to utilize that figure for the interest of the people, Africa and the world.

We constitute a very powerful figure across the African continent and we must be able to use it. We can’t emerge a great nation if we have not put our own house in order and I don’t think anybody can deny that Nigeria is definitely not a house that is in order; and we need to put it in order.

Having being part of the two day national summit of eminent leaders, a communiqué has been issued, what do you think is the next line of action?

As been stated, Nigerians, from different walks of life and particularly from the different geo-political zones and ethnic groups gathered for two days, are by no means going to be the people that will make decisions about a sovereign national conference.

The invited for the conference are people that have been recognized by their peers and by their elders, youths and women will be the people to hear what is being said and make inputs on their behalf; which is what I did at the gathering.

It has been agreed that the people that attended the conference have called for the convocation of a sovereign national conference. The name is neither here nor there if we get a new constitution at the end of the day. It does not bother me what we discuss as long as it results in a brand new constitution that all Nigerians have contributed to.

This is the beginning of the process and the whole of Nigeria will have to participate so that we can all move forward. Everybody knows that Nigeria must be restructured because of the circumstance that is surrounding Nigeria.