By SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin
Chief David Edebiri, the Esogban of Benin Kingdom, is a contemporary of the late elder statesman, Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro.

As the late nationalist was laid to rest, on Friday, in his Uromi country-home, Edo State, Edebiri  laments how Nigerians would miss Enahoro in this interview with Sunday Vanguard. He says Ngerians were unfair to the late elder  statesman by not  heeding his plea for the country to return to the parliamentary system.

Late ENAHORO

Another Enahoro’s dream that was not realised, he added, was a common language for all Edo people. Edebiri, who  doubles as the chairman of the Benin Forum, the umbrella body of all Bini, at home and in the Diaspora, also comments on the political situation in Edo State, ACN and Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s one-man-one-vote campaign.

Excerpts:

One of our nationalists, Chief Anthony Enahoro, has just been buried. As one of his allies, how will you miss him?

We will miss Chief Enahoro a lot. For more than 50-60 years now, I have been a follower of Chief Anthony Enohoro and since the two of us stopped playing partisan politics, we have come so close that each time he had anything that bothered him, he  would  send his boys to invite me to his house. And, for any occasion I had, he was invariably the chairman and he would  attend.

On any political situation in the country, he would like to discuss with me. So, I will miss his advice, his counsel and his quick solution to problems. Not just me but the whole country is going to miss Enahoro. Because even the Federal Government, any time they found themselves in a quagmire, they always resorted to inviting him for appropriate advice. But, he lived well, he had completed his assignment here and there is nothing any- body can do about it now. We only pray that God will receive him into His bosom and that there should be another Enahoro who will carry the burden of this country.

Looking at all his struggles for the country, do you think that Nigeria was fair to him?

Certainly no. Nigeria was not fair to him. They did not reciprocate his great services to the country. They have not been fair to most of the early nationalists who fought for the independence of this country; particularly Chief Enahoro was a man who dedicated his entire life to the betterment of Nigeria and to make Nigeria a better place. Even recently, we talked about how to move this nation forward.

He was a Nigerian to the core, a  patriotic Nigerian and a patriotic Edo man. One of his greatest regrets could be that the whole of Edo State could not bring out one single language in his time. That is what he advocated all along but they could not fuse the various languages together to have one language that every Edo man will understand. I think that will be one of his greatest regrets.

The other one is the country; the way it is being run is entirely different from the dreams of the founding fathers of which he was in the front- line.

The dreams of the founding fathers of the country were to make Nigeria a show piece to other African countries and to the world. But, unfortunately, the type of system we adopted did not give room for those who would have made the difference to be in power.

We have had successive governments in this country and leaders of these various governments have proved themselves to be selfish, self-centered and corrupt. All these Chief Enahoro fought against. So, we are going to see how God will raise one of our numbers to fill the gap, but it is not going to be easy.

What we should learn from Enahoro?

While he lived, the leaders of this country refused to listen to his counsel. First, Enahoro consistently opposed the presidential form of government. He believed that the parliamentary system which we were used to from the colonial time was better  for our purpose. But those who want loopholes for corruption have refused to listen to the wise advice of the elder statesman.

What I think the country should do now is that those things he said while he was alive, people should start to see how to implement them. That is the life of most philosophers, when they are alive, people don’t listen  to what they are talking but, post-humously, there will be a new generation that will come up and say ‘let us practice what this man has said.’

What the country should do is to think of how to get Chief Enahoro’s ideas implemented rather post-humously. I still recommend and I join Chief Enahoro’s advice that we need to change from this presidential system of government. Parliamentary system is better.

We understand it and it is less cumbersome. The one we are practising now, we do not understand it. We are not practising the presidential system as it is practised in America. If we had abandoned the Westminister form of government at the same time the judiciary is still purely British, why did those people who changed the system in 1963 not change the legal system of the country to become American system?

We have in place two chambers at the federal level, we have the Senate and the House of Representatives which is a carbon copy of what is obtainable  in America but this is not America. This is Africa. We have our own cultural peculiarity which would have recommended to this nation a third chamber for the people they call now traditional rulers  to act as a balance between the two houses of parliament. Because, more often than that, we see the people in one chamber fighting themselves.

We require a third chamber that will continue to act as a  mediator in any serious political situation. That is my recommendation.

There has been tension in Edo State since after the primaries of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in the state. How do you see the scenario, particularly as regards the complaints by aspirants that the ‘one-man-one vote’ campaign is being threatened?

Well, I was in partisan politics for many years, there is no way you can escape this type of bickering within a political party. Even if you call the Angels of God to come and do the primaries, people will still carry placards. Those it did not favour will always complain. We don’t know how to take defeat calmly in Nigeria, hoping that there is still another day.

What I see is normal in our set-up. I do not subscribe to the allegations that the governor imposed candidates. He is the governor and governors are said to be the leaders of the party. But the parties have a structure with the chairman in charge and the secretary with other officers. So, I don’t see how it will be the governor who will impose a councillor in Ovia and because somebody did not win it is safer to say it was the governor that caused it.

I do not believe that Oshiomhole did what they are talking about because the man has remained neutral all these while as regards political appointments. If there is any mistake in the conduct of their own party primaries the politicians should accept responsibility.

But, if there are party leaders who indulged in imposing candidates on their party, they know the best way to deal with such leaders. You either vote them out or rebel against them.

And, I have also read that Oshiomhole is not practising the ‘one-man one-vote’ mantra he is preaching. That is also not true. What has happened in ACN primaries is not ‘one-man one-vote’ issue. It is party nomination; so, it is entirely the business of each of these parties to select their people. There are some who did not go to primaries at all but their names were sent to INEC. We have read that in some states.

So, nobody should blame the governor at all. Oshiomhole has a lot of policies to cope with. I know that the governor is very sincere about his political reform but some people will always want to rubbish him. Look at what he has done in the state within two years, only few persons can do the magic he is doing in Edo today.