By Bashir Adefaka
Chief Olu Falae, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and ex Minister of Finance, was a major contender for Nigeria’s presidency in 1999.

In an interview with SaturdayVanguard at his Akure home, he defends the integrity of Pa Abraham Adesanya and late Chief Bola Ige against Major Al-Mustapha’s allegations of financial inducement to compromise MKO Abiola’s death, adding that the claimer’s new statement that the duo of Yoruba leaders did not take money has proved the duo’s integrity . He talks more on other national issues. Excerpts:

What is your take on Major Al-Mustapha’s new position that the two late Yoruba leaders did not take money as against his earlier position?

Olu Falae

What he had just done was trying to maximize confusion around his case. Anybody who knew Papa Adesanya and Chief Bola Ige would know that there was no way they would accept anything from the government so as to, as it were, abandon the struggle. They were for about four months in police cell in Ikoyi, Lagos at the beginning of the struggle and I was visiting them regularly. At their ages! They were humiliated! They were sleeping in police cell! And these were men, who throughout their lives, were of high integrity.

Pa Adesanya received several bullets; even at that time, he would have said ‘oh, enough is enough’ but he didn’t say so. How could such a man have collected money? Money for what? What was he going to do with the money? People like Papa Adesanya, people like my humble self, no amount of money could buy us. All the money in the Central Bank of Nigeria cannot buy us or bribe us to abandon what we believe in. So, all-in-all, Al-Mustapha was talking arrant nonsense.

And I read in the papers few days ago that there are documents and letters attesting to the fact that the money he mentioned was in fact taken out of the Central Bank for a purpose by the government. The money was returned to the Central Bank; there are letters forwarding the money and there are letters acknowledging the receipt of the money back into the Central Bank. So, (whether he made a u-turn or not) there is no basis whatsoever for that allegation. But even before those documents and letters were published, all of us had insisted that there’s no way that any of us would accept money. We are men of honour! It’s just that it’s difficult for Nigerians to believe that there are still men of honour in this country. So I’m happy that events have vindicated our positions.

Some of us had several opportunities to have made a lot of money. As Secretary to the Government of Nigeria, I was in charge of the Security Vote, which was never audited. I could have taken billions if my mission in government was to make money. Even I was not even drawing a regular salary from the government as Minister of Finance. I wanted clean entry and clean exit. I wanted to be able to resign from that government any day if it did anything that I fundamentally disagree with.

That was why when the Federal Government required my services, I made it a condition before living my bank that General Ibrahim Babangida, the President at that time, should approach my bank to release me to the Federal Government on secondment with the bank continuing to be responsible for my salary with the option to return to the bank at the end of my tenure. I wanted to leave the door open so that if they messed up and I had to resign, I would go back to my bank.

And that was why also I lived in my own private house for the five years that I spent working in the Babangida’s government. My official quarters in Ikoyi remained empty like Papa Obafemi Awolowo (who was once Federal Commissioner for Finance in General Yakubu Gowon regime) before me. 12, Falomo Close, Ikoyi I never stayed there. I stayed in my own house in Victoria Island in front of the Law School, by choice. So, that is the kind of people we are! If I should have made 10 billion, 20 billion without anybody knowing, why should I come to take money from security operatives, who would then use it later to blackmail me?

What is your view on the President’s idea of single-term of six years for next President and governors?

That’s too broad a question that it will take me several days to answer. Talking about the single-term of six years for President and governors, it suggests to me that the President brought it up as his priority. He means better things for Nigerians but why did he put this one first? I’m surprised he again said it wasn’t his own idea. Then why are you sanctioning it? That, to me, shows that this administration has lacked focus because the President is expected to come up with his own priorities for the good of Nigerians not an irrelevant matter like the tenure of the President or of the governors. Really, if a governor or the President is doing very well, Nigerians themselves can initiate a Constitution amendment to allow that President or governor to spend more terms than what the Constitution allows so that he can continue with the good work.

So, Jonathan can focus on making life better for the generality of Nigerians and he should come up with a programme that will move this nation forward. Four years period is a very short period. In education for instance, what do you think you can achieve in four years that you can see? What do you think you can achieve in agriculture in four years that you can see? Road transportation, the whole thing is in a mess. Do we have a road plan of what we are supposed to have in the next 10 or 15 years and how do we begin to implement it from now till next four years? You see, that’s what I’m talking about.

That he came up with this type of thing (six year- tenure). It shows that he lacks focus and that he has abandoned it again tells me that he’s not committed to running the nation. So, again, whichever way you want to look at it, it’s not a good omen. I wish Nigeria well. I wish him well and I wish he were a bit more focused leader with a vision, with a dream that can mobilize and galvanize this nation.

What is your comment on the Federal Government’s take-over of Bank PHB, Spring Bank and Afribank?

The same CBN gave the banks up till September to recapitalize but this is just the beginning of August. They must have a reason for this preemptive decision. I mean the Central Bank should answer that question by itself.

I said it before and I want to say it again that the Central Bank doesn’t seem to understand its position. In other countries, before the Central Bank makes a statement, it weighs every word carefully because even the body language of the governor of the Central Bank can sent the economic…to the wrong direction.

You said banks were given up till September to recapitalize now at the beginning of August, you take them over. It sends panic to the rest of the banks that “Are we next because there is no due process any more. May be it would be our turn tomorrow and may be we should just go to the stock exchange and sell off our shares.” The way it is going, it appears the Central Bank has not learnt any lesson.

When Soludo started this recapitalization programme, I asked a question that various banks had different sizes of capital base; some N2 billion, some N5 billion and so on. If everybody would go to N25 billion… and that if all banks have different capital base till that date, that why should they all go to N25 billion the same day? Are all men of the same height or the same weight?

There should be flexibility in a democracy. Flexibility with regards to the size of bank I want to run. Size does not determine profitability. There are small banks that are very successful and there are some huge ones that have failed. In all the policies you are issuing out, there should be room for small effective banks there will be room for regional banks. If I say all I can do is to finance cocoa and so that I want to in the Southwest and do my banking there, why not? Why can’t a bank stay and do that? We can’t force all the banks to go to N25 billion. I don’t need up to N25 billion to do that, I only need N10 billion. So why forcing me? It’s like saying a political party should have branches in all parts of Nigeria. I don’t want to be President, I just want to be chairman of Akure South Local Government and so, I don’t need even a branch in Ibadan. Why should you not allow me in a democracy to have my own limited objective and pursue it within my own capacity?

Boko Haram has become a major threat to national security. How can government tackle it?

Well, it appears you have forgotten the other problem that existed before Boko Haram. The Niger Delta problem is not yet solved. What is happening there amounts to a cease fire but there are many other things that needed to be done. The Niger Delta problem as I said was a political problem. It started by saying the people of the Niger Delta wanted self-determination. They saw themselves as a minority in the then Eastern Region and they wanted their own region. When states were created and Rivers and Akwa Ibom were created for them, that went to solve their problems substantially. They were then left with other areas of the problems, which like I said earlier on, is the problem of resource control.

All kinds of regular criminals and rogues are exploiting it. But that does not mean that we fail to recognize what it is. In essence, the issue of resource control has not been resolved. Along the line, that will enable the people of the area to play meaningful roles in government. It is a gift that God had given them, in a way that will give them a reasonable portion of the revenue arising therefrom and thirdly that will lead to the resources being deployed to improve their living conditions on a permanent basis. These are issues that are not yet resolved. If Goodluck Jonathan thinks he has resolved those issues, he will soon know he has not.

MASSOB, Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, I hear they have their currency and everything and they can close down any market any day.

What gave birth to OPC, Oodua People’s Congress, was the marginalization of the Yoruba race, which is the largest ethnic group not only in Nigeria but in the whole of Africa. It was being marginalized and that was what gave rise to the OPC. Today, is the Yoruba race not being marginalized? We only need to look at recent development even while we occupied the number one and number four positions during the Obasanjo civilian regime. What did we gain from that arrangement? So that fundamental problem remains there.

These are older struggles. Now, you are talking of Boko Haram, we shouldn’t forget the older struggles and focus only on Boko Haram. Those people are watching you dealing with the Boko Haram’s case. So, you must have a holistic approach to solving national problems.

Now to come to Boko Haram, my observation is that when it started those who started it were using local villagers to kill all those other people marcheting them and burning their houses. In more recent time, there has been complete transformation in the method of the Boko Haram people. Now they are using bombs. It takes some sophistications to make bombs; it takes huge amount of money to buy and transport bombs, to detonate bombs. These things cannot be done by local villagers or by illiterates. No, it appears to me that Boko Haram of nowadays is different from Boko Haram of a year ago.

So, what that tells me is that some people are using Boko Haram as a cover for their own operation. They are not the same people at all. And if I’m right then, something more serious must be done about it. Whereas the old ones were the religious, the present ones are something else.

I think this should be the starting point for enquiry by the government. This change in the modus operandi of Boko Haram leadership should cultivate the mind of the government and they should really find out what the whole thing is all about.