High Chief Lekan Alabi, the Maiye Olubadan of Ibadan Land and the first Culture Ambassador of the National Museum and Monument, Ile Ife, spoke with SEYE OLUMIDE (Southwest Bureau Chief) on the need for restructuring, dearth of selfless politicians in the country, politics of the late Adegoke Adelabu and the need to give constitutional roles to traditional rulers, among other issues.

‘Nigeria Already A One-party State’

There were high expectations before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office, but the current economic hardship appears to have dashed the hope of many. What is your take?
Without being immodest, I served as press secretary to four governors of old Oyo State between 1983 to 1989. So, you should give it to me that I saw the inside of four governments.

Most people who campaign to become whatever in politics do not know or understand the workings of government. Had they known, they would not dare come near the corridors of power. It is when they get into office that they usually realise the enormity of the challenges before them.

Since President Tinubu campaigned to rule, it is his responsibility to find solutions to the people’s problems. I am using this platform again to appeal to people that governance is not all about convoys, protocols, front page lead, appearance in newspapers and others. No, governance is more than that.

Do you share the belief that only restructuring could redeem Nigeria? 
Your question is answered by the 2014 National Conference report. Eminent Nigerians, many of who were not politicians, went into debate and tore to pieces the 1999 Constitution and gave us a report, which the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari promised to look into but never did. Former President Goodluck Jonathan also failed to implement it. So, the burden is on President Tinubu to please take a look at the 2014 Conference report.

Why appeal to Tinubu over the 2014 conference report? Recall that the incumbent president is one of the first people that condemned the conference?
There you are; you have answered the question. When a politician promises Nigerians that he will do something, he must fulfill his promise. I don’t see why Tinubu, a politician of his status, has refused to grab or rush for a copy of the confab report and send it to the National Assembly to take a second look, so they could knock them together to make a new Constitution that would be acceptable to all of us.

Would the President be able to do this without the North’s support or approval?
There should be no special section in this country. Moreover, didn’t the North partake in the confab. The 2014 National Conference was an open assembly of Nigerians, all tribes, religions and affiliates prepared the 2014 National Conference report.

What call are you making on Tinubu regarding the Constitution?
He should please dust the 2014 confab report and let us have a new approach to governance. Some people are suggesting a parliamentary system, why can’t we give it a trial?

Are you not afraid that Nigeria may be dragged into a one-party state with the unfolding development among opposition parties?
Aren’t we now? Where are the opposition parties? We only have PDP, LP and other opposition parties on the paper. In Great Britain, where I studied and stayed for years, people joined a party based on ideology and you also have a youth wing of every party. It is within the party that you will grow level by level to the status of becoming an honorable man or woman of the parliament. In Nigeria, it is a matter of what to share.

Can you draw comparison between the politics of the likes of Adegoke Adelabu as opposition leaders in those days and modern-day politicians?
No. This is so because over 90 per cent of the politicians today will tell you, ‘My people want me’. But which people? The average Nigerian who is passionate about public and community service do not have the kind of money to run publicity and to buy nomination forms and all other fringes that those in power possess.

Politics shouldn’t be all about money, but service and passion, which the Adegoke Adelabu of this world, the Obafemi Awolowo, Akanu Ibiam, Ahmadu Bello and others possessed. They went into politics with experience and a sense of responsibility because they have served at various levels before they ventured into national politics.

I thank you for mentioning Adelabu. My partner’s grandmother was the woman leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in the city of Ibadan in the 1950s. So, I lay claim to knowing Adelabu as young as I was. I am the founding chairman of Adegoke Adelabu Foundation, and when you also take into consideration my background of 59 years of practicing as a journalist, my finding is that you cannot compare the present-day politicians with the then nationalists.

Why was it that politicians hardly defected from one party to another during the days of Adelabu?
It was because they joined parties based on ideologies. How many political parties today have ideology? When candidates fail to get their party’s nomination ticket, they jump ship almost the following day. How can one easily decamp from a party whose ideology you have shared for more than four years?

Do you agree with the call to give constitutional roles to traditional rulers?
I totally do. Let us rewind time to pre-colonial Nigeria. Before the British colonialists entered the coast of the Western Province that was later amalgamated with the Eastern and Northern provinces to become what is now known as Nigeria on January 1, 1914, Yoruba land had existed and all the Holy books say that God enjoined us to pray for our Kings and respect them.

So, in Yoruba land, we considered paramount rulers or kings as Igbakeji Orisa, meaning deputy to the creator. What I am saying in essence is that the paramount rulers ruled their kingdoms. The Yoruba had the monarchical system just like the British. We all know that kings are the owners of the land.

Part of the damage the colonialists did to us was not only in the religious, social and political aspects, they also dabbled into our monarchical system and subordinated our kings to the superior order of the district officers. But we all know and agree that it was the king that God appointed as his representative on earth and to rule over us, his subjects. So, constitutional roles and or rights are the legal rights of kings.

The Council of Obas appears to be nonchalant about the issue. Otherwise, what would it cost the Council to impress the necessity on the National Assembly?
In the Western region, which later became the Western State, divided into three states of Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, monarchs were accorded executive roles because they were made ministers without portfolios. That is, they had constitutional duties and rights, which they performed under the law until the military intervention on January 15, 1966.

It is on record that I, Oloye Lekan Alabi, had often represented the Imperial Majesty, the Olubadan of Ibadan Land at the Council of National Paramount Rulers in Nigeria. In one of the meetings, I was recorded as moving the motion that traditional rulers should be given constitutional roles. And I restate it today, that monarchs should be part and parcel of the policies that will govern the people.

I am going to give you documents, videos and written evidence. May 28 and May 29 last year when President Bola Tinubu took over, I sponsored a privately produced documentary, requesting the incumbent to please restore the God-given honour and privileges of traditional rulers. I said Nigerians are behaving worse than the colonialists in trampling on the mightiness and relevance of traditional rulers.

How true is it that some monarchs are involved in illegal mining and land grabbing in Yoruba land?
If anybody who is regarded as a paramount ruler or royal father finds himself in the hot water of any government, you may blame some of the royal fathers as being too partisan. As a royal father, you are supposed to be non-partisan, and the father of all. But what do you find today? Some Obas, I am limiting myself to Yoruba land, were not chosen by the Oracle (Ifa). A true royal father, who would command the respect of his subjects, people and God, must be chosen with fairness and equity. Many traditional rulers today were not selected by Ifa. Many kings got to the throne through enticement and usurpation.