John Oyegun, former national
chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has described former President
Olusegun Obasanjo as the kind of leader Nigeria needs, saying his words are
“infinitely weighty and cannot be ignored”.
In an interview with New
Telegraph, Oyegun said Obasanjo’s comment on “Islamisation and Fulanisation”
might have been dramatised.
While delivering a lecture on May
18 in Delta state, Obasanjo had said the Boko Haram crisis had become an agenda
for “West African Fulanization, African Islamisation”.
The comment sparked reactions
among Nigerians with many describing the statement as inciting.
But Oyegun said Obasanjo “is
addressing an issue that is with us”.
He said while he may not tag the
crisis as “Islamisation”, “there is no question at all that it calls for worry
because these people exist virtually in every state of the federation and, very
soon, it would lead to unpleasantness in all over the country”.
“Well, I respect him. Every
nation needs a man like that just like the people’s SAN, Chief Gani Fawhemi and
a lot of activists. What is happening is that because of his status, his
experience, his background, what he says becomes infinitely weighty and cannot
be ignored,” Oyegun said.
“I just told you that this issue
of so-called Fulani herdsmen and the copy cats that have followed it has to be
addressed. So, the issue has to be addressed. I wouldn’t give it the kind of
Islamization tag that is given to it, but there is no question at all that it
calls for worry because these people exist virtually in every state of the
federation and, very soon, it would lead to unpleasantness in all over the
country.
“So, the issue has to be
addressed and, as I told you that as far as I am concerned, it would be one of
the first priority of the next level administration.”
He also asked the ruling party to
get rid of godfathers, saying godfatherism is one of the major challenges the
APC is facing.
He called on the ruling party to
embrace internal democracy.
“I think the basic problem we
have all over is the godfather thing. Internal democracy simply means that if
10 people want to vie for an office, so be it. Let the electorate decide. But
when party leaders are the ones deciding who is fit or who is not fit, that becomes
a problem,” he said.
“That is the decision of the
electorate. And when they start displacing persons with their friends and other
undesirable inducements, that is totally unacceptable. The damage it does is
that you are destroying the belief of the electorate in due process. So, it
becomes more difficult to accept the result of an election.
“So, the damage is intense and I
pray that our politicians will see the need for a proper internal democracy and
allow due process and allow the people to thoroughly decide.”
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