By Dapo Akinrefon
Mr. Tony Uranta is Executive Secretary, Nigeria National Summit Group, NNSG and a former member of the National Dialogue Committee. Uranta, in this interview states why the Presidemt-elect, Maj-General Muhammudu Buhari (retd) should not discard the reports of the National
Conference arguing that it would assist the new administration restructure the nation. Excerpts:
What are the expectations of Nigerians from the President-elect as he takes over by May 29?
I think it will be proper to begin by congratulating General Buhari for having true persistence and doggedness because I am still astonished at a general of his age repeatedly contesting for that office and not being deterred by the fact that he was losing consistently.
We expect him, most of all, to focus on the restructuring of Nigeria. You will remember that the Yoruba’s Afenifere and a great deal of people supported President Jonathan not because they liked his face, not because they necessarily liked his politics, but because they like the fact that he committed to restructuring this nation as it is needed and necessary if it is to sustainably continue as a united, progressive Nigeria.
Biggest platform
One of the biggest platforms on which he now created this ethos of restructuring is the platform of the National Conference.
Many of us, who were supportive of the National Conference and its recommendations, have been calling for the implementation of the recommendations of the Conference. If all that General Buhari does is to implement the National Conference’s recommendations, the President-elect would be a hero. But, he has already begun to win my heart by announcing that he will not nominate or appoint anybody into public office who has not sworn to declare his assets in Court, not just to the Code of Conduct Bureau. Let me sidetrack and repeat, I am not a member of any party. I was, and I am, a friend and supporter of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. But I am primarily a citizen of this nation that wants Nigeria to improve, and I have the pedigree to prove this beyond any reasonable doubt. even before he began.
Of course, very importantly, we will expect that General Buhari does
one thing that everybody is expecting him to do as soon he assumes
office; he must end the terrorism and insurgency in the North East as
soon as possible because that was the key promise of his campaign-”we
will stop Boko Haram, we know how to stop Boko Haram and we know who
Boko Haram is”. Yes, that is his pledge.
And, truly, since, we must admit, they have not attacked us so much since he won the election, I want to assume that once he ascends into power, Boko Haram will formally sign-out. But in reality, we know that BokoHaram has formally aligned itself with its cousins ISIS, we know that the Al-Shabab is increasing operations in East Africa, AQIM is expanding through North-Western Africa further south into Mali etc, Yemen is burning, Syria is exploding, so whether Boko Haram is going to die that kind of a natural death remains to be seen.
But, having had the opportunity to work with him politically in the past, I want to believe the General is man of his word. If he does not put Boko Haram out of business within the first 90 days of his being in office, Nigerians would be able to say to him very openly and frankly, “General, you lied to us”, because he repeatedly assured us he would make Boko Haram stop immediately he becomes President.
I want to think, because he was chosen by Boko Haram as their public representative, he had already spoken with them and they had acceded, but, whichever which way, all we are saying, Mr. President-Elect, is ‘Stop Boko Haram’.
These are the imperative things General Buhari must do for us within the first 100 days, to get us to welcome him and say that truly Jega’s Nigerians did not make a mistake; then we all will applaud him and say, “we chose a better leader by bringing in Buhari”. However, if Buhari does not do those key things, I do not know how today’s NIgerians and posterity will judge him.
Do you think the South-East and South-South miscalculated in the last election?
I think anybody who thinks that the voting patterns would influence the composition of government as to ethnic or religious biases, does not understand what modern nationhood is all about. General Buhari or any leader at the national or state levels cannot but be seen to fully carry along every member of their relevant electorate’s demographics (be they women, youth, elderly, disadvantaged physically, religios, ethnic ) if they wish this nation well.
They cannot say, for example, I am going to restrict governance to members of my party. General Buhari cannot for example say, I wont have Igbo in my cabinet, he cannot say, I will punish the South-East and the South-South for not voting for me or against me. If he does that, he would have fully played into the hands of his detractors. If he does that he would have laid the foundation for the crumbling of Nigerian unity, peace and progress within less than six months of his coming to power.
Whether we like it or not, there are indigenous people and settlers in every part of Nigeria but we must not encourage this indigene and non-indigene dichotomy to keep on negatively building up in this country.
Silly partisan thoughtlessness
We are looking for how we can unite Nigeria, not further divide it over silly partisan thoughtlessness and insensitivities. Every incoming government has to look at the demographics of its state or the nation snd include every member-group in its workings as much as is feasible. For example, I am not happy that Lagos had only Ben Akabueze as Commissioner.
There is no Ijaw man or woman. Do you know what the Ijaw vote does in Lagos? All these must be taken into consideration in tomorrow’s Nigeria, this New Nigeria that we are beginning to see being birthed before our eyes.
Mr. Tony Uranta is Executive Secretary, Nigeria National Summit Group, NNSG and a former member of the National Dialogue Committee. Uranta, in this interview states why the Presidemt-elect, Maj-General Muhammudu Buhari (retd) should not discard the reports of the National
Conference arguing that it would assist the new administration restructure the nation. Excerpts:
What are the expectations of Nigerians from the President-elect as he takes over by May 29?
I think it will be proper to begin by congratulating General Buhari for having true persistence and doggedness because I am still astonished at a general of his age repeatedly contesting for that office and not being deterred by the fact that he was losing consistently.
We expect him, most of all, to focus on the restructuring of Nigeria. You will remember that the Yoruba’s Afenifere and a great deal of people supported President Jonathan not because they liked his face, not because they necessarily liked his politics, but because they like the fact that he committed to restructuring this nation as it is needed and necessary if it is to sustainably continue as a united, progressive Nigeria.
Biggest platform
One of the biggest platforms on which he now created this ethos of restructuring is the platform of the National Conference.
Many of us, who were supportive of the National Conference and its recommendations, have been calling for the implementation of the recommendations of the Conference. If all that General Buhari does is to implement the National Conference’s recommendations, the President-elect would be a hero. But, he has already begun to win my heart by announcing that he will not nominate or appoint anybody into public office who has not sworn to declare his assets in Court, not just to the Code of Conduct Bureau. Let me sidetrack and repeat, I am not a member of any party. I was, and I am, a friend and supporter of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. But I am primarily a citizen of this nation that wants Nigeria to improve, and I have the pedigree to prove this beyond any reasonable doubt. even before he began.
*Tony Uranta
And, truly, since, we must admit, they have not attacked us so much since he won the election, I want to assume that once he ascends into power, Boko Haram will formally sign-out. But in reality, we know that BokoHaram has formally aligned itself with its cousins ISIS, we know that the Al-Shabab is increasing operations in East Africa, AQIM is expanding through North-Western Africa further south into Mali etc, Yemen is burning, Syria is exploding, so whether Boko Haram is going to die that kind of a natural death remains to be seen.
But, having had the opportunity to work with him politically in the past, I want to believe the General is man of his word. If he does not put Boko Haram out of business within the first 90 days of his being in office, Nigerians would be able to say to him very openly and frankly, “General, you lied to us”, because he repeatedly assured us he would make Boko Haram stop immediately he becomes President.
I want to think, because he was chosen by Boko Haram as their public representative, he had already spoken with them and they had acceded, but, whichever which way, all we are saying, Mr. President-Elect, is ‘Stop Boko Haram’.
These are the imperative things General Buhari must do for us within the first 100 days, to get us to welcome him and say that truly Jega’s Nigerians did not make a mistake; then we all will applaud him and say, “we chose a better leader by bringing in Buhari”. However, if Buhari does not do those key things, I do not know how today’s NIgerians and posterity will judge him.
Do you think the South-East and South-South miscalculated in the last election?
I think anybody who thinks that the voting patterns would influence the composition of government as to ethnic or religious biases, does not understand what modern nationhood is all about. General Buhari or any leader at the national or state levels cannot but be seen to fully carry along every member of their relevant electorate’s demographics (be they women, youth, elderly, disadvantaged physically, religios, ethnic ) if they wish this nation well.
They cannot say, for example, I am going to restrict governance to members of my party. General Buhari cannot for example say, I wont have Igbo in my cabinet, he cannot say, I will punish the South-East and the South-South for not voting for me or against me. If he does that, he would have fully played into the hands of his detractors. If he does that he would have laid the foundation for the crumbling of Nigerian unity, peace and progress within less than six months of his coming to power.
Whether we like it or not, there are indigenous people and settlers in every part of Nigeria but we must not encourage this indigene and non-indigene dichotomy to keep on negatively building up in this country.
Silly partisan thoughtlessness
We are looking for how we can unite Nigeria, not further divide it over silly partisan thoughtlessness and insensitivities. Every incoming government has to look at the demographics of its state or the nation snd include every member-group in its workings as much as is feasible. For example, I am not happy that Lagos had only Ben Akabueze as Commissioner.
There is no Ijaw man or woman. Do you know what the Ijaw vote does in Lagos? All these must be taken into consideration in tomorrow’s Nigeria, this New Nigeria that we are beginning to see being birthed before our eyes.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/buhari-shouldnt-ignore-confab-recommendations-uranta/#sthash.Xzff3lkd.dpuf
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