The leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, has said former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, ought to convince President Muhammadu Buhari to convey a national dialogue over the agitations going on in the country.
Adebanjo added that Babangida did not believe in Nigeria and only made vague statements.
The Afenifere leader stated these in an interview with People’s Gazette, in response to the earlier interview granted by the dictator to Arise TV, where he (Babangida) had claimed that he believed in the future of Nigeria.
Adebanjo said, “I know Babangida to be neither here nor there. He doesn’t believe in Nigeria. We call him Maradona. Let him come out straight. I can’t be dribbled. He is a dribbler. I know Babangida. What does he mean by that?
“That can be interpreted in many ways. Come out straight. I believe in one Nigeria. All Nigerians must be equal partners. That must be clear.”
The Yoruba leader pointed out that the only way to show concern for Nigeria’s future was for Buhari to organise a national dialogue to address issues that threaten the country’s unity.
“In what respect does he (Babangida) believe in Nigeria? A Nigeria in which one ethnic group dominates the others or what? We want to keep Nigeria together. Let us sit down and have a dialogue on the constitution and the Electoral Act slanted against the South. Let Babangida convince Buhari to let us have a dialogue. I’m not interested in vague statements,” he added.
The former military head of state, also said that Nigerians do not believe in secession.
When asked about secession agitations in the south-east and south-west, Babangida said it is good to agitate and that when agitators make the “noise” of secession it will not get the support of Nigerians.
“It is always good to agitate but because there is this belief that this country should be one. When they make the noise, they find that it won’t get supported, because Nigerians generally don’t believe in anything that would disturb their peace of mind. They won’t do it.”
He blamed politicians for disunity in the country.
He said there was a time in the country when people held positions in regions outside their ethnic groups, adding that the present crop of politicians are not serious about nation-building.
”If you look back, if you take a place like Baga, in the north-east, the Igbo man, Yoruba man travelled up to Baga for trading, he lived very comfortably, he lived very well with the people around there,” he said.
“If you go to Lagos, the same thing, Yorubas, Igbos, who hold political appointments at local levels and live very well with the people.
“I think we, the coming elites, did not succeed in imbibing that culture (culture of unity) for the country, so we rather live with the culture that the Europeans handed over to us — Northern Nigeria, Eastern Nigeria, Western Nigeria. We have in 1963, mid-west but we did not build ourselves as a nation.
“The political elites, then that were being developed, they run back to their cocoons and accept that, yes I have to be a thing or do this or that.
“Till today, unfortunately, the political class are not really into this seriously and say how do we build a nation.”
