Why political class, not military, must take responsibility for Nigeria’s woes, Former Ondo State Military Governor, Col. Fasanya speaks

*Expresses full confidence in Buhari’s Presidency, Buratai-led Army to end insecurity, if nationals cooperate

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

His Excellency Col. Moses Fasanya, a retired officer of the Nigerian Army, served as Military Governor of Abia State between August 1996 through August 1998 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha. After the death of General Abacha and General Abdulsalami Abubakar came to power as Military Head of State, the easy going yet versatile administrator was moved to become the Military Governor of Ondo State in August 1998 and was at Alagbaka, the seat of government in Akure until May 29, 1999 when he handed over power to the democratically elected Governor, Chief Adebayo Adefarati. Col. Fasanya, who is PERSONALITY OF The DEFENDER for this week, speaks about Boko Haram, President Muhammadu Buhari, the military and how political class created the woes of the nation, in this interview held at his Obadoore, Ojo Lagos residence, on Wednesday August 12, 2020. Excerpts:

Your Excellency, one has got to reach out to you, to tell us what exactly is wrong with us as people of Nigeria that neither any administration since the past to the present nor the country itself is ever appreciated. Does it not make you sad or is it still the mentality that military’s long rule damaged the country?

I want to say in all sincerity that whatever took place towards the end of First Republic was a handiwork of the political class. They invited the military and the military came. Subsequent years of military rule, you cannot erase the political class from the problem of this nation. How sincere is the political class to the well-being of their father land? Whatever type of governance we have, be it parliamentarian or democratic, the question we need to ask ourselves is, what do we want as a nation? We need to have a direction we are going so we can be focused.

To the best of my knowledge, we are making erroneous impression that things will change automatically whereas, things cannot change except we as a nation have focus.
Those who assess the situation blame it on lack of good leadership to provide the direction. What about that?
How realistic can that claim totally be? If today we say our leaders are bad, what about the led, how good are they too? I mean the led are not good either.

What is the simple way out?

The simple way out is for us to have a collective direction. I am not a politician but what we have seen now shows that the political class does not care about the progress and well being of this nation. The year 2023 is still a long way, yet they have their various camps now, whereas, as a nation we have gigantic problems facing us. We have got to take responsibility, collectively, to be able to move this nation forward, in the true sense of it.

“There is no need for tagging criminals after their tribe or religion. Crime has no religion. It has no tribe and has no class. Anybody who has committed a crime should be treated as a criminal not as what religion, tribe or class he belongs to.”

May be the seeming lack of collectiveness of today is reason yesterday of the country has always been better than its today in the judgement of most Nigerians?

If people refer to yesteryears compared to the present, it means that those who governed then were patriotic enough and then it means something is wrong with the present crop of leaders. If they, the present day leaders, are patriotic and they are selfless, they should build on what people are referring to as better yesteryears of Nigeria.

Are you talking about yesteryears in the sense of military rule or civilian era?

Both. Partly civilian and partly military. Don’t forget that the First Republic was basically civilian rule and then military came and had a long rule.

And Your Excellency does not think it was the long rule of the military that people talked about that is responsible for the woe of the country?

Even then, was there anything the military did during its long rule and the political class was not behind it? As it is now in democratic dispensation, are we faring better? That is the question we should ask ourselves as a nation.

Nigerians blamed the military before for their problems. But since 1999 till date, over 20 years of civilian rule, problems of the country have come in manifolds. What that tells you is that we need to ask ourselves some questions as a people. Up till now under democratic rule for over 20 years, are we faring better as a nation?

I have, by the opportunity of serving the nation, travelled to some parts of this country and I know what was happening then. Why is it that democratic government is now multiplying our problems? We should ask ourselves this and other questions? The question is, which direction are we going as a nation? Number one, any nation aspiring for greatness needs a direction. When people say, “We as a people”, it is not just the mere saying. And when we say “Nigeria our nation”, we should be prepared as a United people to contribute to its total progress. Not this one that when the leader is going to the right, the led go to the left.
All the problems of this country today are centered on the political class because they changed the national orientation of the people and the people, not helping themselves also, have lost their orientation. So much so that there is no longer concern about national interest. All you see or hear people say or reflect in their character or behaviour is self, personal interest, partisanship, even after general elections are long concluded and government already formed.

If all of these politicians actually want to serve the nation, once a government has emerged and there is four years tenure to build the nation, it should be the responsibility of those who did not make it in the elections to join hands with the successful in the business of building and moving the nation forward. It is because of the confusion, therefore, this political class has created or is creating by not cooperating with those in government to build the nation, that the reality of the problem at hand is not touched or really seen to be impactfully touched. This too much of consciousness about party – I’m in Party A, he is in Party B and you are in Party C – is causing us a great deal of backwardness as a country and as Nigerian people.

You talked about reality of the problem at hand not being touched. Do you mean to talk about insecurity or what exactly do you intend to say?

Today, the greatest war facing the country is poverty, penury, lack and want. Our nation as it were cannot boast of a hospital that can save lives. As a nation we need to be concerned. We should thank God almighty however. I must say that when this Covid-19 came and affected the whole human race, we were not prepared because, so many things were actually not available but we thank God for his grace. Things could have been worse than this.

So, as I said earlier, what do we think of our nation, Nigeria? We are already overwhelmed with our ethnic, religious, social status and so on and so forth. But poverty does not differentiate between human beings.

In my own part of the country, the Yoruba Land, we have people we called Oselu, who are people who are set out to serve. How many of the Oselu, people who claim to be serving, are actually serving now? Those that are serving, are they really serving? If you go to some parts of the country, you will see road contracts that have been awarded five times and, yet, the roads are not passable. That way do we think of growing and developing our nation? For almost two decades some communities cannot have access to portable water, yet governance has been on. They recycle such contract every year. What do we think of Nigeria as a nation?

This I say because if we are talking of Nigeria, we the people either make or mar the position of Nigeria among the comity of nations. Are we ready to serve? The worst is that, people who are patriotic enough to serve, we make them our enemies. They are unpopular people. If they speak the truth, people are sent after them and these people say, “Why is his own too much?”

So sad. In your days in government things were not really as obviously tough as it is today in terms of attitude of Nigerians towards their country and towards fellow citizens. Which way to solution?

I want to say that all we need is national orientation. We should stop deceiving ourselves. If the other parts of the world are abusing Nigeria, we should sit down and ask ourselves questions, “What have they seen in us before they start to abuse and call us the unprintable names they call us?” So sad our character and attitude have become. Act of inhumanity against humanity is on the increase in Nigeria. People kill, they maim, they destroy without remorse! Where are we today? If we love Nigeria, should we be battling with Boko Haram for many years and, as our energetic now overstretched military would have got to end of the challenge, because of negative attitude of the nationals towards own country, you have the problem still having its remnants. Something is wrong with us. Do we really love that nation, the land of our birth?

At this point you talk of your disappointment about prolonged battle against Boko Haram, a sitting governor has even blamed the military for the problem in his state. What do you make of that?

Well, don’t blame the man. When you are in the midst of a problem and you are overwhelmed, that is what you are likely to say. He was really disturbed, but at the end of the day now, he has been able to really reappraise, analyze and look at the direction. That is what I’m talking about. When people have collective effort, the solution is very, very close. But if anything happens, you see people decide to link it to political party; poverty, penury, sickness…

(Cuts in) Few days back the Governor of Zamfara State also said some politicians are gaining from the security crisis in the country. My question: If they know these sponsors of the crisis, what stops any such leader from taking action or why was he voted and trusted with power? Even the military, which is your professional constituency, should have been able to work on that lead coming from the governor and the one coming from a former CBN deputy governor. What is this thing about leadership of state, if we know the cause of problem and we cannot go after the cause?

I will go back to my earlier statement. If we love our father land, the land of our birth called Nigeria, we should damn the consequence when it comes to honesty, integrity and patriotism. That is lacking. The issue is, before the man finished his statement, don’t be surprised, they would have been planning for him. And those planning are blindfolded because they don’t think well of Nigeria as a nation.

The little I know of Nigeria is that, it is a great country, a nation created with so many potentials. Nigeria can take her position among the comity of nations with eagle speed, if Nigerians want it that way. But you see, they have created problems and we are facing so many fronts. Talk of Zamfara, talk of Katsina, Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, though those areas are still not totally free because these elements know how they do their things. And unfortunately, among our own nationals, many are involved. How then can we move forward?

Officers currently on the leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces, especially the Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff were at certain stage in the Nigerian Army your junior. How would you appraise their performances currently and what is your word for them moving forward?

First and foremost, like I said, our military are not doing badly. Nigerians only need to appreciate what they have been blessed with of the armed forces particularly the Nigerian Army under Buratai. I pray for them that God will continue to support and strengthen them to overcome the challenges they have taken responsubility to tackle on behalf of Nigeria and for the security and peace of the Nigerian people.

Having said that, let me say from the little that I know about the area that is the theatre of war, the North East. It is a vast area. The authority will now need to get more modern equipment to quickly nip in the bud the pace at which those elements are going. It is no longer funny. The troops on the ground are fully stretched whereby the same group of people are doing the same thing for over five, six years. They should have what is called change of tactics. Either their pace of doing things becomes low or they could be grounded to a halt.

But I know that the Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari has the means. Once they get these modern equipment, whereby from a distance they get these things sorted out. They know all these equipment and I cannot start discussing that in this media interview (laughing).

That is military thing and they know what to do and I am aware anyway that, that is being handled. Our military have the capacity and they will go all out and finish these things once and for all.

By saying he has the means, do you mean to say President Buhari has the capacity to end this insecurity particularly of the Boko Haram insurgency?

Certainly yes, he has. I am confident about the fact that President Buhari has the competence and capacity to finish the war and, finally, fully restore security across the country. Oh, yes, he has.

All I am pleading is that all this partisanship that politicians are using to disturb the progress the government is making must stop. All these Party A, Party B things should cease. What should occupy the mind of every player is, how can Nigeria overcome her diverse problems? Because, if a village in Nigeria is affected, the whole nation cannot move forward. Remember when a part of Cross River State was having issue over Bakassi, as a nation we were not at peace until there was solution.

I remember I was in Borno for two years and Chadian rebels invaded some parts of our own territory then. But it was nipped in the bud within a short time. With the fullest cooperation of the locals, people in authority, if they cooperate with government and the military, Boko Haram will become a thing of the past.

But above Boko Haram, which direction are we going as a nation? An hungry man in Port Harcourt has the same thing with somebody in Sokoto, who is also hungry. Both of them need food. A sick man is under the threat of death if medical care is not given at the right time. You are talking of security. Who are those people, are they foreigners, who have been causing untimely deaths of our fellow Nigerians? We, as a nation, need to move forward quickly and nip it in the bud. This is important because, after Boko Haram and we do not work together as a nation, another problem may crop up and it will begin to disturb our peace and security again.

On the youths

Our youths need to be fully engaged positively. Our children are not meant to be political hooligans. They are not meant to be political assassins. They are not meant to be armed robbers. Something should be done and so we should chart the way forward for success because, as it is now, hardly can anybody travel by road anywhere in Nigeria today without thinking of possible attack that can happen to him. But it wasn’t like that before.

You mean this insecurity on our roads and everywhere is recent?

It wasn’t like this before. I travelled in my own car from Yola, when I was in Adamawa, to Jaji in Kaduna where I went for a course. That is about 800 kilometres. I also travelled in my car with my family from the same Yola to Ibadan. We had a stopover at Gboko or so and by the second day we were in Ibadan. You just knew that there was a vast land in Nigeria, nobody would say “who is there?” But where are we today?

And so where did we go wrong?

It started from some people. If we love Nigeria, we should forget about North, East, South, we should forget about ethnic groups, we should forget about religious leanings and we should forget about this political thing that is causing problems for us as a nation and as a people.

I am a layman but I think it does not augur well for a nation to have many political parties. Do we need them? What for?
I remember when Baba Shehu Shagari was President of Nigeria and there were only five political parties. Nobody questioned, ‘why five?’ And they were ideology based. They had five political parties: two on each side and one was at the centre which joined any of the other four in forming government. That was what they did so that anytime the party at the centre wanted to have an upper hand, it joined one of the two on both side and that was it (Laughs). Then there was no problem.

But today, the number of political parties is the cause of some of the problems we have during elections. I mean if anybody is serious about moving Nigeria forward, he should look at this issue.

Of course I may be wrong, but that is my own opinion, that when INEC, Independent National Electoral Commission did its own job, they took it to court and then the court said it should reinstate the parties it deregistered. So, it means they are giving more room for confusion. We don’t need that number of political parties.

I am not saying people should not freely associate. It doesn’t mean to say somebody from my Local Government, for instance, who does not know where the council secretariat is, will just wake up one day and say he is setting up a political party. To achieve what? Does that make sense? We have well over 80 political parties in this country now. Does that make sense? As far as I am concerned, does that contribute to the progress of Nigeria?

But when we are even talking about building this country or getting things right, the judiciary take some decisions sometimes that one would want to wonder, are they really together with this effort?

They are to also note that the nation is looking at them, the judiciary. Realistically, within the framework of the law, INEC is not a body from nowhere. It was established through legal framework that is recognized by the Constitution. Now, how can they now rubbish what INEC has done in an effort to stabilize the polity? Now that those ones that have been deregistered have been reinstated, then we have taken one step forward and ten backward. Whatever reason they want to give in legal terms, let them tell the nation. But whatever they want to come out with must be in the overall interest of the nation.

When you see the logos of these political parties, many people are already confused that they will now need to be pointed to where they should thumbprint, especially elderly people. At my own stage I’m confused with the logos. Are we moving forward that way or we are moving backward? We should ask ourselves question of this nature.

Just before I end my questions, Your Excellency, what do you make of this talk about Nigeria’s image home and abroad. Is anything about Nigeria really truly negative or what is wrong with us as a people?

Well, I must start, first and foremost, on the grace of God upon Nigeria. Whatever we claim that is good is all by the grace of God. In the past, and we need to go back to that past, we meant good together.

I started my military career as a boy soldier and I make bold to say that Nigerians loved one another. Whatever is now trying to tear us apart is something the political class must correct. They are causing unnecessary problems when it comes to trying to win elections.

For goodness sake, we on our own can do better if given the chance. We are not lazy. The problem they (political class) are causing is not real; spreading or encouraging embers of hatred, ethnicity, fake news, dangerous rumours, in fact some are so terrible, which they do and these are things we Nigerians, ourselves, should look at and say no to them anymore.

For example, if somebody from my village steals, people in other village should not condemn the whole village. Take that fellow as a Nigerian, who has sinned against the law and so, let him undergo the due process of the law. Don’t generalize that my village is village of rogues.

Automatically and finally, you as a person does not subscribe to this idea where a member of a tribe commits a crime and the entire tribe is tagged as criminal?

There is no need for tagging criminals after their tribe or religion. Crime has no religion. It has no tribe and has no class. Anybody who has committed a crime should be treated as a criminal not as what religion, tribe or class he belongs to.

I think, to me, we still love ourselves in this country. On the issue of unity, we don’t have problem with that if the political class is not encouraging unnecessary division among us and creating unnecessary problems for us. Like you have said, when people say things that they cannot defend or substantiate and once it goes viral, it is very difficult to retrieve and he says, “No, it is not true” and you then say you want to amend.

So, as far as I am concerned, we are optimistic as a people because, some people are thinking and saying that the nation would be on fire. But the question is, if we burn our nation, where do we go? I am personally happy to be a Nigerian and I am happy to be in the midst of my fellow Nigerians because, that is how it has been from our founding fathers. To talk anything about separation now is unfortunate. What are you separating? If we have not fought a Civil War, it may be strange to us. But we had fought a war of national unity. Whatever is left, we should look at it and find a way of moving forward with it. There is no nation in the world that has no problems. The only thing is that they are able to manage their problems.