Lagos template can’t work in Abuja –Dele Momodu

By Henry Uche

Nigerian journalist and publisher of Ovation International magazine, Dele Momodu in this monitored interview on Channel Television spoke about President Tinubu’s administration among other issues

And how do you reply to those raising eyebrows over your letter to President Tinubu?

My answer is very simple and straightforward. One, I did not say the president is not trying. But what I’m suggesting is that there are some urgent steps I expected him to take and those steps have not been taken. Those who say oh, l should allow him to settle down, I’ve been in politics and following politics in Nigeria since 1982, 42 years. And I can tell you that more often than not, the beginning always determines the end in Nigerian politics.

I have no doubt in my mind that this government is not ready. And I will give you my reasons but before I do that, let me tell you that one of the reasons it took me about a year plus to write this letter was that I listened to different people. There were people who called me directly; some people called my family saying Tinubu is your friend, you were together in exile, and I appreciate all those sentiments. So you would have noticed that even my column on the back page of Thursday newspaper, I rested it in the last one year, deliberately, because I know I’ll be tempted to write some things with some of these elders that I respect so much from art. And therefore, the reasons I didn’t write anything, I remember a retired general in particular, who called my wife to say, oh no, Dele should leave Bola alone. I’m not holding him, all I think I owe him is to tell him the truth. Let me tell you, I started my life from Ife.

From reading Professor Wole Soyinka, you can see the book, it doesn’t even have a cover. I bought this book in 1978 on 24th of June. ‘The man dies in all who keeps Silent in the face of tyranny.’ So I have seen that this government would wish if possible to have a one party state, so but why did we go to exile? Why did they die for democracy, if at the end of the day, we’re not going to practise democracy, is it not hypocritical of me and the rest of us, if we don’t speak truth to our friend which we’re able to speak to Obasanjo? We’re able to speak to Yara’Adua, we’re able to speak to Jonathan, we’re able to speak to Buhari, even Buhari who left power as an APC president, APC is attacking him today. So, why should opposition logically not be able to speak truth to the APC ruling government? So, that is where we are, and what did I say to him?

That Nigeria is heading; one, in the wrong direction, heading into trouble, I saw what happened and the happening in Kenya. Oh, it’s our leaders, is their moment of greediness, sorry, it cannot happen here, because we apply ethnic coloration. We have a Yoruba President and whether we like it or not, he must do his eight years. Is the North that is fighting, is the Obidients, I mean, all these things we’ve heard before, you know, don’t help a nation. So, I expect the President to do the following. One cut the waste, it is too much, it is gargantuan. I remember Chief M.K.Abiola used to say that ‘there is enough for the need of every Nigerian but there is not enough for the greed of some Nigerians’. God has given Nigeria everything that we need to survive and not just to survive, but to make progress. Unfortunately, some politicians are not ready, they are not prepared to downgrade their lifestyle. And I keep telling them if you know that politics is not profitable for you, you can go back to your business. I have built my own little business, I’m a man of modest income. I’ve never been in government, Tinubu was governor for eight years in Lagos. Did you see me there, I didn’t ask for appointment, Buhari that I supported, after two months, I saw he was going nowhere, immediately I apologized to Nigeria. And so why should I now keep quiet and not be able to talk to my own friend and my own brother? And some people say I could have requested for an appointment to see him. I said no, I will not allow myself to be blackmailed by busy bodies, who are waiting, ah! Dele will soon go to Aso rock for appointments, and that’s a cheap blackmail that we all get in Nigeria, a man who has been out of power in 42 years. You are now saying he’s desperate, I’ll be 65 next year, and I have my plans already for my retirement?

I’ve completed my leadership centre in Ibadan, with library and everything. The path I’ve chosen for myself is different. I want to be free to tell my friends the truth. Because in the future, someone would say, ah but you spoke about all the other leaders, how come you couldn’t speak about Bola Tinubu and that is why I am addressing this letter to the President, that please, cut the waste, that is the number one, is very urgent. Then empower our youth by igniting a vocational revolution. It’s not about people going to school. We have so many graduates, if not millions of them now who can’t find jobs, there are things you can do. Now they say they are sending N50,000 to about 3 million Nigerians. Please how does that make sense in a country of over 200 million people? That money could have created more than 1 million fresh entrepreneurs who would get 1 million each immediately. And then those ones will have the domino effects, those ones will now employ five to 10 people each. You don’t give money out as if it’s water. Buhari people did it, they put cash on table, at this time and age in this modern time, put cash on table and people will queue up like beggars to come and collect 5000 Naira; it is demeaning on Nigerians, Nigerians are too brilliant for this. It’s too bad of a government.

Those in Tinubu School of governance are saying you are not speaking the truth?

Who are these followers of APC and when did they become followers of APC? That’s another matter. I’ll answer you directly on frontally. When you talk about economics, and the economy, there are two different things. Economics is the theoretical aspect of the economy. The economy is the practical side of economics, no matter the high saluting theories you bring from IMF, World Bank, as long as it does not reflect on the lives of Nigerians, you are just blowing grammar. It’s all about semantics. I am telling you that that there is no country, if you look at crisis from Venezuela to anywhere, even Brazil go and read their trajectories, you will see that IMF is always a problem. During the Babangida era, I remember one of the first stories I wrote for African Concord magazine, they talked about SAP, it’s the magic word sob, is the only thing that will lead us to heaven and Paradise. Where did SAP lead Nigeria? Maybe you will remember the SAP riot of 1989. You know I’m a good student of Nigeria history. And I know that what these people are saying, Oh, just relax. Let me tell you, why would a leader be sworn in on May 29, 2023, and the first thing he did was to give bad news to the people? You are talking about renewed hope. You did not even wait one second. If you rush a patient to a doctor, what is the first thing the doctor will do? The doctor will first stabilize the patient.

So, if they rush a person to a doctor, and then the doctor says oh, this guy cannot survive, and he said let’s just give him injection so that he can die once and for all, that’s what happened on May 29, 2003. The doctor gave an injection which killed Nigeria instantly. There was no rush. You needed to be there since you were not there with Buhari to know why an army general had the courage to take that decision. But because our man was coded that you are Bola Tinubu, you are made to believe that you can do anything and nothing will happen; show courage,  show muscle, that’s what led us to this crises. We have not recovered, just one injection. Just one injection, Nigeria went into coma, that is what I meant.

Is Bola Tinubu not competent and capable of leading Nigeria? What exactly are you saying in your letter?

I’m someone who believes in star- stocked cabinet. If you ask me today, President Ibrahim Babangida minus the June 12 annulment, he had one of the best cabinets in Nigeria and he tried his best. Obasanjo also tried his best to assemble the best, and God is my witness today. If you ask me to name 10 ministers in Tinubu’s cabinet and to tell you what they did or did not do before they were appointed, I will struggle, that is the truth, and ask an average person, and I don’t consider myself average not to look. What we have today is that someone transferred the Lagos template to Abuja. And that’s why we’re failing. Nigeria parades the greatest human beings on planet Earth. I’ve travelled a bit, there is nowhere, up to Australia and I don’t meet Nigerians doing great things. Where are those people? In today’s Nigeria, is either you are the son of… the daughter of….Nigeria cannot continue to operate on the basis of compensation, I must compensate my friend. I must compensate my former schoolmate. No, Nigeria right now is playing World Cup and you are picking weak players. No! We cannot do that! And that’s why I wrote that letter. A lot of people around there now, their lives totally depend on Tinubu, they cannot tell the truth. I know what a lot of them say behind when they see us behind, ah you know, we can’t talk ah. If we talk….that is the truth. And I know very well, right from the time we were in exile, when he was governor for eight years. I would tell him, I write letters, anyway, I write letters all the time. I wrote to, Obasanjo, I wrote to Buhari, I wrote all of that, including Jonathan, and that is why I’m also writing to a man that I know we’ve come way back, if he’s watching, he knows I’ll always tell him the truth.

One drastic decision the president can take?

Kill these profligacy. That is number one. The economy. No matter what you do, if you continue to borrow money to fund lifestyle, Nigeria will continue to fail. So, the president must make that personal choice and personal sacrifice by calling his people to order and making himself a scape goat. If I were in his shoes, that’s the first thing I do to make sure, look at this issue of presidential jet, people shouted against it, they didn’t listen, Yacht,  people shouted against it, they didn’t listen. Building of houses for vice president, president, they did not listen,  so how do they expect people to follow you in good conscience. They said the man  on whose behalf you are fasting should not be seen eating lunch.

That’s the way the Yoruba say it, so that you want Nigerians to fast and because of you to succeed, and yet the biggest beneficiary of that success, people see you enjoying life. You are not even ready to compromise your own personal lifestyle. Then people are not going to follow you. The key element of leadership is trust. Once people trust you….oh when the disciples of Jesus trusted him, he told them to come, you float on water, they will believe you because they can see him, himself in floating on the water.

So, it shouldn’t be a case of do as I say, not as I do, and that is why I’m saying in that letter, that the greatest thing you can do for Nigeria is to make that personal sacrifice. Sell off all these presidential jets. Before you became president, God blessed you, you had your own private jet, you can go back to it. If your entourage needs to come with you, then call Air Peace, or any airline that has good planes in Nigeria and they will supply, you will pay, the money remains in Nigeria. That’s the way it should be done.

Dangote refinery /FG brouhaha

Well, again, social media is awash with the issue of the Dangote refinery, and instead of me rehashing what people are saying, let me just tell you my own solution. Mr. President, in this season of anomie in Nigeria, needs all the friends he can get in the private sector. Nobody should feel victimized, you saw the frustration in Dangote’s voice; when I was watching on television, his hairs have grown grey all of a sudden almost looking like Wole Soyinka, and he’s almost looking like it’s a crime to be an investor in Nigeria and I saw the report in the Financial Times, in Bloomberg and all of them. It would not help Nigeria, no matter what anybody has, I don’t know who has grudges to bear with him. They should call him into a bedroom. If it is money, they should talk to him. Oh, we heard that you collected these, you didn’t do that. Let them go and settle it behind closed doors. We cannot afford to wash these dirty linens in public; it is going to boomerang on all of us. And that’s my attitude. And I believe this man has invested so much in Nigeria, just like other people, we have lots of good businessman in Nigeria, doing great things, we should encourage them, if they all run away, now he said one of his friends is laughing at him because he warned him not to put all his eggs in one basket. I’ve seen other countries where Dangote invested. I’ve been to his plant in Ethiopia, in Zambia. I’ve been to his plant in Tanzania, and I can see the efforts those countries are making to accommodate him there. We should not chase our businesses away. I’m sure other business people in Nigeria are watching and would say, hey, if this can happen to Dangote, it can happen to me. And everybody’s scared, we should not create this panic, we can’t afford this at this time.