Nigeria won’t have proper democracy until 1966’s set of Generals passes away: Ogunlewe

A former senator, Minister of Works and leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ikorodu, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe is a man who speaks real politics. The astute politician in an interview declared that unless the All Progressives Congress (APC) decides not to hold a convention, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would emerge the candidate of the party for the 2023 election.

Speaking on the issue of zoning in APC, he said, “There has never been 100 per cent zoning in any election in Nigeria. In 1999 and 2003, Alex Ekwueme contested against former President Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2011, Abubakar Atiku contested against President Jonathan. The issue of zoning doesn’t matter at all for anybody who is a serious contender, you can still contest. The party can never and the constitution does not allow discrimination to that level. You cannot say we have zoned and only that area would bring candidate.

“It is not like that. Everybody who believed there was decision to zone to the South West in 1999 is not correct because the original structure of G37 was led by Ekwueme and no Yoruba man was at the forefront of that struggle at that time. Although, Bola Ige also joined them later, but the main actors that fought against national structure, apart from NADECO, was the G37 and it was coordinated and managed by Ekwueme.

“When it came to decision-making, Ekwueme and Shagari were President and Vice-President foisted by the military. When the military wanted to give back, they would give it to people they drove away from government? They believed it would be dangerous. That is why they decided to give it to someone, who was part of them. That was why they gave it to Obasanjo, who can protect them.

“There is underlying decision-making process in Nigeria that is not known to all of us- everybody wants to protect himself. How do you allow someone that is perceived as your enemy to take over the government of the country and the power of the presidency is too enormous to be toyed with. Everybody is being careful.

“Probably, in the next 10 years, most of the generals who participated in the coup would have gone. Maybe, Nigeria would have been more stable. They are still very predominant in the government of Nigeria,” he stated.

Answering questions on whether the Generals are responsible for the production of the president of Nigeria, he said, “They cannot excuse themselves. They cannot pretend that they don’t care. They must care. They must anticipate probable problems and that is what is playing out in Nigeria, which people are not seeing. But it will take time for them to exit and there will be fresh set of people who did not participate in all the atrocities the military had committed since 1965. Until all of them leave the stage, Nigeria cannot have proper democracy because of their fear. I really appreciate all their fears.

On whether it includes the current president, he added that “I don’t know but all the Generals, because it happened in Argentina and they are so scared of who is going to be the president of Nigeria and I don’t blame them. Look at the history. They foisted some people; they removed them from power. They gained grounds; they established, they have oil blocs and they are now wealthy to determine who is going to succeed them or who is going to be president of Nigeria and you want them to give it to somebody they don’t trust? It is difficult.” (New Telegraph)