Makinde: Nigeria’s elite are dividing the country with political ambitions

Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state, says Nigeria’s elite are causing division among the citizens with their political ambitions.

Makinde spoke in Abuja on Wednesday at the public presentation of “Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined An Administration”, authored by Lai Mohammed, former minister of information and culture.

He said Nigerians already have a consensus about wanting a united country, adding that there must be an early agreement among all stakeholders about how to solve the problem.

Makinde recalled how he and the late former President Muhammad Buhari contested elections on the platform of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2007 and lost but later won after a four-year interval.

“We were actually together the first time I contested in 2007. I was the senatorial candidate of ANPP in Oyo south senatorial district; Governor Ajimobi was the governorship candidate, and President Buhari was the presidential candidate for ANPP in 2007,” the governor said.

“The three of us visited the late Alaafin, and he prayed for us and said we would win, but we lost. The three of us lost.

“Then, four years later, in 2011, Governor Ajimobi won under ACN; he became governor of Oyo state.

“Four years later, in 2015, President Buhari won; he became president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Four years later, I won and became governor.

So, what it means is, it is only God that can determine when and how the trajectory of all of us is. And why am I saying this? My experience being in government for close to seven years now – I’ll be 58 maybe in 10 days – and I have only been in public office close to seven years of my entire life.

“My experience is that Nigerians, ordinary Nigerians, already have a consensus and they want a Nigeria, but the elite, we the elite, are the ones dividing the country because of our ambitions. He’s a Christian, Muslim, Hausa/Fulani, or Yoruba.

“I came here to say with his book because I know the author; he is a Nigerian that will attract all sorts of people across the divide.

“That’s why I’m here. I’m not APC, and I’m not about crossing to APC either. So, because we have here Nigerians from across the divide, I believe we need early consensus, just like Professor Afolabi mentioned. We need early consensus on how to move forward.

“But I leave you with one thing to ponder. He said here that Nigeria’s independence was negotiated under a certain condition. Of course, the federalism was settled in that negotiation; multiparty was settled in that negotiation.

“Prof also said civil war came and we went towards a unitary arrangement. Yes, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss with some of our leaders that were players in that period, and they said, ‘Well, the only problem they were faced with as of that time was that they went through a civil war; they were going to unite Nigeria.’

“That is the only problem. So, federalism and all those things they negotiated became secondary. Their major concern was to unite Nigeria.

“But is it the same problem that we are faced with today? So, we must identify the problem that we are faced with today and design something that will allow us to tackle that problem.

“There must be an arrangement, like the prof said, where there would be no winner takes all politically in Nigeria.”