Secession not part of restructuring — Jemibewon

A former military governor of the defunct Western Region, Gen. David Jemibewon (retd.),  tells GBENGA ODOGUN that the Middle Belt people will remain part of Nigeria if the country breaks up

As a strong voice in the Middle Belt, what is your view on restructuring?

I think restructuring is a necessity. Any organisation or society that wants to move with the time must be open to restructuring. What is most important in this argument is that we need to have a definition as to what we mean by restructuring and the extent to which we want to restructure. Let us even go in to the elementary meaning; in your room, there are times you will want to change the arrangement of furniture and other items. This is an example of minor restructuring. So, for an individual, in whatever he engages in, he needs occasional review; that review may also lead to a major or minor restructuring. Even, a beautiful thing requires more efforts to sustain that beauty, to make it more beautiful. Again, when you look at a programme, if you feel that certain aspect of it was not done as expected and would need  some adjustments or changes, then you have to review it; that is a kind of restructuring. It has to be done with a view to make you do it well or even makes it better.

Even in areas you think you have done well. Sometimes, we need periodical review and the objective will be to effect a better performance; that in itself is restructuring.

How do you think restructuring could be actualised in Nigeria?

I want to believe that on a daily basis, unknown to us, there are some few things that may be undergoing restructuring. When I was a young man, I grew up to know the provinces. But as a result of political development either positively or negatively, we came up with regions. There were northern, western, and eastern regions. Later on, the Mid-West became a region. After some time, we had 12 states before they were increased to 19 and now, we have 36. Our people need to come together to give the exact definition of what they actually mean by restructuring. If necessary, let us give a period of time for that restructuring to take place.

A lot of people need to meet at different fora and levels and arrive at a consensus on how best to approach it, but I won’t support anybody who just sits down and says no to restructuring without giving a reason.

Are you calling for another confab?

Not necessarily, because to me we already had one and the report is ready. We also have the National Assembly in place. The members are our representatives; they should be the one to move for restructuring and each representative would then go back to his or her constituency, sit down with the people to decide where they wish to belong. If the National Assembly is not there, it is a different matter. They are the constituted authority to make laws; there is no way we can bring another committee up that would have superior authority and idea about restructuring than the National Assembly.

Do you think that secession should be part of the restructuring?

How can it be part of the restructuring? That, in itself, is a criminal matter. Secession is criminal. What is allowed in the constitution is that any part of the country that wants to opt out of the country can. However, I am sure there must be a clause of either through plebiscite or referendum. But, I am not too sure if any country will allow fragmentation. In any case, when you talk of secession you are already in the realm of criminality and no country will allow that.

What percentage do you think your people should negotiate for in the restructuring process?

I wouldn’t know the thought of some of my people on the issue but I can say that we are for the unity and progress of Nigeria in the Middle Belt, which some people refer to as the North Central. We are perhaps the best Nigerians both in terms of orientation and fighting for the unity of the country because we are in the centre. I can see that you (reporter) are wearing a belt; remove your belt and tell me what will happen.

So, we are in the Middle Belt; we hold the North and the South together. We are the strength of the nation. We cannot but support restructuring. However, we need to define what we mean by restructuring; the procedure that the restructuring will take and what the provision for reviewing must be, if this country has to move forward from where it is now. So, for the restructuring to be meaningful, there must be provision for it; the review of the polity to give room for devolution of power. That will take me to the topic of Federal Character.

Just before independence and at independence, those in government wanted every part of the country to feel the impact of government and partake in the developmental process. Hence, the idea of representation came up but today, Federal Character has been misapplied because there was no provision for constant review. There was a time getting admission into the universities or Federal Government colleges was difficult, because candidates were admitted on the basis of representation and that led to the collapse of education in the country. So, we need to have a constant review mechanism. Therefore, I want to submit that restructuring must be properly defined so that it won’t have to re-occur. For instance,  we used to have regions, later we went to states and people are still agitating for more states, when is it going to stop?

Do you think that the 2014 confab report sufficiently addressed the issue of restructuring?

I don’t know because I am not sure whether I read it and if I did, I am not sure it sufficiently captured all the agitations. Therefore, I cannot answer that question and that is number one. Number two, it doesn’t matter what the report says, there can be no report that will sufficiently address all problems. What it simply means is that when you solve one problem, you are creating more problems. What we should aim to achieve is that the problem we are creating from our attempt to improve on the old one should not have more negative aspects than the one that we are trying to solve.

Will you push for the implementation of the confab report by the Muhammadu Buhari administration?

I have thought about that, what I can say is that government is a continuum. I think those who set up committees, whether they are called constitutional conferences or whatever, should establish such conferences in such a way that they should be able to implement the recommendations contained in the reports of such committees. They should not set up committees or conferences on the eve of their departure and create the impression that they are already taking decisions for the incoming government. If you have a period of four years or eight years, why wait till the third or seventh year before you put any committee or conference in place? The successor, it doesn’t matter who he is or even if he is from your party, he will like to study the document before he takes any decision. So, it will be difficult to hold the Buhari’s government responsible for the non-implementation of the 2014 confab report.

Some people have called for the creation of more states. Will  you support such agitation or you think some states should be scrapped?

First of all, creation of states in Nigeria has underdeveloped the country. For instance, in my state (Kogi State), if somebody asked me if progress have been recorded since its creation 25 years ago, I won’t know what to say. So, for some people to demand for the creation of more states, I am not sure such people mean well for this country. Such people merely wanted an opportunity for their people to produce governors and have sirens for their cars and other paraphernalia of office. I tell you, what is Kogi State today used to be Kabba Province with four divisions namely Ebira,  Igala,  Kabba and Koton Karfe division. Today, Koton Karfe and Kabba constitute the western senatorial district; Ebira division constitutes the central senatorial district. In those days, each division had divisional secretary or district officer with a sub-treasury. At the moment we have 36 state governors; I don’t know the number of commissioners but they cannot be less than 10 in each state. When Chief Obafemi Awolowo was premier of the defunct Western Region, there were only three commissioners. But today, there are five states from that region with not less than three times the number of aides that Awolowo had at that time and yet the economy at that time was more buoyant than what we have today.

If Nigeria breaks up, what region or geopolitical zone will your people follow?

I was born a Nigerian and by the grace of God I will die a Nigerian and I will always offer the best advice to my people. But that does not mean that everyone will follow whatever position I take. There could be those who will not follow my advice for some reasons but I don’t pray for Nigeria to break up. I will always be part of what is remaining as Nigeria even if there is a break-up.

Like I said earlier, we are the Middle Belt, we hold the North and the South together, though we are in the minority. When you put us all together, we are in the majority and we are the backbone of the country.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has been dialoguing with various sections of the country to preach peace; do you think his moves will achieve desired result without the restructuring?

I want to congratulate the Acting President for the steps he has taken so far to unite the country. Comparatively, he is still a young man, well educated and vibrant. He resides in an environment where he can draw from the experience and result of highly intellectual and confident people. I am sure his boss has great confidence in him and I support and pray for him to succeed. No doubt some people might want to sabotage his efforts. But once he believes in what he is doing as a very religious man, I believe he is on the right path.

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Secession not part of restructuring — Jemibewon

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