Alhaji Tanko Yakassa, an elder statesman and founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), in this interview with BODE OLAGOKE, speaks on why opponents of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu should accept the outcome of the presidential election, his expectation for the incoming administration and why Tinubu should not form a government of national unity, among others.
What’s your observation of presidential election in Nigeria?
I was born 11 years after the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates into Nigeria. I have therefore lived through and witnessed the torments of the colonial rule, the suffering of the Second World War, the agony of the military rule in our country, fought for independence for our country and the beginning of pluralism of democracy in Nigeria.
I have witnessed the many political crises and turmoil in this country, including our civil war and its devastating impact on the ordinary people and our national unity. I can therefore make bold to say that anybody in my position would not like to see a repeat of these unfortunate tragedies. It is from this background that I address you today. To those who contested and lost, I urge them all in the spirit of democratic tenets and our national interest to embrace the outcome and congratulate the winner. As in every election, there has to be a winner and a loser.
How would you rate the conduct of the elections by the INEC?
Events in Nigeria leading to the just conducted general elections is relatively calmer and in peaceful atmosphere devoid of rancour and disharmony. But I must congratulate Nigerians on the peaceful election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission. I also commend the federal government for giving INEC all the necessary support without which this success wouldn’t have been possible. To the umpire, I congratulate INEC for the wonderful elections and their resolve to ensure that the will of the majority of the people is always respected and upheld. I charge them to do more during the forthcoming gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.
What is your reaction to Obasanjo’s call for cancellation of results?
I listened to his call and I read it in the newspapers. My reaction was that I was very disappointed. I did not expect it from a man of his calibre, a former military ruler transformed into an elected president in Nigeria. You don’t build democracy overnight. Of course, that is the process all over the world. It is evolving. For anybody to expect democracy to nurture and mature within a period of few years is a mere dream. I will say that I’m disappointed by the sudden appeal by former President Obasanjo. Clearly from the contents of his appeal, it came to him as an afterthought. It is not a well prepared statement. But I’m glad that people did not listen to you and the election has been conducted peacefully all over the country and the outcome has been respected by Nigerians and the international community at large.
We know North has several challenges. What will you want Tinubu to do for your people?
We are lucky that’ll, I think for the first time in history, a president is elected who has what it takes in terms of experience in democracy. As you know, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and also a two-term elected governor of our former Federal Capital Territory, Lagos. And nobody has any doubt that former governor, Asiwaju, has performed creditably in developing Lagos and took it to a higher level of development.
You sounded like you are familiar with what Lagos used to be?
Well, I recently told a friend that I’ve not been to Lekki. I stayed in Lagos for five years. I’ve been travelling there on and off since 1952. But the last time I visited Lagos was when a friend invited me for something. After my arrival and I was taken to a hotel, I realised that I have some more hours to spare. I decided that I have to go and visit Lekki. That was area that I’ve never been to, despite spending five years in Lagos. So I asked my driver to take me around because I didn’t plan to go visit anybody in particular. He took me around Lekki and I saw a lot of wonderful sights. But the most impressive thing that I saw was the expansion of the territory of Lagos through reclamation of the sea, which provided enough room for the expansion for a landlocked place like Lagos.
For the first time, I found that there are two trajectories in Lagos. The road leading to the eastern part of the country through Benin-Ore and the rest of the East. Then there is the other one going to Ibadan and other areas.
There is also the notorious traffic jam that we suffered in Lagos through my five-year stay, has virtually disappeared because of these innovations. When I was brought back to my hotel, I didn’t allow my driver to go. I said, “Look, I’ve witnessed tremendous changes in Lagos having been away for several years. Any time I went, it is just to do some work. I’m surprised to see this wonderful development and wanted to know who is responsible for it. My driver told me that it was made possible by the government of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his successors. He told me that he trained his lieutenants to continue the blueprint of development from where he stopped.
Does that appear strange to an elder statesman like you?
Well, it is unlike what happens elsewhere where a new administration comes to start development all over again after abandoning the previous development started by his predecessor. This is our challenges in Nigeria, that a new government will not be interested in building from where its predecessor has left. Then we’ll start all over again for the mere greed of awarding contract and getting 10 per cent out of the contract. I was really impressed that you can go to the east without anybody bothering you just as you can also head to the north from the same Lagos without experiencing trouble. So I told myself okay, whoever is able to do this, if he can get the opportunity to rule Nigeria, he will do better.
So since then, I’ve made up my mind that any day I have two people in my mind that want to come out to become the president of Nigeria, I will give my support to one of them. One of them is from the North. The other one is from the South. But my result is that I will start even my support to anybody from the south. But my resolve is that I will start giving my support to anybody from the South because the North has ruled Nigeria for so long. And it is time that we give our fellow compatriots ample sense of belonging that they are part and parcel of Nigeria in the area of development and governance.
There have been calls on the President-elect Tinubu to consider forming government of national unity. Do you align with this school of thought?
No, I won’t advise Tinubu to do that. I want democracy to develop. Democracy is a business of competition. Repeal competition from democracy, you have killed democracy. So let everybody come with his own programme. The electorate voted for him. Let him put his programme into action. And where he concludes his own part, let the man coming after him build from where the previous man stopped. This is how you develop a country. And, in fact, this is how this house we are staying was built. They did the foundation, after then structure, vanishing of the house, painting and the rest of them. That is how you do it. This is how it should also be in nation building. It is what people all over the world are doing and this is what we should be doing.
What do you think should be Tinubu’s priorities in his first 100 days in office?
Unfortunately, you directed the right question to the wrong person. You see, I am a politician. I joined politics in 1952 after I was born in 1925. By the way, I am 88 years old now hoping to stay for another five or more years. I served in government, first as commission of information in my state of Kano. I ended up as commissioner for finance. I stayed in government throughout the duration of General Yakubu Gowon administration. In Kano, we run our administration for eight years. And I realised that I was changed from one ministry to another two or three times. Anytime you are moved from one ministry to another in the same government, you are going to start afresh in your new place of posting. So my own approach is that I don’t share this agenda imposed on this nation. I am sorry for this because I’m a journalist too.
The idea obviously didn’t appeal that much to you. Isn’t it?
This 100 days in office agenda is never being set for any incoming administration in any country of the world except this country. You are limited the scope of the incoming administration to force them to adopt makeshift programmes. When people are contesting election, they are contesting on the platform of a political party. We produced a programme. The moment you compressed them into 100 days, you are distorting the programme of their political party. Give them freedom to act in accordance with the provision of their party’s manifesto. So I’m not one of those who expect any miracle to happen in 100 days of administration, particularly in a new government coming to take over from a government that has been there for some time, particularly in a country where probably the new administration is not the same in the party formation in the previous administration. I am not one of those who talk of 100 days in office. I want the new administration to be pure and free to develop the countries according to the programme of his budget.
What will be your advice to Tinubu at this hour?
My call to the winner Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to run an all inclusive government that will give every Nigerian from all parts of the country a sense of belonging. I am sending my congratulations to him for this well deserved victory. This election has shown that democracy is evolving and consolidating in Nigeria and I urge the President-elect to re-introduce the strategy of National Development Plan which is universally accepted as a panacea for nation building.
