To impeach Daniel is an impossible task - Alimi

Taiwo AllimiAremo Taiwo Allimi, former Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), is also the Coordinator of Ogun State Elders’ Consultative Forum. In this interview with Sulaimon Olanrewaju and Saka Gbeminiyi, he speaks on the essence of the forum and what it is doing in resolving the crisis in the Ogun State House of Assembly. Excerpts.

YOU once served as a commissioner in Ogun State during the military regime. Based on that, one would have expected that you would have joined the mainstream politics with the return of democracy but you have not. Why?
As a matter of principle. I have taken a decision with God that I will not be in partisan politics in Nigeria. I know that there are other areas where I can contribute, through my varied experiences, to national development. I will not contest even as a councilor. What happens is, I don’t apologise for this, since the passing on of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, good political engineering faded away. It will take quite a long time before we can see several men and women of principle that will be leading the political arena in Nigeria. So, individuals like me will become public affairs analysts and commentators on current affairs. We will be assisting. Where we see good governance in terms of efforts, we will go there and assist. If, for instance, President Umaru Yar’Adua begins in his second year some semblance of good governance purposeful and focused national leadership, then we will give our full support. For personal reasons and reasons of principle, I will not go into partisan politics.

A crisis erupted in Ogun State House of Assembly recently. As elders, did you notice anything that could have led to the crisis before its eruption?
I have to make it clear that the forum does not go into finding out what is happening either in the government or House of Assembly. We are concerned about policies. What is happening is that the elders know that in Ogun State, there is peace through their efforts. With the consistent efforts of the Elders’ Forum, trying to have peace in the state, coupled with the efforts of the governor, who has been a listening governor to the forum in terms of policy initiatives that are suggested to him, as well as his own performance in office since 2003, we have in Ogun State, stable conditions for sustainable development.

You will then agree that as far as Ogun State Elders’ Forum is concerned, maintaining peace remains an integral part of governance and development because without peace we cannot have development. That is the way we see what is happening in Ogun State today. As a result of the efforts of government since 2003 and efforts of the forum since 2005, what has been happening in terms of development initiatives has been benefiting majority of the people of Ogun State. What we are now insisting on as elders is that whatever it is that government is doing is not so much about today, it is about the tomorrow of Ogun State.

How do you think the crisis can be resolved to ensure progress and development in the state?
Essentially, the Elders forum has commenced an initiative, a peace effort. Between now and end of the month, it will become apparent what the forum is doing. What we want to do is to find an amicable and enduring resolution to what I will call the mini-conflict in the house. We don’t want to do a fire brigade thing. We will study the entire situation. We are not to interfere in the work of the legislature but we will take a hard look at how this mini conflict can affect peace. Once it affects peace, it will affect development, once it affects development, it will affect the living conditions of the people of Ogun State.

The effort has commenced. Since the mini-conflict happened, I have been in close contact with quite a number of the members of the forum. It is agreed we will commence a process but we will not interfere in the work of the House of Assembly.

But given the stance of the new leadership of the house do you think anything worth the while will come from your effort?
All good citizens of Ogun State know that the impeachment of a speaker is a serious matter. Regardless of what the 22 members are saying, the impeachment of a speaker is not something a group will say we have done it and we have done it.

One, I want to ask the questions, for this impeachment of Speaker Ogun State House of Assembly, were all the citizens of Ogun State aware of the event that led to it? Were all the citizens of Ogun State aware of the fundamental issues that led to it? Were all the citizens of Ogun State aware of the options that must be taken in all the events and the fundamental issues. Those are the questions they have not answered. If the answer to each of the question is no: then the 22 lawmakers goofed. .This is not a matter of we can impeach and we have impeached. If they then have goofed, their action is highly suspect. I will give one example to the whole country. Right now, Barak Obama is contesting to be president of the United States . He is a member of Congress in the United States . Before a session sits, Obama will go back to his constituency, tell them the debate that will be coming up in Congress and the leaders of his constituency will say this is where we stand. He goes back and does exactly what his constituency wants him to do because he is representing them. That is the pedigree that Obama is bringing into his campaign that there is nothing he has done in Congress without carrying his constituency along.

Therefore, did these 22 lawmakers carry their constituencies along? I am in a constituency, the person representing me there did not summon a meeting of elders in Sagamu to tell us, “this is what is happening, this is the way I want to vote”. When we see that he has points we then tell him go ahead. He did not do that. That is a very serious omission for somebody representing a constituency.

Another question is that how does arrogance or intolerance or high handedness constitute impeachable offence? In the constitution, none of these constitutes gross misconduct. Therefore, the lawmakers goofed. I have read the constitution and I did not see arrogance or intolerance as a gross misconduct. Therefore the action of the lawmakers is seriously suspect.

The action of the lawmakers has brought to the fore some things that everybody must take a look at. The first is that the people of Ogun State have ignored the impeachment. Why? Three reasons can be adduced. One, in the last one year the House of Assembly has no performance record. There is not a single private member’s bill that has been passed and the governor assented which touches on the lives of the people of the state. So, the Ogun State public has ignored the impeachment. The impeachment really resides on the pages of newspapers.

Second, the overwhelming majority of the people of Ogun State are used to good governance through Obafemi Awolowo. Therefore, they have seen in Otunba Gbenga Daniel, a governor that has performed well since 2003. His performance has touched their lives. That is another reason the public ignored the impeachment. Though the House has not performed, since the governor is performing, government is performing.

The third is that the Ogun State public has seen that through exemplary performance of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, he has proved to the world what I will call the unworthiness of the political opponents to be entrusted with any level of governance in Ogun State . So they ignored the mini-conflict in the House. So, the public is important. That is what has happened in Ogun State . It is because of that that the elders have said, “Okay, we will find certain areas when we can find an enduring solution to the crisis.”

Given what you have said, don’t you think the Speaker deserved to be impeached? If for a year there was no performance at all from the House, don’t you think a change of leadership is required?
No, it is not just the speaker. It is the entire House. That is what has been happening. The attention of the public has not been drawn to the House because of the performance of the governor. What we are saying is that the House should be left alone so that it does not become an impediment to good governance in the state. Since 2003, Ogun State has been the nation’s model in terms of good governance and in terms of having people oriented programmes. We do not want anything to disrupt this.

What happened that Thursday about the impeachment and how the 22 members went underground after the impeachment was a commentary on who they are. If what you have done is good and in the interest of the people you don’t have to run away. If we have a stable state and we are called the nation’s model, is it at this time that some people must introduce what I called 10 years ago, “dirty tricks option” into the political life of Ogun State? That is what is of concern. Therefore, there are a few things we should do. One, we must institute a performance monitoring scheme that will monitor the performance in the first year, the second year and the third year.

As legislators, the questions they should ask themselves is not who is right and who is wrong but what is right? What is right in Ogun State is peace, sustainable development and good governance. What we have to close in the House of Assembly is competence gap. We really have a competence gap in the assembly. The House members should be vision helpers to Otunba Gbenga Daniel in his vision they should not be developing dirty trick options.

There are concerns in some quarters that the impeachment of the Speaker may be a prelude to the ousting of the Governor. What is your reaction to this?
The answer is that the 22 lawmakers know that to impeach Daniel is an impossible task for them-because in trying to effect that of the speaker, they goofed. Hundred per cent of the people of Ogun State , including those supposedly in opposition, support Daniel. Therefore, it will be difficult to impeach such an exemplary performing governor.

It is a legislative matter, not a matter of public opinion. Let’s not overlook the fact that it is a game of numbers. It is not a game of numbers. I pointed out earlier that no lawmaker in a democracy can go to a House of Assembly and say he is joining a group in the House to impeach a governor without the consent of his constituency.

We have seen that happen repeatedly in Nigeria
In Ogun State that will not happen. I have to do some education here. The 22 lawmakers must go into history. If they don’t, they will be promoting false leaders and celebrating them. Between 1979 and 1983, we had a House of Assembly in Ogun State . In that House, we had individuals, respected Ogun State citizens. They allowed service to Ogun State to be dominant in their hearts.

They were very loyal to their political party leadership. The entire House was loyal to the party programme. We must be careful in saying that their target is Otunba Gbenga Daniel. They have not reached the situation where they can assault the good people of Ogun State and they will never reach that situation. Without proper knowledge of history the 22 lawmakers will just be promoting false leaders.

Those who are saying Otunba Gbenga Daniel is the target are probably thinking about some forces in Abuja, formerly in Abuja, in Ogun State and Lagos State, who may be planning to remove Otunba Gbenga Daniel. No, Ogun State is not a banana state. And with the composition of Ogun State Elders’ Consultative Forum, with the commitment and support of the good people of Ogun State , that is a dream that will never come to pass.

Do you see influence of external factors in all these?
What is important is simple. As a public affairs analyst if what has happened and the reasons given really did not constitute gross misconduct, then the 22 lawmakers were simply bowing to promoted leakages from within and outside Ogun State.