S/East, others should not panic over Buhari’s appointments- Oyewole

Elder Bode Oyewole is the chief press secretary to the late governor of Oyo State, Chief Kolapo Ishola. He is also the former Chairman of Nigerian Union of Journalist Oyo State Council and former Executive Chairman of the 3SC Football Club of Ibadan.  In this interview with OLUSESAN LAOYE, Oyewole says that President Muhammadu Buhari can’t fail because Nigerians have invested so much on him. Excepts:    

As a major stakeholder in Oyo State and former chief press secretary to the late governor Kolapo Ishola, how will you assess the present political situation in the state?

I am sorry, that is one area I don’t want to talk about for the simple fact that I am not a politician and I don’t have the intention to be one. What I do is to pray for those who are there. Politics is one area that I cannot venture to go into and I can never be in to partisan politics. It is one area that is too hot for me even to talk about, so I will rather leave it. We should however continue to pray for those who are there so that they can lead us to where we should be.

I am not asking you to comment as a politician but as a citizen of the state and even based on the political appointments you have held in the past?

Honestly I am in different situation now.

What then is your comment about the present federal government?

God help us, we have a God fearing man at the helms of affairs in Gen Muhammadu Buhari. We all know his pedigree and where he is coming from and we trust that with all he has done in the past, he would do excellently well. He cannot afford to fail Nigerians because Nigerians have invested so much in him and he cannot afford to fail.

What is your reaction to the crisis in the national assembly?

Well I must say that I am not a politician and what I will say may be subjective. Honestly, politicians have a way of amazing and amusing me but if I belong to an organization I want to be seen to be loyal to that organization. I am a member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists and I cannot be seen undermining the authority of the Nigerian Union of Journalists. So I expect that anybody who is a member of a particular political party must be loyal to that political party and do everything to ensure that the political party is not undermined. When I am in an organization, I stay with that organization and obey the regulations of such an organization and that is what I believe all of us must do.

We are not witnessing that in the leadership of the political class in Nigerian.  The emergence of the leaders in the national assembly was a great pity. I just believe that the APC as a political party would get it right by doing the needful. Nobody should tell them what to do. The national leaders of the party are experienced people and they should be able to get it right. Honestly, as a citizen of this country one is not happy that things are happening the ways they are and we are hopeful that they will get their house together to do what is expected of them.

You said many Nigerians are not happy about what is happening in the national assembly, how far do you think this can take us?

The signs are very ominous. The truth is that if we fail to get it right at the top, we are in trouble. The best option for the country is that we get it right. Nigerians have invested so much in the federal government especially the APC as a political party. The investment is at least in terms of the votes they gave the party in the last general elections and that amounts to why the people of this country want the best from the party. As a result, APC must do everything possible to ensure that they get it right or else we would have ourselves to blame for voting for the party and its leaders.

Looking at the appointments that have been made by President Muhammadu Buhari, and the incidents in the national assembly, would you say that South West is being marginalized as being insinuated in certain quarters?

For me it is too early in the day to start thinking that any part of the country is being marginalized because there are hundreds and thousands of positions to be filled, why then should we worry about the ones so far made? In any case most of the appointments that have been made are not political appointments as such; we are talking about security services. What can the man do, he just have to make sure that he puts the best people he thinks can do the job right and those who will guide and guard him.  We need to wait for the appointments of chief of staff, secretary to the government and other key political positions like that before we can start talking about marginalization. I don’t think we need to panic at this stage of the administration of President Buhari.

Again he has just assumed office he would want to study the situations and make wide consultations before he would start making pronouncement of people into key and sensitive positions. The South West and other regions too, should not panic about the appointments he has made for now.

There appears to be renewed attacks and bombings by the Boko Haram insurgents now Buhari has taken over power. Do you see the APC change materializing?

The problem with us in Nigeria is that we are too much in a hurry. The man has not spent up to three months and we have started complaining. Right now, he is only receiving briefs from the permanent secretaries. He has to study the situation before he can make concrete decisions or do anything about many issues confronting the country. Honestly, I don’t know why we are like this in this country. To me Buhari knows what to do and I am sure he knows how to go about things, he is not a new person in governance and I am sure he would do the best for the country.

The country is facing serious crisis in respect to workers being owed arrears of salaries by state governments, and the need for bailout. How can the states ensure such situation doesn’t occur again?

States not paying their workers is absolutely indefensible. No state government can defend this. A worker is entitled to his pay. I hope the state governors have learnt a lesson from what has happened. They should be much more careful now. The states should right now be looking at their income generation in term of Internally Generated Revenue. They should now also do things according to their priority and plan properly what they want to do before implementation. On no account can they defend workers not being paid. We thank God that the federal government has come to the aide of the state governments and I hope they have learnt their lessons to know what to do to make sure that they run their states well. Such a thing should not be allowed to happen again.

Let us now talk about the states assessing loans and bonds for the execution of capital projects, some of which are not actually implemented?

Well some of them are not just being sincere. The way I will want the country governed is that I want to see a Nigeria where things would work, whereby all the unemployed would be employed, where workers will receive their salaries as at when due, where there would be all round development, where there would be free education and health care delivery. There should be food for everybody to eat and where there would be peace and security. That is the kind of the situation everybody wants in the country and that is the government of my dream.

There is speculation that you are one of the people saddled with the responsibility to resuscitate the moribund Sketch newspaper?

I can assure you that Sketch would be on the news stand before the end of this year. All the things that are to be done have been done and are still being done, but we want to make sure that we get it right so that we don’t go the way of the newspapers that have not been able to pay workers salaries for many months. We want to assure the people of this country and all over the world that Sketch would hit the news stand before the end of this year.

That has been the news since the past years but nothing has come out?

I am only speaking in the capacity of one of the people who is running around to ensure that Sketch comes back and I cannot say what has happened in the past. In any case, nobody can stampede any body into doing anything. We would only start when we get it right and we have the enabling environment. It is not the agitation of people that would pay staff salaries and it is not their excitements that would buy newsprints and printing machine, people would just have to wait until we start.

So many news papers have gone under and many of them are lacking right now in the payment of workers’ salaries and we don’t want to belong to that kind of people. We want to be sure that when we start the new Sketch we are going to start well. What I will say is that people should not be anxious more than us. This is a project that is costing us N1.5 billion, so why should we be in a hurry?  We are going to wait until we get it right but what I can assure Nigerians and the whole world is that Sketch will come back before the end of this year.

Why do you think Journalists are not fairly treated by some newspaper proprietors?

Well, I cannot speak for the owners of other newspaper organization but for whatever reasons they are doing that, it is not tenable. I can say that when we start we are going to ensure that workers get their pay as at when due. We just pray that we don’t get into the situation when we would not be able to pay salaries.  I still maintain that I cannot speak for others because they may have their reasons for that because managing newspapers is not easy.