Nigeria is assumed to be a country built on fraud because incompatible people were amalgamated together.
'But Nigeria can have true federalism after all’ This is statement made for selfish interest, but if you ask me, I will say let the people decide.
On anti-corruption war: We are deceiving ourselves
Last week, we brought you the first part of this captivating interview with General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade. In that copy, he discussed the health challenges of President Muhammadu Buhari - who happens to be his friend; the issue of restructuring - which has been one of his life-long pursuits; as well as his stay in exile during the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, days.
In this second series - which is the concluding part - Akinrinade practically rued the fight to keep Nigeria one, explaining that should Nigeria continue with its lopsided, deceptive and warped federal system, something would give. But he was quick to add that he has hope that Nigeria would remain one, based on certain conditions.
But more instructive in this issue are the General’s disclosures about what happened at the war front as never before done.
Teary-eyed, sometimes, the amiable-looking but famously stern General would pause a bit, then, continue his narration.
We had actually finished the major interview but the journalist in you wanted more. Knowing that one of the best ways to get a very good interview is to make your guest feel very comfortable talking to you, a plea that we could actually do a human angle segment over refreshment was put across, to which Akinrinade agreed. Also cognizant of the fact that if you push too hard, you could turn your guest off, some follow-ups were not necessary. If you are not interesting, he becomes very bored and you won’t get the best out of him. If you become too precautious, then you turn him off. But the General was a fatherly man all through. At the launch of his book, MY DIALOGUE WITH NIGERIA, last Wednesday, with fanfare at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, you need not be told that Akinrimade is a Nigerian with friends across ethnic divides. Hold your breath as you enjoy this concluding part.
Excerpts: ON BIAFRA AGITATION AND THE FUTILITY OF KEEPING NIGERIA ONE Good, you allow people to make choices. And you also said it is good to allow people decide their fate. This present agitation by the Igbos, garbed in the Biafra movement, in retrospect, wouldn’t we now begin to admit that the fight to keep Nigeria one, based on contemporary realities, was futile, a fool’s errand, that was not worth it? Those ideals that people had, in keeping the nation one, appear to have been thrown out of the window. (Pause). Well, I think as far back as the early 1980s, I’d alluded to the fact that it is still possible to keep a country like Nigeria one. I still have that belief. You still do; with all that is going on?
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