Without Asiwaju, The Office Wouldn’t Have Been – Col. Nyiam

“Asiwaju played a critical role in contributing to Jonathan being made acting president. At one point, Asiwaju was actually involved in contingencies to save Jonathan’s life . At that time, it was feared that if Jonathan refused to resign after the death of Yar’Adua , he will become a wasted mate­rial. Asiwaju played a role in en­suring that did not happen.

“I say this, because I was in­volved as well. Another colleague of mine and I were involved in the benevolence, patriotism and na­tionalism of Asiwaju. Asiwaju also played a key role in 2011 with the Oba of Lagos and one or two per­sonalities I wouldn’t want to men­tion just now. They played a part in ensuring that Asiwaju helped to convince the South-west to help Jonathan. Why am I repeating all this? I am doing so, because Presi­dent Buhari should not make the mistake that was made.”

What mistake are you talk­ing about?

“After Asiwaju rendered all this help, he was paid back in a way that was not befitting of the assis­tance he gave. It was not the fault of ex-president Jonathan; it was the fault of his aides. The key aide who was supposed to facilitate some of the things to pay back did not do it. To the point that…

(cuts in) Was it financial?

“I will like to leave it at that. Not so much financial. I would like to leave it at that. Instead, rumours were being peddled that Asiwaju was paid back with some money, which wasn’t true. The person who was supposed to do certain things did not do so. I had in a lec­ture I delivered in the East warned that the way the South west was being treated by Jonathan’s regime would not help his government.

“I raised the alarm that the first 12 people in the hierarchy of pro­tocol i.e the president down the line to the 12th, there was no Yo­ruba figure in it. I said then that it was dangerous for any govern­ment to ignore the South-west. Some of my colleagues from the Niger Delta were very angry with me for making that comment. I told them I said it in the best inter­est of Jonathan, and of course we saw the result. Asiwaju may have been forced to, as it were, go into that alliance. It was an alliance that I thought he should have gone into much more carefully than we see playing out.

“I think it’s a mistake for Presi­dent Buhari to allow himself to be misled to think that those who are ganging up against the South-west would triumph .It is an open se­cret that those who want to regain power back to their people ,find the South-west, that once you’ve checkmated, divided and ruled, you can get through to the rest of the South and North central. Once you have done that, you are in con­trol. That’s what is playing out at the National Assembly and in the APC, I see it from three multi- lay­ered levels.

“Superficially, what we call the wave of an ocean level, I see the contest between those who want to deepen democracy, and those who want the role of godfathers to play on .To most of us in the South,we like the deepening of democracy, but we forget that underlying that there is still the strategic. The dif­ferent zones have strategic ad­vantages. It’s in that we have to be careful not to allow ourselves to be divided. I think the South-west needs to come together for their own good. The camps in the South-west , Governor Mimiko, Asiwaju, Dr Fasehun need to come back together. You see any attempt to push Asiwaju out of the corridors of power is a rehearsal to push the South out of power for good.

Can you throw more light on that?

“The hegemonists are masters of divide and rule. Here is Asiwaju Tinubu, the man who built the bridge. Make no mistake about it, without Asiwaju, Buhari could not have been in office. It was Asiwa­ju’s rallying point that gave con­fidence to Buhari’s movement. People forget that even the elite in the North were not with Buhari.

“It was when Asiwaju gave them no choice, when they saw that if they did not join the bandwagon they will be left out. The creator of this bridge, the creator of this means of power is Bola Tinubu. So, for such a contributor to be set aside is really dangerous. I say this with no apologies, rather I plead with my other South-west leaders that once Asiwaju is confined, or restricted , they will come to them. So, anybody who thinks he will benefit from it will be mistaken.

“On this note, I urge two par­ticular beneficiaries of Asiwaju’s human capital development ( two former governors) not to allow themselves to be used against Asi­waju Tinubu”.