WHY I BELIEVE IN JONATHAN, BY PDP CHIEFTAIN, ISHOLA FILANI

He is also a party man to the core, a commitment that has seen him rise to the top echelon of his party. Filani, a NEC member of the ruling party and Asiwaju of Ikole Ekiti, speaks on his political ambitions; the state of the nation and how his kinsmen responded to challenge of hosting a Federal University. Excerpts.

As an experienced politician, why have you not contested for an elective office?

I've always been a party man. All the positions I've contested for in politics are party positions. I can go on to mention them. But the fact remains that I've always contested for elective offices. I did contest for public office during Gen. Ibrahim Babangida's regime. It didn't get anywhere. I also joined the race for Ekiti State governorship election in 2007 but I was disqualified from contesting because I could not present my primary six school certificate.

Were you the only person disqualified on that basis?

No! We were about three or four aspirants who were dropped on that ground. By 2011, there was no office to contest for than legislative offices, which I was not interested in.

As a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and a member of the party's National Executive Council (NEC), how would the party ensure the realisation of President Goodluck Jonathan's Transformation Agenda?

I'm not among those who assess someone when he is just 100 days in office. Jonathan was 100 days only two months ago. As a member of the party's NEC, I want to say that what the President has been doing since he took over from the late President Umaru Yar'Adua last year, and since he was sworn-in in May, is the agenda of the PDP. And the way I see him going about it is like he wants to build a house; and if a house has no solid foundation, there is no way it would not collapse. There is no way it would see the light of the day. What the President is doing is to ensure that he lays a good foundation for the country. And you would agree with me that while selecting his team, he did not allow partisan politics to influence his selection. He brought in technocrats who were not politicians. As a matter of fact, the core areas of governance namely: agriculture, finance, power, works, petroleum, he appointed experts to man them. Even where he appointed politicians as ministers, he made sure that they are people who are grounded in their areas.

So, having laid this solid foundation, we should then expect that the foundation for Nigeria to move forward has been laid. In the area of finance, the president got a world-acclaimed financial expert to handle that. As for Investment and Trade, you would also agree with me that Olusegun Aganga is an expert, ditto, agricultural development where Dr Akin Adesina, another renowned expert, is in charge.

The Defence Minister was a Comptroller-General of Customs, a former minister, and ex-chairman of the party. So, with his wealth of experience, I know he'll do well.

We can go on and on. To my mind, the president believes in teamwork and the fact that he should tap from all available human resource. With this kind of selection, I expect all Nigerians to be patient with Mr President. Let's give him a chance.

How patient can Nigerians be with the spate of bombings, the Boko Haram insurgence and the general insecurity in the land?

We live in a world of insecurity. Insecurity is not limited to Nigeria; it is a global phenomenon. You would recall that 10 years ago, there was a terrorist attack on the United States. You would also recall what has been happening in that country since then. If we visit other parts of the world, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, you would recall that insecurity is a global phenomenon.

Nigeria, being the largest country in the black world has a very bright future. The people are innovative. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and a multi-religious society. It is a mini-world. It is we who do not appreciate the value of the country. Apart from disturbances around the world, there is a conspiracy against the black race and its progress is being conspired against. The civilization of the blacks is being compromised by nations that believe that the Blackman if given the opportunity, will control the world and Nigeria is the symbol of the Blackman. This is type of international conspiracy that is against Nigeria. Boko Haram is not a Nigerian phenomenon. It did not originate from here. But some people are using religion to ensure that Nigeria is disturbed. That is not to say that we Nigerians are not part of the problem and that we must proffer internal solutions to the problem. All I'm saying is that Nigeria is not isolated from global insecurity.

So, what is the way out?
I agree that a lot needs to be done. I believe also that the Federal Government is not leaving the matter unattended to. However, issues concerning security are not meant for the pages of newspapers. From the feelers we're getting, the Federal Government has put all machinery in motion to check the menace. We Nigerians also need to be our brother's keeper. Issues of insecurity can be addressed from two ends; there is the technical point, which I think the military, the Police and the SSS are dealing with. From the general point of view, you and I should not succumb to such issues that would make us fight one another, for religious or ethnic reasons. Mind you, religion and ethnicity are the issues these people explore or exploit to foist insecurity on Nigerians. So, it is the duty of every Nigerian to ensure that we don't allow ourselves to be used for negative purposes.

The judiciary, being your primary constituency, is currently facing image crisis. What do you suggest should be done to redeem its image?

There are three arms of government; the executive, legislature and the judiciary. The operations of the first two arms are open to all Nigerians. You do not need any special training to become the President, or a minister in Nigeria. Your professional background may not count. The same thing applies to the legislature. It is only the judiciary that requires that you belong to a particular profession and there are standards and rules that guide conferment of status and promotion in the judiciary. We're the only people who can solve our problems. The National Judicial Commission (NJC), which is the regulatory body for High Court judges, has no commoner as a member. You're either a judicial officer or a lawyer.

The past, present and future of the judiciary in Nigeria is in the hands of lawyers. Talking about what happened recently, it is our problem as lawyers. Government waded in because Justice Ayo Salami, who was the President of the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) was asked to apologise to the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu over alleged perjury against the CJN concerning the governorship election petition ruling in Sokoto State. But rather than apologise, Justice Salami went to court and it was within his constitutional rights to seek legal redress.

Meanwhile, you cannot seek redress in court against your employer and still remain in office. So, they decided to suspend him, which was also in order. I would not want to rationalize the innocence or guilt of Justice Ayo Salami. But I think that he, as a lawyer, was only trying to assert his rights. And in asserting his rights, there was no way he could have remained in office. That was why he was suspended from office pending the time the case he instituted against the NJC is resolved.

Mind you, Justice Salami has not been sacked. However, there cannot be a lacuna in the Federal Court of Appeal, which was why the president appointed a new PCA in acting capacity. There was no way the president would have appointed a substantive PCA even with Justice Salami on suspension. The way I'm looking at it is that the present PCA is only acting pending when Justice Salami's case against the NJC will be resolved. It is only an irresponsible President that would refuse to appoint an acting PCA, ditto, it's an irresponsible PCA that would see his rights being trampled upon and not seek legal redress. As far as I'm concerned, everything is in order. I believe that the President acted within the constitution by appointing an acting PCA so that there is no lacuna. To that extent, rather than some people blaming the President, I think Mr President acted within the law, showed a human face in this matter. Yes, I'm a member of the bar and I agree with the position of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that the judiciary is in decay. What I will advice is that we wait for the outcome of all the cases that are in court.

But how do you respond to the Congress for Progressive Change's (CPC) claim that the Federal Government plotted Salami's removal to pave the way for Jonathan's victory at the presidential election tribunal?

I'm not a member of the CPC and I don't know the background from which they are coming. So, I'm not in the position to comment on their claim. You know that political parties would meet, deliberate on an issue before they arrive at conclusions. And when you're not a member of the CPC, you cannot know what informed their statement or the position they are taking on an issue.

But as far as we're concerned in the PDP, I don't think the party told Justice Salami to take the NJC to court. So, why should the PDP be made liable? Let me tell you something, if Justice Salami had not gone to court, even though I agree with him for taking such step, his suspension and the appointment of another PCA would not have arisen. I wonder how the PDP came in onto this matter. No member of the PDP is a member of the NJC; and no PDP member is involved in this matter. Like I said earlier, the judiciary is a technical and professional arm of government, so the issue concerns lawyers and what is happening between Justice Salami and the NJC is purely professional.

It was just that Salami's suspension generated so much heat when it happened. Everybody is at liberty to draw conclusions and make comments. But one comment that is not fair is to put the blame on the president. He could not have done more than what he did at that time.

The post of the Secretary-General of the PDP has been zoned to the South West, and I learnt that the chairmanship position of the PDP in Ekiti State is zoned to your senatorial district, are you not interested in either of these?

Like I mentioned earlier, all the positions I've occupied in politics are party positions. Because of these, a lot of my friends and political associates have been talking to me about the position of National Secretary of the PDP. I know that I'm much qualified going by my political pedigree, experience and my personality. As a result of these, I've embarked on wide consultations and until I complete the consultations, I'll not declare any interest.

Similarly, PDP members in my local government have been telling me one or two things about the state chairmanship position. They have said, they need people who can work hard to reclaim Ekiti State from the ACN. Just like in the first case, I'm still consulting.

As the Asiwaju of Ikole-Ekiti, can you recall some of the challenges, Ikole people encountered toward ensuring that a new Elekole was enthroned shortly after the transition of Oba Adetunla Adeleye?

Well, I participated fully in the process of enthronement of the Oba. Why I was involved was because I am the Asiwaju of Ikole. We have the traditional council made up of eight high chiefs. So when the last Oba passed on, we had our challenges, which we were able to solve because of the unity among the natives of the community. I don't want to go into the details but all I will say is that we were able to put those things behind us. Even at that, we still faced the challenge of ensuring that we selected and crowned a new king within a reasonable time. That is the reason why I want to thank Governor Kayode Fayemi for being a listening governor. But my appreciation also goes to God, the traditional council of chiefs and the governor because less than 24 hours after the selection of Oba Adewumi Ajibade Fasiku, he gave assent to it. Even though we could not rule out the fact that there were diverse interests during the selection process, we want to thank God that at the end of the day, we were able to put the differences behind us to rally round the present king.

Perhaps, Ikole people were prompted to attend to the issue created by the furore over the location of the Federal university.

Truly speaking, a house divided against itself cannot stand. We thank God that the issue did not constitute a problem. No doubt, it would have prevented us to deal with the university issue in unity. I agree with you totally that we might not have attained the kind of unity required of us to tackle the university site issue.

With the present situation of things, can we say there is light at the end of the tunnel concerning the host community of the Federal university in Ekiti State?

I can't say precisely because I think there are some issues that are yet to be resolved. As I was told, nine universities were to be established. In one of the states where the universities were to be sited, the then Minister of State for Education who was in charge of tertiary institutions, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, and the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission, Professor Julius Okogie and the federal delegation visited Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi to request for a befitting site for the institution. The governor took them to two sites, which I learnt were not acceptable to the visiting team. After that, the governor led them to the state Agric Development Project (ADP) site in Ikole-Ekiti that the delegation adjudged acceptable. The team in its report thereafter, recommended Ikole Ekiti.

About two weeks after the visit, me and my elder brother, Professor Filani and Professor Peter Adeniyi, former VC, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), visited Professor Julius Okogie in Abuja. At the meeting, he congratulated us and told us that the visiting team had recommended Ikole as site.

I remember that the visiting team demanded the perimeter survey and the Bill of Quantities of what is contained at the ADP which I personally submitted to Professor Okogie to support their recommendation.

But no sooner had we done all that, we started hearing that the university would be named after Oye Ekiti. We did not give up. We continued to defend our positions. During the coronation ceremony of the Elekole, the governor told us that the two communities, Oye and Ikole-Ekiti were going to benefit from the new arrangement. Only recently, the VC designate, Professor Chinedu Nebo, visited Oye-Ekiti, and as widely reported in the media, he adjudged the facilities presented to him there as inadequate for the university take-off. He thereafter, appealed to the state governor to provide another site. The deduction from that assertion by the VC is that, there had been no prior visitation to Oye by any federal delegation. That has been Ikole's position all along, and Nebo's visit on September 21 had vindicated that not only did he adjudge the facilities at the ADP, Ikole-Ekiti adequate, he said, if two universities are to be sited there, it would accommodate them. We thank God that truth has prevailed and that Oye is not adequately prepared for the take-off of this university. Nevertheless, we still appreciate the Governor and President Goodluck Jonathan for coming into agreement that the two communities are going to benefit from the university's location. However, we pray that Ekiti State and the Federal Government are fair enough to locate the main campus of the university in Ikole that has the required facilities on and off campus.

Does hosting the main campus resolve the problem of naming the university?

You cannot name a university other than after a place where the facilities are available. What would be the rationale? The facts are open to Nigerians to judge now. A Federal Government visitation panel visited a place the first time, it gave its approval, the VC came later and said the site could accommodate two universities if need be. And the same person visited another place and said the facilities there were inadequate. So, why would anyone locate a university in a place where there are no facilities?

Like I said earlier, we leave this to Nigerians, to our sense of fairness, equity and justice, and the rest to God and the court of public opinion.

With your involvement in politics, law practice and community development, how do you relax?

I engage in church activities. I'm a tent-making minister of the Methodist Church. Apart from that, I've lived in Lagos and I socialize. I belong to Island Club and the Yoruba Tennis Club, Lagos. I'm a member of the Metropolitan Club in Victoria Island, Lagos and I engage in philanthropic and humanitarian activities.

Family?
I'm blessed with three children; two girls and a boy. I thank God for my life and I believe God has been kind to me.