Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, former Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima, speaks with TAOFEEK LAWAL on the state of the nation, giving insights on what Nigeria should do to move forward. He also speaks about the second-term ambition of President Tinubu.

At the just concluded summit of The Patriots in Abuja, you challenged leaders to stress citizen-focused issues rather than engage in interethnic bickering. Why do you think ethnicity has remained a very strong factor in the running of the affairs of Nigeria?

The British built us as a country of tribes. They used our pluralism, our differences, to keep us disunited and divert our attention from our colonial status and weaknesses. Nigeria’s history has reflected a continuation of those foundations. We are treated as a country of ethnic groups in competition, not of citizens with equal and enforceable rights.

Every constitution has continued on the assumption that we are a collection of ethnic groups and regions which political elites exploited to acquire and retain power. Poor citizens, the vast majority of our fellow citizens, have been conditioned to believe that their identities and geographical locations determine their welfare and destinies. Yet the Kanuri poor are the same as the poor in Benue, Osun or Abia.

Today’s elites are perfecting this deception by the day and we think we are each other’s enemies. Let us build a nation of citizens who have rights and privileges, reinforce those rights under the constitution, protect them by laws, structures and institutions and you will see how identity and geography will decline in terms of influencing our fortunes in our country. By all means, let as respect and pay due respect to pluralism, but it must not be made the primary criterion on which we will be treated by each other and the state.

Let our constitution be about our rights and needs not about how power can be shared between ethnic and regional elites, all of whom behave exactly in the same way. Ethnicity is the most potent tool in the hands of the elite which has captured the Nigerian state. It subsists because without it, leadership will emerge on the basis of merit and democratic, free choices, not manipulation by a political elite, which grabs power in the name of ethnic groups and uses it for themselves.

Insecurity in the three northern zones is a big issue. Why has it become intractable and do you think Nigeria is handling it the right way?

Corruption is eating the heart out of our governance structures and institutions. You cannot build an effective defence and security structure on a corrupt system. The array of threats we face, not just in the North but in Nigeria as whole, knows our weaknesses and feeds off the entire industry that supports it and keeps it alive. You cannot secure a country unless its leaders commit to honest use of its resources and live with high levels of integrity. It looks worse in the North because of the collapse of traditional values, structures and systems in the last few decades.

You heard delegates from across the country speak at the summit. How much confidence did their stands give you on the future of Nigeria?

We have to keep talking, to each other and those who will not listen. Nigeria will change, in sha Allah, but we want it to change at a cost that will be tolerable and managed. We do not have the time or the luxury of too much talk. Those who want to leave a worthy legacy for the next generations need to get involved.

If you met President Bola Tinubu tomorrow, what advice would you give him on how to get the country back on its feet again?

I would condole with him over the death of President Buhari and remind him of my earlier advice not to run for another term, but to use the rest of his first term to improve his record and facilitate the emergence of a younger, more energetic and more affected generation of Nigerian leaders. (Saturday Tribune, excluding headline)