Chief Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, a frontline legal luminary in Nigeria has described what politicians in the country refer to as ‘stomach infrastructure’ as feudalism.
Feudalism, a system of land ownership and duties. It was used in the Middle Ages. With feudalism, all the land in a kingdom was the king’s. However, the king would give some of the land to the lords or nobles who fought for him, called vassals. These gifts of land were called fiefs.
He announced that he would continue to tackle all those promoting this kind of system.
Akintola, a gubernatorial aspirant in the 2019 race in Oyo state also declared that those in power are ‘comprehensively’ digging the grave of the country by refusing to restructure Nigeria.
The lawyer, while expressing fear over the continued existence of Nigeria, however, stated that he never supported those clamoring for the break-up of the country .
The legal icon, who spoke at the monthly breakfast chat of the South West Group of Online Publishers, (SWEGOP), held at the Capital Inn, Oluyole, Ibadan on Tuesday recalled past efforts to ensure that those in power set the motion for immediate restructuring of the country, adding that the country cannot continue without restructuring.
Chief Akintola, who was the Deputy Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly in the aborted third Republic, declared that as a core progressive, he will remain an advocate of true federalism, and good governance.
Answering questions on different subjects from Journalists at the event, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) explained that the problem of Nigeria was a product of the system, while he disagreed that the current state of hopelessness in the country was brought by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
“Its not APC or President Muhammadu Buhari that brought the state of hopelessness on the country. Rather, it is you and I that brought it. It is the system that we are running here. Sometimes, I pity those in power because the system has made it so difficult for them to achieve anything. People no longer have integrity. I was in South Korea last time, the only religion they worship is ‘The Truth’. But in Nigeria, we have the largest congregation of religions in the world. Yet, we are ungodly. So, it is not the fault of Buhari or APC”, he stated.
Chief Akintola also shared his experience during the 2019 governorship race in Oyo state, saying that he felt betrayed and cheated by the decision of the leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC), to have a consensus candidate.
He urged the progressives as a family never to ignore the concept of ‘Omoluabi’ which was the Hallmark of the funding father of the party.
According to him, progressives have degenerated to the level the truth cannot be spoken to the power again.
The legal icon said he had done a lot for the Progressives family by installing sacked governors, but wondered why somebody would join the party in April and be handed the ticket of the party to contest in August.
He said: “I decided to quit partisan politics because I felt betrayed. I felt cheated. I found myself in the same tight corner, late chief Bola Ige found himself in the second republic. I looked at myself and said with all I have done for the progressives, is this the way to pay me back?
“I was the first in this country to restore an impeached governor. Somebody joined our party in April and you made him candidate in August. Do you expect me to start clapping?
In addition, this is a person I only see as a banker. I do not see him as a politician.”
While welcoming Akintola to the event, the chairman of SWEGOP, Olayinka Agboola thanked the legal luminary for making out time to join members of the group for the breakfast event.
Packaged by Dare Raji and Olawale Awe
