On July 3oth respected elder statesman, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (RTD) will be 70. In this interview with newsmen, which was also covered by Desert Herald, this erudite personality who was a member of General Murtala Muhammed’s supreme military council in Nigeria between July 1975 and March 1976, a military governor of Plateau State from March 1976 to July 1978, a former Federal Commissioner Special Duties, former Federal Commissioner for Health. He was instrumental in founding the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He is a man who made the progressive proposal that anyone born in Plateau State or anyone who had lived in the state for 20 years should enjoy all the rights and privileges of a native regardless of their ethnic origin. He is a founder and member of the NADECO, who was forced into exile by the Late General Sani Abacha regime. He was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Russia, having held several positions which include Chairman of Allied Bank of Nigeria Plc between 1984, chairman of Delta Steel Company, member board of directors of Trans Nationwide Express, and chairman of the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria. He spoke about his life both in the military and the civil service and his achievements, he also delved into Nigerian national issues ranging from politics, corruption, insecurity and others. The excerpts:
Comparing your career in the military and also now as a civilian, which will you say is more challenging?
I can tell you that civil life is more challenging than military life, because military life has more central administrators, it works with orders and commands, but the civilian is not like that; you have to push and push before something is done, a military man has a straight mind, you go there, they go, you say run to that place, they do they are trained in a military way.
You said you were retired prematurely, can you tell us more on that?
Yes I said that because we were not due for retirement when we were forced to, and I did not commit any offence. I retired as an Air Commodore that is not the last rank I would have loved to reach and that is why I said I was retired. I was in the office in training command when I heard the news on radio that I and others have been retired.
Can you remember some of your colleagues that remained in the service after you were retired?
Yes and I can name them, one General Buhari; he was a governor of North East and he was a minister as I was. General Ibrahim Babangida he was also a member of Supreme Military council, there are many others like that, who were not retired, so the thing was selective and there was no doubt about that, it was very selective and no reason was given for the action. But I will tell you that the early retirement of military officers has dented the military because corruption has come in and people in the military no longer see themselves as having a self progressive career because when they see people like us who are retired before our time and they think if these people can be retired how safe are we? They also begin to aim at getting something before they leave office, and that has eroded confidence in the Nigerian Military. But I think this needs to be changed; people should be allowed to complete their term in service and that is not in the military but even in the civilian context. In our time too I think we did something similar during the regime of General Murtala when we retired people prematurely in the Ministry of Health I refused to do so and I was sanctioned for that. I was asked to retire people but I didn’t see any reason for that.
During your life as a military officer you held several offices which include Minister of Health and Special Duties and also crowning it with the Governor of old Plateau State. What can you say are your achievements during these years of service?
While in the Air force I established the first Air force base outside. Kaduna Air force was established by the Germans, the second other Air force base that was established outside Kaduna was Air force Base Ikeja, I established it in 1977. I was the first commandant and today I think is the second largest base in Nigeria. Secondly, I also established Air Training Command in Kaduna and I was also responsible for drawing the training program manual of Nigerian Air force, so I think with this I did my best in the Nigerian Armed forces. As Minister for Special Duties I told you about my role in establishing the first ECOWAS conference in Nigeria in 1975. I went round the entire 15 countries and invited them for the first ECOWAS conference in Nigeria in 1975 and the decree was responsible for the going round the 15 nations and working for the establishment of ECOWAS headquarters in Nigeria. I think my largest achievement is in the Ministry of Health, I established what is called today the Basic Health Service Scheme; it was a policy to bring healthcare nearer to the people in the rural areas by building clinics, health centres and so on in the rural areas and not concentrating them only in the urban centres. Of course the policy was designed so that people will have healthcare from Clinics and if they can’t get at the clinics they should be referred to health centers, and from there to hospital and then to teaching hospitals. Also I established the Teaching Hospitals in Zaria, Ilorin, Sokoto, Jos and some other ones. I also established the Dental Centre in Enugu, and I also established the Kaduna Eye Centre which is the largest in Kaduna.
Plateau State I will say that is where I did a lot of things also, then I was Group Captain Dan Suleiman. I think I put my all and all in Plateau State, where I made it one of the most vibrant states in Nigeria then and you know Plateau was composed of current Plateau and Nasarawa States. It was during my stay as Governor that FCT Abuja was extracted and I was responsible for providing lands from Nasarawa State which now formed part of FCT. In Plateau I think my best of service include the establishment of Plateau Polytechnic Barkin Ladi and because I am involved in the establishment of basic health care service policy, I made sure that the programme was really established in the state and it was also at that time that UPE and I made sure that the UPE Programme was roundly established in the state. So when you meet people at that time they will tell you that Plateau is one of the most peaceful states in the country at that time and they called it the tourist state at that time, and people wanted to go there to dwell. I wanted to make Plateau example of Switzerland in Nigeria. So even the city of Jos I was the first to use traffic lights there and street lights. And I am proud to say that I introduced the first coloured television in Nigeria in my regime.
You were once the governor of the now crisis ridden Plateau. During your time, did you face such issues, was there such crisis and how did you handle them?
Plateau State has always been a difficult state to manage. Even at the time I was there, I realized there was serious friction between the Hausa Fulani Community and the natives. And the problem then was the issue of land and that has been the issue. At that time there was a period I thought that a wise approach is needed to tame the religious crisis and that was when the issue of Sharia was being introduced in the constitution in 1977. There was near crisis in Plateau State and I was then attending a meeting in Lagos, when I was contacted and I was told that the Muslims in Plateau State were going to carry out a very serious demonstration in Plateau State because they wanted the introduction of Sharia; and as soon as I heard it I flew back to the state. Fortunately for me the Emir of Zaria was then in Plateau he wanted to attend a polo there in Jos and I saw him and I explained to him that I have this crisis in my hands that the Muslims wanted to go on demonstration and this will turn to crisis when the others retaliate and that I wanted him to talk to the Muslims leaders to avert crisis, that they should stop that demonstration and that I promised them should they stop it I will speak to them on Monday and grant them audience and listen to their grievances. He obliged me and spoke to them and when we met on the polo ground on Sunday he told me Your Excellency the matter is settled you can now see them on Monday.
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So Monday I invited them and invited the Christian leaders as well and I had a meeting with them. To cut the long story short, we agreed to form an inter-religious body to monitor preachers because preachers were then preaching against each other – the Muslims were preaching against the Christians and the Christians were doing same against the Muslims – and it was creating tension. So this inter-religious body was created to monitor Christian and Muslim preachers. Later on Babangida established the National Religious body in conformity with what we have in Plateau. That singular action doused the tension in Plateau at that time and charted the way forward. This was used to achieve peace. So the elements were there. What is needed today is good Intelligence gathering.
Comparing your days in the public service with the public officers of today, do you think they have achieved as much as they should achieve in office before leaving unlike your days where accountability was always there?
Virtually politics has not helped these things. You see in Switzerland virtually I got myself involved in Pro Democracy activism NADECO so as to bring democracy in the country. I thought bringing democracy will be better, maybe democracy was a better thing to have. This is because let’s be honest, in military we have achieved much and this was because we were given orders and we followed it. And in politics people use it now for personal gains and not for development. They go to government for what they can get for themselves and not what they can do for the people they are governing. You will discover that those of us who were in government those days went to government in penury and came out in penury as there is nothing to show for it not because we didn’t handle money, yes we handled money but our objective was to leave something behind just as you asked me what did I do and I was able to read it out to you; this is my objective and I didn’t know I was going to meet you people today.
The issue of corruption has been a nagging issue which has been like an ugly monster, raving the country left right and center despite government resolve and setting of different anti- graft agencies to tackle this unwholesome monster. What is your take on this?
Yes everybody knows that the issue of corruption is a cankerworm in this country, but are we approaching it the right way? We set up panels, we set enquiries, recommendations are brought but are they implemented? That is the problem. If you see that your brother is involved you will try to cover it up, if you know that somebody that you are supporting is there you will cover it up, today if you are in certain position of power you are free to do whatever you want; in fact today you will see people who are governors having corrupted themselves they now retire and go into National Assembly to protect themselves. Where is the sincerity, there is no sincerity of purpose until government is serious enough to bring to book people who commit corrupt practices seriously and people see that these people are actually brought to book, corruption will continue to grow. But these days everything is rather palliatives, no serious attempt to deal with corrupt people especially if they are in high positions, so they get away with it. In that period that you mentioned about Murtala, he tried to make sure that nobody was sacrosanct; everybody that was found was dealt with. This is the kind of courage we need today in the issue that we deal with people no matter how high you are. If you’re corrupt you are dealt with. I was reading in my devotional about South Korean President who, having served for three-four years, was found to have stolen some money and because there was an investigation to indict him he felt so ashamed that he went and committed suicide – a president. Here in Nigeria will anybody ever commit suicide because he was found corrupt? People have serious issues and what is lacking in this country is that there is no fear of God. I think our religious institutions rather than embarking on fighting and bickering they should go about teaching moral values; let people fear God. If you have the fear of God in your heart you cannot cheat people that you are suppose to serve, you go and steal their money, people die because there are no adequate medical attention, no good drinking water, things like that how can you live with it. People do it and get away with it and these days the essence is that people must get rich quick; it is a wrong value system.
Do you believe that it would have been better we are back to the Military and do you support the call for military take over.
No I don’t support that. I still believe that it is sound democratic values that will get us there, but these democratic values must be raised with institution that will deal with corruption to root out the ills of corruption. This is because part of fight on corruption is public enlightenment, if people will steal money and come and use it to buy your votes, people should not. People should know that by taking money from somebody he has already bought your conscience, when he bought your conscience then he can do what he wants to do. That is the only way they can enjoy the democracy dividends we are talking about.
Do you have any regrets being among those that championed for democracy?
No I have no regrets because I am still very optimistic, am still looking at the future.
You were once an ambassador, were there criteria of appointing an ambassador and what is being expected of you at the end of your service year as ambassador?
Yes I don’t know the criteria used, but I believe that personal integrity is important because you are going abroad to represent your nation. When they see you as an ambassador they regard you as the president of your country. I remember when I was an ambassador they wanted me to sign document, very important document, but their lawyer said unless I have a letter showing that I truly represent my president I cannot sign. So the kind of trust of the government you will have and as an ambassador you cannot succeed if you are not well connected. I think that helped me as an ambassador in some cases where I had serious challenges I had to fly back and tell the president about the crisis between Nigeria and Russia when some Russian sailors were arrested here in Nigeria and I came here I intervened and the crisis was resolved and that restored relationship between Nigeria and Russia. And because of my interventions I was awarded the highest honour that this country never recognized. I told them even before the award was given to me, and you see I cannot receive an award from a foreign country without informing your country. So I informed them and they approved before I received it; so how can they say I didn’t tell them. The award in question is the order of Alexander the great the highest award in the Russian Federation, Putin is a recipient Jaque Chirac is a recipient, Kofi Anan is also a recipient and I am also a recipient.