Honourable Taiwo Otegbeye, a consummate politician and pastor of Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), is a former Commissioner for Information in Oyo State. In this interview, he speaks on the need for Nigerians to change their perception about politics and why he does not believe in secession for any of the ethnic groups in the country, admitting that things would work well for the country if the constitution is truly by the people. Excerpts:
Everyone is aware that you’re from a political family, so can you share with us about political background?
I come from a deep political background. My dad was a member of the old Action Group, that was Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s party in the First Republic, and in 1976, you know as it was, there was no political party then, so it was an independent candidacy team. My dad contested and won election as a councillor; he became a supervisory councillor for education in Lagelu Local Government. At a point, my dad was in Ibadan City Council, he was a member of the City Council. Then in 1979, my dad contested election under the party of Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), and they won election to the National Assembly. We 
started Lagelu North 1 constituency in the National Assembly. In 1989 too, my twin brother came out and contested the election under the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP) and he won as a councillor of Ward Four. Then, we had only one municipal government. Then we don’t have Ibadan North-West, South-West, South-East, and so on there. So it was only one municipality with 19 wards. So my twin brother was the councilor for Ward Four. I was also a councillor for Budget and Economic Planning at Ibadan Municipal Government. So that was when I performed the campaign for Social Democratic Party (SDP); yes, we did it together. Despite the fact that I was in the university, we did the campaign together. We did house to house campaign together. So that’s my background with politics. Even, when my dad was in the National Assembly, we were sort of involved as young as we were and my dad made sure that he filled our library with books on politics, books written by Chief Awolowo and many political scholars and actors.
By the time I was 15, I had read all the books written by Chief Awolowo the ones written by himself and the ones written by his adversaries. I was also exposed to American politics by reading about American politics; we enjoyed that through our library. In a nutshell, that’s my political background from home.
You said when you were in the university, you were involved in your twin brother’s campaign. So while you were in university, were you also involved in student unionism?
Definitely, I was. There’s this political thing in the family that I can’t explain, and maybe it’s because of my parent’s background. I think there’s a trace of it, that kind of thing. That’s why, somehow, when you are involved in something, as long as what you are involved in is noble, don’t shield your children from it, because there might be a future for them in it. In the university, I won election as the president of my Department Association. I actually attended Ogun State University for my first degree. I was the president of Association of Students of English Studies of the university. That was in 1988/1989. I then rose to become the president of Student Union Government (SUG) of the university. So I was fully involved with student activism. Even when I went for my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and didn’t want to do any politics, I was hand-picked to be the leader the platoon. I served in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,
Who is your source of inspiration in politics?
Chief Obafemi Awolowo and my dad. Somehow, I was able to imbibe the Awolowo ideology. Primarily, my dad was an Awoist, and he was an Awoist to death, and they know Awoists believe in democratic socialism and the politics they played then was politics of ideology. It was also developmental politics, not a kind of charade that is going on now, and that actually inspired me. I discovered vision in the Awolowo generation, everybody in my household, all of us, my siblings, most of us, I think, we memorized the UPN anthem, the old UPN Unity Party of Nigerian anthem. We memorized it that when my Dad called on anyone of us, we could render it off-hand and up till now, I still have it stuck with me. And you see, when you listen to that anthem, you would see that the UPN had vision. .
You are also a pastor?
Yes, I am a Pastor of the Living Faith Church, Winners Chapel
Were you in politics before you became a pastor, or you were a pastor before you came into politics?
I actually had a deep Muslim background. I came from a Muslim background for the first 30 years of my life. I was a deep practicing Muslim. So I had a dramatic conversion and, you know I was born into politics. So politics had always been there because my dad was a teacher and a businessman, but he went into politics. So, I was all this before I became a pastor. That’s why I want that. That’s trying to say I was a Muslim for the first 30 years of my life. I became born again. I did about the conversion, and after that, I thought I won’t have anything to do with politics again because I thought politics has no relevance with my service in the house of God. I later realised that politics is a divine assignment. Surprisingly, it was when I was thinking of doing away with politics that its messages began coming to me.
How do I assess Nigeria’s democracy since 1999?
Primarily, I want to say that we don’t have democracy yet. We have civil rule. We are growing gradually, gradually, we don’t have democracy. In fact, what we had since 1999 till date, is a blend of Kleptocracy, and civil rule, that’s why after each government, you have stories of looting of public funds all over the place.  You know, some see politics as a game of interest, and I ask, what interest? For us to gain from democracy and for us to attain democracy, first and foremost, the leadership of this country, the leadership of every state, the leadership of every local government, and all the followers, need to purge themselves of the Kleptomaniac instinct; ; the instinct to steal and rip off the people.
So I am not really impressed by what has happened in Nigeria since 1999. In fact, what we have experienced since 1990 has taken us more than 40 years backward.
We only have few cases of people who have vision, who came to power and tried their best, very few. And if we are talking about 100per cent, we are talking about less than two percent, and it is so unfortunate. It’s quite disheartening where we have found ourselves today. It is also painful that at every cycle of election, candidates come to promise the same thing that the previous ones promised; meaning that nothing was done about the promises. If those who won election on the basis of their promise to fix the roads did just that, those coming after them shouldn’t make campaign promises on roads again, but because nothing was done, those coming for elective positions will also campaign with the things the people are lacking.
So, what is wrong with the political system in Nigeria?
The truth is that we have to redefine our perception of politics and this has to do with the people, because people who come into political positions came from the citizenry. So we need to look at our perception of politics. I remember between 2005 and 2007 on several occasions, I encountered some thorough bred Nigerian politicians and they told me straight away that we don’t do politics because of God, but because of what they are going to eat and what they are going to become simply. So how can we expect something special from these people? I, however, believe we should do politics to better the lots of our people and for societal development. So our perception of politics has to change, and we discovered that even the mentality of the populace, the kind of demands people make from those in political positions, can push such people to go and steal.
So when our orientation changes, Nigeria will change. Americans changed America; Britons changed Britain, and it is only Nigerians with the right perception who can change the country for the better.
There are sections of the country clamouring for secession, what is your opinion about this?
Such things are happening because there is suspicion, and to a large extent, there is also hatred among the tribes; some tribes feel there is now equity and no mutual respect; so in such situations, there will be clamour for secession. However, if those who had been in power since 1999 are still the same people ruling us, then nothing good will come out of the country. However, in the interim, I think the best to do for now is to replace suspicion among the tribes with mutual respect; bring in fairness and equity and also promote the ideals of nationhood, then we will see a difference, especially in the area of nationalism.
Some people have also been clamouring for restructuring, what do you think about this?
We have so many problems, and, you know, there are so many things involved in restructuring. Let’s assume we have federalism in place, and we have a federal constitution, a constitution that is agreed to by all, because that’s the basic you see; if you buy a car, they will give you a manual, and you operate the car with that manual. But if you use Year 2000 manual of a Toyota to operate year 2025 Toyota car, you will only destroy the car; so the constitution is the manual that Nigeria has been working with, and because that constitution is not from the people, as it was foisted on us by the military, that is why things are not working. That is why the nation is in jeopardy, because the manual that we supposed to work with is not the right manual. Restructuring is a process. If our constitution is right, we’ll be able to develop at our own pace; we will be able to, also individually and collectively, promote our nationhood, not that you see yourself as Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa/Fulani; we will see ourselves as one.
Look if you have to divide, do you know how many nations we are going to divide into? There are over 300 plus ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. Yes, we always argue that the 1940 amalgamation of Nigeria by Lord Lugard matched us together,, but I think providence brought us together and we just must look for ways to make the union work.
