With less than a month to the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa State, where 45 parties are supposed to participate; INEC, the Security agents, and all state institutions responsible are also working tirelessly for a credible election. In this live media chat, Governor Seriake Dickson, expressed concern over alleged betrayal of confidence of the […]

Bayelsa election: FG using security forces to intimidate our people ahead of polls – Dickson [Interview]

Olusegun Bamgbose is a frontline legal practitioner in Nigeria. He is also the President of the Caleb and Greg Foundation, CAGG. In this interview with DAILY POST’s Nwachukwu John Owen, Bamgbose vows to take over power when President Muhammadu Buhari concludes his tenure in 2023. He also revealed ways he intends to lift Nigerians out […]

I can fix Nigeria in 24 months if I take over from Buhari in 2023 – Olusegun Bamgbose

Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers 1. Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has tackled the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), for the Federal Government’s disregard to court orders and rule of law. According to Falana, if Buhari could listen to the advice of the then Attorney General of […]

Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know this Monday morning

The Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Osun State Adekola Adebowale, says the proposed slash of civil servants salaries by the Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed would not hold water as even she has come out to openly claim she was misquoted.

In this interview with DAILY POST’s Francis Ezediuno, Adebowale opens up on the implementation of the national minimum wage in the state and why labour will always work and not fight against the government.

Excerpts:

What is the reaction of the TUC Osun State to the slashing of civil servants salary as proposed by the Minister of Finance?

Let me say this for a fact, that statement was made to test the waters. To test the ability and the capability of the labour movement in Nigeria. There is another report I heard where the Minister of Finance claimed that she was misquoted.

The slashing of civil servants salaries is illegal, unconstitutional, a barbaric idea, uncultured, unfair, ungodly and satanic. Why I am saying all this is because this is not the only country experiencing economic meltdown and this type of situation calls for an adjustment that can give us a smooth landing.

It is not a welcomed idea at all and nobody in their right senses would allow such a thing to scale through. It is just a proposal. It will go the same way it came.

Which do you suppose should be slashed, salaries of civil servants or that of political office holders?

Our people are not well informed. The total salary put together, the larger percentage of it is earned by the politicians. They are the people getting the larger sum from it by a virtue of their being at the helm of affairs.

They have aides and also estacode too. Let the politicians reduce all their unworthy expenditures, you would see that we will have a good landing in this country.

Our politicians always like to malign the good workers of Nigeria and also of the states. That is one of the reasons the slashing of workers salaries was proposed.

The proposal is ungodly and nobody in their right senses will accept it from them.

As the TUC Chairman in Osun State, is it true that civil servant or service in Osun have been compromised?

It is very unfortunate that some people don’t understand how things work in the civil service.

There is nothing like a compromise. We are working according to the ethics of our job. We the civil servants operate under the civil service regulations and general orders. These are both tools that we work with.

The summary of the whole thing is that we have to work with every government in power. Whoever is saying the civil service in Osun has been compromised is suffering from a lack of information, lack of intellect and unexposed mental illness and they don’t have any idea of how the civil service operates.

The civil servants in Osun State are a hundred percent with the state government. They don’t have any choice in this case. The labour leaders were not elected to be fighting the government.

I want it to be clear. No labour leader in Nigeria or outside Nigeria according to the International Labour Organisation is elected to fight their government. Rather, what we are elected for is to agitate for the welfare and benefit of our members.

During the process of agitation, collective bargaining comes up. This means that both labour and government will seat and fashion out ways of getting to a middle ground that will not jeopardise the interests of both sides.

These are the things we do in the labour movement and not to fight our employers. We cannot fight the government because it is unheard of for employees to fight their employers.

What about the controversy generated when it was reported earlier in the year that labour called on Osun civil servants to embark on strike due to the state government’s failure to implement the national minimum wage?

As per the issue of Osun being amongst the states that have not started to implement the minimum wage, it was a case of being misquoted.

Though the TUC is not part of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), there was nowhere that Osun State was mentioned in that National Executive Council (NEC) meeting where the decision to carry out the strike action against states that have not implemented the national minimum wage was arrived at.

The Osun NLC chairman was there as a member of the NEC. This is because Osun State has started the implementation of the national minimum wage in November 2020. So there was no need for Osun to be mentioned.

I am stating categorically without any iota of doubt that we are on course in minimum wage implementation in Osun State and we must continue to appreciate our employer because to whom much is given, much is equally expected.

The state is amongst the first eighteen states to implement the national minimum wage in Nigeria now. We have no issues with the national minimum wage though we may have in other areas.

What if the proposal to slash the salaries is implemented? What course of action would the TUC take?

It is not feasible. Politicians can implement the policy of the government but it is the civil servants who prepare these policies and also work for them.

There is no distinction between federal and state civil servants here. It is a law. The national minimum wage is on the Exclusive List and in this list, what is adopted at the federal level is domesticated at the state levels.

If anybody suggests that satanic proposal, for us that are godly, we will apply them godly. We will kill the proposal and it won’t see the light of the day.

Buhari govt looking for big trouble – Nigerians react to planned slash in civil servants’ salaries

Proposal to slash civil servants’ salaries, satanic, ungodly – Osun TUC Chairman

A former Acting Governor of Kogi State, Chief Clarence Olafemi has described the 1999 Nigerian constitution as evil and the greatest enemy of the nation’s democracy.

Olafemi, in this exclusive interview with DAILY POST on Sunday speaks about June 12 and other burning issues in the country.

Excerpts

What is your perception about June 12?

June 12 was supposed to be the fairest and most credible election we have ever had in this country in which a sizable population of Nigeria registered for that election, participated in it and cast their votes without duress. They cast their votes willingly. It was supposed to be an election close to the people oriented democracy we have been looking for. Unfortunately, the votes were counted but the election was annulled by the military. As we were told, it was annulled under immense pressure by people who do not wish this country well.

Unfortunately, they were never brought to book, except for one or two actors that later had their fair share of one or two punishments. Abiola was seen to be the winner of that election because that election was counted, and concluded. It was the announcement of the final result that was withheld. How I wish Abiola was alive today, he would have been a hero. We may not be able to ascertain the kind of president he would have become, but his courage, determination to govern this country was a symbol of the current day democracy we are witnessing in this country. Unfortunately, that was the only election that was not religious or tribal based. It was a reflection of the people’s wish.

June 12 was a sad event for all Nigerians. June 12 was a day that people like us who cast our votes will never want to remember. I was in Lagos. I saw dead bodies on the road, burning of property, and the hostile nature where an average Nigerian is afraid of going out beyond the street.

What is your take about our current democracy?

Today, we have departed from the goal post of the June 12 election. Our politics has been polluted with thuggery, and killings. In fact, the people’s votes no longer count. It is democracy with might. How much money can you put into the struggle? How many thugs can you recruit to fill in the result sheets? In fact, we are making mockery of the whole concept of June 12. Ordinary councilors election, you will see thugs snatching ballot boxes.

A sitting Governor doesn’t want to lose a single Local Government. He wins all the Local Government because he sits down in the comfort of his zone and gives instructions that, you must deliver all the Local Government in my State. He uses people’s money to suppress people’s will. He uses people’s resources to suppress their will. You can imagine what it is today, Local Government as a third tier of Government is not working.

They are just figure heads. Resources meant for Local Governments are diverted by the States with impunity.

We are really miles away from the goal post of our founding father’s concept of democracy. The people who designed democracy never thought that the human being that would manage it will be the type that we have now, where the spirit, the intent and the purpose will be defeated with impunity. We found ourselves where we are. It is not hopeless. I still believe that there are still some People who have conscience. I governed for three months in Kogi State. The legacies still reign up till today. Anywhere I go, people still speak of my achievement as an Acting Governor in Kogi State. It is better to rule and have honor, than to rule and people will be saying we regret having you.

If we have men of conscience to rule us, Nigeria will be good, because no matter what you do with people’s money, whether you embezzle it, allow corruption to be the order of the day in your government, you will surely die someday. The day you die, you will leave every pin of it. Look at some former Governors that have died. Look at the affluence of life they left behind. I took a look at the edifice they put down, and today grasses are growing in their yards.

Even in my own environment, people that their names ring bell, today after their death, their children don’t come home. The buildings that they put together are forgotten. Trees are growing and I shake my head and say this is the vanity of life. It is better to serve and be remembered for your good service, than to serve and oppress the People. When you leave, what people say about you, your government becomes a permanent stain on you, your Children and your generations to come.

How do you see the 1999 constitution Nigeria has been using since we returned to democracy 22 years ago?

Our greatest enemy today against the true democracy we are looking for is the 1999 Constitution. I met a former Speaker and the Current Deputy Clerk in the State House of Assembly and other notable Nigerians and we started debating on the issue of our Constitution. Even with this present amendment they are carrying out now, the publicity is very poor and below standard. People like me don’t even know that the exercise was in progress. So, I couldn’t have made my own contribution when the public debate for constitutional amendment was hosted in Kogi State.

The Nigerian Constitution was created as a trap by the military to punish Nigerians. They knew Nigerians were saying We don’t want you, you must go. They now said we will deal with these People and they permanently enslaved us with that constitution. Now, how do we change the core area of the constitution that needs to free and liberate Nigerians? We cannot do it.

Many sections of the country have been clamoring for restructuring, how realistic is this?

The President has come out to say restructuring is the duty of the National Assembly. How would the National Assembly restructure when the Constitution did not permit us to create one single Local Government. To get a Local Government created, that will be an addition to what was listed in the 1999 constitution. It has to pass through two-third of the National Assembly and two-third of the State Assemblies which can never be done. All attempts to do it will fail. If you cannot create a Local Government, you cannot create another State.

How do you regionalize Nigeria? How do you restructure Nigeria? It is still the same process. This is the literate part of it that Nigerians do not know. Rather than wasting our time fighting, we should first of all tackle the removal of all those clauses that enslave us in the Constitution. It is then that we can possibly think of how to restructure. You cannot restructure with the present constitution.

It has been enacted, we have accepted it. It has been documented to rule us. Anything done outside it is legitimately illegal. And that is the problem and nobody is looking at that. They will come with some amendments at the peripheral, but it has nothing to do with the core problem of Nigeria. There are only two ways of getting out of this quagmire done by the Military.

They are talking of referendums. Where is the provision of referendum in the 1999 Constitution? It is not there. What is the definition of referendum? Calling people to come and vote, when already the People have mortgaged that right to their representatives in the National Assembly? This is the conflict. The only way out is to have a situation where there is a dominant party that constitutes more than two-third of the National Assembly, more than two-third of the State Assemblies, and controls more than two-thirds of the Governors.

Where then, party supremacy will come and say this part of the Constitution, we want it changed. It becomes a party decision. But today, they don’t have that structure, and the strength in the National and State Assemblies to meet up with the provision of the 1999 constitution. That is the only legalized process of changing the Constitution.

The other one is where you have the People pushed to the wall, and they protest and remove the Government. If they can escape the anarchy that will follow either through a military coup, because when a Government is toppled by the People, somebody must come in to breach a gap for another Government to come in. But a coup is not fashionable. As a matter of necessity, if the people are pushed to the wall, such informal operations will come in. It means many souls will be lost which is totally uncalled for. So when you look at the scenario as it is today politically and democratically, we are in trouble.

Are you in support of Nigeria’s disintegration in view of the prevailing situation in the country?

We must find a way of holding the country without disintegration. Disintegration of Nigeria will lead to a massive war that will take years for the country to recover. It shouldn’t be an option in our table. I don’t belong to those who want Nigeria to disintegrate. Disintegration will create anarchy, and lead the country to war. It deprives you as an individual including you that caused the war.

It is better to be in poverty and have your liberty than struggling for power that will lead your country to endless war like what we are seeing in Syria, Yemen and many more. We shouldn’t forget, these are conflicting interests. These are countries that are not up to one quarter of Nigeria.

Imagine a country with over 200 million being at war. It is like imagining that America is at war, who is going to mediate. Before the United Nations will give attention to the country, devastation has started. It can’t be an option in our table now. All I am asking in the name of June 12 when one man’s life was sacrificed and it became a remembrance day is that let nobody put millions of lives in jeopardy.

What is your take on the current Insecurity in Nigeria?

Of course, we cannot be talking of any form of development under the current insecurity we are witnessing in Nigeria today. Almost all of our economy is collapsing. Farming is becoming a problem. In my area now, to farm, you grow your cassava, the herdsmen will move their cow, uproot your cassava and cut with their cutlasses for their cows to eat all in the name of freedom of movement within Nigeria and grazing.

This is absolute nonsense. My Son invested N30 million in sugarcane. He has already made a market for it. The herdsmen went inside the farm, put fire on it, so that it can start re-germinating, and then drove their cow inside to eat it. The atrocity of the herdsmen in Nigeria, is more than a civil war. Agriculture is killed. Some actions that can be taken, cannot be done until the constitution is amended. Every problem of the country when you intend to drive round it, ends up at the door of the Constitution. We should tell ourselves the truth. That constitution is a Devil and needs to be dismantled at all cost.

If Mr President who has the executive power is now saying that what can save Nigeria from war and anarchy is in the corridor of the National Assembly, if the National Assembly cannot do it, they should all resign and let us confirm that there is no National Assembly. So, let us see how the President would exist.

He knows he cannot exist. This problem is coming, I don’t want it to push the nation into war, so that People take over the Government forcefully without an organized way of doing it. It will end up in war. Property will be destroyed, People will be killed and there will be no control for us as a country. We are very lucky that we still have time to amend things. We must be determined to do that with actions and not mere words of the mouth.

Buhari greater threat to one Nigeria than Nnamdi Kanu, Sunday Igboho – Reno Omokri

Nigerian constitution is evil, greatest enemy of our democracy – Ex-Kogi Gov, Clarence Olafemi

Worried by the gale of the kidnap of their members across the State, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, (PSN), has threatened to withdraw their services in Kogi State if the lives and property of their members could no longer be guaranteed in the environment they operate. In this exclusive interview with DAILY POST on Monday, the Kogi State Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, (PSN), Dr. Lawal Mohammed speaks on the recent attack of medical practitioners in Kogi State and the kidnap of three of their members who are still in the hands of their abductors.

Excerpts…

What is your take on the recent attack and kidnap of medical practitioners in Kogi State?

It is very worrisome, I must tell you. It is a threat to every one of us and our existence. A situation where healthcare providers and their facilities are being attacked, calls for urgent attention from all the stakeholders. Even in bad situations such as war, healthcare providers are not usually attacked. Reason being that they render services across the board

We swore to an oath to protect life. And so, we don’t have enemies. We take care of everybody, irrespective of your status in the society, whether you are a criminal or not. When even criminals are apprehended on the highway and they are being brought to the hospital, they are not being denied care even with the assumption that they are criminals. They are being attended to. So, it becomes worrisome when, we that provide essential services, especially those that deal with the survival of everyone are being attacked. It calls for urgent attention.

Recently, some of your members were kidnaped by gunmen, can you tell us about it?

Three of our members have been kidnapped and up till now, there is no headway. One is from Okene, another from Kabba and the last one is from Ajaokuta. As I speak, none of them has regained their freedom. We were able to get communication from one of the victims’ abductors, and they are asking for money.

What is the situation report from the abductors of the kidnapped victims?

They are asking for money of course. One of the abductors is asking for N30,000 000 from the family of our member from Okene. They contacted his wife and asked for N30,000 000. From the information I got from the wife, the wife asked that they should allow her to have a conversation with her husband, in other for her to be sure that her husband is alive. And from then, there is no form of communication from the kidnappers. So, this is how far we have gone.

Some news making the rounds indicated that a family of one of the kidnapped victims provided N10,000,000 but it was rejected by the kidnappers. How true is this?

I read from some online media that the family of our member from Okene agreed to pay N10,000 000 to the kidnapers which was later rejected, insisting that they must pay N30,000 000 and nothing less. That news is not true. That information on those online media is false and should be disregarded. We have already reported the incident to the appropriate authorities. Let me quickly use this opportunity to educate us that, pharmacists and people who are involved in the pharmacy business are not rich.
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The public should stop seeing us as being rich. We access loans from the bank. It is this money that we use to stock. And so, when you come around to attack the premises, to take away our money, or attack the individual in form of kidnapping, and asking for money, you are indirectly asking for money that has been loaned from the bank to stock. When you get this money from the operators, where do you want them to get the money to stock their various pharmaceutical stores? If they don’t have money to stock, that means there will be a shortage of drugs in circulation.

We all need drugs to survive. We need drugs to prevent illnesses. We need drugs, before, during, and after surgery. You can imagine a situation where you visit the hospital and you have been seen by the physician and the physician prescribes drugs for you to use, only for you not to get where to buy your drugs. Do you think you will get over that illness? Of course, there will be complications as a result of you not getting to treat the illness. When there are complications, it is death.

What is the next step of PSN in Kogi in line with this ugly trend?

As I said earlier, it is unfortunate. If I have to be blunt, we are under serious pressure from our members. What they are asking for is that all pharmacists, including other drug stores across Kogi State, should be shut down to register our displeasure. Of course, this is not the way out of this problem.

I also sympathize with my members that it is bad and unacceptable that this is happening to us. But then, if because of an individual who has done something wrong and you deny other people of essential service, there will be chaos in the system.

As I said earlier, you can imagine a situation where an individual was diagnosed to have cancer and the prescription has been made and is to go out to get that prescription and no drug store to access it. Then what would be the fate of this individual? Pharmacists provide 60 percent of our drug needs to the society. The pharmacist is a healthcare provider that is easily accessible in the community.

They provide your drug needs, counseling, educate you on preventive medicines, prepare drugs that are not commercially available for your need. These are specific preparations, for specific patients and needs. The categories of professionals who render these unique services should be respected and not to be embarrassed the way we are being embarrassed.

It is an embarrassment to us and the system. I have advised my members to remain calm as bad as the situation is. I think the government is doing something about it and I’m hopeful that his Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello will overcome these challenges for us. I believe he is working very hard tooth and nail to put this behind. He has done it before; I have confidence in him that he would do it again.

What are your appeals to the relevant authorities?

I want to appeal to the general public, not to see us as being rich. Join hands with the relevant security agencies to see how we can fight against this menace. Those people that are involved in this crime should also know that we are there to serve them and help them in their health challenges and shouldn’t see us as a soft spot or good market for their business.

Kidnapping: We might be forced to shut down in Kogi – PSN Chairman, Lawal Mohammed

A social critic and aspirant in the 2022 gubernatorial election in Osun State, Busuyi Oyewole, has accused elected political office holders in Osun of failing to bring meaningful developments to their constituencies.

Speaking with DAILY POST in Osogbo on Wednesday, the engineer-turned-social crusader also accused elected political office holders from both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of neglecting the electorate in their constituencies after election victories but always coming back to them when their votes are needed again.

Oyewole revealed that the attitude shown by this set of politicians is not masses-oriented but they are always using the people as a means to achieve an end.

He explained that this attitude has always succeeded because of the poor political education of the majority of the masses.

According to him, “The political class has always taken advantage of the masses. This is because the masses have little or no education politically and this they use to advantage.

“They are aware that these people know that elections come up every three or four years, depending. So, these politicians start to court the people when the election comes but after that, they disappear to the comfort and attractions of their political offices and repeat the same cycle during another term.”

Oyewole, however, stated that only a few from the political class have tried to carry the masses along after achieving victory in the polls.

“You can ask these politicians what the people have benefitted from them. All the opportunities available for the masses are distributed to their family members and cronies. All you see them giving the poor are motorcycles, sewing machines, wheelbarrows, farming implements, hairdryers all in the name of empowerment.

“Some even go as far as organising kitchens for the people as what they have for them after four years of representation.

“I tell you that I won’t be surprised to see this same cycle repeating itself as we get ready to vote in 2022 and 2023 respectively.”

Osun 2022: Politicians in Nigeria take advantage of poor electorate

Ahead of the 2023 general election, Hon. Farah Dagogo, the member resenting Bonny/Degema Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, in this interview, explains that the Peoples Democratic Party’s choice of presidential candidate would determine the party’s impact in the presidential election. He sees former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the only one with the capacity to defeat the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Excerpts:

With 2023 just around the corner, what are the chances of your party, the PDP, especially, in the Presidential Election?

As a country, Nigeria is at a critical juncture. We have never had it this bad, it is a most unfortunate situation. The downturn in virtually all sectors and lives of the people is alarming and not welcomed at all. This is an all time low in the history of governance in our dear country. Instead of us competing with the best in the world, this present administration has lowered the bar, and placed us at par with the very worst of the worst.

We must and should be saluting the resilience of Nigerians, to have survived and stomached the about seven years of this mal-administration tell a lot about the Nigerian spirit of never giving up. However, Nigeria and the Nigerians’ spirit should not be tested on the survivability of anguish, pains, suffering, poverty-stricken and other worse scenarios this present administration has been dishing out non-stop for almost seven years now.

Nigerians are in concord that we need a shift, a clear compass, a paradigm that would take us out of this upheaval. Nigerians are counting and relying on the PDP for succour and a good direction. Nigerians have now handed over the responsibilities of bringing back hope and salvaging our better tomorrow to the PDP.

Your State Governor and other Governors of the PDP, particularly from the South, are clamouring for a shift of power from the North to the South, how do you now justify your position?

I have said it before and I am restating it. As at now, and as it relates to the exigencies of the behemoth of problems, Atiku is the biblical Moses with the magic wand to begin the move of taking Nigerians and Nigeria to a greater height. There is also the peculiar situation PDP as a Party found itself in. This is a battle of immense proportion. We are in the opposition and if we are desirous of taking over power, which I believe is the case, then we have to go with our best arsenal. This is not a time to be sentimental, we need our emotions to be put in check, detached. It shouldn’t be about North versus the South but about the future of Nigeria and Nigerians. It is not a matter of convenience, but the talk of zoning should be jettisoned for now. In the history of our democracy, Presidential elections have always been contested by aspirants and candidates from both the South and North at the same time, be it at the primaries or general elections.

The country is counting on the PDP to lead, we are on the precipice, any wrong calculation can spell doom. In the 2015 Presidential election, the calculation and timing to put forward President Buhari as a candidate of the main opposition were right and with other factors, he defeated an incumbent. In Rivers State, in that same 2015, the present Governor took advantage of the then circumstances to become a Governor even though he was from the same Ikwerre speaking tribe as his predecessor who was governor for eight years. Despite the overflow of emotions, the Governor by next year would have completed a 16 years uninterrupted Governorship by the Ikwerre ethnic nationality. It worked eventually even though the crisis that arose from Rivers State was the genesis of our losing the centre. In all, we sacrificed the Presidency to get back Rivers State. All those are in the past and if emotions did not work then, it shouldn’t be a factor now. The party took that decision because it wanted to wrestle power from the ruling APC in Rivers State then, and it paid off. The same scenario is before the party now and speaking objectively and looking at the indices and permutations, Atiku is a strong factor, a winnable option. Even my Governor has said it several times that the party is determined to field the right candidate, we are all in the same boat.

The governors of the PDP, particularly from the South are also in the know for a while now that the best bet of getting Nigeria out of this gamut of a mess is Atiku Abubakar. He is the best solution for Nigerians today. The PDP is lucky to have him in its fold. Like most observers, the Governors from the South on the platform of our party know that an Atiku candidate will guarantee victory for the PDP in the 2023 Presidential elections.

That’s my basis and justification for supporting the candidature of Atiku. He knows what he wants and he came prepared.

In this situation however, Atiku should be very circumspect because of the Judas amongst us. The same people that sabotaged and worked against his victory at the 2019 polls are still holding sway. He knows them, they are treacherous and slippery, he shouldn’t allow himself to be bitten twice.

What is your relationship with your State Governor considering your position might be at variance with his political ambition?

Because you asked, I will tell you the way it is; I don’t have any personal issues with him. We might have our disagreements, but such disagreements are strictly on principles. Also, there have been lots of unfounded allegations that I am no longer a member of the PDP, how those that are peddling these lies, right from when I was at the State Assembly, sleep at night amaze me. I am an independent minded individual. Whatever ambition he has, he is free to pursue it just as I am at liberty to mine. I don’t mix governance with administration nor politics. Representing the interests of the people is a serious business. Those of us holding the mandates of the masses in trust understood the huge responsibilities handed to us and we dare not fail. When you are fully abreast with this, you prioritize your engagements to sync with that which will be beneficial to your people and not some jamboree procession to prove loyalty where all sorts of uncouth languages glossed with insults are dished out. People of high calibre, both in and outside the government, ridiculed and the misguided laughed at such unfortunate scenarios, I can’t be a part of such. That is not governance.

This support for Atiku, is it a gateway to shore up your support base in your state vis-a-vis your political aspirations for 2023?

In 2023, by the Special Grace of God, I would have completed eight years in the legislative arm of government. Four years at the State Assembly and further four at the House of Representatives. If you look at the trajectories, I always make progress by His Special Grace and with support of colleagues, constituents and other human elements, we made inroads on our way with legacies in lawmaking.

Having distinguished that, I will not be seeking re-election to the House of Representatives. On my next political move, I have been consulting widely. In fact, I started my consultation with God from the first of January this year and I prayed earnestly…

(Cuts in) What are the prayer points and is it related to your 2023 aspirations since you just revealed you will not be seeking re-election to the House of Representatives?

I prayed God Almighty to grant me, my family, friends, supporters, followers the serenity to accept things we cannot do anything about and the courage to do the things we can, alongside the wisdom to distinguish the differences. On the second day, I went to Church and surrendered everything to Him to direct my path, consultation and future endeavours.

At the fullest of time, I will make my intention known, but to wet your appetite, know that I am the potential Governorship candidate of the PDP for Rivers State in the 2023 elections. My support for Atiku is based on the genuine love and interest he has shown and demonstrated for the country. I have related with him and realized we shared the same vision aimed at improving and bettering lives, as well as taking our economy out of its doldrums. Yes, our interests for our people aligned and on that basis, I am supporting him to bring an end to the suffering, deprivation, hunger, unemployment and other never palatable treatments being experienced by Nigerians.

Don’t you consider yourself an underdog considering the list of other aspirants?

If you are referencing my age, I might be the youngest. If you are talking of who is well prepared, I am at the forefront. If you want to know who has the wherewithal, support base, reach, pedigree and what have you, you have me. If the above yardsticks form your basis for an ‘underdog’, then, you have your answer. Be aware that political power in Rivers State is never given. Owing to its peculiarity, power is always taken…

(Cuts in) You said politics in Rivers is peculiar, power is not given but taken, can you explain this?

Like I said earlier, I could be the youngest, which counts strongly for me considering that the youths constitute over 55% of our country’s population, and I have their support. My aspiration will be a massive youth movement never witnessed in the political history of Rivers State. It is a movement that will reverberate through the Niger Delta. That time is now.

Popularity; I’m well-loved and very popular with the people. I have the temperament to bridge the gap between the younger and older population in the State.

Mind you, I am not waiting for an endorsement. I have never depended on endorsements in my political journeys and I will not start now. That is why I told you, I am the ‘potential PDP candidate in Rivers State’.

Nevertheless, there is still a dark storm circling over Rivers State hatched by men who consider our State as their personal estate. Men who had a secret pact to continue to undermine the people of Rivers State and the State…

(Cuts in) Men who had a secret pact to continue to undermine the people of Rivers State and the State. These are very serious allegations, please elucidate on that?

Sometime between 2006 and 2007, four Nigerians and one Ghanaian lawyer hatched a plan to make Rivers State their personal estate. That devious meeting was held in far away Accra, Ghana. Three of the Nigerians are from Rivers State, with the fourth a prominent lawyer from the South West. They agreed that power in Rivers State will rotate amongst them.

This is an insult to Rivers people, an insult to all the tribes that make up the State, and that chain will be unchained in the coming elections. Rivers State belongs to us all and we all will agree on how it will be governed, it is not a fiefdom and it will never be.

You were a major actor in the Niger Delta struggle, is it true as claimed by some persons that proceeds of the struggle were for a few to the detriment of the region?

I am an agitator. I am still an agitator, a revered and respected product of the struggle to emancipate the people of the Niger Delta. I fought sincerely for the good of the Niger Delta and for about a decade, I lived in the creeks. I said I fought ‘sincerely’ and my choice of word was deliberate. At the height of the Amnesty in 2009, late former President Musa Yar’adua, May Almighty Allah grant him Aljanah Firdaus, had a meeting with the Aaron Team to broker long-lasting peace in the Niger Delta. I was a part of the Aaron team that was led by Noble Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, that also included former Chief of General Staff, Vice Admiral Okhai Mike Akhigbe (rtd) and Major General Luke Kakadu Aprezi (rtd), among others. Mr. Segun Adeniyi, the Spokesman to the President was also in attendance.

President Yar’adua was very passionate about the development of the region. In demonstrating his commitment, he offered me four oil blocks as a sign of his genuineness and bid to entrench peace in the region. However, in the presence of the late President and the aforementioned persons, I turned it down and politely told the President that speaking for myself, the reason for the agitation was not for personal enrichment. I told the stunned President the way forward was for true federalism and policies and programmes that would improve the living conditions of the people of the region. I urged him to use the proceeds of the oil wells ( that would have been given to me) and other developmental policies to develop our depraved Niger Delta. At that point, Prof Soyinka concurred with my position and restated my stance to the President that the Niger Delta struggle was not for personal aggrandizement. The noble scholar was so wowed by my disposition that he took a picture with me, with a promise to enlarge and keep in his living room for future Niger Deltans visitors to behold a rare being. My turning down that offer definitely would be given different interpretations by most persons, but because I was sincere about the Niger Delta cause, it was a no brainer for me. Going contrary to that would have been a betrayal to the cause. Anyways, for those that truly know me, that is who I am made of, it is the representation of me.

At another meeting with the late President, which had the former Governor of Rivers State, now Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, in attendance, the President still asked me to make any demand to which I told him I want to further my education and improve myself. I set a target to get Phds in five different fields of learning and I am working assiduously towards achieving that.

This is the first time I am making this public. I revealed all of those so you can have a fitting response to your question. I am one politician that has integrity, and that has been one of my hallmarks. I abhor injustice and I always side with the people. I remain an agitator and I will remain so for the cause I listed above.

For days, protesting women barricaded the main entrance to the National Assembly over the rejection of the female gender bills. What is the way out of this seeming impasse?

This is the beauty of democracy. I like it that the women have now seen reasons to take their destinies into their hands. Their actions and inactions have forced the hands of the Green Chambers of the National Assembly. Those gender bills are having a second look by the House and that alone tells a lot.

However, the women should man up and take responsibility for the second-fiddle roles they are playing. Let me give you an instance; in the 2011 PDP Presidential primary election, Sarah Jibril, a woman, contested against then President Goodluck Jonathan and other aspirants. She was the only woman in the race. Before the commencement, Sarah Jibril gave a rousing address, she made a very strong case for her gender. Unfortunately, when votes were counted, she got just a vote, her vote! This was in spite of the huge number of female delegates at the Convention, including the then First Lady who was also a strong advocate for women in power. And all these happened at the height of the very strong agitation for 35% affirmation action for women. So you see the issue, are the women willing to support themselves for any position?

I have satisfied my conscience and that of major stakeholders in Rivers State, including my constituents. I believe women should be saddled with more leadership roles. I voted in support of the various gender rights bills for women. But the women need to do better. The women folk have the numbers, they can do better than allowing anyone to reduce their value and competence.

The women should be encouraged to compete. The National Assembly has approved independent candidates. They should channel that protest strength to that area. If the women believe that Party A or B will not accommodate their interests, they can present independent female candidates for all positions and use their numerical strengths to vote them into positions of authority. Through that, they have taken the bull by the horn and activated the radical feminist theory. They are already doing well in their various stratum in life. The ball is on their court, they can be President, Vice President, Senate President and so much more. Like I said, they have the numbers, and how they use it will determine the role they will play in the scheme of things. In countries where democracies are practiced like the US, Canada, Australia, England and others, percentages are never allocated to women. The much touted Feminist Theory also did not say women should be allocated percentages, rather it advocates for competition. The women just need to capitalize on their numerical strength.

INTERVIEW: 2023 Presidency: Choice of candidate will mar PDP – Reps member, Farah Dagogo

Engr. Mustafa Bello, a former Minister of Commerce under President Obasanjo’s administration has revealed his relationship with his former boss while working closely with him (Obasanjo) as one of his top cabinet members.

Mustafa, in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, also revealed how he became a minister through a special recommendation from the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida and how he told the former Head of State that good people should be encouraged to go into politics.

According to him, during the late Gen. Abacha’s regime, five political parties – UNCP, DPN, CNC, GDM, and NCPN, were created by the government and thrown out to the citizens to choose which to belong to.

He said 3 vibrant citizens – himself, Alh. Abubakar Magaji, and Dr. Shem Zagbayi Nuhu, who was later a Deputy Governor in 1999, met and agreed that there was a need to develop a new political culture in Niger State.

According to him, the Nupe speaking zone had never had a governor then, stating that it was either the Hausa speaking zone or the Gwari speaking areas, so there was the need to give the Nupes a chance.

He said going into one of the weakest parties was the only way to test their popularity and strength that could equally challenge the UNCP.

He said, “We formed a group called the Niger Political Forum, which formed a committee chaired by Alh. Ibrahim Issa Ladan to give us a report that will guide us on a way forward. They did so, we presented the report to a larger group who recommended that we join the weakest party of the five, or the NCPN, which we did.

“We started going round to brief our seniors, the first was Gen. Babangida, who, I remember, looked at me and said ‘Mustafa, even you’ I said ‘Sir, if the right people don’t go into politics, the wrong people will continue to have their way’ and that is essentially what we are seeing happening today.”

He narrated further that President Olusegun Obasanjo won in 1999 and he sent a letter to each Governor to send three names to look at, so as to make one his minister.

Mustafa said: “our Governor then said since we initially had an agreement that I will be the ministerial nominee, there was no need to send three names. But some people, who may have had ulterior motives, claimed that President Obasanjo may object, but Gen. Babangida called late Kure and advised him, ‘go and ask Mustafa to give you two other names of his choice to make the list of three,’ so I gave two names, the three were invited to Abuja for a ministerial retreat. There, Obasanjo just wanted to know the people and listen to their views or opinions on the type of system to guide his governance, so after going through all the screening etc. we were sworn in as ministers on June 30th, 1999.”

Speaking on how he jumped on the tasks before him, Mustafa said he carefully drafted a plan and shared with the Permanent Secretary on how to move the nation forward through the ministry of Commerce.

According to him, “Eventually, when I realized that the in-situ capacity to develop the Draft Action Plan did not exist, I sat down myself, sketched what I wanted us to achieve over our first three years in office, and shared with the Permanent Secretary and Departmental Directors for input, including the Chief Executives of Agencies under us. At that time, we had CAC, NEPC, the Consumer Protection Council, NEPZA, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Tafawa Balewa Square Complex, and Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority. Some of these agencies were inaugurated after my assumption of office as they only existed in law and not operational.”

He disclosed further how he later presented his Action Plan to the cabinet, narrating that the president was out of town on the day he did, and that it was the Vice President that chaired the cabinet meeting.

Quoting the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, the former minister affirmed: “he said ‘Mr Minister, you actually don’t need approval for something that was assigned to you as your responsibility, so go and implement and then report implementation.’ I thanked the cabinet for the “No Objection” and we immediately swung into action.’’

He said one of the products of that Action Plan today is the CAC, stating that when he assumed office, it was completely analogue or pre-analogue, but the innovations he brought in changed the story.

Corruption fight

Speaking on the corruption fight under the administration, the former minister said, “Remember when President Obasanjo first came in 1999, he came hyper-sensitive on any corruption issues. Before becoming president, I was later made to understand that he had an application to register a company with CAC which had been in process for a long time. So, when he became president, he set his first trap at the CAC to use as an example. He gave his boy, following the registration process, some amount to use and push the process fast and it worked. Within a week or two, the Registration Certificate was out. Surely, a dormant ‘Volcano’ was activated.”

Mustafa further disclosed how an order from Obasanjo led to the sack of the entire management staff of CAC.

He quoted the former president as saying, ‘Mustafa, go and fire the entire management of the CAC and when you do so, come back and let me know what you have done’.

He said, “We thereafter organized an open and transparent process of recruitment of a new management that saw the appointment of Mal. Ahmed Al-Mustafa as the new Registrar-General of the CAC. With him, we were able to push forward the transformation plan of the CAC of the analogue years to a fully digital, customer-friendly Corporate Registry based on an IT-Architecture I personally designed. The CAC that was drawing from the public appropriation as at 1999 is today a contributor to the Federation Account.

“We similarly subjected the Free Zones Authority to a holistic x-ray that transformed it to what it is today, an entity that is also self-financing. The Consumer Protection Council that existed on paper, we turned around into an effective vanguard of the public and today known as a Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. The Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority that also existed in law was put to operation and today equally self-financing. The Nigeria Exports Promotion Council that was equally inactive was given life through a Presidential order, secured by me, that allocated 0.5 per cent out of the 7 per cent surcharge collected on all imports into the country to assist it fund its Exports Development programs.

“By 2002, at the completion of the life of the 3-year Action Plan I earlier on presented to the cabinet, I prepared a report accounting for the implementation of the Action Plan and filed with the cabinet secretariat. Luckily for me, the day the memo was listed for presentation was actually exactly three years on the dot from the first day I presented in 2000. I solicited for the absolute attention of my cabinet members for the importance of the report, and presented my action plan implementation account. By the time I finished, many members of the cabinet raised their hands to speak. I recall Gen. T Y Danjuma spoke first and said ‘Mr. President, I thought when we left government in 1979, I had seen my last best, but I did not know that I was yet to see that last best. Mr President, I think you should commend Mustafa’, ‘’ he said.

Obasanjo offer of NIPC job

Narrating how he found himself at the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC, he said, “In November 2003, at about the time CHOGM Meeting was to take place in Abuja, I was in Lagos on my way to Mozambique to attend the World Economic Forum Southern Africa Meeting, when I got a call from President Obasanjo asking; ‘Mustafa, have you reported?’ I asked Mr President; ‘Report where Sir?’, and then I think he realized he’d not even spoken to me about an appointment, he said ‘ok where are you’ and I told him he said, “see me when you return”.

Revealing one major thing the former president did for him and others, he said: “I must state that one thing he did for me and others which I will never forget is that if he trusts you, likes and appreciates you, he doesn’t abandon you. He will always look for you without any prompting or solicitation.

“When I returned, I went to him and he said ‘Mustafa I want to send you to NIPC’, I didn’t say anything, he repeated it three times with no response from me, so he got up and said ‘when you make up your mind, come back to me’.

“So, as I left him, I immediately proceeded to Gen. TY Danjuma to share with him what transpired and explained to him my worry – from a ministerial responsibility to a subordinate to a minister of the same ministry I was superintending, and secondly people would think I was desperately looking for something to do when in reality I wasn’t.

“Gen. Danjuma immediately said, “Mustafa, go and do it,” I don’t think the president meant to lower or reduce your worth, I’m sure he wants to raise the status of that office, help him solve a problem, and he sees you as the only provider of the solution.’’

He revealed how he also met Mal. Adamu Ciroma to seek his advice.

He said, “I left him and went to Mal. Adamu Ciroma, explained the same and he said; ‘Minister, if the president says you should go and head the people who sweep the streets, go and do it, it’s an honour for him to even recognize you’. I left him and went to see Mal. Sani Zangon Daura on the same issue, he too said go and do it, I went to Alhaji Sule Lamido, he said ‘why are you wasting time, go and do it’. I went to Malam Lawal Batagarawa, he too said go and do it, ‘look at me, I dropped from a minister to an SA’.

“So, after about two weeks, I went back to President Obasanjo and said, “I am now ready,” he said ‘okay, the first thing I want you to do is go and fire all the directors in that office. And anybody who stands in your way, clear him, I will stand by you.

“My challenge on such a Presidential instruction was that of having to balance between discharging such instruction and evaluating the consequences on him as a president, given the fact that most of those directors came from one zone of the country, the North-East.

“I, however, went ahead and organized 3-month long review meetings with the directors of all documents produced by consultants on the NIPC in the past but were not used or implemented. As the reviews went on, decisions on recommendations in those documents were taken by consensus, meaning all directors were part of the agreement,” he narrated.

“By 2002, at the completion of the life of the 3-year Action Plan I presented to the cabinet a report accounting for the implementation of the Action Plan and filed with the cabinet secretariat. Luckily for me, the day the memo was listed for presentation was actually exactly three years on the dot from the first day I presented in 2000, I solicited for the absolute attention of my cabinet members for the importance of the report, and presented my action plan implementation account. By the time I finished many members of the cabinet raised their hands to speak, I recall, Gen. T Y Danjuma spoke first and said ‘Mr. President I thought when we left government in 1979 I had seen my last best, but I did not know that I was yet to see that last best. Mr. President, I think you should commend Mustafa’.

“Mal. Adamu Ciroma (late) also spoke, Chief Tony Anenih (late) spoke, Dr. Kema Chikwe who was sitting next to me, I could see her shedding tears as a result of two reasons, according to her, on one, she said, she was not in cabinet the day I presented the Action Plan to prompt her, and two, that a colleague had done something impressive that’s giving the cabinet a good image. Mrs. Modupe Adelaja equally added her voice just as Mal. Sani Zangon-Daura, Wakilin Adamawa, and many others did. By the end of it all the Cabinet Approved that the entire Report be publicized as part of the overall achievements of the Obasanjo Government.

“So, in effect, I have perfected the art of giving life to dead public institutions through first planning and moving the entity to a level higher than where it was to a platform that guarantees sustainability and prosperity. That was exactly what I did to the commerce ministry and by the time I left the ministry became one of interest to all ministerial appointees and today the 3rd most important Ministry,” he added.

Resigning to contest an election

On his resignation to contest an election under PRP, he said Obasanjo was reluctant in allowing him to leave.

According to him, “Actually, President Obasanjo was reluctant in allowing me to go and contest but had to for certain other reasons.

“So I left and went to contest under PRP though initially it was under PDP but the governor then exploited a weakness in the regulation by the party under the number of delegates to his advantage by conscripting about 290 Special Advisers overnight as special delegates to the congress.

“In the regulation they listed all the delegates on the statutory side and those who were elected, and then special advisers without being specific on the number, so one cheeky Attorney-General saw this and they exploited this, overnight they recruited 290 special advisers who became automatic delegates. When I noticed this, I wrote in protest to the PDP national Headquarters and when no action was taken I moved over to the PRP.

“In those days, PRP was the only option, APP was not ideologically favorable to our aspirations and had their own candidate. By the end of the elections, and according to what was declared, they said we got 280,000 votes, the governor got 508,000, but, interestingly, I had more votes than Sen. Bukola Saraki who got 180,000 votes to win governor in Kwara. I appreciated that our efforts were worthwhile and we still enjoy respect for the people of the State many years after the unfortunate process.

“After the elections, supporters insisted we should go to court, but I got insider information from other sources that advised otherwise that we should close that chapter, so we left it there and moved on. Immediately after that Frieslandcampina WAMCO, the makers of Peak Milk, invited me to join their Board and I did in September 2003 for a brief period.”

On the challenges he faced at NIPC, he said after the sack of the directors, “We faced a lot of petition writing on those terminated, and towards the end of his term I went and recommended to President Obasanjo that if we introduce tenured appointment on our Directors of two four-year term the rest would leave the NIPC before his exit in 2007 and that would completely discharge his first instruction of sending away all the Directors when I first came to the Commission. This is what, I suspect, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye later adopted in the public service and made it universal.

“Upon approval of that tenured recommendation, I instructed the Finance Director to pay into the accounts of those we were to terminate, all their entitlements up to the terminal date ahead of the date. He did so, and we paid them and we gave them two weeks to see who will report irregular flow of money into their account, none did, and by regulation, after two weeks, if you keep such money you have accepted. So we gave them termination letters. Then petitions started again after the exit of President Obasanjo believing that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua would reverse that decision. That never happened.

“When Amb. Babagana Kingibe came as the SGF thought they could use sentiment to secure sympathy; again he could not help them. They resorted to all sorts of mischievous writings on my person, in the office all in an attempt to bring an end to my tenure in the course of which we were invited a countless number of times to the EFCC, ICPC, until they got tired. I was however never tired as I knew we stood on truth. That one too did not help their case.”

On the turnaround of the NIPC from an invisible agency of government to very prominent one, he said, “When I arrived NIPC in 2003, I deliberately invited the NTA and said just help me, stand in front of the gate of the NIPC and randomly stop people passing by and ask them ‘what do you know about NIPC?’ And right there, someone will ask ‘do you mean NNPC?’ or ‘where is it?’ And, ignorantly, it’s right there in front of them so I knew we had a visibility challenge which I must have had to address.

“To attempt to address the issue of visibility, I pleaded with the President to exclude my agency from those to be given nominated Board members, instead I would recommend for his consideration names that will attract attention to the Commission which he willingly obliged. So I gave him the names of Alh. Aliko Dangote, Mr. Jim Ovia, Mr. Festus Odimegwu, Chief Femi Otedola, the big players of the Nigerian economy, whom I knew anytime they came around the Commission the press would gladly want to be around. The President on his own brought Chief Felix Ohiweirei to be the Board Chairman.

“And I remember he was then sitting beside his late wife Stella, he patted her lap and said ‘Ohh this woman go kill me if I don’t put a woman on this Board o’, later on Mrs. Salome Jankada was brought in, and other institutional representatives.

“Our major problem when we started was to scale up the Foreign Direct Investment or FDI capital coming into Nigeria. And President Obasanjo had told me, at the onset, that ‘look Mustafa even if it’s 2 o’clock in the morning, or at any time you have a serious investor and you think I must see him, bring him I will meet him’.

“So we had this unlimited opening and access, and we had the trust from a leader who does nothing other than work, work and work. And we were streaming visitors in investment delegations to his office and he never showed any sign or indication that we were a burden to him or his time. I truly appreciated knowing him and working for him and serving him and his Government. He had such a capacity that no Barometer can measure. He has no equal at such a time.

“So President Obasanjo personally contributed to enhancing the visibility of NIPC and in an effort to further assist industry operators in difficulty which he was so passionate about, he later on instructed we form a Committee on Problems of Investors whose duty was to address the individual industry operators problems, and subsequently institutionalized at a One-Stop-Shop facility within the NIPC for investors, and everybody wanting a wait-and-get solution was coming.

“I must state that I inherited an NIPC with debt of N200M in 2003 and when leaving I left it rich with over N2.86B. I left a sustainable means of revenue for the Commission that made it today financially self-reliant and anybody who claims that he either returns money to treasury annually without telling the people of this country how that money was generated and the source is only trying to earn undeserved credit. The NIPC of today was my architecture and it shall continue to survive on that model until the policy support instrument that we created that enables it to generate income disappears. Here again is a clear showcase of my capacity to revive a dead agency and give it life like I did at the Commerce ministry.”

Obasanjo’s personality

On the true nature of Obasanjo, he said: “So many negative things have been said about President Obasanjo, as someone who worked closely with him, how true are all the allegations?

“Surely it takes one to work closely with him to understand him well. But those who say negative things about him are surely ignorant or mischievous or both. Indeed every of our past leaders had similar insinuations so this would not be the first nor shall this be the last. One of his biggest attributes is that he is absolutely independent and not under the control or regulation of any individual or block in this country or abroad. This quality had helped him tremendously in his ability to make decisions relying solely on guidance and advice from his trusted lieutenants as his regulators and moderators.

“If, for example, you take committee recommendations to the President he would look at it item by item, tick, this one approved, this one, no, no, no, not approved. If however you explain to him very clearly and give him valid reason he’ll say ok and tick, and when he finishes he endorses “above approved as ticked”. His trust has nothing to fear. He emboldens the confidence of those he trusted and stands by them.

“Another impressive quality and capacity of President Obasanjo is that if you drop a memo in his office before 12 o’clock by six in the evening you will get a response from him, if you drop it after 12 noon by 9 o’clock in the morning of the next day you get a response. If he travels, he goes with some of his files to work on in the flight and by the time he returns all pending issues get addressed.

“He can call you at 03:00-am to ask you for a clarification on a subject he’s reviewing and thereafter ask you to see him the same morning at 07:00-am. You can’t beat him on that.

“There is no document you will send to him that he will not read thoroughly, you come to the cabinet meetings with bulky documents he will be the one driving the review of such volumes; example ‘on page 9 I don’t like this language or change this…’ he takes you from page one to the end, so it was a challenge for you as a minister not to read your entire cabinet meeting document as you can be embarrassed if you don’t. He indeed embarrassed some of our colleagues for not being organized.

“He created an Economic Management Team or EMT, in which I was a member. We were meeting every Wednesday from 8.30am to 10 am and decisions will be taken to the FEC that starts meeting immediately by 10 o’clock and after, the cabinet secretariat will summarize decisions of the EMT and it will be adopted for implementation and circulated to the various agencies for action. Each such Agencies would be required to account for the implementation of the relevant decision by the following week’s EMT meeting. That’s how the government was moving and taking stock on a weekly basis.

“Things were really being pushed hard to move, besides that there was also a Saturday Forum, introduced by President Obasanjo where different sectors would be invited to interact and brainstorm on challenges or needs of their industries and decisions taken, so everybody was actually up and active from the public to the private sector.

“President Obasanjo was such a leader that when people speak negatively about him I just smile, look, there was a time he told me that ‘do you know my younger sister is a Muslim?’ I said, ‘is that so Mr. President, he said yes, I promised to give him a copy of the Holy Qur’an to deliver to her. When I ultimately did deliver a copy of the Holy Qur’an to give her and he did, he told me ‘she was so happy when I gave her’.

“This is the same person who fasts with us during the month of Ramadan, and invites people to break fast with him each evening in the Presidential villa in batches, the only difference is that he adds 10 days and makes his 40 in total after we would have broken ours.”

Explaining how and why Nigeria eventually joined the Islamic Development Bank, IDB, Mustafa said: “When it was ultimately concluded I was not in the cabinet but at the beginning of it I recall that the then Minister of Finance Mal. Adamu Ciroma (RahimahulLah) presented a Memo to Cabinet requesting for approval of cabinet for Nigeria’s membership and payment of the dues to join the Islamic Development Bank. Unfortunately that day some non-muslim members of the Federal Executive Council, who misunderstood “Islamic Development” to mean the Bank was being brought in to “Develop Islam”, objected to it.

“President Obasanjo, at the council meeting, told the minister ‘Mal. Adamu withdrew your memo’, so the minister did as he was instructed.

“We took it that, that was the end of the issue. Little did we know that the President had a different plan entirely. I remember being one of the few that followed him to his office some few days later to invite his attention to how sensitive the subject was and the need to handle it with care.

“He assured me not to worry. On one of our trips to China I raised the issue with him again and said ‘Sir, what transpired earlier had gone out and particularly the Muslim community were not happy’ and I advised the issue be revisited, and I quote him, said to me; ‘ Mustafa, I will take Nigeria into the IDB and whoever does not want Nigeria in IDB can leave Nigeria’. I knew that the case was finally settled. I thanked him for his commitment to fairness.

“On his second term, there were changes in the cabinet and most of those who opposed were not in the cabinet anymore, and the current WTO Director-General, Her Excellency Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was then the Minister of Finance.

“President Obasanjo instructed the Minister of Finance to look at the issue again and raise a memo and she did and defended it very well, the cabinet approved and that was how Nigeria seamlessly got into the IDB. I could remember clearly when she was asked by the media after the cabinet meeting on the same subject she explained that it was a normal financial institution just like any other. She even assured that the ultimate beneficiaries of IDB in Nigeria may end up to be those who we all least expect. That’s exactly what is happening today.

“These are part of the attributes of President Obasanjo, he is courageous, bold, strong, he can be explosive, but if you can manage him well, get him to calm down and understand you, he’ll get along with you. And if he trusts you he doesn’t disappoint you, he defends you, protects you and stands by you.

“But if you give him an iota or an inch or room to suspect you’re doing hanky-panky, you and him will part ways.

“Many people have been trying very hard to paint President Obasanjo in a different form but unless you work with him you’ll never appreciate him, he is indeed one of the best leaders that Nigeria ever had.”

Life after NIPC

Narrating what happened after he left NIPC, he said: “I left NIPC in February 2014, the position of the Governor in my State, Niger State had rolled back to our zone as such I made an effort to attempt it again, unfortunately, the Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, had his own candidate that he hoped to fix as his stooge, as a result he must do everything possible to disable all other contestants. Dr. Aliyu was my junior in the same Arabic Teachers College, Sokoto by one year, and it was in their own family house, Gidan Sarkin Hausawa in Minna that all of us from Kontagora would normally sleep in the Zaure part of the house each time we had anything to do in Minna, the then Provincial capital. Truly I remained in the process to confirm if Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu would sit me publicly and embarrass me. He did and we retaliated in the general elections by making sure that neither him nor his candidates made it to any position as well. AlhamdulilLah each one of us has been taught a lesson from those who became governors free to those who worked hard to make it to the same office but were forcefully prevented, each one has now known the value of an office.

“I went through the primaries, they said I got 57 votes, I said ok, we said we’ll make sure we team up with the opposing party to defeat you, and that was exactly what happened.

“When I left government the same FrieslandCampina WAMCO, the makers of Peak Milk, invited me again to come back and join their Board in 2016, and while I was there Mr. Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, by virtue of our established relationship over time as my Board Member at the NIPC and before then while as Minister, invited me to serve on the Board of Zenith Bank on which I currently am. I remain appreciative of the honor and privilege.”

Life regrets

Speaking about his life regrets, he said, there were no serious regrets considering that whatever happened to him had been taken as part of his life experience.

He said, “Not really, because everything that happens to one, I take as an experience and part of destiny for one, and so I don’t get unhappy with anybody and neither do I regard anyone as either the obstacle or the problem. Indeed I have many more friends and few people who antagonize me or any of my efforts, within the confines of my knowledge. However, one would not say that in life he or she never reflected and expressed some form of regrets as a result of an action of omission or commission by some other individual, group or even government. In my own case, the latter is most worrying for me to the extent of expressing some level of regret. Please take a look at the following data that we inherited in 1999 which was a transferred liability from 1998 when the then Military Head of State died, and profile over the current Political dispensation that is now about 23 years; These are what we inherited as at 1999; GDP growth rate of about 3%, agriculture contribution to the GDP of about 3%, population growth rate of nearly 3%, the first 3 above clearly reveal as we produced we consumed as such the economy was stagnant, power available to the whole country about 1,380 MW, foreign reserve of only about USD$3.8-Billion barely enough to cover 3-Months imports bills of the country, debt burden of USD$33-Billion, with an average annual interest payment of over USD$1.5-Billion with the principal still growing, less than 15% Manufacturing capacity utilization, 86 Commercial Banks with total assets value less than that of 2-Banks currently, mining sector monopoly, very low wage regime that was an incentive to corruption, no such products as; Consumer Credit Scheme, Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Sustainable Pension Scheme (PENCOM), Federal Mortgage Bank monopoly, no Primary Mortgage Institutions, no monetized benefits that we later universally introduced that were giving employees enough to pay rents, either save the balances or use same to pay school fees, not enough legal and regulatory environment to support doing business, and wide scale corruption as a result, things were in a hay-where situation.

“Our arrival ushered in a rescue plan and program that saw the wiping out completely of the debt burden through very prudent and disciplined financial (fiscal and monetary) management, a process of which gave birth to MDG’s that subsequently benefited many rural communities, introduction of all the measures and incentives earlier on stated as well as the creation of several regulatory institutions that supported creation of good doing business environment and public confidence. GDP rose to 12% by 2012 and stabilized at 8.5% until the revaluation of the entire economy, Agriculture contribution moved up to 7%, manufacturing capacity utilization moved up to 75%-85%, etc.

“Salaries were scaled up 20 times and suddenly the morale of public officers got a boost and corruption associated with routine official transactions disappeared nearly completely as the pay package of public and private sector officials was more than enough to maintain and even save or invest in Mortgages or consumer related schemes. Lot more thermal power plants were built to address the power generation capacity of the country, people were actually happy and you could read that in their faces.”

Speaking on current hardship, he said the gains of the past leadership under Obasanjo had been completely wiped out under the current dispensation.

“However, today, even though we know that COVID-19, which appeared only in 2019, added to existing hardships, it pains one to see that a lot of these gains have been rolled back or wiped out completely. Indeed I can speak in a lot more detail on our economic transformation programs at another session when the time permits,” he lamented.

Obasanjo’s 3rd term agenda

On the alleged 3rd Term Project of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, he said he was part of those who drew the exit plan for the former president, stating that after they met the president amid speculations that he was going for a third term, he listened to them and plan for his exit commenced almost immediately.

He said: “In, or about end of 2006 or early 2007 there were speculations here and there that started featuring on both social, print and other electronic media that the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, may be considering finding ways and means of extending his tenure and the scale was growing exponentially to a potentially reputation damaging level to the integrity of the President and the office.

“I equally recall that at that time, I and the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and currently serving Governor of Kaduna, Mal. Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i decided to meet the President on how we could mitigate the potential damage to his office and reputation the circulation was intending to do. We went to him, as usual, we neither needed nor required any appointment as he was available 24/7 and while occupied doing some work on his table, he looked up at us after salutations and said “yes!”.

Mal. Nasir said “Mr. President, who are your friends in the North that we can arrange, mobilize for you to meet with to speak to on this ‘3rd term’ noise fast moving around, so as to bring it to a close, hearing from you”?. He looked at both of us and pointed his finger at I and Nasir. Mal. Nasir responded back by saying that “Mr. President, we are serious”! and he immediately responded by saying “So am I!”. He then dropped his pen on his table and said; You (meaning Mustafa Bello), You (meaning Nasir A. el-Rufai), Adamu (meaning Adamu Maina Waziri), Lawal (meaning Lawal Batagarawa) and Modibbo (meaning Dr. Aliyu Umar Modibbo), go and meet on this and come back to me at a time we will agree within the week.

We immediately, upon leaving the office of the President, placed calls through to all the other three for a meeting in the house of the FCT Minister Mal. Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i the same day in the evening as the subject was an urgent one seeking an “Emergency” response as time was fast-moving. At that meeting and without any effort or attempt to convince anyone of us of the viability or otherwise of the speculated “3rd term” tenure extension project, there was consensus that if at all the speculations may be an existing or contemplated plan, it would not befit Mr. President as it would definitely dent his integrity and diminish his value and completely erode the trust based on which Nigerians voted him into office in 1999. Indeed the decision then was that vacating the office at the appropriate time was more honorable to him than whatever other benefits the extension would bring to the country. As such we agreed to recommend to Mr. President to abandon such a plan, if at all it existed or being promoted by some other groups to him for these reasons. We appointed Mal. Adamu Maina Waziri to be our leader and the one to speak at that first meeting Mr. President would invite us later in the week.

“Surely by the 4th day we secured an appointment to see him at the house by 8:30-pm or thereabout and presented our discussions position which he agreed with absolutely and directed that we design an exit plan for him so as to help him use as guide and monitor implementation. We left, did as he instructed and requested for a 2nd meeting which we got on another evening at which we presented the Plan and he thanked us and took away a copy of the plan to study and then arrange a 3rd meeting to discuss the plan. By the 3rd meeting, Mr. President came with an enhanced version of that plan to his own convenience and at which late Chief Tony Anenih was invited as leader of the Party, the then-Senate President, Sen. Ken Nnamani was invited and the Speaker of the House of Representatives was also invited both of whom were not able to attend as the heat on the subject was brewing. The President directed the leader of the Party to share the program with these two arms of Government.

“After this meeting, another 4th meeting was convened at which I was not in attendance but I was later made to understand that it was indeed the final. After that some of us among the five decided that we must do everything possible to save the name and honour of Mr. President and our efforts brought it to an end as we saw it. That is the true story and nothing more, nothing less.”

What else…..?

The last things I will state are that I am indeed most appreciative of the opportunity given to me and my family of 7, a wife, three girls and two boys, by the people of Nigeria to serve under an energetic leader and President, mentored, guided and protected by an extremely humble Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Abdullahi Mohammed, in the midst of Distinguished personalities like VP Alh. Atiku Abubakar, who described me as “one of the cabinet’s 5 best'” Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, Maj. Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, the NSA, Mal. Adamu Ciroma, Mal. Sani Zangon-Daura, Chief Tony Anenih, Alh. Hassan Adamu, Wakilin Adamawa, Alh. Sule Lamido, Alh. Lawal Batagarawa, Mal. Adamu Maina Waziri, Dr. Aliyu Umar Modibbo, Dr. Kema Chikwe, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Prof. A B C Nwosu, Chief Ufot Ekaette, the SGF, other cabinet colleagues, as well as later serving President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Ebele Johnathan. I am not sure many have been as lucky to be in this type of cluster as myself. It was indeed a very rare privilege and opportunity that President Ibrahim Babangida supported my ministerial nomination and I am confident I did not disappoint him or the President and his government I served or indeed the people of Nigeria. I am indeed most grateful!

INTERVIEW: Ex-Minister, Mustafa Bello opens up on relationships with Obasanjo, Babangida, ex-president’s alleged 3rd term agenda

The Chairman of the Labour Party in Bauchi State, Hussaini Saraki in this exclusive Interview with Oluwatimilehin Owolabi shares his thoughts on the crisis rocking the party at the national level. He explains why the presidential candidate of the LP in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi should extend the olive branch to warring parties. Excerpts!

As the Chairman of the Labour Party in Bauchi State, can you tell Nigerians the faction you belong to?

I don’t belong to a faction. I belong to the Labour Party under the leadership of Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa who is the acting National Chairman of our party as it is presently.

It’s believed in some quarters that the internal crisis may consume your party. What do you have to say about that?

I don’t want to believe that it will consume the party because it is part of politics. Just like APC and PDP have their challenges and I don’t want to believe that it is insurmountable.

Things like this will come and go. I believe it will even deepen democracy because when one or two people come together, conflicts are bound to happen. It is part of human nature that no matter what, you cannot say you belong to a political party and that party will stay for years without having Its conflict.

How many State Chairmen are with the Lamidi Apapa-led faction?

I think I’m the only state Chairman that is with the Apapa’s camp, other chairmen are with the Julius-Abure-led faction.

However, after the NEC meeting held in Delta, the National Working Committee, NWC, led by Baba Apapa had to suspend all the other chairmen and more so because their tenure had expired, they now formed another fresh channel in all the states of the federation. So as far as I’m concerned, I don’t have any grudges or any problem with the other side. All I’m saying is that let us follow the due process and being a lawyer, I have to be very careful with whatever I am doing.

The fact that they are on the other lane doesn’t mean I should just blindly follow them. As you are aware, Barr. Julius Abure is my very good brother because he is a lawyer and I’m a lawyer too. I have been supporting him come rain come sunshine. I have been on his side all the time. The only time we parted ways was when the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) barred him and three other national executive members of the party from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

Even when the working committee suspended him, I was with Julius Abure in Edo State to show him solidarity. I said that decision cannot hold water.

However, when there was a court order restraining him, that was when the issue came up. I said if there is a court order no matter the love I have for Abure, the court order needs to be obeyed.

As you know, we are having an election season coming up in Bayelsa in Imo and Kogi state. So is it because I have a love for Abure, I should just forget about due process and follow Abure at the detriment of the 6 million people in Imo State, 7 million people in Kogi, and 4.5 million people in Bayelsa? If I do that I didn’t do justice. We advised that since there is a court order, let another person constitute the committee that would conduct our primaries in those states but Abure refused.

He (Abure) appointed me as the Chairman of the Appeal Committee in Imo State but if I had gone there I would not be doing justice to LP. So, I told them categorically that I am not going to go and I came back to the side of Baba Apapa because the constitution under section 15 of our LP says that ‘If the Chairman is absent, the Deputy Chairman shall be there to act in an acting capacity”. So I now look at it, I said if I participate in Abure’s primaries, anything we do within the period of that court order would be a nullity and at the end of the day, all that APC and PDP will do if we win the election in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa is just to go to the tribunal and the court will take away our winning because of this avoidable circumstances.

So why should we venture into it when we know that even if you know what you are doing and you are on the right track, facing PDP and APC in court is not an easy thing, talk more when you know you have a skeleton in your cupboard. So I think Barr. Julius Abure should have put aside his interest and looked at the interest of the people of those states and the party.

It’s also believed in some quarters that Apapa is being sponsored to cause disaffection in the party…

We are not talking about whether Baba Apapa is sponsored by the APC, APGA, or PDP. I don’t care about that because it is not something that has been established but the court order against Abure has been established, and it’s something that I can touch and see but the accusation about Baba Apapa, I have nothing to show that he has been hobnobbing with the APC or he is with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It is a mere rumour because there is no single evidence, not to talk more of pictures, or videos that show Baba Apapa mingling with APC or Tinubu.

Even the allegation that he has not been with the party is not true because Abure is the longest-serving officer of the party. He has been with the party for 23 years. He is the oldest elected Deputy National Chairman we have.

But won’t the crisis affect Peter Obi’s chances in court?

This case has nothing to do with the Tribunal because already tribunal issues have been joined. Though Peter Obi the other time was saying that he believes that Baba Apapa has been used to cause problems for him in the tribunal. But with due respect to him, Obi as a leader has not done much in terms of standing firm to resolve the crises of the party as he is the father and national leader of the party.

Obi hasn’t done much in terms of standing firm to resolve the crisis in the party. He should have called both parties. For instance, look at Atiku, even though he had problems with Wike. I can’t count how many times he held meetings with Wike both within the country and outside the country. I believe it won’t take Obi up to an hour to resolve the LP crisis. It’s just for him to go to the Transcorp Hilton hotel and hold meetings with the aggrieved leaders and before you know it, this matter will be resolved but he has not done that. The only thing he does is to make accusations that someone is working for APC.

This is not the best way to go as a leader and a lot of people are saying that if he cannot resolve the micro crisis in the LP, how can he resolve the complex problem of the Niger Delta, IPOB, or Boko Haram in the north. So it is a kind of a test for Peter Obi and the chance is still open for him to make sure that he calls for dialogue and resolves all this crisis because I believe they are not insurmountable.

More so, another thing that deepened the crisis was when the acting chairman, Apapa was attacked at the tribunal. Though I wasn’t there, they said Peter Obi was in court, Abure was there and they saw how Apapa was being maltreated but he (Obi) could not place a call to him, he could not even condemn the act of obedience on his Twitter handle.

You remember when Wole Soyinka said something about Peter Obi, the Obidients insulted him and the LP presidential candidate had to go to his house to apologise on behalf of them. So this has also deepened the crisis to the extent that people like Abayomi Arabambi, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP vowed that except Peter Obi apologised for what happened to Baba Apapa, he will not stop challenging him openly and you can see, in many newspapers, Arabambi has been attacking Obi left and centre. Let me tell you, between me and my almighty God, we have held a series of meetings where Baba Apapa and everyone were present.

We’ve tried to talk to Arabambi not to join issues with Peter Obi because he is our presidential candidate and the product that we are all selling but Arabambi kept on saying that he will not stop because of what happened to Baba Apapa at the tribunal after they were all attacked.

If Obi had called a meeting to broker a truce this would not have degenerated. The other time I called the LP Vice Presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed. I advised him to call for a meeting no matter what and I know Baba Apapa to be a very simple man, he will attend it.

The fact remains that if something is not done, at the end of the day, no matter what, there could still be this kind of problem here and there and our political rivals will be happy with the development because the Labour Party is trying to become a force to reckon with.

Do you foresee Obi leaving the party in the future?

Well, that’s his own decision to make but I think the party that appears to be more palatable or inclined by Obi’s ideology and everything is the LP. I think he will remain in the party to see how he can make things happen because you can see this is somebody that came to the party in less than a year but as God would have it, look at the kind of goodwill the LP has received as a result of the coming of Peter Obi.

So it will be a bad calculation for him to say he is going to change his political party at this material time. I think what he needs to do is to use his wisdom as somebody who is internationally recognized as a leader of high repute, to put all machinery in place, put all sentiment aside, and look at the interest of the party and nation at large.

He should call all the warring parties together, let’s sit down, and believe me within 2 days, this matter will be over, but up till now, Peter Obi has not called for that meeting, which is very unlike him.

Are you saying that Obi deliberately doesn’t want to settle this crisis?

No, I can’t say that he deliberately doesn’t want to settle it and I can’t say what his reason is.

But is he taking sides with any faction?

Already he has taken sides with Abure and it is not helping matters because you remember even when there was a court order, Peter Obi participated in the Delta NEC meeting, and that caused a lot of issues in the party. If not because of the respect that people have for Peter Obi, they wanted to initiate a contempt proceeding and that would have been so bad.

And that is even what informed my resolve to believe that Baba Apapa has not been sponsored by the APC. Let me tell you something, there is a Supreme Court authority that says that a person in disobedience of a court order cannot be heard. It’s an authority. If you are disobeying a Court order you will not be heard in the court of law. It’s a Supreme Court authority and all those on the side of Baba Apapa are aware of this authority but nobody is of the view that such a case should be filed against Peter Obi because he is one of us.

The only problem they have is Abure and the way he (Obi) is taking sides with him. Hence, the reason some people are coming out to attack him openly. They have seen that Peter Obi has already made up his mind that no matter what, he will be with Abure.

So what advice do you have for Peter Obi now?

It will be a good development if he tries to manage the crisis in the LP and resolve it because it is a signal to him that he will be a good leader. One of the fundamental problems Nigeria faces today as a nation is lack of security, so if you cannot resolve a micro problem in your party, people will laugh at us outside and say look at your Peter Obi, he cannot resolve a simple crisis and you want us to carry a whole country and give to him?

We won’t do that and it will be a slap on us. So my advice to Peter Obi is ‘please no matter what the people say to him about Baba Apapa and co, he should give us a fair hearing’. Let him hear from us and the other party. Then come to the centre and resolve this matter amicably. The Labour Party is bigger than all of us.

INTERVIEW: Peter Obi’s actions may cost LP victory in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi – Bauchi Party chair

An activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam says the hardship confronting Nigerians should raise concern. In this interview with Seun Opejobi, the Abuja-based constitutional lawyer advised President Bola Tinubu on measures that would prevent the military from attempting a coup like in other African countries. Excerpts!

In the last few weeks, many African countries have witnessed a coup; what does it portend for Nigeria?

Anybody in the shoes of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should ordinarily provide whatever it takes to prevent military intervention. However, Nigerian leaders should be more cautious now, even though we understand that the provision of our laws makes it impracticable impossible for the military to attempt taking over governance because the law in the Penal and Criminal Codes make it clear that any such attempt to take over a democratically elected government is punishable with death.

Interestingly, these laws have made it so stringent that even the plan and idea to carry out that act is as punishable as the act itself. So, with these stringent measures, it becomes very difficult for the military or anybody to sit and think about it.

Military insurrections become treasonable when coups fail, so while it succeeds, it is justified; so by implication, you either succeed or attempt and be ready for the state to come after you. It’s not new in Nigeria; we have witnessed over eight coups from 1966 to 1999. From the time of Gowon to Murtala Mohammed to Obasanjo to IBB to Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami – these guys are alive because they succeeded; those who did not succeed were executed.

The implication of these is that if you must attempt a military takeover, you should be prepared to either succeed or kill yourself or be ready for the state to come after you.

That said, the systemic corruption in Nigeria, which has always been the reason the military took over, has become so endemic that the Nigerian system is in itself failing more than when the military had to intervene. The reason for past military takeovers was corruption, tribalism, and poor governance, which is what we have today. Today we can say that Nigeria is worse than it has ever been before.

You notice that whenever there is a new president in Nigeria, the first thing is to change the Service Chiefs, and they believe that’s the only measure to retain power from failing by having somebody who is loyal to them. You can see that almost all the Service Chiefs are those loyal to Mr President. This is why it will be difficult for Mr President to panic on whether there will be a military takeover or not.

What are the possibilities of Nigerians experiencing a military coup again, considering what is happening in some African countries?

The military, as presently constituted, lacks the will, the power, and the morals to even attempt to take over power, and the reason is because it has been politicised.

How Tinubu can have a firm grip on the military to avoid Nigeria witnessing another coup

My advice to Mr President is to make sure he settles tribal agitations and ensure he meets their yearnings; whatever the need is, he should meet it. He has to take a cue from what happened in 1966, 1975, 1983, 1985, 1993, and 1998. Like I said before, these were successive military regimes, he should go back and study history so that he can take a cue from that. It was because of agitations from the major tribal groups in Nigeria due to marginalisation; it’s not about loyalty; as far as there are human beings, even the insurrections might not come from the Service Chiefs, so what he needs to do is settle agitations, hold meetings on their issues.

Apart from that, look at the economy, when people are disenchanted, there would be civil disobedience which is an attempt to undermine the authority of the state. Loyalty of the Army might not save the state if Mr President is unable to make a reasonable effort to meet whatever their yearnings are.

Hardship is one major factor among African countries. Should Nigerians be afraid considering the country’s current situation?

If you must consider the huge force of this coup in these other African states like Niger, then Nigerians should be. It’s not the rebel leaders that are fighting but corruption, poor governance, and economic crisis. In Nigeria, we are battling with endemic and systemic corruption, hardship, mismanagement of our economy, looting of our commonwealth, and these are the reasons people will be disenchanted and consider any option.

It’s when the people of a state are disenchanted that they begin to consider how to take over power and displace constituted authority; this is what the military leader and rebel leaders in Niger cited as their reasons.

So, if Tinubu must continue to remain president of Nigeria, the only thing is to ensure he revamps the economy, even distribution of wealth for the common masses; if not, coup might be the ultimate. We are not saying we are the ones plotting, neither are we the ones part of those with the will to do that, but we are saying if Tinubu must continue to reign, it’s advisable that he responds to certain agitations.

Is military intervention the panacea to bad leadership in Africa?

Yes, and I have an extreme view to this: Nigerians’ body language shows they were not ready for self-rule and independence. From 1999 till date, we do not have a refinery because we can’t manage our resources; we have to export our crude oil to be refined, and then we buy it back.

If the military is not an option, then it means we have to invite the white men to come back and recolonize us on social contract bases. Take whatever you can and give us good governance because our people have failed. What are we asking for- give us good roads, and provide electricity for people; we are not asking governors for employment. These are the basic things the Nigerian state has been asking for since independence till date and it’s difficult.

So, if military incursion can’t handle it, then it means we should invite the white man to come back, take all the oil, natural resources but give us good roads, good healthcare system, good schools because we have not been able to do that.

With the abundance of natural resources, intellectual resources, human resources, why are Nigerians still experiencing bad leadership?

The reason is the extreme level of capitalism, the primitive accumulation of wealth. Those who are privileged to be at the helm of government only think about themselves and not the state, how to amass more wealth at the detriment of the people. Why is it that in a neighbourhood, a wealthy man is rich enough to own the entire environment, yet his next neighbour is struggling to afford one square meal a day?

This is why we are saying it’s either the military is the only solution or we invite the white man to come back and take over the affairs of the state on a social contract basis because the same problem still persists.

The Nigerian people have been asking for power, good roads, yet the government has failed to provide a solution despite several promises.

INTERVIEW: Fear of coup should awaken Nigerian leaders – Idam

Hon Ifeyinwa Obinabo is the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Anambra State. In this interview, with DAILY POST, she laments the rising cases of rape, illegal child adoption, prostitution, trafficking, among others. She stated that Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s government is ready to put an end to all the illegalities. Excerpts!

We have seen you arrest rapists, smash child prostitution cartels and secure justice for widows. Which of these has been your most tasking job?

What you have to know is that for every job we have undertaken, each comes with its own level of hassles. They are always tasking in different ways, and that is because most of these crime syndicates are made up of very smart people who try to be steps ahead of you, but what it desires is being focused, knowing what you are looking out for in a case and asking the right questions that can put the criminal on the spot and make them divulge their secrets.

Again, the support that Mr Governor gives to this ministry has made our job very easy. Most of these crime syndicates that we burst are very connected people, and once we go after them, they try to pull strings that will give them freedom, but once we notice something like this, we just call Mr Governor, who is ever ready to listen to us. You call him now, and what he will say to you is “Ify, what is it? Do you have any challenge, how can I help you?” That is the kind of governor that Anambra has. Sometimes for matters that he knows that we need police back up to be able to smash, he will personally call the police authorities and give them instructions on how they can support us.

You know the story of the woman they call Madam Ukwu Venza, who uses underaged girls for prostitution in her brothel in Oba? That was one of our most tasking jobs so far. But through the help of Mr Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, who was backing us, we were able to smash that syndicate. When you see our Governor, you will think he is not someone who pays attention to details, but he is.

You remember after Madam Ukwu Venza’s brothel was uncovered, and the children she was using to do prostitution were rescued, she fled to Asaba. From there she sent a message to me through an emissary. She wanted to bribe me, and even promised to be giving me a monthly percentage from what she makes. Through the help of the Governor who was supporting us and even ensuring that we had police back up, we were able to agree to her bribe and even visit her, and she promised to start by giving us some money and we played along until police eventually came and arrested her.

Mr Governor is that kind of person who will send you on errand, and he will still be there to guide you through the process of how to solve the task he has given to you. He does not also believe in failure. If you must fail on his assignment, then you better pack your things and leave. He will call you and put you through on how to succeed and also let you know that if you fail again, you will be in trouble and that gingers up his appointees.

Testimonies of what your ministry is doing is everywhere, what are the challenges you face in doing the things you do in Anambra?

The first challenge we have is that people don’t speak up. Many women go through many kinds of inhuman things and they just believe it is destined to happen, either because they are women. That is one of the basic challenges of this office, but we have started preaching to women that they need to speak up.

Again, we have a culture that favours men over the women, and most women see it as trying to look down on their man if they dared to tell them they are at fault, or blaming them for things they did not do well. Our culture almost forbids a woman telling her husband that he is at fault, rather you accept that the woman is at fault, and is made to apologise for things that are very glaring that it is the man’s fault. Even if Umunnas have to caution the man, they do it at the back of the woman.

There is also the problem of over civilisation in our society. Social media has also turned many people to want to practise the things they see on social media, which ends up being against the law. A typical example is the rise in the number of rape cases in our society today. It wasn’t like this before in our culture.

Before now, people see it as bringing shame on one’s family and lineage to be involved in rape, but these days people don’t care, and people believe they are responsible for their lives and how they live it, and that it is no ones business. So our youth imbibe some of these foreign cultures, including drug addiction, which they see on social media and they see it as a trend. These are part of the challenges we face.

Some people think you get extra funding from Mr Governor to do the kind of work you do in the ministry?

That is not true. We were simply given a mandate by Mr Governor, and direct instruction to ensure that we work in line with his mandate. The first thing he always tells you upon your appointment is to use the position given to you to interpret his mandate. Again, for me what drives me is the passion I have for this job. By the way, if you do not have passion, you cannot work with Mr Governor. This is a man who does not believe in failure. He will tell you that you are not just accepting the position because you need to accept it, but you must do it because you have passion for it, and you are desirous of contributing your quota. You must see it as your personal work, and of course, he has passion for anything Anambra. If you don’t have the passion, you may not be able to work with him.

He took his time to assemble his team, and you can see that many of us are ready for the job we do. Don’t forget that he held one-on-one interviews with all of us before our appointment, and he knows the capabilities of each of those he has appointed. Don’t also forget that what I’m doing today, is what I started doing far back, before I was even appointed to this position. So I just see this position as a platform to do what I have always known how to do, on a bigger scale.

Can you aggregate the number of convictions you have secured since you became the commissioner, either for rape or other offences?

Okay, if you are talking about concluded matters, I will say that so far, we have been able to send about 10 people to jail. But of course you know that Nigeria’s judiciary system is slow, but we have several arrests we have made, both for people involved in rape, child molestation, illegal adoption of children, child prostitution and other crimes, but they are being tried presently.

But so far, about 10 persons are serving jail terms because of our efforts. These 10 persons are mostly people who raped woman at gunpoint. We have also secured convictions against people involved in trafficking, especially with underage. We have also jailed people for child abuse, child labour and secured justice for widows who were being maltreated.

What are some of the most rampant cases you have seen in this ministry since you became commissioner?

Yes, that is a good question. We have constantly had cases of men waking up, and taking their children away from their wives and sending their wives packing. We keep seeing it all the time. In most cases, the wives are left without children and sent away, while the children she rightfully had are given to sisters-in-law to take care of.

It is something that has been recurring for almost two months now around places in Anambra. By the grace of God, women have learnt to speak up, and we have followed up on matters like this and in most cases had the children retrieved and handed back to their mothers. We do this based on the child’s right law. We retrieve the children and reunite them with their mothers.

Most of the time, the people involved in this kind of matter will take the children from their mothers and give them to their sisters or other women, and the mother of the children will be crying, while another woman would be using their children for child labour and maltreating them.

If you stay further now, there is a case they are bringing to us. I just sent our enforcement team to go and retrieve some children, who were seized by a man who stays in South Africa. He married the young girl who was just 19 then and they had three children, and all of a sudden she was sent home for talking while her husband’s sister was talking to her, and her children were collected from her. The woman was here to complain, and we have gone to bring all the parties concerned. They sacked the woman, took away her children, while the man married another woman and abandoned this one in pain. These are the kinds of matters we put our feet down to ensure that we settle.

I watched the video of your interview with the proprietor of Arrow of God Orphanage, an orphanage that was involved in illegal adoption of children. Can you tell us the procedures involved in legal adoption of children?

First is that you must come to this ministry and apply that you want to adopt a child. When I get the application, I will now minute it to the head of the child unit. From there, we now start documentation when we see a child for you. Also, it is only here in this office that anyone is permitted to be handed over children that are legally adopted. The homes from where the children are to be adopted will bring them here after proper documentation.

After that, we will send our officials for inspection. We must go to the home of the person where the child would be taken to, so that we make sure that the place is conducive, and also ensure that the reasons you gave for wanting to adopt a child are true. Those are the investigations we do.

In the case of the proprietor of Arrow of God Orphanage, she did not do any of these things. By the way, the woman is not supposed to handle anything like adoption. For any adoption to be authentic, my signature and the signature of the permanent secretary of this ministry must be in the adoption document. Also the signature of the magistrate of our special court must also be on the adoption paper. You know Mr Governor opened a special court for us for speedy trial of matters relating to child issues. The signature of the magistrate has to be there. These three signatures must be there and if any of them is missing, then it is illegal.

In the case of the Arrow of God Orphanage, my signature wasn’t there, that of the permanent secretary was not there, they did not go to our special court to obtain the consent of the magistrate, they also failed to bring the baby here, which is the only place that handing over children is done. She did everything by herself, and no inspection was done. Even the Investigative journalist who posed as the one wanting to adopt the child hired a woman to pose as his wife, and that will show you that she did not investigate where the baby was being taken, but simply collected money from them, prayed for them and handed the child to them, without even knowing where the child is being taken to.

So we have been investigating, because we must know the source of the baby. If adoption is done here, we ensure that we know the source of the baby that is being put up for adoption.

The last time we checked, you handed the proprietor of the home to officials of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). What has happened to her now?

We are following up on the matter. She is still being detained and undergoing trial. There was a day I got a call saying you know she is old, she is sick and all that, yes I know she is old, but what she did was the wrong thing, so she should face the law. It is not about me, it is about the law, and definitely, she is going to answer for it. I have sealed that home, and that home is not going to work again. They can’t operate in Anambra any longer.

What is the estimation of the total cost of adopting a child legally in Anambra State?

Like I keep saying, we follow a lot of procedures before we can give out any child for adoption in Anambra. We do a lot of documentation, we also go to court, we go for investigation and things like that. But I won’t tell you that it is this amount or that amount. Some of these things vary. Like sometimes, we see abandoned children, for children like that, it will take time for them to be due for adoption. You must give at least six months, and there must be clear evidence that you have made extensive announcements, including reporting to the police, for the public to know that the child was abandoned. The announcement is to alert the people and also for the mother to come if she is interested. You must go through all these procedures and also do the paperwork.

So, what I can say to you is that we do not charge. I think that is why some orphanages, especially Arrow of God Orphanage, involve themselves in illegal adoption, without wanting to come through us because we will not allow her to do what she did. From what I heard before Mr Governor came on board, people were collecting N1.5 million, N2.5 million for adoption. They collect N1.5 million for female children and N2.5 million for male children. That, as far as we know, is selling children and Mr Governor will not let that happen under his watch.

What do you think can help your ministry do more?

My appeal will not be to the Governor because the government has given us all the support we need to be able to carry out our job. We have the backing of Mr Governor, he also set up the child offences court which helps us to do what we do. Police is also assisting us in the things we do.

My appeal is rather to the members of the public. Government cannot do it alone, so we appeal for support from private individuals. We have a lady here, who lives in New York, Iyom, and when she came and saw what we were doing, she started cooking for children who are in our care. That is what we need. We also call on members of the public to always say something when they see something, by bringing cases of abuse of children, maltreatment of women, and widows to our attention.

We have had cause to give out wheelchairs to children with disabilities. We encourage whistleblowers. Don’t sit down and say it doesn’t concern you. Any evil that is condoned will get to everybody, that is the more reason such ills should be quickly reported. We are not spirits. It is when you give us information that we now know what to do. Yesterday and early this morning, some people have given us very useful information about things going on in some places, but it is not healthy now to speak on it. And we have places that we will raid soon and rescue children that were illegally brought into Anambra State.

INTERVIEW: We must stamp out child prostitution, trafficking, rape in Anambra – Obinabo

Following the final verdict of the Supreme Court on the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, one of the contestants in the election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has decried the attitude of politicians toward elections.

In this interview with DAILY POST, he spoke on a wide range of issues, including the fact that politicians only go to court to get power and not justice, the need for urgent electoral reform to ensure that winners in any election are not sworn into offices until the cases against them in courts are concluded, the appointment of judges into the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and the place of technicality in legal proceedings, among others.

The presidential election petitions were expected to last for 120 days at the Court of Appeal and 60 days at the Supreme Court, which is about six months. But at the time the judgment was given, it was eight months after the elections, what is your overview of the whole process; could it be better?

Of course, it could be better and we must thank God because it was a total departure from what we used to have before. Three years down the line, litigation is still on such that the person is already preparing for the next election. But now, we say we should cut it short, and that is already in place. Now, the next target is to conclude everything before anyone is sworn in so that there won’t be colour perception about the judgement. The next we should aim for after the election adjudication is concluded before being sworn in is that we should have a case where our elections won’t have to go to court at all, like you have in some countries where you have about 1000 elections, and only one or two go to court or none at all. That should be our aim now.

What should we do to get to that Eldorado?

There are three things we need to do, but the majority depends on the politicians. One of them is to ensure that the law is reformed. Everybody involved in law reform is a politician; that is the irony of the matter. When we say we need to change the law, we must not forget that every member of the National Assembly is a politician and potential beneficiary of the law. The president is the other half of the legislative process because the legislative power of Nigeria is invested in two people – the National Assembly and the president, because if the president doesn’t sign, it cannot become law. So, the two of them are politicians, which means it is only by moral persuasion that such an amendment can be achieved.

In the 2023 election petition proceedings, the court spent less time than the litigants themselves. The Supreme Court spent less than a week to give its decision and they did similar thing when Awolowo and Shagari were before them. On the court side, there isn’t a problem. Where there is a problem is where you are asking the court to be faster than the legal proceedings or to give you relief which they can’t give by law, or to stop entertaining cases which they must entertain by law. Once the law is changed and the politicians change their behaviour, then, the judiciary is the easiest because it is the most law-abiding and most cooperative, and they don’t cause problems for anyone. I didn’t file the petition for the election, so the Supreme Court didn’t give me an unfair judgement because I didn’t file anything. And if I file a good one, they will give me good judgment. I think what is important to state here is that, an election petition is not a compulsory competition process in the quest for power. The reason we keep having this tension is because the court doesn’t have what the politicians want. So, there is no time in the history of election litigation that the politicians will be satisfied with the court because the court can only give you justice. Politicians don’t want justice. They want judgement leading to power. So, they see the court as another layer of getting power. But, the court isn’t designed to give you power. The court is designed to give you justice. So, sometimes you may get justice, but if justice doesn’t land you in power, you say this isn’t justice.

I think there is a general misunderstanding of the rule of the court and the rule of law, and I saw that in the course of our electioneering. There is none of this judgments by the Supreme Court that I didn’t predict. At no time can what happened on election day be before the court. That is not what it is for. What is before the court is the petition that the person brings before the court and if the petition doesn’t resemble what happened on election day, the court won’t talk about it because the court isn’t asked to supervise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The court is there to listen to the petition before it and if the petition before it doesn’t capture INEC’s errors correctly and goes outside to talk about other things that conflict with the law, don’t say the judge who lives in Surulere, where the anomalies of the election happened, it is expected to see reasons with you. Sorry, he is not looking at that. He is looking at what is written before him. Judges don’t have plenary powers. They are like you and I on an ordinary day. The jurisdiction to determine the issue is limited by the claim before it and the applicable law.

Some have argued that the Supreme Court placed more emphasis on technicalities in its decision instead of looking at the substance of the matter. For instance, the issue of the Chicago State University certificate which was not considered at all. What do you think?

In election matters, there are three things you have to consider. One, for people who are not lawyers, everything about law is technical to them. Two, election matter is said to be sui-generis; it doesn’t follow the traditional procedural, technical and substantive form because election itself is technical in nature. It has a time limit, what you can plead, who can be a petitioner and who can’t. The whole jurisprudence of election is technical by nature.

Thirdly, the claim of the party before the court was not a substantive claim; it was a claim based on technicality because if I come to court and say I scored the highest votes and I can prove it; that is substantive. If I come to court and say, well, the other person scored more votes than me, but he is not qualified, that is technicality. Even if I say he doesn’t have a certificate, it is technicality because you are not saying he is the one the people voted for. You are saying that, well, he can be the winner, but his vote on technical grounds should be struck out or discountenanced or wasted because his deputy ought to file a paper within 30 days and he didn’t file it. That is technicality, too.

In the case of Lyon in Bayelsa, the Supreme Court didn’t say Lyon didn’t win the election. They said his deputy had a technical problem. That is the issue. You can’t come to court to seek technical relief and complain that the court is answering you technically. This year’s petition was the most technical of all because all the things they were talking about were technical by nature. On the issue of Chicago State University, there are three stages to it. Even if the court had admitted the evidence, it still won’t make a difference, but the Supreme Court, being a final court, didn’t do ‘aguendo’ where you don’t agree with it, but you will still admit it in case a court above disagrees with you. If they had brought it to the Court of Appeal, it would have said the case isn’t admissible, but let me just assume that it is admissible in case it gets to the court above. But the case was brought to the Supreme Court as fresh, but it has a strict rule because they don’t admit witnesses. Again, for the court to look at what the court at the lower level hadn’t looked at before, they have to assume the position of the court below because if they are to assume the function of the court below the time limited for Court of Appeal to sit on it had expired and that limitation of time is not stated in the electoral act, it is situated inside the constitution and the constitution is superior to the Supreme Court because it is from the constitution that the Supreme Court was created. So, anything that is contrary to the constitution, the Supreme Court cannot help you.

There are some pronouncements that the Supreme Court made in that judgement, which I hope politicians will abide by, for example, the issue of 25 per cent of the FCT, what is your take on that?

When the Supreme Court made a decision in the case of Atiku or Obi versus Tinubu, it didn’t have to search for a new rule. They just referred to the INEC decision. It is very clear that it is not required. In four year’s time, some would have forgotten if the issue came tangentially close. Some people would still make the argument that it is the nature of law practice. Don’t assume this is the last time you will hear it or hear it in court.

The INEC IREV and its Bimodal Voter Accreditation machine came up in the petitions of the petitioners at the Supreme Court, even though the court had earlier ruled on similar matters in the past, like that of Adeleke vs Oyetola and Oyebanji vs Oni. Do you think the apex court has spoken loudly enough for everybody to now understand?

That brings me back to what I said earlier. Politicians don’t go to court looking for justice, they go there looking for power. The way to get a good and clean election is to have good and clean politicians. Next to that is to have your agents at every polling unit. Once the election is conducted and you are given your results, you collate your own results. In fact, you can have your own internal IREV. In the SDP, where we ran, we had our own situation room, and we were collating our results from all our agents on the field. When we started having problems, we noticed that they went on ‘Awol’ as they were not sending us anything. From our findings, very few controversies emanated from the polling units. If you are complaining about 86000 polling units, you will automatically need 86000 polling agents to come and say I was there, this is the result given to me, but it is completely different from what was announced on TV. People think the election litigation process is a continuation of the election campaign.

What is your take on retired Justice Musa Muhammed Datijo’s allegations, like the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court earning more than the Chief Justice of Nigeria?

What he said is only surprising to the public. It is not to anybody who has met him. The way he spoke at his valedictory is how he speaks every day. He is known for that. He speaks straight from his heart. He believes in Supreme Court jurisprudence. He is concerned about what they do outside the courtroom, which is the administrative side. That was what led to the problem where the late Gani Fawehinmi took the entire Supreme Court to court when they had to collect Mercedes Benz from President Babangida at that time. It is also part of the problems you will find in the relationships between the senior lawyers like us and judges, where a judge would have a birthday or an event and lawyers who know that the judges are not well paid give some kind of support. It is also the same reason they had a problem with Walter Onoghen before he entered the executive branch. If you are the head of the court, you will have problems with your colleagues just like any human resources problem because, for example, if the courtroom roof is leaking, it is the Chief Registrar, who is the Head of the Tenders Board, who has to award the contract, while the Chief Justice of the court, who is also the chairman of the body, is the approving authority. If you go to the states, you will see that the administrative judges in the divisions always complain about the chief judge of the state.

It appears there is no room for any function for the number in the judiciary, what do you have to say about that?

Yes, that’s why number two lasts so long. It’s like a governor and deputy governor. I think our general attitude to leadership in Nigeria needs a kind of review, which is that we need to be a little more liberal. We need to avoid concentrations of power and privilege. In the case of the Supreme Court regarding what Justice Datijo is talking about, even the Chief Justice himself has some measure of injustice to him with respect to remuneration. I don’t think that speech is lost on his colleagues but for the public, there isn’t much we can do for them because the solution is within their ranks, which is to review their own salary and talk to the commission involved

The constitution talked about the number of justices that should be at the Supreme Court at a given time, about 21, including the CJN. But the number has depleted consistently through death and retirement. What do you think should be the mode of appointment of judges and justices?

There are two sides to appointments of Justices of Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. One side is the judiciary itself, where they deal with the quality of the person they want, and the president, who has the power to appoint. From my reading of the constitution, the president is even more powerful than any other person because he is the one who can appoint. The NJC can make recommendations to the president. If the president isn’t satisfied, he won’t appoint. And that is the end. On the other hand, if the president appoints somebody and the judiciary isn’t happy, the person will have a hard time.

Can the president appoint without the input of the NJC?

Under the constitution, if somebody makes recommendations to you, it is not an appointment. From what I know about the presidential constitution, you are not bound to take any advice you are not bound to take. You can disregard it. It is just that it hasn’t happened before.

How do we open the process of appointment of justices to the Supreme Court so that this inbreeding can be reduced?

Appointment to the highest court should be from bench and bar because whatever the bench is writing, the bar is producing it, but in Nigeria, I think we are trying to make two radical changes. I think at the minimum, start with the Court of Appeal; don’t jump to the Supreme Court all at once. The judges are watching the lawyers too because they know their behaviour. The way we are watching the court, that’s how the court is watching the bar. Let’s start calibrating from the court of appeal where you learn judicial work.

Politicians approach court for power, not justice – Adebayo, ex-presidential candidate

Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, an experienced politician of many years is the Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in Anambra State. In this interview with DAILY POST’s David Eleke, he laments that the 2022 amended Electoral Act failed to meet the yearnings of the people. He says the results of Imo and Kogi off-season elections show that the country has gone back to the old game. He also gives an insight into the 2025 guber election in Anambra State, among other issues. Excerpts!

How does APGA rate the conduct of elections in the country by INEC, taking into cognizance the outcry in the last general elections, in addition to the off-season elections in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa?

You see, they say even amongst thieves, there should be honour. We have come to a point in this country where amongst all of us, as political thieves, we should be tired of rigging, and there were expectations that reforms would bring about change. After a lot of delays in the 2022 electoral act which came so late, many of us didn’t have the time to read it properly. But there were things we thought were in that electoral act, but those things we thought were in the electoral acts were not there. There were also guidelines by INEC.

As a lawyer, I get disappointed when certain interpretations are made. The law permits INEC to make certain guidelines. What is the legal effect of INEC guidelines? An INEC guideline is in the state of a legislation of the National Assembly. So, when a guideline is made by INEC, pursuant to the electoral act, that subsidiary legislation by INEC is also law.

What were those guidelines? They told us the BVAS would work, results would be transmitted electronically, but at the end, the guideline still gave INEC the power to conduct the election in any manner. Meaning that whether manual, sub-manual, electronically, whichever way they liked was just good. So, I don’t think we have had any reforms, and that is very disappointing. Every politician is interested in reforms. The high turnout in the last elections were because we were all fooled that there were reforms.

So, we have gone back again to the old game. The results of Imo and Kogi last weekend show we have gone back to the old game. I think it is a matter that calls for the conscience of the National Assembly. They are the only people that can save us from this situation. Some of these things require specific legislations. 2022 act did not make provisions that will guarantee free and fair election, especially in accreditation of voters.

We can have problems in transmission because of poor power, mobile network, but for accreditation, which does not require any transmission, we should be able to do that one. Results collated from whatever level are results emanating from the polling unit, so if we get it right at the polling unit, we can take it from there.

Again, the Nigeria Police needs to see itself as a stakeholder in the process. In Imo state, the conduct of the police was simply poor. A deputy governorship candidate was shot somewhere in Mbano, a policeman was almost lynched for snatching ballot box. In Kogi State there was open shooting by people in uniform. So, we must all come together as stakeholders. The political class, government, security and all, there is a need for us to accept that we must move forward as a nation. It is not about what has happened but what is in the future. Otherwise, the country will crash one day.

Before now, APGA used to have as many as 25 seats in the House of Assembly out of 30, but in the last election, you had only 16. What is your confidence that you will perform better in the next election?

I have confidence that we can do better. Truly, during the last administration, we got up to 27 seats at a point, but this time around, we got 16, before the current speaker joined us. Part of why we lost some of those seats were the things I had identified before. The sham primaries we conducted. We had a lot of internal issues. Most of those who were aggrieved did not leave the party, they stayed within the party and worked against the party. That was how we lost. We had situations where our members were campaigning for the opposition party. We are happy that a lot of our members are back. Most members of PDP who were with me when I was the chairman there have come to us, and I can tell you that anyone who is still in PDP is not in any party today.

Then the Labour Party, some of them are with us. Most members of that party have understood that the emotions of the Labour movement does not seem like something that will last long. I can tell you that things can never be worse than they were before. As long as we have credible primaries, the election in Anambra won’t be a problem for APGA, and I can assure you on that.

Anambra is truly APGA and the people of Anambra still believe in APGA and we are getting more confident day by day, and the governor is working much more than we expected and sometimes we tend to forget that he is less than two years in office. His achievements are already competing with those of people who are four years. So his achievements will make the election very easy for us to win.

Two former governorship candidates in the last election have rated your governor very low. One is Obiora Okonkwo and the other is Ifeanyi Ubah. So what have you to say about this?

Let me start with my brother, Obiora Okonkwo. I am starting with him because I know him too well, and I know with every kindness to him that he needs to rebuild his political career. He ran for governorship and lost very woefully in my community. He had 103 votes and APGA got 1,188 votes. Those days we will say that he lost his deposit in Ogidi, his own community. Many people can say it happened because he ran under the wrong party, which was Zenith Labour Party, but what happened in the last presidential and national assembly election is what will retire any serious politician. He was the DG of PDP presidential candidate, and PDP did not win even one polling unit in Ogidi ward one and two, including his polling unit. After that, he disappeared and suddenly he is now castigating our governor. I don’t take him seriously. He has a lot to repair and he has to come back home to repair the damage he has done to his political career.

Again, if he is thinking about governorship, it means he has learnt nothing from the old mistakes. Part of the old mistake was that governorship was zoned to the south, but he insisted on running, even though he is from the central zone. His party gave it to the south senatorial zone and he left for Zenith Labour Party. We have a tradition of zoning, and it must be sustained. That tradition cannot be stopped because we have the likes of Obiora Okonkwo. He is a young man, he can be patient and his time will come. The South will rule for eight years, before it comes to the Central and that is when we will begin to listen to people like Obiora Okonkwo. For now, it is not the turn of Central, we are waiting for the South to complete their tenure.

Back to the South where the likes of Ifeanyi Ubah is coming from. Still on the basis of zoning, it will be dishonest for him to say he is coming in to complete the four years of south before the rotation continues. We have a governor from the south already, and he is doing very well. For Anambra people, we would rather he completes his four years, so that the rotation is sustained without interruption. It would be a risk to give it to another person from the south, because he would want a second term.

But again, the same Ubah you mentioned was at a town hall meeting in Abuja and he commended Soludo, saying that he is doing very well. He even said he would like to be Soludo’s campaign manager. I remember that by going into APC, Senator Ubah has gotten his debt cleared and his court cases removed. I appreciate the move, but it is a personal move and not for Anambra people.

Beyond that, the coming race would be based on the performance of Soludo. In two years we are all really impressed. We have a lot to talk about those projects the governor is doing when the time comes. Dr Okonkwo does not see the 400 kilometres of roads the governor is doing in different parts of Anambra, he did not see the employment of 5,000 teachers and the second phase to add additional 3,000, he won’t see free natal and antenatal care for Anambra women, he won’t see the free education. You don’t just sit in your comfort in Abuja and criticise. Let him come home and reconcile with the people of Ogidi who have rejected him. He is a failed politician.

You have been six months on this saddle as the chairman of APGA in Anambra State. Let us know what you have been doing within this period of time?

Thanks for reminding me that I have been here for six months. It has been an interesting period and also challenging. I will tell you why it has been challenging. We came in at a time when the spirit of APGA members was quite low. We were battling with many things. We are just coming in when the result of the last election cannot be said to be the best for APGA in recent times. We never had it so low. We got only 16 seats in the House of Assembly, four in the House of Representatives, and we were also battling with intra-party grievances arising from the primaries, which had its own negative effect.

We found out that quite a number of our party members worked against us, arising from the poor conduct of the primaries. We also had challenges arising from the mindset of the party members, so we needed to work on the mindset of the party members, especially on not opening up to new members. There were challenges arising from disunity in the operational structure.

So we started rebuilding, rebranding, repositioning the party to meet the vision that the new executive needed. It was not easy. We started by going around and visiting major stakeholders who had abandoned us or not showing interest any longer. Some of the problems were from primaries, so we needed to convince them that things would be done in a different way under my watch. So we brought back the confidence of the people.

There were also the grievances of old political appointees, of more than 3,000, consisting of all sorts of people. Some were not gainfully employed, some were friends to friends, girlfriends to politicians, some lived in London, US, Abuja and many places in the diaspora.

But the current regime has a new vision for political appointees. The present regime under Governor Soludo believes it is better to teach people how to fish rather than giving them fish. The old political appointees felt they had been shortchanged. The promise was that they were going to be re-engaged, and all these were the crises we met and we needed to bring back their confidence and make them understand that the policy drive of Governor Soludo is better than what they used to have before.

We gave them examples that Soludo has employed 5,000 teachers and that counted for us electorally. The governor also started the one youth two skills programme. So they saw that this model is better. People got cheques for N250,000, N500,000 and more to go and start their own trade. So you see that it is better than earning salaries as the appointees used to and at the end of that regime, you are thrown back into the labour market.

So, that is part of the rebuilding process and people have begun to show interest in the things of the party. Again, we have also started inaugurating various structures in a new manner, and some of the things we have found out is that it is not just the party executives that you have to trust to deliver. We fashioned out a process where the grassroot people who are not the day to day party officials can function in the affairs of the party.

We have situations where palliatives come, and parts of the problem we had in the past was that those who are the leaders keep these things, so beyond the executives, we have broken wards into kindreds, and when we have things to share, we make sure that every kindred gets it. So these are some of the things we have been doing.

One good thing is that we have been able to bring back discipline. We lost it in the past, so when we came in, we decided to instil discipline, and this is from the top. I said something about the operational structure, yes. We also suffered that before, but now it is our policy that people who come up as support groups, some of them are not members of our party, but it is very important that they exist. So you must allow them to run their organisation and sustain their support.

So, all together, we said we will rebrand the operational modus, so that we will have better harmony and strategy in the operations within the party and the support groups, with the full knowledge the party remains supreme.

While we are working to achieve the same goal, the party must sustain its supremacy. It has not been easy, it has not been what we are used to. Before, we had support groups that were stronger than the party and better funded than the party, but now we are working together as a family. I always tell them, you work as a support group, but we don’t want urban guerillas, those who just dress up and come to Awka and show themselves as support groups, but have no structures, down to the ward level. So we have standards by which we can recognize you as a support group. If there is something we have been able to do within this period, it is the fact that we have been able to bring the party back to life, make it visible as one political family, working for one purpose and vision, under a respected leader.

By next year, electioneering for the governorship election would begin, and with the labour movement, and the Ifeanyi Ubah’s defection to APC, Soludo may have difficulty in returning as governor. What do you think?

By Labour you mean Valentine Ozigbo, is it not? Unfortunately, that name has become synonymous with losing elections. If he contests, he will be contesting against his homeboy from Aguata (Soludo). As for the ‘Obidient’ man (Peter Obi), APGA has beaten him twice. We beat him when he brought a man from Ogbaru, Oseloka Obaze, and we beat him again when he brought Val Ozigbo. What happened in the last Obidient Movement is a lesson to Ndigbo and should not repeat itself. It was like what happened in 1967, when we went into war with Nigeria without preparation. It is not likely to happen to Ndigbo again. There will be no Obidient movement in the governorship election because that movement was tied around an emotion to become president of Nigeria. It had nothing to do with Peter Obi as a person.

At that point in time, the Igbos felt it was their turn, rightly or wrongly. It has come and it has gone, and that factor can never come into play again in the next governorship election. Whether Governor Soludo will contest or not, we will not put him in the radar yet, until that time comes. We have also told him as a party to please concentrate on his good governance. His government is less than two years, and it is not a time to assess anybody, but we are sure from his programmes that when it is time for campaigning, towards the end of next year, most of what he has started will crystallise.

When we begin to see the network of roads that would move from Amansea, come through Okpuno, and a flyover, which would be coming before the election, when we see the dualisation from Amawbia down to Uga, with a flyover, which turns to Isuofia towards Nnobi, the people would know who to vote.

Like my governor always says, just wait and see. See what is happening in Onitsha south and the number of roads coming up. We have sat down with him (Soludo) and asked him how he intends to achieve certain things and he has told us that by this time next year, nobody in APGA will have the confidence to come out and contest for the ticket against him.

INTERVIEW: Nigerians were fooled with Electoral Act amendment – APGA Chair, Obi-Okoye

Motunrayo Esan’s journey from being born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria, to becoming an outstanding animal scholar is truly remarkable. Her transformation from a background detached from animal protection to becoming a trailblazer in animal law education is noteworthy.

After obtaining a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) at Seventh-Day Adventist Institution, Babcock University, Nigeria, Motunrayo “Mo” Esan drafted a law that regulated the adoption of dogs as security in Nigeria, which became a turning point in her academic career.

While researching on Nigerian dog laws, Mo identified gaps in the protection of animals and decided to give in to her passion for the development of animal law. She identified how “anti-animal welfare” the Dog Laws of various states were; especially with legislation that mandated lost dogs to be ‘destroyed.’

In 2020, Lagos state decided to reform its Animal Law prompted by the issue of a recent custody of a lion by a private individual. Mo was tasked with monitoring the high-profile case and drafting a legal analysis of liability. Eighteen months later, she was chosen by the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS), as the recipient of a robust scholarship award for a master’s degree in animal law at Lewis and Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon in the United States. The International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR) took a special interest in her and named her as a scholar and recipient of the Joyce Tischler’s Scholarship Award. CALS remains the world’s first and only institution that awards advanced degrees in animal law.

Through her nonprofit organization, Green Thumb Initiative (GTI), Mo has received grants that will further her mission to reform animal protection in Nigeria using the educational sector and legal system.

GTI has partnered with Speak Out for Animals (SOFA)- Africa’s largest wildlife law initiative located in Zimbabwe to launch the world’s first post-graduate diploma in Wildlife Law. We recently sat down with Mo to learn more about her animal law work.

Why is there a need for animal law education in Africa?
A common myth is that Africa has poor animal laws. That is simply untrue. An analysis of the legislation available in several countries shows that there are many statutes in place that protect animals. In fact, some national constitutions even recognize a common objective to protect wildlife and the environment which animals are a critical part of. Other countries like the United States and Finland have enacted standalone legislation on animal welfare protection. Unfortunately, as strong as those laws are, they do not help African animals or advance their protection. Animal law education in Africa is essential to bring Africa to an informed position in terms of global discussions on animal protection. I recently represented Animal Advocacy Careers at the Animal & Vegan Summit that was held in Los Angeles in July and interacting with hundreds of students in the United States opened up my mind to the gaps that we still had to fill in Africa generally. With information and outreach, the world can become a better and safer place for all living beings.

How did you become interested in animal law?
Honestly, it has been a journey. I have always loved dogs but not in a remarkable way. I remember hearing conversations between my father and mother where he would try to convince her to allow the dogs into the living room and bedrooms. Despite all his efforts, my mother’s answer was always no. Nevertheless, my father’s love for dogs was passed on to me and I found myself constantly tasked with the duty of feeding puppies and taking dogs for vaccination appointments. It was not until 2019 when I was to select a topic for a dissertation paper as part of the requirement for my law degree, that it became a passion and a career choice. The research revealed an undiscovered area of Nigerian legislation which I ended up establishing as a discipline: Nigerian Animal Law. In 2020, I faced a challenge. I wanted an advanced degree in animal law and found that no single institution in Nigeria had the facilities to support my research. After speaking to several law departments across universities, I ended up with my Alma Mata, Babcock University which allowed me to design my degree in an original way with an animal law focus! It was the first of its kind in the country because I used Public International Law, Criminal Law, and Environmental Law modules to produce a dissertation that ended up in a draft for a universal declaration on animal protection. It was like the Universal Declaration for Human Rights (UDHR), but for animals. Despite that, I was still unsatisfied, so I accepted an offer in 2022 for a second master’s degree in animal law in the United States at Lewis and Clark Law School. Building on that, I then founded the Green Thumb Initiative (GTI) in February 2023.

What do you feel has been your greatest professional achievement?
My greatest would be the appointment to be an Animal Law Professor in the world’s first postgraduate diploma in wildlife law graduate course. This is the hallmark for me because it puts me in the best position to influence the next generation of animal lawyers. In this role, I will advance animal law worldwide by directly shaping its education from students across the world including The United States, Chile, and Ghana!

More importantly, I highly value the global impact that my work has had. When the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law decided to take up the project of writing the world’s first textbook on animal rights law, I was appointed to work on one of the chapters and develop a biography of African animal rights law resources. The process of researching all the animal laws in each country in Africa was humbling and inspiring. It let me know that my work truly had an impact. Also, I have presented in novel conferences including the Comparative Animal Law Workshop held in Kent, United Kingdom and I was a panelist at the 2023 Radboud Conference on Earth System Governance in the Netherlands. Early this year, I was invited to contribute to the world’s first encyclopedia on animal law! It will be published early 2024 and I will be donating copies to the law faculties of Nigerian universities.

The cumulation of all of these mark my biggest professional achievement because it puts me in the class of the people in the field before me worldwide and it shows my impact beyond Nigeria. I have been able to do this much in such a short time, I am super excited for what the next decade will bring in terms of global animal protection. It is indeed such an honor to be in the front line of such a remarkable endeavor.

Can you tell us about the Green Thumb Initiative and its work?
At GTI, our aim is to pioneer the development of animal law in Africa. We intend for its reach to include higher learning institutions like universities, government agencies, churches, and elementary schools. We do this through courses, documentaries, and training sessions. We have created courses on aquatic animal law, wildlife law, global animal law and nonprofit charity management.
GTI is registered in the U.S. as a 501c (3) nonprofit organization with tax-exemption status.

What is on the horizon for GTI?
Over the past five years, since I got involved in the field of animal law, I have been able to master the trend in the United States especially. This is essential to have a well-rounded view of how to approach future developments. GTI aims to be at the forefront of pioneering animal law education worldwide. With my expertise and the support of my team, I have been able to partner with universities in Nigeria and Zimbabwe to include it in the curriculum. For now, all I can say is watch out!

Interview: Championing animal law education in Africa – Motunrayo Esan

His Excellency, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd) is a former military head of state. IBB as he is fondly called, in this interview with Search FM, a Campus Radio, spoke on a wide range of issues- his childhood, military activities and the civil war. DAILY POST correspondent, Priscilla Dennis monitored the interview.

What was it like growing up in Niger State or as it was called back then, the Niger province?

Well, I think it’s…I was first born here in Minna. I can’t predict where you (students) were in 1941, but it was in 1941 in the month of August. I also started and finished my primary school education here in Minna and then went to Bida where I finished secondary school before joining the Army and received military training at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna, Military Academy in India and so many other military institutions.

Your Excellency Sir, can you tell us more about your educational journey before heading to the Nigerian Military Training College?

I started here in Minna in 1950, by then it used to be called Gwari Federation Elementary School, and then later it became elementary school.

From there, I proceeded to senior primary school and on the completion of primary school education, I went to Bida Provincial Secondary School, where I spent six years before joining the Military Training College in Kaduna.

Joining the military shaped how the rest of your life turned out, what informed the decision to enlist as an officer?

Well, maybe to understand the background, in about that period there was a deliberate government policy. The government of Northern Nigeria at that time, there were not a lot of people from the North who were in the military. So, it took a deliberate policy to go around and invite the younger generation from secondary schools, [government colleges] to come and join the military and that’s what started our career in the military.

You were in active military service during the Nigerian civil war. In fact, you sustained a life threatening injury, what was that experience like?

It’s not a very nice experience I must say. First of all, you had people you went to school with, people you trained with, people who were your friends, suddenly as a result of the war, you find yourselves facing each other on opposite sides. It was not very comfortable but then, we had to do it. The purpose was to unite the country to keep it one not to break it. So that’s the uniquely sad aspect of a civil war and I pray, it never happens again

If you hadn’t joined the military what would have been an alternative career choice?

I wanted to be a civil engineer.

Your Excellency, you’ve held countless positions of authority, including being Nigeria’s number one citizen, what is your leadership style?

Just like any other style, you are placed in a leadership position. Your job is to lead people. You develop a situation where people look up to you to provide certain solutions to their problems or to their fear, whatever it is and you stand out as the person who will be able to do that. So you have to study human beings, you have to read about them and you have to be very compassionate.

Sometimes ruthlessness to get things done, but there are a lot of ways you have to develop so that you’ll be able to achieve certain things. Others you plead with, some you coerce and so on and so forth

You have a lot more free time on your hands after retirement, what do you enjoy doing now?

Watching you children grow

You have achieved so much over the course of your life and career, but if you were to rank your achievements, which would you consider your top three greatest feats?

Top three?

Top three

Number one is that I served the country the best I could, it may not be to your satisfaction, but to the best that I could. I leave that to history to judge and I related fairly well with the people of the country. I had no problem with them and I got to know the country more as I was well travelled. I made friends all over the country and I thought that was one of the greatest achievements.

What advice would you have for young people who are just about to start out in their lives?

I think my only good advice for all of you is to try as much as possible to know and understand that you are going to lead this country in the future. You have an opportunity now as young people. Get to know the country, study the country, the people and if you are able to do that or to understand that, basically I think that will go a long way to prepare you for the eventual leadership of the country

Your Excellency, on a lighter note, in 2021 a biopic was released about your life – ‘Badamasi: The Portrait of a General’, was the biopic an accurate representation of events?

Well, as a military man and man who practised both in war and peace times, I would have corrected one or two places. But, I think what they [Nollywood] are trying to project is a food for thought that could give us room for improvement.

INTERVIEW: Fighting against my friends during civil war a sad experience – Babangida

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akwa Ibom State, over the years, has been enmeshed in internal crisis which has affected its chances of occupying the hilltop mansion and other elective offices in the state. However, the chairman, media and publicity of the party, Otuekong Iniobong John, in this interview with DAILY POST, expressed optimism that the party will come out stronger and take over the state. Excerpts!

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has suffered a lot of setbacks in Akwa Ibom due to internal wranglings, are there steps being taken to address the issues?

You know that politics is a game of negotiation, alignment and realignment. There is bound to be conflict, misunderstanding, fights and crisis. But the bottom line is the resolution of the conflict. It is not strange to experience all these in any political party, but every reasonable party should from time to time set up a machinery to reconcile aggrieved members back to the party.

On our part, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, during APC stakeholders’ meeting in the Uyo Senatorial district on Thursday last week directed that a reconciliation committee should be set up to address some of the issues rocking the party in the state. I believe that the chairman of our party, Obong Stephen Ntukekpo, is working towards that.

We will ensure that anybody that is reconcilable would be reconciled back; those who have the interest of the party would surely express their grievances and I’m confident that the issues that will be raised shall be addressed. I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel; APC in Akwa Ibom will come out better, stronger at the end of the exercise. We will take over the state.

One of the contending issues is who would be the leader of the party in the state, has that been addressed?

This is a very glaring case, the leader of a political party in a state is always the governor of that state; in a situation where the party does not have a governor, the highest ranking political office holder from that state in the party will be the leader. As of now, APC does not have a governor in Akwa Ibom and the highest ranking political office holder is Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is the number three citizen in the country. Not just that, Akpabio is the only person who has been a governor in the party, I mean at the state level, so it is undisputed that no other person would come up now to struggle that position with him.

Governor Umo Eno, on December 6, 2023, set up a transition committee for local government administration, are you satisfied with that?

The idea of instituting a transition committee to run the affairs of local government councils is a breach of the constitution. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended says that there shall be elected local government council to run the affairs of local government administration nationwide, so there was no provision for unelected local government officials anywhere and to that extent one can safely conclude that the contraption called local government transition committee is strange to the constitution and then it is argued that anything that is in conflict with the provisions of the constitution is null and void to the extent of the inconsistency.

It is an aberration, a contraption and unknown to the constitution, so our party being a believer in due process and in the constitution, we don’t believe in that process.

All things being equal, AKISIEC following the directives of Gov Umo Eno would conduct LG elections by June, 2024, how prepared is APC to grab at least a few local government areas in the state?

Well, you know that nationwide, local government administration is known to be exclusive business of the party in power in that state because the state electoral commission is created to serve the interest of the party in power. So you will agree with me that it’s always in very rare cases that you will see an opposition party defeating the party in power in a local government election that is conducted by the electoral commission set up to serve the interest of the party in power.

The Young Progressives Party, YPP, over the weekend collapsed its structure into APC and two of YPP candidates will be having a rerun next month; is APC working towards supporting those candidates?

Well, the candidates involved- one from Ibiono Ibom State constituency and the Ikono/Ini federal constituency are still the candidates of the Young Progressives Party, YPP, they’ve not defected to APC yet, so they are squarely facing their elections and not a matter of APC. The fact that their leader defected to the APC does not mean that all of them are now in APC; however, it is believed that in due course, they will join their master to our party, APC.

INTERVIEW: We’re positioning APC to take Akwa Ibom – Iniobong John

The acting Director of Research and Studies at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, Prof. Efem Ubi, says the withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, would definitely weaken the regional body.

In this interview with DAILY POST, the diplomat takes a holistic view on the implications of the withdrawal, what led to the development and what the ECOWAS as a body needs to do urgently to avoid a crisis in the sub-region, among others. Excerpts!

What is the implication of the recent announcement of the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from the ECOWAS?

I think this is not a time to lay blame on any of the parties, whether the ECOWAS, the Nigerian president or government or any of the three countries that broke away. This is the time for negotiation; a time for peace approach towards reconciling the breakaway countries.

However, this is not coming as a surprise. Last year, I mentioned in passing that the crisis that has engulfed the region with regard to military takeover would definitely lead to alliances being formed by the country under military rule, and that if care is not taken, the region might degenerate into chaos. Most importantly, we are not unaware of the fact that super power rivalry in Africa is also playing a key role in what is happening.

In some quarters, people are saying that it is Russians that are actually giving impetus to these countries. But, for me, every power has a role to play. France is there, the United States of America is there and all that. So, what we need to do is to begin negotiation in a different way to see how the impact within the sub-region can be resolved.

But, the whole essence of the ECOWAS was economic integration, as well as political integration, but with what is happening now, it has actually taken us back. People will say it doesn’t matter if these three countries break away, but I want you to consider the fact that it is a 15-country-member state. So if four countries break away, because Mauritania had broken away earlier on, would you still call it the Economic Community of West African States? Once countries start moving away, it is no longer going to be as it was when the founding fathers established it in 1975

Are you suggesting that the breakaway of the three countries recently plus that of Mauritius earlier would weaken the ECOWAS power?

Definitely, it will weaken ECOWAS. Don’t forget that even as a regional economic body, the countries themselves have played vital roles in terms of security management within the region. Don’t forget that it was under the same Economic Community of West African States that the Economic Community Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was formed. Don’t also forget that it was under ECOWAS that the regional standby force which is the most active and proactive standby regional force in Africa was set up, following the African Standby Force Principle that actually guided and set up the standby force where all the regions were supposed to have their own standby force.

So, if this breakaway takes place, it will totally weaken the cooperative security efforts over the years. Lest we forget, as of today, the Sahel is already the hottest spot in the world in terms of insecurity, so, all the countries within the Sahel, including Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, need concerted effort to mitigate the crisis within the sub-region.

Don’t forget that last year, these countries moved to form a defence alliance of the Sahel, although Nigeria and Chad were not part of it. That will actually degenerate the tension, crisis and conflict in the Sahel. Right now, the insecurity is moving towards Ghana, Benin Republic and other parts of the West African sub-region, especially, towards the Gulf of Guinea region.

So, I don’t think we should be happy that these countries are leaving the ECOWAS and that it will not undermine the West African sub-region. That is not true because it is definitely going to undermine West Africa because everybody has a role to play.

Again, don’t forget that Niger is part of the Multinational Joint Task Force, which Nigeria spearheads to fight terrorism and other insecurity within the region. Therefore, we really need to sit up. Africa needs to sit up, and the major issue, which nobody is talking about, is the root cause of military putsches in Africa. It is important to look at what is promoting the military putsches in West Africa. And when we start looking at it from this perspective, we will begin to have a solution. More so, the solution does not lie in the Super Powers or the Emerging Powers; it lies with ECOWAS and Africa.

On the contrary, many people would like to blame Tinubu as the leader of ECOWAS but he is not the problem. He is just the primus-inter pares, the first among equals. The decision that was taken at the ECOWAS summit and emergency meetings that have taken place over the last couple of months was not taken by Tinubu; it was taken by ECOWAS as a regional organization.

So, Nigerians should not blame President Tinubu; his hands are tied and he cannot do otherwise. So, all we need to do now is to begin to assemble experts to look for a solution and negotiations should start in earnest because we don’t have any more time to waste. I concluded in one of my articles last year that the future of West Africa is gloomy and that is what is happening now.

You talked about the root causes of what is happening in ECOWAS and the solutions, what do you think are the causes and what should be the solution?

The major cause is lack of good leadership and governance across Africa, and the day we begin to get good leadership and governance, part of our problems will be solved. We are not also looking at the fact that the African economy and many of those in West Africa are dwindling.

Twenty years ago, at the turn of the millennium, everybody was talking about Africa’s economic rise. Africa’s economic rise was pivoted on the fact that we are selling commodities, which Africa leveraged with the coming of the emerging economies. And when the commodity markets crumbled around 2014, many African countries went into recession. Nigeria was one of the countries that went into recession, including Kenya and other African countries.

Between 2014 and 2023, many countries have fallen into recession about two or three times. So, Africa’s economic rise in that one and a half decade was basically quantitative rather than qualitative. We are not looking at the fact that these statistics never revolved or precipitated into a human development index.

So, that means that while the GDP was thriving, the mass of the people were actually being pauperized the most because it never translated into economic development. Aside from that, we have often equated statistical or quantitative growth with qualitative growth. We tend to place them side by side, but the two are different things. If you are growing quantitatively, it should also pivot or reflect on the qualitative aspect of the country, but that is not visible anyway.

A major solution is to look for how Africa must develop economically and not just that; such economic growth must rob off on the people. It is crucial to note that a weak economic base is an imminent revolt from the bottom, whether you like it or not. That means if you are growing economically and there is no development, the people will definitely revolt, and as a result, frustration and aggression will set in.

I think this is not farfetched. In all these countries where military coups had taken place, the people were happy and supporting the military leaders because the people feel undermined, as they are not seeing the gains of liberal democracy. These are the same people that fought for the third wave of democracy in the 1990s with the hope that it will provide them with a good life. They have eventually gained democracy but the good life remains phantasmal, an abstraction. It is not there; people are not seeing the good life and everybody is unhappy.

African countries also have to lay out strategic development policy and pivot it on first- education. Our education policy should be tailored towards science and technology. Any country that is not science and technology bound, that country is bound to fail. We need to industrialise and we are not doing that. Is it not surprising that after 60 years of independence, no African country has been able to industrialise? These are all part of the root causes of the military putsches in Africa.

Again, look at the statistics of the GDP of the countries where military coups had taken place, their GDP is very low and poverty is very high.

Security is also a key problem. In the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s when the military coups were in vogue, they were always talking about corruption, maladministration and other economic maladies. None of those speeches mentioned insecurity, but since the turn of the millennium, all the speeches in countries where the military had taken over have had insecurity mentioned prominently. We need to fight insecurity.

Right now, many countries actually don’t have full governance of their countries because of insecurity and this is part of the problem. Look at the coup that took place in Mali in 2012, the coupists said it was because the soldiers were dying and the civilian government was not able to arrest the situation. So, the military took over because the civilian government was incapable of fighting insecurity. These are all part of the root causes. I think this is not the time to start putting blame on any country; it is the time to look for a solution because if this situation is not taken care of, we are going to see a chaotic West Africa.

In the event that ECOWAS fails to bring them back into its fold, do you think there is a possibility of the breakaway countries recruiting other countries to organize coups in their countries and join them in their new found union?

I don’t think they will convince other countries into accepting military putsches; I don’t think that will be feasible. And I don’t think that ECOWAS will not be able to convince them to come back. Let’s call a spade a spade. What is happening now is just a reaction to their present disposition.

For instance, they were supposed to have a meeting with ECOWAS member states in Niger, but many of the countries in ECOWAS turned down the meeting, and immediately that meeting didn’t hold, they now reacted. It could just be a move by the three countries to show their anger, but we should not take their reaction lightly.

If ECOWAS tries anything uncanny, it will degenerate the extant crisis, and that is not what we want right now. West Africa is the hottest spot of insecurity in the world; the Sahel region is actually the hottest in West Africa. And the crisis in the Sahel is actually moving into the maritime region now. A lot of cells are being created within the gulf of Guinea. The truth is that ECOWAS cannot give room for self abnegation.

INTERVIEW: Time running out on ECOWAS, chaotic West Africa looming – Prof Ubi

Coordinator of Ijaw Monitoring Group, IMG, Joseph Evah has alleged that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government was a wicked government that was worse than the Nigeria civil war. In this interview with DAILY POST, the Ijaw environmental activist spoke on a wide range of issues, including what President Bola Tinubu must do if he wants to win the war against corruption and kidnapping, among other issues. Excerpts!

What is your assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s government so far?

Well, Tinubu is saying that he has not clocked one year in office, and that before one year, he would perform magic. One year is around the corner; so let us give him one year. He has told us to give him one year, and I would like to wait for that one year before I can assess him and his performance.

But, before one year, I want to remind him that one soul is very important. The way insecurity is pervading the country, if nothing urgent is done to arrest the situation, we can only replicate the Haitian situation; the Caribbean nation that is lawless.

In less than 72 hours, more than 500 school children have been kidnapped. What is the National Security Adviser (NSA) telling us? What is the Department of State Service (DSS) doing? The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Military Intelligence, what is their work, for God’s sake? Why are they receiving salaries? That within 72 hours more than 500 of our children have been kidnapped and our senate president is dancing? Mothers, and fathers are crying, yet our senate president is dancing every day. What is our problem? Where did we go wrong? Kidnapping is going on unchallenged and because our children are not kidnapped, we keep quiet. And if you talk, one minister of information or presidential spokesman will come out to talk like a drunk.

How long are we going to behave like this in this country? What made us fight the military? What made us ask the military to go back to the barracks? What is all this? Over 500 school children kidnapped within 72 hours? Between Thursday and Sunday, over 500 children have been kidnapped and they are in the forest? What are we going to tell Awolowo? What are we going to tell people like Nnamdi Azikiwe, who fought for Nigeria’s independence? What will people like Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa hear in their graves? What is wrong with us? And they will bribe men of God to come out and talk like drunk, in this great country?

What is the problem? Are we going the way of Haiti in the Caribbean? What are the journalists doing? The journalists are celebrating Akpabio because of money. The journalists are even guiltier than those who are kidnapping; the journalists are celebrating Akpabio, who is dancing naked and insulting the intelligence of Nigerians. As we speak now, our children are in the forest with uniforms; carried away into the forest as if we have no law enforcement agents in the country; I am confused.

The call for restructuring is getting louder and stronger by the day, what is your take on that?

How many times are we going to say that that is the solution to Nigeria’s problem? We should go back to the parliamentary system. One thing that gives me joy is that Obasanjo is still alive and I know that he will be crying everyday because God released him from prison to come and fix Nigeria, but he failed due to his greed. He had the capacity; he was the right person at that time, when he was released to fix this country, but because of greed, he wanted a third term and when he didn’t get it, he was not ready to pursue the agenda for the wellbeing of Nigerians.

We are just begging the current president, who has been an apostle of restructuring to do it. I heard him saying that he was going to do it slowly. His Yoruba people will not forgive him if he fails to restructure Nigeria. And let me remind him that the Yoruba people will question his children, if he fails to do that. If he did not restructure Nigeria, in the next 100 years, Yoruba people will question his grandchildren and great grandchildren. The Yoruba people have that capacity. We said we want restructuring now and he is talking about doing it slowly while the enemies are calculating how to derail anything called restructuring.

Many people thought the kidnapping of school children will end with Buhari’s government. But, it appears it is still with us, even on a greater scale; what is your thought on it?

That is because nobody was prosecuted during Buhari’s time. You know, these criminals will first look at the body language of the leaders before they operate. When they looked at Buhari’s body language, they knew that he was not interested in anything. We are hearing now that people used his signature to collect billions of Naira. If we ask this current government to parade the people involved on national television so that we can all know them, they will not. If they are paraded on television, nobody will try such nonsense again, but they will not parade them.

So, when they see that the people were not paraded by this government, they will know that it is business as usual; the game continues and that is how every society operates. The moment they were not paraded, kidnapping and banditry started, and assumed a greater dimension. Their agent will tell them that there is no problem; that we have a weak president like Buhari. We don’t want to have another weak president like Buhari. You will see that the economy will survive and things will begin to change.

Why is kidnapping of children happening almost on a daily basis? It is because the agents are telling the kidnappers that the current president is weak. And I want the current president to prove them wrong that he is not a weak president. That is just the solution to the incessant kidnapping of children; if he can prove that he is not a weak president, everything will be alright.

The labour unions are calling for an upward review of the minimum wage, do you think that is a solution to the workers’ economic challenges?

Not at all; that can’t be the solution. I don’t know what the labour unions are saying; they should stop all those stupid talks. Is it all Nigerians that are working? We are saying that inflation is causing problems for every family, and they are talking about minimum wage; what is minimum wage? Minimum wage is not even our problem again. If we are still importing finished oil products, no amount of minimum wage increase will take care of the workers’ problem. In fact, less than two percent of Nigeria’s population is working, if you are talking about minimum wage.

If the dollar is still making nonsense of the Naira; if we are still spending dollars as our currency; if the world bank is still directing us on what to do, what can the minimum wage do? Nothing. Our problem is that we are listening to foreigners who control us through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. We are still listening to them; we are still borrowing from them. What is minimum wage?

If the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president comes out in a crowd to talk about that nonsense, angry Nigerians will bundle him, slap him left and right, and throw him away; is he drunk? Is it the issue of minimum wage that we are talking about when there is inflation everywhere? The crude oil we produce, we are still importing it to run our vehicles and industries and shamelessly, our people are still going to other countries to look for investors when companies that were in Nigeria before some of us were born, are leaving the country. Industries that were in Nigeria before Buhari and Tinubu were born, are leaving the country, and we are running to other countries looking for foreign investors. Are those investors not seeing the old companies leaving Nigeria because of inflation and poverty?

We have also heard that the fuel subsidy that was earlier removed is back, what do you have to say about that?

If subsidy is back, why are we in a worse situation than we were during the Buhari’s time? We don’t know who is telling us the truth; we don’t even know where we are. How children and wives will not die of starvation or commit suicide because of poverty in the next two, three hours, is what Nigerians are talking about now. If you ask the minister of information about this subsidy, he will say one thing; if you ask the President’s spokesman, he will say another thing; and if you also ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he will equally say something else; can you imagine?

What I am begging the current president who is a fellow comrade of June 12 is to put his feet on the ground, make history for himself and give us that pride of place that comrades are in government. Prof Wole Soyinka did it as a comrade, when he headed the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). Beko Ransome Kuti did it when he was chairman of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Tinubu, we beg you in the name of God, in the name of those comrades who are dead during the struggle, to save us; give us that belief that it was when a comrade entered the Aso Rock that Nigeria witnessed glorious years.

Do you think this government is serious about fighting corruption?

It is simple to fight corruption if the government wants. It is just to surround yourself with men of Obafemi Awolowo’s integrity; men of Anthony Enahoro’s integrity and men of Aminu Kano’s integrity. That was why Yakubu Gowon succeeded. Before Tinubu assumed office, I had an interview, where I told him to go and study the archives in Ibadan about Awolowo to know why the western region was the light of Africa during the regional government. I also begged him to visit Gowon, and find out from him, how he managed to prosper Nigeria during the civil war era.

Despite the war, Nigeria never borrowed a kobo from anybody or anywhere. Go and ask Gowon how he did it. He did not visit Gowon; not until recently, when the ECOWAS issue was embarrassing him that he consulted Gowon. I told him that Gowon is still alive for a purpose; God is still keeping him alive for a purpose and that he should go and pay him a visit to learn how he was able to manage a civil war situation without borrowing. Buhari’s eight years were worse than the Nigerian civil war era. It was a government of wickedness; you cannot describe the wickedness of Buhari’s government. It was worse than the Nigerian civil war. I told Tinubu to consult Gowon and find out how he was able to manage the civil war, because after the civil war, the Nigerian economy boomed more than any other period in our history. So, I advised him to go and ask Gowon the secret but I don’t think he ever visited him. He did not visit Gowon; he did not visit the archive in Ibadan to understudy the secrets of Awolowo’s economic power and wisdom.

If he wants to fight corruption, he must surround himself with men of wisdom like Gowon did. Not people that brought 500 bags of rice during the election and all that. We have passed that level. He should surround himself with solid people like Gowon. Gowon was the youngest person at that time. During the first press conference after the death of Aguiyi Ironsi, a journalist asked Gowon how a 32-year-old young man like him was going to manage a complex country like Nigeria. Gowon told the journalists to look around and see the wise people that surrounded him. He told them that with those men of integrity around him, he wouldn’t have any problem managing Nigeria. So, even if Tinubu is old, if he has solid people the way Gowon selected his excos and advisers, he would succeed. He should forget about sentiment and look for the way forward. He should look for guys who will move the nation and who will tell him the blunt truth.

Recently, Nigeria lost one of the heroes of the June 12 struggle, Frank Kokori. As one of those who were in the trenches for the June 12 struggle, what can you say about his demise?

Before his death, I was on television begging the comrades in government now to help Kokori because he was in the hospital bed. I begged President Tinubu, who was part of the struggle during the military era, to mobilise his people in the government to help Kokori at that point in time. I told all the activists in government that now is the time for them in government and that they should assist one of their own, but they all kept deaf ears and abandoned him to his fate.

I thank the Delta State Government for standing by him during his last days on earth. Now you ask, why did they neglect Kokori? The first government that neglected and treated Kokori like a leper was the Buhari government, where they made him Chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Funds (NSITF) when Dr Chris Ngige was the Minister of Labour.

When Ngige was appointed to oversee a ministry under which Kokori was to serve, I protested because I knew it wasn’t going to work. I know that Buhari just came to power for revenge. He was angry that Babangida locked him up and Nigerians didn’t do anything to Babangida for that. I know that Buhari did not come to the government to help Nigerians. He was bitter with Nigerians. I knew that there was no way Ngige and Kokori could work together because Kokori was too decent to work with Ngige.

And I was proved right when Kokori was frustrated; he was never inaugurated as chairman of the board of NSITF. None of the comrades that were part of the June 12 struggle came to his aid. It was because of Kokori’s detention that I mobilised the riverine communities, including the Ijaw people, to be part of civil disobedience in Lagos. I told our people that they would kill Kokori if we didn’t come out to join the Yoruba to fight for June 12.

Mind you, June 12 wasn’t a Yoruba agenda; it was a Nigerian issue. But, at the twilight of his life, when he most needed his civil society family, he was abandoned. All the human rights groups, including the president, abandoned Kokori. I am not even accusing the president because today, the president is surrounded by those who call themselves civil society people, but they all pretended as if Kokori did not exist.

Shame on the conscience of all the activists; shame on all the activists that are alive, especially those parading the corridors of power as veteran journalists. Who were those making news for them? Was it not Kokori? Those who were in the Tell Magazine, the News Magazine and all that, shame on their conscience. I will never blame the president because those journalists who benefitted from Kokori are all finding cover in the name of the government after their paper died. Who was making news for them to sell their papers in those days; was it not Kokori?

Today, they are licking free ice cream and drinking free tea in Aso Rock and they have all forgotten Kokori? I thank the Delta State Governor who visited him in the hospital and assisted him before his death.

INTERVIEW: Buhari govt worse than Nigeria civil war – Ijaw leader, Evah

The Labour Party, LP, Chairman in Enugu State, Casmir Agbo, in this exclusive interview with DAILY POST reporter- FRANCIS UGWU, plays down the crisis in the national leadership of the party, speaks on lawmakers on the party’s platform disobeying directives, as well as the defection of LP House of Assembly members in Enugu State, among other issues. Excerpts:

How has your party been performing the role of opposition in Enugu State?

Within the available resources, we are doing our best. We cannot give what we don’t have. What we don’t have is that we don’t have the available money to go out and, like the print media and electronic media, to do this…but we are trying. At times we go out of ways to do what we are supposed to do. Like now we are confronted with a bill, which they are about to introduce to the House of Assembly on ranching in Enugu State.

We have done our best in terms of letting people know through social media that this is what was rejected during Buhari at the federal level. But Governor Peter Mbah, I don’t see why he should go into RUGA or ranching in Enugu State. Even in his senatorial zone in Nara/Nkerefi and so on, you have rice fields uncared for. What of establishing a rice mill and giving our people employment and empowering them in their field of endeavour. Who is doing ranching here? Most of the cattle you see on the road are owned by ex-governors and ex-senators in Enugu State. They employed these Fulani people to carry their cattle into the bush. And you see most Fulani in the villages destroy people’s agricultural products, and you cannot ask them to build a ranch for themselves? Government has no business in that project.

If the government establishes a law to establish ranching, who is going to do the ranching in the State? Is it not the Fulanis? That was what happened in Benue and Plateau States when they were Benue/Plateau. They gave out their land to foreigners and today they are paying dearly for it.

Today, they are crying. They don’t even know the solution to it because these people have a lot of money. In a day they can make up to one billion naira through sales, and they buy arms and nobody controls them. If you report them to the police, their brothers are there at the police station; DPOs, Commissioner of Police, and the matter will just end that way. So, I don’t see the rationale behind the bill of establishing ranching in the State.

In terms of opposition in the state, the Labour Party is trying its best. What we need is a kind of commitment from the elected members of the National Assembly and our own State Assembly, who should reject that bill, because if you approve that bill and leave office, you might be affected by the consequences that follow. And by that time, it will be too late.

Just like today, Gowon is crying in Plateau and David Mark in Benue State. All the former Benue leaders are crying today that the Fulanis have taken over their place. They don’t have any power again to interfere because of their inactions while in government.

Any person, who is seeing one naira, two naira being given to him or a car of sixty million naira given to him, and goes ahead to approve a project that has death consequences for his people in future, is equally killing himself. All hands must be on deck, it is not only the Labour Party, both the PDP and APC must come out and say ‘what are going to benefit from this ranching’ in the first place. Is it going to bring job employment to our people? What effect will it have on us in future? That is the issue. So, opposition is not mainly meant for the Labour Party, it is also meant for APC, APGA, SDP, PDP and so on. All the parties should come out and say no to this ill fated project.

LP won 14 seats in the House of Assembly which would have given them control over the legislative house but it didn’t happen. What actually happened?

I have explained these things several times. I have talked about this several times saying it is about betrayal, sell-out by those elected by the Labour Party. It is no longer a hidden thing that six of them have departed the Labour Party, and very soon, our papers are ready; very soon we are going to court to contest whether the section of the law, which they breached, will be applied or not. Most of these guys are children of circumstance. You know many of them are inexperienced about legislation. Just because of the wave of Peter Obi and Chijioke Edoga they got elected. Right? And inexperience made them yield in to Peter Mbah, who now has gone back to renege in the promises he made to them. They are now shouting, and I told them, ‘I told you before that he will just use you and dump you’. And it is happening. So, we are going to recover our mandate. We are taking our time so that when we get to the court, we must have crossed all the ‘Ts’ and dots all ‘Is’.

Recently it was announced that six members of the house moved to the PDP, how did your party receive that news?

We saw it coming. We were not taken by surprise. Immediately after the election, we saw it coming and braced up. If they had concealed it and continued working with us and all of sudden jumped ship, it would have been a shock to us. We knew they were leaving. It was not a shock to us, we were prepared.

But you once issued a statement saying they will lose their seats, how come you didn’t go to court?

The matter is being handled by the national body. The Party’s National Legal Adviser is on it.

Is your party ready to welcome them back if they make a u-turn?

I don’t think that is possible. They cannot even try it. Ordinarily one would have said ‘a prodigal son’, but politically it is wrong. They have declared their seats vacants by law. Just like what happened in Rivers State, you cannot leave the party that elected you. The votes are for the party and not for the individual. We are pushing that their seats be declared vacants, even if it takes two years to do that, that will be done.

But with that defection, including other members who have left, don’t you think the LP has not been able to manage its success well in Enugu and other states?

What of the PDP that is losing members here and there in Nigeria today? Most of the things that our politicians are doing are based on a selfish end – stomach infrastructure, that is the only thing we are facing, not a question of management.

There is no perfect management anywhere in the whole world. It is the ability to maintain ground and manage what you have. Any person who is leaving the Labour Party because of management is not telling the truth. The person just wants to use that to get back in the ruling party. Some of them are telling Nigerians to leave the Labour Party, they don’t even know what they are doing to themselves. At the end of the day, they will be disappointed. There is no crisis in the Labour Party in Enugu State. Or in Nigeria today, the court has settled the matter that Abure is the National Chairman of the Party. We don’t have two national chairmen, other ones are just making noise by the side because they are collecting money from the APC and PDP as the case may be. We don’t have parallel executives anywhere in Nigeria.

Your party at the national level has been engulfed in crisis, what’s your position on the matter?

Any person can allege anything against anybody. If someone can get up to say I have embezzled hundred million naira in Enugu State, why can’t they go to court to prove it? It is a simple thing. If someone has mismanaged the fund of a party, you can go to court and demand for justice. You cannot just allege anything. No. it is not done that way.

At our last convention, Abure gave out his account through an external auditor who appeared in our national convention and read out the account of the party and how money came in and how it was used, and the remaining balance in the account. So, that is how it is done. He has done that through an external auditor. Any person who wants to do anything can go on and get that copy and challenge anything in that copy in the court. Let the court prove that money is missing. But for us in the Labour Party, we don’t see any money missing in our party.

Don’t you think the crisis is weakening the base of your party being that it preaches against corruption?

It depends on the angle you are seeing it. If it is a truthful allegation, that will weaken the party. That is why I said that even you, someone can accuse you of collecting a brown envelope of ten million naira from the governor. If it is true, it will weaken your base. If it is not true, you move on and do your job. So, any person can lay an allegation. Anybody can come up and say the party fund of ten billion naira is missing. But it depends on the person who is saying it and the extent he has gone to prove it. You must prove that allegation; mere allegation does not suffice corruption at all.

Do you think your national chairman, Abure shoving aside the Organised Labour is the best thing for your party?

Abure is working within the law, within the constitution of the party. Organised Labour is a separate entity from the Labour Party and they are being managed by separate individuals: the president and chairman. They are all recognised by the CAC. They are corporate bodies registered with the CAC that can be sued and sue too. Abure has no control over NLC, likewise Ajero has no control over the Labour Party.

If there is an agreement, the agreement has not been subverted. In the first place, NLC has a representative at the Labour Party, TUC, has their own in the Labour Party. And you cannot come and take over the Labour Party when the law says otherwise.

For instance, during the time of Ayuba, they wrote to INEC, the letter is there in the public domain, they wrote to INEC and say we need to be clarified on our position in the Labour Party. INEC told them that there is nothing to be clarified; the Labour Party is recognised as a political party in Nigeria and NLC has no control over the Labour Party in law. That is in 2015, the letter is in public domain; if you search on the internet you will see it because we have posted it online. That was during the time of Ayuba, when we agreed that they will have a representative at the Labour Party. And they brought in a woman, TUC brought somebody.

Their problem is because they are being induced financially by outsiders, either APC or otherwise, they want to cause a crisis in the party. Labour is not managed by fools or dullards. Abure is a lawyer. Most of us are lawyers, engineers, accountants in our various fields. So, it is not just a party you will come in and just impose yourself.

As far as I am concerned, the Labour Party has no board of trustees now because the board of trustees are former leaders of the party that will be nominated by various groups. But Ajero went and brought one former chairman of the Labour Party who is even an APC member and said he is chairman of the board of trustees. He brought another guy who was a member of the APC campaign committee and made him secretary. You can see where the whole thing is coming from. We are not perturbed by what they are doing anyway. The Labour Party is moving on and INEC recognises Abure-led NWC.

For instance, in Edo we organised primaries, it is the name of Olumide Akpata that is there as a candidate of the Labour Party. Initially they forwarded the name of one person through the Lamidi Apapa’s group and said he is the candidate of the Labour Party. But today, people have seen that it is Olumide Akpata. So, all these things are just to cause distractions to the party, but we are not moved because we are aware of the antics. It is only when you start giving them attention that we start being divided.

Can you assess the performance of federal lawmakers elected under your party, especially those from your state, considering the SUV saga and others?

In terms of SUV cars, the national body called them in a meeting and said: reject the cars, but because they have their rights, they have their own discretion to make, they collected the cars. And you cannot force them, you cannot punish or beat them. When you are going to punish them, the time is coming for you to now say, ‘party advised on this and you did not do this’. The party is silent on that. At the appropriate time, the party will react. If that money was given to them for their constituencies or half of the money was used to buy an Innoson vehicle, that is to improve local content, number one. The other money would now be used to give out scholarships to indigent students in their constituencies.

In fact, they collected that money in cash. The car was not given to them. The money was given to them in cash, some of them went and bought cars of hundred million, some ninety million, which is at variance with what the party stands for. They did it based on their discretion but the party will react at the appropriate time.

In terms of performance, I think I may not be in a position to talk about all of them, but I will score them low in terms of party decisions. The party had asked them ‘whatever you are doing you should let the party know that you are doing this’. You cannot be doing it just because you want to do it, the party will take records of what you are doing. What they are doing, the people are complaining. I am aware, we have social media platforms, people are complaining of highhandedness of those we elected. And I said this is just ten months of their stay in the National Assembly. Give them another one year, then we can now assess them. We are just following them gradually.

Can you assess governance in Enugu State under the PDP?

Well you don’t give what you don’t have in the first place. The government does not know anything about leadership. And they are doing what is best known to them.

My view is that the government cannot give what they don’t have. They don’t have it. They have done nothing. The first promise they made is that they are going to give water to Enugu State in 180 days, which is six months. Uptill now you cannot get water anywhere, except you drive to New Market, where they have the borehole. At times it works, at times it will not run. So there is no water in Enugu state. They are still laying pipes, which is what they have been doing for 24 years.

We saw that during the time of Sullivan Chime, from Oji River to the 9th Mile it stopped. We saw it during the Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi administration, in certain areas he was laying pipes. Now the government has come to lay pipes. These pipes they are laying, will it take eternity for them to complete the laying of pipes?

In terms of road construction, what they are doing is a shabby job, it is an eye sore. Once there is rain it will wash it out. It won’t last up to two years; even if it lasts up to one year, we are lucky. Unfortunately, the masses are not helping the issues. Some of them are drumming support for them because of crumbs that fall from the governor’s table. The governance in Enugu State has gone to hairwires.

One, you cannot access the governor. The governor sees you on what they call Zoom. We call him Zoom governor in Enugu State. Nobody has access to the governor.

In terms of security, you have seen the killings in Ezeagu, Eha Amufu, Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani and so on. And everywhere, kidnapping along Opi-Enugu road, Opi-Nsukka-Ugwogo Nike-Enugu road. Kidnapping along Ebe-Ukana-Okpatu road. Kidnapping of medical officers at UNTH, and many of them are unaccounted for. What are we talking about? We are just living by the grace of the Creator. You don’t go out unless you are sure of your coming in. We are all living in fear in the State. So nothing is working.

They told us they are building SMART schools. SMART schools for what? Is it for the dead people? Of course there are certain programmes you will do and people will applaud you but before you begin anything like SMART schools, what of the teachers that are teaching there, are they well paid? If they are not well paid, the schools will remain just like a glorified converging centre, where people come, debate, make noise and go. All these things combined have shown that the government of the day is just a coordination of what we had had before.

The Tinubu government will soon clock one year in office, what’s your assessment of his policies and programmes?

Tinubu’s government has been a failure for the past months he has been in office. People are yawning for Buhari to come back. It is like when the president leaves, the next one will be worse than the former. Tinubu’s policies are anti-people. I don’t know what he stands to gain by all the things he is doing.

Look at the Lagos-Calabar coastal line and how they were demolishing properties worth billions of naira. Even if you want to demolish, why not give the person time and compensate him and let him move to another place. But because of his anti-Igbo policy they went and demolished property where many people are feeding from. People have worked there for years. These people are now kept redundant and some will go into crime. That is the policy of a government that does not know what it is doing.

In terms of floating of naira, that is childish; you float naira on what basis? Why cannot he ban the use of dollars in Nigeria? He should ban the use of dollars in this country, unless someone who is travelling outside uses dollars to pay at the embassy. Imagine a governor paying the school fees of his children in dollars and the government today has not closed that school, which means all of them are guilty of that. Why are we deceiving ourselves? The policies they are churning out are anti-peoples policies. He should understand that people are suffering.

INTERVIEW: LP lawmakers disobeying party directives will regret actions – Enugu chair, Agbo