Follow Us on Google
Olakunle Olafioye
John Kennedy Osuala, former presidential candidate of the Rebuild Nigeria Party, RNBP, has said that the Southeast zone of the country needs to be encouraged to lead Nigeria starting from 2023.
He, however, believes that the Southeast has a major work to do to achieve this goal.
In this interview, Osuala who was one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s opponents at the 2019 Presidential contest, identified steps the zone must take to win the support and cooperation of other zones in the country for the 2023 Presidency.
Recent judicial pronouncements by the Supreme Court seem to put the apex court in the eye of the storm. What is your reaction to this development?
The development is not a comfortable one for us as Nigerians and for the image of the Supreme Court. So many demonstrations in Imo State, for and against. And then the Bayelsa event is there. However, I read the Supreme Court’s Order 8, Rule 16, which stipulates that the apex court can only reverse itself if there is a clerical mistake, but not on substantive issues. That is what their clause for operation says. But I think they have an escape route to do what they think is fair to everybody. But above all I think there should be justice. We will not support people being shortchanged. So, the Supreme Court should maintain its integrity as the final body in the country that people can rely on for justice, fairness and equity. Some people are not comfortable with what is happening especially the Supreme Court being sacrosanct and all that. If we lose the respect we have for the Supreme Court then the country will go into piece.
Are you not worried that a good number of elections in Nigeria end up being decided by the court? What does this point to in respect to the saying that sovereignty lies with the people in a democracy?
It portends two things: one is that the politicians are not doing what they are supposed to do by working hard to canvass their views and programmes to the electorate, persuading them and winning through democratic procedure and processes. Some want to win by maneuvering their ways through. You can lose an election on a ground and go to the court to get the result you want. That is not good for our democracy. However, even though this may be giving a bad image to our democracy, on the positive side it can be that we want to rigorously test our institutions. But my advice is that politicians should go back to the basics. They should do what is proper and required to win elections not attempting to win through unconventional ways. This does not show our democracy is growing. But the outcome from Imo is very explosive. So many people are not comfortable with it. Now that the final has been heard, there is a need for some healings, for reconciliation. I do not support gaining electoral victory unconventionally.
Insecurity in the country has reached a very dangerous level. What do you think Nigeria is not getting right?
I am personally disturbed by insecurity in the country just like most people even though they have been calling on some people who fail to do what they are supposed to do. Nigerians should wake up to their own responsibility by being security conscious. The security agencies should equally wake up. It beats my imagination to see the level of killing and destruction by Boko Haram. We have the capacity to defeat Boko Haram, but we allow them and they appear to be gaining upper hand here and there. Something should be done and I believe the Federal Government can rise to the occasion and the military should equally rise to the occasion.
What do make of the idea of regional security outfits like Amotekun, in response to the prevailing security situation in Nigeria?
People are bound to defend themselves. The first law of nature is the law of self-preservation, if somebody attacks you, you will want to defend yourself. So, the proponents of Amotekun and similar initiatives in other parts of the country, will be the one to defend themselves. Government is expected to provide security and maintenance of order. People are bound to take actions when they feel they are not well protected. The intention of Amotekun is not against anybody, but just to protect the people in the Southwest without prejudice to anybody in the Southeast, Northwest and all that. People should be constructive in looking at that initiative, knowing that people are bound to defend themselves. So, the issue of regional security outfit should not be politicized.
Nigerians from all parts of the country are showing interest in the 2023 presidential election even though many think the Southeast, for the purpose of fairness and equality should be given the opportunity to rule. Do you foresee the workability of zoning arrangement in 2023?
Politics is an all-comers affair and they say, ‘power is taken; not given.’ Ordinarily, and by sense of fairness, equity and justice, the Southeast ought to take over the leadership of this country in 2023 and I can assure you that Southeast will take that position come 2023. What the Southeast people need to do is not to hang on to zoning arrangement, but to organize themselves by getting ready and putting their house in order, fine-tuning their strategies and working very hard and presenting candidates that are acceptable to all parts of the country. We have such people. Many of us are not disturbed seeing all zones coming together. But I know by 2023, somebody from the Southeast will become the President of Nigeria. What they will see in terms of campaign, Nigerians will not believe it. We are not moved by what everybody is saying because in politics nobody will give anything to you except you fight for it. So, we should encourage the Southeast to get serious. They should put the same energy they use in their businesses in the race for 2023. People will support them if they see the seriousness. Already there are movements all over the place encouraging the Southeast, but we shouldn’t keep quiet.
The general feeling is that the Southeast does not speak with one voice when it matters the most. Do you see that change in 2023?
The Southeast, I stand to be corrected, the entire people of the zone were brought into politics by one person. Nnamdi Azikiwe brought the entire zone into politics. He came back from the United States of America in 1937 and because of his activities; he attracted so many people from the zone into politics. What Southeast people need is a credible leader who can organize his idea around the people. There is no time they can come together and sit in one place to decide. Even in Western Nigeria, Chief Awolowo came from behind when they had people like Bode Thomas, H.O. Davis, Tunde Alakija, so he had to work his way up to come tops in Western Nigeria. So, there is no region that is monolithic that will speak in one voice. Let those who want to do this thing come out and speak to Nigerians so that people will know that leaders are coming up. I believe they will eventually speak with one voice at the end of the day.
You believe a group like IPOB, which has different agitation will lend its voice to 2023 Presidency for the Southeast?
Concerning IPOB agitation, recently I discovered that their leaders said that it was the marginalization and all manners of injustice against the Southeast that fueled their agitation in the first place. So, there is a need for sufficient hard work by political leaders in the zone to reclaim the presidency. IPOB activities will whittle down. When people complain they complain because they think they are not being rightly handled. So, political leaders from the Southeast should work hard. IPOB has said they are agitating because the people are suffering. Even part of the IBOP’s agitations is that even those who are governing the states are not doing enough for the people. So, for me, IPOB is reacting to its environment. When a higher objective comes up, when more organized people come up to demand for Nigerian presidency, IPOB will have no option than to cooperate. The group is not totally against Nigeria, it is only against the injustices in the country because they perceive that people are suffering. And the ordinary people are looking up to them because the political leaders have not shown themselves to be capable of moving very high in terms of the loftiness of the objectives and what they can put on ground. So, that is why IPOB appears to be gaining ground. If you go to newspaper stands all the people you see there are like IPOB members. Where are the politicians and the political parties? Where are their members? What are they doing? They are just there. They don’t call meetings; they don’t do anything, they are just there. So, the politicians are the ones giving room for IPOB to develop and grow in strength. Political parties should do their work by reaching out to the people.
What do you make of INEC’s decision to deregister some political parties?
It is both political and constitutional. Constitutional in the sense that when INEC was registering those political parties, it specified the number of political positions that should be won for the parties to retain their positions and failure of which will make the hammer to fall on them. During the last elections there were 91 presidential candidates and what most of them did was to step down. That did not show seriousness expected of political parties. Political parties should only contest for power not contest to step down. But when presidential candidates begin to look forward to be settled by stepping down, what does that suggest? You are giving INEC wrong impression that you are not serious. Majority of the parties gave INEC the leeway to deregister them. Why should we have such number of political parties? In Second Republic we had just five political parties and during Babangida regime we had just two that were manageable. But suddenly 91 political parties were registered. Certainly the number of political parties was too many. The matter is already in court and I am not speaking against what is in court because it is subjudice. But I am only expressing my view on the number of political parties; there are too many of them. Secondly, political parties should be set up with the intention of gaining power not to be used as bargaining chips. If they had striven to get political power they wouldn’t have found themselves in this situation.
