By Onyedika Agbedo
Although the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has barely spent a year and five months in office, talks about the 2019 general election have become rife to the bewilderment of many Nigerians. In this interview, Chief Charles Udo Udeogaranya, the National Leader of the Better Nigeria 2019 movement, however, sees nothing wrong in that. To the former chairman of African Renaissance Party (ARP), Lagos State, and former chairman of Lagos League of Political Parties, democracy thrives best where the opposition is vibrant and free to strategise on how to constitutionally gain power at any time.
Your organisation, Better Nigeria 2019, is talking about the next general elections less than two years into the life of the current administration. There are views that the attitude is inimical to our democracy as it tends to distract those in the saddle. What is your take on that?
First, inimical views like that are part of the reasons we are a failed state and our democracy a sham. If you must have a viable democracy, then opposition must be encouraged to thrive. If you run a government that is all hail the king and the king does no wrong, then that government is dysfunctional because it lacks the necessary reminder of alternative views of which only the opposition can offer without fear or favour. In science, it takes positive and negative to strike a balance and form a circuit, but the absence of either positive or negative supplies means short circuit (dead circuit). If you apply that in democracy, it means that the absence of opposition in a democracy equals to dead democracy.
Secondly, if a government that should have hit the ground running from the date of assumption of office is still foot-dragging nearly two years into office, in a four-year tenure that is technically three years, as the last year is an election year, it means that the government did not plan to govern and times have proven that you do not practise on stage. And if you do not plan, then you have planned to fail. Now you can see why we have started to put up a healthy plan ahead of time for all Nigerians that will make Nigeria better than ever. If the current administration buys into our plan, good; if we implement it ourselves come 2019, best and the optimum yield will be achieved.
How would you assess the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration at the centre one year and five months into office?
When you are running a government and in one year and five months into office, people are dying of malnutrition and hunger because a bag of rice they used to buy for N8,000 is now N24,000 or more at a time their incomes have generally reduced, then all is not well with the government. The government met the foreign exchange rate at below N200 to a dollar and in one year and five months into office, it has skyrocketed to nearly N500 to a dollar; and they are not even able to stabilise it. You met a country where freedom of expression reigns and in one and half years, it has disappeared. Millions of Nigerians whose livelihood are dependent on trading imported goods have been utterly destroyed with the devaluation of naira policy and mop up of cash in circulation, while there are no infrastructural facilities in place for them to go into manufacturing. Companies are closing down, there is loss of jobs everywhere, Nigerian students studying abroad that are supported by their parents in Nigeria are terminating their studies due to foreign exchange crisis, tenants and landlords are having their war over rent. I hope and pray that the APC administration puts their acts together and improve from what we are experiencing at the moment so that Nigerians can sing their praises. But as it is, the administration is regrettable.
What is your take on the anti-corruption crusade of the administration which took a new dimension recently with the arrest of some judges by the Department of State Security (DSS)?
That to me was highly condemnable with various reasons. First, we must respect and fortify institutions with major roles to play in our national life. We have the National Judicial Commission (NJC) that is constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that our judges uphold jurisprudence at all times. If that institution is not living up to expectation as desired, then all the arms of our government must dialogue and brainstorm with the aim of fortifying the NJC so that they can carry out their constitutional mandate. Secondly, the DSS’ action may have lowered the confidence ordinary Nigerians repose in their judicial institution, and sends a signal that seems as if we are now in a military regime or a government that functions with poor consultations, where respect for institutions rarely exist, except to do their master’s bid. And to me, that was avoidable. I wish the government at the centre could most of the time have a proper examination of their intended action or statements, as to what could be the possible negative flashback, because when something is gained, something is also lost. There is a story in the Bible where God asked Moses to step aside so that He will destroy Israel, but Moses prayed him not to because the flashback will dent His ability to the surrounding nations. With that, you can see that even the immortal God consulted mere mortal to achieve a better decision.
How do you think government can deal with the growing restiveness across the country?
At the beginning of this administration, I recommended that President Buhari should set up a National Mandate Committee (NMC) since the election that brought him to power was divisive, and follow up their recommendation to heal the breaches. That was not done! You see, the second chapter of our Constitution recommends that all Nigerians must be given a sense of belonging by those in authority. In the six principal positions of this country, namely, President, Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker, Chief Justice of the Federation and Secretary to the Federal Government, no South-Easterner, no South-Southerner is there.
Take a look at the Niger Delta region and see it from this perspective. The oil resource is God’s gift to them. There was no time that they entered into an agreement that they are giving the Nigeria state their resource, except the fact that the military without the people’s consent introduced the unitary system at a time petroleum was no resource and subsequently it became the order of the day. Now, they say, leave our oil resource; you have taken enough. You replied that the measure given to Boko Haram terrorist group shall be their portion.
Does that response fan the embers of restiveness or calm it down? Have you asked yourself this question: If this resource is from the North, would you still have one Nigeria today bearing in mind that since the emergence of Buhari as president, every key position in Nigeria has gone to the North.
My sincere recommendation to this administration is to recognise that Nigeria belongs to all of us and go back and set up a National Mandate Committee and have a follow up from there.
Finally, what is the thrust of your movement ahead 2019?
Better Nigeria 2019 is a forum for harnessing best ideas, with the vision of transforming Nigeria into a better nation for all Nigerians. And now is the time to start planning for a better tomorrow for Nigerians. We must not forget that we are so blessed in our diversities and that the wall that stands between us and national success or a beloved nationhood is in our inability to positively contribute to a better nation for all our people. It’s high time Nigerians stood for each other regardless of their differences; let’s redeem our nation with love by being peacemakers.