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By Brown Chimezie
The Managing Director, Chabond International Company, Nigeria Limited, Ambassador Charles Chukwuemeka Okafor is a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Amuwo Odofin Area of Lagos State.
In this interview, the LP chieftain argued that Nigerians have been shortchanged by their leaders, regarding the promises made during electioneering campaigns as things have gone from bad to worse. He also spoke on the state of the nation generally.
What is your take on the state of the nation?
My brother, what we are seeing is terrible. About 75 percent of Nigerians are suffering, and if you take the census of people who die of hunger daily, you find out that the number is on the increase. There is no amount of money you take to the market that will be enough. Look at what we are going through with the recent increase in fuel pump price. If you put fuel of N5000 in your car tank, it hardly takes you anywhere. So, I don’t know. Look at the education sector; they have increased tuition fees for the unity schools and federal tertiary institutions.
Was this what Nigerians bargained for?
How can Nigeria bargain for such hardship? Obviously, the people have been shortchanged. Only the rich and leaders are enjoying the country. Today, you can see that only the children of the rich enjoy the good things of life, while the poor live in poverty. As I speak to you now, many children are out of school. Feeding on a daily basis has become a big challenge to many households.
How did we get here?
It is simply because we have bad leaders, who are naturally wicked. These people travel out of the country and see how modern governments operate; yet they come home and institute bad governance to the detriment of the poor masses. When you look at some of the leaders, most of their children attend foreign schools abroad, and because of that, they care less about what the majority of Nigerians are passing through.
How could Nigerians have avoided this situation?
Nigerians were hoodwinked. From every indication, they made their choice but they were given the wrong leader. So, everything now lies in the hands of the judiciary to do the right thing by restoring the mandate to the real winner. By the time the judiciary starts removing the wrong people, the people will then be able to enjoy good governance and true democracy.
When you look at the build-up to the 2023 election and what Nigerians are going through today, would you say they have learnt their lessons?
The answer is no because the new dispensation is a continuation of the same old order. If you remember, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was campaigning, he said he would continue from where the previous government would stop, and that’s exactly what is happening today. Throughout the last regime, a lot of bad things happened – killings, hunger and general hardship became part of the people’s lives.
The price of a bag of rice rose to N45,000. Common things that are meant for the poor became so expensive that they could no longer afford them. In those days, even if your parents were poor, at least you would still get food to eat. Today, the reverse is the case. So, I want to say that from what we have seen in about three months of Tinubu’s rule, it is the same if not even worse than former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. One US dollar exchanged for N880 this morning. Where are we heading to, and what crime did we commit to deserve this kind of treatment? If care is not taken, by December we may be talking of one dollar to N1000. The first thing he did was to remove subsidies on petrol. Although the removal of subsidy is not a bad idea, the Federal Government failed to assemble experts to advise it on the measures to cushion the after effect of the policy on Nigerians. As we were preparing for the 2023 elections, Buhari borrowed $800 million; what did he do with the money? As if that was not enough, the first thing Tinubu did was to borrow $500 million, then $800 million; who would pay all these debts?
When you look at the billions of Naira approved for the judiciary and the National Assembly, do you think they really deserve it, especially when Nigerians are going through difficult times?
Initially, I didn’t want to go into that because anytime I remember those things, I feel bad. You want to increase salaries of members of the National Assembly and that of the people in the presidency without remembering the teachers. Minimum wage remains N30,000, while the price of commodities keeps going up on a daily basis. What of our doctors in the health sector, who save lives daily? They too, are abandoned, while a huge amount of money is spent to buy bulletproof cars for the lawmakers. I’m not saying that it is bad for the legislators to drive luxury cars, but the common man in the street should also be given a sense of belonging. You don’t talk of the poor masses. Every day, people die of hunger, and it doesn’t bother people in the government.
Tell us about your political moves in recent times
For eight years, I was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and I played an active role in the emergence of Hon Ogene as a member representing Amuwo Odofin in the National Assembly under the PDP. Later, I joined the labour party, where I worked for the emergence of Hon.George Olawande Omoleye as a member representing Amuwo Odofin Federal constituency. After his election, he called me and also urged me to work for the Labour Party at the state level, and I did. To God be the glory, the effort produced Hon Osafie Foluke Stella for Amuwo Odofin Constituency 1, and Hon. David Olukoya Doherty, Amuwo Odofin Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly. Today in Amuwo Odofin, we have the LP in control of both the state and national assembly.
How do you think the youths can survive under the current dispensation?
I don’t see anything good coming out from this government, except God touches the heart of the judges so that they can declare the true winner of the 2023 presidential election.
