By Omoniyi Salaudeen

Senator Anthony Adeniyi (SAN) is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State and member of Asiwaju Support Group. 

In this interview, he bared his mind on a range of issues affecting the socio-economic situation of the country.

He exonerated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of any wrong doing in the just concluded off-cycle election in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa states.

The same controversy that trailed the last general elections is also being raised against the recently concluded off-cycle election in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa states. Isn’t it more of the problem of the political class than the INEC?

It is the problem of those who are bad losers. For instance, we lost in Bayelsa State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but we are warming our wounds. Virtually all members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) expected that we would win in Kogi and Imo states. Towards the end of the campaign, there was a prediction that we would win where we won. Contrary to our expectations and prediction that we would win in Bayelsa, we lost. But we have taken it in good faith. We don’t want to make Nigeria a one-party state.

Naturally, Bayelsa belongs to APC. David Lyon won the last governorship election; it was the decision of the Supreme Court in respect of his deputy that upturned his victory in favour of Governor Douye Diri. I never expected that Timipre Sylva will emerge as our candidate because Lyon was more on ground. But we have problem in Bayelsa State chapter of our party. One would have thought that automatically our candidate in the last governorship would be repeated. So, the victory of the PDP wasn’t an endorsement of the performance of Governor Diri. It was due to the fact that we didn’t field somebody that had been tested.  Lyon was already preparing to take the oath of office before the Supreme Court came down on him. You can’t be winning all the times. We took it like that because in any game, there is always a winner and a loser. But bad losers will always scavenge for reasons to support their way.  On our own part, we are not bad losers. It is not that we are happy that we lost Bayelsa, but we have no choice than to accept the outcome of the election.

The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ridabu, has started singing the old song again, claiming that President Bola Tinubu inherited almost an empty treasury. If Nigerians were patient enough to tolerate the Buhari administration for all its excuses, do you think they will welcome any bulk-passing this time around?

I won’t put any blame on former President Muhammadu Buhari, but he had some inherent problems that resulted in maladministration and bad policies. This time around, nobody is claiming any excuse. If you understood very well, the National Security Adviser was not asking for excuse. What he said was that we should give Tinubu the required time to turn things around. And he started well by removing the fuel subsidy. He is also addressing the issue of the economy that was messed up by Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, by setting up an investigation committee. Tinubu himself said that he went round the country to ask for the job and so nobody should pity him. Therefore, he is not making an excuse. But people should give him time. Look at what labour is doing. Why could Ajaero interfere in what went on in Imo? In law, we say, you can’t go into the ring and be complaining. We have never had it so bad. If he had confessed to be a member of the Labour Party, it would have been understandable. Nigeria should not be left in the hand of people who are politically biased. Oshiomhole was beaten in Delta; he didn’t call for a national strike during Obasanjo’s era. These people don’t have the interest of this country at heart. The Labour Party was so divided in Owerri and he wanted his own group to emerge as the leader. It is high time we realized that all these bad losers do not mean well for the country. All the three leading candidates had subsidy removal in their campaign manifestoes before the election. So, you have to give him time. Should we continue to allow some few people to make stupendous money at the expense of Nigerians? I think President Tinubu deserves to be supported to carry out the implementation. Let’s give him time. All our problems cannot be solved in a day.

Yes, it is not okay for the privileged few to be feeding on the subsidy, but the masses are the ones bearing the brunt of the removal?

We are all bearing the brunt; it is only that the headache could be as big as the head. Everybody is bearing the brunt. Today, I bought fuel at N650 per litre in my village. The diesel I used to run my generator was bought at N1,200 per litre. Nobody is happy, but we have to bear the pain. If I am competent to be classified as a rich man, am I not bearing the brunt? Let’s wait; these things will come to fruition soonest.

Would you say that the economy is on the right course in view of the soaring exchange rate?

Nobody is happy with the current exchange rate, we all want it down. And Tinubu is not laying the blame on the state of the economy. We need to give him time. Patience does it. It is a matter of time, it won’t come immediately. It is not something that will come with automatic alacrity, as palm wine club will say. The economy is on the right course. We just need to entertain a little bit of patience.

Are you expecting things to move faster now that he (Tinubu) has all the time to concentrate on his job after the judgment of the Supreme Court on Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi’s petitions?  

Even before then, we knew nothing was going to come out of their case because it was badly prepared and awkwardly prosecuted. I am saying this authoritatively because I was part of the legal team that defended Tinubu. They said they were robbed. How did they steal their votes? They could not prove it.

After the judgment, Atiku literally pronounced democracy dead in Nigeria. Does that give you any concern?

Let him say his mind. I am not blaming him, but we know that democracy is not dead. Because he was desperate, he went on a wild goose chase. Is he born to be made president? He has contested more than any other candidate and he lost. He had disagreement with PDP and robbed them of victory. With all due respect, I won’t use any caustic language, Atiku is a frustrated aspirant. Let him say whatever pleases him.

Would you say that INEC has proved itself as an unbiased umpire in all of these elections?

Yes, very well. We knew the political mathematics in Kogi before the election. Kogi has three Senatorial Districts – the East, the Central and the South. The East voted massively for Ajaka and the Central massively for Usman Ododo. The balancing place is the Okun which gave its votes to Ododo. Is it the fault of INEC that the people of Okun and Central gave their votes to Ododo and the East gave their votes to Ajaka? Look at Imo, you saw all the endorsement that Uzodimma had before the election took place. Is it the fault of INEC that the Imo Council of Elders and traditional rulers gave their support to Uzodimma? I have analyzed what happened in Bayelsa; if we had fielded Lyon, we would have won. Should that also be the problem of Mahmood? Criticism is our style of justifying failure. We always like to find reasons to defend fault. Let them keep on blaming INEC; they are bad losers. What did INEC not do? The ballot papers were there at the polling units on time and the voting went smoothly. We should be responsible for our actions. Atiku said the result was not transmitted on the IReV portal, but the Supreme Court said that form EC8A should be used for collation. None of them ever showed anything to prove the actual votes they scored. Even Obi who said his mandate was stolen could not show any evidence that his votes were stolen. Uzodimma did and the Supreme Court saw reason with him and added his votes that were excluded.

How would you then react to the perceived fear that the next election may be violent due to a lack of confidence in the electoral body and the judiciary?

It won’t be violent; it is only the bad losers that are creating unnecessary tension and anxiety. Do you think ethnic and religious sentiments they whipped up in the last election will work again? When Asiwaju lost Lagos, did he cry? When Obi won 90 per cent of the votes in Anambra, did Asiwaju cry? No. Those are the ranting of bad losers. Nigeria will never be violent. People are wiser.

What do you think INEC should do to shore up its performance to enhance credibility of the electoral system?

Every human endeavour needs improvement. But the problem is that when people are fixated on a particular thing, they will always want to justify it by all means.