…Advises Rivers people on what to do on Wike-Fabura feud
By Daniel Kanu
Prof Remi Sonaiya is a renowned educationist and writer. She was Nigeria’s only female presidential candidate in the 2015 presidential election on the platform of the KOWA party.
In this exclusive interview with Sunday Sun, she speaks on the off-cycle elections, the Tudun Biri military error bombardment, 2014 National Conference, the restructuring question, 2024 budget and what President Bola Tinubu’s administration should focus on, among other national issues. Excerpts:
Let’s begin with your assessment of the off-cycle elections that took place last month in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states?
I think it’s just a continuation of the very poor quality of elections that we have been having anywhere in the country. The impunity was still there, the violence and the usual manipulations. It was not a cheering news. Our elections are just so much about people shouting, contesting for power, doing everything possible, including to maim, to kill in order to get to the position. So, that is basically what we have been seeing or witnessing and I am not sure that I saw anything different in terms of better conduct or improvement in this off-cycle election. Everything continued, the rigging and all, as usual and it is very sad. It does not afford the voter the opportunity to choose the best candidates for positions of authority to run our affairs in the best way possible. It is very sad because we are capable of doing much better. We know that we have good people in this country and they are excelling in other areas of endeavour, but somehow, once it comes to politics it seems that we are incapable of bringing up our very best there. It is a pity.
What is your reaction to the recent military error, the bombing of the Tudun Biri community in Kaduna State?
It’s a pity and you know the official response in this country when such things happen is that they will say it’s unfortunate, so, I think that we are getting used to not demanding the best for ourselves, not holding people accountable. So, it is like, Oh, this is an act of God, it’s an error, so nobody takes any blame, nobody gets punished, nobody is held accountable and life continues. How does that affect what happens next when nobody is held to account? How will that make us all sit up? It is so troubling. Yes, we know that mistakes happen, errors do occur, but it does not mean that somebody should not be held responsible for that error. And we are talking about the military here, their training, I thought is a lot more rigorous and precision is expected, yes errors can take place, but somebody should be held responsible for such error to serve as a deterrent. We shouldn’t shrug off all the lives wasted there, what such error is that? What a pity, what a waste. We cannot continue to leave this way where things such as this will happen, of course, you can say it’s an error, but someone must be held to account for it. Going by the records, this is not the first time we are witnessing issues as this and nothing happens, life goes on, no probe and even when there is probe nothing comes out from it. It’s unfortunate we are running the country this way. In other places one will imagine that the person who is responsible would already have stepped down from office and say: ‘I can’t continue in my position if this happened under my watch.’
Speak on what is happening in Rivers State where not less than 25 State Assembly members have abandoned the PDP to shift base to the APC and one can guess their next action, impeaching the state governor…?
(Cuts in) Well, just leave me out of that developing story. What I want to say about what is happening in Rivers State is that everything seems to be going haywire there and I really hope that the people of Rivers State will raise their voices to demand law and order for themselves in their state. They shouldn’t just sit back and watch a bunch of politicians destroy whatever political institutions that are there, that should be running and giving them service in their state. But one thing that has also come up, I think more forcefully now with the number of people who have defected in Rivers State is for us to settle this matter of defections once and for all. We must call on our courts to settle the matter because it seems that even the constitution is not clear enough on it. I was listening to Mr Mike Ozekhome commenting on it, saying that people are elected on the platform of a political party, you are not elected as an individual, so if people are elected on the platform of a political party, defecting to another political party should mean you lose that position. So, I think this issue of defection, this ridiculous situation of defections should be settled once and for all. This ridiculous issue of defection has been taken to the extreme now…You are PDP today, you are APC tomorrow. If you defect and it is the political party that has the position, you cannot carry such position and go and give it to another political party. I really hope that our lawyers and the judiciary will weigh in on this matter and settle it for us so that we can have rest, we can have peace in Nigeria over this matter of defections. It’s really becoming highly ridiculous.
What is your impression about the 2024 budget presented by President Bola Tinubu recently, as some say it’s budget of theory that is unrealistic?
Well, on the budget, I have not studied the budget, okay, so I would not want to dabble into something I have not looked at or studied in detail, but, however, what I hear is that amounts have been budgeted for items that are not supposed to be our priority at this time, given the state of our economy, given the level of poverty among the majority of Nigerians. Issues like the renovation of the Vice President’s house with N15 billion. You can imagine what such amount will do to schools, to our hospitals, getting electricity, to roads construction and things like that. So, if there are such items in the budget, one would like to call on the people who are in charge to refrain from such, given the state of the nation. Those in positions of authority do not have a right to live in a way above that of the generality of the people because they are voted by the people in trust, so they must at all times consider the interest of the people. Yes, we know that there are benefits to enjoy in office, but it must not be that of outrageous luxury while the majority of Nigerians are living in penury. Let them look at the mood of the country, the mood of the people at this period and stop embarking on things that are frivolous. They must address priority areas at this time.
What is your take on the issue of restructuring Nigeria which many have canvassed?
Of course, there is the need to restructure this country. People are just taking the matter out of contest when you talk of restructuring. It is like we are using the word restructuring to frighten ourselves. People are just misunderstanding and mis-interpreting the word restructuring. It does not mean secession, it does not mean separation or to destroy the country, no. To my knowledge, when the current President (Tinubu) removed subsidy, is that not a form of restructuring? There are issues that need to be addressed, that is what restructuring is to me. Issues that need to be addressed so that all of us can dwell in relative peace and comfort. Look at our constitution, there are issues in our constitution, many people are displeased with our constitution because it was imposed by the military, so why must it read: ‘We the people?’ It is not true. It was not the people that decided the constitution and we are just saying let’s look at it again. Nobody is trying to say, at least in my own understanding, restructuring does not mean we want to separate, rather it is to the advantage of everybody that we remain together because we are stronger together. There is no argument, no doubt about that. We also do have the memory of how things used to be in Nigeria, the kind of regions that we had in the past where each had some degree of autonomy. This centralised system is not helping in our development and people have been complaining about it. Let’s look at the issue of Police, for instance, why is there just one police force in the entire country? People are not satisfied with such things. We should have regional police and what is difficult in that? In some countries, even university campuses have campus police not to talk of community and things like that. We are just saying, let us look at issues, contending issues working against our unity. Most of our communities have expressed their issues, they have detailed them out during the 2014 National Conference organized during the President Jonathan’s tenure. Why are we hiding the report of that conference away? Why are we not bringing it out and making it a document for all of us to study and agree upon. That document, we heard, from those who participated in the conference that it enjoyed the support of the majority. They said it was put to voting on the issues deliberated upon and over 70 per cent of the people who attended the conference accepted the report. Can you imagine 70 per cent? That is an A if you are scoring it like in the university exam, 70 per cent is A, so if we have such document why hide it? even this current APC government did they not set up a committee under el-Rufai to look at the matter of restructuring, so what has happened to their report? Why don’t we bring such things out and quickly address critical issues that will make us move forward in this country, things that will help in our togetherness, but we rather like postponing things in Nigeria and our lives are getting worse and worse.
Are you really worried that we do not have a strong, virile opposition to give the ruling APC a vibrant alternative?
We really can’t have a strong opposition because there is no ideological difference as it is between the two main political parties, APC and PDP, and we know that several people who are in the PDP today were in APC yesterday and those that are in the APC today were in the PDP yesterday, so the political class as we have it today, at least, among those two major parties, are really the same people. So, I don’t really see how one of them can be a strong opposition, ideologically to the other. They just have a contest of people grabbing power, that’s what I see and that is what is happening. They are just there to grab power any way they can.
Let’s look at the President Tinubu cabinet and how confident are you that they will perform to bring genuine development and real transformation from what we have now?
I really don’t know and can’t answer the question satisfactorily because I don’t know many of them personally, or their background, what they have done before, in terms of their competence, so let me not dabble into what I don’t have enough information. I just hope that those appointed will prove themselves with their performance.
What do you expect the presidency to be doing now looking at the Nigerian condition, the hunger and poverty in the land…?
(Cuts in) Let them live by example to convince Nigerians that he (Tinubu) means well for us. All these 1,400 people that went to Dubai, all these buying of fleet of cars for themselves, National Assembly lawmakers buying jeep costing N116 million each for themselves, the presidency buying cars for the First Lady’s office, all of that, is not giving us any reason to believe that he really does care. They come out and they say that they feel our pain, you feel our pain, but you still go ahead and squander the money on things that are not necessary, on frivolities. Priority issues of things that will positively affect Nigerians, revive the economy, education, health sector, agriculture, security are issues that need to be addressed not personal benefits, not on inconsequentialities, trivialities, but on things that will put food on the tables of Nigerians, things that will secure their lives, among others. If you are telling Nigerians to tighten their belt, you must exhibit a lifestyle that will reflect your talk and do the things that will inspire hope on the people.