Follow Us on Google
By George Onyejiuwa
In the face of the current wave of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) by elected governors and lawmakers from the opposition parties, former Majority Leader, Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Lugard Osuji, speaks on various issues, including the state of the economy. In this interview with Sunday Sun, he also offers reason for the sustained high exchange rate of the US dollar.
President Bola Tinubu has been in office for two years. Looking at the economy, would you say that things are better in the country?
Well, I understand the level of frustration of citizens. But, for me, I would say that President Tinubu is on course given the removal of the fraudulent “fuel subsidy” and the floating of the Naira. As far as I am concerned, it is the best thing that has happened to this country. Before this time, we had been living on a borrowed hope. We have to be realistic about the economic indices of our nation. Now I think we are being realistic, though things are difficult. However, the price of fuel has been going down since the removal of subsidy. Initially, the price of a litre of fuel was over N1000 but today we are buying a litre less than N1000 and I believe it will continue to go down. Similarly, the prices of commodities are also going down. Sometime ago we bought a bag of rice between N100,000 and above depending the brand but now it is down to N60,000 to N65,000. I believe it will still go down further.
Again, we are having stability in the dollar exchange rate. The elite committed fraudulent activities at the time we had two parallel forex systems.
With the removal of the fuel subsidy, more money has become available to the states and local governments .But people have been asking where all the money have gone to since it’s not circulating in the system .
The truth is that every month the governors and the local government chairmen will go to Abuja for Federation Account Allocation Committee meetings for disbursement of statutory allocations. But the worst thing that is happening to Nigerians is the seizing of local government allocations by state governors. It is not peculiar to Imo State. It is happening all over the country. The governors are the greatest challenge we face. They should release the local government allocations. Also, they should stop changing our money into US Dollars. The reason the dollar is still high is because of the pressure from the governors. Initially, the highest pressure on our currency was when we were importing fuel but we don’t import fuel any longer. But we are in a situation where the governors after receiving their states’ allocations rush to change the funds into US dollars. That is why there is no money in the local economies of the states. If the President or the federal agencies can control this, the US dollar will have a free fall. Like I said, the governors are the ones responsible for dollar exchange rate against the naira has remained high. I strongly urge President to try and checkmate this trend.
Curiously, while there is more money available to the Federal Government since the removal of the subsidy, the Tinubu administration has continued to borrow extensively both domestically and internationally. What are your thoughts on this?
Talking about borrowing money, the truth is that this government is in a hurry to make an impact in the lives of the citizens of this country. The share of the Federal allocation from FAAC may not be enough for the projects which this administration wants to execute. If the people do not see anything tangible, to them the government is not performing. The issue is whether you are borrowing for investment or capital projects. The truth is that whether it is for capital projects like construction of roads or building industries, you should know that a good network of roads will boost economic activities in the country and that to my mind is what to this administration is doing with the money it is borrowing.
One of the arguments advanced by the government for devaluation and floating the naira is that it will attract foreign investors. Instead, some of the companies in the country have relocated. Does that not worry you?
I know real investors are coming but their impact is not being felt yet because they have not stabilized. Nigeria has a population of over 200 Million people and there is no serious investor who would not want to come to Nigeria because of its huge population and market. President Tinubu is barely two years in old in office. It is not totally a hopeless situation and don’t forget that the country has started exporting finished petroleum products by Dangote and some others are also building refineries and Walter Smith is building one in Imo state. Again, electricity in Imo state has also improved. I believe that things are gradually improving and in a little while Nigerians will begin to feel the positive impact of these investments in the economy by the Tinubu administration.
Don’t you think that it amounts to duping the people when an elected governor or legislator sponsored by a particular political party dumps that party over flimsy excuses of crisis?
Morally it is not good and fair, having been elected as a governor or a legislator, and in the middle of your tenure you dumped the same party for another party. I think it is the prevailing circumstances in those parties that are responsible for it. And the governor or lawmaker will readily cite crisis in his party as stipulated in the constitution. Personally, I think it is not the best because people voted you into office because of the manifesto of the party, and if there is a crisis, morally you are expected to remain and resolve the issues but there is no sense of morality in Nigeria politics. What we see are the ‘Food is Ready ‘ politicians who are not ready to contribute to the building of a real virile political party. They are only interested in ready-made platforms and that is why you see them moving from party to party. Even in a family there is always a problem, why not stay and sort out the issues? I don’t believe in one party system because the beauty of democracy is competition and virile opposition.
There have been speculations in some quarters of monetary inducements to lure governors and members of National Assembly to join the ruling APC. But I am wondering how much can be offered to a governor who controls the allocation to his state, to dump his party and join the APC. For the Federal lawmakers the attraction is return tickets being dangled before them. Now, how are the legislators sure that even with their return tickets that they can retain their seats in 2027? Majority of them will lose their seats because their constituents who are going to do the voting know whether they represented them well or not. So, being given an automatic ticket by the APC is not a guarantee that you will return to the National or State Assembly. They also know that there are other candidates from other parties.
Now, we don’t know the next governor that will decamp to the ruling party. Their main reason for defecting is for political survival. Any governor that is worth his onions does not need to defect if has done well, but they are depending on what they call ‘federal might’ which is the euphemism for rigging. It’s unfortunate because they are not thinking about the people but their next political tenure.
It is not possible for all Nigerians to be in one political party, it will not work. As a politician I know that by the time the primaries are conducted and tickets are given, those who feel that they have been short changed or that they were not treated fairly will leave the party, return to their original parties or defect again to another party to realize their political aspirations. It is not the first time and it wouldn’t be the last. Just watch what will happen from 2026, when the party primaries begin.
Everyone thought the new INEC Chairman would use the Anambra election to make a difference. Nothing changed….
The INEC accepted that it was not a perfect election but that the irregularities were not enough to cancel the results of the governorship election won by Prof Charles Soludo, the incumbent governor. From the information I got everybody knew Soludo was winning because the results from the polling booths were being up loaded to the iREV, for everyone to see. But there is a provision for those who feel aggrieved over the results to seek redress. But the next question you should ask me if the judiciary can be trusted? Let’s continue with our laws. The law is perfect; it is just a question of application. However, If Judges do the right things, then confidence in the judiciary would be restored. Don’t forget that our judges have also upturned elections on several occasions. But the issue is INEC. I think our National Assembly will have to amend that section of the law which requires the person who contested an election result to prove that there was rigging rather than INEC who has conducted the said election to prove that the election it conducted was free and fair and not manipulated. Even the INEC in most cases have frustrated those feel short-changed in any of the polls they have conducted by not promptly making available results of the polling units to the petitioners to prove their cases at the tribunals even when the petitioners have already paid for these materials. I know this as a lawyer who has been involved in electoral cases at the Tribunal.
I think that if the burden of prove is shifted to INEC, they will be more be careful. So, INEC should be able to defend the results they produced and, not the victim who is complaining that the results of produced by the Electoral umpire were cooked and not a reflection of what happened. I think that the National Assembly should do the needful.
The National Assembly wants to amend a section of the Electoral Act to make it mandatory for every electoral dispute to be concluded before the winners assume office. If that goes through it means that 2027 elections will be conducted in 2026 November. What is your take?
That will be the best thing that will happen to our electoral system, because it is terribly unfair for somebody to be sworn into office when the election that brought him into office is being challenged at the Tribunal / Appeal /Supreme Court,hile the challenger is spending his personal resources, the usurper, be it a governor or legislator is being paid salaries and allowances . In other words, the illegal occupier is using government funds to prosecute the same matter. The most annoying part of it is that when the usurper is finally removed from that office, he doesn’t refund all the illegal money he had earned when he was illegally occupying that seat. The bad situation is even worse for legislators because their tenure cannot be extended unlike that of the governors which the constitution stipulated that their tenure begins the day they took the oath of office. This is why we have staggered governorship elections today. So, it is even in the interest of the National Assembly members to amend that section of the Electoral Act. If that amendment sails through it will be good and I wish the National Assembly will do the needful.
Ahead of the 2027, the Okigwe Zone is claiming that the zone is yet to complete its tenure under former governor Ikedi Ohakim. They also allegedly accused Owerri zone of sabotaging the Imo Charter of Equity when the zone supported Chief Rochas Okorocha in 2011. What is your take on this?
It is unfortunate that people from the Okigwe Zone are making that argument. Yes, I don’t believe in zoning but on competence and capacity, that is somebody who has the competence and capacity to develop the state and reduce the biting poverty that we are experiencing today in the state. I believe that the best person should win. I don’t believe in zoning, but regardless of that I would wish that even my own brother from the same Owerri Municipal Council could be the governor as long as he has the capacity and competence to turn the fortunes of the state around for the good of Ndi Imo. But the truth is that, the Owerri Zone has been seriously marginalized when it comes to the administration of Imo State. When somebody is talking about finishing his tenure, what about those who have not had the opportunity of completing even 20 months in office not to talk of four years? Anyway that is for those who believe in zoning. What I want is the best for the state and I am sure that Owerri Zone has those with the capacity and competence, likewise the other zones. In 2027 I know that a person from Owerri zone will succeed Governor Hope Uzodimma, zoning or not.
Some political leaders of Owerri zone, especially those from the APC stock said that they will accept any consensus candidate endorsed by the governor. What is your take on it?
Has there been any consensus anywhere? Let’s leave Imo State. Has there been any consensus anywhere? It is not possible. Those people just want to be smart by half. It is self deceit and they know it. Those talking about consensus candidate to be endorsed by Governor Hope Uzodimma are not being realistic. It is not even possible in Nigeria, where politicians are only interested in their own political ambition or aspiration. This is why they should join me to say let the best person win. They are insincere and not realistic. I don’t want to say naive. Have they also considered that the choice of the governor may not be the choice of Imo people? The choice of a particular party may not be the choice of the people. We should come together and support the best person with the capacity and competence to win.
Allow Imo people to choose their governor. As politicians, we know ourselves and likewise Nde Imo know who the real politicians with clout, capacity and competence when push comes to shove, and not the food is ready ones without addresses. Governor Hope Uzodimma should be encouraged to conduct free and fair primaries and let the INEC conduct free and credible governorship, State and National Assembly elections at all levels and you will see that the people have the capacity to chose who they want. What is at the root of the voters apathy is that people are selected in the name of elections. Look at the Anambra State governorship election. Of the over two million registered voters, only about 500,000 came out which is 25 percent of registered voters because the people have lost confidence in the electoral system as they see it as a total waste of time when results have been allegedly written for whoever they have selected. We have to change the system, this is the sole reason opposition politicians have been rushing into the APC ahead of the 2027. Mark my word majority will be left disappointed when they will be “harmonized” out. So, the new INEC Chairman should walk his talk of conducting credible elections in 2027.
You think that there can be an end to election rigging by outgoing incumbents who are desperate to put their surrogates as an insurance against being probed?
Yes. It is possible, if INEC does the right thing by conducting a free and credible election at all levels. Again, it is a misconception by some people that the best protection as an outgoing governor is to foist your loyalists or surrogates as your successor on the state thinking that the bad deeds will be covered up by your surrogate. But from recent happenings we know it is not always so. My advice to governors is to be transparent in whatever they are doing while in office, and don’t think that if they make their loyalists as their successors that all will be well. They will be deceiving themselves because it is a not guarantee that the supposed loyalist will remain loyal when he gets into power; examples abound. This is why INEC must ensure that credible, free and fair elections are conducted across the country to allow the people to make their choice.
