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•Says Yahaya Bello and I have made up
•Fuel subsidy: Atiku an inconsistent politician
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The immediate past deputy governor of Kogi State, Edward Onoja, has said the dearth of the local government system is the reason insecurity has lingered in Nigeria till today.
The board member of the South-East Development Commission called for a complete return to the local government system, saying it is the only panacea to insecurity in the country.
Onoja, who was chief of staff and later, deputy governor to the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, also spoke about how he had made up with his former boss. He also spoke on other issues.
Last weekend, in your hometown, Ogugu, Kogi State, the United Evangelical Church, ordained you a deacon. What does the ordination signify?
It was on Sunday, 25th, to be precise. A deacon in the house of God is basically a worker whose major and priority task is to help the pastorate succeed in all its activities – spiritually, physically and otherwise. So, it is more like a higher calling and more like a responsibility, especially when it comes to both kingdom service and spiritual service.
How do you intend to carry out the functions of a deacon and still be faithful to your political calling? Will you not be distracted?
When you say my political calling, I would rather say it is going to complement and also help me to do better because naturally, you will try to maintain a high moral standard and integrity. Being a deacon of the church, there are things that you would not want to be counted amongst, even within the political cycle. So, naturally, it will make you better in leadership, in administration and in service to humanity, which is the entire life and wire of politics.
Following your ordination, the ADC senatorial candidate in Kogi East, Aminu Abubakar Suleiman, congratulated you. Are you by extension a member of the party? I know you to be a member of the APC?
Ohhhh! Yes, he did congratulate me. You see, I have been in the political terrain now for at least, since the 2006/2007 elections. That is a 20-year stretch and I am saying actively – as in active political participation, within Kogi State and most importantly, within my senatorial district. But when it comes to electoral processes, even the 1993 June 12 elections, I was there. I was rightly informed and I participated in the manner of trying to galvanise. I was very young. And when the aftermath came and there was crisis and riot because of June 12, in the street where I lived in Lagos, somewhere in Olowora, in Isheri, we were all out on the streets. We were burning tyres; we were making barricades because we wanted democracy. So, I have been involved and at this stage, having served as a chief of staff to a governor and also, as a deputy governor, the second person in the state for at least four years, and also, now presently serving at the national level, courtesy of the benevolence of Mr. President to be on the board of the South-East Development Commission, I have reached a level in the political space of Kogi; Kogi East where I come from and Nigeria at large that any candidate of any party would like to relate with my person because politics is not war. It is just a competition for everybody to go and still serve. So, that I am APC which I am and will always be, and he is ADC and he is the senatorial candidate who wants to represent me at the red chamber, naturally, he should relate, he should congratulate me when something good happens to me, same I will do likewise to candidates of PDP, SDP, APC because at this level, I am no longer that politician that should now be if you are not in my party, I can’t relate with you because to me, it is archaic politics.
Some politicians, after few years of leaving office, you can hardly recognise them. But you have been out there in your usual self, bubbling. What is the secret?
God! Because I got into politics by the inspiration of God Almighty and whether in or out – I didn’t get to serve Kogi State as number one in 2023, but another person got that chance and that I didn’t get it does not take me away from the space in the nation or in my state. There are many ways you can serve your people. Like I just told you, I am on the board of the South-East Development Commission. I am not in Kogi, but I am now interacting between the North Central and the entire South-East. You see, it is a wider space, though not a place of authority as it were, but still a place to serve and what I make of it tells what becomes of tomorrow. So, I can’t just fade away because God brought me into this political space and where he is taking me ultimately, only He knows.
Recently, Afrobeats super star, Davido, was in your residence in Kogi State. What was behind the visit?
You see, a lot of people mistook that. He was in my community. In fact, he was on the street where my father’s house is. That street is where my father’s house is. That is where I grew up as a child, visiting when they were home. The house was built in the early 80s – 82, 83, so almost 40 years now, that street existed and I was a child growing up there.
One of my brothers who is the current chairman of the National Association of Scrap and Waste Dealers Employers of Nigeria, a very large body, who is based in Lagos and also a PhD holder. He built his home at the other end of the same street, and he invited Davido. As an elder brother and as someone who is also living on that street, I was his guest to the house warming of his building. And when Davido came, I love his songs. I mean, I vibe to his songs and he is one of the persons I wanted to by chance meet someday and God provided that to happen right in my community, courtesy of my brother. He is Dr Enemona Joseph. So, he brought Davido and of course, he was the man who was doing the ceremony.
Last week, pictures surfaced online of a meeting that had the incumbent Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Usman Ododo; former Governor Yahaya Bello, his Chief of Staff, Jamiu Asuku; yourself and the auditor-general of the state, Yusuf Okala. What necessitated that meeting?
You know a lot of people have been on this matter – eh, you left office, and we have not seen you with Yahaya Bello. The matter has been there and I tell people, it is not a quarrel, it is not a battle, it is not a fight, but everybody needed some space.
And both of you used to be Siamese twins.
Exactly! So, we all needed space, look at the situation, the things that happened and then, to be able to learn from it and be better, not just for yourself, but for humanity and for those you seek to serve. Sometime in the month of September, I believe, or August, His Excellency, my governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, along with some other colleagues of ours, visited my home after two years plus, all in the spirit of trying to bring the house together. And I must give it to him – his humility, his wisdom to want to bring peace and harmony. Since our late leader, Prince Abubakar passed on the day of his election and Yahaya Bello became governor, we virtually had put the APC together and it was just ideal that even those we lead also see that we can make peace with one another and I think the governor put himself into that task and it was time to go and have that handshake and let what happened in the past be in the past and let’s see how we can as a family and as a state and as a political party be together and see how we also try to ensure that there is victory for Mr. President in our state, far better than what we did in 2023. I think it is all about that. And as a Christian, you know what the Bible tells us. Forgiveness is just a cardinal thing in Christianity.
So, I can rightly say you’ve forgiven Yahaya Bello?
We let go, both of us and it is past. We are now working together for a better Kogi State and Nigeria.
What is the way forward for both of you?
He is a candidate of our party for his senatorial district and I wish him all the success.
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Why didn’t you also take the shot?
I just told you that I am serving on the board of the South-East Development Commission. My appointment will end in 2029.
One would have expected that you’d take a shot at the senatorial seat in Kogi East. You are very popular, so why didn’t you contest?
I didn’t contest because, to me, let other people even try. The red chamber or the green chamber is not my fancy really. Yeah, it is not my fancy.
So, you prefer the executive arm of government?
You know you barely really impact many lives. You can make laws, you can bring constituency projects, but there is a way you really want to touch lives.
That is not your turf?
That is not my turf. I am not that politician who wants to jump around anything. You need to know your make up, who you are and what God has created you for. So, we are biding our time for something better in the future. But let me even serve these four years on the board of the South-East Development Commission, bring some level of development alongside my chairman, my MD and our colleagues to the South-East. Just yesterday, there was a programme on integrated gas pipeline, touching the five states to help industrialisation, reduce cost of energy and also create jobs and I am happy to be part of that team.
What is the difference between the Kogi you and Yahaya Bello governed and the state under Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo? What has changed?
At the party level, there had been some disharmony and in the wisdom of the governor, he set up a reconciliation and conflict resolution committee where I serve as the vice chairman (2) and the former governor, Captain Idris Ichalla Wada, is the chairman, while my predecessor in office, Yomi Awoniyi, is the vice chairman (1). And of course, my successor as chief of staff, Jamiu Asuku, is the vice chairman (3) representing the three senatorial districts. The committee also has 13 other members, including the national woman leader of our party from 2018 to 2022 and a former speaker. So, he assembled leaders who understand what is happening and who have the knowledge and the wisdom and the capacity to broker some level of peace between factions. We are still on it. I think within the next one week to ten days, we will submit the report. I believe the governor will take some of our recommendations. That is party wise.
In terms of development, let’s say human development and staff welfare, the governor is doing well, thanks to the increase in allocation both at the local government level, the state level and the like. In terms of development, I would have loved to see it even much more rapid, but maybe because of planning, because of paucity of some funds to do big projects and he getting involved in some very big projects like a market project and the airport project. Those two projects, you know the volume of resources that will go into them. So, they are not allowing for some level of road works. But recently, I saw advertisement for two roads in my senatorial district, one in Ibaji and one in Bassa that have really been left behind when it comes to road infrastructure. I want to believe that if he keeps that off and some others, he would have been able to match what we did because we actually did roads.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is seeking re-election. Nigerians are saying that he didn’t use his first tenure well by making life affordable for Nigerians. In your heart of hearts, do you think President Tinubu should be re-elected?
You see, you have come to ask a very sensitive and important question and you used the phrase ‘in my heart of hearts.’ I wonder why you had to use that because you should have just asked me your question and I will answer you frankly. So, from the depth of my heart, from how I see it, nothing good and that is not Edward saying it, it is a global saying – nothing good comes easy. Do you agree with that?
Yes.
And no pain, no gain. Do you agree with that?
Yes.
The president used an analogy that I had used about a year ago about the issue of Nigeria. And it was about someone who has got a tumour. You know tumour keeps enlarging, keeps growing until it kills all your cells and kills the person. But some doctors can say let them suppress the growth by giving you some medications. Some doctors can say let them manage it. You know the word ‘manage.’ Nigeria, in the last 30 years before Tinubu, it was like managing this tumour. Every president that has come, including President Goodluck Jonathan, said ahhhh, subsidy has to be removed and I am going to remove it. It is because he knew that that was a cancer. Sanusi Lamido (Muhammadu Sanusi 11), the Emir of Kano, excellent technocrat, nobody can take that away from him. He has been saying it at least, for the last 15 years that the subsidy, if was not removed, it would kill this country. Many presidents wished they could remove it, they said it that they would remove it. In 2022 while the campaign was going on, His Excellency, Peter Obi, of the NDC, said he was going to remove it. His Excellency, former vice president Atiku of the ADC today said he was going to remove it.
But Atiku has made a u-turn on that…
I will come to that. Our candidate, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said he was going to remove it. And when God granted him access to get there, rather than begin to play some games and politics, because if you don’t even remove it as a president, you will go home after office, a very extremely stupendously wealthy person because there is a rot in that system that you will be the number one beneficiary whether you like it or not. But he didn’t think about that. He rather thought about the long-term effect and boldly and courageously, he yanked it off. Yes, that suddenly brought unusual pain. And it is similar to when you have a tumour and they are going to cut you to take it out. There must be pain; different from the drug they were giving you to manage you. But you know it was coming. So, for me, that brought the pain in the initial period and he did assure us that after a while, these things will ease off. I remember that a bag of rice jumped from N50,000 to N110,000. I am not talking of foreign rice, but local rice. But today, you can get it also between N50,000 and N60,000. So, that price surge has been easing and it has returned to where we met it. And it also applies to some other food items. I cannot be talking of house rent and school fees; I will say the one that everybody needs – food. So, yes, subsidy removal was the best thing for the country. The pain is there, but it is easing gradually. The next thing is security. In my heart of hearts, he has done what a true leader who wants the best for his country needed to do.
You mentioned one of the presidential candidates saying he was going to bring it back. That simply tells you he is an inconsistent person and you should be wary of people who would say something today and then four years down the lane, they change it. You need to be wary of such persons. Generally speaking, anybody who cannot stick to his words in the night, in the morning and in the afternoon, you need to be wary of such persons.
So, Atiku is an inconsistent politician?
That is inconsistency. In 2023, you want to remove it, in 2027, you say you will bring it back. He is not consistent and Nigerians didn’t really fall for it actually because now that we have removed subsidy, we are refining our oil. Even though it is not government agency or government refinery, but just imagine that there was still subsidy, how would the Dangote Refinery have functioned? It won’t function. But today, most of what we use is refined here. At least, half of it. One day, it might be all of it. We have moved from we have crude, but we cannot refine to we have crude and we are now refining part of what we need and sometimes, export it. Even though it is not a government refinery, but the enabling environment has made it possible. Without the subsidy removal, I don’t think the Dangote Refinery would have succeeded.
Insecurity still pervades the length and breadth of the country. What approach do you think the country can use to reduce the level of insecurity in the country?
I have three options. And number one, number two and number three are the same thing. My brother, we agree that politics is local. The same thing, insecurity is local, development is local, and infrastructure is local. Everything is local. And there is a tier of government called local government. Before the fourth republic, I mean before Obasanjo, you knew how local government functioned. They built schools, they built roads and they tackled security locally. They were in charge. And in this fourth republic and leading into this time until President Tinubu went through the Supreme Court to try and get a legal backing for the autonomy of the local government, the local government had nosedived into ineffectiveness and inefficiency and suffocation. We all know that. So, regarding the solution to the insecurity, I have observed that since the fourth republic, insecurity has been increasing because the local government system has become inefficient and ineffective. It has been suffocative. So, take us back to when the local system was working, when a chairman holds his local government down. He sees his resources, he has access to it with his assembly, his councillors, and they decide what they want to do with it within their locality. Revert to that system. Give Nigeria 24 months and you will not hear of insecurity again. So, what have I just said? The dearth of the local government system is the reason why we are having insecurity till today.
