By Daniel Kanu
Alhaji Yerima Shetimma, national president, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), has advised Nigerians to be sensitive and cautious while assessing the eight-month old President Bola Tinubu administration.
In this encounter with Sunday Sun, he speaks on the Tinubu Presidency, as well as the incarceration of the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
He also spoke on former President Muhammadu Buhari’s apology over harsh policies, among others. Excerpts:
How will you assess President Bola Tinubu’s tenure so far?
Well, the tenure which I think is gradually getting to eight months, cannot be said to be too short or long for an assessment, but my thinking is that we may quite be in a hurry given the situation we found ourselves as a country particularly given the situation that we witnessed before this government came into power. So many things were unraveled, so many things happened before the arrival of President Tinubu’s government. So, I think that one will be quick in a hurry to preempt anything. Already, there is a crisis, huge one that was inherited, we need to be a bit sensitive when assessing. The last government did not do well at all and we are still suffering from the hangover. This government inherited a lot of problems, security-wise, economic-wise , in so many sectors. So, it may be out of place if we just put the government on the hot seat without looking at certain considerations. We cannot say they have done enough, but we expect them to come out with a good plan and ensure they work-out the plan. But so far, so commendable on the side of the government, despite the hiccups. They have come out with their roadmap, so I urge Nigerians that we should be a bit patient and give them few months before we can begin to react. We are not going to get a good or an objective assessment now. I am not saying that the time they have been in office is too short for an assessment, no, but the circumstances from which they emerged should not be ignored. Nigerians know that there is a problem and the government, I assume also know the daunting task before them. So, let’s wait, maybe for three more months.
Former President, Muhammadu Buhari recently apologised to Nigerians for forgiveness over some of the policy decisions that he took which were perceived harsh. How will you react to this?
Well, for me, most of the mistakes were in the misappropriation of funds by ministers and cabinet members and other members that served in his government. Is he saying that they should be forgiven or about his failure to monitor them closely allowing them to take advantage of Nigerians and inflicting their wickedness on Nigerians? If he is saying that he was careless or cared less or carefree about what they were doing, no problem, but whether they were supposed to go unpunished the answer is no. They must account for their stewardship in the period in office and those found guilty to return whatever they stole because that money does not belong to any of them, it belongs to Nigeria, and it was at the detriment of the collective interest of over 200 million Nigerians. Nigerians were dying on a daily basis and life didn’t matter again to them. They cannot be forgiven, unless they account for their stewardship. What of the lives that were lost because of those harsh decisions?
You are talking of accountability and the need for leaders to account for their stewardship. At the moment, President Tinubu has suspended some public officials including a minister. Do you think it’s a good signal…?
(Cuts in) I think, he is just demonstrating that he is not going to do like the last administration. He has demonstrated that it is not going to be like the administration of President Buhari who will give you assignment or appointment for eight years without monitoring you, not wanting to know how far you are carrying the assignment out. He is one man that will give you responsibility and will never come back to supervise, or ask you how far so that you can give account of what you did. A lot of people in his government took advantage of that weakness to drain the country. But the case of Tinubu is tit-for-tat, he will give you the job and monitor what you are doing or how you are carrying out the job. I think we should encourage him more on this monitoring so as to make the appointed ones to sit up and do the work. Anybody he found wanting should be dealt with decisively. He should continue to kick out those that cannot deliver as many times as possible. If you don’t remove those who are not performing, you cannot get those that will stand on top competence, the round pegs in round holes.
The insecurity, banditry, terrorists and more criminals have resurfaced against the expectation of Nigerians that with the Tinubu presidency those vices should have been rooted out or reduced to insignificant level. How will you react to this?
Like I said earlier, we have had it bad, especially in the Northern part of the country on the issue of insecurity. But don’t let us forget that it is the same President Buhari security challenge misadventure that is still hitting hard and despite the re-arrangement in the hierarchy, we still expect that government should re-tool some of these characters on board. Anybody who is given responsibility who has not done well should be fired. Let those who are not performing be shown the way out. So that at the end of the day we get the best cream of individuals who will perform. No institution is as strong as the government in the world so you can achieve all that you want to achieve as a government if you are serious, focused, and visionary. If you don’t sack those who are not performing there will be no opportunity for those that can do the job and do it satisfactorily for the benefit of all. If the government is determined and willing they will achieve what they want to achieve and with the support of Nigerians, they will do what they map out to do. The Service Chiefs, I think, are trying, and from what we hear the body language of the Minister of Defence for State is good, the former governor of Zamfara State, Matawale, so all they need is more motivation, more encouragement.
Don’t you think that there should have been an improvement in the economy more than we are witnessing it now because Nigerians seem to be sinking deeper with hunger in the land?
As I said I wouldn’t want to put all the economic blame on this government at the moment. We all know what we came out from, but the body language of Mr. President has shown that all is not well and I don’t think we will expect him in just less than one year, with all the baggage inherited, troubles, protests, insecurity etc, so it will take sometime to get back to rhythm. Of course, from where we are coming from and from what is on ground we may not expect the hunger to just vanish. But I am believing from what I see so far, not that I am speaking for the government, but this administration will be far better than the government of Buhari. Let’s just be patient and see what the Tinubu government will unfold in translating promises to action. The government has promised to make sacrifices and you can see that the presidency has started by downsizing his entourage when travelling on foreign trips and things like that. Even the governors have started cutting down and I say let the sacrifice be all-inclusive. Let it touch other arms of government too. Let it touch the National Assembly too. But with the body language of the National Assembly, I don’t think that they are prepared for the sacrifice, but if they don’t, Nigerians are prepared to organize a mass protest against them. Let us give them benefit of the doubt, that they inherited huge baggage.
Some critics say that the trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele is becoming a witch-hunt, a vendetta. Do you share in such view?
Instead of getting him prosecuted the rituals around the entire issue is no longer getting funny. He was not the only person who committed crime under the Buhari presidency. We have the former Minister of Aviation; we have the woman in the Humanitarian Ministry who I learnt is now under fire too. We have a lot of former ministers who bastardised their office, but are still walking around free. Putting everything on Emefiele is not good, even though I don’t like him. What I am saying is that Emefiele is not alone, let them give him fair hearing. They should not be behaving as people doing everything possible to rope him for destruction. For God’s sake, this is democracy, let the court decide his case with justice and fairness and without unnecessary hindrance. If he is found wanting, he is not above the law, but the way they are approaching, and handling the issue is quite disturbing as if they want to put him in prison by all means.
Do you think that our off-season elections have in any way been better in its outcome, especially in terms of election malpractices, rigging, violence etc. Were you satisfied with our last off-circle election?
Whether we like it or not the latest ruling by the Supreme Court had actually vindicated that the election was free and fair to a huge extent. If you look at the last five ruling, the ruling apart from what the Appeal Court did in some areas vindicated INEC under Prof Yakubu, that they did well. So, we must commend the INEC for such feat, we must commend its leadership because leadership must demonstrate sincerity to make such achievement. If we realise that Prof Yakubu has done well, we must commend him rather than the all-condemnation in many quarters. But in all, our elections need to get better as there are still areas or issues to be adequately tackled by the stakeholders.