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The Federal Government has been advised to take urgent measures to protect the offices and facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across the country in view of the recent attacks on some of the commission’s offices in some parts of the country.
Giving the advice in an interview with TUNDE THOMAS, a former presidential candidate on the platform of the National Conscience Party (NCP) Mr Martin Onovo noted that the attacks constitute a serious danger to the 2023 general elections. He also spoke on other national issues.
What’s your take on the present state of insecurity in the country which has become a source of national concern with the killings and abductions of people in different parts of the country?
The present state of insecurity in the country is not only alarming but also very frightening. It has never been this bad. The present situation is unprecedented. This precarious situation we found ourselves in is a result of several unpatriotic inclinations, inactions and actions of both the ruling party and the Federal Government. Some of the factors responsible for the present insecurity include corruption, the importation of Fulani terrorists, and the demotivation of security officials. Some unscrupulous security officials are also colluding with some terrorists to make life difficult for Nigerians. Many eminent Nigerians have also spoken in this regard as they’ve declared on several occasions that these terrorists have insiders working with them among our security agencies.
Nigerians must also not forget the confession by a former Minister, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who revealed that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) imported terrorists into the country in 2015 out of desperation to win that year’s general elections, and since that time the problem of insecurity has continued to linger in the country. The present insecurity is a big problem for this nation, and the ruling party must be blamed for the development because of the selfishness of some members of the party who were desperate way back in 2015 to ensure that APC defeated the then-ruling PDP by all means.
It is very clear that insecurity is growing in Nigeria because the ruling party and the government are complicit. APC’s desperation to get political power by all means in 2015 played a key role in the insecurity we are having in the country today. The party promised Nigerians change, but sadly the change that Nigerians have been experiencing since 2015 was not what they bargained for. It has been tales of hardship, poverty and suffering for the people.
What can the Federal Government do to find a lasting solution to insecurity ravaging the country?
The Federal Government should demonstrate more seriousness in the fight against insurgency. There is also the need to promote public morality among those in authority. They should show a good example in leadership, and then strengthen the security agencies to confront all outlaws. Security agencies should be provided with sophisticated weapons to confront the bandits. Nigerians don’t deserve what they are going through at the hands of these terrorists. It is an unfortunate situation that must be addressed with all attention it deserves. It is sad that today that Nigerians are being turned into hostages in their own country as a result of terrorism. Killings and abductions of innocent Nigerians have become a daily affair. Nobody is safe again. Life has become hellish for Nigerians.
Why is terrorism, banditry thriving under a retired General?
They are thriving under Buhari because his political party, like I said earlier, in 2015, out of desperation to win that year’s general elections brought some terrorists into the country, and since then, they have been here with us. APC should be held responsible for the present insecurity ravaging the country, and this is why the problem has continued to get worse under the President.
With the general elections fast approaching, some eminent Nigerians, including the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu have expressed concerns that insecurity may threaten or jeopardise the 2023 polls. What’s your stand on that?
Definitely, insecurity threatens the 2023 general elections. According to INEC, they have suffered about 50 attacks in the last four years. In these attacks, they lose personnel, equipment, materials and offices. A major loss of personnel, equipment, materials, and offices will definitely jeopardise the elections. They have to tighten security around INEC facilities across the country ahead of the general elections so that these attacks will not become a serious threat to the polls.
What’s your assessment of INEC’s preparations for the elections? Are you confident they will perform creditably during the polls?
INEC claims to be prepared, but does INEC have the credibility to make us believe its claims? Also, does INEC have the integrity required to conduct free and fair elections? Starting with the First Republic, all elections for the political leadership of Nigeria have been rigged. We have the confessions of Mr Harold Smith, a former colonial officer, and the records at Oxford University’s Institute for African studies to confirm that the elections of the First Republic were rigged. Recently, we have also seen voter suppression in the mostly Christian South and registration of underage voters in Northern Nigeria. The major challenges in the conduct of the elections are the fears of partisanship of INEC leadership, and lack of sincerity of purpose in the INEC leadership. INEC, as currently constituted, is the greatest threat to democracy in Nigeria. INEC has violated many of its own rules for free and fair elections. INEC has registered underage voters, tolerated the violation of election finance limits, tolerated perjury and forgery by the ruling party, and also allowed underage voters, among a host of others. INEC has falsified election results in the past. INEC has no credibility. INEC refused to release a certified copy of the nomination form of the presidential candidate of the ruling party until it was forced to do so by a court. INEC lacks integrity and no system can work effectively without integrity. How can we believe the same INEC under its current Chairman? INEC deceived the entire country with its Electronic Collation Manual and Electronic Card Readers in 2019 only to bypass them in Northern Nigeria. When the election results were challenged, INEC denied the opposition access to its server to concealed the evidence of the massive rigging of the 2019 presidential election. The same INEC claimed it accredited over nine hundred thousand voters in Boko Haram-infested Borno State alone, and this is the same Borno State that the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo said was largely inaccessible due to Islamic terrorism. INEC has no credibility. To surmount these challenges, INEC must follow the paths of the highest integrity and show unhindered transparency.
Campaigns have been going on in different parts of the country, what’s your assessment of the leading candidates? Have they been addressing issues?
From my assessment so far, it is the Labour Party’s candidate, Mr Peter Obi’s campaigns that have been promising. He has been addressing issues, promising to turn Nigeria around if he is elected as the nation’s next President. But apart from this, all the opinion polls, local and foreign confirm that Labour Party is leading by a very wide margin in the presidential election. Even the national opinion poll of rural voters has confirmed that the Labour party leads not only in urban areas but also in rural areas. Nigerians are angry with the ruling APC and PDP. They believed that the two parties are responsible for the country’s present socio-economic predicament.
The presidential candidates of the two parties to me are also political liabilities to the nation. Bola Tinubu of the APC is running on a controversial irregular Muslim-Muslim ticket. Not only that, he is too old, and also have some allegations bordering on probity levelled against him. For PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, he violated his party’s principle of power rotation and has several allegations of corruption against him in Nigeria and other countries.
Labour Party’s campaigns have been very impressive because Nigerians are yearning for a genuine change, different from the fake one that the ruling APC has foisted on them and Labour party leaders in their speeches have been promising them that genuine change. Apart from this, the Labour Party also has the public support of organized labour, which has almost 20 million members and associated workers.
This is why it is not surprising that many eminent Nigerians including former President Olusegun Obasanjo have been endorsing the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Obasanjo is not only a leading statesman in Africa, but he is also an experienced and prudent leader who is very patriotic, and to me, his endorsement of Obi is outstanding.
I agree with Obasanjo on his endorsement of Obi, and his reasons for picking Obi as the right man for the job. Based on integrity, vision, competence, mental strength, and medical fitness, Obi is the best on all these counts. If we want to experience a genuinely new order, I believe that it is Obi that can offer that. It is only he out of the other leading presidential candidates that can bring a genuinely new order to the country. Obi is not tainted by any allegation of corruption, and we are not aware of any formal complaints of such against him, unlike some other leading candidates. If we want Nigeria to move forward, we should support Obi to emerge as the next President. There is no difference between APC and PDP. The two parties are responsible for the present rot in the country. A vote for either of the two parties would mean a prolongation of suffering for Nigerians. It would mean Nigeria being plunged into total darkness. Nigerians should reject the two parties, and their presidential candidates because nothing good will come out of it.
Can Nigerians vote for another Northerner after Buhari’s eight years in office? What would that portend for Nigeria’s unity?
Power rotation is a national standard. It is in the 1995 late Gen. Sani Abacha draft Constitution. It is in the Constitution of the former ruling party, PDP. Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State also in several interviews insisted that the current ruling party also agreed on it, that power should rotate between the North and the South. Therefore, Nigerians will not want another Northerner after Buhari. However, if that is imposed, it will be tantamount to brazen domination and the consequences may be disastrous. Many prominent Nigerians, including traditional rulers have also spoken against it. Southern Governors have also insisted on power rotation. It is not in Nigeria’s interest to have another Northerner succeeding Buhari. If it happens, it will have consequences for the country.
How would you react to the revelation by the Debt Management Office that the incoming administration will inherit a debt of N77 trillion from the present government?
We are not surprised. The reckless and unpatriotic borrowing by the Buhari government has consequences. It is a big burden not only on the incoming administration but also on Nigerians, and it is very unfortunate that Nigerians have to suffer for APC’s incompetence and maladministration. Nigerians were warned, they were told to be wary of APC, and here we are now. If Nigerians have heeded that advice from many prominent people and groups, we would have been saved from this embarrassing situation. But we failed to heed the warnings, and we must now accept the consequences of our complacency. Since we now have this embarrassing situation on our hands, it is left for the incoming administration to fashion out how to deal with the issue, and this is why we are urging Nigerians to vote right this time around. APC has failed Nigerians. We need a new order to transform this country.
