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By Dickson Okafor
Barely one week after the commencement of the 2027 presidential campaign, National Coordinator, Take Back Nigeria Initiative (TBNI), Abumchukwu Okoye, a lawyer, has literally written off Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi, the presidential standard bearers of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), respectively.
Okoye argues that the duo of Atiku and Obi would not cause a ripple in the political tea cup of President Bola Tinubu in the forthcoming election, stating that Nigerians will witness a repeat of the 2023 presidential election result.
In this interview, he speaks on this and other national issues.
The 2027 Presidential election campaigns have started. What are your general impressions of the three leading candidates?
The three leading candidates (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (APC), Atiku Abubakar (ADC) and Peter Obi (NDC) are the same three presidential candidates that we saw in the 2023 election. On this score, we will get a repeat of the 2023 presidential election results in 2027. Atiku was one of the key political figures and former Vice President that formed APC in 2015 with the primary objective to unseat former President Goodluck Jonathan. And because he could not secure the presidential ticket of APC in 2019, he defected back to his original political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and contested with Peter Obi as his running mate against late President Muhammadu Buhari and they lost. Then in 2023, because Atiku was and still desperate to become President, he ‘chanced’ competent Southerners who were supposed to run against the then APC presidential candidate as both APC and PDP zoned the Presidency to the south. Atiku ran on the platform of the PDP and lost again. Now the same Atiku who ran against both Tinubu and Peter Obi is running against them again, so what do you expect? Of course, the outcome will be what happened in 2023.
On the part of Peter Obi, he is faster than his steps. He forgot that nobody has ever won the Presidency of Nigeria by being popular, but by being anointed and not casting of votes. Again, with the ongoing agitation for Biafra by Igbo, it will be impossible for the North to trust Igbo with the Presidency for now. Hence it will be like inviting a man to sleep with your wife. Granted that Peter Obi promised to serve just one term, the average Northerner cannot take that to the bank. They cannot trust Obi with the Presidency for now while Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is still in prison. Some Ndigbo may say I’m talking nonsense, but true Igbo will understand what I’m saying. Since 1960, the Nigerian Presidency has always been entrusted and has never been won by the will of the people. President Bola Tinubu was and will still be politically rewarded again by the North, and especially the Fulani for supporting Buhari to become President in 2015 and 2019. Therefore, the coast is clear for the re-election of President Tinubu in 2027.
The deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals is 2030, just three years away. As a person fully invested in national socio-economic growth how do you feel when you look at the situation of Nigeria?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set by the United Nations in 2015 to serve as a universal blueprint to end extreme poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all people by 2030. The key reasons for its formation are to succeed past efforts of similar organizations. They replaced the 2000 -2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Unfortunately, we only hear about the activities related to the Sustainable Development Goals on the pages of newspapers or during documentaries on television. Nothing on ground shows the huge amount spent on poverty alleviation. For instance, we had Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) introduced by President Olusegun Obasanjo as Head of state in 1979 and Green Revolution initiated by President Shehu Shagari. Also, the former Governor of Lagos State, late Lateef Jakande built housing estates for low income earners in the state which became known as Jakande Estates across the state. We also have an estate in Imo State constructed by the late Chief Sam Mbakwe when he was the governor of Imo State known as World Bank Estate. So, we only hear billions of naira being spent by the Federal Government on poverty alleviation without results. In the area of environmental degradation and inequality, there is nothing to write home about which is the reason Lagos State Government has reintroduced environmental sanitation every last Saturday of the month. So, as we approach 2030 I’m hopeful that with the improvement in the economy by this government the economic situation in Nigeria will be better.
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In 2014, the APC declared the 16 years of PDP’s leadership of the nation’s political economy a woeful failure. What is your overall assessment of the APC years in socio-economic management of the country from 2015 till date?
Under the immediate past administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, the North especially the Fulani came for state capture and they really captured and caged Nigerians and the economy with the threat of insecurity through Boko Haram, bandits and terrorism. Right now under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s small and medium enterprises have started to gain ground through economic reform policies of the government. Youth unemployment has remained a great challenge not only to this government, even previous administrations established agencies and organizations that could create an enabling environment for job creation, yet, the majority of Nigerian youths are unemployed. So, I have confidence that President Tinubu with his economic policy if re-elected will create more private establishments that will in return engage the majority of our youths.
President Tinubu said the goal of his administration is to make a 1 trillion dollar economy. Does this intention agree with the situation of the power sector?
The United States government through her Energy Information Administration has hailed Dangote Refinery as Nigeria’s Petroleum exports surge sevenfold. According to the report, Nigeria’s seaborne petroleum product export has risen sevenfold since 2023, driven largely by increased output from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery. This placed Nigeria high in the oil export map. And that is the reason President Tinubu is sure of attaining the US 1 trillion dollar economy in the next five years with the ongoing economic reforms going by the recent assurance that Nigeria targets 80 percent electricity access in its five-years plan to power industrial growth if re-elected.
In the Osun governorship election, the people defended their votes. On a national scale, do you think Nigerians are really ready to do the same to birth a new order?
I’m not excited when you talk about change of government because we bought into the idea of change in 2015. What Nigerians are concerned about now is how to overcome hunger, hardship and food shortage in Nigeria and not how to change the present government. Rather, they are more interested in how to stop incessant killings of innocent Nigerians by terrorists, abduction and killing of farmers in the Northern part of the country by the Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram especially in Benue State. It is unfortunate that instead of talking about solutions, we are talking about change of government.
The Benin bypass is a significant point of the Sagamu-Benin Expressway that is very strategic to South-South and South-East. What can you say about the state of the bypass today?
It is unfortunate that every year, especially during the rainy season passengers get stranded because of the bad condition of the Benin bypass. The Minister Works, Sen. Dave Umahi should as a matter of urgency do the needful by fixing those roads.
