President, Center for Human and Socio-Economic Rights
By Sunday Ani
The President of the Center for Human and Socio-Economic Rights (CHRS), Alex Omotehinse in this interview, berates the government for only making promises to Nigerians without any concrete action, especially in the issue of palliatives over fuel subsidy removal, among other issues.
After the removal of fuel subsidy, the Federal Government promised to provide palliatives for the masses. How will you react to what has been happening since then?
We are tired of the promise of the government. The government promised that the refineries would work in September 2022, later it was changed to December. We’ve listened to several promises and they know that this is the only way they can deceive the electorate. If the government means well, their actions would speak louder than words. They don’t need to tell us that the refineries would work; what the people want to hear is that the Warri, Port-Harcourt and Kaduna refineries have commenced work and have started production.
From day one, we knew that this idea of fuel subsidy was deceitful. They used to say that subsidy is a scam; if subsidy was a scam, which subsidy did they remove? After the removal of the subsidy, they said they would provide palliatives; it is just only on paper. We haven’t seen those who have benefitted from that. The few we have seen were the ones on paper like the one done by the governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, which he did for his people.
Then the governor of Lagos State removed 50 per cent of the transportation fare on Lagos Mass Transit. Later, after three months or so, he returned it. What we want is action and not promises. We want Nigeria to be transformed. When you see a path to greatness, you can easily identify it, but we haven’t seen that yet. This is the sixth month Mr. President has been in office and he cannot point to any project that he has done. What he keeps talking about are the faults of the previous government.
Once you inherit an asset, you must inherit the liability too. You have seen the lapses of the last administration, which was why you presented yourself for election. So, what Nigerians expect is for you to do your bit. Nobody can finish the work, and governance is a continuum. What we want is what you have done differently from the last administration and what you have achieved so far because we have reached a level where we’re using this government to praise the past administration.
During the time of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, before they got to power, they usually had their plans and programmes. They had their projects and once they got into office they would start the execution. You must have the projects you want to do before you get to the office and once you get to the office, you should start the execution. You must have prepared yourself ahead of the challenges. Now, what we see is borrowing and going to the National Assembly to approve loans. This is not what we want, we want execution.
As I said, the Awolowos had projects before they got to power, which was why they were able to do appreciable projects in their time. These people are not prepared. The people in governments we’ve heard since 1999 were not prepared for office, they just wanted their names to be part of those who have governed the country.
On subsidy, there was a time when the Federal Government gave some money to the state governments as palliatives to the masses and they said they would do some transfer of money to the poor masses…
Between you and I, ever since they started the palliatives, are you not aware that it is for “man-know-man.” They give them to party leaders who submit the names of their loyalists. On the N30,000 transfer, maybe you have received yours. It’s a deceit and they are deceitful. How many governors have given accounts of the money they collected?
They get allocations, they borrow money to do projects but at the end of the day, nobody gets anything. They might have transferred the money to their cronies, allies and loyalists, but I have not seen anybody in my constituency who is poor that benefited from their so-called transfer of money for subsidy removal.
Let’s look at the judiciary; some people are saying it has been compromised based on some recent judgements over the governorship elections and others. What is your view on that?
I don’t want to say much about the judiciary. What I know is that when a case doesn’t favour you, you will say the judge is partial or someone has paid him. When it favours you, the judge is good and the judiciary is the best. But my advice goes to the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to take a critical look at all judgments and to take it as a point of urgency that judges shouldn’t allow the judiciary to be dragged into political war in the country.
If the legislature has failed us, and the executive is nothing to write home about, then the judiciary is where our hope lies. They shouldn’t allow themselves to be dragged into political matters. The judiciary should stand out, if the Appeal Court gives judgement, you can approach the Supreme Court, but the issue is that the judiciary should maintain its standard of neutrality. The judges and magistrates shouldn’t be partisan. They should give their judgments based on the position of the laws and the rule of law.
What would be your assessment of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the three off-cycle elections that were held in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo states recently?
Don’t let us deceive ourselves, under this system of government. We cannot have free, credible and fair elections because the electoral system has been monetised. It has become a game of the highest bidder, so they cannot conduct free and fair elections. They believe that you can do whatever you can do and whoever is not satisfied can go to court. What they’re telling us is that you can steal ballot boxes and when you win anyhow, people should go to court.
The only way we can have free and fair elections is when those who commit electoral offences are brought to book, prosecuted and convicted. In broad daylight, you see people using weapons. This is a country where unlicensed guns are legalised. People would come to the polling units, snatch ballot boxes and walk away. We should also make our police go to polling units armed. These criminals do these things because they know that the officers there are unarmed.
Policemen only go to polling units in Nigeria with batons. Then this issue of electronic voting that we want to adopt in Nigeria, so that people can vote outside the country is another way of encouraging massive rigging. Our system of election is the best all over the world; ‘operation show your face.’ I would have appealed that we should go back to Option A4 which reduces corruption in elections because you would not have any opportunity to collect money from different candidates.
So, let us start to prosecute electoral offenders. It is because those who do it go free that they keep encouraging the mercenaries that politicians use to hijack ballot boxes. As a youth, you hijack ballot boxes for politicians whose families are not in Nigeria and you would not have access to them until they need you for another hatchet job. Nigerian youths should see themselves as leaders and know that this country belongs to all of us.
Good things can come to Nigeria if the people are ready. People believe in running away from Nigeria and when they go abroad, you only see them when they spend money, but they go through hell there. The only thing is that you are paid for the job done there and their currency is different because they have bastardised our Naira such that one thousand dollars is about one million naira. So, you see people going abroad and living in a cruel atmosphere.
I watched a documentary where people are living in cemeteries in Canada. We should take Nigeria back from people who have nothing to offer. Every element that parades him or herself as a leader today has nothing to offer the people. This is not the democracy we fought for. This is not why the people sent away the military. They made some of us regret sending the military away because what the military did to us is not as bad as this.
Even though the military stole our money, you can still point to what they did. It was during their time that the Third Mainland Bridge was built. Aso Rock in Abuja was also built by the military. These people only came to steal our money and they brought the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to cajole us that they will fight corruption. How many people have been prosecuted within the political circle by the commission?