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By Daniel Kanu
Dr Bolaji O. Akinyemi, a public affairs analyst and advocate of good governance, is the convener, Apostolic Round Table (ART) and chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Project Victory Call Initiative, aka PVC Naija.
In this chat, he speaks on President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State, the decimation of democracy tenets, implication of Nasir el-Rufai’s entrance to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), among other critical issues. Excerpt:
There are mixed reactions by Nigerians on the recent declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu. What is your take on the development?
I will see it simply the way President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would have seen it, if he is not the president. Let me quote him, “Clearly a display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2015”. That is from his statement entitled: “Jonathan bares his fangs’, in which he described the move as an attempt to “subvert constitutional democracy”. He further said: “Jonathan has intimidated and emasculated the governors of those states”. That was in 2013, when the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, even though President Jonathan did not suspend the sitting governors at that time. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, leader of the newly formed opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC), described it as “an overreach of federal power!” Nigerians are naive. The majority do not know how democracy functions. Uptil APC got to power, Tinubu was the leader of the opposition in this country and he gave his best to the job, probably the best opposition in the history of democracy on the shores of Africa. My understanding of the dynamics of democracy and the role of the opposition is the reason I challenged him over the viral video he made in 2020 to instigate Edolites not to vote for Obaseki. It was based on a wrong claim to the leadership of all democrats in the country! Now, we know that we are in a democracy without democrats, according to Babafemi Ojodu. Democrats or not, Tinubu is no longer one of us! Democracy designed the Executive to be balanced by the Legislative arm and the Judiciary. Meaning, it is not in the assumption of the creator of the system that the Executive would do the right thing! The fatal consequence of the state of emergency in Rivers State is not just that the president was wrong; it is that we are in a conspiratorial state where the legislative arm, the 109 representing 250 million people, according to Distinguished Senator Ade Fadahunsi. The conduct of the National Assembly confirmed his assertion that the representatives of the people may not know who they are and where they were! It was their responsibility to check the recklessness of power, but then they stood on their words to stand on the mandate of President Bola Tinubu, even if it is against the nation and the people! We are left with approaching the Judiciary over the matter, but we know they are hands deep in the same bowl of soup with the Executive. The only thing left is for the people to rise in defence of democracy “as a government of the people, by the people, for the people!” This is not Tinubu’s government; it is ours and we need to take it back and own it, before it is too late!
Would you agree with a cross section of Nigerians that the president’s action was one-sided, tilting more against Governor Siminalayi Fubara as it did not mention Nyesom Wike, who is believed to be behind the crisis in Rivers State?
My view is informed by the President’s communication. The Bible says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. The president admitted there were parties to the crisis! Meaning: more than one person, or a group. Who are they? Why the silence of Mr President on the other parties? Why the consistent and continuous repetition of Siminalayi Fubara? I will conclude based on the information provided by Mr President in 2013, when the governors of the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa were not suspended. This is clearly a display of “unpardonable mediocrity” and “diabolic partisanship” geared towards 2027; an overreach of federal power to intimidate and emasculate elected officials! Have you noticed that there was an escalated political crisis in the PDP controlled state of Osun where unlike Rivers, there were casualties? Some members of the APC in Osun have started calling on the president to declare a state of emergency in the state that houses the president’s alleged ancestral home; Iragbiji! Osun may follow Rivers if nothing is done!
In your view, would you say President Tinubu exhausted his intervention powers for peaceful resolution of the Rivers crisis before the declaration of state of emergency?
The crisis in Rivers was more between two politicians who were members of the same political party. The stay put mission of Mr Nyesome Wike in PDP is already known to the public. It is a paid mission to see the destruction of the party by his (Wike’s) paymasters, President Tinubu and the APC. It was in no way a state matter. Though, it impacted on the affairs of the state in one way or the other. PDP’s conduct was irresponsible. Wike should have been gotten rid off before this last escalation. A new membership registration would have laid the manipulation of the judiciary to the grave. Over members of the House of Assembly, the register would have provided the evidence that they were no longer members of the party. The crisis was political and PDP failed to rise up to it. Tinubu would be stupid to let them be in peace or achieve peace. PDP since 1999 in Lagos has never known peace. That is the political template of Asiwaju. Jandon, many believe, was a mole in PDP Lagos. Latest event is proving it.
Would you say the president’s action would restore peace between the warring factions within six months of the emergency duration?
The president has the capacity to stop the crisis the day before the crisis, if he wanted to. Six months is both long and short depending on what the intention of the president is. Wike has a reason to be afraid, though he is still the Minister of the FCT. But the declaration of a state of emergency while House of Assembly members loyal to him had begun the impeachment process of Fubara should speak to the working of the mind of the president. Neither Wike, nor Fubara is in charge of the state at this moment. I think Fubara owes Mr President a token of appreciation for saving him from impeachment. The game is left to him. He cannot afford not to play the president’s card. Though many people have been asking him to go to court, my question is: which court? The one kowtowing to the Executive or another?
Former Governor Nasir el-Rufai, an erstwhile APC frontliner, recently defected from the ruling party to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a smaller party. How do you see the development?
There is nothing special about it. El-Rufai is a politician whose relevance in the polity has been subjugated. A master strategist though, Tinubu is a man living his life-long ambition. He cannot afford to live the next day without power. He is too daring to be challenged in the way Jonathan was. It will be a fatal political war that will leave behind many casualties. And our hope in the judiciary and the legislature is lost. He is like a CNG powered trailer, whose brakes (the judiciary and legislature) have failed. You remember what happened in Karu recently? We live at the risk of a fatal political accident.
Would you say that El-Rufai has enough clout to draw enough political strength to the SDP that can overwhelm Tinubu and the APC machine in the 2027 elections?
El-Rufai like I said is a strategist, a hard working man of ideas. But no one who is a Christian in this country should tolerate his bigotry, nor should any member of ethnic minority nationalities accept this political fellowship. Where does that leave the SDP? Moreover, I have said it before and I say it again, political alliance is no solution to a man whose whims and caprices the National Assembly is dancing to and a man the Judiciary’s orchestra is playing his notes and all government institutions are dancing to; INEC, all security agencies, just name it. The only hope of changing this government is through a people’s revolution, it is sad, but that’s the reality.
What is your take on the recent cancellation of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of Wadata House, the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike?
A reflection of their irresponsibility. That a political party that was in power for several years with all the looting that took place did not fulfill their obligations to occupancy of their land allocation is sad. I will describe it with a Yoruba adage, ‘eni ti won fe sun je, ti o nfi epo ra ara, lo tun joko si egbe aro’, meaning, ‘a man they are plotting how to roast and eat, that rubbed himself all over with oil and then sits beside fire.’ What does that suggest? He has made the job easier for the plotter. Just a push into the fire and the meat is ready.
How do you see the recent appointment of the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese, the outspoken and popular Bishop Mathew Kukah by President Bola Tinubu as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council, Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, Kaduna? Do you think the appointment will silence the firebrand, outspoken cleric?
I was a founding member of a body, though I am less active in its activities now, but I must commend their efforts at pushing through a petition to the Trump-led American Government on the killings of Christians in Northern Nigeria. Followed by an appearance of the Bishop of Makurdi before the Senate on the same issue. This government needs an image laundering approach. For which we saw the visit of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria to visit Mr President. That is statecraft, speaking loudly on an issue without saying a word. A strategic neutralisation of what is coming from America. The appointment of Kukah is the consolidation of the Tinubu-led government in that regard. It is a multi-faceted political solution. What do I mean? Kukah represents two groups in Nigeria, the persecuted Northern Christians and the Southern Kaduna, Bakulu (Ikulu) ethnic nationality confronting the genocidal venture of the Fulani herdsmen from which El-Rufai cannot be dissociated. Kukah’s appointment is a step in the right direction. A very competent person with capacity. His homily at Easter and Christmas for many years has been a salvo very well targeted at the government. He, therefore, has the responsibility to separate his ministry as a priest from the call to this duty. The integrity that hallmarks his life, this assignment will put to test. He must not stop speaking as a priest. Many like me are looking forward to his Easter homily.
