By Daniel Kanu
Comrade Tanko Yunusa is the national chairman of National Conscience Party (NCP) and was also the presidential candidate of the party in the 2019 election.
Dr Yunusa is also the head, Public Affairs Bureau, National Consultative Front (NCFront), a group of leaders of conscience with burning desire, and seeking to rescue the country from the brink.
Yunusa in this encounter with Sunday Sun spoke on critical national issues, including lifting of ban on Twitter, refusal by President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Bill and real reasons behind the delay, the problem with Nigeria and its solution.
Excerpt.
What is your response to the unbanning of Twitter by the Federal Government?
First of all, let us say that the issue of the return of Twitter has served a lesson to both the country and the Twitter country itself that it is unacceptable to take a country for a ride behaving as if, probably, they don’t have a leader. And then the country itself now realised that the foreign company has used all of their products to milk the country to a point of stupor without giving them any major returns in their name or investment rather they use it to impugn on the integrity of the people. And I think the generality of the people now understand that there is a government in place and it must protect its own territorial area in terms of infringements and others. So both lessons have been learnt from both those who infringe on the right of the people and infringement on the right of the public by the government at the same time, the country in general. So, it is good that we have learnt from this lesson and we are forging ahead to make sure that we secure our country for the interest of the people. So, it is not only the pain suffered which was huge, but I think something was gained also and lessons now learnt.
A lot of presidential candidates are making declarations of their interest to run. Do you see any hope for the country through them?
Quite honestly, for the list of people who have shown interest for the presidential slot, it is very clear to me that there will be a kind of a big battle for the position of the president come 2023. But it now behooves on the Nigerian people to vote for the best candidate they think can lead them. Interestingly, that of Tinubu seems to be a kind of return favour from those who he supported hoping that he will get that particular mileage to be given the opportunity to run for presidency. But it is very important also to look at the last holder of the office who is President Muhammadu Buhari and his age, and his capacity to lead this country and it is obvious that Senator Bola Tinubu almost has the same health challenge. Tinubu is a good material to lead this country, but we need to examine his health position so that we will not suffer the same situation we suffered in the hands of Buhari. In the case of Anyim Pius Anyim, of course, he is trying to play the Igbo agenda which of course they have a complete right to do so. I have also been a supporter of the Igbo extraction to lead this country, but I have also said that it is very important for them to go back home and do a complete research and bring out a candidate that can synergise with their brothers in the North, in the Southwest etc, so that they can be generally accepted to lead this country. Otherwise the person of Pius Anyim may not be generally a popular candidate as the case may be, but only to satisfy the agenda of probably running on ethnicity card, but I know that my brothers in the Southeast have equally other quality persons too who have bridged the gap along the line to be able to run for the presidency. The case of Dave Umahi who defected from the PDP to the APC was more or less like a betrayal of trust of the party which gave him full support, to have left them in their struggle in holding or for a kind of catching the niche for the party in the Southeast is unwise. I didn’t see a reason he could not have run in the same party which he believed in rather than moving to the APC where he will be struggling with the likes of Tinubu, Osinbajo and other candidates that may come up. He would have had a better option in his PDP and he would have probably been having a better chance. But whether they will take Nigeria out of the woods is another thing which should be examined by the Nigerian people to see if they have the capacity to lead the Nigerian people. This election is not about the individual, but the capacity in the individual to lead this country to a greater height, that must be the key issue and then Nigeria will be better for it.
What are some of the things your group NCFront, seem to be doing to give birth to a better or new Nigeria as they have promised Nigerians?
With regards to the National Consultative Front (NCFront), I can authoritatively tell you that we are cruising down on adopting a party that may help Nigerians to have a better alternative from both the PDP and the APC. We have worked so hard in trying to get groups that will come in alliance or a merger and if we get it through we should be announcing the party at the end of January or early February and that will give us, at least, complete one year to campaign or to popularize the party so that we can get it to the grassroots for people to know. Let me say here that for us in NCFront it is about the Nigerian people, what they want, how they want it, when they want it. If they want us to really give them the opportunity that we have been working on for years then this is the time and we are ready. We will only appeal to them to come to play with us and mobilise across party lines to get a new political party on board, perhaps, not entirely new, but rather with a new coalition ideology, that can take us out of the wood. The NCFront has been working very hard, we have been able to talk to a lot of political parties, individuals, technocrats, intellectuals, etc on the need to come together and put away personal ego, but rather to think about the collective interest of the Nigerian people. Ours is just a programme of agenda to save the country, to rescue it from the decay that we found ourselves. We are optimistic that by the time we pronounce the party the Nigerian people will be happy about it and they will be able to accept our modest effort in order to give Nigeria a very good opportunity to redeem itself from the committee of nations and to have good governance in the country where equity, fairness, and justice will reign supreme across the land and security in terms of economic development will be high on our agenda. Also, education and poverty alleviation out of the economic doldrums we found ourselves will be key in the programme of agenda that we have. We want to assure Nigerians that by the time we are on board and we present ourselves, that it is about them, the masses, about the Nigerian youths, about women, about everybody. Those who have the capacity, who want to run for election, should feel free to run under the political party we will be presenting to the people. This will enable us to collectively rescue Nigeria from this mess and decay that we finally found ourselves.
Do you see a bleak 2022 with government’s avowed position to remove subsidy and increase taxation?
It will be a catastrophic mistake on the part of this government and if they try to force their way through on this issue of subsidy it may boomerang. Remember, before this government took over power they joined in the OCCUPYNIGERIA NLC protest to ensure that the issue of subsidy that is milking Nigeria is tackled. It is unfortunate that this government went back on the same issue that it fought against before it came to power in 2015. Let’s look at it critically; the issue of increase of subsidy in this country has affected the economic well-being of the Nigerian people who are already suffering in hunger, the decay in the system of their economic hub. The country has borrowed a lot of money in trillions from outside the country in other to take care some of its needs and so the people are already swimming in abject poverty and to compound their problem with this particular move by the government is simply inhuman and is totally unacceptable. So, we will also join the NLC and all other well-meaning Nigerians who may want to challenge this deceit of the public to make sure that the government jettison this particular idea. And it also shows you that this government is not prepared for leadership and they are trying to leave the country in a very difficult situation because if not, why will one be thinking about how to strangulate the Nigerian people when they are already struggling on how to eat and feed their children and take care of their economic well-being and you are now thinking about removing the subsidy or making life more difficult for them. That is not governance, that is completely inhuman and totally unacceptable. What is the result of all the money that they have been borrowing? To whose advantage? What have they been using it for? We are saying to the government that they should redesign their effort, look for other options, other means of taking care and don’t continue to stiffen the Nigerian people in this particular line. It is totally unacceptable and we will oppose it.
Where exactly, do you locate the problem with Nigeria and what do you see as the solution?
The problem in Nigeria lies in the hand of bad leadership. Our founding fathers were trying to unite us to make sure that everybody was treated equally and fairly and made sure they provide for them. When the next generation took over instead of doing the same or capitalizing on what has already been achieved they tried to look out for their own personal interest as against the collective interest. That is where the problem lies because the people are almost united together, they think about their brother, sister from the Northeast, West and South, but now when you come into the issue of our democracy and all, our people started looking at prebendal politics i.e, it is my own brother, it is my own area, it is my religion etc. if this local government is in power, tomorrow it is another local government and everybody is dragging for their own state. That is not governance. The truth about this is that everybody is supposed to belong to everybody. When you provide social amenities, when you provide, education, economic well-being for the people it is for the interest of everybody. When it is done like that there will be fairness, there will be equity and there will be justice. But by the time you are only concerned about your own personal interest and you put nepotism into the system it creates a lot of problem and that is where the problem lies because people are not considerate by taking care of the entire country. The solution is that we need a leader who will unite the people, who will show clear example, so that the kitchen cabinet is not meant for an Hausa person or a Yoruba person or an Igbo person, Igalla person, Edoma person or any tribe whatsoever, but rather it belongs to every Nigerian. You will feel the pulse of Nigerians where they are eking or hustling, you listen to them, you solve their problems. Look, you may not be able to solve every problem in this country, but you can solve the basic needs of the country. For example, just look at what is happening in the South-South, our brothers and sisters are living on top of houses that are unpresentable and yet they are making so much money from that particular area. What does it take to build homes for these people? Get all those companies there to do it, so that the people will feel comfortable and say, hey come let us share this thing that we have together. But by the time you keep making them look stupid what will you expect from them? They will rise and challenge you. it is the same thing that is happening in the Southeast, you have their roads badly done or even left undone for years. What kind of leadership is that? People are complaining everywhere and as leaders you must listen to the yearnings and aspirations of the people. That is where the solution lies. You must provide concrete solutions rather than this state capture that we have – stealing the country to stupor. Leadership must think outside the box, everywhere that you can find solution, pick people from different parts of the country and carry everybody along. That is the way to go.
What is your take on the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Bill?
With regard to the president not signing the Electoral Act into law, it tells you that the president has just thrown away all of his legacies, all of the things he has believed in. The president benefited from direct primaries and they were even bragging over it that it is what they will win their elections with, now they are giving very flimsy excuses. Democracy is not cheap if you must get good and credible governance. All the excuses that were mentioned for not signing it I think is totally unacceptable and he needs to re-address all those issues because he is putting this country in a democratic danger. INEC has come out to say that even if it is signed into law today, it may be useless and what does it take? It is appalling to come to terms with the fact that in Nigeria every time we are trying to do something good, we will go through the rigorous ways until when we go to the streets and shout and cry before they could listen to us. Mr. President has done a lot of damage with regard to the issue, rigmaroling, asking people for suggestion which he and the National Assembly ought to have done. Don’t the President has a Laison officer to let the National Assembly know what they want to be changed and they sit and iron it out rather than this show of shame that we are witnessing. It seems to me a gimmick in order to distort the idea of having electronic transmitted result because they don’t want it. They have perfected rigging and that is what many of the governors are experts in at the detriment of the people. Anybody who attempts to rig election in 2023 will have himself to blame because the Nigerian people will rise up in their millions to challenge any of such attempt.
The delay is a threat to the 2023 general elections.
The people want direct primary who are you to stop them? You are in a position of power today, one day you will be out and nemesis will catch up with you. The president should be advised to redeem his image in this regard. People fought for this democracy and some paid with their life.