From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yusuf Dantalle, has appealed to Nigerians to give President Bola Tinubu at least one year to settle down, stating that it was too early for the citizens to score the president now. Dantalle, who doubles as the National Chairman of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), dispelled claims that IPAC is a stooge to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), clarifying the Council only plays an advisory role.
He also clarified that there was no crisis among members of the council, but noted that the former Chairman, Yabaji Sani, had tried to elongate his tenure which was resisted.
In this interview, he also said that for insecurity to be addressed, the government must invest heavily in capital development and create jobs for the masses in a bid to distract them from involving in unholy ventures. Except:
Last year, you were elected as chairman of IPAC. What has happened given the flurry of petitions, against your swearing in?
There is no problem in IPAC. Everybody has a way of managing discontent or disagreement. It is just one man that is creating the problem. Before the election, you journalists were around to witness the illegal process of one man who was trying to elongate his tenure through the backdoor. It was resisted by so many party leaders. And I think it is that same script that was playing out. Okay, after that, you all witnessed the transparent nature of the election. And then he congratulated me, accepted defeat and praised the whole process of democracy in action. So suddenly, there is a U-turn, and we just saw it. We did not even know that there was any matter in court in the first place. Ironically, this is the same man that the Electoral Committee was set up under him. So, the same appeal committee that is supposed to handle any discontent from the election was settled by the same Y.Y Sani. So, it is funny for you not to have confidence in the same system that you set up. He was the chairman and now he has boycotted the Appeal Committee. This has never happened in IPAC. But it is not a problem. IPAC is bigger than all of us, both his party and my party, the Council is bigger than all of us. We are on top of the situation. There is no problem IPAC. It is just a mere distraction.
When will you be sworn in?
You see, when you say sworn in, there are two things; it is the ceremony. We took the oath of office immediately after the election. So legally, we are in office. So, it is just a ceremony that we call people and journalists to witness and say this happened. But we have been actively in office since 19th of December 2023.
Have you tried to reach out to Engr. Sani to see how you can settle out of court?
Before the court order, we were going to see all the political parties, including him, to see the need to have our IPAC together until we got that court case. But I think some other parties have gone to see him. But again to the extent to which he went it was outrageous. And then it is repugnant for anybody who wants a peaceful resolution and who believes in the system to take that route. This is the first man who benefited from IPAC and unfortunately, coming to do something like this. But that does not mean. We will still get to him if he wants to remain in the system and work with the system. But what is important is that IPAC does not have any problem. it is just a distraction. As you can see, we are in the office and normal official activities are going on.
Before the election, it was rumoured that you engineered most of the negative campaigns against him especially the case of the ADP candidate who was declared death. Is it true?
How? Am I in his party? I am not in his party. This is his party’s problem. I am not in his party. I do not know what is happening in his party. So, it is not true. I do not know anything about it.
Is it true that IPAC is a stooge to INEC giving the fact that you hardly criticize the policies of INEC and electoral irregularities?
What do you mean by stooge? I don’t understand.
I mean that you accept anything INEC says without interrogating it. Is it true?
I want to disagree with that statement that IPAC is a stooge to INEC. You should understand that the Inter-Party Advisory Council is an advisory body. INEC is a non-voting body of the Advisory Council. So, what we do is to discuss with all the political parties both the ones in power and the ones that are not in power. They are all members. So, for everybody to expect IPAC to be used as a tool of opposition against any institution, the person is not being fair or not fair to the Inter-Party Advisory Council. But we will continue to do the necessary things at all times. INEC is not perfect. No political party is perfect. But when we come together as one, we will always do the needful to ensure that we have a better democratic space and a better Nigeria for us.
What would be your advice to INEC ahead of some off-season polls because some Nigerians have lost confidence in the electoral body?
The thing is that IPAC will always do anything to ensure that INEC gives us a better democratic environment. So, where there is need to advise INEC, we will do that. Where we see any infraction, we will call INEC to order. But it is not for us to go on air to call INEC out. If we do that we are not being fair to INEC. We are meant to advise INEC. We are meant to ensure that democracy works for all of us. Do not forget that most of the innovations by INEC are properly discussed and there is a consensus between INEC and the political parties before INEC will bring it out. So, there is nothing INEC has done without consulting with the political parties which is its primary stakeholder.
It is over seven months since President Bola Tinubu took over, how would you rate his performance?
I think it is too early to rate an administration because after the elections, there were litigations, distractions here and there, the government is yet to settle. This is 2024, I think it will only be fair that we allow the government to run for at least one year before we can look at what the government has done. Because the government is telling all Nigerians to be patient and examine the dividends of policies they have embarked on. Though we know that there is hardship in the economy resulting from the removal of fuel subsidy which is a major thing and the inflation which we all witnessed. We, too, on our path as an advisory council, we write the government. Yes, the government has said it would send palliatives to vulnerable persons to cushion the effect of the hardship in Nigeria. But we should all understand that there is no where you will not have crisis when you want to embark on any meaningful development. But we pray and hope that at the end of the day that will translate into meaningful development going forward. Last week, we saw that NNPCL refinery in Port Harcourt is about to start refining and that will save us a lot on forex. Most of the employment that has been exported in the course of exporting crude oil will now have these things saved. Because by the time we are refining the petroleum products in Nigeria we have other byproducts that come out of it. Let me equally advise that one of the things we need to do to sustain agricultural programmes of the last administration is that we should invest more in the agricultural sector. Another thing that is required for any society to grow is that we have to ensure constant electricity. Power should be affordable to all so that by the time you have more Nigerians in the production sector it would really help in reducing inflation or demand on foreign products as it is today.
Are you in support of the distribution of palliatives to vulnerable persons going by the series of scandals that have rocked the initiative?
It is true that we have so many scandal even in the past because a lot of people have come to testify to it. But I will advise that it would be better for us to have the palliatives because it is to address the hunger in the land. But the foundation of this problem must be addressed. And what is the foundation? The factor of production should be made accessible to the people. When you have accessible and reliable source of energy, to accommodate the period of production and you have some of the amenities like better roads, things will work. And from what we see the Minister of Works from his foundation of what he has done in Ebonyi State, I think we should just give the government a little time to settle. For me, it is too early.
But the president said that he is ready to address the problems. Why are you making a case for him?
I am not making a case for him. I am only being realistic. I am an investor. I am a farmer. You do not go in to the farm to plant and expect the harvest immediately. It will have to go through the gestation period, you will water it, weed it, apply fertilizer, pesticides in some cases before you now harvest the output.
Insecurity has become a norm. How do we address it?
I have said this times without number that insecurity, kidnapping, armed robbery, banditry and prostitution, all these things are orchestrated by socio-economic problems. They are not problems on their own. If you look at the people who are involved in these things are people who have no employment. Some claim that they are rebelling against the system. Whereas it is the same poor man that is suffering it. If we are able to get a better economic status for an average Nigerian, it would reduce crime as we have today. My advice is that while we are arresting and prosecuting the criminals, we should equally look at the foundation by creating easy access to education and commerce. People should have hope because most of the people are hopeless. I was watching a post on a social media platform where a boy killed his father. And he was asked why he did it. He was happy to say that he was under the influence of drugs. He said his father is in paradise. Now, this boy has no fundamental knowledge of the religion he professes. To him, Islam says when you kill somebody his sins will be taken away from him. So, now he has killed his father and because he loves his father so much he has taken his father’s sins and sent him to paradise. If you look at it, it is a combination of ignorance and drug addiction. It still boils down to the foundation of the society.
How far with the IPAC initiative to achieve the SDGs?
This thing came towards the end of the last administration. We called it the peer review mechanism. We just started towards the end of the last administration. By God’s grace, the result is impressive and this administration will definitely take it to another height.
The judiciary has come under attacks going by its judgments. What is your intervention as IPAC chairman?
One of the areas we are going to concentrate on is the issue of litigation. The judiciary is the last hope of the common man. The judiciary holds a very strategic position in a democratic dispensation. It is incumbent on judges to ensure that they are fair. Just like every aspect of our lives, you cannot expect perfection. In the police force, we have a lot of people that deviate. It is the same thing in the judiciary, we have deviants. But that does not mean that the entire judiciary is rotten. We will appeal to the judiciary to see how they can sanitize the system and punish some of the erring judges who are not being fair to the system. They should be made to understand that we must have a Nigeria before we have the courts. We must have a peaceful environment. We should not allow Nigeria to get to a point where people will take the laws into their hands.
What opportunities are you giving to female politicians?
Whether we like it or not, women are part of us. They are our wives, our mothers and friends. I think that soft spot that they have for the family if translated or the opportunity is given to them in the political space, it will help a lot in reducing some of the crisis we have though we have some few women who are involved in the mismanagement of funds. But on a larger scale, more women’s participation will help in improving democratic governance.
What is your take on the suspension of Betta Edu?
The president has seen that it is a dent on the system and he is just coming on board. So, if you were in his shoes, you would do the same thing. Like one of the accusations that they flew to Kogi State and you and I know that Kogi State has no airport. I think that it is fair that the president took the action for proper investigation.
How would you rate the performance of the outgoing governor of your state, Yahaya Bello?
You know for some time, I do not really visit Kogi State. So, I will not be able to say much of what has happened in terms of Yahaya Bello’s administration.