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… Urges President to implement Uwais Report
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A chieftain of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Convener, Arewa Think Tank, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, has identified two things which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, needs to do urgently, to avoid incurring the wrath of Nigerians.
Yakubu said one of those things is that the president should go after looters of public funds under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that there was nothing wrong probing the immediate past government, “after all, Buhari probed Goodluck Jonathan’s ministers and some of them are still standing trial in courts, and failure to do this Nigerians will not be happy with him.”
The ACF chieftain also said that if Tinubu appoints immediate past state governors into his cabinet, he will incur the wrath of Nigerians, adding that, “these governors have no value at the national level because they left behind unpaid salaries in their respective states.”
He also spoke on other national issues such as the need for President Tinubu to give the Service Chiefs timeline to root out insurgency and related crimes in the country.
Garba Shehu, former Special Senior Assistant on Media and Publicity to former President Muhammadu Buhari, said recently that Buhari did not remove fuel subsidy so that APC could win the election. What can you make of this statement?
I am surprised and disappointed by that statement. Number one, Buhari came to government eight years ago, and before he came to power, part of his campaign, and it is on record that he once said publicly that fuel subsidy was a scam. One would have expected that immediately he came to power he should have seen this as an important issue to have dealt with. For him to have said that he did not remove the subsidy so that his party would win, it means that he did not have the interest of the country at heart. It is the interest of his party that he had at heart. It is obvious that this was an afterthought statement. Nigerians and Tinubu himself knew that President Buhari did not support him in this election. Like I once said in an interview, Tinubu won the election by dint of hard work and divine intervention. No after thought statement will bamboozle us into believing any story. We knew what really happened. Nigerians knew what really happened and Tinubu himself really knew what happened. So, it is an after thought statement.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, said it is an insult for Buhari to have said that he did not remove the subsidy because he wanted his APC win. How do you feel about that?
I totally agree with Falana. That is the same thing that I have just said now. It was an after thought, and Nigerians and President Tinubu knew what happened. In fact, I will advise former President Buhari to urge his media aide not to make unguarded and unnecessary statements on his behalf because it will anger Nigerians the more. It is better he stays quiet in his retirement.
Few days ago, the European Union (EU) Observed Mission presented its final report on the 2023 general elections, which stated that the elections were marred by lack of transparency. What are your thoughts on this?
While I agree that our election was not perfect, just like the European Union countries don’t have perfect election too. So, they should not come here and continue to colonise us. I am not trying to defend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I totally agree that there were a lot of issues with our elections. But we are making slow and steady progress. Compared to where we are coming from in 1999, we have made some progress. It is not everything that we should condemn. Where we made progress we should acknowledge it, and where we made mistakes we should acknowledge those too. For we Africans to take European Union or European countries seriously, let them invite representatives of some African countries they have rated high on democracy whenever they are conducting their own elections so that these Africans can observe and monitor elections in Europe too. We are a sovereign country, they should respect our sovereignty. Until they do that, we won’t take them seriously. And I want to use this opportunity to appeal to President Tinubu to take a holistic look at Justice Uwais Report on electoral reform. That will go a long way in helping our electoral processes in Nigeria.
The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, recently slammed the immediate past Minister of State, Budget and Planning, Clement Agba, over poor performance as minister as well as accused him of neglecting his people while in active service. What lesson can one learn from the Oba’s outburst?
I have a great respect and admiration for the Oba of Benin and appreciate what he said. If all traditional rulers will call out their subjects who are in government and lambast them if they don’t perform, it will make those still in government or being appointed to sit up. This will make the country to progress. It is not when the people’s representative in government start pleasing the leader personally, instead of the entire community that such person should be respected. So, what Oba of Benin did was a good example to other leaders in the country. They shouldn’t blindly support their subjects who are in power. They should always criticise their subjects objectively like what the Oba of Benin has done. I really support what he did and I want other leaders in the country to take a cue from that and do the likewise.
Do you think that what the Oba did is possible in the North where praise singing is often the order of the day?
It can happen. It is happening in the North, except that our traditional rulers in the North will do it quietly, not the way Oba had done it. But I want our leaders and traditional rulers in the North to do it publicly just like the way Oba of Benin had done.
Former Senator Shehu Sani, who was in the 8th Senate, recently said that if Tinubu fails to go after looters of public funds, sooner or later, such looters will come after him. What do you make of this?
I agree with Senator Shehu Sani completely. There are some allegations and insinuations that when President Tinubu met with Buhari in London recently, the former president appealed to Tinubu not to go after his former aides and appointees. But I don’t know that the Buhari I used to know will do that, or say that kind of thing. Be that as it may, it is in the interest of this country for President Tinubu to do the right thing. If he fails to do the right thing, you know that Nigerians are politically conscious, he will incur the wrath of Nigerians if he doesn’t do the right thing. Nigerians have the rights to take any government officials to court if such person doesn’t perform well. After all, when President Buhari came to power, he probed the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. Some of the ministers of Jonathan are still in court as I speak to you, as a result of the probe instituted by the Buhari administration. So, Tinubu is not doing Nigerians a favour if he does not go after the looters because he himself said he applied for this job and as such there will be no excuse for him to fail. Nigerians will not take any excuse from him if does not do the right thing.
The Coalition of Northern Groups recently alleged that Buhari never wanted Tinubu to win the presidential election. Are you also of the same belief?
Of course, I said so earlier, because if he had wanted Tinubu to win the election what happened before, during and after the primaries election wouldn’t have happened. Nigerians knew it, and Tinubu himself knew it. So, there is no after thought statement that can cover that. Nigerians are too politically conscious now than before that anybody will think that he can whitewash their brains and throw everything on their faces. No way.
The appointment of Service Chiefs received a lot of accolades across the country. How do you see the appointment?
I am satisfied with the appointment of the Service Chiefs because of the spread. Secondly, they are eminently qualified by the background checks that Nigerians have conducted on them. So, what remains now is for them to live up to expectations. I advise President Tinubu to give them timelines, and ensure that there are consequences for incompetency and failure or ineptitude. This will make them sit up.
Parents and students are crying over hike in university fees. What is the way out?
I want to suggest to President Tinubu that the gains of the subsidy removal should be put into a trust fund, to be managed or overseen by eminent Nigerians. Once this is quickly done, and Nigerians are sure that these funds are properly managed, most of this outcry will soon be things of the past. And don’t forget that Nigerians are coming out of trauma of Buhari’s eight years in office. Nigerians have suffered for too long so that any slight hardship added to them will push them out of extinction. So, I share in their pains. And I share in their agony. I think President Tinubu is moving very fast and I hope he increases the speed on this subsidy and quickly puts in palliatives in motion so that the people will not feel this pain too much. And the President should ensure that the funds, no matter how small should be judiciously spent. This will calm Nigerians down, and it will also calm down tension in the country.
The long convoy of Tinubu has come under criticism by some Nigerians, saying it is an economic waste. What is your reaction on this?
I share in that criticism, but unfortunately, he has given explanation that it is not only his convoy, that some governors convoy were also part of it. But at the same time Tinubu should caution those who are in his convoy to anywhere next time. That kind of convoy is not suitable for the kind of situation Nigeria is in now. Nigerians want to see the President live by example. I share in that criticism, but they have made an explanation to it. And they should go further to walk the talk.
President Tinubu has appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience and make more sacrifices for a better country in the face of socio-economic hardship, but some Nigerians are saying that such sacrifice should come from the top first. What do you have to say on this?
I strongly believe that the leadership of the country should make some sacrifices. I know that Nigerians being very resilient, they will be very prepared to give President Tinubu at least one year of honeymoon, and I won’t like to call it honeymoon because of the situation in the country. However, I think Nigerians will be prepared to give him at least one year grace before he starts getting serious salvos of criticism. Though some criticisms are coming in now, but they are still pockets. But before we get there he has to move faster and do the right things.
Tinubu said he will appoint mainly young technocrats as ministers. There are indications he will also appoint former governors. What is your take on this?
Though this is still in the realms of rumour, but I will advise President Tinubu to go for top technocrats and national competency. If he brings former governors on board, he is going to incur the wrath of Nigerians because they have no value to add to his government. Most of these former governors left backlog of salaries in their states. Most of them left zero account in the states. So, what are they bringing on board at the national level? It will be a contradiction of what President Tinubu said that he wants competency. So, I will continue to hammer on it that Tinubu should go for competency. If he wants to give them political patronage for supporting him, there are other areas he can help them. But not serious governance such as ministerial appointment.
Tinubu also said that the ministerial appointment will cut across the political parties. Are you okay with this development?
Yes, that is national competency, it is a good development and I think it will go a long way in healing bitter and acrimonious feelings arising from the 2023 general elections. The election was bitterly contested. So, such appointments will heal those wounds. I want to assure Mr. President that as he moves on in governance, we will not leave him alone. We will criticise him, he should be ready for criticism. We will continue to talk about areas we think he should improve upon. He has given us the responsibility to checkmate him because he said he has no excuse to fail. We will make him accountable to the nation and to the people. I will advise the President that whatever he is going to do, he should take the bull by the horns. He should go the whole hug and do whatever that needs to be done. It is just like the way he removed the fuel subsidy. If he had waited for one or two weeks, he wouldn’t have been able to remove the subsidy. Prosperity and history will forgive him for taking wrong decisions, but prosperity and history will not forgive him for not taking any decision at all. One of the problems Buhari had in the last eight years was lack of firmness and not taking decision at the right time and on time.
