Fidelix Onyebueke, a legal practitioner resident in Calabar Cross River State,in this interview with MIKE ABANG spoke on a number of national issues, saying that Nigeria is not yet ripe for state and local government police. Excerpts:
What are your thoughts on the agitation by some state governments for the creation of state police?
Yes. Actually, it is a good recommendation and a good idea due to what is on ground in the country now; insecurity in the country here and there. People feel that such insecurity should be better handled by the state police,if recommended and accepted. But my worry is this; you know, if the Nigeria Police want to perform, they would do so. We have instances where the Nigeria Police have performed exceptionally well.
There had beenissues that people thought that were not possible for people to handle or unravel, but they came up with a good result all over the federation. I don’t think state police or local government police is the issue. The issue is sincerity of the police command from the national, the IG’s office, to the states’ commissioners and the DPOs;are they sincere to their duties? When the Nigeria police want to perform they would do so. You see the problem we have in the country is that every IG that comes up has his own policy and then after one month the thing dies out. No IG is sincere over their polices.
The only one that I could credit with honesty was a man from Edo State, Solomon Arase. After two years of tenure,succeeding inspector-general of police will come up with some lofty ideas, banning the use of siren by individuals; banning the use of covered number plates. You know, the area that touches the public most is police would stand on the road collecting money, openly (pocketing money and giving change) to drivers and nothing happens.Just go through the roads, particularly the south, south East and South–south, it is a disgrace to the Nigeria police and I feel that the police command is not doing enough.
If they had instilled discipline enough in the policemen, insecurity would not have got the level it is now, because it is cash and carry. I don’t see the Nigeria police performing well but when they perform, they perform perfectly well. If they decide to do so, they will do so.
There is this insinuation in the All Progressives Congress (APC) that Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party,is lacking the capacity to lead; do you think so?
I am not a member of any political party, but I respect Buhari, even though at this stage, Nigerians are disappointed because of Buhari’s status. I’m one of the greatest admirers of Buhari; as far as I am concerned I have been published in many papers where I say, we have no alternative to Buhari, up till now I still stand by it. But unfortunately, Buhari pretends to be a democrat that is why the party is falling. He cannot be a democrat at this age, being a military man; it is impossible.
There isno point trying to be a democrat at this time, what I think he should do isto combine his military tactics with democratic ideals, then he will perform well. Because the only area I respect Buhari is that he fears God;he fears Allah and he feels for people. That’s why APC is having problem here and there; it is because, he (Buhari) doesn’t want to step on toes, which is unfortunate. To me, the party is disintegrating, it is going, is fading away; why? Not because of Oshiomhole, but because of Buhari who fails to take a stand on party issues.
Ordinarily, why should he allow a former governor and a member of the APC to present another candidate for governorship in Ogun State? Amosun, who is the President’s friend, did it. Why should Okorocha present a different candidate in Imo State and what happened in those states?In Ogun State, APC won while the party lost in Imo State.That is why there is no APC in South East now; any other person talking there is a pretender.
Except party is rebuilt from the grassroots,Okorocha made the worst mistake of his life by bringing his son-in-law to succeed him. Okorocha to me performed very well in Imo State; he performed in terms of infrastructure; he did the greatest in Imo State. But in terms of human development, he was the worst. Because he was not paying pensioners, he was not paying civil servants; he was not paying anybody, but in the area of infrastructure, no governor performedbetter than Okorocha.
I am from Imo State, I can testify to that; but only he was greedy. How would he allow his son-in-law to succeed him?Are we in a ‘Banana Republic’ in Imo State? It is unfortunate; but he could have produced somebody from Owerri Zone and use the son-in-law, as the deputy governor; if he had done that APC would have won the election, but the people rejected him because of the greed. In the midst of all that was going on Buhari kept quiet; he even told the people of Imo to vote the candidate of their choice. It is an error; probably that is his nature, he doesn’t like to hurt people. But the way, we misinterpreted it, may be, he must have interpreted it better; to me he isa pretender in the door of democracy.
A president shouldn’t have done that; that is why I like Obasanjo. OBJ wouldn’t have allowed such to happen in a state controlled by his party; he wouldn’t have allowed Rivers State to fall for PDP, or what happened inZamfara.Why should it be so?What he did was simply telling the world that you have no grip over your party, and that is very unfortunate. To me, it doesn’t seem that he calculated very well and that affected us. It is affecting act of governance in the country. The way he handles APC is the way he handles this country.
That is why we have crisis of lack of confidence everywhere. But I’m sure he is doing that in good faith, he may be saying let me not interfere in party affair, but what has happened now? How would a ruling party lose Zamfara, Rivers State, Adamawa, Bauchi and Imo State? The party is superior to any body. And I blame the National Assembly, the law they pass, creating confusion. They were trying to dance to the tune of National Assembly laws. The National Assembly have their personal interest, trying to destabilise the parties; particularly those who were in APC before they moved to the PDP; they passed that law to scatter APC. It is unfortunate, Nigeria may not survive because the way we are going we are self-centered in whatever we do. Don’t pass laws having in mine yourself-interest.
Why should Zamfarafall to PDP?Why? Because some peoplefelt they must be the candidates as against the wish of the party. And again, the Supreme Court should not only interpret the law, but should do justice; that is the mistake the Supreme Court is making. I am saying this as a lawyer. You can’t disenfranchise people; the people who were supposed to vote APC did not vote for their party and you think that is justice in Rivers State? They didn’t vote. How can you take that as justice? That is injustice to APC members who were supposed to vote APC. They were either compelled to vote for PDP or you remain neutral.
That is the violation of their constitutional right. TheSupreme Court would have taken instance from the case of Awolowo versus Shagari, to maintain justice. The worst thing to happen in the country is disenfranchising a mass of people in APC in these states. And the most worrisome one is the election in ZamfaraState when APC voted for the candidates of their choiceand the court said ‘No, we don’t want it, PDP must take over.’ To me it is act of injustice to the APC in ZamfaraState.
Those accusing Oshiomhole of destroying the party should go and rest. The likes of John Oyegun-Odigie should go and rest. Let Oyegun go and relax.In the first place, without Oshiomhole, he wouldn’t have been the chairman of the party. It was Oshiomhole who fought for him to become the chairman of the party and now, for Oshiomhole to take over from hum is a mistake? They are from the same state, and Oshiomhole was a governor when this man was the party chairman. One can easily interpret it that the party agreed or two of them agreed that ‘O! after you I will take over’. But it seems to me that, whoever is accusing Oshiomhole is making a mistake, because without Oshiomhole, APC would not have gone this far.
What would you say on the Igbo presidency in 2023 that recently pitted Amaechiagainst Peter Obi?
There are two different parties. Amaechi is telling the mind of APC; Obi is telling you his own mind as a person who is from Igbo-speaking area. Amaechi is not telling you he is from the South East; he is telling you that APC is the party in control at the centre. He is telling you that whosoever succeeds Buhari must be APC.Like I said before the elections that,in 2019 Buhari was going to win whether you like it or not. I said it that no mathematical calculation would stop Buhari from wining and they thought I was joking, and I still maintain that Ameachiwas saying the mind of APC;He is an Oracle; he has no business with PDP, and PDP cannot force APC to bring someone from Igbo stock to be their candidate in 2023, it is impossible.Obi did not understand where Amaechi was coming from.
That is one; two; we are not talking about Igbo president of Nigeria, rather we are talking about Nigeria president of Igbo stock, and how do you get there?You get there with the help of the party in power. No matter how the Igbo feel, ‘O,we have been marginalised; this is our time.’ They may decide to bring someone from elsewhere. If you bring Igbo man from PDP and bring a Fulani man from APC, who do you think will win?It must be APC man, because of the voting strength. The south is not even united; they are not. APC may bring someone from the North and bring someone from the west; how do you expect the North to lose the seat, because Northerners are telling you that they are not ready to relinquish power at this time, they have been saying so.
The only solution is how do we bring our act together. To get the southerner together to vote for whoever comes from the south, or the Igbo, to get the vote from the North, how do we get the vote from the North? It must be through APC, not through PDP. I keep on saying so, it is not through PDP in 2023; let us be frank to ourselves.You have to play your card very well; it is not about sentiment,‘I know it would be an act of injustice to deny Igbo of the presidency in 2023’. What is injustice to you may not be injustice to another person.
