Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has expressed sadness over the state of the nation and the level of suffering in Nigeria in the last seven years. He is worried that a mistake in the 2023 general election by voting in a wrong person could be disastrous for citizens. In this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO, Editor, Agbakoba sharply condemned the high level of insecurity, saying that if he were President Muhammadu Buhari, many officers in his administration would have been fired over the disgraceful attack on Kuje Correctional facility in Abuja and many other unwarranted security laxity. He advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to assert itself by appropriating all the powers given to it in the new Electoral Act, urging Nigerians to avoid had-I-known by voting the right man for the job in 2023. Excerpts:
Now the presidential candidates are known and by September, fully blown campaign will begin. As someone who is following the going on, what is your reading of the situation on ground?
It is very, very tricky. There are clear front-runners. You look at the APC only has a placeholder; even the NNPP. What that tells you is that the trends that will shape 2023 starts from there. There is big issue for Tinubu whether he can do Moslem-Moslem, because that could have a backlash; because I don’t see a Christian Northerner that can deliver votes for Tinubu in the north. But if he is going with Moslem-Moslem and then they are looking at El-Rufai from North West which has the highest number of votes in Nigeria, but the fear is the Moslem-Moslem, and that is one thing holding Tinubu down. For PDP, they are so much disorganized; completely disorganised. They should have handled the Wike thing with a lot more carefulness; a lot better. It is the prerogative of the presidential candidate to choose who runs with him, but I think there have been a lot of issues around how a very strong candidate like Wike was allowed to feel marginalized. It is not for Wike to say he must be the vice presidential candidate; no; but it was not handled properly and it has left a big problem for the party. For Kwankwaso, forget about him; he is a local champion. The Kwankwasia Movement is restricted to Kano, Katsina and Kaduna; and that is why he wants Peter obi, but he forgets that it must be consensual. And the reason he gives is, in fact, Oxymoron. How can you say that you want Peter Obi because he would manage the economy? I think it is the President that should manage the economy. The reason he gives is precisely why Peter Obi should be the president. Peter Obi himself has challenges. He is not as nationally known as people think. So, the Peter Obi Movement is good because for the first time it is throwing up new issues; and it is making the entire political trend difficult to read. And all the unaccounted; unstructured votes are likely to go for him. So, the surge you see- 10 million and I think by 2023 election we will be looking at about 20 million. Now, depending on how much of these votes will go to Peter Obi, and I think that about 75 percent of the votes will go to him; but the problem is whether the PVCs that are going to accumulate from these unstructured and unaccounted votes will be 360 degrees. So, if these votes are organised and well spread; I don’t know if you can find them across the country, the new registrants seem to be dedicated youths. I don’t know about the spread. I suspect there will be a runoff, none of the candidates will achieve the spread; and I suspect that the people that will do the runoff, will have the challenge of confronting Peter Obi, who I think might share the benefit. If there will be a runoff, the beneficiary will be Peter Obi because it is going to be simple-majority; no longer spread.
Where we are now, what manner of president would you prescribe for Nigeria in 2023?
A man in tie. A man in a figurative tie; not Agbada (flowing gown). What I mean is that he must be a man who understands he has to go there to do the job. So, we need a technocratic, visionary, high motivated president to turn around Nigeria’s misfortunes. Nigerians have had it so bad- insecurity, unemployment, poverty, diesel price is astronomically high. So, it is not actually one of the most inviting and enticing jobs to be seeking. A president who goes there to find out that the country is broken and therefore, is going to be looking for revenues. He should be a president that understands how to convert the development policy that this present government has employed (borrowing) to one of generating internal revenues. There are lots of sources that a president who understands what he is doing can generate revenue.
What does the worsening insecurity mean for 2023 election?
Insecurity has a number of elements. What I have noticed is that regime protection is always uppermost in the scheme of things. When the regime is threatened a security system works. If for instance, during election, if they throw up a major security force- employ the army and all that, then the election goes on smoothly. What we see as insecurity is mostly when they are targeted at areas that government has little or no interest. Who is interested in Kuje prison for instance? But go to Aso Rock if you can penetrate. So, if the question is whether insecurity will affect the election, it is not going to affect anything because all the politicians are interested in power. They are going to do everything; they are going to agree among themselves; they will use the National Peace Committee, invite the Obas, chiefs, elders and all that and agree that there must be peace during the election. There will be no problem of insecurity because there is regime protection. The state does not spare anything to ensure that its powers are not threatened. Look at Ekiti gubernatorial election, it went calmly. Osun is also going to go calmly. 2023 election will also go calmly.
What do you make of the attacks on the president’s advance team and the Kuje Correctional Centre the same day?
It just shows that at the highest level security is not taken seriously except it is regime protection; because I cannot see how 300 bandits could storm a prison; stayed there for hours and nothing happened and nobody knew. So, that tells you that security is not a high agenda; it is not a high priority in government. Where were the DSS, the entire security apparatus in Nigeria? They all went to sleep and these guys were in the prison for 3 hours?
If you were the President, what would you have done in response to the ugly development?
I would fire all the Service Chiefs, and anyone responsible for internal security from the Minister of Interior to the DSS. Somebody must take responsibility; look at the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson resigning. Someone must bear the consequence for failure. I would sack everybody responsible and make it clear that if you don’t do your work, you get the punishment. But in this country where there is no punishment, no sanctions so it is not an issue. Even the Minister was at the Prison; is that what he should be doing? So, when there is no sanction for bad behaviour that’s what you get. I would fire everybody including the prison controller-general. How do you have grasses growing around the entire place; that’s a security threat in a place called medium security prison; and you are going there in your opulence. The proper thing to do is to fire all the people responsible.
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You have been following the activities of INEC in relation to the continuous voter registration exercise and others. In your own assessment, can you say that the commission is ready for the election?
INEC is never ready before elections, but I think this new Electoral Act has given INEC some more powers. Some people are saying ‘O, INEC cannot do this and that’, but the new Electoral Act has empowered it to do certain things. The Senate President is saying he will be on the ballot; Godswill Akpabio is also saying the same thing, but INEC is saying no, because they did not take part in the primaries in their states. The party is saying it is our responsibility but INEC is saying no. There is a new provision in the Act that says if you did not take part in the process INEC won’t recognise you. So, from what I can see INEC is asserting itself based on the powers given to it in the new Act; but I want it to play a stronger role, particularly, I do not know if INEC understands that it is a constitutional regulator for the election process; if I were the INEC chair and my commissioners, we would have fully exercised our constitutional powers. For instance, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State was elected on the platform of the PDP and given a certificate of return that carried PDP; he now defects to APC. With that defection, INEC in my view is entitled to withdraw the certificate; it does not require a court judgment. If Umahi feels that INEC should not do so, let him contest it. INEC is not pushing itself to the limit of its power. All these people that are defecting from one party to another, INEC is given power to regulate the political and electoral process; that power must be exercised to the hilt, and that is why you find the impunity of these politicians jumping from one party to the other because INEC is not asserting itself. I would have done that if I were the INEC chairman so that the temperature can be good. You can’t be in one party and in the course of an election you jump out and go to another. We must punish bad behaviour. But altogether, I think INEC is responding – I like the way they stretched the continuous voter registration exercise. I will give them a pass mark.
QUOTES
Related News 1. We need a technocratic, visionary, high motivated president to turn around Nigeria’s misfortunes. Nigerians have had it so bad- insecurity, unemployment, poverty, diesel price is astronomically high.’
2. Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State was elected on the platform of the PDP and given a certificate of return that carried PDP; he now defects to APC. With that defection, INEC in my view is entitled to withdraw the certificate; it does not require a court judgment.
3. ‘I suspect there will be a runoff, none of the candidates will achieve the spread; and I suspect that the people that will do the runoff, will have the challenge of confronting Peter Obi, who I think might share the benefit.’
This issue of certificate saga, and other contentious ones bordering on age and others, what would be your take on the appropriate step that should be taken to ensure that these things do not continue to occur at that highest level in our leadership selection process?
It is still INEC responsibility to check that. People say it is not and I ask, what if a party were to field a Greek man as its Senatorial candidate, will INEC accept it? So, if INEC will say no, we won’t accept it because he is not a Nigerian, it is the same as filing wrong information with the INEC. INEC can still say no. If INEC can say we will not accept a Greek man because he is not a Nigerian, the same way it can also scrutinise documents; if found to be false, they don’t need the court to say it is false. If somebody doesn’t have the requisite qualification, INEC should say so based on constitutional provision; it doesn’t need to go to court. But what I now see, particularly, the presidential candidates are being very careful. I hope you remember that the only qualification to be a Nigerian President is that you went up to primary school. So, Tinubu did not put in any certificate for primary or secondary; so he can say he attended primary school. So, that is what is ridiculous. How can a country as big as Nigeria has such a low threshold? That is the question that beggars belief. A person doesn’t have to go to school. So, a lot of them now are not putting in any certificate because they know that they can be challenged if they put certificate. For instance, in Buhari’s case, it was because he said he went to Barewa College that he was challenged, even though he won the case. But supposed he is going to run again now; he does not even need to put in the certificate; he will just decide to say I went to so and so schools without putting in any certificate. So, it shows you the quality. The reason they do so is because most of them are illiterates. So they keep us at their level.
They keep us in situation where those who are going to run did not go to school. No wonder we are in this mess. So, those are the sort of things I think that a new president should look at. The first task of the new president must be how to solve the issue of insecurity; wastage of lives and property, so that we can have peace as a nation. Without peace your cannot grow. Then the second task should be what type of constitution do we want as Nigerians? We should review this very low threshold of taking part in politics.
This issue of placeholder; what is your take on it?
It is recognised in law because if I were a presidential candidate, I can put anybody I like because I have a window. You know the reason why they have done that is because they are still searching, but as to whether a placeholder is legal or not, it is.
But what if the placeholder refuses to step down as required by the constitution…?
That is the problem because the candidate that has picked him becomes stuck. But as whether he can do so; yes; the law allows it. The law says you can remove him within this window; once you do that there is problem
What advice do you have for Nigerians as we go for the election in 2023?
I don’t think I have any advice because do they not see how they have suffered? They have no electricity; no petrol; no money; no job and so many other necessities of life; that’s enough to tell them that this time around, let them be careful in listening to the presidential candidates who is most likely to resolve their miseries. Vote for the person that you have the satisfaction that upon getting to the office, he will be able to pay me back by building roads, creating new schools and doing the kind of things if you were in America or United Kingdom you would expect of your political leader.
If they want to take money let them take it but do not change who you want to vote for; because if they do not do that, then 2023 would be lost and then we continue to go on and on. I have lost many years now; I can’t count; I think about 50 years, seeing the wrong guys in office. If we elect the wrong guy in 2023, it is another four years of misery. It means that the wrong policies will continue. For instance, how can a country be spending N6trillion on subsidy? It is unbelievable. I like what Peter Obi said on the issues of subsidy when they asked him on Arise Television how to deal with the issue of petrol subsidy. He said if you are depriving somebody of something he is used to, you must give him alternative. He said, if I remove petrol subsidy, I will put in health, education and infrastructure, and it will cushion the effect and make the people less amenable to challenges and all strife. These are the kinds of things I would like all the candidates to talk about.
I am sure that the voting population should listen and judge who is the best president that would work in their best interest and vote for such a person, because we need to have a break from the past. That’s the most important thing; because the past experience shows that we have not gotten it right, otherwise we wouldn’t be at the bottom of everything- employment, health, education, quality of life and security. So, Nigerian voters should be careful this time around.
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