THE SUN
The former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in this interview with Saturday Sun, also said Tinubu is obviously labouring under a very serious liability of questionable legitimacy.
In an interview with AIDOGHIE PAULINUS in Abuja, Onaiyekan x-rayed the fight against insecurity, war against corruption and the fixing of the nation’s economy, among other issues, giving a damning verdict that “we are still where we have been for the past ten years.”
What are your views on the activities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since assumption of office?
Honestly, it is difficult to have any views on the activities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since in my own opinion, he is not yet our president until the courts have finished their job and declare who is our president. He is obviously labouring under a very serious liability of questionable legitimacy.
You said Tinubu is not yet our president until the courts have finished their job. But Tinubu was sworn in on May 29. He has been taking decisions that are having impact on Nigerians, whether negatively or positively. Are you saying that no one is in charge? Are you saying that no one is piloting the affairs of the nation?
The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the Electoral Law based on it, clearly makes provision for post-election petition tribunals. Candidates for election commit themselves to accepting the result of the election as declared by INEC, which is the agency of government with the authority to conduct elections. But the candidates are also told to take any grievances to the court if they are not satisfied with the decision of INEC. Right now, this is what Atiku, Obi and others have done. It was also a point strongly made at the two highly publicised declarations for peaceful election made by political parties at ceremonies anchored by the National Peace Committee before the elections.
I take all this to mean that the declaration of results by INEC is not final. It is subject to the adjudication of the courts, which may either confirm or reject the declaration of INEC. It means that until the court gives a final judgment on a disputed election result, the election process cannot be said to be concluded. A swearing in ritual of any candidate still being disputed does not change this fact.
Therefore, it is my position that a president sworn in under our present circumstances is at best holding office in a temporary capacity, until his status is confirmed. If and when the court confirms him, I will give him my full loyalty. But if and when the court disqualifies him, he should immediately quit office. This is not an empty hypothesis because, de facto, it has happened with some governors in the states. The tribunal processes in the courts are therefore not a mere formality with no consequence. It is true that practically all the previous presidents have taken office with cases pending in court. That, so far, all were eventually confirmed does not mean that this will always be so.
This is why I fully agree with the Uwais Committee that all court cases should be disposed of before swearing in anybody at any level of government. This is the case in most countries – even in Africa. There is of course the broader issue that our electoral law should be drastically redrafted to ensure that elections are held with minimum rancour and controversy, again as is the case in most nations. Nigeria must move forward.
What is your take on the removal of Godwin Emefiele, Abdulrasheed Bawa, Service Chiefs from office? Will their removal improve the security situation, the economy and the fight against corruption?
The removal of Emefiele and Bawa is different from the removal of service chiefs from office. I understand that the service chiefs have served their tenure and normally have to be changed. As for Emefiele and Bawa, there are allegations against them as we can now see. Whichever way it goes, people in these positions are not supposed to be there forever. It is supposed to be good for the nation that they are changed after sometime. As for the security situation, the economy and the fight against corruption, we have not seen any move in any direction that is taking us out of the woods. We are still where we have been for the past ten years.
What are your views on the removal of fuel subsidy?
We were told the problem of fuel subsidy is that some few people are stealing a lot of money from Nigeria under the pretext of bringing in subsidised fuel for the people. There is also the allegation that a lot of the subsidised fuel is going outside to other countries; our neighbours. This means that we are subsidising corruption and the fuel needs of our neighbours. If that is the problem, I believe it is a problem that should be solved, not creating new problems by totally removing subsidy. By this, I mean it should be possible to determine who are those abusing the system of importation of fuel from abroad, those people who are alleged to be short-changing the nation. In other words, tackle the corruption. The other part of tankers of fuel crossing the border to people in Cameroon, Niger and Tchad; the answer is simple enough. What do we have border police for? Why do we have the Customs and Immigration Services? We should safely secure our borders and make sure that our subsidised fuel stays with us. These two things; tackling corruption and securing our borders; are what you normally expect of any serious government. That this has not been done so far, and is not even being tackled by Tinubu’s administration, in my humble opinion, means that we are not yet serious. We have seen now the result of removing fuel subsidy and now we are looking for panic measures to limit the pains, which unfortunately is not forthcoming. The debate presently about the so-called “palliative” is just a case in point. Have we forgotten that “palliatives” are drugs we give to terminally ill patient to save him from unnecessary pain while waiting to die? Is Nigeria terminally ill?
Is the students loan bill signed into law by President Tinubu in order?
I don’t know whether it is in order. What I do know is that people have subjected the bill to careful analysis and it has been found that it would not help poor students who are in need of assistance. Obviously, the whole thing has to be looked into again. Unfortunately, every good policy in Nigeria ends up being hijacked and ambushed by corruption. This is one of them.
Are you satisfied with the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), particularly in the last general elections. If no, why?
I am not the only one who is not satisfied with the performance of INEC in the last general elections. And that is why a heavy case is in court. We hope that the court will clarify this matter. As far as we saw, there were too many irregularities. The reports of practically all the election observers and monitors, local and international are almost unanimous on this negative verdict; that we have done a terrible job. And I believe that this was deliberate, not by accident or by any technical hitch. There was a deliberate decision not to allow the will of the people to prevail because some people must win by all means. This is the problem of Nigeria. In other words, we are pretending to run a democracy where it is the people’s will that prevails. But rather, we use all kinds of means, by whatever means to capture power. It used to be done by the soldiers with the guns. Now the so-called politicians are using all kinds of manipulations to frustrate the will of the people. We can continue to pretend that all is well. For as long as we continue to pretend that all is well when all is not well, Nigeria will not move forward. For the sake of the poor masses and for the sake of coming generations, we should at some point stop deceiving ourselves, do things well, do things right, for it is not true that you cannot have free, fair and credible elections. It is happening in most countries in the world. Why is it not happening with us? Because a few people have hijacked the system. But we are not giving up hope. We believe that eventually salvation will come.
Are you of the view that the INEC Chairman, Prof Mamood Yakubu, be shown the way out?
He is the one responsible for the election that has not measured up to expectation. If someone does not perform well, there is no reason why he should continue in office. I am sure Prof Mamood Yakubu might do a better job back in his classroom as a teacher. In any case, I do not know why we should always be looking for professors to run our elections. We should look more carefully at what kind of people and expertise we need for organising an election in a country as big as Nigeria. Must it be a professor? Why can’t we think of people who are more competent in the legal department or some very highly skilled administrators or even business people? We hope that with the battle we are in now, Nigerians will agree that we need to review completely our electoral system. This should start with the composition of the INEC to make it truly “independent” of government and the ruling political party.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN THE SUN
