Sun News
By Sunday Ani
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and former Secretary General of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank kokori, has warned the Federal Government to shelve the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products any time soon, describing it as a suicide mission.
In this interview, the former labour leader spoke on various issues including the direct primaries controversy.
Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari, declined to give assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill sent to him by the National Assembly. One of the reasons he gave for his action was that it would deny political parties the right to choose their candidates for general elections. Most Nigerians did not agree with Mr. President’s reasons; where do you stand on this?
In fact, I don’t agree with those who disagree with the president because I listened to his interview with the Channels Television on Wednesday, January 5, and he was very clear when they asked him that question. He said if they give other options like direct, indirect or consensus for primary elections, that would be more democratic and he would sign it. He said point blank that he would sign it immediately, and for me, that is okay. He was very categorical and I don’t want to go on sentiments and emotions. The President will sign it.
The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) as well as the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) is of the view that Nigeria is not yet ripe for direct primary. Do you agree with them?
Actually, we are not yet ready for it because we don’t have voters’ register that is accurate all over the country. All the political parties don’t have accurate voters’ registers and that is why any time they do direct primaries, they get it wrong. It happened to Buhari in 2019; the votes he got during the direct primaries were more than what he got in the real election, and that is what happens to many other people. It also happened to Andy Uba in the last governorship election in Anambra State. They just write results because they do that at the ward levels. So, because nobody supervises them, they just write rubbish as a result. I am a politician; so I always attend every primary election, starting from my ward primaries to the state level. I attended primaries from ward, to local government and state levels during the days of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), so I know what primaries mean. In 2015, it was indirect primaries that produced Buhari; so I was even laughing when the Channels TV presenters were talking about direct primaries. Buhari did not enter with direct primaries in 2015; he entered with indirect primaries. It was in 2019 that he used that direct primary; that is the position. So, what if he has now said he would sign the bill if other choices are included? There is no problem there and people should not be splitting hairs over nothing. Let us watch him. He will sign it because there is so much in the electoral act and it will be good for the whole country. It will bring about a transparent election, which is actually the bulwark of democracy. Nigerians have never had a transparent election. Most of the elections are rigged, especially in rural areas. Elections are freer and fairer in Lagos and Abuja metropolitan areas and most of the state capitals. After these areas, elections are crooked and rigged; that is the tradition in Nigeria.
Do you think the introduction of electronic voting and transmission of election results as being canvassed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will bring about a semblance of free and fair elections in 2023?
Yes, that will ensure 80 percent free and fair election results in 2023.
What do you think about the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products and its attendant increase in the fuel pump price?
Well, the free market economists may support that but I am a liberal economist and democrat and I know that I am from a third world country; a very primitive and corrupt country. I also know that the type of government and the transparency we practise is just about 25 percent of what happens in Western Europe and America. So, it will be suicidal for any government at this time to be talking about the removal of subsidy. And I made it clear to the Nigeria Labour Congress recently in Ilorin at the Institute of Labour Studies that it is their job to protect Nigerians. They should be the tribune of the people. How can anybody think about that with the present economic situation of the country when people are dying of hunger and starvation; what kind of country is this? I have always said that Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and I blame the government for it. All the governments from Tafawa Balewa, Yakubu Gowon, Obasanjo, Shagari, Babangida, Abacha down to Goodluck Jonathan and currently, President Buhari, have all not fought corruption the way it should be fought. How can you have a country where some people are multi-billionaires in dollars; hard currencies, and some other people can’t even find a roof over their heads in Lagos and Abuja? How can you say you have a government where you find a family of six squatting in one shanty roof and finding it difficult to feed and then you have the guts to tell people you want to remove subsidies? Is that how it is done in other parts of the world? You compare Nigeria to Sweden, Finland, America, Holland, France or Germany; you are just talking rubbish. You can’t manage the economy and you say you want to remove subsidies. Let them remove the subsidy and let us see what Nigerians will do. But, I have said that it will be suicidal for anybody to even contemplate that. They should think of how to improve the economy and not remove subsidies, and they should further think of how to block all the leakages from the economy. How can you import fuel; a finished product? Is that not a shame? They destroyed the refineries and now they have the guts to tell Nigerians that they don’t have brains. The government destroyed the refineries because they could not fix them. I told them a long time ago that we have the finest kerosene in the world from the Warri Refinery, when it was still producing fuel (PMS) and kerosene (DPK). You destroyed that; you destroyed Kaduna Refinery and you are now telling people you import fuel and you subsidize; subsidize what? I am watching the civil society; I depend on the civil society, the labour movement and the Nigerian media because everybody has his own turn. I have done my own part, so let them play their own part. They must protect the people, especially the helpless ones. Is it the market women or Okada riders who will help the people? The civil society must help the people. That is the way we live and that is the training I have. So, it is a stupid economic move for any government to say it wants to remove subsidy. It is a stupid economic advice. It is a wishful thinking kind of economics; free, unlimited, laissez faire Western economic theory, but we are not ripe for that. The current fuel pump price is about N165 and they want to increase it to N300 per litre; do they want to kill the people?
Now that the Federal Government has finally proclaimed that bandits are terrorists as earlier ruled by a Federal High in Abuja in November last year; how do you see the war against terrorism, going forward?
The Nigerian military have tried but they have not done their best. They..
