By Daniel Kanu
Respected scholar, author and two-time minister, Prof Ihechukwu Madubuike, in this engaging encounter with Sunday Sun, speaks on the 2023 elections and the disappointments, challenge before the Abia State governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti, and Nigeria’s leadership burden, among other crucial issues. Excerpt:
Briefly assess the 2023 elections and your level of satisfaction?
The 2023 election is another low point in the democratic journey of Nigeria. It failed beyond my expectations, the expectations of many locals, and the expectations of many of our friends outside this country. It was promise unfulfilled and the electoral umpire remains accused. The problem is that it will take quite a while to build this type of enthusiasm and expectation in this country again, especially among the youths. With a voter turnout of about 10 to 20 per cent at best, the regression is too low for comfort. INEC has created a trust or confidence issue, as well as a legitimacy issue by conducting an election which did not follow the rules and guidelines it set for itself. I have never witnessed this level of voter suppression, ethnic profiling, open threats, violence and intimidation. I had thought that the introduction of the almighty BVAS was the panacea that would usher in our much-needed free, fair and transparent election, and enhance or increase voter confidence and bridge the division in this country. Another case of hope differed.
How would you react to the accusation against the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi by Information Minister, Lai Mohammed of committing treasonable offence?
He who accuses must prove and justify. The justification does not lie in travelling all over the world, with our collective wealth, to prosecute a partisan agenda. Minister Lai Mohammed is not a member of the DSS, the Directorate of State Services, or any intelligence group that deals with criminal activities, that is responsible for crimes and their punishment. So, what is his platform really? INEC has its spokesperson, an Attorney at Law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria for that matter, to explain what happened. He and Prof Yakubu Mahmood were at Chatham House, London, to sell their product and receive approbation from the world. An exercise in futility, I dare say. They did not need the help of Lai Mohammed to do so. Tinubu, the President -elect, who thought he needed help, went to Chatham House with a team, which did not include the Hon. Minister of Information. Treason is the crime of betraying ones country, especially by attempting to kill or overthrow a sovereignty. And treasonably felony is beyond propaganda. It carries serious consequences. Accusers should not only plead facts; they should also plead evidence. The Hon. Minister has done none of these and the Federal Government is still navel guessing.
What is your advice on agenda for the incoming government?
I have no advice for the incoming administration, in a situation of judicial ambivalence. It would be parti-pris to rush where angels should fear to tread.
The race for the Senate president is gathering momentum. Do you think it should be zoned to the Southeast?
Yes, the position should be zoned to the Southeast if those responsible can find the right senator who will represent the interests of the zone and not one who will play a proxy role and increase our ennui. Remember the zone had four Senate presidents during the regime of President Obasanjo. What did the zone make out of it? Positions are not for showboating. And the position of a Senate President in particular should be beyond tokenism.
At last Dr Alex Otti is the governor-elect of your state, Abia. Do you think he has the capacity to transform Abia?
Sure. I believe Alex Chioma Otti has the capacity to transform Abia State from its forlorn status to a glorious one. That is our expectation, the expectation of every well-meaning Abia citizen. In doing this he must be combat -ready to fight entrenched interests who will infiltrate his government and insist on doing things the old way. We all must be ready to support him to stay the noble course, the course of transformative leadership, to clean up the mess incompetence has built up over the years. It is no time for blame game or nit picking. A focused leadership has no time for that, because in this work, time is of essence. We have a lot of catching up to do. The youths are ready to unleash their latent energy in positive direction. They need start up infrastructure in Aba, especially. They need broad band optics for technological infrastructure. I have seen a few names in his transition team who are in the field of information technology, who can help to drive the revolution that is based on production. I expect he will keep his word on a small government, the leaner the smarter. We can make Aba a smart city. And raise enough revenue from within to finance its renewal projects, including energy infrastructure and other growth variables to induce foreign direct investments and inflows. The Ulona Farm settlement we are told, can be rehabilitated for profits. Palm produce brings in more revenue than crude oil in today’s international market. Cashew grow with little effort in Isuochi, for instance. Otti can indeed, raise the bar. And through Aba our traders can find a thoroughfare to the sea, and make trading easier. Higher education in Abia State calls for an emergency treatment. It’s a matter of concern that the two important state institutions we have –the Abia State University and the Abia State Polytechnic – are always in the news, and most often, for the bad reasons. Both have lost accreditation more than once; both have been unable to pay salaries for many months now. Recently, it is about unilateral increase in school fees by those who should know better. The situation is not good enough for a people who have made education a moral value. The rot in the administration of Abia State can be said to be part of the rot in our educational institutions. I recommend we conduct a summit on the education sector in order to address its less than satisfactory performance nationally.
Nigerians seem to be lambasting the judiciary in recent times…?
(Cuts in)
It was the revered late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa who said that justice must be fair and evenhanded. Partiality offends natural justice. Perception is very close to reality, and the general perception is that some of the things that come out of the temple of justice are not even handed. Take, for example, two courts of competent jurisdiction dishing out contradictory judgments on the same matter? And as we leave the hallowed chambers, we chorus: “As the Court pleases”. And we go on believing that the Supreme Court is not fallible; it is the individuals, the justices that are fallible, being humans. That position immediately assumes that justice, a moral principle of what is right or wrong, cannot be cast on the marble. It beggars total acceptance. I am speaking as a lay man, though, who has sought relief from our courts.
The other complaint against our courts is the delay in arriving at decisions. It is now trite to say that justice delayed is justice denied. But the populace is helpless in this matter. The dilatory nature of the judicial process in Nigeria seems to rob it off its integrity and to increase the confidence gap and trust factor. I plead that our judges be not just people of learning, but also men and women of character. The judicial system they run must radiate integrity. The Socratic dictum they have imbibed demands that you do not see evil and insist that it is good, even when they say that the law is an ass. Nobody wants to be an ass, even as we go along with the negative connotation of “ass”.
As I opined above, some of the conflicting judgments confuse the public and ought not be. The situation is akin to the proverbial fart from the sky that bewilders the hen.
What is your take on resort to ethnic profiling in some parts of the country?
Ethnic profiling is a set up for genocide. Hate speech promotes and festers it. It tends to lower the other, seen as the devil, without necessarily uplifting the traducer. A recourse to ethnic violence speaks to the base instinct of the Tarzan in the offender, the King of the jungle.
We must, therefore, fight the cankerworms of ethnic profiling and religious bigotry if we want to remain a country and indivisible. What happened during the last election especially in Lagos is the road to perdition and must not be allowed to continue. As I said in another conversation: violence is enthroned when there is no conversation to narrow the gaps. Wrote George Orwell, the famous English author years ago:“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. We must tell the truth to not only the traducers and the belligerents, but also to ourselves. By doing so we may yet avoid the “Fire Next Time” (Baldwin) or The Road to Kigali.
The Orwellian world portrayed in the novel 1884, like his Animal Farm, has both happened to us. A similar scenario, portrayed in his realist novel, A Tale of Two Cities, (Charles Dickens) foreshadowed the French Revolution. We are in a state capture where the liberty and fundamental rights of the citizens are in serious jeopardy.
Finally, let me end with this prophetic advice by a protestant German priest, Martin Niemoller, in a motivational poem, in which he decried the dangers of indifference:
First, they came for the Communists,
And I did not speak out because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.
What is your quick comment on the critical issue of leadership in the land?
Leadership is a moral burden. The Nigerian leader must be a moral exemplar. Morality deals with the principles of good and wrong. And as I said earlier, any one that sees good and chooses evil is degenerate and should not be in leadership position. Easier said than done, but we must set goals and benchmarks in order to avoid a dystopian society. We must continually strive for the best in the context of power acquisition and power management.