•Fuel subsidy removal done at wrong time
Ahead of the coming inauguration of the 10th Senate, Abumchukwu N. Okoye, a legal practitioner and Coordinator, Take Back Nigeria Initiative (TBNI) has noted that a Senate headed by current Chief Whip of Senate and former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu would quickly unite Nigerians. He called on President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to present Kalu as consensus candidate of the party.
In an interview with DICKSON OKAFOR, Okoye faulted the quick removal of fuel subsidy by the new government, even as he proffered solutions to cushion the effect of the hike in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.
There are legal battles to upturn the result of the February 25 election by the opposition candidates, even after the inauguration of the President. Which side of the coin are you?
I am among those who support the law of the country. If I had opposed the declaration of President Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as winner of the election and had also opposed his swearing on May 29, I would have opposed the constitution and the Electoral Act. For me, there was a return by INEC whether they were right or wrong. Having done that, there must be no vacuum and because a candidate was declared winner by the electoral umpire does not mean that the electoral tribunal is a waste. That was why the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi said this is a process, hence on May 29 there must be a swearing in. I want to let you know that there are some rumours that don’t make sense because the new Electoral Act makes it explicit that there shall be no injunction again to stop the process. So, whatever the case may be, the aggrieved candidates or political parties should go to the tribunals to iron it out. The era of getting exparte injunctions to stop the process is gone. Therefore, if anybody would have opposed the inauguration of President Tinubu, it wouldn’t have seen the light of the day. Let me use this opportunity to congratulate President Bola Tinubu on his inauguration as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. My congratulation to Tinubu is subject to the judgment of the court, but for now we have the Commander- in- Chief and he must be accorded the respect as stipulated by the law. He is no more Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, but he is now the President of Nigeria. It is the stool, in administrative law there is something we call the stool, he is the symbol. So, Nigeria must continue to exist and move on. Anybody can come and go as President. No matter how he comes in, he must go and Nigeria must continue to exist. But if I join those who opposed the inauguration through legal proceedings, it means I don’t obey the law. But I have to obey legal processes. Yes, If tomorrow Tinubu is shown the way out through the court judgment, he should be thrown out. The presidency is not a personal inheritance or house property of anyone. So, right now he is serving Nigerians, but tomorrow the court may say don’t serve again. He will pack his bag and go away.
There wasn’t excitement among some Nigerians during the inauguration of Tinubu. What do you make of that?
President Tinubu knows what to do and he understands how to win the hearts and souls of Nigerians. Firstly, he should pull away charlatans from his communication team. There is what is called in corporate communication in the channels of communication. He also should disengage all those who were bickering and some spokespersons that made inciting statements. Technocrats, communicators and those who are qualified to do the job should be engaged. They should explain to Nigerians why they should keep suffering and where the hope lies. You can’t regulate hunger, but you can regulate human beings. Another thing the government should do is to organise food convention in Nigeria and there should be state police, restructuring and dissolution of power in Nigeria. There was no excitement during the inauguration because people thought there will no difference from the immediate past government. Tinubu should ensure that local people will be informed by the council chairman that government have paid their money into LGA account. Let them monitor the budget of their local government and let the citizens know how much the government has paid to do certain projects. So, we can see equity and fairness in governance. It is not enough to tell Nigerians that the reason for removing fuel subsidy is because it is the poor people that are suffering its effects.
What do you think of the timing of the announcement of the fuel subsidy removal on the President’s inauguration day? Since then condemnations have trailed the decision. Isn’t the timing wrong considering the fact that there is hardship in the country?
To me, the timing for fuel subsidy removal is wrong. Again, as far as I’m concerned, fuel subsidy is a democratic entrenched debt. Bola Tinubu was the governor of Lagos between 1999 and 2007 when there were strikes over fuel price increase and plan to remove fuel subsidy during former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan era. It was caused by just increase in the pump price. Today, Tinubu is not a new Nigerian leader. Rather, he is one of the old breed politicians. What I expected President Tinubu to do is to economize proclamations and statements because everybody knows that fuel subsidy is a demon or a monster which we created, and which we must control now. Tinubu should have created an economic recovery team or a taskforce and within a month engage the stakeholders, especially with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). You can’t tell me that somebody who is paid N60, 000 a month and today fuel is N500 per litre will cope with such monthly salary. Official price of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is N488, hence the salary of a worker can’t take him or her home. We were all aware that the immediate past President borrowed N270 trillion to fix wear and tear in Nigeria which shows that there are so many avenues of waste. The administration, the structure and the bloated civil service is a waste. Holistic approach would have been better even if the economic recovery team would have taken a month or two to sanitise these areas before the removal of fuel subsidy. On oil theft, just as a selected few are busy stealing the nation’s oil. Government should check and take control of the gold in the North and other solid minerals in the region. Subsidy should have been the last issue that the present government should have dealt with. Because today Nigerians are suspecting that all these politicians have constituted a cabal and invested in Dangote Refinery and have decided to pump up the price so that they will recover the huge amount of money they invested. If Dangote Refinery comes up tomorrow and fix price of fuel, they would recover their money without wasting time. So, whatever effort he will make to restore the Forex that has been taken away by this economic and fiscal policy should be done. You don’t change policy with anger because the plan may not be in line with modern economics.
Do you see the court upturning the result of the Presidential election?
It is possible if the opposition party candidates have cogent evidence against the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the election by INEC. Yes, it can be upturned by the court because Aso Rock is a house not a home of anybody. No leader or politician can say my home is Aso Rock because it’s a house and your home is your father’s house or your personal property which you bought with your money. That is what determines a home. That is why when an elected President is sworn in, he comes into the Presidential Villa with nothing because everything is in there for him to use and enjoy himself. And when it’s time to leave whether by virtue of the time termination or by virtue of the process, he will leave with nothing but his clothes. Just as I said before, that the institutions must be strengthened to have more powers than individuals. Fortunately, we now have independent judiciary embodied in the law. Judiciary doesn’t need to go cap in hand begging the executive for funds anymore because they now get their money directly from the federation account. And that is why they can upturn the election result if the aggrieved candidates prove their case beyond every reasonable doubt. Be that as it may, whatever the judiciary says or does is binding on us all while we go on modifying the judiciary and the organs of government by strengthening them as institutions. Time will come, like I said before, when a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) must come from his or her state and man the police station there. I am an advocate of state police, hence the sheriff must be a member of his community. Because it is only those in the community that knows the criminals there not a foreigner or a stranger. I’m happy that we are talking to President Bola Tinubu. Today he is there, but the court can upturn the result if Peter Obi or Atiku Abubakar have clear evidence that one of them actually won the February 25 Presidential election.
What advice would you give to the new administration?
The Federal Government should pay less attention to the West, because the moment they do that things will be well with Nigerians. Again, the present government should realize that there is anger in the land and invest more in tourism and agriculture. How do you invest in agriculture? They should invest properly in security to protect farmers and the farms. They should invest in technology to monitor what is happening in the country. Yes, rich communities can digitalize their towns because the money is there to do it. Even some communities would want to construct roads but the government will say no, give us the money. Some state governments don’t allow individuals to do roads, thereby doing more harm. So, the present government should come up with harmonised economic package based on public private partnership in sensitive areas like food production through agriculture and education. A poor man who earns N100, 000 and has to pay school fees that is N200, 000 will produce an illiterate and that is the truth. So, we are saying that education should be a primary responsibility of government. Just like Lagos State is doing, if you go to public schools in Lagos you will be surprised that the public schools in Lagos is now operating like private schools. If you go to Anambra State, the public schools are like private schools, Because when Peter Obi was governor he invested much in education. I sincerely wish the present government should go to the drawing board, sit down and consult experts.
Are you still confident that Orji Uzor Kalu will emerge the next Senate President?
It is not a matter of politics. If APC leaders can present Kalu as their consensus candidate on June 13, they have automatically united Nigerians. And as an international businessman and technocrat, a lot of foreigners will come and invest in Nigeria. He has a strong medium of communication to inform the people of the workings and achievements of the government with people oriented bills passed into law. He has the capacity and charisma to talk to aggrieved youths and Nigerians to sheathe their sword and embrace peace because he commands great respect among Nigerians irrespective of tribe, ethnicity or religious affiliation
Don’t you think the minimal support for the APC in the South-East might have been costing the zone certain sensitive positions?
I have addressed this issue in my previous interviews and I will repeat it again. It is as a result of exclusion and marginalization of the region; that is why Igbo have refused to identify with the ruling party since 2015. Don’t forget that the entire South-East fought hard to ensure former President Goodluck Jonathan was re-elected in 2015. So, after APC won, President Buhari made it clear that he was going to reward those who voted for him. Throughout the eight years of Buhari administration, South-East was not assigned any sensitive position. That is why the voting pattern has remained the same in the past eight years. You should also know that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was not voted for by the Yoruba and the entire South-West in 1999. Even Buhari in his first contest for the Presidency in 2003 was not voted for by majority of the North. What we are doing in Nigeria – except this time when they’re scrambling for Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa – when we voted for M.K.O Abiola in 1993, we didn’t know whether he was a Yoruba or not. We voted for him because all we needed was for democracy to thrive in Nigeria. So, if you check the history of our electioneering in Nigeria, it has never being a matter of tribe, but it has always been the crucial interest of the moment. The crucial interest of the moment is national unity, national security and national interest. And we are saying the most important thing to do is for the other southern regions in Nigeria to reconsider their decision. I have also said the other time there is a need for a handshake across the Niger and I still stand on that. While we embrace our brothers and sisters all over Nigeria from the other tribes, we are saying they should embrace us. It appears they hated us more than any other thing. What did Igbo do? Fifty years have gone after the Nigeria/Biafra Civil War, we are still excluded as if the war took place yesterday. We are interested in having a businessman as President even though former President Jonathan made a lot of blunders. One of the blunders he made was that he was working and nobody was communicating what he was doing to Nigerians. At the crucial point when he was going, there was a programme we brought, called “if you see something, say something.” We have a certificate of it, but it was copyright which later other media houses took it up and we went to court and sued the Ministry of Information and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) for N800milion. But the former Minister of Information negotiated the matter out of court and it was settled amicably and today they’re using it. If you see something, say something which metamorphosed into whistle-blowing. Slogan is placed in major sea ports, airports and strategic areas and places with phone numbers to call the appropriate authorities. Now that President Tinubu is our President or whoever comes up tomorrow should re-approach the slogan and a drastic action should be taken. This is no longer activism, but pure administration. It must be based on principles and policy.