By Dickson Okafor
Secretary, Police Equipment Foundation (PEF) and former Secretary of the defunct National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN), Johnny Ucheaga, has called on the President-elect, Ahmed Bola Tinubu to reconcile Nigerians and restore national unity by ensuring that the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu leads the 10th Senate for South-East to have a sense of belonging in the incoming government.
The legal practitioner urged the Election Tribunals and courts to assure Nigerians that indeed, the judiciary is the last hope of the common man.
He spoke on various issues.
2023 general elections has come and gone, but with mixed reactions from Nigerians, what is your assessment of the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections?
The exercise was not perfect, but some people have emerged winner and losers. Nobody in his or her thinking would have expected the elections to be perfect and that is why election tribunal and the Appeal tribunal were set up or put in place where political parties and candidates can seek redress if they are not satisfied with the election results. Meanwhile, no human effort is perfect and that is why the courts are also available to get justice.
Many won’t agree with you because the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu assured Nigerians that they would conduct free, fair and credible elections and the people believed and trooped out to cast their votes, but were disappointed because their vote did not count?
Those who are old like myself knew that such allegation was made against NEDECO, NEC and INEC. During the 1960s, it was elections that caused strife in the West, caused strife in Middle Belt and eventually caused civil war in Nigeria. So, it is not unusual to hear cry of manipulations and violence during general elections in Nigeria, but it is how we manage the aftermath that is important.
Are you confident that the Presidential candidates of the two opposition parties, Atiku Abubakar of PDP and Peter Obi of Labour Party who have gone to court to challenge the declaration of President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of APC by INEC as winner will get justice?
Even after the decisions have been taken, whoever does not get satisfactory judgment from the tribunal will say the whole world is against him or her. Politics is a game of sports, but unfortunately, many of those who are participating are not sports men and women. There are candidates who said, I have sold houses, I have sold land, I have offended my friends and have been excommunicated from my village, so this is my last hope. And elections are never anybody’s last hope because there will be more elections. That is why Nigeria’s case is just 4 years unlike when there was dictatorship. And the only way you can remove a dictator is through bloodless coup, but in democracy, there is time and the person elected does not have overall power. He must play according to the law and should not go against law and regulations.
Most Nigerians especially youths have lost trust in INEC because electoral malpractices, suppression of voters and vote buying recorded during the elections affected their choice of candidates; what is your take?
Who were majority of the people who conducted the elections? Which age bracket was higher in number among those who conducted the election? Are they old people or youths? Youths of course, so what are you saying? So, it was the youth that conducted the election. Is the protests backed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Or is it by their imagination? The constitution has age bracket that can contest election and the people that contested are within the age bracket. If there is any one of them that were not within the age bracket that contested, they should go to court. So, as long as those who contested the Presidential election are within the age bracket, so be it.
How can the incoming government douse tension in the country because Nigeria has been further divided along ethnic, tribe and religious line after the election?
We are generally an emotional people that is why Nigerians don’t watch our league rather they prefer to watch English, Spanish and Italian leagues on Saturdays and Sundays. And our footballers are playing in our stadium all over the country and Nigerians are not watching them. Why? Emotion. Because if a football team from Katsina State went to play a team in Akwa Ibom and they win away, there will be a fight. If the team from Akwa Ibom State goes to Ondo State to play with a football team and they win, there is a fight. So, those emotions erupt. This is sports and this is the way we killed Nigerian league. That is how we are also killing our democracy with bad mouth.
So, how can the President-elect restore the trust and confidence of Nigerians in his administration?
The Bible says “All have sinned and come short of glory of God.” All of us including myself have contributed in one way or the other to the state of the nation. Our democracy is a learning process because we don’t know much about democracy. He that does not know and does know that he does not know is asleep. So, what the President-elect should do is to wakeup Nigerians politically when he must have shown example for Nigerians to emulate. We think we know, but we don’t know about democracy. It is a learning process. Those people who have been practicing it for a long time even before Nigeria became a country are still learning democracy. Look at a former President of the United States of America; Donald Trump has been indicted today and it is a local government that indicted Trump. Is not even state, can you imagine? Can such happen here? No, it can’t happen in Nigeria. In England, they brought the former Prime Minister to the parliament and chastised him because he deceived them. Can you go and call any of our former Presidents to be chastised by parliament? They will burn down that house that day. All these instances I’m giving happened recently; it is not long time history.
Some prominent Nigerians mostly members of the opposition parties have been accused of planning to enthrone an interim government when election has been held and the President-elect is waiting to be sworn-in on May 29, isn’t that a plot to abort the nation’s democracy?
The Nigerian Constitution did not make provision for interim government. Those talking about it are talking out of ignorance. I was in active politics when an interim government was formed by the military under President Ibrahim Babangida. What he formed originally was a Transition Committee headed by late Head of state, Ernest Shonekan and because of interplay of power and exigencies of time, the Transition Committee was transformed to Interim Government. During the military era, a Degree was superior to the constitution. So, he could make a Degree to become effective. At that time, the Senate was in place, House of Representatives was also in place and the local governments were in place, but because of the exigencies, the Military President then had to step aside as a sacrifice. It wasn’t an orderly something, but exigency to protect the country because we cannot stay without a government. But President Muhammadu Buhari does not have such power Babangida had as a Military President even though he was a former Military Head of State, hence Babangida was not a constitutional President. So, Zik called that kind of government a diarchy. He said that publicly as that was what we had then. But as long as the Head of state was not a constitutional head of state, it was not a democracy. So, now we have a democracy of 24 years, those calling for interim government are making that argument out of ignorance.
The battle is now shifted to which geo political zone should produce the next Senate President and the South-East demands the position to balance power in the next administration and they are particular about the Chief Whip of the Senate, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, what is your take?
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was my governor and he is my Senator now for 8 years and he is a family friend. He is an experienced and competent person for the Senate President of the 10th Senate. I use this opportunity to appeal to members of the 10th Senate to vote for him as the next President of the Senate. I can assure you that he governed us well and he is representing Abia North very well. This year, he constructed a road to my house in Uturu; from the time I was born, that was not tarred. And not only in my place did he construct roads, he also constructed other roads in the other areas in Abia North Senatorial District. That is why he was reelected. However, as it stands now, the only thing left for Tinubu to unify Nigeria is to ensure Kalu becomes the next Senate President. If he is given the opportunity to become the 10th Senate President, he will help to stabilize the polity. That is the only way the South-East will have sense of belonging in the incoming government.
With the victory Tinubu/Shettima who are both Muslims as President and vice President-elect, does it mean that religion is no longer a significant factor in Nigeria’s election?
Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right of religious belief and people had option to vote for either Muslim/Muslim, Christian/Christian or Muslim/Christian or Christian/Muslim tickets. What has happened has shown that Nigerians have gone beyond putting religion as the determining factor during elections especially the presidential election. Meanwhile, the case is still in court; I don’t want to say much about matters that are still in court. It is not illegal to run a Muslim/Muslim ticket in a Presidential election or Christian/Christian/ ticket.
What is your agenda for the incoming government?
The incoming administration should as a matter of urgency create employment. Our youths need jobs after graduation. Meanwhile, President Buhari has done so much in the area of job creation for which posterity will remember him. Centralizing electricity and the people who did it meant well so that Federal Government can pump money and then manage it. They established big industries that need power because there must be enough source of power to generate electricity to power all those places. But immediately they left office, those who took over from them didn’t share the same aspiration. So, immediately they left office, Nigeria was walloping on 2,000 and 2,500 Mega Watts. Even as they say now that we have capacity to do 7,000 Mega Watts, we are still doing around 5,000 Mega Watts because of loses after they have uploaded. Some wires are old and bad which contained electricity that could not get to the people due to poor distribution. I mean electricity that could be used to iron cloths, power heaters is lost because those wires are old and there is no maintenance. So, the quantity of electricity Nigeria had been generating is not enough. Nigeria is potentially an industrialized country but bringing electricity from Exclusive Legislative list to the Concurrent Legislative list, President Buhari has removed the handcuff on Nigeria’s industrialization that have been holding Nigeria’s industrial development. So, the incoming administration should ensure there is steady power supply in Nigeria. With what President Buhari has done, now Nigeria is available for that because states can grant you license to generate power. States don’t have money to generate power, but they can make law through which individuals and corporate bodies can apply for license to generate power for their industries.
The rising case of kidnapping, banditry and killings of innocent Nigerians after the just concluded elections is a source of worry, what can the incoming government do to end the menace?
It is peace and justice that is required now. There should be total overhauling of the nation’s security architecture. We cannot continue to live in fear in our country. Yes, President Buhari have reduced insecurity if compared with when he took over in 2015. Therefore, the incoming government must try as much as possible to nip insecurity in the bud. Meanwhile, I want them to look at South-East and the problem of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). If a child is crying, you don’t ignore him, but first of all, you clean his tears and ask him what it is? If he says my mum doesn’t want to give me food, you will call the mother to please give him food. That boy will stop crying and he would have patience till the food is ready. But if you say it doesn’t matter, the problem will persist. Look at the inconvenience we are passing through in Igbo land? Most people from the South-East cannot go home because of poor economy in the absence of the Federal Government. The small money the people give to those in the villages during birthdays, naming ceremonies, during marriages and burials when they come home that have been sustaining them all these years have dried up because people are no more going home. Today, our advantage in education has reduced because of insecurity in South-East. So, the incoming government should dialogue with IPOB and see how the agitation for Biafra should end.