By Dickson Okafor
Abumchukwu Okoye, Coordinator, Take Back Nigeria Initiative (TBNI) has advised the President-elect, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to balance power by ensuring that the Chief Whip of the Senate and former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu emerges President of the 10th Senate to douse tension in the country.
The legal practitioner described the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly election as a disaster, saying Nigerians have lost trust and confidence in the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Okoye in this interview, spoke on various issues.
The elections have come and gone, but the dust it raised has not settled. What is your assessment of February 25 and March 18 polls?
First, let me use this medium to sympathize with Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu on the death of his wife. May her soul rest in peace. On your question, the exercise was a disaster going by the way the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the polls especially the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections. The February 25 election was a disaster and the second one which was on March 18 was worst than a disaster. It was an orchestrated show of shame. The INEC Chairman and all the officers thwarted the exercise. Meanwhile, Labour Party and the Nigerian youth wanted a free and fair election, but the electoral umpire intentionally aborted the election. However, INEC is using the malfunction of BVAS as an excuse which is not acceptable to Nigerians. That is my assessment of the 2023 election in Nigeria. Earlier before the election, I said INEC would make or mar the election and they marred the election.
But some foreign and local observers have commended INEC for conducting a peaceful election, but called for improvement in future elections even though there were reports of violence, intimidation of voters and malpractices in some parts of the country during the exercise, don’t you think these election offenders will be prosecuted by the court?
First, they tried to perfect fraud. Second, they exalted fraud. So, that some election observers commended INEC for conducting a peaceful poll is a mere formality. The foreign observers were observing from a safe distance. I’m an insider and a part and parcel of it and what we saw right from 1982 when I started participating in electioneering, we have never seen it like this. So, this is the worst that has happened.
Don’t you see the introduction of technology and electronic means of voting as what led to some of the deficiencies recorded during the elections?
The technology was to ease the mishaps and the dangers we usually witness during previous elections, but when humans want to manipulate a perfect machine, there is no way you can succeed in doing that. You can’t force a vehicle to run faster than a plane. They tampered with the BVAS, they manipulated it in their own human way and the BVAS refused to comply. So, the problem is not the BVAS, but human management of the BVAS. The technological devices were not the problem, but the INEC officials, the returning officers, all of them connived to butch the election.
From all indications, the Labour Party (LP) made great impact to the extent it defeated the Presidential candidate of the ruling party and that of the main opposition party in some states where they held sway; if the election was manipulated, do you think Peter Obi would have recorded such electoral success in the Presidential election?
The Labour Party made overwhelming impact, the party won in almost all the polling booths excerpt the areas and states dominated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because the electoral umpire refused to transmit the authentic results from the polling booths to the collation centres. So, there were no chances for the collation officers to cross check the results transmitted from the polling booths. Therefore, the person uploading acted outside the electoral context in between the time the result sheets from the polling booths got to the uploading centre, it was tampered with. So, it is not a credible exercise. The new Electoral Act was specific; it said that results shall be transferred from the polling booths. At the collation centre, the collation officer where there is a problem or in doubt will check the result transmitted from the polling booth and the result delivered. The same Electoral Act that say show transfer, it should also deliver and delivery means by way of transportation and transfer means by way of transition. And these things must commence from the polling booths. So, whatever they were uploading is outside the context of the Electoral Act and that was how the whole process became a mess.
Some pundits are of the opinion that most people who are against INEC are those whose candidates lost, hence they alleged manipulations took place in the areas they didn’t win, what is your take?
My experience is that in all those areas where the voters were present, protected their votes and insisted that the results should be transmitted by INEC in line with the Electoral Act, rigging did not happen. All the polling booths in Lagos State, especially Alimosho, Apapa, Oshodi/Isolo, Lekki, Okota and Amuwo Odofin if the results from the areas were uploaded at the real time, the gap between APC and LP would have been slim, it wouldn’t have been more than 50%. So, you don’t negatively manage success. It was in cause of this they manipulated the election in some areas. However, in all, people were disenfranchised.
How can these electoral lapses be prevented in future elections in order to restore the peoples trust in INEC and to uphold the corporate existence of Nigeria?
You don’t build a house on shaky ground. Only truth can give us a better Nigeria. Handling and conducting an election where most Nigerians are interested cannot stop the corporate existence of Nigeria. You don’t tell me that Nigeria’s unity must be built on falsification of election result and you expect peace in the country. You don’t tell me we are one because those who won, those who were intimidated, those who were suppressed, those who engaged in vote buying who are the real politicians in Nigeria are more Nigerian than the citizens they oppress. If we don’t agree, we disagree. The worst thing you can do to a man is to deny him his franchise. You didn’t deny the man his contribution to national development neither did you deny him his work when you are in the position of leadership. After you could do whatever you like, but the man is waiting for one day when he will express his concern and that day is election day when he will tell you this is what I’m thinking about you because you deliberately deny him the chance to express himself and you think he will be happy. Marriage is not by force.
Top contenders have started to lobby for the position of President of the senate, who do you think is suitable to be the next Senate President?
Let me once again sympathize with the Chief Chip of the Senate and former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu on the death of his lovely wife. May her soul rest in peace. Back to your question, the President-elect, Bola Tinubu should start national healing by ensuring Igbo produce the next Senate President for equity, justice and balancing of power in Nigeria. For the past 7 and half years, the marginalization of Igbo increased tremendously especially in the distribution of federal appointments. Therefore, one of the outstanding ranking members in the 9th Senate and who was reelected into the 10th Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu is suitable and qualify to be the next President of the Senate. It will restore peace not only in the South-East, but in Nigeria. It will give Igbo a sense of belonging in the Nigeria project. But failure to balance power in the incoming administration will further divide the country. And various agitations will continue. So, Tinubu should stabilize the polity by encouraging members of the 10th Senate to elect Orji Uzor Kalu as the next Senate President.
The Minister of State for Labour, Festus Kayemo wrote a petition to DSS to arrest and interrogate the vice Presidential candidate of Labour Party, Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed for saying whoever swore-in the President-elect, Bola Tinubu may abort the nation’s democracy. In reality, isn’t that an inciting comment?
Why are you people always highlighting the comment made by Prof Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed, vice Presidential candidate of LP? We all have heard Femi Fani Kayode make inciting statements that can lead the country to war, but nobody said anything.
But he was invited by DSS?
After inviting him, did he stop making inciting statements? Onanuga whom we have great respect for, who was Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria and Spokesperson for Presidential Campaign Council of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate has disappointed Nigerians with his inciting statements. Where is ethics, image and the status of the Fourth Estate of the Realm? When many journalists joined Onanuga to utter inciting statements that can cause break down of law and order, with such utterances, we have no hope of a new Nigeria if things continue this way. Outside that, the government did not do anything. Therefore, Festus Kayemo and Onanuga are causing national anger and creating tension in the polity. They are creating insecurity and nobody is asking them questions, but Datti is being attacked. It is not yet Uhuru or not time to celebrate until the Supreme Court gives it judgment on the Presidential election petition brought before it by Peter Obi of Labour Party. What Kayemo is talking about is unconstitutional because you can’t build something on nothing. Datti is saying that Bola Tinubu is not qualified to be presented as Presidential candidate to Nigerians by APC or to contest the election. Now what they are trying to say is that LP should have filed pre-election petition, but the same Electoral Act said this is one of the challenges that can come up. So, there are a lot of electoral irregularities and lack of compliance in the just concluded election. And that is why the matter is classified as pre-election matter and members of the parliament included it as one of the areas election result can be challenged. Because if the man was not even qualified at all to contest and you make it part of the petition to the Electoral Tribunal that means you are saying that the entire system is void from the beginning. So, the parliament is advised to look into that section critically.
As you can see, Datti’s statement have prompted many Nigerians within and outside the country to stage a protest that Bola Tinubu should not be sworn-in on May 29, don’t you see that as a dangerous demand?
Who is Kayemo to write petition against Datti to the DSS? That is the question that baffles me. A Minister of State for Labour writing petition against one of the contestants in an election with regard to national security when the Attorney General and his office is still existing.
That is usurpation of power by the office of the Labour Minister to write a petition asking the DSS to arrest Datti on national security. The nation’s constitution gave the Attorney General the powers; even the Supreme Court has said in the exercise of powers the Attorney General is a god to himself. Because he is in charge of commencing inner proceedings to say charging somebody to court and the end of persecution at any point. But when you check the powers of the Attorney General who is the lawyer to the government, you will know that Keyamo has no right to petition Datti. Because if Peter Obi is in breach of national security, it is the government that will tackle him. Who is the chief law officer of the government? Of course, the Attorney General. He is the chief law officer, he is the one that will advise the government because he has two roles, dual capacity as an Attorney General and a legal and political officer. He is answerable to the people through the parliament because he can be removed when there is an uprising based on his action against national security. So, when the people rise against the government based on security or legal action of the Attorney General, he would be removed. Kayemo is not answerable to the people or government when it concerns security. He was appointed the Spokesman of APC Presidential Campaign Council which terminated after the election. So, to me, Festus Keyamo, Onanuga and some of their kinds are major interlopers causing confusion. Their duties have expired, their principal, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu will be in charge on May 29 if the Presidential election result is not upturned by the court.
What should the President-elect, Bola Tinubu do to reconcile and unite Nigerians?
As I said before the election, there is need for a handshake across the Niger, there must be handshake across the mountains and the rocks to Northern Nigeria. So, one expect the President-elect at this point to gather his people to diminish combat, to diminish what we call activism because administration is not activism. There are activists either negative or positive, but the President-elect is an administrator. So, they are two different words. He should heal the wound which the campaign and electioneering have caused and that is the primary duty of the President-elect. Not causing further confusion, not causing militancy, not insulting a particular tribe, not alienating Igbo nation. He should control them if actually he is in charge because if he cannot control these people, he cannot control Nigeria. He should build bridges across the opposition assuring them that he is the President-elect of Nigeria and not President for his tribe, Yoruba. The implication of the insult, suppression and violence against Igbo by the Yoruba is that there is always another day. These are people we have respected before now, but unfortunately are causing confusion in the country just for them to produce President Buhari’s successor after their brother Chief Olusegun Obasanjo have ruled Nigeria for 8 years. During the electioneering and campaigns, there are so many things that could have not been said or done that was said or done, but right now that the election has come and gone, there should be a handshake across the six geo political zones to douse tension.
The solutions you are proposing should be implemented when Tinubu takes over power, don’t you think so?
It is not done so. From the day you are returned as president is the day you move forward to reconcile the differences. How can you form a government in the state of antagonism? How do you get your way through? As it stands, APC does not have 2/3 majority in the National Assembly. So, he should start to heal the wounds. The Presidential Campaign Council of Tinubu should stop making inciting statements because they have expired. There is no more campaign, so they have no job for now. What the President-elect supposed to do is to settle them for a job well done or badly done. He owes them, so he should pay them off and then reconstitute his kitchen cabinet. He will have a spokesperson who will likely be a Minister of Information. But using those who throw punches, those who hurt feelings during campaigns as his Spokespersons by still retaining them is not good because they don’t know that the game has changed. Again, when there is a change in narrative, there must be a change in proposition.