HENRY IYORKASE
Excerpts:
Nigeria recently celebrated her 52nd independence anniversary. Going by indices on ground do you think the country is worth celebrating at all?
I would like to say that, when a child is born, it calls for celebration but we have never celebrated still birth. So, I have not for many years seen any reason why I should celebrate.
To majority of us, it didn’t matter, even when the colonial masters were here, when we could do what we wanted. Life was much better than we find now. So, independence is only a matter of somebody feeling we are no longer under a colonial master otherwise, there is nothing to celebrate about Nigeria. All is not well and those who are governing do not in any way wish that things should change for good.
All sorts of things are happening and when you talk about them, nobody cares. Number one is the issue of corruption. Corruption, everybody says, has eaten deep in all fabrics and yet people who are in government are not interested in seeing to it that there is change. The other time, the Senate was probing the power sector and a lot of startling revelations were made which were published in our papers.
After some time, the whole thing died down. I remember it was reported that one contractor who did not even know the site where he was supposed to execute a project was paid fully. You hear the same thing about the pension funds, the same thing about what they are calling subsidy. And even when the people cry out that instead of increasing the cost of fuel, check within, no one cares.
The other time it was the issue of bribe to a member of the House of Representatives and the amount involved was mindboggling. There is also poverty in our country. If the amount which is meant for pensioners is also taken by few individuals, what do you expect will happen? Pensioners, when they are not paid can’t live normal lives, yet nobody cares. So, I have not seen anything to celebrate in Nigeria.
2015 is around the corner and different geo-political zones are laying claim to the presidency. In your opinion, which zone do you think should produce the next president?
I was one of those who made input into the amendment of the constitution when our people went to Constitutional Conference. We said the presidency should rotate among the six zones of Nigeria. But the military Head of State at the time, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar removed that and said it should rotate between the North and South.
Going by that arrangement, if the present president is from the South, definitely it should rotate back to the North. But if they had not removed that and left it to the six zones, maybe we would be talking about the presidency going to South-South, South East, coming to the North Central and so forth. If that is the situation it should come back to the North. But let me add; I think more of personalities than thinking about South and North. Up till now, I have not seen any other candidate better than Muhammadu Buhari. If Buhari was not rigged out, Nigeria would have been better by now.
But because there are some people who were afraid of Buhari, knowing what they did, and believing that Buhari may come and probe them and they will be punished or they will lose all that they have looted from Nigeria, they all worked against him, rigged the election in favour of Goodluck Jonathan.
But the former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu has said it point blank that by 2015, the Igbo would vote for an Igbo candidate and that other Nigerians could vote for their own. What do you think this portend for the country?
There is nothing wrong with the Igbo wanting to head this country. I remember I had a clash with somebody who didn’t believe that a Yoruba person should be made president. But it has come to past. Anyone of us can become president of this country, whether Igbo, whether Tiv, Jukun or whatever indigenous tribe.
And it may be that one day, somebody who becomes the president has the qualities that Nigerians want and his tribe may not even be the issue. But, up till now, I believe that it is Buhari who will be president and we will get what we want in Nigeria. I should feel that he should be made one. After that, the presidency can go anywhere.
Do you think the likes of Ibrahim Babangida and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would ever support his candidacy, giving his hard posture on issues?
All those names you have mentioned mean nothing to me and I am not expecting that they will be the ones to concede. I know that they have been part of the damage done to this country, but I cannot say that they are the ones to concede presidency to Buhari. Nigerians have to do it even, while they are there. We need a revolution in Nigeria to arrive at where we should be. Given the divergent interests of Nigerians, do you think revolution can ever take place in this country?
There is nothing impossible with the Almighty God. Revolution comes in steps. There was one in Ghana, where Jerry Rawlings made a change. The early people were still there when he came in and made the change. Some of these people were killed. There is also another kind of revolution where people are enlightened and they can get up and do what they have to do.
We see on television in other countries, people are adamant, going without food, insisting that certain things are done. You can see that it is revolution also. May be we will get to that stage in Nigeria.
I do remember when Adams Oshiomhole was the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, when they were about to increase the price of fuel, he asked us to go on strike; that people should sit at home just for one or two days to make the government know that they are not happy with what was planned, but many people refused. Market women and others went about their business. That means we are not yet conscious of what we should do to change this country for good. And that is why you hear people talking about presidency going to the South, North and so much of that instead of the progress of this country.
As a chieftain of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), what is your opinion about the proposed alliance with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and other opposition parties ahead of 2015?
Before the general elections of 2011, there were some efforts for a merger between the ACN and the CPC. I know as of fact that each time there was going to be a meeting between the two parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would sent its own agents to frustrate whatever was to go on. That was what happened. I am a trustee of the CPC. We agreed on merger.
There was a time, a proposal was brought about the name, about the symbol but as at that time, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it was too late, because there is time within which merger can be made before elections.
INEC had already started printing documents, so it was too late. So, I expected that soon after the litigations, these talks should be renewed and if the people who are involved understand the matter, there is no question of taking this kind of time. There is no need for us to have the number of political parties we have registered in Nigeria, if it were not because of confusion and because other people are benefiting from this kind of arrangement.
In politics, you have political parties based on ideology. We talk of left, right and centre. Then you have on the left those who want to move further left and on the right those who want to go further right. And then there are times when there are issues which bring about political parties. It is not the case in Nigeria. So, it’s pure selfishness. People have some parochial interests. Let me reveal this to you: in 1979, the NPN was a major party with average of 34 per cent of total votes cast in the elections.
The PRP, UPN, GNPP, NPP shared the 66 per cent. That 66 was major but none of them got enough to compete with NPN’s 34 per cent. When Babangida introduced two political parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a little to the left, and the National Republican Convention (NRC), a little to the right, that gave the progressives opportunity of coming together in SDP and that is why SDP was doing the wonders it did. There was no way NRC could come close, because those of us who were even in NPN but who were progressives all moved into SDP.
So, it is to Nigerians’ advantage if these parties merge and because they have been registered to create confusion, when people talk about de-registering them, they are not keen about that, which should have been done since.
What is your assessment of the Jonathan administration so far?
As I have said, a president that would have my acceptance is one who fights corruption and he hasn’t done it. Corruption is going on. No bit has been touched. You hear them talking about there will be no sacred cow and so forth but you are seeing nothing. Who have been prosecuted?
Those who were governors some getting to six, seven years, they said they could not prosecute them because of immunity. They have left the offices over four years, have you seen anything? If it were just for Nigeria, Ibori would be free. What kind of country is this? And it’s under the man who is president, these things are happening. So, I can’t rate him. If I am to rate, it will be poor marks.
NationalMirror
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