Interview

North-West can’t produce next House of Reps Speaker —Ambassador Kasai

Ambassador Ibrahim Kasai is a lawyer, a stalwart of All Progressive Congress (APC) and former Nigerian Ambassador to Ukraine. In this interview by ISAAC SHOBAYO, he speaks on the tussle over the leadership of the National Assembly, the Russia-Ukraine war, among other salient issues.

What is your opinion about the fear of marginalisation expressed by Christians and minority groups in the country as a result of the emergence of Senator Bola Tinubu as the president-elect?

When the idea of a Muslim/Muslim ticket was mooted, some of us in the APC were vehemently against it but after the presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, explained why he had to take that decision, some of us realised that it was purely a political strategy to win the election, because the PDP had already violated the arrangement that the presidency should alternate between the North and the South by fielding Atiku Abubakar from the North. The same-faith ticket of the APC was not meant to slight any tribe or religious group. The aim of the presidential candidate of the PDP was to get block votes from the North, while Senator Tinubu also adopted the Muslim-Muslim ticket to penetrate the North, coupled with his popularity in the North. So, the president-elect is not a religious bigot and there is nothing to be afraid of. Tinubu is a liberal person and by the time he finishes the composition of his government, you will come realise what some of us are saying concerning the type of person he is.

Now, after winning an election, obviously, the next thing is compensation, which is why people are clamouring for positions, that is, what goes where and who gets what. This is normal in politics but it must be addressed with caution. Presently, people are agitating that the leadership of both the green and red chambers of the National Assembly should go to particular parts of the country. But when you look at it, there are two APC states in the in the South-East and the South-South has about three APC states. The position of the Senate President was held by the South-East not too long ago. The South-South produced the Senate President in the Second Republic. Joseph Wayas was the Senate President under the administration of the late President Shehu Shagari. So, you can see that it has been a long time since the South-South tasted that position. You look at some of these positions and you look at who gets what and at what time. In my assessment, the balance of power is on the South-South’s side. The North-West has produced the likes of Salisu Buhari, Ghali Na’Aba, Aminu Masari and Aminu Tambuwal under the current dispensation. That is why the people of the North-Central are clamouring for the leadership of the House of Representatives and the zone has competent, high-ranking members like the current Deputy Speaker of the House, Honourable Idris Wase. But we are disappointed by the position of the APC NWC in this matter. We want to believe that all hope is not lost yet. The party still has time to re-order its priorities in this regard so that the North-Central is not left out in the scheme of things. The outgoing president is from the North-West and the people of the zone should appreciate the fact that they produced the president, coupled with the fact that they had the opportunity to produce the Speaker at one time or another. So, for the sake of equity and fair play, it is wrong to take the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North-West again.

A number of aspects of Nigeria’s life are begging for attention, chiefs among which are security and the economy. Which area do you think should be given priority attention by the incoming administration?

At a point in time, it looked like the insecurity in the country had subsided, but it returned with full force after the election. The president-elect has to build on the efforts that are already on the ground. This area should be given adequate attention because without security, the country cannot do anything. The existing security architecture needs to be rejigged and there should be a new strategy to curb insurgency. Efforts made in agriculture should be sustained. Those good ideas of the olden days like the marketing board should be brought back and sectors like mining and education should be given serious attention. As a former ambassador, I will tell you that our foreign policy needs serious review. We must change our foreign policy thrust. Since independence, we have been talking about being the leader in African matters, but we have gone beyond that. They have been deceiving us by reviewing the United Nations Security Council’s permanent seat, which gives Africa one slot. It is a lie; they are not ready to give anyone any slots. Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria have been struggling to get the slot, but I want to say that Nigeria should forget about that and bend down to lead Africa. Many African countries are passing through a lot of quagmires and are therefore looking up to Nigeria to get out of their problems.

So, we must get our act together, put our house in order and be prepared to lead the continent. We must realise that if there is a social, economic or political crisis in any part of Africa, it will have a reverberating effect on Nigeria. Africa should forget the dangling of that carrot; they are using it to keep African countries under check. That shouldn’t be the basis of our foreign policy. So, the incoming president should review our foreign policy to reflect the true position where Nigeria should be. We need a strong economy and a respected government to achieve this. We should look inwards. Also, our laws need to be reviewed. We have never looked at the sentencing policy. As a lawyer, I want to tell you that there is no developed nation that would offer a criminal option. Of course, once you commit a crime, you go to jail, but we are still maintaining colonial laws. Why things don’t work in Nigeria is because we are becoming lawless and why people are becoming lawless is because they are not being punished. If the law is strictly implemented, the society will change. Every foreign policy has its premise in the domestic setting; if your home is not settled, you cannot implement any foreign innovation in your country.

Many Nigerians would prefer a situation whereby the incoming government would appoint technocrats to some key ministries and positions instead of using the usual political patronage. What is your opinion on this?

The truth is that in our party, there are quite a lot of technocrats, but this can be extended to other political parties. It is good for party members to be patronised, but it can be extended to other political parties, especially where potentials are identified.

As a former Nigerian Ambassador to Ukraine, what were your major achievements in terms of the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Ukraine?

I succeeded in terms of citizen diplomacy, and what that means is a concern for Nigerians in Ukraine. I made sure I linked up with the internal affairs officer, the Controller General of the Immigration, and was told later that there were so many Nigerians in Ukraine who didn’t have passports and he promised to send an intervention team, which he did, and Nigerians were excited that they had that opportunity. The outcome of that intervention was that he sent a permanent team to Ukraine to issue passports. Up to today, passports are being issued to Nigerians in Ukraine. I was the only black ambassador in Ukraine, the rest were Arabs. The South African ambassador was a white man. I was called the Africa Ambassador because other Africans looked up to me for one thing or another. Also, I stopped xenophobia in Ukraine. I got to know that Russians were responsible for the introduction of xenophobia in Ukraine because they were opposing Ukrainians joining the EU. The standard of EU is that for a country to be admitted, it must be crime-free and tolerant. They do that to prevent Ukraine from joining the EU. So, Nigerians were being killed. In 2007 and 2008, Nigerians were being killed as a result of this. I issued a powerful press statement that Nigeria would no longer tolerate that. In other words, those responsible must be arrested. I emphasised in the statement that the parliament had to come up with a law against xenophobia. That forced the parliament to come up with a bill which was passed after six months. Now in Ukraine, if a child calls a black man ‘nigger’, the parents go to jail for two years. It is also on record that I brought 14 companies to Nigeria.

What is your perception of the raging war between Ukraine and Russia?

People have different perceptions concerning this war. The cold war between America and Russia is still on. People think it is over but it is not. When I was there, the Eastern part of Ukraine was Russian-speaking because of the boundary. The region that the Russians have annexed now has boundary with Russia. They see themselves as Russians in Ukarian territory. The advancement into Ukraine led to all this. In 2008, when Russian invaded the State of Georgia, I knew they were going to advance to Ukraine. The president of Russia has stated that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a mistake. He wants to rebuild the Soviet Union or reassure the world that Russia is a powerful nation. But looking at what has happened, Russia is now a Russia Federation, it is no longer former Soviet Union. In spite of this, Ukraine has the right as a sovereign nation. What brought the argument is that if Ukraine is admitted into the EU, Europe will use Ukraine as a buffer zone to annex Russia and so they would not be comfortable militarily. They also brought the argument of 1963 when Russia took their defence spot to Cuba and Americans refused it, saying that it was close to their boarder. These are the arguments. Frankly speaking, the loss of human lives and property is not good for any country.

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