Pious Nigerians can’t afford to abandon politics to bad people -Prof. Akintola

The director of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Professor Ishaq Akintola, speaks with SAHEED SALAWU on politics and governance in Nigeria.

What is your take on the preparations for the 2019 general election and what are your expectations?

I think [the Independent National Electoral Commission] INEC is set. The political parties are the problem. They are still defecting. They lack principle. There is no sense of loyalty in our politicians. There is no political culture we can be proud of. If the only rationale for leaving your party is because you could not get the ticket then your vision is blurred. You are a born divorcee. You are inconsistent. That is why we need a new class of politicians.

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Your organisation recently brought to the fore the relationship between religion and politics when it came to the defence of two prominent clerics, Reverend Matthew Kukah and Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, for the role they played in the rapprochement between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar. Could you expatiate on that, sir?

Those who think religious scholars should keep away from politics miss the point. You all can see what is happening in the political arena. Only a few politicians are trustworthy. They only take care of their personal interests. Look at the National Assembly. Are they working for us? Many politicians siphon our common patrimony to foreign countries. They purchase yatchs and private jets with our common wealth.

Religious scholars can add piety to politics. They can also attract patriotic citizens to politics. If good citizens abandon politics to bad people, then it is those bad people who will rule them. Bad laws will be promulgated. Do you remember when members of the NASS wanted to secure immunity for themselves? That is just one example. Their humongous salaries and other emoluments is another example.

 

Do you see yourself joining mainstream politics someday to try and put things right with your own hands?

I don’t have the flair for politics and I don’t intend to cultivate that culture. Nigerian politics in particular calls for the ability to deceive the people, a capacity to call black white. I can’t do any of those.

You can’t be a successful politician in Nigeria if you are too blunt. You can’t get along if you are not a natural kleptomaniac. That is the problem President Buhari has with the current capitalist bourgeoisie. He lives a Spartan life. They see him as fish out of water. But that is the kind of leader that can take Nigeria to El Dorado. Not the hawks that are hovering over the National Assembly.

 

In what areas would you advise the present administration in the country to step up its game?

Indiscipline is creeping into the ruling party. That is why there is misunderstanding between the party chairman and some state governors. They also need more counter propaganda. The present administration is up against smart Alecs who are capable of turning white into black. Many in the opposition camp are comedians in political garb. Many Nigerians are gullible people and these actors easily deceive them.

The information managers are trying their best but they still need to design faster and more effective ways of dealing with fake news. This is the first administration since colonial times that will pay serious attention to infrastructure. New roads are springing up everywhere. Dilapidated ones are being refurbished. Bridges are being constructed. Light rail has started in Abuja and railway is fully back on Lagos to Kano route. Lagos-Ibadan rail is 80 per cent completed. Who is going to use all these? It is the citizens. It is the taxpayers. Buhari could have diverted the $1.4 billion being used to construct the Lagos-Ibadan railway to buy private jets for himself and a yatch for his family. At least that was what some people did for the 16 years that they were in power. Yet some people want to bring them back. I wonder if common sense is common at all.

This administration needs to blow its own trumpet this time around. N-Power, school-feeding project, trader-moni and so many other social intervention programmes of this government need to be well propagated. There should be small leaflets in all Nigerian languages enumerating these colourful ideas. Instead of stealing money, this administration is sharing the money among the poor. It is touching lives at the grassroots level. There is every reason to take the news to the mountains and valleys.