The political class has questions to answer over Nigeria’s insecurity —Middle Belt leader, Pogu

Dr Bitrus Pogu is the National President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF). In this interview by ISAAC SHOBAYO, he speaks on 22 years of uninterrupted democratic rule and the factors militating against the growth of Nigeria.

Twenty-two years of interrupted democratic government, what is your assessment of Nigeria so far?

Things are no longer what they used to be. We are not getting  better. The country is sliding. Those in leadership positions are becoming more dictatorial. They are not operating by the rule of law. Insecurity is  increasing. There is no peace in the land. But we should thank God that in spite of all these, we are still together as a nation. Nigerians have weathered all sorts of problems. Our electoral  system is not what we would have wanted it to be. Outcomes of elections in this country are nothing to write home about. We are  progressing in some areas but I think there are areas where we are still lacking.

 

Are you saying that the political class has not learnt from what led to the collapse of the first and second republics?

I wouldn’t say no because we are still struggling to make it right. All this insecurity has some political undertone. I dont believe insurgency just came out of the blue. Most of the issues associated with insecurity are politically motivated, so the political  class has a lot to learn. The political class needs to brace up and become more patriotic in thier approach to politics and democracy. Although we have some beacons of hope, there are lots of things to be done to stabilise the polity. If you look at the performance of the political class, there are things that are quite disturbing. They seem to be playing bread-and-butter kind of politics. They keep jumping from one political party to another; there is no clear-cut ideology.

In the past 22 years, only a handful of them have not defected on flimsy grounds. Ideological politics is lacking in Nigeria.  The majority of our politicians are after their own pockets rather than serving the people. Many of those in government used the apparatus of government to arm-twist the electoral process for selfish reasons. There are quite a lot things that we have to overcome if we want democracy in the true sense of it.

 

What is your assessment of the crusade against corruption in the past 22 years?

With regard to the fight against corruption, we have performed woefully, especially with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration that came with the slogan of change and fight against corruption. The problem of corruption has continued to rear its head and it is fuelled by nepotism, especially  in this present government. What I mean is that a high rate of corruption combined with nepotism can kill a nation. What is in vogue now is to cover those that are with you and deal with those that are against you. Corruption under President Buhari has become a weapon against the opposition or people perceived as enemies of the government. I also don’t believe that we have attained nationhood because we have many issues that are pulling us apart. Because of this, we have agitations for secession more than before. What we knew in the ‘60s was Biafra and now we have agitations all over. Even in the North, some people are fed up but the government doesn’t seem to know how to address it. So, the corruption bedevilling the system is on the increase. It is affecting every aspect of our existence. It is very unfortunate that 22 years down the line, the government is yet to tackle corruption.

 

Many Nigerians are of the opinion that the country has never had it so bad since Independence in terms of insecurity. Do you subscribe to the general belief that politicians are fuelling the security problem to their own advantage?

From all indications, politicians are part of the security problem. Before it came in, the current government promised to address the situation. However, bombing of places was intensified when they came in but beyond that, other dimensions of insecurity continue  to rear their heads. People are killed in their numbers but nobody apprehends the killers. From there, we graduated to kidnapping  for ransom. The government has never taken seriously, its primary and constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property. They know those who are collecting the ransom and where they are being paid to the extent that (Sheikh Ahmad) Gumi do visit these elements but the government never cares to root them out. So, all these give an impression that the government is in collusion with these characters. Whatever it is, whether it is government or people out of government, the political  class has questions to answer. The government has totally failed in this regard not because it cannot but because it is unwilling to do the needful to secure Nigeria. It is unfortunate  that the government is yet to find solutions to all these. The political class needs to reasses itself and do the right things, especially  those in power.

 

What is your assessment of Infrastructural development at the centre in the past 22 years?

If I go back to 1999 when (Olusegun) Obasanjo took over, he took over with a foreign reserve of about N11 billion. Crude was selling at the lowest level ever and we were pumping just some millions of barrels per day, yet the government was able to manage the economy and grow it. It also ensured that all the debts were renegotiated, had debt forgiveness and the country was able to begin on a clean slate. Yar’Adua came. Although he didn’t stay long, he did his best, stopped all forms of sabotage on oil production. When Jonathan  came in, things were happening. The economy continued  to grow but when the present administration came in, they started by accusing their predecessors and engaged in blame game and accusations throughout the first tenure without doing anything. Nigerians advised them to be focused but they continued  with the blame  game for relevance. Since 2015, things have been nose-diving. Today, one dollar is about N500 in the open market. Prices of commodities have doubled and in some cases tripled. It has been propaganda upon propaganda. The indices are there. I am not talking politics, our debt is on the increase. We have retrogressed but they should get their act together because this is the last chance and opportunity for President Buhari to put things right. The people around him as well need to sit up to change the narrative, otherwise he would go down in history as the president that led Nigeria into a worse situation, economy or government  that would be credited with propaganda rather than action.

 

What about the electoral law?

Unless the electoral law is changed, cancellation, inflation of figures, all irregularities and malpractices will continue to be perpetrated by desperate politicians. We are advocating that there should be electronic voting. Transfer of results from polling units to collation centres should be through the electronic process so that human factors will be cut out. That is the way we can get it right.

 

What is your take on the ongoing public hearings on constitution review by the National Assembly?

Well, let them go on but I don’t think they would yield desirable results, knowing what Nigeria is. Anyway, let us continue to be busy so that it will be on record that people made their inputs. But a true constitution review will start with what we did at the 2014 constitutional conference, including the El-Rufai committee report. These can give us a constitution that the people can rely on as their own.The ongoing review cannot get us anywhere. We have the 2014 conference report which covers every aspect where we desire amendment. Also, the government itself has the El-Rufai committee report. If the two are married together, they will give us the constitution that we want. Even the leaders of the ongoing constitutional review committee are from one side of the country. It means that from the beginning, the whole thing is faulty. We cannot have members from one section of the country and say we are doing something that is nationalistic. Quite a lot of things are wrong and I don’t think it will go anywhere.

 

Why do you think the present government is unwilling to touch the 2014 national conference report?

There is nepotism at the centre of the activities of this government. The 2014 confab was more inclusive than any other confab in terms of composition. Those that were excluded in the previous exercises were given the opportunity to take part and express themselves and we had a very balanced report. Unfortunately, this government doesn’t want a balanced report, going by the way appointments and other things are being done. It is up to them to do the right thing because history  has a way of judging  people. One may think that they are on top of the situation now but what happens tomorrow? No system stays forever. What is constant and permanent is change. So, there will be changes whether we like it or not because  that is the permanent thing.

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