Comrade Razaq Olokoba, a human rights activist, is the national president, Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG). In this interview with OLAMIDE ENIOLA, he examines the chances of the candidates of the leading political parties: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the coming election and the fear of violence ahead of the polls.
HOW do you see the prevailing political atmosphere in the country, with about two weeks to the presidential poll?
First, we have to congratulate Nigerians on the situation surrounding the coming election. If you look at the atmosphere now, you would be delighted that peace is reigning. In the previous elections since 1999 till 2015, we have witnessed situations that had made the rest of the world laugh at us as uncivilised as per the kind of elections that we have held in term of credibility and the kind of violence that trailed the elections. But this coming election is going to be the cheapest election we are going to hold in the history of Nigeria. What has come to play now is everybody praising the man in power, Muhammadu Buhari.
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This is because he has raised the consciousness of the people, both the youth and the old to realise that whether you vote or you don’t vote, democracy will go on. And the people that decide to vote would vote and determine your fate. By this, people now realise that it is important to participate in electoral processes without expecting money, gratifications or incentives from anybody. So, the consciousness is a welcome development. And that is going to account for the coloration of the election and how the exercise would end. So, the coming election has the likelihood of being free, fair and credible. If you look at what the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has done, it promised to register 80 million voters. But now, it has registered over 84 million voters. That is highly impressive.
The question you would ask is, the previous voters’ registrations, why were people not willing to come out? The answer is not far-fetched. It was because they had no confidence in the electoral process. This time, there is confidence in the electoral process. The government has showed indications that they have introduced a lot of facilities that would make the coming election credible. With what is on ground, snatching ballot boxes or stealing of ballot papers would not be productive. The ballot papers in Ikeja will be different from the ones in Badagry in terms of colour and serial numbers. Gradually, sanity is coming into our electoral process.
But how would you assess both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), given what is on ground so far?
The two strongest parties in Nigeria today are APC and PDP. However, as days passed by, PDP has become weaker and weaker and what might have been responsible for the party’s dwindling fortunes by every passing day? It is the track record. Looking at elections from 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, you would not be proud to be a Nigerian because of the quality of those elections. And who were the people responsible for those elections? The track record is what makes the people to discredit the PDP every day. The PDP becomes weaker, stronger the APC becomes.
For once, we are having our country back. We have a nation that we can call our own after the PDP’s failure. The APC under the leadership of Muhammadu Buhari has performed wonderfully. We have realised that during our life time, we can witness integrity and dignity in governance. We have realised that, during our life time, we can enjoy dividends of democracy. And that is going to inform the shape of things to come in the coming election.
Some Nigerians do not share your views about the Buhari administration; they have accused the government of various things, with the PDP, which you claim has become weaker being the major contender to the presidential office. What do you envisage as the likely outcome of the election?
There is every possibility that Buhari will win the coming election. The first 11 in the PDP, more than half of them had left the party. The remaining half of the rest is suffering from lukewarm attitude while the last half has also suffered from thorough demoralisation. I don’t see PDP winning. I don’t see Atiku winning. As far as I am concerned, if you look at the economy under Buhari, you would realise that for the first time, we are building our economy with genuine indices. The previous indices of the PDP were fabrications.
This is the time we are really building our economy and it is coming back to its feet. The question people are asking is about the hardship and I have a readymade answer for them. When Buhari was coming, I knew very well that anybody who assured that the rot in Nigeria’s economy would be fixed in few months’ time, that person must be playing politics with my life. So, I braced up for the challenge and sacrifice for what we are witnessing today. The pace at which our economy is recovering, I knew that it is the pace the pain is going to go.
So, I am shocked when our elites who are brilliant and intelligent fell for the blackmail from the politicians that our economy is not improving. I was shocked when they expected the economy to get back to normal in two or three months. I knew this was going to be the case, so, I didn’t fool myself. I know the process of recovery is technical and the sophistication can only be achieved by a president who is sincere like Buhari. So, in the economy, I give Buhari excellent mark, not just pass mark. If we want to segment by going into economy, security, value system, peace and fight against corruption, if we sum it up, what we would arrive at is that Buhari has performed excellently.
But going by your organisation’s name, has Buhari passed your Integrity Test?
Yes, Buhari and his party have passed our integrity test. On so many occasions, we have assessed President Buhari and we came back to realise that he is a man of integrity. He is being celebrated all over the world for the fight against corruption. The local impression is that, for the first time, we are serious and committed to the fight against corruption. Corruption is becoming an ideology in Nigeria, which people study to have the erroneous impression that in Nigeria, you cannot prosper unless you have access to public funds and that, as a public officer, you cannot survive unless you dip your hands into the nation’s treasury. That was the popular impression the younger ones had but Buhari came and changed it. In Nigeria, we have seen the youth calling fraudsters their role models. We have seen youths, who had the impression that what we call corruption is actually a way of life the country. It was getting to that point. But
Buhari came and redefined what is called integrity, which was the other way in Nigeria.
Buhari would prepare a budget and present it to the parliament. Six, seven months, the parliamentarians would be dilly-dallying on it. Buhari has made Nigerians now realise that we cannot continue to pay extra price for the people we are paying salary to do their job. That one alone stands him out among the previous leaders as a man of impeccable character that has passed our integrity test.
So, with all the above-mentioned qualities, you will agree with me that, Buhari as president deserves to come back for a second term in office to continue the good work he has started. A new guy in office would destroy the good work we have started to enjoy. So, as a group, we will continue to tell the people that the previous road that led to perfidy has been abandoned. The road that leads to prosperity is what Buhari is leading us through and that is why we are going to support Buhari in the coming election with all our might and all our numerical strength.
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