Barrister Kenneth Udeze Obidiche, the National Chairman of Action Alliance (AA), in this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, takes a hard look on the two years of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

 

On May 29, the current administration will be two years in office. What will you consider its major achievements?


Major achievements are measured in terms of progress and development, not in terms of hunger and deprivation. You cannot say that a government has made progress when the masses, who the government is supposed to provide for, are wallowing in abject poverty as a result of government’s inability to create employment, food security, economic stability, infrastructure, etc. These are some of the major indices used to measure achievements of a government. But they have been mostly absent as far as this government is concerned and it is two years and counting.

To what extent has the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration at the centre has fulfilled its campaign promises to Nigerians?

It is the citizens that will determine whether the promises for which they voted this government into power are being fulfilled. To determine that, certain questions are pertinent. How many jobs have been created by this government? What is the security situation in the country right now with regards to Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism? What is the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar? What conditions are our highways, airports, inner roads, railways in at the moment? What is the wage package of an average Nigerian worker? Do the farmers have enough incentives and encouragement from government to ensure food sufficiency through improved production? If the answers to these nagging questions and others are in the affirmative or otherwise, then you can have the answer to the question you posed.

Would you say the government has been prudent in the management of the economy?

We need to define our economic situation first before one can determine whether or not there has been prudent management. If you are not able to differentiate between fiscal policy and monetary policy, then you cannot manage the economy not to talk of managing it prudently. As we speak now, there are almost three currency regimes in this country and our economic managers cannot strike a balance between the exchange rate of the dollar to the naira. Some people buy the dollar at a different rate in the bank and others at a different rate in the “black market”. The government agency responsible for these disparities cannot offer a solution. Do we call that prudent economic management? What do you say about missing budget, budget padding, etc? These are serious questions that beg for serious answers.

Some people are saying that the nation is out of recession, while some say it is on its way out of recession. To what extent would you say the federal government has been able to pull the nation out of recession?

You know, recession is a normal economic phenomenon, which if well managed, should not cause unnecessary brouhaha. It is a temporary economic decline in which case trade goes down because industry is also down. Different countries have experienced recession at one time or the other, including the most industrialised and developed nations. What they have done is to increase incentives to boost industrialisation and attract foreign investment, and thereby increasing trade activities. You cannot pull your economy out of recession by shouting and bulk passing, apportioning blames. You should put up an economic think tank to fashion ways of boosting trade through increased industrialisation and attraction of Direct Foreign Investment. I don’t think this government has done enough required to balance trade and industry in order to pull the economy out of recession.

The anti-corruption crusade has been a major focus of the administration. Would you subscribe to the successes been claimed by the government in this regard? 

For you to say that the anti-corruption war is successful, you should measure the spillover effects of the campaign on the general well-being of the masses. Every government should aim at improving the livelihood of the citizens. The masses should not continue to suffer on the excuse that government is fighting graft. All the so-called recovered loot, where are they? How many of the looters have been prosecuted and jailed? How much money have you saved from blocking loopholes of administrative and fiscal waste? And where have you reinvested the recovered loot? Honestly speaking, you cannot be fighting corruption with corruption and expect to achieve positive results. Genuine anti-graft war should not be an avenue for vendetta. Some of the people in this government have been alleged to be corrupt at one time or the other. Yet, they are being protected with the paraphernalia of government authority. Then, how can we say there is progress in the war against corruption? Are some people above the law in our country?

The APC has been touting President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term in 2019. From his performances in the first two years of the administration and his ill-health, do you think he deserves a second term?

It is only a very healthy person that aspires to rule a nation as complex as Nigeria and whose challenges are as hydra-headed as the monster, hydra, itself. Our President has tried his best to muzzle energy in the last two years to face the challenges of governance. But, the truth is that you cannot cheat nature. His health is failing and it will be very unfair to keep pushing him to continue. He is an elder statesman and that is the role he should be playing at this point in his life, so that he doesn’t break down. Anyone or group calling on President Buhari to continue in office as President is not only an enemy of the President, but also an enemy of this country. We need to move forward and make progress. This country is endowed by God with rich capable human resources that can steer the abundant mineral and material resources of this nation towards progress and prosperity for the masses. We must make progress.

A cross section of Nigerians sees former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as a better option to President Buhari for the APC. What is your take on this possibility?

 

Everything is possible in politics. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been around a long time and he has the right to aspire to the highest public office in the land, himself having been a number two man in the saddle during the Olusegun Obasanjo era. However, there are other factors that are considered in aspiring to public office, especially the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I cannot speak for APC on whom to hand over their tickets to during the 2019 elections; neither can I speak for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and others aspirants on their preferred platforms for attaining their ambitions. What I can say is that Nigeria deserves a better deal and we have a very credible platform in Action Alliance (AA).


How would you explain the defections of top politicians to the APC in recent time?

Defections have unfortunately become part of the democratic culture in our political development. This trend seriously threatens the entrenchment of institutional democracy in our system, vis a vis political parties. We no longer have strong political parties in opposition because party men and women are so weak in character with unbridled penchant for jumping ship into the ruling party without recourse to the party that facilitated their elections into public office. There must be a serious constitutional check against this trend unless we all want our country to plunge into a one party state that eventually breeds despotism. I think it is mostly people that have baggage in their kitty that jump ship in order to receive protection from the ruling party or gratification from government.

With the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) do you think your party, the Action Alliance, can give the APC a good challenge come 2019 elections bearing in mind that a lot of Nigerians still see it as small?

It is the ideology of a political party that makes it strong psychologically, and make people buy into the manifesto of the party and strengthen it numerically. The ideology of Action Alliance is open, simple, strong and masses-oriented. What we are doing now is to sensitive the people and water down this ideology so that the people will understand that they are the primary stakeholders in the government business. Both APC and PDP have ‘clique’ or ‘cult’ orientations and they have bamboozled the people into fear and uncertainty using the apparati of government. Fortunately, the people are more enlightened now politically. They can see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. AA offers that light and we are asking as many young people as want to be involved in government to come to AA and purchase Nomination and Expression of Interest Forms free of charge to contest elections at the various levels of government. We are ready to challenge the status quo.

What is your 2019 vision for Nigerians?

In 2019, I see a Nigeria where the masses will rise to speak with one voice showing their displeasure with the anti-peoples policies of the present APC government and with a collective strength show them the red card to the exit door, having failed millions of Nigerian masses, especially the poor and unemployed literates. I also see a Nigeria where the so-called elite will be shocked to their bone marrow with the level of political consciousness of the people, whom I see to reject any form of enticement and be bold enough to elect leaders that will step down the tension in the land. I see a vision in 2019 where people will choose the ideology of AA…’That the masses may live’.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is said to be surrounded by Aso Rock cabal that would not allow him perform to the optimum. What is your take on this?

The Acting President is a renowned lawyer and technocrat. I am sure he knows what his constitutional rights and privileges are. He also comes from a political and religious pedigree to the extent that he may not be one to be easily pushed around. So far, I don’t think that his duties have been usurped. What the so-called cabal is doing is taking advantage of the Office of the President due to the failing health of the Commander-in-Chief. The Office of the Acting President has not been infringed upon to the best of my knowledge.


http://independent.ng/may-29-nigerians-deserve-better-deal-obidiche/