Daniel Kanu
Former presidential candidate of National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 election, Martin Onovo, an engineer, is a journalist delight any day as he is not one that will want to parry a reporter’s question. Before his foray into politics, he was the president of the Strategic Union of Professionals for the Advancement of Nigeria (SUPA), a group of professionals from all disciplines, who with in-depth research and highly informed opinions have developed solutions to many national challenges.
In this interview, he identified the things that are wrong with the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government. From security challenge, dwindling economy, fruitless corruption crusade, controversial oil subsidy and humiliation of the judiciary among others, vintage Onovo said that Nigeria cannot work the way things are being run. Excerpt:
Let’s know your random thoughts on the 2019 presidential election?
The 2019 presidential election is the worst presidential election we have ever had in Nigeria. The security forces took sides with the ruling party and unleashed violence not only on voters, but on INEC officers. There was voter suppression in most southern states while outrageous and inconsistent figures were published by INEC for many northern states. Even Borno State which Prof Yemi Osinbajo confessed that most of its territory is inaccessible to health workers due to insurgency returned close to a million votes which is more than the votes from most southern states. You will recall that the Shehu of Borno had earlier complained that people cannot go more than three kilometers outside Maiduguri without the risk of attack by insurgents. The reports of most election observers both domestic and foreign condemned the charade. Even with all the manipulations, the ruling party still lost the election because the whole country has rejected General Muhammadu Buhari. But, the results were falsified as was confirmed by the evidence on the INEC server. Our INEC contact informed us that the delay in the announcement of the results was due to the time it took to falsify the results. The evidence that the ruling party lost the election is overwhelming. The announcement of the fake results put the entire country in a mourning mood and the stock market reacted with a heavy loss. Clearly, General Buhari lost the election and he must accept defeat. Already, many political parties have gone to the presidential election tribunal to challenge what they see as fake results published by the INEC. Unfortunately, Justice (Mrs) Zainab Bulkachawa, President of the Court of Appeal, appointed herself the presiding judge of the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal. I knew there was no way she was not going to resign. It would have been unethical and unacceptable for her to remain. This is because Justice Bulkachawa’s son, husband, and brother are leading members of the ruling party that oversaw the INEC falsification of the presidential elections result. Therefore, she is an interested party as she cannot be expected to rule against the interest of her nuclear family and her brother. You can see that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s lawyers genuinely and reasonably questioned her impartiality. So, it’s good she stepped aside.
How do you see the present security challenge in the country?
The security situation is the result of the catastrophic failure of the current government. This is the highest level of insecurity ever in the country that we are witnessing. The immediate causes are the perversion of public morality, the high level of unemployment, the pervasive corruption, crushing poverty, abuse of security forces, the nepotism and incompetence that are celebrated by the government. All these causes can be traced to the unpatriotic, incompetent and corrupt government of General Buhari. The perversion of public morality, the massive corruption, and impunity promoted by the current regime have encouraged many unscrupulous citizens to follow the bad example of our current rulers. The unemployment rate and unprecedented loss of jobs have also contributed to some citizens resorting to crime for survival. Unfortunately, these same rulers have abused our security forces and demotivated security personnel thereby undermining their effectiveness and capacity to control the situation. Leadership is by example. The very bad examples of violation of constitutional norms, violation of court orders, abuse of authority, crass corruption, forgery, perjury, deceit, abuse of security forces and impunity have encouraged both active and dormant criminals to act without caution. For me, President Buhari is a catastrophic failure in government.
Are you worried about the nation’s economic challenges, unemployment, and alarming debt profile?
Most definitely, we are very worried. This government led by General Buhari inherited a growing economy. In about 13 months they drove the economy into a recession. Subsequently, they drove it into economic stagflation and now they have driven the country into a debt trap. Over ten million workers have lost their jobs since this government came to power. A report by Aljazeera said: “Nigeria’s unemployment level is beyond crisis levels”. This is definitely one of the factors fueling the current insecurity in Nigeria. On the alarming debt profile, total public debt is presently over N23 trillion up from N12.1 trillion when this government was inaugurated in 2015. In the 2018 budget, debt obligations got about N2.4 trillion up from N943 billion in the 2015 budget. Currently, nearly 40 per cent of Federal Government revenue is applied to debt obligations. We are currently borrowing to service our debts. The country is already a debt trap.
How do you see the action of Governor Ganduje in the creation of new Kano Emirates?
It seems clear that this is political vendetta to humiliate HRM, the Emir of Kano and curtail his influence. This is typical of the ruling party and its members. They always abuse their authority by using it for political vendetta against those that oppose their corruption.
So, how can you briefly assess this President Buhari-led APC government?
Clearly as published since 2016 by Dr Femi Aribisala Ph.D (Oxford), this is, “the worst government in the history of Nigeria”. The government published that its three priorities are anti-corruption, security and the economy. Looking at the three priorities, it is clear that the government failed woefully and even made things much worse in all its three priority areas. Let us look briefly at each priority: Corruption is much worse. While the government was promoting massive corruption, it deceived some citizens that it was fighting corruption. We know of the N400 billion a year subsidy scam, the NNPC N50 billion diverted away from the TSA, N18 billion BCDA contracts scam, N1.1 trillion crude oil stolen through unregistered companies, the N5.8 billion NEMA contracts fraud, the NHIS scams, the $320 million Abacha loot recovered and dissipated, the $25 billion (N8T) NNPC contracts scam, etc. The security situation is much worse. From the fourth most terrorized country in the world in 2015, Nigeria is now the third most terrorized country in the world. Boko Haram has resurged after the government negotiated with them, paid them two million Euros (C2M) as ransom and released many of their fighters and bomb makers that were arrested by the previous government. Under President Buhari and General Buratai, Boko Haram has destroyed 22 Nigeria Army operations bases since this government came to power. The bases include Metele, Gajiram, Mainok, Rann, Geidam, Malam Fatori, Magumeri, Sasawa, Buni gari, Arege, Zari, Arge, Jilli, Kareto, Kunduga, Garunda, Gudumbali, Damasak, Mafa, Gamboru-ngala, Kanama, Gashigha. Also, terrorist herdsmen have caused mayhem all over Nigeria. They attack and displace citizens and take over their communities. Under Buhari, the number of Nigerian IDPs rose from 1.8 million to 4 million. Some IDPs were bombed and killed at the Rann IDP camp under this government. Currently, even serving Nigeria Army Generals avoid Abuja – Kaduna expressway for fear of kidnappers that have taken over the road. It has never been this bad. The economy that was growing when Buhari came to power has been completely ruined. He drove Nigeria to an economic recession, subsequently, he drove it into economic stagflation as I said earlier and then, he drove it into a debt trap with the reckless and unpatriotic borrowing of his government. He is desperately driving the country now to debt crisis. Every macro-economic indicator is worse than before he came to power. GDP is worse, inflation is worse, our naira has lost almost 50 per cent of its value, Total Public Debt has over-doubled, unemployment is the worst ever in the history of the country. According to Prof Adebanji Akintoye, ‘Buhari has destroyed our country’.
Do you think restructuring Nigeria is feasible given the fact it has to pass through the National Assembly and state assemblies?
Restructuring Nigeria is most definitely feasible. Once we can reach a national consensus on restructuring, the National Assembly and all state assemblies will align.
Some people have pleaded with Atiku Abubakar to withdraw his suit and let the sleeping dog lie. Do you share in that view?
No! His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has shown himself a leader and a democrat by taking the falsification of the results of the presidential election to court. That is the right thing to do. He has done the right thing. All patriots have been applauding him.
Do you think Nigeria needs electoral reform?
The more important need is for the integrity of the ballot to be respected by INEC. Even if we have electoral reform and INEC continues to falsify results then nothing will be achieved. We must first ensure that votes count. Votes will only count if INEC respects the integrity of the ballot.
What is your view on what is happening to the judiciary?
The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) previously warned all Nigerians early in the life of this President Buhari regime, about the intimidation of the judiciary by the regime. Instead of rising to defend our judiciary we watched the videos of armed policemen storming the residences of judges at midnight. Thereafter, the government used a Jankara market ex-parte motion to hound the Chief Justice of Nigeria out of office. Now, so many judges have been intimidated, others are being blackmailed and some others have been compromised. It’s a sad development.
What do you say to the advice by the IMF that the Federal Government should remove fuel subsidy?
That advice to remove fuel subsidy is inappropriate. IMF recommendations for Nigeria have failed consistently without exception since the last 30 years. All the countries including Nigeria that accepted IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme suffered serious economic loss. The neo-liberal postulations of IMF are inappropriate for our social-democratic political history and culture. IMF clearly does not understand and has never understood our socio-economic predicament. In December 2016, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo posited publicly that, “the downstream sector has been deregulated with the elimination of petroleum subsidy. This policy has removed from government, a burden of not less than N15.4 billion monthly.” Now, why is IMF now back to the same “remove fuel subsidy” chorus again? It seems the IMF does not understand the ‘price cyclone’ associated with increasing the price of imported fuel. Apparently, lazy IMF “researchers” simply copy generic neo-liberal templates and recommend them inappropriately for Nigeria without a good understanding of our socio-economic challenges. IMF interestingly identified the problem of the fuel subsidy scheme as massive corruption in this government, which according to the IMF includes corruptly re-exporting expensive imported petroleum products. Instead of addressing the issue as identified, the IMF jumped to its pre-determined neo-liberal conclusion that is clearly erroneous.
Fuel price per litre has been increased about 20 times since 1973 and the results have all been terrible. From 8k to 15k to 20k to 42k to 60k to 70k to N3.25 ….. to N145. Why are lazy IMF researchers repeating a remedy that has failed consistently 20 times? We challenge IMF to a debate on the subject. Considering that Nigeria is currently the global capital of poverty, an increase in fuel price now will make our situation worse. Macro-economic instability will follow, inflation, unemployment, poverty, disease, and insecurity will increase. The Naira will again lose value further. The IMF recommendation is very inappropriate. The solution to the fuel subsidy situation is simple and has been known since the General Gowon regime. We proposed the same solution during our presidential campaign in 2015. That solution is that we must stop the wasteful importation of expensive petroleum products by increasing domestic refining capacity. To increase domestic refining capacity, we can simply maintain and upgrade all existing refineries and build a new one. With that, we can stop the importation of petroleum products and eliminate the subsidy. We will also boost our GDP, increase employment and conserve Forex.