By Daniel Kanu
Dr Sylvan Ebigwei, renowned consultant debtal surgeon, former chairman of the Governing Board, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital and president general emeritus, Aka-Ikenga, Ndigbo intellectual think tank, is worried just as he has one fear over the condition of the country.
The elder statesman told Sunday Sun the danger ahead, the challenge before the INEC, why Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour party is under undue attacks, the leadership Nigeria needs, among other national issues. Excerpts:
What is your take on the political parties and their campaigns so far, particularly the presidential candidates? Are you satisfied with the issues of the conversation?
I think, former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi is leading the pack as far as issues, real issues are concerned. Others are following. When you look at the APC and PDP candidates, it is just recently they started talking on issues unlike before when they were too critical of each other. I am sure they must have been advised by their political handlers to deviate from personalizing issues and concentrate on addressing issues, such as the economy, security, unity of the country, good governance and the way forward for Nigeria . Obi has refused to join in all that undue personal attacks, but addressing key issues . That, for me, is good for his campaign which seems to be gathering momentum each passing day, because the less they criticize themselves personally the better for the election, the better for the campaign and the better for Nigeria and to also enable Nigerians to understand where they are coming from, their sentiments, their selfishness and their patriotism. But so far, there is a little bit of positive tempo on the campaign strategy of most of the candidates. We are now having less rhetoric on personal attacks on candidates.
Obi seems to be receiving many attacks or you don’t think so?
Peter Obi is a torn in the flesh of the PDP and APC. You know in the past this country has never had alternatives, other than the PDP and APC, but it appears in the social media, Obi has become very popular and that is shaking the various political foundations of the APC and PDP. They have been rattled by the emergence of Peer Obi. They never imagined that a storm as this could hit them because it was not in their picture or permutation. So the only thing they can do is to see how they can use their propaganda to diminish Obi’s growing influence. Of course, they will want to use any means either through the social media or otherwise to bring him down. But you can see that the more they try the more Peter Obi is still getting more public sympathy, more popularity. During the week , we had a very good lecture from Prof Osuntokun at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). We used the opportunity to go down the memory lane to tell the true history of Nigeria, the patriotism, the political emancipation of Nigeria and all that. It was right from the time of Lord Lugard, Sir Clifford, Macpherson, Macauley, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Balewa, Awolowo, Sardauna, Okpara etc. We talked about how we had healthy competition, how we practiced parliamentary system of government etc. The various regions that formed the federation were in strong competion with one another because of the fiscal responsibility they had to bear etc. We talked about the supremacy of parliamentary system of government over the recent presidential system that we are practicing. Our erudite father of Nigerian politics, Chief Ayo Adebanjo was also on hand to talk on issues bordering on governance, on restructuring etc and he accused the military of disrupting the nascent democracy that was gradually evolving. It is sad that we now have a state, but we don’t have a nation. In all, all the people that spoke including representatives of the Middle Belt Forum, PANDEF, all pointed out that the Igbo, the Southeast in the spirit of equity, justice and fairness should produce the next president and Chief Ayo Adebanjo did not mince words in declaring the position of Afenifere that the Southeast should be supported in producing the next president of Nigeria. The North and the Southwest, so far have had a fair share in producing the president of this country. it is sad that the two leading parties, APC and the PDP failed to give the Southeast this unique opportunity and still allowed the North and Southwest to scheme the Southeast out. It was a good lecture that showed that most of the zones are supporting the Southeast vis-a-vis the massive support for Peter Obi through the Labour Party.
How will you react to the attack by the governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo on Peter Obi?
To me, and to many of us across Nigeria, it’s very strange that Soludo will toe such line. They are from the same state and in my language they say that no matter how bad your son is, you can defend him in the public, but at home you spank the person. Why must he make such an issue public? What is he trying to achieve or what has he achieved? He is the governor of Anambra State, where Obi was a governor that everybody knew that he performed, so he does not need to do what he is doing openly and to me, such thing is disappointing to all of us. You can see the condemnation that has trailed what Soludo did. Obi has shown leadership over the years and it will be difficult to rubbish his credentials because it is outstanding, it is verifiable. Peter Obi is not a noise maker, he does his talk. I have been the President of Aka-Ikenga, Obi is a member of Aka-Ikenga and Soludo too is a member of Aka-Ikenga, so all of us share the same values. Today, you are a governor, tomorrow you will not be there, so we need to be very careful at all times for the things we do or say. Soludo will now see that he has become less popular than before unless he wants to deceive himself to think otherwise. Many of us were in support of him and his aspiration before, but now his action has been so disappointing, the vituperation from him against Obi is unnecessary, very unnecessary and disappointing.
There was a recent court verdict mandating INEC to continue voter’s card registration?
I think it’s good, it is kudos to Nigeria, to INEC and the youth population, especially those that are yet to register, it’s another opportunity. It’s an opportunity to many Nigerians who today have attained the age of 18, the voting age. But the court says 90 days to the election and when you now look at the time and all that is involved, it is now left for INEC to know how best or the best they can do with the time. Most people that did the last voter registration are still complaining that they are yet to receive their voters’ cards, their PVCs. These are the issues that INEC must quickly sort out, ensure that people that registered get their PVC, ensure that they use the BVAS, ensure that there is electronic transfer of results as promised. INEC must endeavour to build confidence in Nigerians by assuring them that the votes must count this time around. There is a huge challenge before the INEC and they must make sure they deliver free, fair and credible election in 2023. If the 2023 election is saboutaged or perceived as such, the consequences may be unimaginable. I think election registration should be an ongoing affair, it should not be time bound, every Nigerian has a fundamental right as soon as you are 18 years to have the PVC and vote for candidates of your choice. Is INEC telling us that from now till that election day, no Nigerian has attained the age of 18? So, voter registration should be an ongoing exercise. The extension of the registration exercise is a positive development and many of us, and I am sure, the majority are in support of that.
Do you have the fears that the present security threat will pose serious challenge to the 2023 elections?
From what we are reading from the media, certain sections of this country are under the control of bandits and such areas are no-go areas for electoral officers. So how can they conduct elections in such areas? There are areas we hear that bandits are collecting taxes. Which electoral officer will go to such volatile place to conduct an election? Maybe, it is only those that are in the ID camps that may have the capacity to vote and those that have shifted out of those areas. So the way things are now, certain areas of this country will surely be denied of their voting right because of violence and insecurity.
What are your fears for Nigeria today or you have none?
I don’t have fears for Nigeria. There is a lot of media hype that this or that will happen. Nigeria is too large for few bandits to confront and decimate, we are too big for comfort, we are too big to fail, there are challenges here and there, but at the same time there are opportunities for waxing strong, as this is just a passing phase. The challenge ahead is that of leadership. The only fear that Nigerians have is that the security agencies are manned, majorly by one section of the country. So because of this people are now reading meanings that, that section of the country has some secret agenda over the country. But if the leadership of the security agencies cuts across other ethnic groups, such fear will not arise. We are praying that when the next leadership emerges they will be able to balance all this ethnic imbalance, the inequality which is really outrageous. Other sections of the country must be represented in the security architecture of the country, it should not be this lopsided. Only one section of the country is involved in security leadership and such does not urgur well for countries with our kind of diversity. There must be inclusiveness. The people causing a lot of security havoc in the country today equally come from that section of the country that is solely controlling security, and so it raises critical questions. We have suffered the civil war and nobody is ready to fight another civil war. But the government must be sensitive to the demands of the moment and rise to the challenge. When you continue to project injustice into a political system, it will just be a matter of time, the people will agitate, they will resist bad governance over time. Nigerians have suffered in recent years, no thanks to bad governance. So moving forward, this country needs a competent leader, a de-tribalise leader, one that is well-informed about the economy, a leader that is young and can take charge of security of the country. We must have a leader who has a vision and the capacity to translate that vision to reality, a leader that is patriotic and that will put Nigeria on a progressive path. A Zelensky-type of leadership, that is young, focused and proactive to critical issues.