Omoniyi Salaudeen

Senator Ayo Arise, who represented Ekiti North Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011, has expressed concern over the sundry allegations of financial mismanagement leveled against Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. 

In this interview, he dismissed the allegation as a set up and urged the embattled VP to institute legal action against his adversaries

 

Nigeria just marked her 59th independence anniversary. What is your assessment of the state of the nation and the journey so far?

Our nation is still work in progress, just like every other nation. We have cause to celebrate in some spheres, but we still have a long way to go. There are still many areas where we are looking forward for improvement. I hope that as we continue to move on, we would address some of the areas of concern as part of the work in progress. We still have challenges of the economy, challenges of security, and corruption. We hope that in another year, we would have cause to thank God for achieving another milestone in the life of our nation. The most important thing is for the country to continue to grow on the path of progress. Once we are able to launch into the digital environment, we will get there. We have achieved a lot in the area of agriculture in the last 30 years and we are trying to diversify the economy. These are the areas we can continue to build upon. I think by and large, we have hope for the future in this country.

You have been watching the seeming innocuous drama about fraud allegation levelled against the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. Some people believe that the smoke screen is part of the scheming for 2023. What is your take on this matter?

If it is about 2023, I don’t think we have to destroy ourselves because of politics. The little I know about the VP personally, what we are reading seems to be a little far away from the character that many people see in him. But, of course, some people can be very simple and might not be mindful of how people around them behave. Without saying anything much, I think he needs some kind of response to allay the fears of many of us. I keep on saying; it is always good to come out clean. The first thing is for him to debunk some of these things as quickly as possible. It is very worrisome to many of us. So, he should make effort to ensure that these things are addressed and those people trying to do that deliberately or otherwise are sued for attempt to destroy his reputation. He should make sure as much as possible he keeps his reputation intact. I have a lot of respect for him. But the few things I have read in the last few days really call for worry.

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His travails have been linked to the composition of a new economic team.

(Cuts in)…If they are talking in terms of the issue of the economic team, yes, people have been complaining about the economy. And, of course, ordinarily, he is a busy person as vice president. If those people who have been put there can do a better job, so be it. If it is in terms of putting money in the pocket of the people, giving people access to some little money, it is a great strategy because many people can’t even afford N1000 a month. If the government steps in to say the poor of the poor must be removed from that stratum, I believe that policy is a good one to revamp or ginger up the economy. Once there is buying power, those in the productive sector can begin to set up factories. But if you build factories, and people cannot afford what you are selling, it makes no sense. If you empower people somehow for them to be able to buy food, you’re already creating market for productive sector. As we are producing rice, cassava now, if people have more purchasing power, those producing will be able to continue in their business. Those are ways you can gradually grow the economy back. I don’t see anything wrong with the policy. Of course, people have the right to question the business side of it. Were they advertised for people to participate? If they were advertised, there will be no way to say this person is being hunted for no reasons.

Are you talking about N-Power programme or TraderMoni, which he disbursed during the election?

That money as far as I know was not given because of the election. That was already part of the plan of the government. During the campaign, they had decided that there would be social safety net for the poor of the poor and they started with the school feeding in primary schools. They also had cash transfer. I am familiar with these to some extent. I am not one of the policy designers, but I took my time to look at some of its consequences. TraderMoni is just one way to ensure that those people who want to find something to do for themselves are lifted up because the government of this country does not have the capacity to employ everybody. On the long run, some of these things will help the country. The question people should be asking is whether or not they have stopped giving out that money after the election. That is the kind of question I expect people to be asking. If they have stopped giving that money after the election, then it certainly means it was given for the cause of the election. If it still continues, people should stop being mischievous. The kind of meaning being read to it, the benefits of it far outweigh all these negative comments we are hearing.

What about the issue of disbursement?

I believe personally, looking at the level of education of the VP, looking at his achievements, I know he cannot be the kind of person that we are reading in the newspapers. I will be totally disappointed, if all these things that we are reading have 50 per cent true stories. We don’t relate one on one but we belong to the same generation. Maybe there may be one or two year’s gap between us. I think he needs to come out very clean on this. It actually diminishes the import of whether or not some authorities have been taken away from him. Even if some authorities have been taken away from him, it is the prerogative of the president. If a person goes on to just come out to say the man has taken N90 billion from FIRS, it shows that there is no responsibility for people’s action. What gives the right to such person to just go out to destroy another person for no reasons? If it turns out to be true, I will be totally disappointed.

Do you support his position to waive his immunity to prosecute those people?

He cannot be charged as a vice president. I don’t know what the law says about his constitutional rights as individual. If a person begins to malign his character, does he need to waive his constitutional immunity before those people are sued, I don’t know. He is a lawyer; so he knows better. But I think that whatever it’s worth, what the man is selling is his integrity. If a person takes that away from him, then what is left? Is it money that he is looking for? Nothing! When you look at it, he is not a poor man, after all, the little declaration he made, and as a SAN, the sky is the limit. It is not impossible that one or two errors could have been made when you are in that position. But it cannot be in the magnitude that we are reading. If it is true, it goes beyond what people can give excuse for. If two per cent of what is said turns out to be true, people like me will come out to criticize him. Everyone will be totally disappointed. But for that character that we know, he cannot be involved in that kind of theft. He is not an illiterate. How can he go about doing things with that kind of reckless abandon? Why are we criticizing other people that are doing it? So, it cannot be true. For him to come out clean, he needs to get somebody to sue those people. And he is already making effort to do that. The only thing some of us are selling is our integrity and our names. If you are looking for money, you can’t get richer than Dangote at this our age. It is a pure set up. So, he must defend his name. It is totally irresponsible for people to come out to just say anything. I am really depressed with this kind of thing. We must wait for investigation for us to understand what the truth is. It is really mind-boggling and worrisome. I think he needs to come out, he needs to defend himself. He does not have to give up his immunity, but somebody needs to go to court and stop this thing.