Chief Martin Onovo, an engineer, activist and presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 general election is angry. His anger stemmed from his conviction that Nigeria is not working under President Muhammadu Buhari.
This much he revesled in this no-holds-barred interview with Sunday Sun, on critical national issues. Excerpt:
Are you optimistic that the 2020 budget will stimulate employment and economic growth?
For me, this government is a failed regime. So, this failed regime has consistently made destructive budget proposals. The 2020 budget proposal is a continuation of this unpatriotic pattern. The N10.3 trillion budget proposal is a blueprint for national economic ruination and national debt crisis. With over N2.7 trillion for debt obligations, only about N2 trillion for capital projects and over-optimistic revenue projections, it is clear that the government is deliberately distorting the economy further to ruin it. Incredible? Yes! Is it the N2.14 trillion capital budget proposal that may not be implemented up to 70 per cent that you expect to stimulate employment and economic growth? Even the title of the budget is deliberately deceitful as the economy has been declining and unemployment has been worse off.
With the conduct of the recent Kogi and Bayelsa elections, can we say we have improved or otherwise in our election matters?
We cannot honestly say we have improved. We have maintained our tradition of violent, corrupt and fraudulent elections that cannot be acceptable in a democracy. This is not a democracy. The elections were a mere charade.
Are you saying that Nigeria may not be ready for e-voting in view of the manner of election conduct that you described?
Like the late Chief Rotimi Williams, SAN, posited, it is not the system, but the operators of the system. Whatever method we use can be manipulated and will be manipulated if we have unethical persons in positions of authority.
What is your take on the new policy of visa on arrival for all Africans by President Buhari?
We see the new policy of visa-on-arrival for all Africans as obviously very rash and indiscriminate. It is in breach of the fundamental principles of public policy progress and is consistent with the incompetent and whimsical ‘trial and error ’method of this failed dictatorship. Public policy progress requires a clear purpose and strategy. It requires a cost-benefit-analysis evaluation of options before the draft policy development and reviews by all stakeholders prior to the revision of the draft and then, the approval of the policy. In this way, policies are properly developed for efficient implementation and effectiveness. Unfortunately, this policy in its rashness did not consider key Nigerian national interests like national security and national economic imperatives. The official purpose of this policy is ‘African integration’. We wonder how African integration can be achieved by Nigeria alone, without the necessary actions of other African countries. The government instead could have worked with some other aligned African nations on joint actions for African integration. Even with their background of xenophobia, the South African government is currently planning to tighten its visa controls. Many countries that have this visa-on-arrival policy like Dubai and Kenya, are countries with significant revenues from international tourism and use this policy to promote tourism and their national economic gain. Nigeria is definitely not in the class of such countries as insecurity is very high and our tourism potential is not well developed. The announcement of such a policy outside the country is distasteful to many Nigerians and some online surveys have shown over 80 per cent democratic rejection of the policy by Nigerians. This rejection is also highlighted by the belated move by the rubber-stamp Senate of Nigeria to review the policy. Proper public policy planning would have prevented these late reviews. We need to immediately confirm the true professional position of our national security agencies on this matter given the impact on national security particularly with respect to international espionage, insurgency, and terrorism.
You think Nigeria is winning the war against insurgents?
Using all objective criteria, Nigeria is not winning the war against insurgents. The government of Dr Jonathan had deeply degraded Boko Haram. This President Buhari regime then took over and preferred to hold senseless negotiations with Boko Haram, released their captured commanders back to them and also paid enormous FOREX ransoms to them. With that, Boko Haram reorganized, purchased more weapons and recruited more terrorists. Boko Haram has continued to conduct more terrible attacks and gain even more territory since then. Under this government over 21 military bases have been attacked and over-run by the Boko Haram, including military bases at Metele, Buni Gari, Arege, Zari, Arge, Jili, Kareto, Kunduga, Garunda, Gudumbali, Damasak, Mafa, Gamboru-Ngala, Kanama, Gashigha, Malam-Fatori, Magumeri, Sasawa, Geidam, Rann, Gajiram, Mainok, etc., all in the Northeast. Thousands of Nigerian soldiers have been killed because of lack of motivation, mediocrity, incompetence, and sabotage, lack of welfare, poor military equipment, and poor planning. According to HRM, the Shehu of Borno, ‘You cannot go 10 kilometers outside Maiduguri without the risk of Boko Haram attack’. When we add the genocidal actions of terrorist Fulani herdsmen, then it becomes clear that terrorism has grown under this government. This is confirmed by the ‘Global Terrorism Index’ which shows that Nigeria went from the fourth most terrorized country under Dr Jonathan to the third most terrorized country under Buhari. As the Commander-in-Chief, I strongly think he has failed. We agree with Dr Femi Aribisala, Ph.D (Oxford) that this is “the worst government in the history of Nigeria”. All is wrong with Buhari’s prescription for Nigeria; you will expect nothing, but destruction of all facets. I warned that Buhari’s emergence will breed disaster and destroy Nigeria.
Let’s know your candid assessment of the anti-corruption war so far?
The “anti-corruption war” had no sincerity of purpose ab initio. It was deliberately designed not to fight corruption, but to persecute members of opposition parties and promote corruption by the membership of the ruling party. All the positions, actions, inactions and results seem to confirm our position. You can remember the position of the National Chairman of the ruling party who said: “Once you join the APC, all your sins are forgiven”. You can remember how those proclaimed as very corrupt by the ruling party became ministers when they crossed over to the ruling party. You can see how clear allegations against leaders of the ruling party are corruptly ignored by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). We can see how the Auditor General of the Federation, the United States government, leading analysts and Transparency International have all confirmed increasing capacity and corruption in the government. We must not forget the FOREX scams or the N18 billion Boundary Communities Development Agency or $25 billion (N8T) NNPC contracts scam, etc.
What is your take on power shifting to the South or remaining in the North in 2023?
There is no 2023. It is the year for the next general elections, but there can be no free, fair and credible election in Nigeria as long as this kind of dictatorship remains. Of course, the actions of the president have returned his military garb of the General and that is what his actions are now, dictatorial. If you ask me, I will tell you Buhari must go! Otherwise, there can be no democracy in Nigeria. Democracy requires the rule of law, the integrity of the ballot and press freedom. All have been constrained by this present dictatorship. So, any hope for democratic elections in 2023 amounts to fantasy. An unscrupulous charade cannot be accepted as a democratic election. Elections must be free, fair and credible. We all agree that the 2019 general elections were worse than the skewed 2015 elections. With that trend, we are sure that if we continue with this government, 2023 will be iniquitous. Ordinarily, power should rotate to the Southeast in 2023 for many reasons, including the democratic acceptance and practice of rotation by Nigerians. The universal imperative for representation in every democracy. The national criticality for cohesion, unity, and brotherhood. However, with this unjust and divisive dictatorship, any hope of a democratic election in 2023 is tantamount to fantasy. We call on General Buhari to resign immediately so that we can try to get Nigeria back on the path of development. Under General Buhari, insecurity is worse, public morality is worse, corruption is worse, poverty is worse, unemployment is worse, etc. General, let me repeat, Buhari must go if we want Nigeria to get better.
Do you really have worries for Nigeria?
It is beyond ordinary worry, it is grim fears. We, I mean well-meaning Nigerians have many fears for this country. Fear of our current national insecurity, unemployment, poverty, massive corruption, moral depravity, institutionalized mediocrity, mass deceit, disunity, dictatorship, and lawlessness. These fears grow daily as we are confronted with the catastrophic failures of this dictatorship. We have seen that Boko Haram has reorganized and resurged under this regime. We have seen how we became the global capital of extreme poverty under this same regime. We saw as the government unpatriotically and recklessly borrowed wastefully till we got into this debt trap, yet the government is set to borrow more. We have seen increasing corruption, nepotism, false propaganda, violation of human rights, and intimidation of the judiciary and breaches of the Constitution, impunity, and lawlessness. We have seen the official genocide being conducted by Fulani herdsmen. All these breeds fear and point to the fact that a lot is wrong with the country.