Prof. Chidi Odinkalu is the former chairman of National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC). He says President Muhammadu Buhari’s
actions and inactions have fuelled divisiveness, prejudices and
subversion of the basic precepts of coexistence. He also says the
president has failed to deliver on the cardinal promises he made in
2015, noting that he is incapable of changing anything.
President Muhammadu Buhari has just declared his
intention to seek re-election in 2019. What are your thoughts on
his declaration?
First and foremost, we must understand that there is a legal
provision that a president or governor can hold that office for two
terms of four years each. So as a legal fact he is exercising a
right given to him under the 1999 constitution as amended, and I
think everyone must acknowledge that. Whether he ultimately
prevails or not will be a matter for Nigerians to decide and that
will be based on his records.
Candidates can make you promises when they run the first time,
but when they seek to be re-elected they will have to run on their
records. So Nigerians will have to view, one way or the other, on
President Buhari’s records during the election. Whether the
elections are free and fair for Nigerians to make that choice, for
me, is a more fundamental thing. If the elections are free, fair,
credible and Nigerians exercise that choice and re-validate him
then that will be up to all of us. I don’t want to impose my
personal views on the choices Nigerians will make. Let the people
decide whether the country that Buhari has led over the last three
years is the kind of country he promised he would create. Whether
the kind of divisiveness, prejudices and subversion of the basic
precepts of coexistence is the way to go, it is up to Nigerians to
decide.
As a stakeholder, what do you see when you look at the
state of the country?
The country is deeply divided as it is now and I think the
reasons are due partly to the actions and inactions of President
Buhari. I am not the oldest Nigerian alive but in my limited
lifetime I have never seen Nigeria this deeply divided and I think
many of the issues have to do with this incumbent President.
How do you see President Buhari’s records?
There were certain promises that Buhari made to Nigerians when
he was campaigning that made him appear credible. One of them is
that he is going to fight corruption. The fight against corruption
by the Buhari government has been very partisan, and has failed to
carry people along. There are whole lot of graft around him that he
hasn’t addressed, so he is leading a party with most of its
leadership coming from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Many people who were in PDP before 2015, and had cases of
corruption pending against them crossed over to the president’s
party after 2015 and I think that is not a credible or serious way
to fight corruption. The second thing Buhari promised was that he
is going to fight insecurity, but in doing that he ended up
appointing all the leading public officers in the security sector
from one section of the country. The problem with that is there are
security challenges in all parts of the country, so once you have
all your security personnel from one part of the country, you will
lack the wherewithal of exercising balanced judgement in deciding
how to address the security challenges and that is exactly what is
happening now. That is why you see a situation where to address the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) problem, you use a sledge hammer
and then you brush over the farmers / herdsmen’s crisis. That is
the problem that arises from having all the composition of the
security chiefs from one section of the country, you have the
Minister of Defence for instance trying to justify why people were
killed. Insecurity is on the rise, everyday you wake up, you hear
of people killed in different places and the president says
nothing.
I don’t know if you noticed that on the day that Winnie Mandela
died, 15 people were killed in Maiduguri and the president said
nothing, he did not acknowledge their death. I think the previous
day; about 30 people had been killed in Benue. The day after that
many people were killed in the Offa, Kwara State bank robbery and
President Buhari said absolutely nothing. But when Winnie Mandela
died, he sent out a very powerful message. I think Nigeria should
acknowledge the death of Winnie Mandela, she was a special woman,
but so also are the many Nigerians that died. So far the president
behaves as if Nigerians don’t matter, as if we don’t exist, as if
he doesn’t need us and that he is doing us a favour. So on security
there is nothing.
The third promise Buhari made was to transform agriculture. But
agriculture is in a mess. So in my view, the three things that
Buhari promised us, fighting corruption, addressing insecurity and
transforming agriculture we have not made any progress in those
areas. Another thing is that the president is manifestly unwell and
for a man who always talks about integrity, he has dealt with his
ill health with total lack of integrity.
Right now the president is out of the country, they say he is
going for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting which begins
in about nine days time and that he will meet with the British
Prime Minister, Theresa May and also meet with the Archbishop of
Canterbury to hold discussions. You see all they have to tell us is
that the president needs to consult with his doctors in the United
Kingdom. That is not a terrible thing to say, it does not destroy
anything. But they don’t have the confidence to say it and so they
keep manufacturing inaccuracy. The president will sit down
somewhere and the Archbishop will come and see him and they will
say they have met.
But the president is on his annual
vacation?
If you go to the twitter time-line of the president’s Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu and see his
posts, many of it contradict the official statement that the
president is going on leave. But even at that we are in the second
week of April, we don’t have a 2018 budget and the president is
going on leave, for what?
This is the second quarter, policy decisions cannot be followed
through because people don’t know what the policy framework is
going to be and a president who should be the driver of the ship is
going on leave, do you really believe that?
Former Chief of Army staff and one time Minister of
Defence Gen. TY Danjuma recently accused the army of aiding and
abetting the herdsmen in their activities. What do you say to
that?
General TY Danjuma was President Buhari’s commanding officer and
had been one of President Buhari’s biggest benefactors. I am not
going to get involved in war between two old soldiers who know one
another too well.
Not long ago Boko Haram kidnapped and later returned
over 110 school girls from Dapchi, Yobe state without incident from
security officials. What do you make of that?
It does not make sense because what the Federal Government told
us in the past was that Boko Haram had been technically defeated.
Since then we have almost certainly failed to get back some of the
Chibok girls, we have got back most of the Dapchi girls and the
government says they are still negotiating and now there are talks
about an amnesty deal.
The government has not been honest with Nigerians, it is either
Boko Haram has been defeated or we are trying to work out a
political strategy to manage them. The insurgency in the north is
more than one entity and there are different leadership and those
entities are getting stronger while the government tells us they
are getting weaker. Casualties are increasing; the internally
displaced persons are also increasing. Anybody who has minimal
awareness of what is going on in the country can see all of these
parameters, but of course people are not allowed to talk.
My personal position is that the government is not being candid
with Nigerians. This problem requires honesty to be able to
mobilise all Nigerians. Boko Haram is a common enemy of every
Nigerian, unfortunately the federal government does not see every
Nigerian as an asset in the fight against Boko Haram.
President Buhari ran on a mantra of change, but nothing has
changed, not even the thinnest drop on his performance. He has
changed nothing and is incapable of changing nothing. He is
incapable of change, he is incapable of fighting corruption, he is
not a person to unite Nigeria and he is not the person to transform
the economy.
President Buhari has requested $1billion to buy weapons,
but critics say it is meant for his re-election campaign. What do
you make of it?
That is what they have been doing every year before elections
since 2003. If you go back to the history of special funds and
excess crude account, you will see that whoever was in power has
consistently drawn money from the special funds every year since
2003 before the general elections, claiming it was for security or
special projects.
Even if it is really for security, with an election up for
grabs, the people around the president will do their own bidding
because you are getting this poll of cash few months before a major
election.
Do you think the present INEC can deliver credible
election in 2019?
Credible elections are guaranteed by the citizenry. It is up to
Nigerians to ensure that the elections are credible. INEC is an
administrator. It has its powers but if Nigerians tell INEC it must
behave INEC will behave by the will of Nigerians.
Culled from sunnewsonline
Prof. Chidi Odinkalu is the former chairman of National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC). He says President Muhammadu Buhari’s
actions and inactions have fuelled divisiveness, prejudices and
subversion of the basic precepts of coexistence. He also says the
president has failed to deliver on the cardinal promises he made in
2015, noting that he is incapable of changing anything.
President Muhammadu Buhari has just declared his
intention to seek re-election in 2019. What are your thoughts on
his declaration?
First and foremost, we must understand that there is a legal
provision that a president or governor can hold that office for two
terms of four years each. So as a legal fact he is exercising a
right given to him under the 1999 constitution as amended, and I
think everyone must acknowledge that. Whether he ultimately
prevails or not will be a matter for Nigerians to decide and that
will be based on his records.
Candidates can make you promises when they run the first time,
but when they seek to be re-elected they will have to run on their
records. So Nigerians will have to view, one way or the other, on
President Buhari’s records during the election. Whether the
elections are free and fair for Nigerians to make that choice, for
me, is a more fundamental thing. If the elections are free, fair,
credible and Nigerians exercise that choice and re-validate him
then that will be up to all of us. I don’t want to impose my
personal views on the choices Nigerians will make. Let the people
decide whether the country that Buhari has led over the last three
years is the kind of country he promised he would create. Whether
the kind of divisiveness, prejudices and subversion of the basic
precepts of coexistence is the way to go, it is up to Nigerians to
decide.
As a stakeholder, what do you see when you look at the
state of the country?
The country is deeply divided as it is now and I think the
reasons are due partly to the actions and inactions of President
Buhari. I am not the oldest Nigerian alive but in my limited
lifetime I have never seen Nigeria this deeply divided and I think
many of the issues have to do with this incumbent President.
How do you see President Buhari’s records?
There were certain promises that Buhari made to Nigerians when
he was campaigning that made him appear credible. One of them is
that he is going to fight corruption. The fight against corruption
by the Buhari government has been very partisan, and has failed to
carry people along. There are whole lot of graft around him that he
hasn’t addressed, so he is leading a party with most of its
leadership coming from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Many people who were in PDP before 2015, and had cases of
corruption pending against them crossed over to the president’s
party after 2015 and I think that is not a credible or serious way
to fight corruption. The second thing Buhari promised was that he
is going to fight insecurity, but in doing that he ended up
appointing all the leading public officers in the security sector
from one section of the country. The problem with that is there are
security challenges in all parts of the country, so once you have
all your security personnel from one part of the country, you will
lack the wherewithal of exercising balanced judgement in deciding
how to address the security challenges and that is exactly what is
happening now. That is why you see a situation where to address the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) problem, you use a sledge hammer
and then you brush over the farmers / herdsmen’s crisis. That is
the problem that arises from having all the composition of the
security chiefs from one section of the country, you have the
Minister of Defence for instance trying to justify why people were
killed. Insecurity is on the rise, everyday you wake up, you hear
of people killed in different places and the president says
nothing.
I don’t know if you noticed that on the day that Winnie Mandela
died, 15 people were killed in Maiduguri and the president said
nothing, he did not acknowledge their death. I think the previous
day; about 30 people had been killed in Benue. The day after that
many people were killed in the Offa, Kwara State bank robbery and
President Buhari said absolutely nothing. But when Winnie Mandela
died, he sent out a very powerful message. I think Nigeria should
acknowledge the death of Winnie Mandela, she was a special woman,
but so also are the many Nigerians that died. So far the president
behaves as if Nigerians don’t matter, as if we don’t exist, as if
he doesn’t need us and that he is doing us a favour. So on security
there is nothing.
The third promise Buhari made was to transform agriculture. But
agriculture is in a mess. So in my view, the three things that
Buhari promised us, fighting corruption, addressing insecurity and
transforming agriculture we have not made any progress in those
areas. Another thing is that the president is manifestly unwell and
for a man who always talks about integrity, he has dealt with his
ill health with total lack of integrity.
Right now the president is out of the country, they say he is
going for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting which begins
in about nine days time and that he will meet with the British
Prime Minister, Theresa May and also meet with the Archbishop of
Canterbury to hold discussions. You see all they have to tell us is
that the president needs to consult with his doctors in the United
Kingdom. That is not a terrible thing to say, it does not destroy
anything. But they don’t have the confidence to say it and so they
keep manufacturing inaccuracy. The president will sit down
somewhere and the Archbishop will come and see him and they will
say they have met.
But the president is on his annual
vacation?
If you go to the twitter time-line of the president’s Senior
Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu and see his
posts, many of it contradict the official statement that the
president is going on leave. But even at that we are in the second
week of April, we don’t have a 2018 budget and the president is
going on leave, for what?
This is the second quarter, policy decisions cannot be followed
through because people don’t know what the policy framework is
going to be and a president who should be the driver of the ship is
going on leave, do you really believe that?
Former Chief of Army staff and one time Minister of
Defence Gen. TY Danjuma recently accused the army of aiding and
abetting the herdsmen in their activities. What do you say to
that?
General TY Danjuma was President Buhari’s commanding officer and
had been one of President Buhari’s biggest benefactors. I am not
going to get involved in war between two old soldiers who know one
another too well.
Not long ago Boko Haram kidnapped and later returned
over 110 school girls from Dapchi, Yobe state without incident from
security officials. What do you make of that?
It does not make sense because what the Federal Government told
us in the past was that Boko Haram had been technically defeated.
Since then we have almost certainly failed to get back some of the
Chibok girls, we have got back most of the Dapchi girls and the
government says they are still negotiating and now there are talks
about an amnesty deal.
The government has not been honest with Nigerians, it is either
Boko Haram has been defeated or we are trying to work out a
political strategy to manage them. The insurgency in the north is
more than one entity and there are different leadership and those
entities are getting stronger while the government tells us they
are getting weaker. Casualties are increasing; the internally
displaced persons are also increasing. Anybody who has minimal
awareness of what is going on in the country can see all of these
parameters, but of course people are not allowed to talk.
My personal position is that the government is not being candid
with Nigerians. This problem requires honesty to be able to
mobilise all Nigerians. Boko Haram is a common enemy of every
Nigerian, unfortunately the federal government does not see every
Nigerian as an asset in the fight against Boko Haram.
President Buhari ran on a mantra of change, but nothing has
changed, not even the thinnest drop on his performance. He has
changed nothing and is incapable of changing nothing. He is
incapable of change, he is incapable of fighting corruption, he is
not a person to unite Nigeria and he is not the person to transform
the economy.
President Buhari has requested $1billion to buy weapons,
but critics say it is meant for his re-election campaign. What do
you make of it?
That is what they have been doing every year before elections
since 2003. If you go back to the history of special funds and
excess crude account, you will see that whoever was in power has
consistently drawn money from the special funds every year since
2003 before the general elections, claiming it was for security or
special projects.
Even if it is really for security, with an election up for
grabs, the people around the president will do their own bidding
because you are getting this poll of cash few months before a major
election.
Do you think the present INEC can deliver credible
election in 2019?
Credible elections are guaranteed by the citizenry. It is up to
Nigerians to ensure that the elections are credible. INEC is an
administrator. It has its powers but if Nigerians tell INEC it must
behave INEC will behave by the will of Nigerians.
Culled from sunnewsonline
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