By Dickson Okafor
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With President Tinubu’s cabinet reshuffle, what do you expect from the new ministers in order to reduce hunger and economic hardship Nigerians are currently facing?
I thank President Tinubu for appointing Iyom Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. She is an accomplished diplomat having served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain. Meanwhile, cabinet reshuffling is an administrative decision, it is not a vote of no confidence in those that were dropped because they had a policy that they pursued. There are some of them who became controversial and they were shown the way out. So, my expectations from the new ministers are numerous. Most importantly is that they should tell President Tinubu that Nigerians are hungry because they are facing severe economic hardship. They should find a way to ameliorate the sufferings the people are going through. They should know that where we are now you don’t joke with a hungry person. So, anything they say or do out of line is considered as an insult. And nobody takes insults from anybody.
Talking about words that are considered as jokes, the Senate President Godswill Akpabio recently used such insulting words on Nigerians when he said “anybody who is hungry should go to uninvited burial ceremonies, birthday parties and eat food they found there.” Isn’t that a mockery?
It was a mockery because I know the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, when my friend was the governor of Akwa Ibom State. He is a jolly good fellow; he is no longer a person whose words don’t matter. Now people read meaning into words and I don’t believe that the Senate President will willingly want to insult anybody or the intelligence of Nigerians. He is a man who speaks his mind through jokes, but those jokes are not for this season. This is not the first one, I think it is the second or third joke he has made with Nigerians in recent time. So, with his exalted office he can no longer joke because anything he says will be taken and will be used as evidence against him as a persecutor will say in law court.
The new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun has vowed to discipline corrupt judges, can she carry out this threat?
She can with the support of judiciary officers. The judiciary is not the problem of Nigeria because if you allow the courts they will do their job accurately. What anybody chooses to do is what he or she will do. As a lawyer, I choose to earn what I want to earn legitimately even if when I had the opportunity to do things wrongly to earn more I declined. But if you decide to become a judge or to assume any of the prestigious judicial offices and you start looking for a highly placed person that will help you to go and beg. So, it is not the fault of the judiciary, but the individuals. Right inside the judiciary they know each other and they know the courts that give such judgments and they also know the courts that are good that are not into funny things. We come from different backgrounds and with different orientations. Some of these people are appointed for such purposes hence they make undertaking of what they will do and what they will not do. But if you are principled and you know your family, you cannot put the name of your family to disrepute. You can either accept and maintain your integrity or you don’t have a family name or integrity to protect. And you go ahead to accept whatever side of the coin it is not the judiciary, but individual decisions.
In the 64th Independence anniversary address, President Bola Tinubu said he had made tremendous improvement in security. Do you concur with that claim?
Yes, he did not say he had stopped insecurity. But he said he has made tremendous improvement. First, did you come to my place with an armed bodyguard? Did you find anybody harassing you? Was there not a time even to drive on the streets in Lagos was a problem? This is how it is in other places. So, he is entitled to say he has made tremendous improvement in security. But more work needs to be done. You have heard how many fighter jets they want to buy. You have seen how many bandit leaders that our gallant soldiers have killed at great risk. When was the last time we bought new aircraft? What we have are old ones which our military has been using and they are achieving results. They are servicemen, they are not magicians. So, give them equipment they will tame insecurity.
Opposition parties are planning to merge to wrest power from the ruling APC in 2027. Do you see this mega alliance materialising?
What you see in Nigerian politics is what is called class opportunism. Look at the Labour Party in England, when was it formed? Go and check. Look at the Democratic Party in America, when was it formed? Look at the Republican Party in America, it used to be one party which was Democratic Republican Party and later they split. So, how many parties have they formed in Nigeria since 1960? That is where we are. We have to face the truth: it is either my way or the highway. The formation of the party is nothing hence, there is history or nothing to fall back on. What we now have are special purpose vehicles. In America the children of a Democrat grow up to become Democrats and recycle what their grandfathers did. But here in Nigeria and Africa we find fault in someone which is why we are longer in that party, it is never your own fault. So, they say we are going to disorganise that party. People spend money, cook food, call people and plan how to disorganise their own party. At that point they were not talking about what will be the impact on Nigeria, what will be the impact on the economy and what will be the impact on our political development. So, because they want a particular position and the only thing they can do is to destroy anything that is between them and that position. I cannot weep even if I want to weep, I have no tears again in my eyes because I am 66 years old.
Check this story on Part 3
Why presidency eluded Igbo in 1979 –Ucheaga, NCPN Secretary (3)
