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This week, in an exclusive interview with
Paulinus Nnah, the erudite member of the academia, the core
socialist and leftist and the Labour Party (LP) governorship
candidate in the April 14, 2007 gubernatorial election, Dr.
Ekeng Anam-ndu, was on hand to articulate on current burning
national issues: The Niger Delta question, the 7-Point
Agenda, government's legitimacy and credibility crises, the
many “sins” of Obasanjo; to proffer the way forward, and to
reveal the proposed launch of his new book on the militancy
phenomenon, but his political agenda for 2011.
Excerpts:
Sir, let me bring you back to the election of April
14, 2007. What in your candid opinion went wrong?
In the first place, there was no election. There was no
election. We have to get this right. There was no election
in the country. Prof. Iwu, said enough, an academician,
deceived the whole nation. He jointly with Obasanjo deceived
the country. He told us…, told the whole country that he was
going electronic. Remember? But it turned out there was no
arrangement for electronic voting at all. The papers were
not ready. Till tomorrow the papers meant for election of
April 14, (2007) are still in the airport in South Africa.
He admitted. So there was no election. There was no
election, anywhere in the country.
Sir, as far as your person was concerned in Akwa Ibom
State, and considering the state of the nation then, the
Labour Party (LP) was well expected to make more impact,
even at the national level. What happened?
Well, we thought we made sufficient arrangements in those
states that we were strong, and we were about eight states
that were very strong. Ahm… we made the necessary
arrangement, kept the necessary input. But you find that
(laughs) our people went out to vote, they did not any
voting materials. You wouldn't believe what 'am going to
tell you; I have not seen how the voting papers looked like,
till today, until after the election! I didn't see it. I
went out with the two mobile policemen that were attached to
me and we went around the entire state and I didn't see one
place that election took place. Not one! You see large crowd
everywhere and immediately we moved in, people would tell
you, “there are no materials”. The next thing, down in the
evening the election results were announced. So what do you
think the Labour Party would have done in that circumstance?
We don't believe in war, we don't believe in shooting
people. We don't believe in these at all. I mean, we are
decent people, we are disciplined, because we are of the
Left. No doubt about it. We believe democracy ought to be
the best form of government, provided…, provided the people
are allowed to exercise their mandate. Once the mandate is
stolen away from them, so what do you think they should do?
And what do you think in the circumstance that Labour Party
should have done? Nothing.
But the winning party's parlance has been that the
losing ones should blame it all on their lack of adequate
preparations and strategy and not on anyone else…
(Cuts in) Anybody who says that kind of thing is a stupid
idiot! He's a very big idiot; he doesn't know what he's
talking about. He's a very stupid idiot. If Labour Party
didn't prepare well, did AC not prepare well? Did ANPP not
prepare well? They are all stupid, trying to explain things
that they cannot. In fact, they should bow their heads in
shame for throwing the country into a terrible mess that we
are now finding ourselves.
Now, Sir, in the circumstance, should we or should we
not ascribe legitimacy to Yar'Adua's administration going by
the general notion that the very process that brought this
government into power was corrupt, faulty and wrong?
Of course, it is a corrupt government; it was a faulty
process, it was corrupt process. I mean these types of
terrible processes that brought in a government can never
make that government legitimate. That's why the government,
till tomorrow, is suffering from terrible legitimacy crisis.
It's a terrible legitimacy crisis everywhere in the country:
at the state level, legitimacy crisis, at the national
level, legitimacy crisis. So where do you go from there? The
governed, the Nigerian people just don't just believe in
this government, because they were deceived starting from
Iwu to Obasanjo. The two people deceived everybody and threw
the country into pre-civil war situation of uncertainty,
inter-tribal animosity. All sorts of problems. Terrible
legitimacy problems in the country. Not only the federal
government, all the state governments, all the local
governments. Even now, the ones that were put up last time
were illegitimate, because there was no process. Let me tell
you, the process of recruiting internal recruitment of
people who are going to contest election within a party
matters. It's very important. That is where the whole
democratic process starts. Since the members of the party
are denied the chance to select those they want to represent
the party, that is the beginning of a very big problem. Once
a group of people sit down in a dark room and start
selecting cronies, that is not democracy. That kind of
situation, we find in the local government we find at the
state level, we find in every process; those going to the
House of Assembly…, the National Assembly, and it culminated
in hand-picking the leadership of a country of our size, and
a country with the type of means that we have. A country
that is so well blessed, but we don't know how to organize
ourselves. A group of people believe that they have all what
it takes to steal everything, from resources to mandate of
the people. And you see the type of legitimacy crisis that
we have…, the whole country is thrown into. Nobody believes
in this government. Not in the national government…, the
federal government, not in the state government. Look at
what is happening in the state. Even with the tribunals.
They have thrown the judiciary into another terrible
problem. The judiciary is now midwifing tyranny. Yes, the
Nigerian judiciary is now the midwife of tyranny. I mean,
you don't rule a country like that.
Sir, have you seen the recently launched Prof. Humphrey
Nwosu's memoir on the 1993 annulled election? And what
analogy can you draw?
One, Humphrey Nwosu, he was my teacher at Nsukka. I don't
know what to believe about quite a lot of what he said. I
wasn't patient enough to read…, it looks like there are
certain things that he is trying to rationalize. And if one
may ask: why did he have to wait till now? Or is it…, he was
motivated into action as a result of the mess that we find
ourselves now? But then, what is the solution? I don't know.
Sir, still looking back that Shagari's election in
1979 in the Second Republic was seen by many as rigged. So
can we not infer that election malpractices are not only
peculiar to this administration?
Ah yes, let me tell you something, apart from the Option A4
election during the Babangida transition, all other
elections in post-civil war Nigeria were all rigged. It
depends on the scale. But you will see that as we progress…,
in a situation that democracy or democratic process ought to
be consolidated, the more we progress towards
“consolidation”, the more corruption, the more rigging
becomes so sophisticated, both in terms of scale and style.
You understand what I mean? The only election that was free,
reasonably free, was that Option A4. And you see, that time,
because of the style of voting, quite apart from style of
voting, because of the two-party system, everything went
right. How I wish that administration lasted, you would have
seen the beginning of true democracy.
Sorry Sir, which of the administrations? The military
or the…?
(Cuts in) That is if the election that was supposed to usher
in late Chief M.K.O. Abiola had started you would have seen
some difference. With that style, two parties, Option A4,
you know. That was the only election in the whole country
that ever looked like a democratic election. All others have
been manipulations by the governing elite to produce the
group of people, the group of corrupt leaders that they
wanted…. 1999 the same thing, 2003, 2007 and you see the
progression. As we progressed towards 2007 the consolidation
of corruption, rigging…, all sorts of electoral malpractices
became so sophisticated.
Just now, you've also indirectly passed the buck to the
third arm of the government. And 'am sure you are aware of
the recent development in Ondo State.
Yes. What is the problem?
Yes, the election of the PDP Gov. Chief Segun Agagu has just
been overturned and Mimiko of LP declared the winner of that
governorship election in Ondo State. Shouldn't we give
credit to the judiciary where we have to?
There's no way they could have decided otherwise as far as
that state is concerned and Labout Party. And I tell you
what, if there was anything close to election here in Akwa
Ibom State, I know what we did in Akwa Ibom State. People
were prepared for change from PDP to another party, and the
party that they were sure that was coming up with a
people-oriented agenda was Labour Party. We hadn't the kind
of money that PDP put in. We hadn't the kind of money that
AC put in. But we know what we did. The Labour Party was the
first to start effective campaign at the grassroots, wards,
group of wards, three contiguous wards. We went in and told
them the story of Nigeria…, told them the story of Akwa Ibom.
And we told them what was possible, what we can possibly
accomplish in four years. I was not interested in second
term. Four years, let us see the difference whether there
will be any other party to match half-way our achievement in
four years…. So but, you see, there was no election and so
we were stalled.
Now then, education forms a part of the much talked
about Yar'Adua's 7-Point Agenda, but ironically the
government took an indifferent posture that rather helped in
extending the just-ended teachers' strike action for too
long. A case of saying one thing and doing another?
Well, the PDP government has no people-oriented agenda, and
people-oriented programme of action. They don't have it.
Ahmm… you remember, I think it was a national chairman of
the party that said once that PDP is not a party. Remember
that? He said it, yes. It's not a party…, a group of people
who are struggling to have easy access to the treasury and
then steal as much as they can. That's it. It's unfortunate.
I mean if education is a part of 7-Point programme what
happened to the teachers' strike? Are teachers not part of
education? What is happening in terms of raising the
standard? And that's why so many of us are no longer in the
university. We're into full time research, wasted all the
knowledge that you acquired and came back. The university is
not university anymore. The university is not university
anymore, because the standard has fallen to a point, with a
distinct possibility of lecturers becoming also a failure
alongside with the students. So I don't know. I don't
believe in this government. I don't believe it at all. I
don't believe because, I mean, they say one thing…, look at
Iwu who told us about electronic voting and turned around to
do something else. From electronic voting to no voting at
all. So why must I believe this type of government?
Sir, will I be right if I say that Labour Party stands
for Socialism and the Left?
Of course, we are on the left. We represent the kind of
programme that the former Social Democratic Party (SDP) had.
And you remember I was the state chairman of the SDP here in
this state. When we went for that election, Abiola's
election. We defeated the National Republican Convention
(NRC) that was having the reigns of government then. We
defeated them hands down. It wasn't that we had money. We
didn't have one kobo, but we were in the field to tell the
story of what democracy aught to mean in our situation, what
development ought to entail in our situation. And the people
know when the politicians are telling them the truth. The
governed, the ruled know when people are telling them lies.
So they voted for us. And what helped us much was that
Option A4. Stand, queue up. Queue up. They would be
collecting money from those money-bags, the NRC guys and
then came out to vote for us. Just rush and collect the
money. Afterall, it's our money. They stole the money. This
is the government. This ought to be the government and we
were those people. So we are on the left.
So, Sir, then you are a core socialist and a leftist?
Yes, of course, I am.
Now, what does Socialism believe that should make a
change in a situation like this.
Well, we believe there should be genuine democratic
foundation. How we can get that is something I do not know.
But I think I have an idea of where we can start. And that
is one of the reasons I was very careful to attend the
Electoral Reform Committee. I sent a memo to them but I
don't know whether the memo reached them. But when they came
here to this zone, I decided to be there. The only way that
we can rescue the terrible situation that we found ourselves
is for us to go back to two-party system. A little to the
right a little to the left. Until and unless we are able to
organize the electorate on the basis of ideology, there will
be no end to this type of problem…. What is the meaning of
52 political parties? What does that mean? The only meaning
you can make out of it is that somebody is stupid enough to
believe that we don't know that what we want to achieve is
to make sure that only party is capable of winning. The rest
are small useless dwarfs, totaling incapable of effecting
any impact on the electoral process. And once you know that
kind of situation, and you purposefully impose that on the
nation, you are a big fraud. Such a leader is a fraud. And
that is what has happened to the country. And that is why I
think the way forward is that Obasanjo should be tried. He
should be tried for insincerity, misrule…, all sorts of
corruption, political corruption, immorality, and political
immorality. That is immoral for any leader to know that the
least thing that he's going to do is not in the best
interest of this country and then he goes on to do it. Tell
me how. You just don't like the country. You want trouble to
come and so that you can benefit from it. So that's how I
think we can start.
As far as our culture is concerned right now, don't
you think the nation needs a whole lot re-orientation,
reformation and remolding?
(Cuts in) How do you do it? We have been listening to
re-orientation, remolding, and it doesn't work. What makes
sense in our situation is to create tangible structures,
political structures. Two parties would be the arena for
education. But what's the type of education that you are
talking about. Once you create two parties people would be
interested to join parties on the basis of their class
position. And once they join the parties, they join them
because the parties stand for programmes. The parties stand
for what the people believe ought to be the function of
government. And whether people like it or not, they would
learn what the party is preaching. They will try as much as
possible to affect the party and the party would in turn
affect them. So that is the kind of structure, educative
structure that we are talking about. For anybody to start
running around the whole country's length and breadth
preaching some kind of abstract thing in the name of
re-orientation that let us love Nigeria…. There is no basis
for anybody to love Nigeria. The basis for anybody to love
Nigeria is when government is effective. It is affecting the
lives of the people positively. What on earth makes this
country poor, with the wealth that God has given to us. And
you have 73.8% of our population living below $1, not
poverty line, because it is relative…, below one dollar a
day. Let us put it in raw terms. 73.8% of our population
living under this kind of situation, you can't imagine. …And
the richest oil-producing nation? Then something is wrong.
No amount of preaching will help us. The only thing that can
help this country now is if we can put up tangible
structure.
So, Sir, as we were saying, don't you think people like you
still have so much to do because right now the people don't
join political parties along political lines but on the
basis of financial gains, and therein lies the foundation of
mismanagement and corruption. You still have a lot to do to
correct this anomaly.
That is what I'm saying. The vehicle for this kind of
political education that I think you are talking about is
best accomplished through the instrumentality of two-party
system. It is only the two parties that will create that
kind of educative impact on the people. Not by running
around, you know. Let me see whether they would be bold
enough to confront truth for what it is… to take the outcome
of this Electoral Reform Committee running around the whole
length and breadth of this country coming up with the
recommendation that this is what the people want, two-party
system ideology-oriented.
Sir, maybe we might have indirectly touched this, but
let me say that, take a look at this nation and the
questions of corruption, fraud, mismanagement and the like.
What panacea can you proffer from the standpoint of a
socialist that you are?
Well, it boils down to what I have been saying…. Maybe to
add some kind of new focus. Once you re-organise governance
on the basis of truth, on the basis of straightness,
purposeful approach to the problems facing us, the people…,
Nigerians are highly educated people, they will know that
this government is on the right track. And that is when we
will be able to fight corruption. Nobody will start fighting
corruption. People would be afraid that, “look this
government is not like any other government. My career is
going to be damaged totally. And if I am caught I am going
to spend the rest of my life time in jail.” Once the cost of
stealing public funds is unbearably high, people would run
from stealing. But once it is a culture, like it is a
culture now, nobody is afraid of stealing public money. The
country has been reduced to a bizarre theatre where corrupt
people hold political offices. And that is one of the major
reasons that people who cannot tolerate it…, I don't like
extremism in any form, but I want to say that you see number
of kidnappings, murder, killings, assassinations, all sorts
of terrible things that we had never really experienced in
the country, they are local outcome of what the government
has begun as a result of corruption. The people know that
this government is corrupt, this government does not mean
anything to anybody. So they start kidnapping them…,
kidnapping big people. Kidnapping people who are loose in
their security and then they kidnap them and extort money
from them. Part of that systematic reaction against
corruption, against a corrupt government, insensitively
corrupt government, is the Niger Delta militants'
phenomenon. These boys are highly educated. I've just
finished a book on the Niger Delta. I went to Delta and
Bayelsa and met these boys. More than three-quarters of them
are graduates. Yes, engineers, highly motivated young men
and women; and they tell you they are doing this not because
of any selfish reasons, but because of the fact that they
are convinced that the way Nigeria is going is not the way
it should go. A whole community of the poor is increasing on
a daily basis. And that is an anathema when we look at the
kind of wealth that we have in the country. So something
must happen to stop these people from continuing to rule,
and that is why you have that phenomenon.
But Sir, you will agree with me that the problem with
the Niger Delta issue is that all the atrocities committed
have been on the helpless citizens of the region. How does
the seat of power in Abuja feel this heat?
Yes, they feel it because it's like a child who is unable to
slap the mother. You have hurt a young child, you spanked
her and she cannot slap the mother in return, but she gets
water and puts into where they cook food just to make sure
the cooking place is wet, nobody can prepare food there. Let
us make thing uneasy… (giggles). I cannot reach you, but
this is the one that I can reach. I will hand you. I will
make sure that you are uncomfortable here. That's what is
happening. They can't go to Abuja, but they know that those
who are here, the clientele ruling elite. That is what they
are. Clientele, they go to the owners of Nigeria and tell
them, “look I want to be governor.” And then the people say,
“okay, let's see whether he will play to the tune. Ahham!
Every month they pay some money to the cabal, the ruling
cabal in Nigeria. Until and unless they do that you cannot
be recruited. You cannot be allowed to go near government.
That is why I call them “clientele elite”. The ruling elite
in the South South is clientele. They take directives. They
come here to rule over their people and oppress them. So the
militants attack them. Because indirectly they are attacking
whoever placed them there. That is…, I mean, I have seen…, I
have looked at the problem at a very close range. Even when
those days that there were no militants in the Niger Delta.
The book, Sir, when is it going to be launched?
Let me get a copy first from my publishers. It's a very
interesting book…. Extremely exciting revelation.
Coming back home, how would you rate Gov. Godswill
Akpabio's administration so far?
I would rather like to rate the government of Yar'Adua. The
administration is one and one of them. Akwa Ibom State
government is a by-product of the government at the national
level. Let me read to you from The News of this month; their
summary of what has become of government in Nigeria: (he
reads) “Big Paralysis”, that is the summary. The government
is paralysed because of legitimacy crisis, participation
crisis. Yes. The crisis of resource management. The
resources are too much, they can't manage it. Now, all these
have resulted in “Rot Everywhere, Industries Shutting Down,
Infrastructure Collapsing, Worsening Insecurity in the
Country, Nation At a Standstill, Leadership Clueless”, that
is, the leadership has no clue as to how to wrestle out from
the mess that they have put themselves. Followership have
resigned to fate. That is the summary of the situation in
Nigeria. It can equally be a summary for any state of the
federation.
As a true politician that you are, are you thinking of
2011?
No comment.
Thank you, Sir, for availing us your time.
You're welcome.
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