TheHILL | INTERVIEW | AUGUST 9.
Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem is the National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with TONY ANICHEBE, he speaks on the state of the nation, recent developments in main opposition party and the 2023 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State, among other issues:
What is your take on the judgement of the Supreme Court on the appeal by your party’s candidate in the Ondo State governorship election, Eyitayo Jegede against the victory of his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu?
I want to thank the justices of the Supreme Court, especially those who delivered the minority judgement that represents the law.
The law is very clear; you cannot be a governor of a state and you are also a national chairman of a party according to section 221 and 223 of the constitution.
Political parties are supposed to elect its leadership in a democratic manner and it is also backed up by the Electoral Act, which in section 85 and 87 enjoined political parties to elect leaders from the ward to the local government, state and national levels in a democratic manner.
Even when anybody at that level defects to another party, the Electoral Act in section 85 (3) said the position must be filled by election. If you have a political party that is leading Nigeria without a democratically elected structure, from the ward to the national level, then the meaning is that they are not running a party based government.
To make it worse is to have a sitting governor, who has been prohibited by the constitution to take over any other executive position outside the position of governor he occupies.
The action is against the constitution and complete illegality. That is what APC is doing and it is a bad example for a party that is in power.
In Zamfara State, the governor defected to the APC, while his deputy remained in PDP. What is the party doing about it?
We have gone to court to challenge the constitutionality of Governor Bello Matawale’s defection in addition to all the members of the state House of Assembly as well as National Assembly.
This is because the Zamfara experience presents a different ball game entirely in the sense that in the build-up to the 2019 elections, the APC was ruled out for inadequate primaries resulting to not having candidates in the election.
The Supreme Court judgement said the party with the highest votes and met the required spread for election should be sworn into office.
That was how Matawale, who had the ticket of the PDP and with the next highest votes and spread in Zamafara State was declared winner to be the governor of the state.
Therefore, we are convinced that the APC should not between 2019 and 2023 occupy any executive or legislative position in Zamafara State otherwise it runs contrary to the tent an tenor of the judgement of the Supreme Court.
So, we are in court to enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court, which said that APC has no candidate between 2019 and 2023 in Zamfara State.
Nigerians are under siege by criminals, bandits, herdsmen and other terrorists; what is your party doing to ensure that Nigeria will be rescued in 2023 from the present leaders as the major opposition party?
We talk everyday about the situation in Nigeria. The nation is at crossroads not only with the present state of insecurity but our national harmony is also threatened.
Our national unity and cohesion have been threatened by the way and manner the APC government is running the country, there is a total collapse of the system in all sectors. When APC took over in 2015, all national development sectors such as economic, political, employment sectors and even security were all pointing upward.
They were all positives. Nigeria then was the fastest growing economy in Africa and number three in the world after China and India. Today, Nigeria is nowhere to be found in the table of development. In unemployment, we are 3+ which is the highest in the world. Nigeria has been adjudged as the world’s headquarters of poverty. In security, Nigeria is one of the unsafe nations in the world, it is predicated by world bodies that Nigeria is a failed state. Talking about the economy, the naira is bastardized exchanging today at N527 to a Dollar, same with Pounds and Euros. So Nigeria is no way in the positive economic indices of development.
We are negative in all the parameters and indices of development. All the efforts made before 2015 are now all pointing downward negative. When the APC took over from PDP in 2015, insecurity was limited to the North-East but today no state is safe, criminals and bandits operate freely everywhere.
They kill at will; Fulani killer herdsmen have been adjudged as the fourth most deadly terrorist organization in the world but Buhari’s government don’t want to declare them a terrorist organization but the international organizations have declared them as one of the deadliest terrorist group anywhere in the world given the way they are killing innocent Nigerians.
Nigerians should in unison raise the alarm because if we continue like this, the country called Nigeria may soon cease to exist.
Some Nigerians are surprised that PDP governors still defect to APC despite the state of the nation. What do you thinks is responsible for that?
If you listen to the reasons of the people defecting to APC, it doesn’t make any meaning. They are going for their self-preservation.
The man in Zamfara is interested in perpetuating himself in office not the interest of Zamfara people. In Cross River State, Governor Ben Ayade said he wants to go and support Buhari to achieve more but the question is: What has Buhari achieved in six years that he has gone to team up with him to achieve more?
What we have witnessed under Buhari is nothing but insecurity, unemployment, poverty, lack, deprivation, hopelessness and these are Buhari’s achievements. Nepotism has been elevated in appointments and recruitments; that is his only achievement. S
The jump in the so-called fuel consumption from 35 million to 110 million liters also corresponds with increase in the amount paid on subsidy daily. On whose account is that money paid, is it on behalf of Nigerians or another cabal of beneficiaries of excess money on subsidy?
These are the questions Nigerians are shying away from asking or afraid to ask. This is the most corrupt government I have seen since I was born but people don’t want to talk out of fear.
People are traumatized, poverty has eaten up their courage, but we cannot keep quiet, we cannot be gagged, we will continue to talk.
Nigeria’s debt profile is equally rising owing to incessant borrowing from foreign nations; is that a good omen for Nigeria?
We are also living in borrowed times; I am not against borrowing but what are we borrowing for? Today we are borrowing to consume, they are borrowing to make themselves comfortable.
They inherited N11 trillion from PDP in 2015, today it is close to N44 trillion and they are borrowing more. What are they spending the borrowed funds on and how will the money be paid back?
They are running a reckless system and this is the most reckless government I have ever seen. I am not sure this government has any economist in their midst. I doubt if they have any financial expert around them. I am not sure if this government is well advised or coordinated.
This is one government that is tossed around by every wind of international policy. We are in a state of confusion with the most clueless government ever in the history of Nigeria.
What is your take on the three per cent approved to the oil-bearing communities in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) recently passed by the National Assembly?
It is not just unfair but sad outside the figures. They have now elevated other communities in Nigeria, where only oil pipelines merely passed through against the oil-bearing communities.
That is a grave insult and injustice to the oil being communities whose environment has been devastated, jobs and means of livelihood taken away from them, and whose fishing ponds have been bastardised.
So, just because an oil pipeline passed through a community, the area must benefit. That piece of legislation is an embodiment of injustice to the people of the Niger Delta.
Now that the bill has been passed, what next for the people of Niger Delta?
We will challenge the bill, injustice any day is injustice forever and we have as Niger Delta people rejected it. We will challenge it because it is an insult on us.
Are you satisfied with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) operating without a board till now because of a forensic audit going on presently?
It is not just having a board but doing so to the detriment of the law. There is no provision in the NDDC Act that allows the present illegality to be perpetuated. There is no such contemplation like Interim Management Board in the entirety of the NDDC Act but they have ran it for close to two years now and nobody has the sense of responsibility to recourse to the enabling law.
This is because people are benefiting from it. People are making cash out of the illegality.
What is your position on the Senate’s stance on the issue of electronic transfer of election results, which differs from the position of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)?
That has shown how fraudulent the APC government has been. If you recall, in 2014/15, they promised Nigerians that they will give them a better electoral process.
Today, they can’t even support the position they met on ground. INEC made it clear that it can transmit results electronically; it did that in two previous elections in the country and bye elections.
The commission has shown capacity and that the process can work but APC is fighting INEC and other progressive Nigerians to thwart the progress we have made in our electoral system. If the bill is eventually signed into law, we will go to court to challenge it for being in conflict with the constitution. The constitution in section 161/162 made INEC a unique institution whose rules are not subjected to anybody’s considerations. It is clearly slated that once INEC comes out with its rules, guidelines and position, nobody will review it.
Therefore, you cannot subject INEC’s decision to a third party like the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to decide what INEC should do. Let them sign the bill into law, we are waiting for them in court. It is shameful that in 21st century and in 2021, anybody could kick against deployment of technology to enhance our electoral system.
It is insulting the way Buhari is defending the open grazing system in 2021. A president of a country, on national television and defending open grazing and what he called traditional grazing routes, something that took place in the 15th century is still being talked about in the 21st century, owing to ill motives against the interest of the people.
How do you assess the chances of your party in the 2023 presidential election?
In the first place, we won the election in 2019 but were robbed. So, what should be bothering Nigerians is to look at the merging electioneering process and stand firm to ensure that their votes in the next election count. APC knew that PDP won the 2019 election; that is why they are running away from electronic transmission of election results. They know that they don’t have the number to defeat PDP and that Nigerians are fed up with them. The ball is in the court of Nigerians to defend their votes, their future and the electoral credibility. That should be the theme of the discussion now. Nigerians must protect the democratic ethos and the integrity of the ballot box; that should dominate the discourse. The problem is a malady affecting all sane and reasonable Nigerians. Even people in APC are aggrieved with the way government is toying with the destiny of Nigeria, the democratic culture and future of Nigerians.
Are you worried that an establishment like Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has no Niger Deltan on its board among other sensitive positions?
Nepotism has taken over the country and it’s a policy of the incumbent administration. Nepotism in favour of the Fulanis; a fulanisation process is not just the NNPC but all the revenue generating agencies in Nigeria. Everywhere revenue, taxes and levies are collected in Nigeria are manned by them. Every agency in the oil and gas sector is under the government of Buhari and his kits and kin. He is also the petroleum minister in Nigeria. Every sensitive position in oil and gas industry is under the control of the Fulanis. You are the Director General of the newly formed peace maintenance movement, what is the reason behind its formation at this time and who are those behind the group? It is a vehicle for transition of government. The Peace Maintenance Movement as the name implies is a strategic vehicle formed to work with the governor to midwife the succession plan of the governor. It is fashioned to work with the state governor to guarantee safe landing in terms of succession for the government of Akwa Ibom State. It is birthed at the right time and the sole aim is to join the governor to midwife the processes that will result in his completion agenda and succession plan. It’s a small family within the larger PDP family in Akwa Ibom State and it populated by PDP members, who are committed to support the governor to achieve his succession plan. That is the intention, the vision, the mission and purpose of the group
You are a top-ranking member of PDP as the National legal adviser; a lot of people are worried if there will be free and fair primaries?
I am sure you known that at the last count, we have about eight aspirants; they have their own vehicles; platforms and groups that are canvassing support for them. You don’t expect the governor who is actually going to be succeeded, who is in charge and the leader of the party not to have his own plans in terms of succession.
As far as I am concerned, any government or leadership without any proper succession plan is already a failed government. If you are in leadership position, won’t you be interested in who takes over your legacy and how your milestones are preserved? Nobody will want to be that careless. This is not a process that is intended to compromise the internal democracy of the PDP rather it is intended to work with the governor to ensure that whatever he wants in a successor is achieved. It does not stop other people from contesting.
As the National Legal Adviser of PDP, don’t you think some people may not be comfortable with your current position as the Director General of the Peace Maintenance Movement?
First and foremost, I am working for myself, I go for my conviction, whatever I believe is good is what I go for, not to please anybody. I operate on the basis of my conviction. I am the National Legal Adviser of the PDP and I want PDP to perpetuate itself in Akwa Ibom State; that is my fist focus. Therefore, if I am in a vehicle within the PDP family, I think am within context.
If anybody doesn’t feel right about it, it is the person’s business, because I believe that I have the right, the basis and constitutional right to associate with anybody I like. I am a member of the PDP and also free to form or join associations under PDP, and also to belong to as many groups as I want.
Nobody can stop me from that; it is my basic right and decision to take. I am not here to receive applause from anybody. I do things that satisfy my yearnings, vision, drive and purpose.
Is there any plan to spread the Peace Maintenance Movement to the national level?
It is a different ball game entirely but it is not impossible. Nigeria is at crossroads security wise, safety is no longer guaranteed and it is like there is no government at the centre. That is the reality on ground no matter any contrary opinion. If the experiment becomes successful in Akwa Ibom State
I am sure we can push it to the national level to ensure that the safety of Nigeria is also guaranteed at that level. For Akwa Ibom, we are very mindful of the security, safety and protection of lives and property in the state.
We believe that the government of Udom Emmanuel has succeeded to a large extent in protection of lives and property in the state. Nobody can deny him of that legacy. Then we need to preserve, protect and perpetuate the legacy; that is where we are and what we are doing.
Is the group set up to fight and neutralize any other other group that will want to work against Governor Emmanuel’s interest?
No, it’s not a military group but a political group. The group is not militarized, we are only selling ideas in a civil way and matured manner. We are marketing the legacies of the present government; we are not ready to engage anybody in any physical struggle.
Do you see the Governor Emmanuel’s Completion Agenda succeeding with the ailing economy and cash crunch in the country?
The governor has promised severally that he will complete all ongoing projects; he has given that assurance at several fora. I don’t think that a man as foresighted and mentally equipped technocrat can falter in the completion of his administration. He started well and will complete well.
Akwa Ibom since 1999 has been blessed with good governors, who have added great value to the state from Obong Victor Attah to Senator Godswill Akpabio and presently Deacon Udom Emmanuel, who has transformed the state from civil service oriented to industrialized and economically driven state.
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