Newtelegra
Published
13 hours ago
on
May 30, 2019
Comrade Femi Aborisade is the founding National Secretary of the National Conscience Party (NCP). He was an active participant in the June 12, 1993 presidential annulment struggle and return of Nigeria to civilian administration on May 29, 1999. In this interview with TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE, he speaks on 20 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria and the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC)
As one of those who were actively involved in the struggle for return to democratic path in Nigeria on May 29, 1999, how do you feel about the present state of the nation?
I am unhappy because it appears to me the situation of life, the state of the nation as it is popularly understood continues to degenerate every day, every minute and every second. I think we have never had it so bad in this country and the root cause of it all is the unprecedented poverty into which majority of Nigerians have been sunk. And it is this poverty that is at the root of all the criminality and insecurity. There is unprecedented insecurity on a nationwide basis without any exception; life appears to have been devalued. And because people read about killing, death, abduction, kidnapping, genocide, we appear to be getting used to it. They no longer matter because they are daily experiences. Nigeria has been brought to its kneel in an unprecedented and unacceptable manner. It appears that all our sacrifices for a change and for a better; that all our arrests and detentions, all the vicious attacks we suffered under the vicious and law enforcement agencies, all the labour, sacrifices, suffering, detention appear to have meant nothing.
I am unhappy because it appears to me the situation of life, the state of the nation as it is popularly understood continues to degenerate every day, every minute and every second. I think we have never had it so bad in this country and the root cause of it all is the unprecedented poverty into which majority of Nigerians have been sunk. And it is this poverty that is at the root of all the criminality and insecurity. There is unprecedented insecurity on a nationwide basis without any exception; life appears to have been devalued. And because people read about killing, death, abduction, kidnapping, genocide, we appear to be getting used to it. They no longer matter because they are daily experiences. Nigeria has been brought to its kneel in an unprecedented and unacceptable manner. It appears that all our sacrifices for a change and for a better; that all our arrests and detentions, all the vicious attacks we suffered under the vicious and law enforcement agencies, all the labour, sacrifices, suffering, detention appear to have meant nothing.
Despite all that you have said, don’t you think 20 years of unbroken civilian administration is worth celebrating in Nigeria?
Our lives are being snuffed out of us. So, it has gone beyond the issue of celebrating something because life has become meaningless in Nigeria. Life is no longer sacred in Nigeria. People are undergoing unprecedented agony, pain and pans; bloodshed everywhere. So, it has gone beyond issue of celebrating something; it is a question of how did we get here.
Our lives are being snuffed out of us. So, it has gone beyond the issue of celebrating something because life has become meaningless in Nigeria. Life is no longer sacred in Nigeria. People are undergoing unprecedented agony, pain and pans; bloodshed everywhere. So, it has gone beyond issue of celebrating something; it is a question of how did we get here.
How did we get to where we are in Nigeria today because many have thought that returning to civilian administration would have addressed the nation’s problems?
The major problem is that those who had been ruling us have no thought at all for the masses. They are preoccupied with their own selfish interest. They are preoccupied with using public office against public interest. And the worst speeches are being turned out and are being produced year in, year out. That is the problem. The philosophy of governance is not pro-people; the philosophy of governance is pro only those who are in power. The resources that ought to be used to improve the lot of the people are being monopolized under what we may call legitimized corruption, legitimized looting, legitimize de-possession of the common wealth of the people by a few.
The major problem is that those who had been ruling us have no thought at all for the masses. They are preoccupied with their own selfish interest. They are preoccupied with using public office against public interest. And the worst speeches are being turned out and are being produced year in, year out. That is the problem. The philosophy of governance is not pro-people; the philosophy of governance is pro only those who are in power. The resources that ought to be used to improve the lot of the people are being monopolized under what we may call legitimized corruption, legitimized looting, legitimize de-possession of the common wealth of the people by a few.
So you believe Nigeria’s problem is leadership?
Exactly and that has long been identified. It is a question of leadership because we have leaders who are visionless. We have leaders who are concerned about material acquisition and personal aggrandizement and not for the improvement of the life of ordinary people. That is the core of the problem in Nigeria at present.
Exactly and that has long been identified. It is a question of leadership because we have leaders who are visionless. We have leaders who are concerned about material acquisition and personal aggrandizement and not for the improvement of the life of ordinary people. That is the core of the problem in Nigeria at present.
But what about the followership, are they not to be blame also for the present state of the nation?
We cannot blame the followership because this is a country, a society in which those who are ruling us either under military or civilian administration appear to have conquered us and imposed themselves and are ruling us by force. They have imposed themselves on us by force. So, we cannot blame the followership because more or less they have enslaved the society. The people are not free. There is a minimum level of economic comfort you could have before you think about participating in politics and being bothered about what they are doing in public offices. Our people have been so impoverished to that extent. So the blame cannot go to the masses. The masses have been fighting. Organised labour, workers, students, pensioners, community members have been fighting, protesting, calling on government to provide the minimum, protection of life and poverty. Insecurity is unprecedented. So I cannot blame the followers.
We cannot blame the followership because this is a country, a society in which those who are ruling us either under military or civilian administration appear to have conquered us and imposed themselves and are ruling us by force. They have imposed themselves on us by force. So, we cannot blame the followership because more or less they have enslaved the society. The people are not free. There is a minimum level of economic comfort you could have before you think about participating in politics and being bothered about what they are doing in public offices. Our people have been so impoverished to that extent. So the blame cannot go to the masses. The masses have been fighting. Organised labour, workers, students, pensioners, community members have been fighting, protesting, calling on government to provide the minimum, protection of life and poverty. Insecurity is unprecedented. So I cannot blame the followers.
In the last few years, we have had some human rights activists and leaders of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) occupying public offices, would you regard their involvement in politics as positive or negative?
I think the mistake we are making is that once someone was found to be agitating against military dictatorship, then it is an activist who love the people, no. Nigerians of all categories of status for example were involved in terminating colonial rule. But that you supported termination of colonialism does not necessarily mean that you are a fighter for justice on behalf of the down trodden. Again, that you are part and parcel of the struggle against military dictatorship does not necessarily mean that you are doing so for the emancipation of downtrodden. The point I am making is that activists at different times and era have different bus stops. For those who have been participating in politics on the platform of some political parties, they have reached their own bus stop of change. They have seen their own change. So, we should therefore not make the mistake that all those who have protested against the military rule and all those who fought for actualization of June 12 were truly lovers of the ordinary people.
I think the mistake we are making is that once someone was found to be agitating against military dictatorship, then it is an activist who love the people, no. Nigerians of all categories of status for example were involved in terminating colonial rule. But that you supported termination of colonialism does not necessarily mean that you are a fighter for justice on behalf of the down trodden. Again, that you are part and parcel of the struggle against military dictatorship does not necessarily mean that you are doing so for the emancipation of downtrodden. The point I am making is that activists at different times and era have different bus stops. For those who have been participating in politics on the platform of some political parties, they have reached their own bus stop of change. They have seen their own change. So, we should therefore not make the mistake that all those who have protested against the military rule and all those who fought for actualization of June 12 were truly lovers of the ordinary people.
Do you see President Muhammadu Buhari addressing the insecurity challenges in the country?
The Federal Government is incapable of ending the scourge of insurgency and other forms of insecurity. The economic programme of the APC-controlled Federal Government fuels insurgency by increasing the number of jobless, hopeless, hungry and angry youths. Pervasive poverty over years of criminal neglect of the welfare of ordinary people produces the unprecedented insecurity being witnessed today all over the country. The economic programme of the ÀPC called Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which is predicated on the perspective of the private sector, rather than the public sector being the engine of economic growth is fuelling poverty and by implication the insurgency and other forms of insecurity.
Poverty is also being fuelled by the anti- poor people policies of state governments. For example, Kaduna State is one of the most dangerous states in Nigeria to live, work or visit in terms of regularity of bloodshed, kidnappings and killings. The level of insecurity in Kaduna State today is a function of unprecedented and wicked policy of the Kaduna State Government under Governor Nasir El-Rufai in terms of mass sack of about 40,000 workers in different ministries, including 22,000 teachers, 800 workers of MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies), over 4,000 workers of local government councils, thousands of medical and health workers, 8000 workers of Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, among several others, all sacked, more or less, about the same time, simultaneously, in different Ministries of the Kaduna State Government.
The uncontrolled insecurity is therefore the harvest or product of government socio-economic policies. It is a phenomenon that can be explained rationally. The solution does not lie in militarisation of society. If the resources being pumped into military solution were pumped into implementing reducing policies to provide humanising and enduring jobs, humanising social housing units, free medical care in a revamped health care system patronised by Mr. President himself, free education patronised by the children of the ruling elites, food for the hungry, a policy of minimum income for all categories of the weak segments of society, care of the aged, etc, insurgency and insecurity would be massively undermined and reduced in ways better than a military focused solution which successive governments have been pursuing over the years.
The Federal Government is incapable of ending the scourge of insurgency and other forms of insecurity. The economic programme of the APC-controlled Federal Government fuels insurgency by increasing the number of jobless, hopeless, hungry and angry youths. Pervasive poverty over years of criminal neglect of the welfare of ordinary people produces the unprecedented insecurity being witnessed today all over the country. The economic programme of the ÀPC called Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which is predicated on the perspective of the private sector, rather than the public sector being the engine of economic growth is fuelling poverty and by implication the insurgency and other forms of insecurity.
Poverty is also being fuelled by the anti- poor people policies of state governments. For example, Kaduna State is one of the most dangerous states in Nigeria to live, work or visit in terms of regularity of bloodshed, kidnappings and killings. The level of insecurity in Kaduna State today is a function of unprecedented and wicked policy of the Kaduna State Government under Governor Nasir El-Rufai in terms of mass sack of about 40,000 workers in different ministries, including 22,000 teachers, 800 workers of MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies), over 4,000 workers of local government councils, thousands of medical and health workers, 8000 workers of Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, among several others, all sacked, more or less, about the same time, simultaneously, in different Ministries of the Kaduna State Government.
The uncontrolled insecurity is therefore the harvest or product of government socio-economic policies. It is a phenomenon that can be explained rationally. The solution does not lie in militarisation of society. If the resources being pumped into military solution were pumped into implementing reducing policies to provide humanising and enduring jobs, humanising social housing units, free medical care in a revamped health care system patronised by Mr. President himself, free education patronised by the children of the ruling elites, food for the hungry, a policy of minimum income for all categories of the weak segments of society, care of the aged, etc, insurgency and insecurity would be massively undermined and reduced in ways better than a military focused solution which successive governments have been pursuing over the years.
The National Assembly recently passed June 12 as Democracy Day and Public Holiday. As someone who was actively involved in the struggle againt June 12 annulment, what is your take on this?
I would say it is a welcome development; that was what we have been agitating for. They must recognise that June 12 represents the electoral wish of Nigerian people. And no government, no matter how powerful, how vicious would have the right to annul the electoral wish of the people. So, from that point of view, it is a welcome development. However, nearly recognising June 12 as Democracy Day is nothing but tokenism. It is the significant of June 12 that government should address. During the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the campaign slogan of MKO Abiola was farewell to poverty, therefore anti-poverty policies and programmes must be implemented. Education should be declared free. Medical care should be provided free for all Nigerians and not just for the president and other political elite embarking on medical tourism. These are issues of importance within the context of the significance of June 12.
I would say it is a welcome development; that was what we have been agitating for. They must recognise that June 12 represents the electoral wish of Nigerian people. And no government, no matter how powerful, how vicious would have the right to annul the electoral wish of the people. So, from that point of view, it is a welcome development. However, nearly recognising June 12 as Democracy Day is nothing but tokenism. It is the significant of June 12 that government should address. During the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the campaign slogan of MKO Abiola was farewell to poverty, therefore anti-poverty policies and programmes must be implemented. Education should be declared free. Medical care should be provided free for all Nigerians and not just for the president and other political elite embarking on medical tourism. These are issues of importance within the context of the significance of June 12.
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