Former minister of transportation, and a Director of Organisation of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) during the Second Republic, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, tells Oscar Nkemdi that President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government is running the country aground. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain offers a way forward. Excerpt…
Do you think the call for restructuring of the country is feasible today?
It is the best solution to our problems in Nigeria today. The more we run away from restructuring the more we cause or run into political troubles because if we don’t do it we will continue to embrace political disorder, disharmony, and discomfort.
You see, one important thing that we need in this country is peace and harmony for people to really reap from where they have sowed and also reap from where they can benefit. If you go to Bayelsa state, for instance, you will see that Governor Seriake Dickson has embraced what I call a very beautiful example of restructuring and, people are benefiting and rejoicing.
People who are pregnant are given money to take care of themselves and they are encouraged. Restructuring is more than the definition of the federal nature of our country’s federal existence and then ensuring that people will get a fair share of our natural resources. It is something we should do and if we don’t do it we suffer for it in a way we will deeply regret.
How realistic because before you restructure, it requires the National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly……?
(Cuts in) it’s feasible only if they can see the gains for the country in such an exercise. It’s very possible. Even the National Assembly members will also benefit because all these unnecessary rancor and acrimony will stop and patriotism will be properly re-defined.
People are going to benefit from their own resources created by their own efforts and their own wealth. The last election received a lot of condemnation and part of it was a large number of registered political parties. Don’t you think the political parties are too many?
No it is not too many if only we apply common sense and we apply political wisdom, nothing is too many. We should not run away from the obvious. Let the ones that cannot cope die a natural death.
Some of them do not even have an office or the capacity to win even a local government councilor?
It doesn’t matter and that should not cause worry; if they cannot win today they can win tomorrow and continue in the struggle. It is the beauty of democracy when it is played by the rules.
In any case, certain things are got to be spelled out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on what to do to political parties who did not carry score or get high marks, they can have their certificates withdrawn but whatever it is they can be encouraged to perform better.
For me, I don’t think the political parties are many. People must be made to participate in actually what belongs to them.
Were you really satisfied with the election conduct that took place recently?
I was very satisfied in terms of the number. But on the question of the conduct, the INEC did not make up their mind to conduct a very good election. The INEC conducted wishy-washy election; INEC conducted a very bad election that is what happened.
It simply means that the election was not good enough?
Being good is different from saying the number should not have been encouraged, the number should be encouraged but it was not good in the sense that INEC did not put up the application of common sense in the conduct of the election. And I knew the INEC will not do that.
What are some of the things you expected INEC to do that they did not do?
It was obvious that the INEC ought not to have allowed elections to be postponed arbitrarily the first time they did. It should not have happened.
Also, INEC was not prepared and number three is that they allowed the APC a free and field day. he APC deliberately did what they wanted to do by going all out to mismanage the election.
What APC did was terrible during the elections. Well, we will see what happens in the tribunal. The judiciary now represents the hope of the people of Nigeria, let the judiciary now make up its mind to help us balance, determine the elections to help us ensure that people benefit from what they did not get in the election.
A lot of people were robbed of their victory so let the tribunal look into all the issues so as to restore hope. And if the judiciary fails ….the outcome will be catastrophic.
What is your take on the security challenge in the country today?
We just need to thank God almighty because nobody is safe again. The situation is terrible.
You can see the stories everywhere on how lives are being wasted as if they are no longer human beings. There are killings upon killings everywhere, and it’s very frightening.
The state of insecurity in the country is just terrible. The people are hungry, many cannot get even one square meal a day to eat, there is no electricity in the country, I shudder at what is happening.
You ask yourself: is this really the change Nigerians wanted, is this, what Nigerians bargained for?
What we see is a show of shame as far as leadership is concerned. This country cannot be better if we continue this way.
If the government creates more jobs to engage the people, don’t you think things can be better?
I don’t see anything getting better the way this government is being run. People are unable to eat, no NEPA or Power Holding is holding back power as there is darkness everywhere.
So what have they been doing if one may ask because nothing is improving? What is happening is terrible and disastrous. You can’t imagine what Nigerians are experiencing and how the country is going down by the day.
So what do you think should be done?
The government should just make up its mind on what to do with the power equation in the country, what to do with sharing the commonwealth of the country, what to do to ensure that people are liberated from the crunches of poverty in the country.
If you don’t attend to this it is likely the slaughtering will continue and it will be terrible. I cannot contemplate what one can say that will happen if we continue this way. No time has Nigerians been deeply divided with so much hate speeches as we have it now. We need to be cautious of what we are currently doing, the seeds we are sowing and all that.
Look at the way the economy is going. Look at the debt profile. They can conjure any figure, they can dismiss any figure, the APC has destroyed our politics and they are not sparing the economy, they are killing the economy by the day and Nigerians are seeing and feeling the heat.
You cannot fool the people all the time, propaganda cannot sustain you for long and you can see the result that we are getting. You do not need any statistics to know things are bad because the people are hungry. When the people are hungry and not secured of their life then what do you expect.
When there is no power how can businesses survive? Industries are relocating out of the country, do you blame them? I wish the APC the best of luck.
What is the way forward?
The way forward is to ensure that we allow democracy to take its root in our country. We should not decimate the people’s effort at having true democracy.
Late Fela Anikulakpo, may his soul rest in peace once said we don’t have democracy in Nigeria but demoncrazy and demonstration of craze. So long as we don’t allow democracy to genuinely survive in this country we are going to have chaos, we will have political disruptions, tragedy upon tragedy.
If you are to score the APC which replaced your party, the PDP, what will be the score?
I won’t score them, I won’t do that. I am not saying that the PDP has become a party of angels, I am not saying that if the PDP is there they will perform magic overnight, no, but I know that the PDP would do better, forget about the APC propaganda.
Ask the average Nigerian and you will see their response. Nigeria has become the poverty or is it the hungry capital of the world. I feel sad about the way we are going. But let’s believe APC will change. At the moment APC is driving Nigeria into a terrible ditch.
