Buhari is the best candidate, but he ’ll not win - Fred Agbaje

Lagos lawyer, Mr. Fred Agbaje, in this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, speaks on the challenges of the April general elections as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Excerpts:

HOW would you assess the prevailing political situation in the country ahead of April elections?

Politically, socially and economically, so much is happening in this country, particularly in the last six months or thereabout. We have gone through a voter registration exercise, but did we get it right? Did all eligible Nigerians register? If all Nigerians who were eligible did not register, what happens to those who did not register? Was it their own fault or the deliberate result of some of the inadequacies arising from the shoddy preparation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)? If ordinary registration exercise was marred by irregularities, then one begins to fear for the election itself. As I keep saying, Professor Attahiru Jega might be a professor of Political Science, but I doubt if he has considered the setbacks or the events that led to the failure of his predecessors, starting from the days of Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to those of National Electoral Commission (NEC) and INEC. It is still the same problem of registration and that is why most of the elections in this country have failed. They have failed because of so many factors, not just the money factor. Money has been given and nothing has been done to show for it.

What I’m saying in essence is that we need to ask ourselves if the Nigerian government has addressed those factors that have led to successive failure of elections in the past. If they say yes, then, we should be courageous enough to tell the government that they are lying. Where did the government set up electoral reform committee and why is the Federal Government foot-dragging on the implementation of the Muhammed Uwais-led committee report on electoral reform? Why is Professor Jega silent about the committee’s recommendations, knowing full well that those recommendations would have helped the INEC to achieve better results. Has he suddenly joined the bandwagon of those who are in the habit of deceiving Nigerians, pretending to be working for them? Anyway, I don’t want to sound alarmist, but my father used to say that the morning determines the day. If ordinary voter registration could turn out to be a massive failure, those who are expecting Jega to perform miracle in the next election might be deluding themselves.

INEC targeted 70 million voters and it was able to record close to that figure. Don’t you think Jega deserves to be commended?

Why does he deserve to be commended? Why are you commending him? Are you sure of the figure they gave you? Do you have a way of confirming it? Nigerian government officials have a way of brandishing information that will suit them and suppressing information that will not suit their purpose, whereas in a democracy, information should flow freely, unhindered and unfettered. So, if he says he budgeted for 70 million voters, is that the true population of Nigeria in terms of adults; in terms of eligible voters? Are you saying eligible voters in Nigeria are 70 million? Are eligible voters in Lagos not even more than the figure released? With the conduct of the last registration exercise, I have begun to look beyond Jega. I keep saying it that those who are expecting 100 or 50 per cent success in the next election would be very disappointed.

Don’t you agree with Nigerians who believe the April elections present an opportunity for the country to get it right?

We are all interested in the country getting it right, because Nigerians are tired of complaining. It is like we make the same complaints over the same issues and the government is not making any effort at finding solutions to them. People have complained so much about electoral fraud in this country. That was what necessitated Yar’Adua/Goodluck Electoral Reform Committee. The day Umaru Yar’Adua died, (President) Goodluck abandoned that project. Had Nigerians not spoken severally about the need for electoral reforms for the country? Where are electoral reforms today? The so-called constitution amendment and the various amendments to the Electoral Act have not been reflective of the recommendations of the Nweke-led electoral committee.

Is Jega the problem?

Jega is not the problem. The problems confronting INEC are multidimensional but people tend to look at the logistics alone. What of the institution called INEC itself? Doesn’t it need to be readdressed? Doesn’t the present INEC setup need a surgical reorganisation? Were you not in this country when a former governor of a state told us how Resident Electoral Officers (REC) were always wrecking elections; how they were wrecking, instead of helping to ensure sanity in the electoral protocol? REC officers in the state became wreckers.

So, I rarely see change in terms of the portfolio and the organisational organogram in place except for the officers that have been appointed. The same structure they have perfected for the art of looting is still there. The area most Nigerians have not addressed is, who picked Jega; who is responsible for picking INEC’s ‘managing director? That is where the fraud actually starts from because when you talk about an electoral fraud, it is not the ordinary man in Mile 12 or the ordinary woman in Gbagi or Kano market that perpetrate them. As far as I am concerned, the fraud starts with the appointment of INEC chairman. My little knowledge of the English Language tells me that who pays the piper dictates the tune. How did Jega became the chairman of INEC? I am not limiting it to Professor Jega alone. How did Professor Iwu and the late Goubadia became the chairmen of INEC? How did Nwosu get to the position? Though they might tell Nigerians that out of the five names given to them, they appointed the best but what were the criteria used? Do they tell Nigerians the criteria? The person that is appointed may not be the best for the majority of Nigerians, but the president will claim to be acting on behalf of Nigerians.

So, he has appointed somebody said to be the best Nigerians will accept but whatever yardstick he used in appointing that person, we don’t know. No matter how principled you are; no matter how strong-willed you are; no matter the integrity you claim to have; no matter the intellectual background you claim to be, when it comes to political appointments, when the chips are down, you’re a human being. You would not say you won’t be shaken when the chips are down. That is one of the problems of elections in this country.

The president has said nobody should rig elections for him. However, is it the first time we have been hearing that? Do you expect him to openly tell the INEC officials, ‘please, rig in my favour.’ He needed not to have said it; he cannot lose.

Are you disputing the claims by many that Nigeria is lucky to have a president they can trust?

I don’t know about that, but it is the same president whom people say they don’t trust because he did not respect a simple gentleman’s agreement. Is it not in this country that a prominent member of the PDP, who contested against the president, said he could not respect the president because a man who could not respect a simple agreement as zoning could not be entrusted with the votes of Nigerians?

I keep saying it that there is no magic any of the dying or withering opposition parties can perform to make them win the Presidency because the political odds are against them; the electoral odds are never in their favour. What I may call the political equation on the ground does not convince me that the opposition parties are actually interested in taking over the central government. Who are the political aspirants in the opposition parties? Who are the presidential candidates in the opposition parties?

Buhari is an ideal president in a very plain country where electoral rights are respected, where franchise counts, where people’s votes count. I want to be very frank with you, Buhari is the best among the presidential candidates; he is better than all of them, but he is not going to win.

What are the odds against him?

It depends on the party he belongs to, the programmes that party is pursuing and how widely accepted those programmes would be. You could be a very credible and competent presidential candidate, but will the system allow you? How convincing are his programmes? That itself is another major factor.

He has promised to clean the Augean stables. Don’t you think that is enough to sway voters in his favour?
That is if he wins. In an ideal society, it would have been enough to sway voters. Those, who have the political, economic and the social jumble of this country would not allow the likes of Buhari to win or form government. Rather, they would prefer a member of a particular clique to remain in power because they know that if the likes of Buhari come in, it will no longer be business as usual. He will chase them out of this hemisphere.

Ribadu is also a major contender. My good friend, Dele Momodu, is. Ditto Professor Pat Utomi and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau but are they serious candidates? I don’t know; I’m only asking. Shekarau is the governor of Kano State. Does that alone automatically qualify him to seek the Presidency? Don’t forget the party under which he is coming. He might be good but is his party’s programme sellable to the Nigerian electorate?

On Ribadu, where is he coming from? As former EFCC chairman and police officer or what? What are his political antecedent?

It is not for them to decide, let the people decide it is not people. You are not the only voter. Cast your vote for the person of your choice and allow the majority to decide who picks the party ticket. That’s internal democracy. We are talking about democracy; it [democracy] is not only about you as an individual, look at what is happening in the Maghreb countries now. The citizens are clamouring for democracy for a change . Can you imagine! You impose candidates on the people and they are trying to justify the imposition in a democracy. Is that democracy? All of us are very vocal in our condemnation of the PDP, only for the party we expected that would be a shining star to tow the path of PDP. It did something worse than what PDP has done.

Must we shout Haleluyah when internal democracy does not exist in any of the political parties in Nigeria? They are all guilty of that imposition. The consequence of the opposition would soon done on them. Take the case of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states, where I am very familiar with. What about Ekiti and Edo states. You will see political vibration that will arise after the elections; some people will only end up messing up themselves because they will just loose the elections. I watched what happened in the last primaries. The essence of conducting primaries is for aspirants to test their popularity. But what did we see?

What do you think was generally responsible for the gale of impositions?

One is greed, two is corruption, they want people they can easily control, they want to promote what is known as political hegemony and it has to do with retaining power in a particular hand at all cost. They don’t want it to go. But the truth of the matter is that those who are averse to change cannot withstand the hurricane when it comes at the appropriate time.Many have ruled out the possibility of the kind of revolution sweeping across North Africa in Nigeria.You cannot to rule out what happened in the Magreb region happening in Nigeria. A typical example was the recent face-off between NLC and the Union Bank. It almost brought down that bank. That is just one organization. I just pray that Nigerians are not misled to think of adopting the Egyptian style of chasing away particularly those leaders that are planning to remain in government for 50 years. We would do worse than the Libyans and Egyptians have done. The Magreb example will be a child’s play if anybody wants to rig the elections.

Politicians have succeeded in using the weapon of poverty to weaken the flesh and soul of the majority, so it might be difficult for them to build a consensus for such renaissance?
They are pursuing political mischiefs, not just political mischief, they have also succeeded in ensuring that the average Nigerian man as at today is even worse than what he was 12years ago before we tested democracy and this has helped in uniting the poor people together towards a common end.

To what extent are issues dominating campaigns for the elections?

As far as I am concerned the quality, how many politicians, political parties have ever addressed issues, since the demise of the likes of chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Mallam Aminu Kano. Issue based politics has died since those days. That was when I was in the university. I remember that the political parties used to address education, economy, but now the Action Congress of Nigeria, tell me their political manifesto if they had in 1999, what happened to AD 2003? What are you going to put in place so that “eko oni baje?” That should be the question we should be asking. By the grace of God, “eko oni baje” but what are you doing in terms of political re-engineering, economic re-engineering, social re-engineering and ensuring that area boys don’t become a ready-made instruments to rig the elections? What have you put in place to rehabilitate them and give them a sense of belonging in the society so that they don’t remain permanent hewers of goods and fetchers of water? What are your programmes in terms of schools, so many of the schools are without teachers, doctors are on always on strike, what are you doing to address all these issues?

Everybody just seems to be concerned about politics, politics but what about the economy, what about the people, what of the roads, what of the health sector, education, among others. For how long will our universities be the center point for the training of illiterates and half-baked graduates. We are the employers of labour, we know the caliber of people that they send to us. In a situation in which a student is at home for six months, what is left of the year for you to teach him, and at the end of the year you must give him a degree.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/index.php/interview/3405-buhari-is-the-best-candidate-but-he-ll-not-win-fred-agbaje

Since only almajiris support Buhari maybe they wld say Fred Agbaje is also an almajiri

Who are those supporting Retardeen Abdulclueless Odechukwu?

Anenih,OBJ, Dokpesi and IBB

Before Gen. "clean hands" Buhari gets my vote, he should first come and explain why he profess to abhor corruption and still didnt see any bad thing abacha did and still dine with them even till today.
He also need to explain why he refused to appear before Oputa panel.

There are other things he needs to explain shaa but I understand those ones, he is human too.

Not only dat buhari will not win,also all former dictators CAN never win election in nigeria again!