A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and member of APC Campaign Council for Gubernatorial Election in Bayelsa, Hon (Chief) Modestus Umenzekwe, in this Interview with…, said what Nigeria needs mostly now is peace which is the hallmark of development and therefore advised the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to know when to apply the break and prepare for another election.
You have continued to contribute your quota to nation building, through your public commentary, analysis and opinion.
Chief, with the whole issue pertaining to Tinubu’s certificate, going to America, Supreme Court, do you thing all these things are important or do you thing they have become distractions to both the President and the nation?
Well in as much as everybody has his right to defend whatever he feels, or to pursue whatever he feels, I think we have come to a stage in this whole wahala where we must be counting our teeth with our tongues. You and I know that this is a very serious distraction.
Whenever I talk I still refer to former President Goodluck Jonathan who advised that when you contest and lose, try to re-contest, it is not a do or die affair and when you win, try and accommodate everybody. We have a lot of problems in this country we supposed to face instead of all these Chicago, America, Supreme Court, certificate, this, that, after all, what is the minimum qualification to be president in this country? Has President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not met it? So many people are qualified to be president of this country, I wonder all this hullabaloo; you see people appearing on television, talking all sorts of things, saying all manner of things; you see, you don’t win election on pages of newspaper, you don’t win election on social media, in as much as those things help to project an individual candidate.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as I said and I am still saying, has paid his dues in politics in this country. He was at the war front, when people were hiding, and today, as God would have it, he has won, why can’t we allow him to govern us? And he said that his government is government of unity, you can see his appointments, it cut across all political parties, all geopolitical zones, and he is just coming out, there are so many appointments to be given out, you can see his policies, and he has said and admitted that we are all suffering and he is working towards ameliorating the whole situation. You can see how he has engaged the Labour, through the Minister of Labour and Employment, the former Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong. You have seen the MoU they signed in order to quench the tension, why can’t we allow the man to work? So I see these things as distraction, no matter how genuine, no matter how bad it is, it is distraction. Somebody must be there, if it is not me, it must be another person. If it is not Mr A, it must be Mr B, somebody must be the president; there can never be a vacuum.
And some of these issues coming up are issues, even though I am not a lawyer, are issues I call ancillary issues that have nothing to do with proving that Mr. A or Mr. B did not win the election. Chicago University is now a centre of attraction, everybody is writing letter and, what do people think, if I may ask? Everybody is pushing letter, making enquiry about one man. I must tell you, Asiwaju is a political colossus, he is a great man; I didn’t even know that his popularity is like this. For everybody to be making inquiry about him; I congratulate him and I see him as a great hero, may God help him to lead us well. May God help him to pilot the affairs of this country very well, may God help him to accommodate everybody, even the opposition. What we want is peace and nothing more.
Many see Atiku’s move to unseat Tinubu via the court as fighting his last battle to have his way to the presidency, is it not proper he rests this case and prepare for another election?
I won’t join people to say that it is his last battle, because I don’t know his intention, I don’t know the plan he has for future elections, whether it is his last battle or not. I don’t want to say that. In as much as Waziri Adamawa, Atiku Abubakar, has served this country very well, as a Vice President, I know at the time he was in office with Obasanjo, he was described as the busiest Vice President in the whole world or in Africa, he is well known all over the world and I respect him, if he had won this election, I would still respect him. So it is his right to pursue his mandate if there was any one. But in doing that, he is an elder, as a statesman he should know when to apply break, by now I expect him to apply break, for where he is going, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Let me tell you, Presidential Election Petition Court is not court of general issues, the much I know, it is for a specific issue, guided by an act which is called the electoral act, and once they finish their case they stop, they go into extinction legally as stipulated by our electoral laws. They have gone to an appeal and appeal has passed judgement. You see, the issue of people filing matters in the court and coming out to coerce people, to coerce the judges, to weep up sentiments as if to say the courts don’t know what they are doing, it baffles me a lot. And that is why I thank the Chief Justice of the Federation. Recently when he was inaugurating 23 Federal High Court judges; he made it clear, that public opinions do not guide the proceedings of the court. It is a very very powerful policy statement that should come from a seasoned leader. I want to advise our people, when you file a matter in court, please calm down, allow the court to decide, unless we say we don’t want court again, then we can amend our constitution, abolish our court processes.
However I don’t blame the candidates or petitioners to some extent, because it is some of us, it is people that invested in some of these things that are pushing them. So presidential election petition court is not a court of general issue where you keep on pumping in evidence, no. I am appealing to all the stakeholders in this country including journalists, to please, we are in a very very precarious situation in this country, let us allow the Federal Government to function, let us allow the National Assembly to function, let us allow even the governors to function, the local governments, wherever they are, let us allow them to function, let us allow instituted authorities to function so that we will be able to assess them at the end of the day, to hold them accountable at the end of the day. With all these distractions you cannot check them, you cannot assess them. So my advice and appeal is, let every Nigerian calm down and allow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to finish his tenure, in the next four years, we are going to have another election, I can contest, you can contest, any of them can contest, if he wins you, fine, but now that we are at the Supreme Court, let us allow the Supreme Court to decide. I belong to a Whatsapp group and they keep analyzing what the judges would say, each time they keep doing the same thing and at a stage, I got tired and I left the group because the objective of that group was not being met. And I see this thing as a slap on the judiciary. I am calling on the Judiciary, I am calling on the National Assembly to please, take steps to correct these things; our judges are being harassed on the pages of newspapers, Whatsapp groups and all the rest, they are being harassed unnecessarily, allow them to do their job. Good a thing, we have magistrate courts, high courts, appeal courts and the Supreme Court, God created us to live freely, when we err he doesn’t kill us; then why must we go to this extent? So my appeal is that we should know that that is a court of a specific issue, not general court, and I don’t see the Supreme Court accepting new evidence which will not be even sustained. The Chicago university admitted that Tinubu was their student, graduated from there, then how come all these allegations here and there? Who will be there and there will be peace? I want to know, who will be at Aso Rock and there will be peace? I tire oo.
I forgot, I listened to the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, calling on Peter Ob, Kwankwaso, all political leaders to join him. Is it to join him to fight at the Supreme Court or join him to merge their votes with his? He said he won the election, Labour Party said they won the election, and now he is calling them, is he calling them to abandon their case, is he calling Labour Party to abandon her case or what? He even invited the spirit of the late legal sage, Gani Fawehinmi, to come and help, all these are nothing but distractions.
However, I must commend the Labour Party, I was listening to the Radio this morning and I heard that the Labour Party maintained that they are at the Supreme Court, so they are distancing themselves from that call, and I want to commend them for doing that. And that is why Peter Obi is different in this pursuit, he is pursuing his mandate within the legal framework, he is not into this Chicago this, Chicago that. However, it is good as Waziri Adamawa said that he will stop at the Supreme Court. If he wins, he will go and rest; if Tinubu wins he will go and rest, and I want him to keep his promise and drop all these Chicago this, Chicago that, all those issues that are neither here, nor there. These issues are dead on arrival, as far as I know as a lay man, it is not within the legal framework of the presidential election petition court, the much I have read, the much I have known. So let us allow peace to reign.
There will be off season elections in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi and in 2024, Edo will follow suit, so don’t you think that the hullabaloo generated by the 2023 election will dampen the interest of the electorate and perhaps enthrone unpopular candidates?
That is why I said from the beginning; let us reduce the number of court cases; they are turning Nigeria to a place where elections are won in the court, they are turning Nigeria to a place where they are making the electorate feel unsafe to come out and vote because if after voting and INEC declares result, and they go to court, then it is better you go to court from day one, contest there and win there, do your vote there. However these things are deepening our democracy, one way or the other, because it is making us to learn, myself I have learnt a lot from February 25th election till now. If I am going to get involved in any elective position, I now know what to do, the dos and don’ts. But then our judges are being over-stressed, our security agencies are being over-stretched. However, I believe that voter education is deepening, electorates are coming out to vote, so all these hullabaloo as you say will not cause problem, people will come out and vote. Like I told you, we were in Bayelsa, you need to see the mobilization; you need to see the number of Bayelsans that trooped out under heavy rain to hail our candidate, Sylva. So it is very encouraging. Am I talking about Imo State, Governor Uzodimma has done so very well, he is blazing the trail on daily basis, you can see the support. In the last election you can see how APC in Imo took over everywhere, the same thing in Kogi, and in 2024 the same thing will happen in Edo, Edo has been an APC state, and it will return to APC, and with the type of President we have, who knows how to organize a party, who knows how to nurture a party, and the type of party Chairman we have, everybody is beginning to come together more than before, and I want to tell you, in those states, APC will spring more surprises as they have been doing.
Another issue that appears to be a distraction to the polity is the incessant threat by labour to go on strike. Chief I want you to advise labour on how to go about this issue of their welfare.
I have advised them before and I am advising them again, and I am happy with labour, they are closing ranks with the Federal Government. You can see that the last proposed strike was shelved off, so I believe between now and month end things will change for better. The labour is complying, their leaders, Ajaero and Osifo, they are doing a good job. You know it is not easy; they are leading some people, but I am glad that they are listening to the federal government. You know this is a new cabinet and Lalong is trying, remember that President said the era of incessant strikes has gone, and I don’t know Tinubu as someone that reneges on his promises, he has never reneged on his promises; but then labour should know that this is a new government, and I want to commend them, they are complying, there is peace, and I want to assure you that God willing, there won’t be any strike.
The suffering in the land has continued, especially among the downtrodden, what is that thing, if you were asked to say, you feel the president can do to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses?
You see, this question has come up several times, the president is already tackling those issues, there are so many palliative measures he has brought out, and I think we should give him time for those things to get to the people; that is much I can tell you, yes, he has a lot and they are already being pushed out, but it takes time, because you have to document them, profile them, otherwise the bad eggs, hoodlums will hijack those palliatives. So I am still appealing to people to calm down, it is coming and he will deliver. I have no doubt about his ability to quench this hardship. But he is not God, it is only God that can wipe out hardship totally, he is not a magician, I know he would work within the framework of the available resources. Tinubu is not known to be a person that starves his people all through his life. So he is generous as a person, and I know that he would be generous as a president.
If there is something I missed, you can say it now
No, it is still prayer, I pray for peace in the land, I pray for progress, I pray for the new government to live up to expectation, I pray for the life of the president, and his workers, the federal executive council, the national economic council, the national assembly, and various agencies of government, may God give them health, because health is wealth, and wisdom to pilot the affairs of this country.
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