The principal partner, Chinenye Chambers in Abuja, Amobi Nzelu Esq in this press interview in his office with our CHIEF CORRESPONDENT ABBANOBI-EKU ONYEKACHI didn’t only blame the senate president for treating his letters to him with levity, which if done would have averted the recent 10 days protests in Nigeria, but also said that the legislative arm of the government is working for their executive counterparts, instead of those who gave mandate to them. The constitutional lawyer faulted in its entirety, the restriction of protesters, saying that it is a breach of their constitutional rights. Excerpts.
Qtn: You didn’t make a comment on the protest, are you for or against it?
Ans: I am sitting on the defense. Recall that before the protests, I wrote a ten page letter to the senate president, complaining of what has been going on in this country, which is to their knowledge and he refused to come out to issue a policy statement on the way forward to avert crisis. I saw it coming. This is a prewarn strike, because everything is at the high price, including food items, which are unaffordable to the poor and the rich in the country, and for that, the people decided to protest, to register their disapproval, the way the country is being ran. I am still watching.
But Mr President addressed the nation recently and deliberately refused to address the points being raised by the protesters. I wonder what it will take him to say, let the price of fuel come down to N500 per litre, pending when we adjust our indices. Electricity bill which people are bargaining at N250 per unit, let it come down to N150, depending when the indices are adjourned. That will make the protesters to go back home, but to stick to his gun, means that he isn’t near to the people, bringing hunger and poverty to the the land. This country is blessed with mineral resources to sustain them, but they are passing through abject poverty.
That was part of what I wrote to Akpabio; that you preside over a senate that bought a N160million car for each 469 legislators, making everything, N75billion. Let me tell you, 95% of the legislators they bought the cars for, didn’t take the cars. They took their money from the vendors and bought lesser cars. A hungry man can go extra miles. I don’t take a hungry man for granted.
Qtn: The police were accused of killing and throwing teargas on the protesters, and that the protesters were also looting and destroying public and private sectors’ properties, what is your assessment of the protest?
Ans: You see, in every situation, where by there is a protests situation, some hoodlums usually highjack the protests. It may be a well articulated and organized protests, but the level it will go can’t be guaranteed by the organizers. Yes, peaceful demonstration is a constitutional right, but when it becomes violent, the government of the day won’t fold their hands. But has the president spoken earlier than the August 1st deadline, it wouldn’t have got to the level it got to.
Qtn: In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), being the seat of the government of the federation, to avoid looting and demolishing government and private properties, the protesters were restricted to the national stadium, how do you see that?
Ans: You see, the judiciary, I can’t say, but I have begun to look at them with double eyes. It is my constituency and I have been there since 1980. You can’t restrict people’s protests. I don’t know the indices or the fact they put before the court, that made any sitting judge to restrict protest. It isn’t possible. I don’t know the argument they will converse before a court of law, that will override the provision of this country that guarantees freedom of association. I am yet to know the argument they will canvas. The same government that rushed to judiciary to get an order, is the government that choses an order to obey. Yes it is the same government that will choose orders to obey. Once an order favours them, they comply, but if it doesn’t favour them, they ignore it, because they have no coarsive powers, to pass judgement against the state. When you want to arrest the IGP, for going to shoot the people, can you arrest him? You can’t, because he is your master.
Qtn: Having spoken on the executive and the judiciary, can you again speak on the legislators on the protest?
Ans: I have put my opinion on pages of newspapers. I have written 10 pages to Senate President Godswil Akpabio and I can oblige you a copy. I foresaw this thing when it was going to happen. You got up in the morning and electricity was increased to N250.00 per unit and they call it Band A; and that is discrimination. The constitution says that there should be no discrimination against anybody in this country. But in this country, some are paying N250.00 per unit of electricity, while others are paying N68.00, in a country that you go to the same market, because there is no market for the poor and there is no market for the rich.
I am saying that the legislators in this country always engage a reverse gear, when it gets to issue that has to do with the common man. They prefer to fill their pockets at the expense of the common man. They can’t confront the government, because they are tied to it. They can budget, but they can’t appropriate it. They can make budget for N1 trillion, but they have to wait for the executive for approval. So we are not running true federalism.
Qtn: The pretests stopped on 10, with the protesters threatening to start another one which may turnt to revolution, what would be your advice to them?
Ans: Look at what happened in Kano, where properties were destroyed; I heard that markets were looted. These are innocent people who are grappling to survive. I advise them to trade cautions. You can’t expect me at this level to ask them to resort to violence. That should be irresponsible of me at this level and age. All I am saying is that war can never solve any problem, but dialogue. We fought civil war in this country for about 30 months and through dialogue, it was settled.
Let me say it once more, the legislators are not doing what they suppose to do. They have what is called oversight functions in the constitution. They are not trying to interrogate the executive arm of the government. We gave them the mandate to go and represent us. What they are doing is to work on behalf of the executive arm of the government. That mandate has been converted into their own aggrandizement.
Somebody that became a member of house of representatives, who had no two rooms in his father’s compound, has a geep of N160million today. Somebody is made a chairman of a committee, they go on oversight function, their pockets are filled with money; they see evil, they won’t condemn the evil. They should remember that they are going to pass through this way, but once. Let people not record them as the people that came, saw and never conquered. That is bad for their names. Whatever you are doing, self – interest, selfish – end should be put in abeyance.
We have about 850 million Nigerias today and about 80% feed from dustbin and nobody cares. You can’t pay N100 thousand minimum wage; you pay seventy thousand Naira and yet, the senators go home with about N15milliom monthly, and have five hundred thousand Naira to spend daily. Under this condition, I don’t think that this country will move forward.
And above all, let us be sincere in good conscience, Mr President is grappling with the mess he met on the ground. He never caused it and it is difficult and more expensive to maintain a damaged house than to build a new one. Tinubu came on board and met a rut in the system, where oil has been sold in five, six years in advance to foreign partners and money appropriated. So Tinubu is a victim of circumstance and should be left out of this matter. But let him himself put a human face in what is going on in this country. Let him put a human face. He isn’t to be blamed, it is the past government that saw this rut coming and did nothing.
And the greatest undoing of this government is the senate president. He should check his words. He shouldn’t talk any how. Governance is not meant for glorified clowns or award – winning actors. Government is a serious affair, it is neither meant for clowns, nor for award – winning comedians. It is not meant for them. The senate president continues to talk what will provoke Nigerians and each time he continues to deny. He is a lawyer and should mind his language and he knows what he is doing isn’t right. Nigerians are crying and you are making it to be a joke. If he wants to crack a joke, he should go to motor park, they are there waiting for him. As I said earlier, governance is neither meant for comedians, nor for glorified clowns; “inye ndi ebea, inye ndi ebea,” meaning, “if you give these people, you give the other people.”
