Reverend David Ugolor, a rights
activist, is the Executive Director, African Network for Environment and
Economic Justice (ANEEJ). In this interview with ALEMMA-OZIORUVA ALIU
in Benin City, he spoke on the raging crisis in the Rivers State PDP
involving Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the 2015 general election
build-up.WHAT is your stance on issues relating to the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the Presidency?This
is another Abuja magic in display, we are in trouble. Femi Falana
recently released a statement where he said there is a gradual move to
dictatorship in Nigeria and attempt to muzzle opposition groups and free
speech. You know Falana cannot just make a statement out of the blues. I
raised the alarm that this government is not willing to listen to
alternative voices, every attempt to demand justice, has been frustrated
and the level of impunity today in Nigeria is alarming, it cuts across
government sectors and institutions.
If you look at the just released
human rights report 2012, it is the same message and the response of
this government has been very bad; yesterday it was me, today is
Amaechi, tomorrow it could be Adams. The Niger State governor also said
so recently. So you can see that there is a gradual trend towards
muzzling people with alternative views and even a threat to justice and
once there is threat to justice, you cannot talk of the rule of law, you
cannot talk of democracy.
The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) is a
platform for the governors to articulate their positions. They are not
arms carriers. The NGF is made up of both governors from the opposition
and ruling party and they elected Amaechi as their chairman, and all the
issues he has been raising are not his personal views they are
consensus issues. Should he now pay a price for that? But you can see
that this Abuja magic has brought politics into the NGF and this we
condemn outrightly and as if that is not enough, this Abuja Magic which
is interpreted as those old politicians who have expired in their
states, as soon as they form partnership with the presidency, they try
to undermine everything that happens in the states; they portend danger.
The on-going politicisation of the NGF activities is condemnable, it is
unacceptable and as civil society, we cannot keep quiet.
They
brought the judiciary into who becomes the chairman of PDP in Rivers
State. They went to Abuja to get a court ruling, something that could be
done in Port Harcourt. It is an attempt to muzzle Governor Amaechi and
Nigerians should oppose it. If the President wants to contest in 2015,
the first thing he should do is to engage all stakeholders from the
region, particularly the NGF. I don’t think anybody who wants to be
president of Nigeria should be fighting Amaechi who is the chairman of
the NGF because the position is that of the NGF. They are playing dirty
politics. Look at the delay or seizure of the Rivers State aircraft. The
differences between the President and Amaechi is dirty politics, an
attempt to undermine some persons as we move towards 2015, it is 2015
politics at play. Even at that, does Amaechi not deserve and have the
right to aspire to be president of this country? Does any other person
from the South-South not have the right to become the president? It is
like once you make contrary statements, you become a target and it is
wrong.
Do proper assessment of South-South presidency, what practical benefit has the region got from this government?
Amaechi raised concern about the East West Road. Who will say that the
road is not an issue in the Niger Delta? He said if the Federal
Government cannot handle it, let the South-South governors handle it. Is
there anything wrong about that? The politics surrounding NGF has to do
with 2015 election and we are saying that everybody, every tribe in the
region all has the same right to aspire to become president of this
country.
But as a matter of fact, I am not to concerned about who
becomes president because from the example in Edo state, the issue of
tribe does not really matter. To a large extent, if Oshiomhole was to
contest on the basis of ethnicity, he may not even become a councillor
in the state. But the people of Edo believed that ethnic background is
not the issue but who is able to deliver.
If
an opinion poll is carried out in the region today, people are not
happy with the current presidency of Godluck Jonathan. The so-called
South-South presidency is a ruse, no benefit has come to the region and I
think we have a responsibility to begin to articulate views that will
help to advance the cause of our people. The
fact that less than one per cent of those who believe in arms are
currently in comfort zone with the present government does not take away
our own right to ventilate our concerns and as an Urhobo person, I have
a right to articulate issues that will advance my tribe in the region.
The fact that we don’t carry arms in the region does not mean we are
silly because we have our own vision.Allegation that the NGF and its chairman have become like an empire and emperorNGF
is a kind of pressure group registered with the Corporate Affairs
Commission. Its members have their positions. If you have contrary views
to what they say, you also have the right to reply to their views. You
cannot use federal agencies to now undermine the views of the NGF; it is
unacceptable, it is dictatorship and a move to muzzle alternative
views. ‘When NGF is supporting the presidency, it is good when they have
alternative views, it is bad.’ You don’t run a country like that. Look
at the issues they have been raising, Sovereign Wealth Fund and others.
The states have their autonomy. The constitution is clear about
allocation of resources.
You cannot use state resources to run
the SWF and that is what the state governments are saying. Today it is
Jonathan, tomorrow it could be anybody. He should not use federal
government agencies to do 2015 because he is setting a bad precedent. At
best, he will be president for eight years and that is why we are
concerned but other persons will be president tomorrow. Look at Obasanjo
today, he has become an emergency activist, if somebody had told him he
will now be running around as an activist, he won’t believe. Yesterday
when he was president, he was so dictatorial and that is why we are
saying the right regulations should be put in place instead of
castigating and hounding those who hold contrary views because you will
not be there tomorrow. Look at people like El-Rufai, Oby Ezekwesili,
today they are with us but yesterday they were in government. I don’t
think if anybody had told El-Rufai that he will take this stance today,
he would believe. So Jonathan should remember these people, let the
right policies be in place.
How do you see the recent presidential pardon?Pardon
is now being given to some tribes and some tribes are not given. What
is the difference between James Ibori and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha? As a
matter of fact, Alamieyeseigha also has an international dimension to
his corruption. That is why I want to appeal to the international
community that they should not play into the hands of this government
because this government’s so- called anti-corruption crusade is wrapped
up in tribal sentiments; so when this government said they were
cooperating with the British government to bring Ibori to justice, it
was a ruse. The British government is wiser. A few months ago, Tinubu
was being paraded before the Code of Conduct Tribunal because of his
strong views.
We all have a responsibility to defend this
democracy. Left alone, I don’t think Jonathan would have become the
president of this country. Nigerians fought doggedly for him. We also
have the right to disagree with him. Anybody from the Niger Delta who
has been driving along the East West road would not be happy with the
pace of work there and I don’t think that can fetch him votes from
there. Let him not be deceived, Abuja Magic cannot say who will be
president in 2015; it is what you are able to do, and what he is able to
deliver to the region that will be the basis for who becomes what.
Violence is not exclusive to any particular tribe. The
federal government now deals with only those who carry arms. The fact
that the Urhobo do not carry arms, the fact that the Ogonis did not
carry arms, does not mean they are silly. Look at the billions of naira
that have been sunk into amnesty which would have been used to build
infrastructure. This is fraud, less than one per cent of the people in
the Niger Delta are the ones benefiting from the amnesty.
This government has not been able to justify the billions it has spent
on the people of the area to justify the sacrifices people have made,
sacrifices made by Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni Eight, sacrifices by
other tribes in the region. You cannot appropriate such for just one
tribe. I think the presidency is heading for disaster in the region and
every tribe have the right to defend its own. Amaechi comes from a tribe
and every tribe has the right to aspire to be president of the country.
On Obasanjo’s criticism of the Jonathan administration’s fight against corruptionAs far as I am concerned,
Obsanjo
has lost his moral right to criticise this government. He is an
hypocrite; his daughter who was a senator was accused of corruption, he
is only trying to whip up sentiments. Jonathan is the president of this
country; what Obasanjo is doing is unacceptable. When Obasanjo was
president, nobody would do to him what he is doing to Jonathan today.
What moral basis does he have? If you want to even compare him to
Jonathan in terms of listening to alternative views, Jonathan is better.
If he had allowed Nigerians to pick their president, we won’t be where
we are. It was because he singlehandedly picked Yar’Adua who later died
that brought about Jonathan. If he had allowed Nigerians to pick their
leader, it would have been different. We are asking Jonathan to deliver
because we want true democracy. Our criticism is that he should not use
state machinery to manipulate his coming back in 2015.
Comment on the one year anniversary of the death of Olaitan OyerindeOne
year after, the President of this country has failed again. It becoming
increasingly clear who killed Olaitan, there is no doubt about it. What
they wanted to do was to rope me in and close the case
but it is now
clear that the they killed Olaitan. It was the President that ordered
the investigation into the killing and after almost a year nothing has
happened to the extent that a sitting governor, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo
state had an altercation with the Attorney General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice who lied to Nigerians. It is the same Abuja
magic, when they didn’t feel comfortable here in the state, they had to
approach the federal DPP (Director of Public Prosecution) for advice on
the matter that happened here in Edo; expired politicians who run to the
federal government once they see they cannot use their power in the
state. All these show the culture of impunity in Nigeria.
Till
today, the investigation of Olaitan’s killing is still shrouded in
controversy, on who killed him, who did not kill him and I think that in
a country where we are talking of democracy, the president by now would
have invited the SSS and the police. I hope that as we mark his one
year anniversary, it provides us with the energy to continue to demand
for justice for him, for us and for his family on who killed Olaitan
Oyerinde. But like I said, from the way the police tried to frame me up,
that those young men that police claimed killed Olaitan where shot to
confess me and we made this point clear through Femi Falana during the
public hearing on the matter and up till today, that allegation has not
been countered.
On centenary celebrationThis
provides an opportunity for us to look back. Where are we coming from?
Government is investing more resources to embark on criminal
investigation and prosecution. We are not heading anywhere. Impunity is
increasing daily and I think that according to the book of Leviticus as
we approach jubilee period, we should all come together. Most of the
political elites are enmeshed in corruption. I think we should have a
fresh beginning. Everybody should be forgiven so that we can start on a
new slate because the man who wants to prosecute the other person is
also corrupt.
On Edo council electionIt is
still the case of Abuja Magic. I will comment on the post-election. I
congratulate the Edo State government for conducting the election. It
was done because of the agitation of Edo people that they need a
democratically elected local government administration and the
government responded. At least, there is a general consensus that
election was held and issues arose. Although I didn’t monitor the
election but my colleagues did and from my own appraisal, the key lesson
we must learn is that there are areas we must improve on, but the idea
that election should be cancelled is unacceptable.
We must move
forward, people have invested resources, elections have been organised
and people have won and some have lost. The constitution is clear, when
you lose an election, you can approach the court, and we will monitor
the court process as civil society groups to ensure that the judiciary
does its part. I also condemn the violence that erupted. People should
not see election as a do-or-die affair, election should be for service.
When you don’t win, go and do other things. We must commend the Edo
state government for two reasons: for listening to the agitation of the
people that election should be conducted and then the logistics
challenge. I think the idea of printing our materials from abroad is not
acceptable; we must internalize, localize, domesticate because apart
from the capital outflow, we must learn to trust ourselves. I understand
the challenge of the materials not being hijacked but I think they
should improve on it in future so that those things can be printed here.
Until I see someone eating out of the gutters
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