We’ll Not Accept any Interim National Government – Dr. Onu

The shift in elections date, is it a blessing or a setback for the APC?As far as our party is concerned, it is only INEC that should determine the date of elections  and since they said that they were ready, there shouldn’t have been any interference. The APC objected to the shift in the date […]

The shift in elections date, is it a blessing or a setback for the APC?
As far as our party is concerned, it is only INEC that should determine the date of elections  and since they said that they were ready, there shouldn’t have been any interference. The APC objected to the shift in the date of elections.

Five weeks have passed now. Do you consider it as a blessing or as a curse? Do you see what has happened in the past weeks as advantage or disadvantage to the APC ?
We have always been ready. The APC has become a movement and the strength of APC is not just its members, the strength is the desire of Nigerians for change. We would have preferred that a date that was set almost a year ago should have been honoured and the elections should have taken place on February 14 and February 28, because there is the danger in relying on the advice of  security agencies to determine the date of elections. The nation is a very important body, so you don’t want a situation in the future where, you have to be looking at implications of actions, we don’t want security to determine when or why elections should take place at a particular time.

In the last few weeks the military has recorded successes in the North-East, don’t you think that it will boost the opportunity of the people in the zone to vote?
I must congratulate and thank  our soldiers for the gallantry they have shown over the past several weeks. However, we are very deeply concerned about those who died. So many lives were lost and we shouldn’t be even talking about property.
This is what should have taken place much earlier. Yes, if you remember INEC had assured the nation that sufficient arrangement had been made for even those in camps in the affected areas to vote and that is why their PVCs were distributed because they were arranged orderly. So even if election had taken place on February 14 and 28,  they would have participated.
But there is no doubt that what has happened here now is useful in terms of more people participating. Don’t forget that it will take time before people can go back to these areas that have been liberated, because you need to put certain things in place before people can go back even though the desire is there.

Last night this issue came up, we understand that the INEC Chairman was invited to the Villa and was told that parts of the North-East have been liberated and he should consider what to do in conducting elections there. What will you tell Jega about this issue?
The things is not even telling him what to do. The truth is that if elections can hold in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Iraq and so many other countries where you really have war raging then elections can be held in any part of Nigeria. So the issue should not be advising anybody. We must keep to the constitution of our country.

So you feel that they should hold the elections in the camps and leave out the areas which have now been liberated. The issue is about liberated areas and the camps?   
It is not a complicated matter. This matter is straight forward, the two local government areas that were under the control of Boko Haram in Yobe and two in Adamawa; those four have been liberated. So as far as Adamawa and Yobe are concerned, I do believe that before the elections, all those who were displaced initially should be able to go back to their homes. Now, where we have this problem that we are highlighting is in Borno State.
Areas that are liberated you go ahead, if the environment is conducive, and conduct elections. Otherwise, you now hold elections in the camps as INEC had earlier indicated. You find out that in those states, even in Borno, the distribution of PVCs was higher than even the southern parts of the country that are not under threat of any insurgency. So I believe that there is no any excuse whatsoever for postponing this election any further or disobeying the constitution of the country any further, because of the insurgency in the North-East.

One of the issues that came up during the week and even in the last three to four weeks is the issue of Interim National Government. The leader of the APC was said to have been contacted. Do you think that from your vantage position in the APC that was conceived at all?
The thing is that those who talk about Interim National Government may want to look at what happened during the military. but it is very important for us to realize that we are in a democracy.
During military rule, parts of the constitution were suspended but under democracy, you have to operate within the constitution and if you look at our constitution, there is no provision for Interim National Government. That is one. Then two, there is no reason whatsoever that elections cannot be held in the country. We are not even in the state of war and it is not the executive that will declare that, it is the legislature. It should not arise at all.

But do you think there was actually a plot, maybe from your discussions with Asiwaju?
No. No, we should not get into that. The important thing is that Nigeria ought to be a nation of laws in which nobody should be above the law. All Nigerians should be below the law, so what is important is what has the constitution said. What are the laws of the nation saying? We cannot pick and choose which one to obey and which one to disobey.
There is no provision for that so there ought not be discussions about what has not been provided for, unless we want to amend our Constitution and the process is rigorous and we can only talk about it after the amendment has been accepted.

Now you use the word earlier that APC is a movement. Why did you use that word?
APC has been and is a movement.

But it is a political party?
It is a political party but it is also a movement because you find that those who do not understand the force behind APC only see it as a political party but it is a movement because for 16 years Nigerians gave the PDP the votes to govern and for 16 years, Nigerians have seen that their standard of life has dropped. Insecurity is at the highest, unemployment is at the highest level, corruption too is at the highest level and right now, you have seen what has happened to our currency. The Naira cannot buy what it used to buy a few months ago. So it has really brought a lot of problems and Nigerians themselves are saying there must be change. So the strength of APC is not really its members, it is this movement, this desire for change that is everywhere in the country–that is the strength and that is why it has become a movement.

We have got to a point where if the APC does not win the elections on March 28 and April 11 there will be massive disappointment. Do you have that feeling?
The thing is that if you look at a typical Nigerian, the ordinary Nigerian wants change and it is the ordinary Nigerian that will vote so I don’t see how APC will lose these elections. We are asking for free and fair elections. It is very important that we have free and fair elections, and if elections are free and fair and credible, there will be no violence and in that situation, the APC will win the elections because even the ruling party is worried about the strength of the APC. Look at what happened just yesterday.
The leadership of the ruling party paraded people they considered as Atiku Abubakar’s support group and they said they were about 120 of them and so many people looked at the TV and not one known face of Atiku Abubakar’s people was seen there and you have the leaders of the ruling party assembled in the place so the APC has support of Nigerians to win the elections.

Now you made a statement and that statement has been made by the PDP and the president that there is no way the PDP will lose the elections and you have said the same thing that there is no way the APC will lose the elections?
No that is not what I said. I have said that if the elections are free and fair APC will win. Mine is different from theirs.

Do you have any fears that the elections may not be free and fair?
Nigerians will not accept it. My advice is that the nation is greater than any individual. What is very important to Nigerians is to ensure that we have this free and fair elections so that other nations will respect us. We must be mindful of the fact that you have to earn respect. You don’t tell people that respect me. Nigeria will earn the respect of others when we work for it and if  other countries can organize free and fair elections, Nigeria must organize free and fair elections for the good of our nation.

Under the current setting do you think that elections can still be rigged? I am saying this because PDP is accusing APC and INEC of being in bed because of card reader.
But the question that ought to be asked and it is a very important question, is that, who approved the purchase of the card reader? I know INEC must have made a proposal and there must be an approving authority. Was it the APC that approved it or the PDP? So there is no basis to say that APC and INEC are together.
The INEC officials starting from the chairman, national commissioners, resident electoral commissioners all were appointed by the executive of the ruling party, so all we are saying is we love our country and we want Nigeria to be a great nation and we also know that people in the ruling party also love our nation so we ought to have one goal and there ought to be an agreement that we should have free and fair elections in the country.

Earlier, we had low level distribution of PVCs and in spite of that APC wanted elections to be held, even in Lagos we had less than 40 per cent. It is like you were not moved by the low level of distribution even where you were supposed to have comparative advantage. Why was it so?
We have always said that so long as the PVCs are ready, Nigerians are free to go and collect them, so giving that as a reason to shift an election, even the ruling party found out that it was not a sustainable reason and that’s why they had to move to security.
The APC is concerned that a government ought to have credibility. In 2014, there was this decision that yes elections will be held on so, so dates and INEC fixed the dates. So the APC felt that government ought to be credible and that if you are taking a decision, you should implement it.
I think that was the reason, it doesn’t really matter so long as  Nigerians were given opportunity. but if truly the ruling party were genuinely concerned they would have  taken certain steps, certain decisions to let Nigerians know that they were concerned.
They would have said okay, we are going to spend more money to ensure that instead of people going to local government offices of INEC to collect their PVCs, let’s give more money to INEC to take the PVCs to polling units which are nearer to the people. They could have done that or even given holidays for a day or two. All these would have made Nigerians know that there is genuine interest but all those were not done so we felt that this may not be a genuine concern and let us respect the dates that have been said and let government be credible.

Let’s move to the South East. Now when permutations are done, PDP will say that the South-East is theirs for real, but the South-West is a contentious place and Jonathan is almost relocating to that place. What are you doing about the South-East.  Fr. Mbaka gave the impression that it is possible to penetrate the South-East so what are you doing to make sure that you win at least 25 per cent?
The APC is working very hard in the South-East and we hope that the performance of the APC in the region will be encouraging. We also believe that the presidential candidate of the APC, General Muhammadu Buhari, this is his fourth attempt, by the time this election will be over, his performance will be far better than in previous attempts.

Which means that you are making people to believe that he is not the harsh soldier that people think he is?  
Nigerians must understand that as military head of state he had to work within the laws at that time. Parts of the constitution were suspended and decrees were enacted. Being a man of law, what he did that time was within the laws in operation at the time. Now, if he becomes president by the will of God and the votes of Nigerians, he will now be operating under a different environment.
There will be a constitution and there will be a National Assembly. Don’t forget that as a military head of state, he exercised both executive and legislative powers but as an elected president, he can only exercise executive authority. Legislative powers are with the National Assembly. So the things he did as a military head of state, he cannot do them as an elected president.

You are close to the General, what are his thoughts about the South-East?
He believes in Nigeria. He is someone who besides holding strategic command positions in the military, which took him to different parts of the country, he also held major public positions in terms of having served as a military governor, minister for petroleum and also chairman of PTF, in addition to being the head of state.
So he believes in the unity of Nigeria and he would want to look after all parts of the country. For the South-East, he has assured us that all the major needs of the people will be looked into. But let me also make this very important point. The APC has a manifesto and parts of that manifesto were extracted and it became a contract with Nigerians; we presented it sometime ago at Hilton Hotel.
When the presidential aspirants were getting ready for our presidential primaries, the screening committee of which I was chairing entered into an agreement with all of them that should any of them becomes the candidate  and also by the will of God and votes of Nigerians becomes president, he must go by the manifesto of the party.
It was an agreement and they all signed. When Gen. Buhari emerged as the candidate, the document that was given to him was the manifesto and the manifesto has taken care of every part of the country including the South-East, so he is under obligation to implement the manifesto of the party which is very rich and which has addressed the major problems confronting the nation.

Last Monday OPC came out threatening people and destroying the posters of APC. This came after the FG had given them multi-billion naira contracts. What are your thoughts on things like these?
The APC is a peaceful party. We abhor violence and our constitution is very clear and no nation should accept any form of violence or associate itself with any form of violence. So if contracts are given to any Nigerian, so longs as that Nigerian qualifies for it, it’s okay. But if such a Nigerian now decides to become violent, then the ruling party has an obligation to say that that is not allowed. The primary function of any government is to secure citizens,  so it is not right for anybody to start destroying posters of APC. For us in APC, we try to be peaceful for the good of our nation.

You know this group called for Jega to resign. MASSOB also protested penultimate Friday, calling on Jega to resign. What is your reaction?
Anybody can call for any persons to resign but the thing is that the chairman of INEC himself has said he is not going to resign. Many people may not be aware that the processes of hiring and firing the chairman of INEC are the same and that is for those calling for the sack of Jega forget that even the president cannot do it alone.
He has to sent it to the Senate and the Senate will require two-thirds of its members to get that done, so Jega has said he is not going and I don’t think it is right for anybody to, at this time when it is barely a week to election, to ask the chairman of INEC to leave office, that will create a lot of problems in the country or in the process, so it is not desirable.

The revival of these militia groups what do you think about them because a lot of people see them as destabilizing elements; MASSOP coming out and making pronouncements that are divisive and OPC and ex-militants boasting, instead of calling them criminals, they are given legitimacy and they make pronouncements as if they are authorities that are legally recognized in this country?
The most disturbing of all that may have come up in the recent days is where a group in the Niger Delta is saying if the president doesn’t  win they will create problems and all that. It’s very disturbing because in an election somebody must win and others must lose. What we are saying in the APC is that if the elections are free and fair, we will definitely accept whatever that is the outcome. So for anybody not to give such a consideration and then just talk is very disturbing and not encouraging at all.

If elections do not hold, what do you think APC will do?
I don’t even want to comment on such a speculation because there is no basis for elections not to hold. The APC grudgingly accepted the shift and we have talked to our supporters to accept it on the basis that the new dates were still within what the constitution said.
Not holding elections at all without declaring that the nation is at war, you know there is a provision in the constitution that if a nation is in a state of war. Then you can now shift elections by six months  and then renew it so the nation is not at war, so I see no basis for not holding elections.

You are very optimistic, sir?
Nigeria will be a great nation there is no doubt whatsoever. All we need is to have the right leadership that will respect the laws of the nation and then will make sure that there is justice for all citizens. Once that is done, there will be no violence.
Look at elections in many countries,  if you go to some of these advanced countries you don’t hear of the body conducting elections. There will be a time in Nigeria that nobody will know who is going to be the chairman of INEC and if there is going to be INEC they will not know.
Once an institution is well established then it is a process. Police will not play part during elections, people will just walk in, get accredited, vote and then leave. It will be a normal thing. I believe that Nigeria will be a great nation. All we need is to have the right leader who will put the interest of Nigeria first and not be thinking of how long to keep himself in office.

I don’t know whether you have challenged Gen. Buhari on this issue of Islamizing Nigeria. Have you ever asked if he would Islamize Nigeria?
I have never asked him and I don’t need to ask him. I know that it is not possible to Islamize or Christianize Nigeria because the constitution is very clear that Nigeria is a secular state and if you want to Islamize or to Christianize the nation, you must amend the constitution and the process is very rigorous.
It is not even possible either way. The way the country is structured, Nigeria is the only nation in the world, I believe so, where the two major religions now, Christianity and Islam, are about equal. In other countries you have one dominating. So in a country like ours it is extremely difficult to do such a thing.
However, when Gen. Buhari addressed the administrative board of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, he spoke extensively on this subject and he made very convincing comments and we believe that he should take this message to the Christian community everywhere in the country and also, to speak to Nigerians in a very small address so that Nigerians will know that that propaganda does not have any strong basis whatsoever and it is not possible because of the constraints imposed on anybody who is the president of Nigeria.