National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed in this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, takes a critical appraisal of the state of the nation. To him, the ACN’s decision to oppose the suspension of Justice Isa Salami is based on the party’s avowed commitment to uphold the tenets of rule of law. He also seeks a summit of all politicians to examine growing insecurity in the country.
From the standpoint of your party, can you do a critical appraisal of the state of the nation?
I must say that the first 100 days of this administration has shown little or no promise or have made any appreciable impacts on the lives of the people. Prices of basic necessities still remain the same or higher. One would have expected that this administration upon swearing-in would have hit the ground running because the same president has held forth for his boss for some time and so cannot claim to be new to governance. Starting from the controversies generated by the issue six-year single term; the proposal to sack the president of the Court of Appeal to the disgraceful foreign affair misadventure on the issue of the crisis in Libya, instead of waiting for the AU. The government took decision before the AU who saw the situation differently. Really, the present government does not have much in terms of score cards.
But the government had unfolded what it termed a transformational agenda…
What has been achieved by the transformational agenda? If anything the prices of basic utilities are still very high. The (electricity) generating capacity is now in the all-time low, unemployment remains very high across the country, inflation rate is also going up. This runs contrary to the claims of government officials that the economy has been doing well with inflation remaining low. Only recently, the building housing the headquarters of the United Nations was attacked by some people.
In other words, you are saying the government has not achieved anything so far?
Yes! Nothing has been achieved by the current government.
The issue of the suspension of the President of the Court of Appeal has generated heat. What informed the position, which your party has taken so far?
As a political party, playing viable opposition, we have always maintained that the rule of law must at all times be maintained in the conduct of government’s business. When the late President Umaru Yar’Adua took ill and there was controversy arising from whether or not the then vice-president should act in his stead because he failed to transmit a letter to the National Assembly intimating it of his desire to go on medical vacation, we took a principled stance of ensuring that the rule of law is upheld, despite the fact that we had noting to gain in return. This was a period when the ruling party was in a dilemma regarding what position to take on the issue. When the PDP dominated National Assembly came up with its Doctrine of Necessity, we were the only party that came out to urge the National Assembly to come out and declare the late president incapacitated. We took the decision for two reasons, one that it would send a dangerous precedence and that it would provide for anarchy should the sick president emerge from nowhere. This eventually happened when the president suddenly appeared creating a problem of having a sitting president, an acting president and a vice president. The nation was saved of the constitutional crisis occasioned by the demise of President Yar’Adua. This same principle is being applied in the case of Justice Isa Ayo Salami. You see! We are not interested in the merits or demerits of the case but that the principle of rule of law be applied and maintained. The second reason is that under no circumstance must the nation’s top judicial officer be humiliated by anyone. Three, that the NJC acted in error by undertaking the said decision as only a two-third majority of the National Assembly can effect such removal. To us, the action was also subjudice as the case was already in court.
The position of government is that Justice Salami has not been removed by mere suspension and that the NJC acted in good faith by exercising its disciplinary powers…
The president has no such power to suspend justice Salami neither did the NJC. In all honesty, the late president Yar’Adua would not have acted that way, if he was alive, he would have allowed the case to run its full course since it was in court. This is one of the many differences between Jonathan and Yar’Adua. Late President Yar’Adua was a man of high moral rectitude. To him, rule of law counted first before sentiment.
But government argues that the action was premised on certain clauses of the Constitution that give the NJC the power to discipline errant judges…
No! The Constitution precludes the NJC from exercising disciplinary control over certain judges and these include the President of the Court of Appeal. To us, the government does not have a good product on its hands. Their action cannot in anyway be justified and so they have to go back and re-instate him. The action smacks off illegality ab initio.
How true is the claim by the ruling PDP who accused your party and some members of the civil society in the country of harbouring some hidden agenda on the issue?
It is instructive to note that Justice Salami is not being persecuted for the appeal judgments delivered on the elections in Osun and Ekiti. What they are persecuting him for is in respect of an oath he allegedly took with respect to his (Salami’s) claim that the now retired Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu asked him to disband the governorship appeal panel for Sokoto State. Salami had claimed that the former CJN had prevailed on him to disband the panel owing to some alleged misconduct of its members. So, we are not in anyway directly affected but what we are saying is that the rule of law should prevail.
The issue of insecurity in the country is becoming increasingly worrisome. What would your party have done if it had been in power?
On the issue of Boko Haram, we have issued three pres statements. We have in the past urged the government and the president to urgently convene a broad based conference of politicians to examine the situation and proffer the necessary solutions. Belatedly, the government came up with a conference of all security chiefs and came up with some decisions without inputs from politicians. The politicians should know since they created the problem in the first place. We also urged dialogue with members of this sect but rather unfortunately, our call was misconstrued to mean that we advocated amnesty for members of the sect. To us in the ACN, we have always maintained that the issue is more social and political rather than religious. When you look at the members of the group, it is not made up of drops out or touts; it is composed of university graduates who have the sympathy of security personnel.
Officials argue that negotiating with them would be extremely difficult as it would be difficult to trace them…
During the Niger-Delta crisis, most of the groups had no address and government was able to trace them when it (government) wanted a dialogue with them. Officials went into the creeks to fetch their leaders who later came out. The same method can also be applied to the issue of Boko Haram. For instance, the people of Maiduguri can help locate members of this group and encourage them to come out of hiding and undertake meaningful dialogue.
What impact would the recent attack on the United Nations facility have on the image of the country in the global arena?
It has placed the country in the same comity of nations such as Afganistan and Iraq. The ease with which the group operates in the country gives room for concern. It makes mockery of the security apparatus in the country. We might one day wake up to discover that Aso Rock has been attacked by the group. The ease with which members of Boko Haram operate and the choice of their targets makes a mockery of our security system.
How can we get out of the situation?
We must find out who did it, if it is Boko Haram, and then we have a lot of problems on our hands. They have gone to Army Barracks, they have been to the Police Headquarters and now the UN building, this is dangerous. We hope the president will listen more to the opposition than listening more to officials of state. We all know that the political elite in Borno, Yobe and Bauchi states created the monster and up to a time Abuja was aware of the existent of the group but it closed it eyes to it because their (Boko Haram’s members) was beneficial to it. We, as a political party have offered useful suggestion to government on how to stem the tide since the politicians created the monster.
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