Chairman, Board of Transition Monitoring Committee, Auwal Rafsanjani, shares his thoughts with CHUKWUDI AKASIKE on the general elections, insecurity, among other issues
Nigerians are currently going through tough times due to insecurity and worsening economy. What can they turn to at this time for solace?
As we all know, the Nigerian Constitution clearly states that the government is responsible for protecting lives and property of Nigerians, and our leaders have no option but to comply with that. This is why they are there as leaders. So, whatever they do, they must secure the country and protect the people. Failure to do that is tantamount to betraying the confidence the citizens have reposed in them as leaders. Again, because of the corruption in the security sector, that is why kidnapping and other forms of crime have become lucrative. State and non-state actors have discovered that the only way they can get money is to create an atmosphere of insecurity that can justify why they can continue to siphon taxpayers’ money.
You recall that the security votes taken by state governors are very high and more than the budgets of the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigeria Police. The security votes taken by governors are more than the amount given to the country by the US and UK governments in terms of military assistance. Contract procurements have continued to happen without transparency or adherence to any public procurement law. Insecurity is a creation of some people in this country that have created condition for people to continue to be involved in criminality and government should do the needful to curtail such activities. But the most unfortunate thing is that the government has not been able to stop these atrocities.
Former Chief of Army Staff has called on Nigerian citizens to arm themselves and confront terrorists. Do you think that advice should be accepted by Nigerians?
How many Nigerians have access to enough funds to buy arms? The only solution is to compel, insist and demand that the government must protect Nigerians. That is how it is everywhere in the world. You cannot be presiding over the affairs of the nation and fail to carry out your responsibility. Asking individuals to carry arms is tantamount to calling for anarchy, and that is not really the best advice that the former COAS should give. When he was in government, that kind of advice didn’t come to him. I think that sometimes, people who are outside government speak in a manner that does not depict a show of concern or commitment. TY Danjuma is one of the most respected leaders in the country. He should engage those who are responsible for the security of the country rather than instigating individuals to carry arms because it is not a solution.
You recently said that the level of insecurity has become a threat to the 2023 general elections. But the Nigerians Army and the police have assured Nigerian of a peaceful conduct of the poll. How do we reconcile your position and that of the security agencies?
Where were the security agencies when political party members were attacked? In some instances, their supporters were killed. The security agencies can continue to make promises, but we will judge them based on what we have seen on the ground. If the level of political intolerance and security breach were seen by some politicians and some political parties and the security agencies did not stop it, then how are we sure that there will not be such security breach during the general elections? As conscious people, we always want to be prepared and demand that our country should be ready for any eventuality. It is good if the security agencies assure Nigerians that the election will be hitch-free and without violence. That is what we want. But for now, we have not seen adequate response from the security agencies towards tackling the issue of attacks by thugs hired by one political party on supporters of another political party. That is why we can’t take such a thing for granted.
We want to see more the protection of Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliation. If you assume that the security agencies will protect the citizens, then you may be deceiving yourself. We as citizens must demand that our security agencies do the needful by carrying out their duties as enshrined in the constitution. The police, the army only see the leaders as the people they should protect and not necessarily the citizens and that is why many security breaches have been recorded in the country. In order to make a departure from what the practice used to be, they should see themselves first as security agencies that are responsible and responsive by ensuring that every citizen of this country is given the necessary protection and is given the necessary support to ensure nobody harms him or her and not just only the leaders.
Some are of the view that activists like you are usually critical of government but cannot do well in government if given the opportunity. How will you react to this?
Not every activist will choose to be in government. So, those who have decided to move from activism to government will do their best. I want to also believe that wherever they find themselves, they can never be as loose as those who do not have the culture or self-discipline of the activists. However, I believe that there are people who are activists that found themselves in government and performed creditably well. There are also some activists who found themselves in government circles but did not perform. It is about individual behaviour and not about being involved in activism.
The level of proliferation of arms is alarming and government have not been able to mop up the guns in wrong hands. What does this portend to a developing country like Nigeria?
This is also part of the challenges I am talking about. We have a security system that allows the proliferation of small and heavy arms; the types terrorists are using. Where are the people responsible for manning our borders? Where are Customs men that are supposed to look at every consignment that comes into the country? This means that as long as corruption prevails in the security space, there will always be negligence that will encourage the proliferation of arms in the country. As we speak, the police have not been able to account for weapons kept in their possession. It is very worrisome that up till now, the police have not explained to Nigerians where the arms are, they have also not been able to identify those responsible for the disappearance of thousands of arms and ammunition in their possession. They have not spoken; they have not given any explanation and they continue to move on.
Some have suggested that high walls should be erected at the unmanned borders to stop the inflow of illegal weapons. Do you subscribe to this?
Every country must protect its border. If this is not done, the country may begin to face issues that are not desirable because the safety of the citizens can be compromised. People that are supposed to man the borders must be patriotic and incorruptible. If they are corrupt and you put them at the borders, you will still see illegal arms coming in. As long as they collect bribe, they will allow illegal arms to come in. So, it is not about the people that have been put there, it is about the fact that responsible people should be made to man these borders.
But there are some Nigerian borders without security operatives. Do you think erecting high walls can be a solution to the smuggling of illegal arms and ammunition into the country?
If erecting high walls will stop the smuggling of firearms into the country, then that is okay. But I also believe that no matter how high the wall is, if the security agencies want to compromise, they will still compromise. If there is some level of sanity within the security sector, you cannot be recruiting crooks and criminals, agents of armed robbers, agents of terrorists. Nigeria got the issue of securing the country wrong from the recruitment process. In the past, the community knew who everybody was, the community knew people went for service, but now, everything is centred on corruption. People now believe that the only way they can be recruited into the service is when they pay bribe. Today, if you want to be enrolled into the Nigerian Army or the Nigeria Police, or Customs or Immigration, you cannot do that on merit; you need to bribe your way through. Even to get promoted, bribe must be paid. So, everything is compromised.
You once said you were interested in the positive transformation of Nigeria and Africa, but it is believed that some of the Nigerian politicians positioning themselves for election have terrible antecedents. With this crop of politicians, do you think 2023 can be a turning point for the country after going through a lot of challenges since 1999?
The truth of the matter is that with the absence of internal democracy in our political parties, it will be very difficult at our national, state and local levels for us to have the kind of leaders that are required to transform this country. If at the three tiers of government, you have corrupt or inexperienced people, it is going to be extremely difficult to achieve whatever transformation we are looking for. What Nigerians have at hand now is a situation of choosing one evil or the other.
We have seen court orders being flagrantly disobeyed by government, especially where it concerns freeing people seen by the law as wrongly incarcerated and payment of judgment debts. What is your advice to government on this?
One of the ways of enjoying democratic tenets is complying with court orders. Unfortunately, government at various levels have brazenly refused to comply with court orders. This is to tell you that Nigeria is still experimenting democracy. Democracy is about the rule of law, democracy is also about respect for court orders, democracy is about allowing people to express themselves, But in the current situation we find ourselves, the civil space is shrinking. People who disagree with the action or views of the authority are attacked through one way or the other. So, that is a major challenge that we have in the country, and we can’t continue to say that we are fighting corruption when you refuse to comply with the rule of law, refuse to comply with court orders.
Nigerians have in the past felt more comfortable voting along tribal lines and have failed to make their choices based on competence. Is there any possibility that the situation will change this time?
Sadly, Nigeria’s politics is built around religious and tribal sentiments. However, in some few places, the new emerging money influence is going to change the scenario. Some persons are going to vote based on religious and geographical sentiment; some will vote based on how much they can get to buy garri. All these cannot produce good governance for Nigeria. This is the reality on the ground.
Do you subscribe to the rehabilitation of captured Boko Haram members by the Nigerian Army, even when many Nigerians have expressed the fear that the repentant terrorists may go back to their old ways and become more vicious?
We disagree with the way the government has been going about the rehabilitation of Boko Haram members. The government has not rehabilitated communities that these Boko Haram members destroyed; the Nigerian government has not compensated the bereaved ones whose relatives were killed by Boko Haram. So, why do you want to start rehabilitation with the perpetrators? What should be done is to support the victims first?
As a civil society organisation, what are your fears about the forthcoming general elections?
A lot of Nigerians did not have the hope that we are going to conduct election, but the civil society supported INEC and mobilised people to register because many Nigerians were disappointed with the way things were going. We cannot justify the the level of underdevelopment we are facing after 22 years of unbroken democracy. When you look at global poverty index, Nigeria is not doing very well. Look at the decline in level of security; we are also not doing well in that area. It is also a very alarming situation that INEC offices are being attacked. If INEC workers are attacked and killed, and offices are destroyed, how are they going to conduct the election? So, we have a responsibility as a civil society organisation to ensure we raise these concerns and ensure decisive actions are taken to make sure Nigerians are not stopped from having free and fair elections.
Again, many of these politicians are not happy about the country’s electoral reforms which have eliminated many anti-democratic activities they are engaged in. In the past, this set of politicians ensured election figures were inflated in their favour. Now, they are not happy that all these are becoming a thing of the past. So, they are devising other means to frustrate the process. Nigerians are tired of all these. Take a look at the entire primaries of the political parties; one cannot say they are credible. Be that as it may, we believe Nigerians want free and fair elections that they can boast of and say, ‘this country is actually the giant of Africa’.
What is your view about the report of underage voters in INEC’s voters’ register?
On underage voters, it is a very embarrassing thing that we have seen. I have spoken about this, and I believe that it is a good thing that INEC released the register now before we go into election so that we can insist and demand an explanation on who is responsible for such an act and apart from identifying them, they must sanction such persons. That is the only way INEC can show the people that it is prepared for the 2023 election. If those responsible for registering underage persons are not punished, then there is danger ahead because it means that those who asked the perpetrators to do this may do worse things.
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