Presidential candidate of National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 election, Martins Onovo in this interview with Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, speaks on the damage being done by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on the nation, the integrity question on President Muhammadu Buhari that must be cleared, the selective anti-corruption crusade of the administration, among other issues.
Do you really have fears the way Nigeria is going in terms of leadership today?
Of course yes. Every patriot will have serious fears at the way the country is going today. And these are honest fears. There are grim fears. There is the fear of anarchy because of the lawlessness of the ruling party. We have fears of secession because right now, we have extreme elements in all the parts of the country with divisive tendencies. We have fears because the government itself is very divisive and completely lawless. The fears are very real. The ruling party seems to be deliberately committed to destroying the country and I am saying this with all sense of patriotism. What do I mean? The first thing is that the ruling party is attacking public morality. Public morality is the foundation of every society not just the Nigerian society. And the ruling party is ferociously attacking it. The ruling party is attacking our laws with impunity. The ruling party is very sectional and is attacking national unity which is critical to national development. The ruling party has completely destroyed democracy and imposed a dictatorship. In addition, the ruling party has ruined the economy as we predicted in January 2016 that APC with its lack of appropriate planning, incompetence and corruption was going to ruin the nation.
We predicted it publicly in 2016 and here we are today. And they are still shamelessly playing politics with Nigerians, using propaganda that Nigerians are now used to as part of their trick. The truth is that there is no result from what they tell Nigerians they are doing. The Nigerian economy is completely ruined as we predicted and they are still giving shameless reasons not based on any genuine data. And for people who do not understand, the data is clear. What are the key considerations? They are: The GDP (Gross Domestic Product), unemployment, inflation, debt profile, exchange rate. These are the key indicators. The GDP has continued to decline until the last quarter that it stagnated and the stagnation was not based on any economic policy but the rise in oil price, showing that the so-called economic recovery and growth plan is as worthless as we have told Nigerians that it is.
The GDP is down, unemployment has doubled from what it was in June 2015, inflation rate has doubled, national debt has almost doubled from what it was when this government took over. The annual debt service obligation has risen from 943 billion in 2015 to 1.84 trillion in 2017. The exchange rate, Naira from 199 per dollar on the 1st of June 2015 is today, N366. So Naira has lost almost 50 percent of its value. Which economic index can anybody look at and not agree that the economy is ruined? All the pillars that hold Nigeria together have been deliberately attacked by the ruling party for the purpose of destruction.
The bitter truth that must be told is that APC has ruined this country.
But there are still Nigerians presently calling for the President to run for another term. Some states have even endorsed him and as we speak his campaign will soon hit the streets……?
Well, we are not surprised. We are aware that most of them are hired to do what they are doing. They are sponsored groups hired to justify the unjustifiable and you can easily identify them. Just like assassins can be hired, they are hired to do the job. They are unpatriotic and we know them and the payments they have received. Even the devil has advocates and those championing his cause. Every absurdity has its champions. So what is happening is not surprising.
Moral perversions have their champions, just like kidnapping and armed robbery. Satanism has its own pastors. But the question majority of Nigerians are asking is: Is this the change they promised us?
They made 81promises as listed by Alhaji Balarabe Musa and we are asking which one has been fulfilled.
APC was handed a growing economy.
Why should they continue to blame former President Goodluck Jonathan? It is difficult to accept their logic.
The economy is not out of recession, contrary to what they have claimed. It is false, the government chooses to mislead people not to know the depth in danger it has driven the country. We are in economic stagflation which is a big crisis strangulating the economy. That is why we are not feeling or witnessing any change. It is funny to accept that we are out of recession when many homes each passing day, are begging to eat, when people are losing their jobs and joining the unemployment queue.
In some of your interviews you seem to doubt the integrity of Buhari which many believe was the major reason most Nigerians voted for him
It is not that I am in doubt but there are some critical issues of concern that answers must be provided to clear any iota of doubt and that has not been done.
There were serious questions around his (Buhari) previous roles in public service. Late music star, Fela Anikulapo raised a question on when he was a federal commissioner in the petroleum ministry on the 2.8 billion naira oil money that was missing. It was an equivalent of 3.5 million dollar as at then.
There is the question of the 53 suit cases when he came back as military Head of state.
There is the question of the 25 billion audit gap in the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) when he was the chairman of PTF. It was published in the front page of a national magazine. Those questions are unclear. Now there is the question of certificate, whether he is qualified to run for the office of the president since he cannot produce his WAEC result certificate against the serous claims that he has none which is the minimum academic requirement.
There is a question of perjury when he swore that his certificate was with the military and the military said they didn’t have the certificate. That is a criminal offence. There is also the serious question about swearing to be fair to all without fear or favour and then you are sectional and discriminatory to some parts of the country.
He is the same person that said people who gave him 5 percent vote during his election are not expected to think that he will treat them as those that gave him 95 percent vote. That is a contradiction of his oath on Koran, unless I don’t understand English again. If you want to ride on integrity flank, you must not leave anything to doubt. That is my position. We must address all unclear issues concerning him.
This government has three principal priorities. The number one is anti-corruption, security is number two and economy is the number three. A critical look at all shows that the government has failed on all.
The only document we have, said N59 billion has been recovered through the anti-corruption drive. The common sense question we should ask and which they have not told us is: how much was spent to recover the N59 billion? Also ask yourself who has been convicted. Some few convicts were charged to court under the previous government so they cannot lay claim to it. Look at the case of Abdulrasheed Maina and the drama behind it. They brought Maina back, paid him N22 million as a reward for stealing N2billion that was charged on him. He was promoted from Assistant Director to Acting Director in the federal ministry of Internal Affairs. What can be more corrupt than that? We can list so many APC chieftains who were charged to court but whose cases were deliberately mismanaged by the EFCC to make sure that they are protected from corruption. The government cannot bring former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki to be prosecuted in an open court because the man will expose their participation in the looting of the country for which they are accusing others.
Let Dasuki be tried in an open court where he can present his own evidence for our evaluation not in a secret trial where a cover up will be imposed. Do open trial. That is what the constitution says. Let the evidence be given at the open court so that Nigerians can weigh it themselves and make their own judgment. Justice in Nigeria requires open, fair trial. That is what we demand even in the case of Boko Haram so that the APC chieftains will not cover their tracks. Don’t tell us you will publish names of those that have looted the country. Let it be made open. Present your evidence, let them present their defence. Go and check the list of those people that are being persecuted concerning the Dasuki loot, no APC member is among them. It is only those in the opposition. I have the list.
