Dr. Sylvan Ebigwei, former President-General of Aka-Ikenga, the intellectual think tank of Ndigbo, in this interview with Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, among other issues, speaks on the politics of President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments so far.
What do you make of the political situation in the country?
Let me first look at the first 100 days of the present administration. For me, it has been 100 days of the good, the bad and the ugly. The good thing is that more attention is now being paid on what has been destroying the very fabric of this nation in terms of economic development, capacity building, and what it takes to build a nation. And that area of focus is that of corruption. There is seeming frustration of the critics or perceived enemies of the present administration. It appears that the fight against corruption is geared at those who had sympathy for the past administration. And the bad aspect of it is the increased devastation of the North East by the Boko Haram sect. It appears that Boko Haram is now completely on rampage, using bombs and other means of destruction and annihilation on certain areas of this country.
Let us zero in on the appointments so far; what is your assessment?
It appears that the present leader of the nation, President Muhammadu Buhari, must have seen what happened to the past leader, President Goodluck Jonathan, in terms of the betrayal by those he trusted and those he surrounded himself with. For example, how can a leader of the country lose an election in his own domestic household – Presidential Villa? These are the people who cooked his food, gave him water to drink, watched his gate and also attended the same church service with him. How can he lose election in such an area? To some of us, it is a complete betrayal of trust by his domestic staff. Be that as it may, the present leader, knowing what hit Jonathan, doesn’t want to be hit that way.
The president has received so much criticism with his first appointments. But I think his latest appointments cut across the zones. For me, what matters most is the delivery of service. But you cannot still overrule balancing because I do not think there is any zone that you cannot get a person qualified to give good service. The first appointments he made did not seem to come under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where there will be zonal and regional balancing or equilibrium. There, he decided to surround himself with those he thinks that he can rely on.
In present day Nigeria, trust has become a very scarce commodity. Betrayal and distrust seem to be the order of the day. Many citizens have lost their sense of value, and we have tended to become a valueless society where the norm is nothing but me, me, me and not others. The billions and trillions of naira being stolen by the people remain awful. People have stolen money that their entire village cannot finish in their lifetime, yet they kept stealing more. What for? It is just like an animal kingdom; survival of the fittest. Nobody tends to care about the population. Nobody tends to care about decency and good name. What they care about is money to prove to other people that they have arrived.
Most of the players in the field have remained primitive-minded. Many of them are not supposed to be there. They are supposed to be in the jungle, because they seem to appear too primitive in their reasoning. Look at the entire country; decayed, scattered, yet you see some people riding their private jets. Not one, not two. Yet they want to own more. Imagine what it takes to maintain an aircraft in a single year? It is enough to feed a whole local government. Yet, they are still stealing and nobody cares. What this administration has done is to put some fear in an average Nigerian, that when you steal or do wrong, you should be punished for that.
Some are having the impression that the anti-corruption agencies are only going after perceived opponents of the present administration. Do you see it that way?
You see, if you want to fight corruption, fight it from all angles. Don’t say I am going to start fighting corruption from this stage. Corruption is a carry-over from the past administration. If you want to probe, probe the whole administrations. Take for example, the Halliburton case, in which many heads of state were involved. If you are fighting corruption and you step that aside, internationally nobody will believe that you are fighting corruption. Nobody will take you serious because they will say that you are carrying a vendetta against certain individuals. So your credibility is already called to question. You can plead with them to return some of the loot and keep some. There are some people that are untouchable. In this country today, there are some people that when you touch them, it will be national calamity which might even lead to civil disorder. So we have to be cautious. You can tell them: this is your red file, you have stolen this money and the money is in such and such bank and you can have certain plea bargain and get some back.
Nigerians are very emotional towards their own tribal people; so we have to be careful.
But the law says there must be justice and that all is equal before it; you think that is not practicable?
That is true. That is the ideal. (But) Nigeria is not an ideal country. Nigeria is populated by various ethnic nationalities with primordial ethnic interests and alignments. Let’s be practical, if you touch somebody like former President Olusegun Obasanjo or Ibrahim Babangida or Jonathan, you can’t tell that the country will remain the same. So we need to be very careful. Nigeria is a peculiar country and you have to handle it with care. What is happening in Nigeria in terms of graft is like what my people describe as tsetse fly that has perched on a very wrong part on the man’s anatomy, if you attack it so hard, you may end up injuring yourself (laughter). So if you want to drive away that tsetse fly that has perched on a wrong place, you have to do it carefully, so as not to cause greater damage.
For me, plea bargaining is okay. Take for example what is happening to the Senate President Bukola Saraki. When you look at the whole issue, that he (allegedly) went against the rules and regulations of the APC (All Progressives Congress) and aligned with the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), and started riding high, naturally when such a man is being prosecuted, people would say it is because he rebelled against his party. We pray that the issue of Saraki is handled with care. In Nigeria today, politicians are more or less like prostitutes. They don’t believe in principles; they believe in where they can be comfortable and get what they want.
What kind of cabinet are you expecting from the president, as some are saying technocrats and some are saying politicians?
To choose his cabinet, I believe that President Buhari needs to be careful because there must be balancing. If this country wants to march forward, the cost of governance must start from the appointments he will make. Trim down the number of ministers. The Hausa man, Igbo man, Yoruba man and the minority ethnic groups must be represented in his cabinet. When you talk in terms of technocrats, they abound in every nationality in this country. Technocrats do not reside in one ethnic group. The type of cabinet we are looking at; get some politicians and mix them with technocrats. At certain age, a man starts thinking of the legacy he wants to leave behind. That is why in many countries, you see a very young leader like Barack Obama surrounding himself not with his classmates, but with people who are older and more experienced than himself. So it must be a mixture of both. Buhari must also look at the age bracket of his cabinet, and not to fill the place with young people alone. He must look at all facets. Some young people, some elderly ones, some technocrats and some politicians. All of them must be cerebral. You can’t bring somebody who cannot manage his family to go and manage a ministry.
What is your assessment of your state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, so far?
In the past, the infrastructural development and capacity building was not commensurate with the amount of money that has passed through the government over the years. But with Okowa, we believe he is going to make the difference. He has come up with an agenda to build capacity and bring economic dividends to the people. I know that he has hit the ground running. He made a law establishing Asaba Capital Territory Development Authority. This is a welcome idea because, over the years, Asaba was neglected, as there was no development. When you look at it, it is like a glorified village. You will be sorry for yourself to go through Asaba during rainy season. Not just Asaba but neighbouring towns like Okpanam and other towns that form the capital territory.
Again, we give him kudos for pin-pointing capacity building through agriculture. That is empowering the youths through agriculture. I am aware that every local government in the state contributes not less than 40 youths to be trained in various areas of agriculture. And after their training, they are released into the society where each is empowered to be on his own. The target is 50,000 to be trained. If one person is trained, when he establishes his own through the provision to be made by the government, he will be able to employ about four other people. When you multiply four by 50,000, you know how many unemployed must have been taken off the streets. This is a very good idea because government cannot continue employing people. Where is the money to pay their salaries? The best thing is to train people to be on their own, and that is what Okowa is doing.
What other observation would you like to make?
Government, as they say, is ‘soldier go, soldier come and the barrack remains’. The present administration of Buhari must be supported. When you criticise a leader too much, he becomes a bad leader. But when you point out to him in a subtle way the areas he is derailing, he becomes a good leader. But don’t praise a leader too much. When you do that, he becomes a bad leader. So it must be balanced. Praise the leader when he does well, and the areas he derails, tell him he has derailed.
Praise Buhari while necessary and criticise him also when he is derailing.