The National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria, and the presidential candidate of the Action Democratic Party, Yabagi Sani, speaks to AYOOLA OLASUPO about some electoral matters and the need for the amendment of the Electoral Act, among other issues

How will you assess the conduct of the recent off-cycle elections?

Well, I will say that this is the kind of improvement on the constitution of the country, and as you know, elections are the building blocks of democracy. So, if we can hold the election, I think it is a great one. We like to congratulate Nigerians for having successfully conducted an election. At IPAC, we are there to protect this democracy to ensure that every citizen can see the impact of the development of the democracy we practise in the country. You cannot deliver the dividends of democracy unless you have a government in place. So, having conducted elections, people have emerged as winners at the elections. That is an improvement as I said of the constitution of this country. Also, the aspiration of Nigerians to benefit from the dividends of democracy deserves proper attention.

But we’ve seen reports where the electorate complained that they were not able to vote due to certain crises that occurred in their area. Some voters also complained of political thugs that did not allow them to vote. How will you react to that?

We are not happy that it happened, and it tells us that we still have a lot of work to do to have what we can call an ideal situation for our democracy. For those things that you mentioned now that happened, we will reflect on them as political parties and politicians. Such actions can only be described as undemocratic. So, we call on the citizens of this country and then politicians to conduct themselves well. If you remember that Herbert Macaulay lifted the first political party in Nigeria following the Clifford Constitution and if you have spent 100 years doing something regardless of the challenges and you are still doing it, it means you are not a baby and you know the implication.

We are asking Nigerians to be more committed and be more patriotic. We are telling Nigerian politicians to live up to expectations and behave as true democrats. There is a need for them to always go into peaceful contests in the spirit of sportsmanship. Vote-buying, violence, intimidation, and others are undemocratic. They are alien to democracy. So, the earlier we make things happen, the better.

Before the presidential election, people were eager to vote for a change of government and there were different orientations regarding that, but going to the elections, the orientation changed. Don’t you have the fear that shortly, this will lead to poor political participation in the governance of our country?

You know the word ‘democracy’ is a work in progress. Even in the so-called developed countries, democracy is still a work in progress. It will never finish. It is about the quality of the elections and others, and it is a work in progress. There’s no country where you can say the elections are perfect, but I quite agree with you that Nigerians need to do a lot more so that our elections will be something that will excite the electorate to be encouraged to come out and vote whenever there is the need to do so. Again, I’m sure that you are also aware that the National Assembly is taking a look at the Electoral Act. They are looking at all the areas that created all these problems that we are talking about. As you said, we dampen the spirit of people when elections are coming.

So, I’m sure that as we go on and keep improving on the development and operational framework, Nigerians will now begin to appreciate and imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and then be committed to the ideals of democracy. It’s not as if everything is completely bad, the important thing is that we still have democracy to work on and what all of us, including IPAC, are doing is to see how we can correct ourselves in the areas we have gone wrong. What is it that we can change that at the end of the day will have a perfect return? It can’t be a one-day job or a one-area job. It is the entire system that will improve. As we go on, we will improve on them. All these challenges that we see are human and parts of human nature. What is also human is for us to have the courage to correct those things that we have discovered working against a perfect system.

You mentioned the amendment of the Electoral Act by the National Assembly. What are your thoughts about the call for the amendment of the Electoral Act, especially in the area of the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission?

I quite support that call but again, it is not always about the law. It is the attitude of the people. It is the ability to enforce the law. We may have the law in place but the enforcement is really what we are battling with. I am not in any way saying we shouldn’t have an Electoral Offences Commission but the truth of the matter is that we as Nigerians sometimes take things for granted. The required change will come when change their attitude. We look at the laws as something that is important and we must abide by them.

I mean those enforcers and people that are supposed to comply and if that happens, we have to change our attitude as Nigerians. You may have whatever kind of post you want to have, but the people themselves must accept that this law is for our benefit and that we must let it work. We have to resolve to make it work. Before the commission that you are talking about, we have laws. There are laws that can be applied to arrest and prosecute those involved in vote-buying or engaging in violence. Everything that is happening, there are laws to check if we really want to be dealt with. We can prosecute offenders, even without the commissioner people are demanding.

In which areas do you think the Independent National Electoral Commission and the security agencies can do better in the conduct of an election?

What I believe is that we must have unambiguous laws, especially the Electoral Act. There is a lot of ambiguity in that part. So, once there is a clear narration of the law, then maybe some of these things would not have happened. I think it should start with the National Assembly. If the makers of the law do not make it so complicated, so ambiguous, the implementer and interpreter will not have room to do a lot of things that they are doing now. If you create loopholes, you create gaps, then people interpreting the law will just take advantage and do whatever they want to do and hide behind this obscenity that is put in the law.

Recently, you asked the judicial system to show its commitment to the nation’s democratic processes. Can you throw more light on this?

The judiciary, as you know, is the foundation of everything in terms of economic, social, and political progress because as human beings, we are bound to make mistakes. Some mistakes are intentional and some are by virtue of the fact that we are human beings. That’s why we have to ensure that we bring people back to the normal situation by applying sanctions where necessary, applying caution where necessary, and being there for the nation not for the government of the day. So, if we have a judiciary that is committed to the building of the nation, then we are not likely to have the type of problem we are having because to them they will express their judgments not minding whose ox is gored. They know that they are doing it for the nation and not for any individual or government.

Unfortunately, they’ve not promoted that kind of impartial application of the law. What do I mean? We have almost all the tiers of the government being controlled by one tier of the government. The National Assembly is controlled by the executive, while the judiciary is influenced by the executive. We need peace to allow democracy to work and we can’t have peace unless we have security agencies that are not partial and are working for the country, not for the individual or government. That is when you can have peace. We cannot have a democracy that will survive unless we have an electoral umpire who is also impartial and not influenced by anybody or a group of people.

How will you react to the alarm raised by Atiku Abubakar that there is a likelihood that the country is slipping into a one-party state?

What Atiku said is the symptom of the illness in the institution. So, we have to cure the illness and it is not becoming a one-party state that is the issue. What are the issues we are encountering now? Even if you put all the parties together to challenge one, if these conditions are not properly put in place, you will still have what you have today. If this is happening, it is the effect; so, what is the cause? We must address the cause. The one-party state that they are saying that we have are people, not the ones that came together to form that APC to push the PDP out of power. So, why are we battling where we are now? The fundamentals have not been addressed and we are looking for a solution.

The National Assembly has been criticised in many quarters, especially for the humongous sum of money earmarked for the purchase of SUVs for each lawmaker at a time when the economy of the country is facing a downturn. Do you think the lawmakers are living up to the expectations of the masses in this regard?

Are the citizens themselves living up to expectations? The citizens can begin to tell the politicians to be accountable by rejecting money given to them during elections, and by not being sentimental based on language, religion, or ethnic background.

There are claims that President Bola Tinubu’s government has so far not shown any commitment in the area of accountability and transparency. What advice do you have for the President?

To my knowledge, I am not sure this government has been found wanting in embezzling or anything. So, in what sense will I be asking for accountability?

The question arose as a result of the amount of money the National Assembly is spending and the reports about some state governors who have begun to show some signs of frivolous spending, even when they refused to pay their workers wage awards. What do you think can be done to ensure that state governors show more interest in the welfare of the masses?

For now, we do not have what we can call a benchmark for spending by the National Assembly. They only do what they think is the best for them. If need be, we may have some benchmarks or put limits on what you want them to do. You can’t spend so much on yourself.

There are security challenges in some parts of the country. What advice do you have for the Federal Government concerning this?

I think accountability is the answer. If you give somebody money to do something and he is unable to do it and the person doesn’t deliver, let him account for the money. If you keep pumping money into security votes and they are not held accountable for their spending, of course, things will continue to be the way they are. (Sunday PUNCH)

Update news