Former Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Jerry Obasi, has berated the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, saying that it has failed Nigerians.

Obasi lamented that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled Federal Government has destroyed Nigeria’s economy.

In this interview, Obasi also shared his thoughts about Peter Obi’s proposed one-term presidency, Anambra Governor, Chukwuma Soludo and other issues.

Looking at Nigeria today, what would you make of President Bola Tinubu’s administration so far? Do you think the country has fared any better under his leadership?

Tinubu’s presidency is a sham. Tinubu’s presidency is a failure. Tinubu’s presidency, as dark as it is, is a gross failure. Tinubu met fuel, the only commodity we have as Nigerians at N182, Tinubu made it almost N1,000. And it is as gross as whatever thing we could think. Listen to me, we would have been better in the presidency of Buhari, but today we have Tinubu at the presidency and it is worse than hellfire.

But the President has said severally that he met a terrible situation when he assumed office.

To me, that smacks of failure on his part because one, Tinubu’s leadership did not wait to straighten the situation he met on the ground. Even on his inauguration day, he removed the fuel subsidy. Even before he became the president officially, he had thrown the country into a very serious economic pandemonium, threw the country into a very terrible monumental disaster that is today dragging the country, including himself. And on assuming office, he was supposed to, having caused the disaster, he was supposed to be economically and politically sagacious. But he was not. He was busy buying yacht for billions of naira, renovating the vice-presidential lodge that was needless because the Nigeria’s problems are not living in the vice-president’s place. Even the vice-president’s lodge is better than America’s presidential lodge but they did prefer to come and waste that money. Then they went and bought a refurbished private jet for millions of dollars, further draining the economy down. SUVs were purchased for National Assembly members. It was also needless. The president was on a spree of what I call a very high level of squander-mania. And it is quite unfortunate. You met fuel at N187 under Buhari and Nigerians were shouting ‘reduce this price, it’s too much’. Then why is it that at that price the country did no sink? Now, you have made the fuel almost N1,000 and the country has sunk before you as the president. It is quite unfortunate. You came and floated the naira. You only float currency in a productive economy, not in a dependent economy. But you went ahead to float our currency that was already in a very terrible economic state and it is very, very unfortunate.

Look at the level of inflation. Instead of bringing in a very serious economic ideology, we are only running an economy that is surviving on rice. If you are sick, they will give you rice; if you can’t pay your children’s school fees, they will give you rice; if your vehicle breaks down, they will give you rice. That is not how to run a country. And nothing has shown that everything is going to change. The government is on self-admiration, praising its own self. And it’s quite unfortunate. I have not seen any country that is badly run as we are run as a country called Nigeria. And when you say this truth, instead of the government to pat you on the back and say thank you, a group of thugs will be hovering around your neighbourhood. And it’s quite unfortunate.

What do you think of the opposition coalition against Tinubu, which has adopted bthe ADC as their platform?

By hindsight, I am a member of the ADC in today’s Nigeria. I am by providence a member of the ADC. By a dint of luck, by dint of opportunity, I am also a member of the ADC in today’s Nigeria. But who and who are the members of the ADC? Who and who are those piloting the affairs of the ADC? Who and who are going to win elections as governors, Assembly members, House of Representatives members and the Senate? Who and who? Let me tell you, the easiest place to win elections in Nigeria under the present disposition is the ADC and the best place to lose election is the APC. But all the same let us watch as the days, weeks and months are passing by. We will now look at what is happening in the ADC as the opposition. But to me, I am not very comfortable with the ADC because the ADC is like the titanic ship that collapsed before the soothsayers and the prophets.

The ADC performed poorly in the recent by-election, even in Anambra State. Don’t you think the coalition failed its first litmus test?

I was thinking that the earlier result stated that Justina Azuka won the Onitsha North 1 State Constituency election.

No. APGA’s candidate, Ifeoma Mimi Azikiwe, was announced as winner.

That is the usual argument about Nigeria’s electoral process. But the first thing we heard showed that Justina won that election but now by INEC’s result she lost. But all the same, mentioning her name has shown that the ADC was an exponent of this election. But did you go as far as going to know what happened at Kaduna where ADC had a large sweep? ADC did very well in Kaduna but let us look at the final result from INEC. We have been crying and shouting that INEC should be revamped. INEC needs a panel beating. But all the same, by the end of these present by-elections, even though the present INEC will be dissolved and they will be going, but it is unfortunate.

In essence, are you saying that INEC is Nigeria’s major electoral problem?

Yes, 100 per cent. The glitch in the last election; the lack of electoral jurisprudence; the lack of electoral transparency; the lack of electoral smartness; the presence of electoral madness.

Recently, Mr Peter Obi said that he would run the country for one term if given the opportunity. Do you believe that Obi can fix the problem within four years?

If it took Tinubu’s administration less than two years to destroy this country, I think even in 12 months if you fix the necessary nexus, the necessary bolts and nuts where they should be, Nigeria as a country does not require much panel beating; it’s just to do the right things right. But in Nigeria, the major problem is that a lot of right things are done wrongly. So, I believe that yes, in four years Obi can fix Nigeria better than what it is today even when it is not going to be a perfect state. But at least we are going to live better than we are living today. If you come and look at the oil economy and put the necessary things where they should be, in less than a year things will get better. The whole destruction of our economy by Tinubu’s government just happened in a night when he said that he had removed the fuel subsidy; the same night when he floated our currency; the same night when our currency was devalued and over devalued and over devalued. All these things can happen in less than six months. That is the truth of it. Then, if you cut all these unnecessary wastages in governance, all these things will end. And my happiness is this; most of the elements within the ADC also contributed one way or the other to the destruction of Nigeria. And if it is money, they have stolen enough. So, I don’t think that any of them is coming now to talk about stealing of money. All they just needed is that they want to be relevant within the scheme of things in Nigeria. So, if Obi at the helm of affairs is consistent with his policies; but the only policy of Obi which I will not support because it will bring him to unnecessary opprobrium and unnecessary odium is his always talking about the floating of naira. You don’t float your currency in this kind of economy. If Tinubu had allowed naira to survive the way it had been surviving, it would have been better for us. And you see, the terrible thing is this. Look at automobiles in Nigeria. The small vehicle I am using now, Mitsubishi Carisma I bought for N6 million. And why is it so? It is so because of the exchange rate. Those vehicles were brought from abroad. So, when you put the dollar at par with naira you see that it is almost impossible to own a car in Nigeria. But I purchased that car because that was the only one I could manage. I had to sell my S-class, Mitsubishi Montero and then put money together to buy this one because I have to remain mobile. It is as unfortunate as that. Nigeria’s problem today is majorly on exchange. If, for instance, a dollar is equal to N100 or N150 or even N300 or N400, then you have solved the problem of Nigeria by more than half. And let me tell you, it will not take heaven to fall down to change the economy. All those ailing industries, you can just revive them. Nigeria’s economy is a one-man economy and no economy can survive that way; where it is only one man that produces cement and determines the price of cement. Now he has veered into oil. It is only him that determines what happens in the oil sector, only him in the sugar sector. No economy can survive like that. We have billionaires and millionaires who are ready now to come into the ring but the opportunity is not given to them. We are running a mono economy; a one-man economy, which is not healthy. The economy should be liberalised because the country is choking under the manipulation of a group of persons led by one man. See, these problems are not farfetched; they are just around us and within us. That is my thinking. So, if Obi says that he is going to use four years to fix Nigeria, he can fix Nigeria even in one year so long as he is consistent with himself. The Anambra thing is even perfect. He doesn’t even need to replicate the Anambra situation. Let him just do the right things right.

The state governors still have a tight grip on the local governments, in spite of the federal government’s efforts to free the councils. Some people have suggested that INEC should be conducting council polls. Do you agree?

Absolutely. That is where the solution lies. The solution to Nigeria’s grassroots government, which is the local government, would have been solved without even anybody fighting with anybody if INEC were allowed to control all the elections in Nigeria. Even as fraudulent as INEC will be, it would have liberated the local governments at least from the grip of a group of persons. At least it would have kept the local government administration at 50/50. At least this fraud would have ended. But like today, the local government and its finances are in the control of the state governors. And again, Tinubu wanted to save the situation but at a point then, because of a certain level of pressure from the state governors that they were not going to support him or whatever then, he even made a very deadly statement that the state governors are the owners of the local government. He now worsened the situation he wanted to change. And that is where we are now. No local government chairman in Nigeria can boast of controlling five per cent of his local government funds; nobody. The present local government in Nigeria, even if it is in heaven, it is as corrupt as it is because already the election that brought them is already on its own very fraudulent.

Some people have said a return to regionalism is in Nigeria’s best interest. What’s your take?

It would have been the best but the unfortunate thing is that there is a lot of mistrust occasioned by the 1967 to 1970 civil war between Nigeria and Biafra. So, the mistrust wouldn’t allow that. But ordinarily, that would have made every region productive, active and proactive. And that would have reduced corruption. There should be a law enacted by the National Assembly allowing for states to be productive. If you remember, before, cocoa and groundnut, rubber, coal, and what have you were the solid rock upon which Nigeria was developed. When Nigeria’s railway was good, where was oil? I think that oil was discovered in Oloibiri in Bayelsa State in 1960 or thereabout. But it was a very low amount. Our local produce – rubber cocoa and the rest of them – were what Nigeria survived on and the country was doing very well. So, this oil today is just meant to service the pockets of a very few people. If you look at the level of development that we had between 1960 and 1965, today where is the railway? And again, Nigeria’s economy will jump back if our railway system is okay. So, it is very obvious what the problem is and I think Obi actually knows what the problem is. It is not as though the other leaders don’t know the problem but because they’re benefiting from those loopholes, it will be difficult and almost impossible for them to fix it or start talking about how to fix it.

How would you rate Governor Soludo’s performance so far in Anambra State?

Without emotions, without sentiments, I traversed Anambra State myself. Honestly, within the length and breadth of Anambra, he has done his best as governor.

Looking at Soludo’s good performance in office as you said, are you considering going back to his party, APGA, instead of the ADC?

APGA is a mass movement and a transition. If APGA gets itself back to the proper proportion we will get back there. But if it continues on the present status quo, we will remain on the present status quo.

Why won’t you go back to help in repairing the party?

I will come back when there is a need to come back. But I have not left APGA completely.

What would you say about the performance of your own governor, Francis Nwifuru? Has he been impressive with his performance?

He has been very slow. Look at Vanko Flyover, since two years now it has been there as if Vanko Roundabout is somewhere inside the River Niger. It is just something that is on a plain land. (Sunday Sun)

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