Dr Olisa Agbakoba is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). In this interview, he speaks on the manifestos of some of the presidential candidates, issues the candidates should consider if they win the election, restructuring, a new constitution and economic development of the country, among others. ANAYO EZUGWU reports

What are the big issues you have identified in the manifestos of the presidential candidates that should be addressed going into the general election?

What we are looking at is how the issues of the 2023 elections have been projected by political candidates. Some of the candidates have written manifestos, so what we did was tease the newspapers and online presentations to see what the issues have been.

Generally, the big difference, I don’t know what has caused that but clearly the big difference has been that this is one of the most issues-based elections. But we have noted from several manifestos and issues we reviewed that we may need, I mean, we are doing this to have good election that is free and fair and for a person who wins to be able to turn around Nigeria.

I don’t have to tell you that we are in a very terrible state and that we need to come back from the precipice.

So, defining the important issues has become a very big concern.

First of all, I will say that the political economy by which you talk about politics and the economy, which carry the development of any country, so the political economy of Nigeria is extremely fragile.

Will the candidates according to their manifestos be able to reverse it?

Incidentally, none of the candidates touched the link even though they talk about the economy and politics separately. But I think it is very crucial in democratic studies that there is a linkage between politics and the economy. There is a whole field of study called political economy, but they didn’t touch that.

On the political side, there are three important things that we need to take into consideration because some of the candidates referred to the fact that Nigeria is terribly divided. I think we can all agree on that. We thought that the manifestos should have emphasized a lot more on how to fix the problems of Nigeria and not just what the candidates intend to do.

A lot of the manifestos are filled with ‘we will and we shall.’ There are three things that I think will deal with the instability, banditry and kidnappings. Remember what Bola Ige said a long time ago; ‘unless we deal with the political arrangement that Nigerians agreed to, we will never have peace.’

I needed to flag that as a very important consideration that seems to be missing in the presentations of the candidates. There are a lot of talks and a bit of it is now going away but the underlining current suggests that the illegitimacy of the constitution remains a problem.

The constitution was given to us by the military and there is a very strong feeling, particularly among the sub-nationalities that you can’t get this thing right unless you go to the issue of how we got this constitution. So, I will encourage the candidates to look at that. The second would obviously be the issue of restructuring. I like to use a neutral word, which Prof. Ben Nwabueze uses, balance federation or devolution of powers.

Again, the candidates didn’t quite stress this. What it simply means is that we have a central government in Abuja doing far too many things. We need to distribute the powers. Number three is the absence of local governments. It is a big gap and no candidate refers to it. I thought it is important for us to know because the local government deals with 90 per cent of the population of Nigeria.

So, we need to know what exactly they have for these local governments because if they are guaranteed by section 7 of the Constitution. Other than that what exactly would a president in 2023 will do in relation to the local governments, I believe that the local government should be catching the attention of those at the grassroots. But none of them mentioned it but I thought it is something they should be absolutely concerned about.

Apart from the promises by the candidates, do you think that the manifestos extensively address the issues of economy and economic development?

On the economic side, I don’t have to tell you that Nigeria is in a great misshape and the country is not doing well in terms of economic policies. Again, if I look at the manifestos, most of the candidates touched it but they missed some of the crucial gaps. The first thing you do when you are discussing the economy is to set a context, so I would advise the candidates to set a context.

And the first would be, exactly what kind of economy do you want to run? You will find in the United Kingdom that the Labour Party is clear on what they want to do economically but here it is not clear when you read the manifestos.

There is an urgency that is lacking in all the manifestos because there is no timeline for the issues the candidates want to address. For example, the present government said it will lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty and the question of whether that has been successful can only be measured by a framework. Do I assume that the candidates may have to re-examine their manifestos and give us timelines? These timelines have actually been provided by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and the emphasis to be placed on each of the items.

For candidates who already have their manifestos, are you suggesting that they should go back to review them to accommodate some of the issues you raised that are not in the manifestos or to just put a timeline to the one they already have?

It Is up to them because I’m not their campaign director but if they feel like, all I’m doing is what I see as issues going forward. I started by saying that the manifestos are good and it is also interesting that this is the first time we are even talking about issues. We have never done that before and that is a major leap forward.

But just as a Nigerian citizen are looking at the manifestos, I feel that they could incorporate a lot more. It is entirely up to the presidential candidates to be careful of how they want to commit themselves and, therefore, not say too much because the votes are important which is understandable.

Over the years, the problem we’ve had is the inability of the candidates to implement their manifestos no matter how good. The current administration is a good example. How are you making sure that the candidates get a copy of this report?

I’m just a Nigerian that is concerned about seeing that the country can move in the direction it is going and it is precisely because I’m not a politician or a member of any political party that I’m doing this.

We are called upon against all odds to put the issues on the table and our business is not to say whether they have a reason not to put certain things in the manifestos. That is not our business.

Our business is to say it as we see it. Why should I be interested in whether a particular political candidate wishes to hide a few things? Mine is to review the manifestos and to make relevant comments whether it is accepted by them or not doesn’t border me.

So, on the records, it would be known that on October 15, 1985, I started the Civil Liberties Organisation. Nobody can take it away from me because it is on record but if I listened to people then I wouldn’t have done it. So, am I interested in whether or not candidates have a reason not to do what is necessary, I’m only interested in saying it so that you the media will put it out.

The reason for this Is to call the attention of candidates to these issues. I would assume unless I’m wrong that anyone aspiring to be Nigerian president in spite of historical examples would aspire to be president of peace, order and good governance in Nigeria. I would have to make that assumption and if I make that assumption it means that the person would be interested to know more of what we are discussing here today.

My purpose is to say, can we in spite of the divided nature of Nigeria get a candidate who ignores it? Is that candidate likely to succeed or would he simply inherit the current crisis?

So, if that candidate wishes to succeed, then he must look at the crisis and say how do we resolve it? I have given a couple of examples that some people suggest that opening up this question of whether Nigeria really has a legitimate constitution is important and I think it is important. Years ago, I didn’t think it is important but I think Tunji Abayomi was the one who made me realise that it is important.

The person who gave you the constitution is a soldier and he has said in his constitution: ‘We the people’ and that is an absolute lie because we never said anything about the constitution. So, a candidate who wants to come into office might say to himself, I undertake that if I become president, I will take another look at this constitution, so that we can re-enact it under the ‘We the people’ declaration. I don’t think that will make him lose votes.

What will that entail, considering the ongoing constitutional amendment process?

Are you saying that we should suspend the existing constitution? The first question would be; do we have an illegitimate constitution? That is the starting point and of course, we do.

I hope you recall that General Abdulsalami Abubakar was the person who handed us this constitution in 1998 and that constitution said ‘We the people’ and even Chief Rotimi Williams said that cannot be correct because we never sat in any conference to say ‘We the people.’

It was Imposed on us, and a lot of Nigerians, especially the sub-national groups, have challenged that position. So, if it is causing problems, I urge the presidential candidates to see whether it is something they can resolve. It might not go anywhere, don’t forget that these are simply suggestions. I would suggest that it might be something to look at.

The second one that we assume seems causing the problem is restructuring but the issue is that the nomenclature of the discussion has not been properly put. And I blame those involved in the discussion. All that has been said about whether it is restructuring or rebalancing or devolution of powers, the simple thing is the Federal Government is too strong, when it controls exclusively to itself 68 items of power.

The Federal Government Is also too strong when it controls the other 30 items of power, making it 98 items of power. It means that the Federal Government on its own has exclusive power to make laws. So, the proposition has been put on the table in a very strong way by the leader of Afenifere that the Federal Government should give away power.

Some say that the words he uses are strong and those words are political restructuring because there is the fear that restructuring means maybe Biafra or breakup. But clearly, I don’t think anyone suggests that restructuring is a breakup. It simply means that the Federal Government is too strong.

Take the Inspector General of Police, for example, it is inconceivable that one man can superintend over Nigeria. It is inconceivable. Therefore, what is wrong with state police? But no candidate made it very clear that this is going to be his agenda, maybe because they feel that they will lose votes. It may be but that is not my problem.

What do you think is the problem with the discussion of restructuring going by your opinion?

Unfortunately, Southern Nigerian politicians have not put the argument in a proper context. So, it has put fear in Northern Nigeria but a candidate who seeks to unify Nigeria can explain it the way I’m explaining it by using simple examples. Why do we have Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) issuing driver’s licenses and all that? There are more complex things.

That one can maybe be for the Federal Government but there are so many things. I once visited Prisons headquarters in Abuja; you know in the army if you are a general, you have a command but we have more comptrollers of prisons than prison commands.

So, you find about 2,000 comptrollers sitting in Abuja doing nothing but if you look at their budget it is about N20 billion. So, how are you going to reduce expenditure? Why should the Federal Government need to control prisons, when it has less than five prisoners, Nnamdi Kanu and a few others? The majority of prisoners are for the state, so it is the state’s responsibility. (New Telegraph)