Chief Yemi Farounbi is a former Nigerian ambassador to the Republic of Philippines. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on the emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Senator Bola Tinubu as presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC), respectively and other issues. Excerpts:
Are you impressed with the choice of presidential candidates for political parties contesting in the 2023 general election, especially the PDP and APC?
At the PDP National Convention held in Abuja, about 800 delegates chose Atiku Abubakar as the party’s presidential candidate, while 2,200 delegates who attended the APC Special Convention voted Bola Tinubu as the standard bearer of the party. So with votes from less than 3,000 delegates, the two major political parties are presenting two candidates on behalf of 205 million people. What kind of democracy is that?
One would have expected the direct primaries where the vulgar purchase of delegates would have been impossible. Secondly there is an unwritten understanding in Nigeria, since the tragic annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, that power will rotate from North to South and vice versa, in order to guarantee equal access to power to all Nigerians. The PDP chose to deliberately violate this unwritten rule. It chose to violate a fundamental principle underlying its formation in 1998. How can a party that cannot be trusted to respect its own laws, which will violate a national understanding, be trusted with power? In summary, it cannot be said that the two parties threw up their best, given the vulgar monetisation of the process. It is to the credit of the APC that it respected the rotation arrangement and understanding.
The extension of the deadline for party primaries by INEC, a day before the PDP convention, made many people to believe that INEC succumbed to pressure from the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari. With this, do you think INEC can be trusted to conduct a free and fair general election in 2023?
Although the timing of the announcement of the shift of deadline for primaries gave some people reasons to begin to doubt the independence and impartiality of INEC, one action is not enough to allow one make a categorical declaration on the competence and independence of the Commission.
INEC postponed the presidential election in 2015, and still performed creditably. We should not give up on the electoral body, but put it under surveillance
What is your advice to INEC as we move towards 2023?
My advice to INEC is that it must prove that it is an independent and unbiased and impartial electoral umpire through its actions. It must avoid inconsistency and policy somersaults that will give people the impression that it’s working for and with any political party.
What is your take on the proposed Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC?
Once again, just like the maintenance of a balance between the North and South is an unwritten rule, maintaining a balance between Muslims and Christians in the distribution of political power is an unwritten rule. Because of the peculiar sensitivity of religion in Nigeria, it has been accepted that a politically correct ticket will either be Muslim/Christian or Christian/Muslim. It will be considered insensitive and incorrect to have a Muslim/Muslim or Christian/Christian ticket. It is worse, given the recent exacerbation of ISWAP, ISGS, and BOKO HARAM activities that had awakened the sensitivity and fears of Christians in the country. Everything must be done to give all Nigerians a sense of belonging. Everything must be done to address the genuine fears of the people.. Everything must be done to wipe off the tears of the people. In the present circumstance, I will not suggest a Muslim/ Muslim ticket.
Many people believe the solution to Nigeria’s security problem is decentralisation of the police system. Do you agree?
I believe that a country with an area of one million square kilometers, 205 million people to, 36 states, 774 LGAs and over 250 ethnic nations is too large and complex to have a centralised and monolithic police formation. What we need is not just a decentralisation of the police system, but also the creation of a truly federal police structure. Under this, there will be the Nigeria Police all over Nigeria to enforce federal laws. There will be State Police to enforce state laws. There will be Local Government Police to enforce local government laws. Under this truly federal police architecture, policing the nation will be easier. Police officers and men at the state and local government levels will be indigenous to the states or LGAs. They will understand the language and culture of the people. They will know and understand the terrain they are policing.
The 2023 general election is fast approaching. What is your advice to political parties and their candidates?
My advice to the political parties and their candidates is that they must explain their vision and mission to the electorate. Let the electorate fully understand your agenda for moving the nation forward. Explain to the electorate and the people your competence, ability; experience and expertise for doing the job; explain what makes you different from the crowd of contestants.
Let the electorate have a true profile of your character from point of view, ability to form and lead a team, integrity, reliability, godliness, self discipline, selflessness and humility.
The electorate must make an informed choice, not on the basis of money, language, religion but on the basis of quality of vision, competency and character.
What is your reaction to the recent killing at a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State?
The Catholic Church killing is tragic and sad. It is an evidence that the Federal Government has lost both the ability and the will to guarantee the security of lives and property of Nigerians. The Federal Government admitted that the massacre was carried out by Islamic State of West Africa Province. The ISWAP does not recognise the existence of Nigeria nor its sovereignty. I think ISWAP is a dangerous threat to Nigeria because it doesn’t respect its authority and its democracy. ISWAP represents a violent method of Islamisation. And the Owo tragedy, among many others, suggests that Nigeria is a country waiting to be swept away by the Islamisation gale.
This is tragic because ISWAP is more dangerous and poisonous plants than IPOB and Oduduwa Republic threats. Unfortunately one doesn’t see the same level of aggressive actions and containment with which the Federal Government deals the apostles of secession in its handling of ISWAP all over Nigeria. It is for that reason that its acts of commission and omission that some people begin to see the government as a collaborator aiding and abeting insurgents, such as ISWAP, ISGS, Boko Haram or whatever names the terrorists are called.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
