The President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima, in this interview with AYO ESAN, speaks on the 2023 General Election, leadership of the 10TH National Assembly and what he thinks should the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s top priority after he is sworn in. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the 2023 General Election?
The election was well conducted and people were satisfied with the promptness of INEC officials and materials on voting days. The election was very successful. Like all elections, some people will feel aggrieved. I think such people should follow the normal process of seeking redress.
We don’t want the government to become aloof and fold its hands. Some people commit crime with impunity, threaten the unity of our country and her corporate existence, yet the government folds its hands does nothing about it, not even to arrest and charge them for treason. This is not done anywhere, this country must remain.
For me, we have never had it so good and so nice like the present situation under Professor Mahmood Yakubu who conducted a free and fair election.
The June 12, 1993 Presidential Election that was won by late Chief M.K.O. Abiola was annulled by the military at that time; otherwise it would have been the best election so far. But the last one, looking at it critically, went well. Very well. But some people want to get a position in government or they want to win an election without working for it. We reject those characters.
As expected those that were not satisfied with the outcome of the elections are already in court, but the Federal Government has accused the Vice Presidential candidate of the the Labour Party, Datti-Ahmed, of inciting the people and committing a treasonable offence. What is your advice to the aggrieved candidates in the election?
My advice to them is that they shoud wait for the court to adjudicate on the matter. They should stop making statements that can cause chaos and violence. They should present their case before the court and state the facts. The court is not blind. It will look at the facts and not listen to sentiments or rumour. Relying on court decisions is what will make them nationalists and true democrats. They should not make the people believe that if they don’t get what they want from the court, there will be war. If anybody is beating the drum of war, he should be arrested. Nobody is above the law.
The DSS also said that some people are planning an Interim National Government. What is your take on this?
My take on that is that if the DSS came out openly to make such a statement, it means there are signs and facts and they must have got their facts correctly.
It is however very unfortunate that anybody will even be thinking that we are going to get an interim government now or advocate it. The government should arrest such a person or persons planning such a thing now and charge them for treason. This is because advocates or proponents of an interim government must be seen to be anti democratic forces. Must be seen to be enemies of democracy and must be seen to be the enemies of the country. As such, they should be dealt with accordingly. Nobody should talk of any interim government. An interim government was foisted on us by the then military government of General Ibrahim Babangida (retd.). This must not be allowed now. We have a President-elect.
Despite your claim that the last general election were successful and credible, some people also complained about INEC not posting the results of the presidential election on its Results Viewing Portal (IREV) as promised before the election. What is your reaction to this?
INEC is at liberty to either push the result to IREV or do it manually. This is purely at the discretion of the INEC. Two, if they intend to transmit to IREV and they also discover that it might lead to mass rigging of the election, they may say no. If some people were working to hijack the results and make people lose confidence in INEC, there is nothing wrong with doing it manually. As long as we got the results, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Transferring the results to IREV, I think, is not a constitutional matter; it is merely at the discretion of INEC.
The presidential election was conducted, it was free and fair and the winner has been announced. We are also saying that due process should be followed by those who are aggrieved and the winner should be sworn -in as an elected President of Nigeria and Commander in chief of the Armed Forces. That is how it is done in any sane place.
Presidential election has come and gone. What is your advice to the President –elect?
My advice to him is that he should institute an all-inclusive government. What I am saying is that the government can be that of a national unity. But beyond national unity we must also consider competency. We must also take people who are trusted, not people who will hijack the government like we are having in the present government. If I have my way, I will even advise him that the Chief of Staff must be somebody he is so trusted.
Somebody that is very close to him. If you asked me to name, I will even name James Faleke who is currently representing Ikeja Federal Constituency in the national assembly. I believe he can be trusted and his past relationship with Tinubu has shown that he is loyal and dedicated. He also has the fear of God and total commitment to the Nigeria project. He can be trusted with that office, he is a no nonsense man.
Secondly let us look at the national assembly’s leadership, don’t let us make the mistake of thinking that we want it to go to the South East or South- South because we want to appeal to certain people. Competence must come into play. We cannot afford to have a loose national assembly. We cannot have a national assembly whose leadership would have questions to answer, like the issue of corruption. That won’t work at all. Let us look for capability and experience in choosing the national assembly’s leadership.
Do you have anybody in mind for the positions of Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President?
As of now I don’t have anybody in mind. We are still watching those who are coming out to show interest. I am just saying that we should have both in the executive and the National Assembly leadership those that will not bring corruption or have a record of corruption hanging on their necks. We will resist this.
What is your advice to INEC concerning future elections? For instance in November this year, three governorship elections will take place in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States?
INEC has done well. It has demonstrated integrity, competence and capacity. If INEC can hold an election for the entire country without problem, the elections in those three states should not be an issue. INEC should just maintain its composure and conduct the election well to the satisfaction of the people of the three states.
They should let the wishes of the people reflect in the election results that will be declared. That is all.
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.
