Anybody who is not concerned about current situation in Nigeria is not patriotic - Onovo
Martin Onovo, an American trained Nigerian Petroleum Engineer and presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the 2015 general election, in this exclusive interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO, Editor, laments the current socio-political and
Some people say that it is very difficult for meaningful investment to come into Nigeria because of the situation of the things now. Do you share in that view?
It is unfortunate that it has taken us four years to see the disregard for the rule of law by the General Buhari’s administration and I am surprised we are pretending not to know that this disregard for the rule of law has always been there; because I remember, when the Supreme Court judges were attacked, the Nigerian Bar Association made a release accusing the Executive of trying to intimidate the Judiciary. Thereafter, the Executive did not renege on what they were doing. They went ahead to attack the Chief Justice of Nigeria himself and harassed the man until the man was forced to resign. We have people, who are culprits but at the same time playing victims. It is unfortunate because it has become systemic and all the negative things have become systemic in Nigeria. Dishonesty is systemic; corruption is systemic; hypocrisy is systemic. We made it happen; and no matter how much we pretend; the facts are clear that we made it happen. The government did not just become dictatorial; it was in 2016 that I said that the government is deceitful; it is divisive and dictatorial. These things are not new. Punch said they would be calling Buhari Major-general; they copied it from me. I have been doing that for more than four years now; I have never called him president Buhari. Wherever you see my interview referring to him as president, it must have been edited; I never did that. I always call him General Buhari; go and check all live videos. So, when you see a publication where it is said I called him president Buhari; it is edited; I have never did that. I started doing that in 2015. Our people refuse to be honest; you cannot reap the benefits of honesty. It is not even only about dictatorship; it is also about insecurity; it is also about poverty; unemployment; it is also about debt burden where the country is already in a debt trap. Technical definition of a debt trap is that you are not able to pay your debt; you are already in a debt trap. The next stage is debt crisis, and only a miracle can stop us from ending up there. Like I keep saying, and I will repeat myself until the Nigerian people accept it. If we do the wrong things we get the wrong answer. If we do the right things, we get the right answer. From day one, this government has determined to do everything wrong. This has been confirmed because results don’t lie. The fruits identify the tree; good fruits, good tree; bad fruits, bad tree. The facts are here. Let me list them for you, in case you have forgotten: - the fruit is that Nigeria is now the worst terrorised country in the whole world. Before General Buhari came to power we were Number 4; today we are Number 3. That is a deterioration; we didn’t get better, we got worse. Now, look at corruption; it is worse than before; look at the economy – the five major indices in macro-economic evaluation all are negative: GDP (gross domestic product) is negative; debt is higher; currency is devalued; inflation is much higher and unemployment has more than doubled. So, the result are very clear, and let me tell you, all those people pretending that the results are not clear are the people benefiting from the dysfunctional system. There is no objective or scientific assessment that does not show that the results are worse. Even government agencies have confirmed that the results are worse. So, anybody telling you they are laying a foundation for greater tomorrow is deceitful and is benefiting from the dysfunctionality. So, to me the facts are very clear.
It is said that poverty may have incapacitated Nigerians from empting into the streets to protest bad leadership in the country. People point to Hong Kong
where for months citizens have insisted on good governance. Do you see a time when Nigerians can speak with one voice, demanding good governance from their leaders?
I wish and I pray it will happen, but making a scientific and objective judgment I will say it may not happen soon; and it is not one reason. The first reason is that the people are divided politically, ethnically and religiously. So, that is the first reason. The second reason is that our national values are identified in our constitution; but because of the mass hypocrisy, nobody regards these values. The constitution is very clear on hard work; nobody regards hard work anymore in Nigeria; honesty – you have to be stupid to be honest, but it is in the constitution. Self-reliance – everybody is looking for free tickets and free meals. So, the values as clearly stated in the constitution have been perverted completely. So, because of that you have this loss of sense of outage, because if an armed robber sees another armed robber, he will not be outraged. If a corrupt man sees a corrupt man, he will not be outraged. If a liar sees another liar, to him is a norm. So, the Nigerian people are not outraged because whether you like it or not the majority are corrupt. We can be pretending. In fact, one of my friends put the percentage of corruption in Nigeria at over 90. He said over 90 percent of people in Nigeria are corrupt.
So, how do you expect them to protest when they are waiting for their own opportunity to loot? That factor is there; the eroded value system is there. Now, the additional factor is the fear factor because of the brutality of the government. You can see that the Shiites were not armed; they killed over 387 Shiites in one evening. The government admitted this, but according to the Shiites, over one thousand of them were killed. The IPOB conducted peaceful protest; some of their members were killed. So, people know these things. I don’t believe that any sane person should go and stand on the road against this government. If we go by what happened to the Shiites and IPOB, it is almost certain that anybody protesting will be killed by government. Now, look at the brazen, audacious, imbecilic, dictatorial actions that they took in the court against Sowore. So, if they can do that in the open court, what would they do on the street? So, people know this and there is that fear factor. Then the opinion leaders who should even mobilise and aggregate the people are also afraid; because, you make a move they will label you either treason or corrupt. So, it is either EFCC calls for you or DSS calls for you. Even the people who are supposed to lead in the Civil Society groups are also afraid. The fear factor, the erosion values; the ethnic, political and religious factor is there. So, it is not a single-factor phenomenon; and that is why you don’t see anybody on the street.
Beyond the fear factor you mentioned, the Civil Society groups appeared compromised; it is alleged that’s why they seem to have lost their voice?
No, that’s not enough; even the part that is not compromised is disillusioned or intimidated or afraid. It is a combination of factors. It is not that simplistic.
How concerned are you about Nigeria at this point in time?
Anybody who is not concerned is not patriotic or is self-destructive. Except you don’t live here; you must be concerned because if there is insecurity here, it affects you, if there is poverty here – you may not be poor – but the people in your environment will be poor and that affects you because they will turn themselves as a burden on you. So, it is not a question of personal calculation. It is a question of clear, universal, objective criteria. That’s what it is. So, I am really bothered. I know we are at the tipping point and no reasonable person-rich or poor– wants that. This is because if you are rich, it could affect your business, your investment and all that. It won’t only affect the poor. This is a situation that is dangerous to everybody and anybody who does not recognise that is naïve. Look at the rise in crime rate; look at how easily the terrorists are recruiting Nigerians; it is the environment. If these people were educated and have a respectable source of living; they may not be available to be recruited. So, it is naive for anybody to think ‘O, I am rich; it’s not going to affect me’. The kidnappers for example, are not kidnapping poor people. I am really scared, but I think that whether we like it or not the government will collapse, either by the efforts of Nigerians or by its own contradictions. One way or the other, anybody thinking 2023 is not thinking clearly. Let us see this government survive. When we have got to the point where the wife of the president has become opposition and the government claims it does not give a damn; and the international community has raised issues and government says it does not give a damn; then you can see that we are dealing with a situation of megalomania. When there is domestic and international rejection and the official position of the presidency is that they don’t give a damn; that’s megalomania, and it is going to collapse. The cabal of less than 10 men cannot hold 200 million people down. They are also being delusional by thinking they can hold 200 million people down. They cannot.
What do you think about this Hate Speech Bill at the senate?
It is the return of the Decree 4 of 1984. It is a reinvention of that notorious decree that you must not say anything that I don’t like; then if you say it, you face the wrath. It is not going to work. I am happy that those who felt they were more level-headed while Nigeria was going down the drain and saw others as hot- heads, all of them now have woken up from their slumber. I know that a few lawyers have gone to court and many are threatening to go, saying that the hate speech bill is a violation of the constitution. We believe in ‘No to violence’, and we don’t want this government to have an opportunity to start killing people; that’s why I said, I would not encourage anybody to go to the street. There are civil, legal and political ways of dealing with the situation; everything doesn’t have to be violence. Just like I have said before, when our people agree that enough is enough, this nonsense will stop.