Moro: APC Has Nothing to Offer Benue People
Former Minister of Interior and chieftain of the People Democratic Party in Benue State, Mr. Abah Moro, in this interview reviews the first 100 days of Governor Samuel Ortom’s administration and the problem of insecurity in the state. George Okoh brings t
There are fears that the APC led federal government may influence victory for the Governor Samuel Ortom in the petition brought against him by the PDP candidate, what do you think of that? I think that fear is palpable because of activities that have been set in the past in the development of democracy in Nigeria, there is this fear that President Muhammadu Buhari who is a product of the APC can most likely use his position as the president of Nigeria to influence judgments in the various tribunals in favour of APC elected officials whose elections are being challenged in the courts.
The fear was actually accentuated a week ago when the newspapers were awash with stories that the president has set up a ten-man committee headed by him to help salvage the electoral fortunes of APC members whose elections are being contested in the tribunals. And of course, particularly is Benue State.
In Benue State, the governor has desperately been looking up for people to intervene and persuade his aggrieved colleagues in APC to withdraw cases against him, all to no avail until recently when the president was said to have intervened.
And so, there is this fear that Mr. President may use his position and office to persuade the tribunal to give judgment in favour of Samuel Ortom but that will be very unfortunate. For obvious reasons, Mr. President has come out openly to say that he was going to be the President of all Nigerians. For the obvious reason that Mr. President has come out to say that he was going to fight corruption headlong and all of us believe in him because of his antecedents, all of us also trust that he will do it to a logical conclusion. And Nigerians are waiting for him to fight corruption to a standstill.
What will be your advice to the president? I think it will be wise as a patriotic Nigerian, to advise Mr. President not to influence the activities of the tribunals. Not just in Benue State but across the country because to do so will send a wrong signal on his preparedness to fight corruption.
Secondly, it will be a serious drawback on our fledgling democracy and democratic process where justice cannot be obtained when obvious acts of undemocratic practices characterised even the nomination of candidates to run elections. And so, I think that Mr. President will listen to the yearning of the Nigerian people to allow justice to prevail.
To some extent, the past administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan allowed free and fair and credible elections in the states even controlled by the opposition. It’s on record. And so, President Buhari would further deepen the tenets of democracy if he extends further this attitude of non-interference in the electoral process, including the tribunal processes. I think that is the right thing to do and that will show to Nigerians that the president is actually prepared to fight corruption to a very large extent.
Are you comfortable with the Ortom-led government since it took over the reins of power in the state? Well, while I can candidly say that it is too early to assess the performance of the government, especially the government in Benue State now; I want to say that having been in government before at various levels, I know that people’s minds are fixated on number of activities and periods of administrations. For instance, you know that 100 days is a celebrated period in governance in Nigeria. If you look at what is happening in Benue State now, the signs are very ominous that we are in for the worst of times. In spite of the much touted bailout and loans that the Benue State government under Dr. Samuel Ortom has taken to pay salaries, salaries are not paid. The governor had ordered that two months salaries be paid recently but as I’m talking to you, I am on good authority that no salary has been paid. I don’t know how true it is and how realistic it has been but if you look at the records that are churned out recently, the office of the SSG is alleged to have been allocated very huge sums of money ostensibly to run government at the expense of the payment of salaries of civil servants.
In this moment of austere period, I am on good authority that the Benue State government has purchased for distribution to local government council chairmen Toyota vehicles that cost N7 million each. I am on good authority too that arrangements are in top gear to raise money from the loans that has been secured to buy vehicles for commissioners and for members of the House of Assembly.
So what is your expectation from the Ortom government? I think that for a government that is anchored on change, a government that is headed by somebody who says he is going to run the government by the fear of God, these steps are missteps. They are not good steps in the right direction because the first set of activities that are expected of a government that is coming on the heels of despondency on the part of Benue State workers and the Benue people in general are activities that are supposed to ameliorate the conditions that they met on ground; the non- payment of salaries and the fast decaying infrastructure on the ground.
These are activities on which pronouncements should have been made and actions taken to ameliorate. So, two, three months after the assumption of office, salaries have not been paid and they are going on the profligacy of spending stupendous money to purchase vehicles for local government chairmen and workers at the expense of payment of even basic salaries for workers. You must know the multiplier effect of nonpayment of salaries.
If the fortunes of the state government nosedived occasioned by the dwindling fortunes of our oil revenue, it’s understandable but if loans have been taken and bailouts have been granted for the sole purpose of ameliorating the conditions of workers and laying a solid foundation for the infrastructural development of the state and these loans are not being used appropriately but are being diverted to luxuries of vehicles for government officials, I think it is unfortunate and it is a bad beginning for this present administration in Benue state.
Now that we have a leader whose major fight is against corruption, I can assure you that the constitution of committees to probe and probe panels becomes itself a veritable avenue for corruption to extort money from people who are suspected to have infracted the laws of the land. And so, I think that every step that is being taken in Benue state now is a wrong step in a wrong direction. It’s very unfortunate, I think that the people of Benue State deserve more than what is happening in the state now. That our situation is deteriorating; I’ve said it before, if on assumption of government, there is indiscriminate killing of Benue people of whatever persuasion and whatever status and government is not seen to be very active in stamping it out, apart from the palliative comments about amnesty and the rest of them, amorphous sentiments of amnesty, amnesty for what?
Amnesty programme in terms of arms surrender, for what? It’s not picking out grammatical jargons to describe situations. What are you granting amnesty for, why are you granting amnesty? The laws of the land are very clear on the possession of arms and weapons, whether small or light weapons. So, it’s a question of ensuring that the security agencies are sufficiently mobilised and motivated to go after the criminals because they are criminals, no doubt about it. So, I think what is happening in Benue State is unfortunate and the earlier, the governor and government of Benue State retraces its step the better for all us. Samuel Ortom has become the governor of Benue State now; therefore our destiny is in his hand. He must take the right steps to fulfill our destiny. I will support him if he is taking the right steps, I will support him if he is taking right decisions and enunciating right policies but I think what is happening in Benue state now is haphazard, uncoordinated and I think it’s not going to take us to where we want to be.
Some Benue indigenes have been faulting the process through which the amnesty programme was implemented. Do you belong to this school of thought? I don’t know of any amnesty programme, so I won’t be able to say whether it is faulty or not. The most important thing is that people are being killed and it is the responsibility of government in place to ensure that these things are reversed and that the killers are brought to book. And we must see definable actions being taken. It’s not about sermonising, it’s about taking concrete actions that will elicit some level of confidence in the people; it must be clear to everybody because I’m a PDP member and I find it ridiculous that only PDP members are being killed in a particular part of the state and you tell me it’s armed robbery.
You once occupied a very strategic position in the nation as the Minister of Interior, which has a lot to do with security. What specific steps would you want government to take in addressing this issue? First and foremost, I want to see the state government ensuring twenty four -hour patrol of the various communities that are vulnerable, number two, strenuous efforts must be made to arrest those persons that are responsible because they are not ghosts, they are there and it is not one instance, they kill almost every day so what are the security agencies doing? What pronouncements have we seen from the government now as to the condemnation of what is happening, rather than trading blames? This is not the time to trade blames, somebody must take responsibility; somebody must take charge of the situation.
We must see definable actions being taken. It’s not about sermonising. It’s about taking concrete actions that will elicit some level of confidence in the people