Human rights activist, petroleum engineer and the 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Chief Martin Onovo, has said that they had in 2023 warned that the removal of fuel subsidy would cause untold hardship to Nigerians.
In this chat with Sunday Sun, he also speaks on the Tinubu presidency, its mistakes, insecurity, incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, restructuring and the way forward, among others. Excerpt:
As the year comes to a close, how would you assess the performance of the President Bola Tinubu administration?
For me this government is an ad hoc one. And this ad hoc Tinubu regime is the worst regime since 1960. It is by far the very worst. The reason is simply. It is incompetent; it is corrupt, deceitful, divisive and destructive. According to the Nigerian Constitution, the security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of government. Now, insecurity is unprecedented and the welfare of the people is much worse. We have seen the record of insecurity published by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics. That confirms the worst insecurity levels ever in Nigeria. On the welfare of the people, mass poverty is unprecedented. On corruption, it is now with audacious impunity. You can see how Nigerians are now dying, queuing for palliative. It has never been worse than this in terms of suffering and hardship. Nigerians are really going through hell to survive.
What do you think that needs to be treated or done differently?
What has been done has been done! No one can change the past. We warned in May 2023, that the plan by the ruling party to remove the subsidy was incompetent and will cause catastrophic macro-economic instability. Our warning was ignored by the incompetent ad hoc regime that is driven by greed, deceit and corruption. Everything needs to be done differently viz, the corruption, inefficiency and waste in the subsidy scheme should have been controlled immediately while the ongoing rehabilitation of our refineries are prioritised. Decadently, the regime preferred the corrupt Malta arrangement. The idea of floating the Naira was most definitely incompetent and ill-thought out. Before floating the Naira, a set of prerequisites were necessary including calculated protectionist measures and the removal of certain constraints to domestic production. The unprecedented corruption in the Tinubu regime could have been prevented. The approval of toxic vaccines to poison Nigerians could have been rejected. The approval of GMOs to poison Nigerians could have been rejected. The signing of the evil Samoa agreement could have been rejected. The perversion of the judiciary could have been prevented. The crippling increase in the superfluous size of the cabinet and the cost of governance could have been avoided. The N1.06 trillion used lawlessly and corruptly for the 48km Lagos-Calabar coastal road could have been used for a new highway from Port Harcourt to Kaduna through Abuja. The reckless and unpatriotic borrowing to enslave Nigerians and destroy the future of our children could have been prevented. The divisive and unlawful sectionalism could have been avoided. The killing of peaceful ‘EndBadGovernance’ protesters could have been prevented. .The resort to false promises, false propaganda and mass deceit could have been rejected. Everything needs to be done differently. Because the regime is unpatriotic, incompetent, corrupt and is also weighed down by the baggage of the election it lost woefully before it seized power, it is incapable of doing things differently. And this is a regime that will not take advice. Even when you point out the way forward they will ignore you. You know that there is nothing as terrific as ignorance in action.
The cabinet reshuffle that president Tinubu carried out, did it produce the needed effect you expected?
It lacks sincerity of purpose. It was not intended to produce any patriotic results. It was simply an unpatriotic political scheme to attempt to increase the acceptance of the regime that has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of Nigerians. It was a failed attempt to bribe some identified political groups with appointments. Can you point to any positive achievement made, except propaganda.
The presidency is insisting that the reforms of the government will produce the desired results soon. Do you share in such optimism?
That is not optimism, please. That is deceitful. We previously identified the resort to false promises, false propaganda and mass deceit. In science, results can be predicted with trend analysis. Using trend analysis, it is clear that Nigeria is heading to a complete collapse with the ad hoc Tinubu regime. They know that they have nothing fresh to offer, no fresh idea. They are just walking in circles, no movement in terms of achievement. Their anti-poor policies cannot take Nigeria anywhere, if not for destruction. There is so much pain under the Tinubu presidency. The government is inhuman, lacks human feeling, lacks compassion and full of greed.
How do you see the state of insecurity in your zone, the Southeast, and do you think the release of Nnamdi Kanu, will bring peace in the region as many public commentators contend?
There is insecurity in the Southeast and in all the regions of Nigeria. Using the NBS statistics, the Southeast is one of the safest regions in Nigeria today. Clearly, the insecurity in the Southeast is exaggerated. The release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will definitely improve security in the Southeast because both the criminals and fringe elements that use Biafra agitation as their cover for their crimes will lose their false excuse.
Almost all the states of the federation have endorsed state police. Do you think it’s the way to go, so as to checkmate insecurity?
State police is not the way to go. Many states endorsed state police so that their governors will have direct powers of coercion which they will abuse the same way they have abused their powers against the judiciary, the legislature and the local government systems. State police can increase insecurity in many ways including abuse by governors against their opponents, clashes with federal security agencies, corruption and extortion, etc. State police will become a drain on the resources of states. Some states owe salaries and ptate police officers may themselves become security threats if their salaries are not paid on time. The current abuse of police authority that we see with the Nigeria Police Force may be worse with state police. Our solution to the problem is a reformed Nigeria Police Force. Creating state police is not the genuine solution.
There are calls for the restructuring of Nigeria. What does restructuring mean to you?
In the simplest terms, restructuring to us means the updating of a new constitution that will be made with the template of our 1963 Constitution. Each of the old four regions can be divided into two to three regions to get eight to 12 regions. These regions will generate their revenue from their resources and remit the agreed sums to the Federal Government. This is not difficult to understand. It is very similar to what we had from 1963 till the first military coup d’ etat. Restructuring is devolution of power, making the centre less attractive and strengtening the regions.
What do you think is the way forward for Nigeria?
The way forward is simple. “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” – John 8:32. We must admit the facts; repent of our wrongs; forgive each other, reset the country and do the right things consistently. The facts are clear; Jagaban Tinubu is definitely not fit to run the affairs of this country as he does not have what it takes to get the country out of this doldrums.
His ad hoc regime is unstable, incompetent, corrupt and dictatorial. The regime has failed catastrophically and is pushing the country to a complete collapse.
Credit: The Sun