Interview
Nigerians didn’t elect Buhari, Tinubu president – Uwazuruike
Senior Lagos lawyer and former President General of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazuruike, speaks with EMEKA EJERE on the inseparability of rule of law and true democracy, insisting that after 24 years, Nigeria’s democracy is lagging far behind.
Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. How would you assess democracy in the country after nearly 25 years?
Well, I will say this is the longest period of single type of government. In other words, we have military; we have elected and so on. For the past 24 to 25 years, we’ve had ‘elected’ civilian government. Elected in quote because up to 2014, 2015, we had a government we could stand up and say we elected this person. He’s there because we voted for him. But from 2015, things are no longer the same. I can’t stand here and say in all honesty that the people of Nigeria elected Buhari.
I’ll rather say it was a matter of convenience for Jonathan to say go, I won’t contest. And then for the present government, nobody is even saying it was elected by the people. Rather, all the blames are going to the courts, because the courts are muddled up. So, our democracy experience is up and down.
Now the only achievement is that we’ve been able to kick the soldiers out. But we have other set of people in civilian uniform, who do whatever they like; who even tell you upfront what they will do, and say “go to court”.
There can be no true democracy without the rule of law. Would you say the rule of law has been satisfactorily upheld in Nigeria’s democracy?
No..no..no, we’re not practicing rule of law. Rather we’re practicing rule of man. There’re two countries I want to give you example of, who got independence at the same time, but following different trajectories: India and Pakistan. They were once together; then they were divided. Then they got independence along the way, almost immediately Pakistan had to go into war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.
But if you move forward, you see that India has never seen a military rule. India has never seen a dictatorship. No court has ever come in to interfere in Indian elections. Now, look at Pakistan, military people have come in; blatant dictators have come in; the courts have come in. They have really distorted the wish of the people.
Now, what of Bangladesh? They’re managing, producing a female prime minister, a female president. Even in the midst of poverty, they’re still practicing their own brand. But of the three countries, the most determined country is India.
So back to Nigeria. If we’re determined to practise democracy, the first thing is the rule of law, not rule of man. Remember the man, who was propagating rule of man. He said we’re looking for a wise king, the man who’s so intelligent and so wise that he knows what he’s doing. In Nigeria we call him the benevolent dictator. They nearly elevated the taciturn Abacha to that level until nature took its effect.
So, in Nigeria we’ve been practising democracy, yes, then backwards. In other words, we want to practice democracy and we want to also practise the rule of man. Rule of law and rule of man can never co-exist.
The champion of rule of man committed suicide. Before he committed suicide he said, there’s no man so wise that his opinion could take over the rule of law. So, the rule of law that is supposed to bind us all is not binding us. It’s binding the poor and downtrodden. But the ruling class does not believe in it.
How would you rate successive administrations under the unbroken democracy in terms of upholding the rule of law?
If I’m to rate them, I will give Yar’Adua and Jonathan 80 percent; Obasanjo, I’ll give him 70 percent; Buhari, I’ll give him 25 percent, and this government, so far I’ll give them 40 percent, because it is what you say and what you practise that will actually define you.
Let me just zero in on Buhari. Buhari set about to destroy the country. You remember when, in his first year, he was the guest at the Nigeria Bar Association conference in Abuja. What was his main speech? That his government would not obey the rule of law if it conflicts with national interest. And he came with a large entourage of lawyers from Ministry of Justice and all the other ministries, and they were cheering and clapping. And many of us wondered; how can a president say he would not obey the court orders in the national interest? And what is national interest? Whatever he says is national interest, in other words the rule of man.
And a number of people clapped. And they kept on clapping until the government of the day simply pounced on judges in the middle of the night, displayed a lot of money, made all kinds of charges, at the end of the day nothing. At the end of the day, nobody said anything about the money that was supposed to have been returned. Was it not part of the treasury? The way the money appeared was the same way it disappeared.
To even show you he had contempt for the judiciary, the Chief Justice of Nigeria was brought to the tribunal. Tribunal is an inferior court. That Code of Conduct Tribunal is under the Secretary to the Government; it’s not part of the judiciary. And the head of the judiciary was brought there and humiliated. What was the charge? That the man had billions of naira and millions of dollars in his bank account, and he had 55 houses in Abuja. At the end of the day, not even one house was presented, and it was discovered that the Chief Justice borrowed money from the bank to build his house. He had not finished repaying the loan; he’s still paying instalmentally; he was indebted to the bank; his account was in the red. And yet the man was humiliated out of office.
So, if that is not disgrace of the judiciary, I wonder. If that is not the issue of the rule of man, I wonder what it is. Tinubu’s case, Tinubu has been here for six months. By the time he’s one year, I hope nature would allow him to realise that every man is in transit. It’s what you do as president that counts. Today we praise Yar’Adua; you don’t need praise singers.
Why do you think people ignore court orders that do not favour them?
I think they see disobedience of court order as triumph of any personality. In other words, they use the court when they want and boast that they obey the orders of courts. But then they disobey the court orders with utmost contempt for the judiciary, Let me give you example. Anytime labour union has an issue with the government, a day or two to the commencement of the strike, it will be announced that the Federal Government has obtained an experte order stopping them from going on strike. And labour will say we don’t know what you’re talking about. Then the media consultant will quickly rush and say you can’t disobey the court order; the Attorney General will say you can’t disobey the court order. By the time the strike is stopped, nobody hears anything about the court case.
Two; there’re many people fighting for their human rights in this country. I come from Igboland. The easiest thing people do now is to accuse you of belonging to IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra). And then before you know it you’re displayed on TV as a commander. Even with your pot belly, you’re called a commander. You’ll see a man, whose body has even fallen out, he’s called a commander. If the man is lucky, he’ll be sent to prison. If he’s unlucky, it’s his dead body that will be displayed as a mark of triumph.
There are many people languishing in police stations, military bases, in the special security areas; they’re all there. Whereas the law is very clear – within 48 hours, charge the person. And for saying this, they’ll now go after you and say this is deformation and so on. The easiest thing they do now is go through your Facebook, if you’ve said anything they’ll grab it and lock you up.
Look at the woman, who was lamenting the death of Deborah. She’s in Bauchi, lamenting how Deborah was killed in Sokoto. She has now spent 18 months awaiting trial in Bauchi, up till yesterday; they didn’t grant her bail. What is it? That her comment would cause a riot; that her comment was a disrespect. I’m also angry with compliant magistrates, because that’s where they go to for all these funny cases.
When el-Rufai was in Kaduna, it was like a lecturer posting something and the man was dragged until he had to resign. El-Rufai was talking of the rule of law, when he was minister in Abuja what did he do? He refused to obey all court orders. But as soon as he left, he was the one shouting Jonathan must obey court order; Yar’Adua must obey court order. So the hypocrisy of people in government is nauseating.
Will you say the impeachments or impeachment attempts we’ve seen in recent times are within the ambit of the law?
Well, you know impeachment is a political weapon for removing an opponent. So, if I’m able to garner enough votes, I’ll go after you, whether the person is governor or president. I remember Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, calling for the impeachment of President Buhari, and the others almost killed him on the floor. But today, many governors are at war with their deputies, and they’re waving the mantra of impeachment against them. Most of the time impeachments are for a selfish purpose. You’ve designed that if this person is removed, you put another person loyal to you. Quite often, the person you’ll remove is innocent.
When Nuhu Rebadu was chairman of EFCC, he was in the forefront for impeachment. He did it in Plateau, the present Labour minister, Lalong was involved. He went to Bayelsa, DSP Alamieyeseigha, was involved. But the good thing is that these days, they work at the back. In other words, our secret service people, who’re supposed to be apolitical, lend their services to political gladiators, and that’s not good. I condemn it.
What, in your view, is the state of freedom and security of lives and property under our democracy?
Well, you know the primary function of government is security and welfare of the people. In terms of security, the government of the day from that of Jonathan up till today, have failed woefully. Right from 2009 when Yar’Adua was still there, they’ve failed. The government has failed in terms of security. In other words, can I get up and start driving from Lagos to Igboland, from Lagos to Abuja? Can I go from here to Yola or from Abuja to Maiduguri? If I entered a train, am I better off?
So, whichever way, the country is in trouble in terms of security. You even live in Abuja, you live in the law school area, those from Niger State can come there and grab the person and move. I understand government is now telling people to start playing down. It started from Buhari era. Please don’t keep reporting negative things.
The welfare of the people is zero. Before Tinubu became President, some types of medicine for those who need them, especially from a certain age – for sugar control, for diabetics, most of them are retirees, go and check their prices. The one that was N37, 000 then is now N100, 000. Meanwhile, the pension has not increased. And today those people are resorting to native medicines and quack medicine. In other words, the welfare of the people has gone down badly.
And the government is not interested. I’ve never heard the government talk of how to improve the welfare of the people. Rather, the current government is buying N160 million SUVs, not just for the legislators, but also for the members of the cabinet, executive. Because when a minister is appointed – they’re 48 ministers now, with about 50 special advisers. We’re only interested in the ones of the National Assembly, but every minister has about three or four vehicles attached to him.
So they’re talking of how to improve their own welfare, including buying yacht. The President of Nigeria is not a mami-water person, so what is he doing with a yacht? The person who should have thought of buying a yacht was the man from Bayelsa, President Jonathan, but he never did. But today, somebody, in his wisdom, has already delivered a presidential yacht.
In other words, you’re saying that our democracy has not brought about development as expected?
No, the standard of living has fallen. Cost of living has gone up. So, those are the two horrible things. But democracy also has brought in some small parts, even though in the last eight years things have fallen. In other words, up till the end of Jonathan administration, the government was busy repairing roads, The time infrastructures of the country started going down again was from Buhari. All we saw was propaganda. And I’m happy that the legislators are justifying purchasing such expensive cars because the roads are bad. So from the abundance of the heart, from the mouth of babies, the truth has come out. They’re all APC people, saying that the roads are not good. So if the roads are not good, who has been in power? It’s the APC President.
Now what of workers? They’re now complaining of doctors and health workers generally. They’re no longer there. They’re moving, because they’re going to places where they’re valued, and where if they work for one hour, they’re sure of good pay. Can you imagine during Covid era, a minister was saying after all we pay doctors N5, 000 allowance. That’s scandalous. And they didn’t even pay, they were owing them. They were owing them for months. As soon as the health workers could move they’ve moved in droves.
And then you talk of education. If you know the damage APC government has done to education, you’ll cry. Time is coming when if you say you’re a graduate, they’ll say okay, take exam. We don’t even believe in the efficacy of our education. In the past, people from other countries came to Nigeria to study. But today, nobody is coming here to study. We go to Ghana; we go to Kenya. They don’t come here again. And even to teach, they don’t come because our salary structure is too paltry for anybody to come.
So, in terms of welfare generally, forget it. Is it electricity? Where Jonathan stopped in electricity 10 years ago is still what we’re battling with. The telephones, yes privatised, and they’re working. The one government had, government couldn’t manage it. So, generally, Nigeria is just limping. That’s the only thing I’ll say.
Many commentators are of the view that the INEC of today and the judiciary are highly compromised. Do you share their views?
Our INEC is a natural disaster. The present chairman, this is about the third election he’s conducting. So how long does it take someone to learn? He’s a professor. I know him very well, and he’s not daft, So if a professor, who’s not daft, begins to fail, you ask what is wrong. They’re now doing post election seminar, they had one yesterday, where YIAGA Africa, National Assembly, all of them gathered. They did the same thing in 2019, reviewing what happened. They’re doing another one this year.
The judiciary, we have means of internal checks. But my worry is the judges do not see election cases as people-oriented cases. They see it in the black and white of law. Election cases are of a unique nature. And all you have to do is, ask yourself if I cancel this election and then if I declare the opponent winner, which is better? Why don’t you allow the people express their choice? Whoever emerges from there should be the choice of the people, not the choice of the judiciary.
So what is the way forward? What do you think we can do or change to make our democracy better?
Well, the starting points are two areas. One is the aspect of the government. The other one is part of executive. If you don’t know, INEC is part of executive. The other one is the judiciary. It’s supposed to be independent. If I’m contesting election today, I have one mantra; I have one belief – do whatever you can to win. Once you win, let the other party go to court. Because I know the judiciary will mess up the democracy. So in this country, let us have judges, who will say enough is enough. The retiring justice from Nasarawa, who just retired the other day, we thank him that, at least, he had the courage of a parting speech, to say that things are not well. Because right now you will be watching armed robbers shooting and security men are running away. Because those who should do something, they didn’t do. INEC is a disaster.
There’s no election they conduct and the people will say yes. Look at what happened in Okota and environs, and FESTEC. In many parts of Lagos, people couldn’t vote, they were chased. Even when some of those chasing people were captured, till today not even one person has been charged to court by the police. And what did the judiciary say when the judges were told of what happened during election? They said you did not prove it. And what did the police say? We’re not aware of any such incidents. So, how do you expect people now to believe you that you’re fair? So we need men and women of goodwill. But they will not emerge until the police, the electoral body and the judiciary put their feet down. Nobody will kill them if they put their feet down.
The other thing I think I should talk about is the right of residence. The constitution has guaranteed every Nigerian the right to live anywhere, any part of the country, do your business unmolested, own properties. But now the devilish flag of you’re not an indigene is being flown in Lagos, in Ogun State, in Kano, in Sokoto. And those who’re in power by crooked means are the ones flying them. Today, if you have to buy property, people will warn you to remember they don’t want people from this place. That’s ethnic hatred.
I mentioned some states, what about religious hatred? If you were in Sokoto and I want to kill you, I’ll come out and shout eeeeeh, Emeka desecrated the Quran. He said Mohammed is not a prophet. Then people will gather and stone you to death, in the full glare of everybody. Many people will bring out their cameras to record the event in triumph. And police will come out and say there’s no proof, we didn’t arrest anyone. In Igboland today, what is happening? Everybody is called IPOB member. For them that’s a justification for wasting a life.
So, our government should sit up because whatever goes around comes around. Finally, you in government, you will not be there forever. You calling the shots, one day you’ll no longer call the shots. You and your relations should be at peace.
