‘Nigeria has lost flourishing democracy to selfishness of leaders’

A former member, Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former ex-officio member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tunde Daramola, who is currently a PDP stakeholder in Lagos State, speaks to OBIRE ONAKEMU on the nation’s democracy, insecurity and other important national issues. EXCERPTS:

How do you see the socio-political realities in the country?
The experience of the Fourth Republic in Nigeria has been of grave concern. At the onset of democracy with the transfer of power from the military to the politicians, it was a story full of hope for a flourishing democracy. The opportunity was soon lost with the selfishness of leadership to perpetuate itself in power. Power elongation became a distraction, and seriousness with building a solid foundation for a thriving democracy was lost forever. Successive government can be rated as moving from frying pan to fire. Our democratic transformation is failure in democracy and failure in economic development. Our country is a failed state.

Do you think something good is happening in the country?
Nothing good can happen in the country until the nationalities are given control of their existence/sustainability.

What is your reaction to the high level of insecurity and youth restiveness in the country?
The level of insecurity in the country is traceable to insensitivity by government to the plight of the common man. The political class has been stealing, pillaging the common wealth to the detriment of national growth and development. Insecurity has become number one issue tantamount to economic dissipation of the country. Once there is insecurity of life and property, there cannot be security of food and security of wellbeing.

The APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari should be held responsible for the increasing spate of insecurity/economic woes. Recall the rate of violence unleashed in the North East by supporters of Buhari in 2011. That birthed the introduction of horrible violence in our national election process. The argument between Kashim Shetimma and Ali Modu Sheriff over who was responsible for the emergence and growth of Boko Haram cannot be forgotten. The cause of youth restiveness can be traced to the high level of poverty ravaging the nation. When there is suffering in the land of the plenty, the rich will never find peace. Kidnapping will continue until injustice at different levels of government and their agencies is addressed. The question Nigerians should be asking is who is arming the herdsman, the Boko Haram and the kidnappers. The answers are in our faces.

The area boys have become dominant leaders in Lagos State while herdsmen and Boko Haram have become overlords, courtesy of APC leaders.

What is your assessment of governance in Lagos State and the nation?
There is nothing to access about governance of the nation. Every aspect of our livelihood has been destroyed. The truth must be told, the country needs to be restructured. Power needs to be devolved to the states and local constituents. What the country needs at the moment is a transformational leader devoid of ethnic sentiments, somebody who is extremely patriotic to the development of Nigeria. The APC government has left a legacy of shame and destruction. What have they not destroyed that they met when Goodluck Jonathan left office. Is it corruption, which now resides at the villa or the poor masses that can hardly have one meal daily? What did they do with the price of petrol and diesel? They met the naira at N170/$1.00. They now killed our naira and only God can prevent it from reaching N1000/$1.00. What is our debt profile now?

They came to deceive. Nigeria is at a crossroads, we have the opportunity to run the APC government out of power only if the umpire is genuine. More reforms need to be implemented beyond transferring polls result. What can be done to discourage monetisation is, first of all, to reconstruct the polity. That is to restructure and devolve power. We need to make peoples’ vote at the poll count. The taxation process is really unfair on the masses, while politicians lavish huge amounts of money without showing the source and the taxes they paid. I’ll encourage people to collect the politicians’ money and vote their conscience. It is their money that was stolen. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) needs to improve our election process to empower the electorate. Nigeria, as a country, is highly endowed. It is a land of plenty with well-populated and diverse nationalities. The localities should be allowed to develop at their own pace. This is how the country can become great. Of the current contestants running to become president, I believe the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, will undertake the necessary reforms, particularly restructuring and creating opportunities and possibilities for youth to develop

What is your advice to INEC as the 2023 elections is fast approaching?
INEC needs to do more to improve the election process. I give kudos to the electoral body for allowing relaying of polling units results. It removes the pressure from the collation centres where manipulative activities take place. INEC should endeavour to make voter registration a continuous process, whereby Nigerian youths can be encouraged to participate the moment they turn 18 years old. Registration can be made less cumbersome, we should be able to do online registration and minor things like change of address can be done online. The national identity should be tied to voter registration to eliminate voter fraud at the party primaries and general elections.

What would you say of the PDP governorship candidate in Lagos, Dr. Olajide Adediran?
Though I have not had the opportunity of meeting Dr. Olajide Adediran since he won the Lagos State PDP primary, I must salute his courage and his mobilisation prowess. Lagos is in the shackle hold of some mafia, and it will take a lot of strategic planning with all hands on deck to dislodge them.

How would you end this interview?
If the entire 36 states of the federation is said to be owning around $4.77 billion as at December 2021and Lagos State alone accounts for more than a quarter of that amount, the question is where and what is the money used for, with all the acclaimed humongous Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Jandor, as he’s popularly called, will need to confront some elders of the state who indulge in fleecing our common wealth. I strongly believe that with the current INEC reviews, APC is vulnerable in Lagos State. We are prepared to confront the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) mobs that are foot soldiers for some politicians. PDP needs not only to stand up to APC, but also show up and defend the votes.