Emmanuel Umohinyang is a constitutional lawyer, social commentator and human rights activist. Umohinyang, who was the convener of Re-elect Buhari Movement (RBM), played a pivotal role in the success of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election. In this interview with ENIOLA DANIEL, he spoke on the state of the nation, President BolaTinubu’s re-election bid and other issues. 

Nigerians are groaning over the state of the nation. As a campaigner for President Bola Tinubu’s election, what’s your assessment?

We can say that there was no adequate preparation to deal with the challenge that will come, which is the excruciating poverty in the land. I agree that the government did not put strong structure in place to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the exchange rate. But I’m one of those who told President Tinubu that he will not be able to remove the subsidy if he failed to announce it on the podium.

The moment you come down from the podium, the mafias will feast on you, using the Nigeria Labour Union Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to let you know that it’s impracticable. Advisers will come to suggest that the four refineries can be fixed.

There were lots of problems before the President came into the office.  So, where was he going to start if he did not remove the subsidy? Where was he going to get the money to fund the fuel subsidy?

There was a time when governors were not paying salaries. Adegboyega Oyetola, who is now a minister, was referred to as ‘Mr Half Salary’ as the governor of Osun State, but things are now different.

While the President has tried to solve the problem of lack and scarcity of resources in the federation, the President by his action created excruciating poverty in various homes. But who are those responsible to deal with the issue of poverty? They are state governors.

The President was speaking from the abundance of information he has when he told state governors to wet the grass they mow. This is the same Bola Tinubu who has been in the vanguard of dealing with poverty in his own capacity even after he left government in Lagos State.

A particular bishop said that the people around the President may not be telling him the truth about the reality in the country. I consider it as a repulsive argument because the President does not need the people around him to tell him that there’s hunger in the land; he has his ears on the ground. So, even if they fail to tell him the truth, does it mean his wife will also refuse to bring it to the attention of her husband? Does the wife want the husband to fail?

It’s the responsibility of the state governors in conjunction with the local governments to address the issue of poverty. Addressing poverty is not giving people a cup of rice or a bowl of garri. The Federal Government is doing its best but most governors are not willing; most governors are happy that their people are in poverty. Most of them are sitting on the money and diverting it for their personal use and comfort. That’s why most of them prefer building useless flyovers so they can get kickbacks from contractors.

Some governors are less interested in the security and safety of their people; rather they want white elephant projects so that they can make money from them.

The governors of Lagos, Abia and Enugu states have taken security as a duty but the charlatans among the state governors run to Abuja whenever there is a security issue in their states. Those governors claim that they are not in control of the Commissioner of Police (CP) in their state. No governor can say it before me.

Tunji Disu has corrected things Kayode Egbetokun was swimming in. Disu wants to leave a mark in the sand of time and that’s why he analyses a CP for posting. Every governor wants a CP they can use, firstly against their opponents; secondly, to soft pedal electoral victory. But this IGP has shown capacity and addressed the ugly situation we witnessed under Egbetokun.

How can you rate the level of security in the country?

I think the government has tried to address insecurity. I am not saying that we have arrived; we still have people in the bush and in kidnappers’ den.

The government can’t do it alone. The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, said that citizens should play their roles but my objection to it is that if you ask the citizens to play their roles, you must convince them that their safety is guaranteed after they provide you information. We must also monetise information and that’s what the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) should be doing.

What is your take on State Police?

I was one of those who opposed State Police but I had a change of mind. Kayode Egbetokun as the IGP made the police look ordinary; he brought the standard low to the extent that politicians were exploring Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act against innocent citizens. It was a case of ‘if you can speak the correct language to the ears of the IG you can arrest whoever you want.’ But I’m happy with Tunji Disu as an IG. He has transformed the office. We now have an IG that listens.

Now, I support State Police. State Police became a child of circumstance. The federal police have failed and it failed woefully under Egbetokun.

The issue of concern with State Police is how far some of the states can go with it. But I’m happy with the standard the committee is trying to set. However, I cannot assure that all the states will key into it. Some state governors have confided in me that they will continue to use the federal police even after the bill is passed.
There are complaints that some state governors act with impunity because they have immunity. Should state governors continue to enjoy immunity?

I will not advocate for immunity to be removed totally but I will support removal of immunity on criminal conduct of a governor and a president. That will put governors in check. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will be able to check a governor found stealing.

For civil action, immunity should be retained so that we don’t have a situation where someone whose goat has just been stolen goes to court for the governor to explain his inability to secure his environment, which has led to his goat being stolen.

Sadly, governors will still find a way to steal even if immunity on criminal action is removed. Some of them hold PhD in criminality.

There is no immunity after office. How many of the governors that left office in 2023 are facing trial now? So, it’s about institutions and the political will of the president.

With a padi-padi president, even if you remove immunity, he can still control the hand of the EFCC. You must have a president who is not corrupt to be able to deal with corruption. In most cases, ex-governors arrested are mostly members of the opposition party. So, I will rather suggest the strengthening of our institutions. Anyone found guilty should be tried openly.

What’s your assessment of the three leading candidates for the 2027 presidential election: President Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi?

I think this is one election my candidate, Bola Tinubu, will win so easily. The President would have been worried if the expected coalition had found its feet. The APC would have also done what it can to make sure that the house scatters. I am not a member of the APC but I’ve always been supporting the progressives.

There are two opposition candidates with vaulting ambitions and this is their final hour. Peter Obi is close to 70 and he can say anything for Nigeria to make him a president.

People know that Obi cannot fulfil the promise of ruling for four years. The promise is what I call a political heresy of the century. He knows that he’s not a man that can keep to his word. He told Odumegwu Ojukwu that he would never leave the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) but he defected to the PDP, then to Labour Party, to the ADC and now he has landed in Henry Seriake Dickson’s water boat called NDC.

Obi doesn’t know that Musa Kwankwaso is clever – a grand patron in the business of politics. Kwankwaso knows that they will not win the election but he has to remain in the NDC so that he can hijack the party after the 2027 elections and drive away Dickson the same way he did with the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) because his desire is to contest the 2031 elections.

I like Obi for his sonorous voice. I enjoy him when he tries to display his immaterial humility but he’s polluted by his inability to stand by what he says.

I’m not saying that Tinubu is a saint; but having looked at the political turf, I may rather want to vote for a repented thief than to cast my vote for a deceitful priest.

Atiku is the worst hit in this election. Atiku’s report card is littered with red inks. Atiku is not electable. I’m not saying that Atiku has been convicted of any offence but how do we describe a man who even the shadow around him is stained with criminality?

The third candidate, President Tinubu: here is a man who came into office in spite of the fact that the powers that be were not happy with his candidature. He’s a man who came into office and said he acknowledged the pain and that he would have done something different if there were other options. Tinubu has not done everything right but I can see the structure and the foundation he has created.

Nigeria has become a construction site under his watch; so, let’s give him another opportunity in office to conclude the reform.

Yes, we are still having issues with the micro area of our lives and I think that’s the area the government wants to dwell in. Tinubu will spend the next four years to redefine prosperity in the lives of Nigerians.

I agree that things are not rosy but I can tell Nigerians that we are not going to hell with Tinubu’s reform; rather, we may pass through hell towards heaven and we may be touched by the heat from hell but that’s the worst that can happen. I can tell you that the President will further improve on the lives of Nigerians. I’m expecting that the President will be able to reform critical components that will reduce poverty.  I can tell you that the difficulty is over and we are moving towards that Promised Land. The President may not rely solely on the state governors to end poverty because they are not interested in ending poverty but in what will benefit them alone.

There have been complaints that APC members have become arrogant like the PDP. What is your take on “no vacancy in Aso Rock” comments?

In an attempt to play sycophancy of the highest order, someone said that whether they like it, they should kidnap everybody, that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock. First, he’s not in the position to say whether there is vacancy or not.  I can tell you that the January 16 election is an indication that there is vacancy in Aso Rock and it’s only Nigerians that can retain the occupant of the office or vote him out. We had it in 2015 where a leader of the PDP said they will rule for 60 years but by the will of Nigerians, President Goodluck Jonathan was voted out and Muhammadu Buhari was voted in.

The Constitution made provision for election every four years and that’s an indication that there is vacancy. It pains me when we see the misrepresentations particularly from APC chieftains. On no account should we play politics with security and the lives of our people. Campaign should be on issues and not on personal attacks. President Tinubu will not support anybody coming under the guise of supporting his aspiration to talk down on Nigerians. Some of them don’t know that they are de-marketing the candidacy of President Tinubu by their utterances.

I watched a video of an APC chairman in Abuja threatening people to leave the local government if they will not vote for the APC. That’s against democracy. Election is a celebration of democracy and an act conducted with the voluntariness of citizens who are eligible to vote.

The President is appealing to Nigerians on the need to see through his reform agenda and renew his mandate. With all the powers in his possession, he has never been arrogant about the appeal.
What is your take on the fight between Nyesom Wike and APC governors with regard to the Rainbow Coalition?

The fight is unnecessary. We should be thanking the Minister of FCT for the risks he took even as a sitting governor to support Bola Tinubu’s candidacy in 2023.

Some governors were with Tinubu with their mouths and not with their hearts. Wike stood by Tinubu against his political party. Wike is one of the best performing ministers under the Tinubu administration.

I may not like Wike and his nature of politics but I love him for his consistency and courage. If they think the Rainbow Coalition is a threat, they should defeat it in their states.

You see them using the platform of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, which is a fluke. What’s the problem in Kwara?  AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq said every House of Representatives member and the Senate should not go back and distributed the tickets to his cronies and segregated the party to almost five different factions. The same ‘Otoge’ that brought him in is threatening to take him out.

I was one of those who was impressed that we have a reverend father as Benue State governor and that he will focus on development and change the narrative of the state. But today, the state capital, Makurdi, is like a remote local government in the North where there is crisis. You can’t find development in Benue. The Reverend Father could not use his cassock to bring people to the table of peace. Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia tears the state into pieces.

In Imo State, Governor Hope Uzodinma has his buttocks on the seat of government in Owerri and his left leg in the Senate.