Paschal Emeka, Abuja | Posted August 16, 2024
Amobi Nzelu is an Abuja based constitutional lawyers of repute. He was always remembered for his role in securing justice for Apo, Abuja Six traders, who was extra juducially killed by the police many years ago.
In this interview with our correspondent, the legal icon and principal partner of Chinenye Chambers blamed the Senate and President Tinubu for disregarding his letters, which would have averted the recent #endbadgovernanceprotest, in the country.
Excerpts are presented below:
YOU DID NOT MAKE ANY COMMENT ON THE PROTEST THAT TOOK PLACE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, WERE YOU FOR OR AGAINST IT?
I am sitting on the fence and watching events crystallize to a level that my comment will be meaningful. Recall that before the protests, I wrote a ten page letter to the Senate President, complaining of what has been going on in our country, Nigeria, and he and his fellow Senators refused to come out to issue a policy statement on the way forward to avert crisis.
I saw it coming. This is a warning strike/protest and the legislators should engage the executive arm of the government to determine which way forward. The oversight functions imposed on the legislators by the constitution are not being used at all for reasons best known to them as they have become an executive appendage.
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Prices of everything are at the roof top including food items, which are unaffordable to both the rich and the poor in our country. The protest is to register their disapproval on the way the country is being run. I am still watching.
But Mr. President addressed the nation recently and deliberately refused to address the points being raised by the protesters. I wonder what it will take him to say, let the price of fuel come down to N500 per litre, pending when we have a critical look at the indices and market forces. Electricity bill for Band A which is N250 per unit, let it come down to N150 pending further review. Arrangements put in place to bring down the prices of goods. That will make the protesters to go back home, but to stick to his gun, means that he is not near to the people and their plight.
Unimaginable hunger and poverty have afflicted our land. This country is blessed with mineral resources to sustain them, however over 80% of Nigerians are passing through abject poverty while few flourish in abundant wealth.
That was part of what I wrote to the Senate President Godswill Akpabio; that he presided over a Senate that bought a N160 million car for each of the 469 legislators and he acquiesced in it.
A total of N75 billion was spent for cars alone. Let me tell you, about 90% of the legislators they bought the cars for, did not take the cars or they took the car and resold them for lesser cars. They took their money from the vendors and bought lesser cars.
A hungry man can go extra miles, so do not take a hungry man for granted.
THE POLICE WERE ACCUSED OF SHOTING KILLING PROTESTERS AS WELL AS THROWING TEARGAS ON THEM, AND THE PROTESTERS WERE ALSO ACCUSED OF LOOTING AND DESTROYING PUBLIC PROPERTY. WHAT US YOUR TAKE ON THAT?
You see, in every situation, where there are protests, some hoodlums usually highjack the protests. It may be a well articulated and organized protest, but the level it will go cannot be guaranteed by the organizers.
Yes, peaceful demonstration is a constitutional right, but when it becomes violent or hijacked by hoodlums, the government of the day will not fold their hands.
But has the President spoken earlier than August 1st when the protests started, it would not have gotten to the level it got to.
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BUT IN ABUJA, THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERATION, TO AVOID LOOTING AND VANDALISATION OF GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE PROPERTY, THE PROTESTERS WERE RESTRICTED TO THE MKO ABIOLA NATIONAL STADIUM, HOW DO YOU SEE THAT?
You see, the judiciary, I cannot say what informed the ruling/judgment. It is my constituency and I have been there since 1980.
You cannot restrict people’s protests unless there is a very strong security report at the disposal of the court by way of affidavit evidence. I don’t know the indices or the fact they put before the court, that made the sitting judge to restrict protesters to a point.
I don’t know the argument they will put in place before a court of law that will override the provision of our country’s constitution that guarantees freedom of association. I am yet to know the argument they canvassed.
The same government that rushed to the Judiciary to get an order, is the same government that chooses the orders to obey. Yes, it is the same government that will choose orders to obey or not to obey.
Once an order favours them, they comply with light speed and the converse is the case. Our courts have no coercive powers to enforce their Judgments/Rulings against the State.
When you want to arrest the IGP for disobeying court order, who will you use? The police? Can a Police officer no matter how powerful, arrest his IGP? The answer is No.
You cannot, because he is your boss, but in other civilized countries, a sitting President has been arrested, tried and jailed.
I also advocate that institutions should be strengthened rather than individuals. In our country, we have strong individuals as against a weak institution. In America when Donald Trump lost election, he was behaving funny. Every apparatus and institutions of enforcement were put on red alert. He has to vacate the white house by fire by force. In this country, the contrary should have been the case.
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HAVING SPOKEN ON THE EXECUTIVE ABD TGE JUDICIARY, CAN YOU AGAIN SPEAK ON THE ROLES OF THE LEGISLATORS ON THE PROTEST?
I have put my opinion on pages of newspapers. I have written 10 pages letter to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and I can oblige you with a copy. I foresaw this thing when it was going to happen and I raised an alarm. You got up in the morning and electricity tariff was increased from N68.00 to N250.00 per unit and they call it Band A; That is discrimination which our constitution abhors. The constitution says that there should be no discrimination against anybody in this country. But in this country, some are paying N250.00 per unit, while others are paying N68.00, in a country that you go to the same market.
I am saying that the legislators in this country always engage a reverse gear, when it gets to issue that has to do with the welfare of the common people.
They prefer to fill their pockets at the expense of the common people that voted for them. They cannot confront the government, because they are tied to it. They can budget, but they cannot appropriate it.
They can make budget for N1 trillion for themselves but they have to wait for the executives for approval to withdraw. So we are not running true federalism.
The protests stopped on August 10, with the protesters threatening to start another one which may turn to a revolution, what would be your advice to them?
Look at what happened in Kano, where properties were destroyed; I heard that markets were looted. These are innocent people who are grappling to survive. I advise them to thread with caution. You cannot expect me at this level to ask them to resort to violence.
That would be irresponsible of me at this level and age. All I am saying is that war can never solve any problem, but dialogue. However the anticipated dialogue must be with people that possess good conscience and a heart of compassion.
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Such hearts are very rare to be found. Nigerians fought civil war in this country for about 30 months and through dialogue, it was settled.
Let me say it once more, the legislators are not doing what they are supposed to do. They have what is called oversight functions in the constitution. They are not trying to interrogate the executive arm of the government to know what they are doing. We gave them the mandate to go and represent us.
What they are doing is to work for the executive arm of the government. That mandate has been converted into their own aggrandizement. You scratch my back and I scratch your back.
Somebody that became a member of House of Representatives, who had no two bedroom house in his father’s compound, has a jeep of N160million today. Somebody is made a chairman of a committee, they go on oversight function, rather than do their work, they receive handshakes.
They see evil, they won’t condemn the evil. They should remember that they are going to pass through this way, but once, let people not record them as those that came, saw and never conquered. That will be bad for their names. Whatever you are doing, self – interest, selfishness, and nepotism should be put in abeyance. Interest of the majority should be paramount.
We have about 250 million Nigerians today and about 80% feed from dustbin or go to bed without knowing where to get their next meal and nobody cares. You can’t pay N100 thousand minimum wage; you offered seventy thousand Naira and yet, the National Assembly Upper and Lower chambers go home with about N15milliom monthly. This translates to five hundred thousand Naira to be spent daily. Under this condition, I don’t think that this country will move forward.
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And above all, let us be sincere and in good conscience. Mr President is grappling with the mess he met on the ground. He never caused it and it is difficult and more expensive to maintain or rebuild a damaged house than to build a new one. Tinubu came on board and met a rot in the system, where oil has been sold five or six years in advance to foreign partners and money appropriated. So Tinubu is a victim of circumstance and should be left out of this matter. However, let him put a human face in what is going on in this country. Let him put a human face. He isn’t to be blamed, it is the past governments that saw this rot coming and did nothing that should be blamed.
Having said that, his attitude to governance must change by not supporting any expenditure that is avoidable, reducing the cost of governance and trimming down drastically the size of his cabinet.
And the greatest undoing of this government is the senate president. He should check his words. He shouldn’t talk anyhow. Governance is not meant for glorified clowns or award – winning comedians. Government is a serious affair, it is neither meant for clowns, nor for award – winning comedians. The senate president continues to talk what will provoke Nigerians and each time he continues to deny. He is a lawyer and should mind his language and he knows what he is saying isn’t right. Nigerians are crying and you are turning it into a joke. If he wants to crack a joke, he should know where to go and he will meet his likes there.
For 25 years, he has been in government, from Commissioner to Governor, to Senator, to Minister and back to the Senate and now Senate President. That informed why he is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. He has not for the past 25 years spent his personal money.
As I said earlier, governance is neither meant for comedians, nor for glorified clowns; “inye ndi ebea, inye ndi ebea,” meaning, “if you give these people, you give the other people,” then life will be balanced.