Daily Independent (Lagos)
Njoku Pascal
8 July 2009
interview
Lagos — DAVID BARAU, former Deputy Governor of the defunct Gongola State, founded the Community Party of Nigeria (CPA) before contesting the Adamawa State governorship election in 2007, under the platform of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA). After 10 years of democratic governance in Nigeria, the legal luminary believes the country's political system needs to be fixed right. He blames the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo and political parties for bastardising the electoral system. In this interview with Correspondent, NJOKU PASCHAL, he says the electoral process is skewed and therefore needs a credible leader to get it right.
Excerpts:
After the Adamawa State governorship re-run election, nobody seems to be hearing anything about you and the PPA?
Here in Yola, the capital city of Adamawa State, the PPA is the only political party out of 50 parties in the country that has a befitting office with Nigerian and our party's flags hoisted all over the secretariat. Besides, this is the time to allow the administration of Governor Murtala Nyako to settle down and take off so that it can compare its performance against what we had planed to do for the people of the state. In other words, it is governing time and not a time to play party politics. However, it is unfortunate that in Adamawa State, it appears the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), only cares about itself. In the neighboring Taraba State, Governor Danbaba Suntai is carrying all the political parties along and they are supporting him as well as proffering useful advice on how best to move the state forward. But that is not the case in Adamawa State. More so, people should not expect to hear from us because I am already at the Court of Appeal from the Elections Petition Tribunal, where the PPA is challenging the outcome of the 2008 re-run governorship election. Therefore, as a legal practitioner, I am not supposed to be making noise since I am in court.
Compare your era as deputy governor and now; any visible difference?
The two eras are completely different. There is a phenomenon that I have observed in the modern time. Yesterday seems to be better than today and it is so day by day. Today should be better than yesterday, but in Nigeria, this seems not to be the case. During my time as deputy governor of the state, then Gongola state, there were five or six political parties and almost all of them were represented in the State House of Assembly. That means freedom of choice, which is what democracy is all about.
But today, out of the 50 political parties in Nigeria, there are only two parties in the Adamawa State House of Assembly; the PDP and AC. Without being economical with the truth; everybody in Nigeria knows that the AC is the same with PDP. AC is an offshoot of PDP. It is just that the big brothers are quarreling. The first five most important politicians in Adamawa State are just fighting themselves.
With the prominent members of AC and ANPP decamping into the ruling PDP, don't you think the country is drifting towards a one-party state?
Look, the PDP in the first place is not really a political party in the true sense of the word. If one is a political scientist and studies the genealogy of the party, one would find out that the party is simply a taskforce put together to fight the military. Formation of the PDP not borne out of genuine desire for social engineering and to enhance national cohesion, peace and unity per se. That is what politics ought to be about. But PDP was a taskforce led by Solomon Lar to confront a dictator, Sani Abacha, because he was changing politicians then like he was changing his handkerchief in order to sustain himself in power. Most of them that fought the late General were those who felt marginalised and tired of military incursion in governance of the country. People like Solomon Lar, Jerry Gana, late Ali Baba, Abubakar Rimi etc that confronted and served Abacha a quit notice from the Aso Rock Villa did that for the mere fact that they lost political base and relevance, but not because they wanted social engineering to improve the lot of Nigerian people. So, the PDP is not really a political party, besides most political parties in Nigeria are government organisations and not mass movements.
It is the oil money from the minority people in the South South that is being taken by the Whiteman, and some royalty is paid to Nigeria , which we share in the office. Once you are in the office, you have access to the oil money. That is not what a political party and its government is all about. Very soon, they will fight because the PDP is absolving all the other political parties, except of course my party, the PPA, which is a brand new party. All those politicians with different political ideology being absolved into the ruling PDP will definitely cause problems, which will lead to the crash of the party in no distant time. However, very soon, the PPA will be the political party to reckon with in the next political dispensation as well as the number two party in Nigeria because the PDP has already swallowed up ANPP and AC. The AC has two states, Lagos and Edo but the AC in Lagos is not an Atiku AC. Atiku did not make the AC in those states. The Labour Party ruling Ondo State does not exist anywhere, it is there just because of protest vote.
Right now, PPA is the number three party in Nigeria because it has clearly two States, Imo and Abia. I can envisage that with our national leader, Orji Uzor Kalu, working very hard and relating well with his brother Governor Peter Obi, we can add Anambra to the PPA fold to make it three. Before you know it, the entire South East geo-political region will become one block of PPA. This too will be good for the Igbo people so that they can have a strong and united presence in the Federal Government of Nigeria
How would you describe the action of these political parties dissolving into the ruling PDP?
My point here is that we are yet to have a political party that is built on well-founded democratic ideology. What I am saying is that political parties in Nigeria are organisations being established by either stolen government money or by government stealing for people to perpetuate themselves back into government. Yet, till now in Nigeria, we have not really established a political party that is national in outlook and based on the tenets of democracy. Most of the so-called political parties lack clear cut philosophy and programmes. All we are involved in is setting up a gang in the name of a political party. However, the country's political system is growing and we will one day develop to a stage where the people will realise that they have the inalienable right and choice to freely elect those they want to represent them in government. I am optimistic that we are developing to a stage where the people will know that government is for its citizens and not for an individual neither is it a family affair. Government is a citizen affair. Citizen in this context is any human being that has come to live in a geo-political area. So, the person's welfare, security and development should be paramount to government. Most political parties in the country that formed government think democratic governance is all about awarding contracts or running propaganda jingles in the media.
What is your assessment of political parties in the last 10 years?
Look, the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has bastardized the political party system in Nigeria. If I remember very well, during the last registration of political parties, three were registered, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). When the Community Party of Nigeria (CPA), which I founded, PRP of Balarabe Musa, MDJ of M.D. Yusuf, NPC of Mahmud Attah and Conscience Party of Gani Fawehimi were not registered, we challenged our non-registration in court, and won at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ordered that the five of us having met all stipulated requirements should be registered as political parties. Instead of registering the five political parties in addition to the three already existing to make it eight parties in Nigeria, I understood that the then Chief Executive officer in the person of Obasanjo directed that any political association that had a registered office in Abuja should be made automatic party. That was how we got about 48 political parties, and later it increased.
Left for me to advice, we should not have more than five political parties in Nigeria. Of course we don't need to regiment it but it should evolve over time. Even in developed democracies, the party system evolves over time and they gravitate for or against, and there is a liberal or conservative option. But like I pointed out, political parties in Nigeria are government organs and not a people organisation. Until and unless we have a political system whereby Mr. President does not appoint and inaugurate an electoral body (INEC), we will never get it right. Nigerians have no conscience and we are very corrupt; if not, how could the government appoint a Pharmacist from the U.S. to conduct election in Nigeria? The truth here is that in most cases people oblige those who appoint them into office. So, unless there is real independence of the country's electoral body, Nigeria will never get it right. Even the country's electoral law is very funny in the sense that one cannot succeed in tribunal if one petitions about rigging of election. This is so because the principal witnesses are the government functionaries, i.e. the SSS, the police, the electoral officers etc and there is no way they would admit in court that they did commit electoral fraud. The whole system is doctored to support the executive arm of government and they install those they want to control. So, it is a vicious circle. However, no condition is permanent; we will get over it with time. There is nothing so special with an administration that has continued to cherish somebody the people know that he conducted an exercise, which the whole world condemned. Even President Umaru Yar'Adua himself admitted that he was a beneficiary of that highly flawed election. He has some years to correct that erroneous impression but no effort is being made, instead the President is backsliding.
What basic ideology do you consider worth embracing by political parties in the country?
Talking about political ideology, it is academic, but in any developing society, the basic requirements are three-fold and they are clearly spelt out in Nigerian Constitution. In other words, government is for the purpose of security, welfare and development of its citizens. If you like call it ideology.
It is when we are advanced in democratic governance and have gone beyond primordial sentiments that we can then talk about ideology, socialism, capitalism or communism. All these do not matter from the beginning. Just like a child grows up, the child's ideology is education so that he will be equipped against future challenges. As a developing nation, what we need is the basics. Let us have self- existence, security, welfare, health and education as well as infrastructure.
Some people opine that there can never be a virile political system and ideology-oriented government in an atmosphere of highly lopsided electoral process, your comment sir?
You see, the composition and inauguration of the Uwais Electoral Panel was a great move by Yar'Adua towards eliminating the snags bedeviling Nigeria 's quest for a credible electoral system. Unfortunately, with the Committee's submission of its findings and recommendations, the Presidency seems to be developing cold feet over the whole thing. Perhaps, those that advise President Yar'Adua must have told him not to water down some positions of the Uwais formula for fear that it might throw him out of power. Unfortunately, Yar'Adua seems to be following the bad advice, instead of making himself a great man they are reducing the him, to be a helpless man.
Some people believe that allowing the national judicial council to appoint INEC's boss amounts to dragging the judiciary into partisan politics, do you subscribe to that?
No, that is a selfish argument. Is it not Mr. President that appoints the Chief Justice of the Federation? Has the Chief Justice compromised standards because the President appointed him? If an INEC boss is appointed by a serving President, by extension he is partisan, and what we are saying is that in election, none of the parties should be a referee. INEC's boss is supposed to be an election umpire. This is a simple logic. For instance, if I want three terms as a president, and then I appointed INEC boss the first time, you think that person will not be kind enough to work towards my re-election to let me have the second and third terms? All we are saying is that the INEC boss should be a taskforce man, and should not be appointed by any of the parties who are contesting elective positions.
Yar'Adua has ruled for two years, what is your impression about his administration?
Yar'Adua is not a solution to Nigeria 's problems. He is handicapped, his health is bad and he did no make up his mind before taking up the job. The job was put on his lapse. Obasanjo did not weigh Yar'Adua's neck before he placed the burden of ruling Nigeria on his head. Nigeria is not an easy place to govern because we are only a country and not yet a nation. We have not socially integrated and the spirit of citizenship is not yet defined and not really practiced in the country.
People still have these sentiments of religion, ethnicity and all the rest of prejudices. In the face of these, I think the President has a tall order. But I would have thought that he would just do some few basic things well over the board that will really make him father of the country.
Like I said earlier, government is only for three purposes: Security, welfare and development. There is no need for any government if it works outside these there purposes. Yar'Adua could have taken one or two of these issues, and tackle them to a logical conclusion. Definitely, this would have been great. Or even, he should have concentrated in the fight against corruption, provision of infrastructure and even correct the ailing legal and electoral systems, which he is a beneficiary. He made a great speech during his inauguration by conceding to the fact that the election that ushered him into office was not all that good but that he would do something to correct the system.
So, here is an opportunity for Yar'Adua to be a great man, and to make Nigeria great. Even if it is only reforming the country's electoral system for the better, where citizens will choose their leaders through a free and fair election, and removing money in Nigeria politics, that Yar'Adua achieves in four years or more years as God would want him, then he must have imprinted his name in the country's hall of fame. In his fight against corruption, he is already compromised because of some of his colleagues (former governors) trooping to him. He is a human being, so there is every tendency that the EFCC cannot come out with anything tangible against some of the investigated and indicted former governors.
Honestly, Yar'Adua should do better than Obasanjo, and if he fails to do so, then it would have been a tragedy for Nigeria.
Back to the Uwais report, what do you think should be done?
Look, Yar'Adua appointed the Uwais Panel with no contribution or recommendation from anybody. He single handedly set up the committee with his people and charged them to do a good job, and they went and did just that. It is unfortunate that after submission of the report, the Presidency is trying to edit out some recommendations therein. The President's problem is with some of his advisers. They must have told him the recommendations that are good for him and those that are against him. The thinking is that some portions of the Uwais formula, if left to go untouched is capable of disenfranchising the President, and unfortunately he believes. This is why he has started watering down the report.
There is high wave of kidnapping and hostage taking in the country, what do you think is the cause, and who takes the blame?
People need jobs in this country. There is poverty in the land. I will continue to say it; there are only three reasons behind the formation of any government. A sincere and serious minded administration should well carter for the security, welfare and development of the citizenry. In various states of the Federation, government is not addressing its primary objective, which is security. There are times armed robbers will attack residential buildings and banking institutions for two or more hours without interception from security operatives. There is no government apparently in place that is addressing the security issue of our country. We don't have a government that really understands the purpose of government. The purpose of government in Nigeria is sharing of oil money, and the only business centre to siphon the national and state treasury is government office. So, if you are in, you join in the loot.
Until we get a leader that can fund the police and other security agencies; a leader that is interested in knowing or a governor that knows that every house in his state capital needs protection, we cannot get it right.
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