Prince Olushola Akanmode was a Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial aspirant in Kogi State and former deputy Chief of Staff to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. In this interview with ADELEKE ADESANYA, the PDP chieftain deplores the unpatriotic attitude being exhibited by members of the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly over the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as EFCC boss, and their insistence that Customs’ Comptroller-General, Hameed Ali, must appear before them in uniform. He speaks on other sundry national issues. Excerpts:
The Senate last week, again refused to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. How do you see the whole issue?
Most Nigerians know that what is happening to Magu is because of the bias the senators have against him. Meanwhile, don’t forget that most of them have been accused of stealing so much money and even past governors, who are in the Senate have now accumulated debts for their successors and still owe their workers. What they could have used to pay salaries and develop their states had been diverted to their private pockets, while they were in government. And as a result of this, a number of them are under investigation and a number of them have appeared before the courts and a number of them are still going to be arraigned before the courts. And as you know, all these happened under Magu. So, it’s natural that he can’t get confirmation for his position under these set of senators.
Apart from this, the Senate President has also been arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Senator Abdullahi Adamu has also been accused of fraud; a lot of them in the Senate have one issue or the other. With this, they may be scared to confirm the man they see as an enemy so that he would not turn round and pounce on them. Even you if you were in their shoes, I am not too sure you would allow your enemy to come and run after you. Magu is the nightmare of some of the senators. So, they will not want to confirm him.
But is this the right practice in a true democratic government?
If we are to be realistic and have the love of this country at heart, I think they should just confirm him and let this government move forward. The excuse they are giving is not genuine, and I don’t see their personal reasons superceding the interest of the country.
The Senate, after their refusal to con- firm Magu, also insisted that he should stop acting as the EFCC chairman. Do you think this is proper?
Well I don’t know. I think the Presidency is the cause of all this. It’s not about forwarding another name; I think there should be coverage of Nigeria’s anti-corruption desk by a credible or even more credible person as Magu is. In the case of integrity, the Presidency needs to sort out Magu. If Magu is the only one that the Presidency is sure of to prosecute its anti-corruption war, and the tenure in his acting capacity is extendable, then he can continue to act. If we are to be sincere with ourselves, all these problems we are dragging about governance will only limit the achievements of this administration. Come to think of it, this administration has two years or thereabout to go, and in between this, Nigerians are still curious about what will be delivered to them. So, if in the remaining few time, people in government spend months to argue on who will head a commission like EFCC, when will the commission record success? Meanwhile, this same issue is happening in every phase of our government. I think it is time we imbibed the true democracy spirit and move forward in this country.
Senator Ali Ndume said if Magu could be rejected by the Senate, then Saraki, too, should be rejected from the position of the Senate President because he has a pending case at CCB. Do you share his view?
Though the two personalities are different, but if I can tell you, they are all playing politics and we know it. They know the Senate lacks credibility; maybe, let’s say, one or at most two, have credibility. So, if they are asking Saraki to leave, then 90 per cent of the senators will have to leave if they are using corruption as a barometer to keep senators off seat. The truth is that over 90 per cent of them, the public knows, are corrupt.
A report said that the move by the Senate was to deliberately suffocate the ongoing anti-corruption war in the coun- try. What is your take on this?
What I can say about the whole issue is that, if that is their intention, then they should also be ready to do the same to whosoever is brought forward, because I don’t believe anyone that will be nominated will abandon cases that Magu has already started, which are in court. They don’t want anyone that will come and put them in jail; that’s the truth.
Apart from Magu’s case, the Senate also refused to attend to the Customs’ Comptroller-General, Col. Hameed Ali (retd) on his invitation over an issue because he didn’t appear in uniform. How do you see this?
On the issue of the Customs’ Comptroller-General and his appearance in uniform before the Senate, if I may tell you, there is law, convention and politics. If you go by the law, there is no law that says a man must wear uniform. If you go by the convention of statistics and analysis, which say we should wear uniform, which all comptrollers have done, but obviously what it seems to me is like politics, because that man has been in the position for like one year. The major issue is like abandoning the major issue and going to the other one that is not critical to the common man.
I think most Nigerians will support the defence of the common man that it is not right for the Customs to be chasing people on the highway and on the street to come and pay Custom duty. That will add to the burden of the people. Meanwhile, we are already facing economic depression. You see most of the measures put in place by this government are even more burdensome to the people, and yet they are bringing more on a daily basis. Let me tell you, for Customs to be chasing people in this country for duty payment shows they are not competent at their duty posts. If they are effective, those people they are now chasing around shouldn’t have escaped from the borders, the sea ports, airports and the rest.
If we are to put the Customs in context, it is among those things that seem to be adding to the burden of the ordinary man. The government should look for a way of making the burden lighter and not heavier. Going back to the uniform case, asking the Customs’ Comptroller-General to appear in uniform is not an issue which the Senate should be taking as important as they are doing. It is not an issue that affects the ordinary man, which the government is trying to protect.
Since the demise of the Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi, the vacuum has yet to be filled by the President. As a party chieftain from the late minister’s state, what’s your view about this?
I think the issue is constitutional. The constitution said each state across the Federation must have a minister, and I believe that is what the President is considering, because I know he is a person that respects the constitution.
But don’t you see the vacancy as a disadvantage to the state?
Of course, it is. The state is definitely having some disadvantages in this regard because we are not represented at the cabinet level. We all know what it is to have a minister and the advantage such opportunity would bring to the state. I am not saying Kogi is not given the position, we know that we were given and unfortunately we lost the occupant of the position, and with that, it is expected that the position should be filled with someone from the state. Though the decision is left for the current government and the people, I think it should pushed by the APC chieftains in the state because it will be bringing some kind of setback to us as a state, while other states are having the advantage in this regard. The present administration in the state should see to that and fill the space on time.
