'Nigeria's Drifting Towards One-party State'
In this interview with Chuks Okocha, the Secretary General of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Barrister Maxi Okwu who is also the Secretary of Nigeria United for Democracy (NUD) speaks on the call for convocation Sovereign National Conference (SNC) and the fear of an emerging one party state.
CNPP/NUD have called for the Sovereign National Conference. How do you intend to achieve this?
Thank you very much, you will recall that for the May 3rd Mass Action, in the statement we issued, to the world, we mentioned that we were calling for the stepping aside, resignation of the government of today, the Obasanjo government and the setting up of an interim government of national unity, a convocation of a sovereign national conference. The matter has since then gone a step further, you may wish to know that the NUD met last on the 30th of June and mandated the contact committee to immediately proceed to contact all pro-SNC groups in the country, it does not necessarily have to be member of NUD, just that we are agreed on the issue of SNC and letters are already being despatched. As I speak to you now, I have signed and dispatched letters to Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum, Middle Belt Forum, Middle Belt Progressive Movement, Ijaw National Congress, indeed a good chunk of ethnic associations, also a good chunk of civil society groups, particularly, based in Lagos and other parts of the country and by the end of next week, we would have made all necessary preliminary contacts. After that, we will go into phase two, which is one-on-one discussions. We hope that by late August or indeed as early as middle of August, there will be this grand meeting of all pro-SNC groups. They don't necessarily have to be members of NUD, but let it be the minimum, the bottom line is that we all agreed on the desirability and the inevitability of the SNC. For the NUD, we shall be presenting to that meeting a position paper, a working document, which the Balarabe Musa committee, which is the committee charged with the responsibility of drawing up the NUD proposal or should I call it road map to the achievement of Sovereign National Conference. The matter was taken, the interim report at the meeting of 30th, they've been given two weeks to call for memo from our members, fine-tune their recommendation and present a final report. Infact lets call it about ten days from now. So, this is the way it is going, I will not like to jump the gun because it will not be strictly an NUD affair now, we are involving all pro-SNC groups and indeed eminent Nigerians who are favourably disposed to the idea, I mention like Chief Emeka Anyiaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, he is really disposed to the SNC idea and we will be contacting him and indeed many other Nigerians.
Why do you think that the SNC will take place when we have a sitting National Assembly and you said that the government should resign and set up an interim government. From all indications, there is no way the president is going to resign nor will the National Assembly allow it. How do you think it will be possible?
Well, what we are doing is merely to raise the stake, if the present government ignores our call to step aside, because we believe that it derived from a questionable background, giving the massive rigging that took place in the 2003 general "selections," we are trying now to galvanise, after sensitising a good chunk of the youths of Nigeria I am talking about those who created the entity called Nigerian in the first instance, the ethnic nationalities and stakeholders, the civil society, political parties, eminent Nigerians to come together to discuss, when we get to the bridge of the SNC meeting, issues would have evolved to a point where matters may take its own course, but we are merely doing what we have to do, we are calling on all Nigerians to come and meet and I don't think government can stop Nigerians from meeting.
The NUD specifically met on Friday in Lagos, what was the essence of that meeting?
To the best of my knowledge, the meeting of Friday, was a meeting called by Citizens Forum, they invited the chairman of CNPP, it was a meeting in which the Citizens Forum sought to also work out certain parameters for the SNC. It is one of the various caucuses going on. On the idea whose time has come, it is welcome. What we are merely saying in NUD and we are knocking out at the meeting of the NUD on the 30th, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti who was even part of the Citizens Forum attended, though he served as an observer. So what were resolved at the NUD level is that we shall do everything possible to see that we come together, all pro-SNC groups to have this conference under one umbrella. So far no problems, people can meet, as you know, groups like Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ijaw National Congress etcetera, already have a position, which their people have articulated and agreed, so meetings can go on, but the grand meeting must be one and we are just merely trying to be the facilitators of that meeting.
But the government will not resign and how do you think it will be possible under a sitting National Assembly?
Well we are not God, we cannot here say the government will not resign, we have made the call and objective condition on ground could make that call real, so let us leave it this way, matters are still evolving, issues are crystallising and we would hold our meeting and as things evolve, the matter will take its natural course. We cannot say what will happen, we are not God, let's see how it plays out.
You recently alerted the nation that if care is not taken Nigeria may end up a one-party state. What actually informed that alarm?
The fear is that, as you see the way it is going, it will appear as if the PDP has given a technical knock-out to all forms of opposition or other political parties. What do I mean by that? If you look at the current analysis in the media, there is talk about presidential candidates for 2007 all under the platform of the PDP, so it will appear as if the other parties don't exist and I am even embarrassed that certain political parties that have the strength to really take on the PDP are even joined in the cacophony of declaring or giving indications as to their leaning one way or the other on the three purported candidates who obviously are in the PDP, that is the course of worry. Again is the fact that Anenih, who you must admit has become a sort of Nigeria Nostradamus has said that Obasanjo will determine his successor, but I take it with a pinch of sorrow because you recall that sometime ago. He made similar predictions which came to pass, he said there is no vacancy in Aso Rock and it came to pass, he said that all the governors should be returned, it came to pass, so when such a man makes such a statement, I get worried and remember that Obasanjo said that PDP will rule for thirty years, so all these are signals that should make all true democrats worry and start doing things that we see that will save our democracy, because if we just allow it to go that way, then it will mean that we have quietly acquiesced in the destruction of a multi-party democracy.
From the look of things, it seems that all the parties don't exist, except for CNPP and PDP? CNPP being the main opposition, why can't the parties come out and speak for themselves?
Well, I don't exactly agree with you, you have to concede that parties like APGA, NCP and some others have been making quite some waves, what has happened is that somehow, I concede that some other parties apparently have seen soft shelter under the umbrella of the CNPP and we are looking at it with the view that the CNPP originally was not conceptionalised to be an opposition platform, it was a group interest body to fight for political parties interest against the INEC and against government, but we believe and we have seen that the CNPP cannot really take on the PDP and therefore we will move further. We realised this when we approached the Mass Action of 3rd May and therefore we felt that the only way we can save democracy in this country and roll back the ubiquitous Obasanjo regime and the PDP was through a grand national coalition, there is a rainbow alliance of political parties, civil society, ethnic nationality groups, all pro-democracy groups should come together and, at least, restore a genuine democracy, after that then we will have some level playing ground, but for now it doesn't exist.
Still on the issue of SNC, what will be the mode of election? What issues will you people be discussing? What and what will you expect Nigerians to send to you?
Well, to get the facts straight, the Sovereign National Conference Committee of the NUD is inviting memo from interest groups, particularly those within the NUD, with a view to preparing our road map, the document they prepared eventually will have to be discussed at the general NUD meeting and a decision taken. What we are looking at now is timing, modalities for selection or election of delegates and the basis for attendance, whether it would be ethnic base or what will be the role or relevance of stakeholders, political parties, labour congress, civil society organisations like NGOs and we are also looking at level of conference? Should they be primary conference? Intermediate conference and then final conference? Should they be zonal conferences? My thinking is there is need that groups, the components of Nigeria take a position to make it a lump idea. If the South-west conceptualise a position and take it and the South-east, South-south, North-central, North-east, North-west, have a document which they come to the conference with, it will reduce unnecessary delay or debate because agreed areas will be taken as given, then the areas there are disagreements will now be discussed, so I don't think, it will be more useful, this is our personal view anyway that some intermediate conference are held by component units that will now be taken to the National Conference, so this is the way I look at it, and I believe that with the overwhelming response coming from the field, already we have a lot of direct memoranda to work with and by the time this meeting of all pro-SNC groups holds in August, it will be a clear signal to the nation, to the government and to the world that Nigerians are bound to take their destiny in their own hands.
There is this assumption that SNC has never held anywhere successfully and that what you people are trying to do is to disintegrate this country?
No, no, I don't agree with that, you look at other examples in Africa, there've been a successful national conference, if we wanted to disintegrate Nigeria, we don't need to talk, we hit the bushes and jungles. No, no, when somebody wants to talk, it means that he is open to agreement, he is open-minded, but when somebody doesn't want to talk, he goes to the trenches, so by calling for a confab, Nigerians want to discuss a better arrangement for themselves, the way things are working now obviously is lopsided, let me put it this way, look at this bulging federal government that is becoming a monster to the whole nation, if you look at the federal executive list, it is overwhelming. Can't we go back to what our founding fathers agreed in Lancaster house, a federation where each component unit, in which the centre does not overwhelm the others. The federal government has so much money, can engage in grandous exercises like COJA, like CHOGM etcetera, this is a sheer waste of funds and you find the federal government terrorising state governments, so I believe that there is so much to discuss and unfortunately for us, the 1999 Constitution has not helped matters, it is an imposed constitution and there is so much gap which, with due respects, the current National Assembly is not in a position to handle, not only is it a puppet National Assembly, its own foundations are shaking, because as far as I am concerned, the chairman of that Assembly, as we all know, was not elected, so the whole thing is funny, so let us go back to the roots and get these things right otherwise, we end up in a quagmire, which doesn't help anybody, because if you don't discuss you make other negative tendencies inevitable.
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