Respect for Ballot Box 'll Guarantee Democracy -Bewaji
Hon. Wumi Bewaji is the leader of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) caucus in the House of Representatives and has been the secretary of the AD National Convention Committee since 1999. In this interview with Tokunbo Adedoja, he speaks on the state of the AD, activities of the party caucus in the House, performance of Speaker Aminu Masari, fears about 2007, and Oyinlola-Akande face off, among other issues
AD has been in crisis for some time now and there are reports of moves to reconcile the various forces within the party. What is the state of the party now?
Well, everything is okay now. In the last few months, elders of the party have been able to hold meetings with various stakeholders within the party. And I can tell you that as I am talking now, it has been resolved up to ninety percent in the South-west and up to 98 percent in the rest of the country. Don't forget that we were able to hold state congresses before the party palaver started, so the stakeholders of the party, especially in the South-west, led by Pa. Fasoranti in Ondo State have been able to call the various forces together and one is very optimistic that very soon, the peace process would be completed in the interest of the party.
Presently, there are two factions within the party led by Chief Bisi Akande and Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa. Both of them are laying claim to the leadership of the party. There are also reports about moves to hold another convention where an acceptable leadership would emerge. But Senator Akinfenwa has said he would not submit himself to any other convention until the expiration of his tenure which is a couple of years away. Wouldn't this further compound the peace process?
I am aware of the moves by elders of the party that members of the party, who found their ways into Lagos or Abuja convention are brought together under a single tent, we could call it a summit or a convention. The whole essence of it is to ensure that we have a united party so that everybody could be carried along.
But Akinfenwa , just recently maintained that he would not submit himself to any other convention until the expiration of his tenure. Is this not a big hurdle before the peace process?
As a party, AD has a constitution, AD also is regulated by the relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, AD is also regulated by the provisions of the Electoral ACT as it relate to the operations of political parties. So within the confines of the law, we are going to make sure that we do things that are in accordance with the rule of law. Don't forget that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), under the electoral law, under the constitution, has certain responsibilities to take certain steps, as its affects party convention. INEC has come out in the paper to say that it does not recognise either of the two conventions, either the Lagos own or the Abuja own. INEC has given us four conditions to meet. But those four conditions are predicated upon INEC's position that the body its recognises is the National Convention Committee of the party, of which I am the secretary. The number one condition is that, we can, by ourselves, engage ourselves in dialogue and resolve it. Secondly, that INEC can come in and resolve it for us, provided that we will make an undertaking that we will abide by the final decision. The third one is to allow court of law to decide it. The fourth one is for us to hold a fresh convention by October this year. So the elders of the party have been meeting to consider these options. There is a preponderance of opinion in favour of holding a fresh election, which is a satisfaction of the demand of INEC, in doing that, it is not the responsibility of the National Convention Committee to say that it recognises one chairman, over and above another. It is contained in the INEC paper, if you have read it. I don't know if Chief Akinfenwa has read it. I know if he reads it, maybe he would form a different opinion on it.
Since 1999, AD has been moving from one crisis to another, mostly pre and post convention crises. There are however, fears that the current crisis may overwhelm the party and make it irrelevant in 2007?
Well, fear is one thing, faith is another. I have faith in the AD and I also believe that any political party that does not go through trial, tribulations, turbulence, etc does not worth that name. It is only when you are able to survive that you can call yourself a true political party. It is very, very easy for people to want to belong, quote and unquote, the so-called 'ruling party' because of the philosophy of 'come and chop'. For those who want to come and chop, they want to be in the party that is in government. If PDP is there today, they want to be in PDP, if ANPP should be in government, they want to be in ANPP, if AD is in government, they want to be in AD. So, we are not looking at that kind of situation, we are looking at a situation, whereby we can be able to build a party that will have clear ideological identity. Like what we were able to achieve in the National Assembly in the last few months. People were able to predict the party. Nigerians were able to say, it is most likely AD will not support this. It is most likely AD will support this. Like the state of emergency, the fuel thing and all of that. That is the kind of identity we want to build for the party. It is not how long, but how well. Today we may be in the minority, but I am very optimistic that the issues, the principles, the ideology that the AD stands for will definitely take us to the center very soon.
There are reports that the ruling PDP are making moves to make some of the members of t he AD caucus in the National Assembly decamp to PDP. What are you as the leader of the caucus and the party doing to ensure that AD lawmakers remain loyal to the party?
You see, I can tell you that I have implicit confidence in my members, because most of the time, you know how the parliament works, you have to go into divisions. When we did the voting on state of emergency, we went into division, we had the caucus meeting overnight in my house. Throughout the night, we were having the caucus meeting considering the state of emergency thing to take a position. Once we took a position, we came to the floor, we defended it. We knew that we were going to be in the minority. We knew that we were going to lose that vote, but members of my party still voted for what we believed in. There are these rumours that members of the AD want to go, I think most of these are unfounded. I have not seen a single member of AD who is making such.., I mean, how can somebody within the AD want to go and join a party that does not even have any identity on the floor of the parliament. I don't think that is possible. A party that everybody knows that is in the process of total disintegration, I don't think that is sensible for anybody to do.
The PDP is the dominant political party in the National Assembly. It can do it alone without the support of other parties. How has this dominant nature of the PDP affected the role of the AD as an opposition party in the House?
Let me tell you that I have a very clear idea of what an opposition party should be. The meaning of democracy is that majority rule and minority have a voice. That is the simple meaning of democracy. That is why I have made sure that on every issue at the National Assembly, the AD as a caucus will have a position. If you will remember, during the fuel crisis, I made a submission that fuel in Nigeria should sell for N18 per litre, a position that was corroborated in America by Professor Aluko of the Harvard University in a paper that he wrote about a week later. Like I said, democracy is about majority rule, minority must never be deprived of their say. When you talk of the minority, you are talking of the minority tribe, you are talking of people who are not able to be represented, even by any political party in the parliament. Niger-Delta and all that. That is why AD has always been in the fore-front of these crusades. When we did the Plateau thing, AD did it on its own even without any prompting from the Plateau state government or even representatives from Plateau state because that was the thing we believed in. We believed that it was an issue that AD should have a firm stand on and we took that stand and we defended it. We are not overwhelmed. We tell people that AD has been able to define agenda. Since 1999, we have always been in the minority, but members of the AD have been able to distinguish themselves, excellently, both on the floor and in the various committees. So that has given us a kind of leverage. What we are not able to get by our number, we are able to get through ideas that we have been able to put forward to assist the parliament.
Its been over a year since the inauguration of the House. How would you assess the performance of the House under Speaker Aminu Masari?
Well, so far so good. But I think it may be too early to start assessing the leadership of Aminu Masari for several reasons. We are coming in with about 85 percent fresh members. Those fresh members, they have done very well, but they have a long way to go in learning the basic rudiments of parliamentary practice and procedure. And I think this has affected tremendously the overall performance of the House. You cannot put that blame on the speaker that less than 15 percent of members were able to make it back to the House. Remember that many of these members when they came in in 1999 went through different courses put together by the American government, the Canadian government. Different seminars, symposia and all of that. And now that we are having about 85 percent fresh members, it means that w e are starting all over again. It is a difficult task, I must tell you.
The Acting Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih was recently quoted as saying that only Obasanjo would decide who succeeds him in 2007. What would you say to this?
I am not surprised by that statement from Tony Anenih, he is not a known democrat. This is the person who single-handedly signed away the June 12 elections of MKO Abiola. So he is not somebody that is known for democratic ideas because if you are talking of General Obasanjo hand-picking somebody to succeed him, how does it tally with the constitutional democracy we have vowed to practice in Nigeria. By the grace of God, Nigerians themselves will choose who will succeed General Obasanjo and not General Obasanjo hand-picking a surrogate to succeed him come 2007.
There are fears about 2007. The view is that that year would make or mar Nigerian democracy. There are also views that there is a game plan towards ensuring that the nation drifts towards a one -party state. Looking at the events of 2003, would you say that these fears are necessary and what is your party doing to check this?
I strongly believe that 2003 will determine a lot of things for Nigeria. The future of the Nigerian democracy lies in the respect for ballot box. It is only when people are sure that their votes would also count, that is when they will have confidence in the electoral process and by extension, democracy itself. Democracy itself is about free and fair elections at regular intervals. I strongly believe that every Nigerian has a duty to ensure that we do everything possible. As far as we are concerned in the AD, we have started a campaign to ensure that we restore dignity to the ballot box. Part of the campaign is the effort we are making to solicit the support of the international community to ensure that we restore dignity to the ballot box. We are thinking that the factor of incumbency will not be a major factor come 2007. But there would be tendency towards governors or president handing over to a surrogate. a lot of criticisms definitely will come. I think that is the time that the masses of this country will have to decide whether we want a democracy or not, because without free and fair elections come 2007, then it would bye-bye to democracy in Nigeria.
One issue that has dominated the media of recent is the allegation leveled by Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola against Chief Bisi Akande, of Osun State his predecessor that he embezzled over N200m in office. How would you react to this since Akande is one of the leader of the AD and even one of those laying claim to the chairmanship of the party?
What I know is that you cannot appropriate and reprobate. When Oyinlola came in, he was the same person who said he has found Akande as a man who is above board. Oyinlola celebrated last Easter in Akande's house in Ibadan and there have been a very smooth rapport between the two of them, exchanging visits and so on. The sudden change of attitude by Oyinlola, we know, is based on an order from above, just like the Fayose thing, what happened in Iyin-Ekiti. What is happening is a grand design by the Obasanjo administration to fully take-over the South-west. This is a design to tarnish the image of Akande. Akande is a well reverred person in Yoruba land, not just in AD. He is somebody that is seen as a symbol of honesty and transparency, a man of integrity by everybody. Even members of the PDP have been calling me to commiserate with me on what is happening in Osun State and that everybody knows that this is purely politics. How far Oyinlola wants to go with this dirty politics, we shall see.
Since the party voted against the declaration of a state of emergency on Plateau, we have not heard much from the party caucus in the National Assembly on the issue. Is it an indication that the party is now in support of the emergency rule? Also does the AD agree with the view that another election should be held in Plateau to make the people choose who governs them since Dariye's leadership has been described as irresponsible by the President?
Let me quickly say that the position we took against the state of emergency was founded on the provisions of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, which position has so far been buttressed by eminent jurists, eminent lawyers, people whose views are well respected in the legal profession. Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Chief Williams, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, etc. That 1999 Constitution has not changed and we have not also changed our position. Just last Friday, in far away Maryland(USA), I gave a lecture on the state of emergency in Plateau to the AD USA and I still maintained the position that the declaration was illegal and unconstitutional. While we were not able to do much was that we looked at the options available to us. Immediately the PDP was able to use its oppressive majority to achieve its objective, there was virtually nothing we could do. The alternative was that we should go to the court, but my background readily told me what the outcome of that suit would be because of the problem of what the Nigerian legal system says in respect of the Supreme court as established in the case of Adesanya Vs the President of the Federal Republic on the issue of locus standi.
So the first thing would have been for the governor of the state, Governor Dariye to go to court. Going to court would also afford us the opportunity of taking the thing straight to the Supreme Court, instead of starting from the High Court, which can take very long period before the appeal process and all of that. That was why I thought that there was not point challenging it in court because we will be confronted by the established position of the law in that regard, but that does not mean we have changed our position.
For fresh elections, I do not subscribe to holding fresh elections in Plateau because as far as I am concerned, the declaration is unconstitutional. People have said, let us hold fresh elections, but you cannot put something on nothing. Because that election would be predicated upon a valid state of emergency that was validly declared and consented to by the National Assembly.
The moment you are able to fault that state of emergency, every other thing that is done, that stands on that, collapses. So I think we should address the legality of that state of emergency before we know whether we should hold fresh elections or not. I think that the various cases in court, especially the one by the state of Assembly in the Supreme Court, I am very optimistic that the rule of law will soon prevail in Plateau state.
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