2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: "The Case of Amina in INEC is Nothing But To Rig"...... SHETTIMA YERIMA
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Buhari |
"Today, the level of
corruption we have in this present administration/government is far worse than
what we have ever experienced in the country in the last fifty years. It is the
worst ever type of corruption".
"That is how wicked,
insensitive our Nigerian leaders are. They do not think that the Nigerian
worker deserves to have just ordinary #30,000 that is not enough for them to
feed their dog in a day. That is how bad it is".
Comrade Shettima Yerima is
the leader of the Northern Youth Coalition whose strident voice has continued
to remain high in calling on government and elected officials to always do the
needful, especially as it pertains to the welfare and well-being of the Nigerian
workers.
In this exclusive chat with
Naij News Alert, the activist cum politician berated the political class over
the issue of minimum wage for Nigerian workers and the high insensitive nature
of some politicians when the plight of the average man is concerned. He lambasted
the Labour Minister for being arrogant and aloof with issues of the Minimum
wage bill.
Yerima also touched on the
sore and vexing issues of the insistence of the President to retain the Police
boss despite being due for retirement and of course, that of Amina Zakari of
the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He spoke with Emmanuel
Onotevure, Publisher/Editor-In-Chief on telephone.
Excerpts:
The Strike by ASUU and Threat
Action by Nigeria Labour Congress
The Government of Nigeria
has no respect for the Labour. Do they have any respect of workers or any
organized union? From the body language of government, they are not looking for
any alternative rather; the minimum wage was something many of them (governors)
had come out to say NO, they cannot cope. But, they have billions of nairas to
spend and millions of naira to give to any representative of government. They
no longer steal billions but they now loot trillions.
Sadly, at the end of the
day, they do not also think that the Nigerian worker deserves to have just
ordinary #30,000 that is not enough for them to feed their dog in a day. That
is how bad it is. They cannot give that to their worker who stays to work for
30 days; to feed his family, buy medication, pay for transport and other needs,
out of this amount. That is how wicked, insensitive our Nigerian leaders are.
To worsen matters, we have
an arrogant Minister that does not have respect for humans; the Minister for
Labour and Productivity in the person of Dr. Chris Ngige. His utterances,
attitude has actually demonstrated what these people in power today, think
about Nigerians. This arrogance must be stopped soon.
The tenure of the Inspector
General of the Nigeria Police Force:
Insinuations are rife in
the public domain that the President wants to retain him despite IGP being due
for retirement.
There is no reason to
extend his tenure. If he is due to go, he should simply go. Leaving him in
office with the recent happenings where some of us have our reservations on the
modus operandi and the way the police have been used in some of these previous
elections, it is a clear indication with the character you have at hand, you
should expect more ruggedness in 2019.
So, a lot of people have
raised a lot of fears and worries and, I agree with those who have exercised
those fears. Today, it is used against parties and many injustices by this
government. The next thing you see is the police behaving as if they belong to
one political party or, they work strictly, not for the country but for an
individual. So, it gives a lot of us, worries and concerns.
You cannot have a police
force that only believes in an individual. Nigeria is a barracks. Whoever is
ruling this country, at one stage after eight years will go.
Some of us do not learn
from history as some of these actions and inactions we do, at the end of the
day, we will be left at the mercy of the common man. The people who you think
you are protecting will leave you to bear your cross. Overtime, this has
continued to happen.
We must always go to our history and learn lessons. Some police
officers abandon the responsibilities of office and the oath they swore to, to
protect lives and properties of every Nigerian and suddenly become so
sentimental. This is not right.
We cannot build the country
in this way. It is a burden and I feel many of the security agencies must be
wary of this. If you kill somebody, you must face the music. Nobody will take
that responsibility for you.
If anything goes wrong, at the end of your
stewardship, you will be asked to come and account for it. This cannot continue.
We must go beyond this.
So, for me, if his tenure
has expired, constitutionally, he should be allowed to go. We must not foist him on the people because
of certain interests or, think of using him to rig an election or whatever.
It
will not work. The moment you continue doing that, you will continue to make
people more aggressive and things will not be normal. We expect nothing less
than free and fair elections.
The whole world is watching
and it is not going to be a tea party and it is not going to be easy the way
people are thinking it is going to be. People are very much informed and very
much conscientized now so, you cannot do it and get away with it.
I hope these people will be
very careful with the way things are. I just hope so. Nigerians are expecting
nothing less than free and fair elections and the people must decide and the
will of the people must be fashioned out.
National Chairman of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole raised concerns over the PDP
candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his supposed inability to travel to the
United States of America.
Well, I will simply ask a
question; is it a constitutional matter that Atiku will go to America before he
is qualified to contest as the President of the country? It is not a
constitutional matter and as such, the answer is No. That is also to say it is
our prayers that Atiku does not go to America and Americans should stop him
from going. Let him stay at home and work for us.
We do not even need him to
have any working relationship with America. He should stay and face issues
domestically and do it. This issue and mentality and the re-colonization of our
political leaders, is my problem. You cannot sit down at home and work for your
people. You will rather believe that this western world should die with you
even after Independence as a sovereign nation; a republic of your own after
fifty something years. They said go freely but you still go back to them to
foist yourself on them.
This re-colonization will
not help this country. We must do things our own way.
For me, it is not a big
deal if Atiku does not go to America for which I know that he does not have any
problem with America and, as far as I am concerned, America is even willing to
accept and receive him. All of these are mere propaganda. They allege that the
man is corrupt yet they cannot come forward to bring out anything about it. You
are only sitting down and from your figments of imagination, make all sorts of
allegations on corruption.
Today, the level of
corruption we have in this present administration/government is far worse than
what we have ever experienced in the country in the last fifty years. It is the
worst ever type of corruption.
The level of debt this
country has incurred in the past three years has never happened in all these
years. So, what are we talking about?
Where is the impact of all of these?
There is massive poverty, massive unemployment, insurgency; crime rate has
soared as a result of the poverty level in the country. There is severe hunger
in the land so much that you cannot even imagine. So, I wish that he does not
even go to the US. Nigerians will still vote for him and does not need to go to
America to be qualified.
In fact, we need local
products now as we don’t even want this America thing.
The one that has gone to
America in the past three years plus who at a point was going there almost every
day has become a burden to them. Nobody is even talking anymore. Of what good
has that travel done to this country? What have we achieved from all that
Diplomatic policy and Foreign Policies that we have been talking? Nothing!!
The issue of Hajia Amina
Zakari who was recently appointed as the Chairman of the Collation Committee
for the Presidential Elections by the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC.
The issue of Amina Zakari;
whether she is related to the incumbent president or not, whether she is
serving under him, whether she is his niece, cousin or sister or whatever, as
far as I am concerned, it is even more than an indictment.
The case of Amina in INEC
is nothing but to rig. It is just to rig. Her presence there is a major fear
for free and fair elections in the country.
…..interruption: That is a
strong allegation on your part.
It is not an allegation but
something that is open knowledge and a public matter. People have said it in
the past and many are very uncomfortable. You cannot tell me that in the entire
INEC that you don’t have any other credible person except Amina. You are not
being fair to Nigeria. When everybody rose against her, if this government is
so responsible, a very responsible government, they should have dropped her and
announced any other name.
So, for me, these are
issues that cannot be swept under the carpet as long as people have raised
fundamental observations about her and if they still insist on leaving her
there, I will simply advice Nigerians not to go for any elections because, the
elections has been rigged already.
Finally, how would you
describe Mr. President especially based on the issues of his integrity which many
have insisted that he lacks, in terms of leadership?
There is nothing like that.
Integrity! You cannot convince me that a government that claims to have
integrity can also have people who are massively corrupt. The moment they
decamp from the opposition to your party, you accept them and then, you wipe
away their sins without probing them.
You cannot tell me about
integrity whereby, people who, three years ago, did not have fifty to one
hundred thousand naira in their account but today, are billionaires and you
want to tell me about integrity.
You cannot tell me about
integrity when you claim and tell the whole world that you have discovered so
much money in the hands of looters but today, the debt rate of the country is
so high and with nothing to show for it.
Therefore, you cannot tell me
about integrity when you go about sharing ten thousand naira to buy the
conscience of common people and you tell me about integrity.
You cannot tell me about
integrity so, let us leave the issue of integrity aside and let us face
reality.
The reality is that they
have failed and they cannot be anything better than they are today. You cannot
give what you do not have and they do not have anything to give the
country.
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