2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: "The Case of Amina in INEC is Nothing But To Rig"...... SHETTIMA YERIMA

Buhari

"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".

"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.