INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIONAL SECRETARY, NEW NIGERIA PEOPLES PARTY

PHOTO: THE NATIONAL SECRETARY, NEW NIGERIA PEOPLES PARTY, MR. AGBO GILBERT MAJOR.

THEWILL’s Abuja Bureau Chief, Ewache Ajefu recently interviewed Mr. Agbo Gilbert Major, National Secretary of the New Nigeria Peoples Party and also Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) in Abuja.

The politician spoke about the recent political developments in the nation, President Goodluck Jonathan’s promised electoral reform and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission amongst other issues.

Excerpts:

THEWILL: Our President just died. What are your reactions as one of the political parties in the country?

Answer: It is quite natural as human beings that we must have to show our sympathy. This is somebody we know that is full of respect for people. I can assure you that this is the first time that Nigeria has had a President who has respect for the constitution and rule of law, a president who has respect for the feeling of others and the views of individual Nigerian citizens. So we are worried and concerned and we sympathize with the immediate families and Nigerians.

THEWILL: Can we take this as an official statement from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)?

Answer: Yes it is. It is also an official statement from the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) because I am speaking in my capacity as the National Publicity Secretary of the CNPP, the umbrella body for all registered political parties in Nigeria, apart from being the National Secretary of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

THEWILL: So after the storm, what next?

Answer: You will agree with me that Nigeria has been at the crossroads since November 2009. The President was for all of us until November 23^rd, 2009 and all of a sudden he was no longer our President! Because they took him away and no official explanation was received from anybody. But they knew why they did that. And all of a sudden he resurfaced. And this is the situation today and the man is late. We are worried.

THEWILL: In view of the current challenges facing the nation, how does your party intend to help the new President in moving the nation forward?

Answer: The New Nigeria Peoples Party as a registered political party in the country has repeatedly said that we have a social contract with Nigerians. We are a listening party, we are not dictatorial like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who would always want to muscle you out by all means.

If you go through our manifesto, you will realize that our plans towards development of the country are clear. We agree that this change is necessary. Even when the man was alive and when no Nigerian was able to access him, we as a political party cried severally that it was important to know where our President was because governance abhors vacuum. So our position is that this country has to move forward, because the interest of this country is greater than the interest of any individual! Now that the man has given way, we give glory to God because he alone knows why that happened. But again I subscribe to those who always say that God is a Nigerian, because he comes to our rescue when this country is involved on issues that border security and interest of this nation.

What we have seen today is a great desire of God to move this great nation forward. We are ready to work with the new President, because we know as a man of his words and very articulate and we have followed his antecedents from when he was Governor of Bayelsa state. We saw great revolution in Bayelsa State and brought it into Abuja here and saw it manifest in his capacity as the Vice- president of the Federal Republic.

Now that he is President, he has no holds-bar access to getting this country to work. We are happy and ready to work with him. We advise that he takes a look at what New Nigeria Party stands for as we have a social contract with the people. Our ideas are purely the ideas that will help lift the society from the present sorry state. The President should be determined that this country is liberated.

THEWILL: Given the very short period that the current President has to tackle myriads of problems, what specific area or sector would you as a party want him to focus on?

Answer: Even if you ask an average Nigerian on the street on what is his problem, he will quickly tell you it is power and energy. That is the number one thing. You realize too that when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua came on board, he said he would declare an emergency in the power sector. We said okay Halleluyah! Something great was going to happen to this country. We know naturally that when you get the power sector working, every other thing works: employment will be generated for people, social vices like armed robbery, thuggery and lately, kidnapping and militancy will give way.

So we are advising that if he wants to make any meaningful progress, he should concentrate solely on the power sector. NNPP as a party has continually said that the 7-Point Agenda was too bogus. We don’t need 7-Point agenda as the problems of this country are obvious. Gets this power sector working and every other thing would naturally fall into place.

THEWILL: Can you please talk on the current electoral reform as we gradually approach next years’ general elections?

Answer: We have been at the vanguard of this clamour for reforms. We were part of the 2003 and 2007 elections apart from the re-runs. In my capacity as the National Secretary of the NNPP and the Publicity Secretary of CNPP, I have been on the field even up to the concluded Anambra elections! I dared all the Armageddon that was predicted and people said heaven was going to fall and people were going to die but I was there. So I know that Nigerians are actually yearning for a change. What we think we should do is to allow the reform to pass.

We have always said that Uwais Report may certainly not be the best but good for a starting point. Because the major points from his report would greatly improve our electoral system at least for once. Look at the issue of who appoints the Chairman of the Electoral Commission. Naturally if you have somebody that is appointed by the President, he will always tell him what to do. So the powers of who makes the INEC Chairman be taken away because these are fundamental recommendations. We see the recommendations as very vital and germane if we really want to make a headway in our electoral process.

And in the judiciary, before Yar’Adua came to power I never had any faith in the judiciary, because I saw how they were arm-twisted under the leadership of General Obasanjo. I prefer to call him General because he was a civilian president but still behaving like a General! So he was dictating and arm-twisting people. So under Obasanjo the judiciary did not have the credibility Nigerians wanted. It was contrast when under Yar’Adua, we had a couple of ground breaking judgments that were unprecedented.

THEWILL: What is your assessment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission?

Answer: They are sleeping. The EFCC is sleeping clearly! We saw great things happened when Ribadu was Chairman of the EFCC. There was so much vibrancy. Nigerians that were hitherto thought were untouchable were brought to book regarding malpractices in economic and financial spheres. But again the man was muscled out because in Nigeria no body wants to get it right. What happened was that Yar’Adua’s administration did not want to continue with that spirit with which Ribadu was doing his things and so they arm-twisted him, got him out through the back door. But again Nigerians came out to defend him because the process that threw him out was not correct but all fell on deaf ears.

You can see again that both the federal government and the judiciary are saying no that all that have been said against Ribadu were not correct. What a contradiction! I say emphatically that the anti-graft agency is sleeping because history will not be fare to me if I say otherwise.

THEWILL: What is your advise to fellow Nigerians?

Answer: FAITH is what I want Nigerians to imbibe. Though we have testimonies everywhere that Nigerians no longer believe one another because of mutual suspicion. We must have to develop absolute faith in the system. I urge Mr. President to allow this system work.