Former President Buhari reversed Nigeria 50 Years backward ,our biggest mistake was changing leadership in 2015- ‘says Gyang Zi
In an exclusive interview with Yakubu Busari on the state of the nation ,a Senior Advocate of Nigeria,SAN, Gyang Zi has exray the challenges of insecurity bedeviling our people since the returned of Nigeria democracy in 1999 ,
He says ,” One of the biggest mistake we made as a nation was changing the government in 2015 led by former president Goodluck Jonathan .We knew we had a lot of challenges.
You see the difference throughout Buhari eight years when there is a problem, he refers to past ,there was also what international interferences with our processes now, when Buhari came into office, I can assure you that he was not prepared for leadership.
We were reversed over 50 Years backward now with the emergence of President Tinubu in 2023 you do not expect the man to perform a magic overnight
However, I hope the intention behind going to the court for the extension to four years is genuine, is just to pursue that purpose. If the intention is not genuine, that’s where we run into problem. But I’m in agreement that look, all elected positions should be for a period of four years.
I suppose to have taken this action long before now, but somehow the action has been taken. So it’s just about the intention behind it, if the intention behind filing the action is born out of mischief, and that’s where we will run into problem. Because, you know, there is a political development on the plateau wherein all almost everybody is now in the APC.
If you look at the process of the congresses that took place, there was a sharing formula. The legacy group went with 40% and our governor and his team went with 60% .
It is expected that there is going to be continuous adjustments of all offices from the local governments to the Executive Council and the rest..All appointments are good.
There’s going to be some kind of adjustment to ensure that there is proper integration.
So with these developments, it means nobody is going to touch local government, of course, is a judgment of the cout and unless and until it is set aside, there will be no local government election on the plateau until, until the present local government chairman and councilors expend four years.
Yes, this judgement, is you supposed to take effect with the local government Chairman because the they were elected to offer two years? Can they now, after in the course of serving their two years, yeah, extend it to four years.
That’s why they actually approach the court, that they can serve four years. Yes, not the next election that will determine No, It’s not about next election .
They are the immediate beneficiaries, because they are the parties, so they are saying, Look, we do not agree with the local government law that provides for three years in office by the provision of the Constitution and pursuant to even the judgment of the Supreme Court that give us autonomy as local government councils, we are supposed to serve for a period of four years like all other offices. So now, if they’ve already spent two years, even they have additional two years.
If they respond one spend one year, it means they have additional three years. If they spend three years, it means they have additional one year”,he said.
Do I anticipate a situation where it’s going to affect maybe their relationship in terms of the agreed sharing formular and I will tell you that’s a different thing entirely.
It depends on how the other people, especially the aspirants, those who are aspiring to become local government chairman and counselors may not be happy with the outcome of the judgment, But is a judgment of a court if one is aggrieved, if they were not part of the case, is for them to immediately go.
There’s nothing anybody can do about it, so then politically, it has its own implication. But of course, there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
Now ,where there is disagreement, then they should go to the polls, and this time around, all party members are supposed to line up behind who they believe should be the leader, either the president, the governor, senator, House of Representative member, House of Assembly Member.
So that is the implication on one part on the issue of transmission of election results. Now the law still remain as it was. It’s not that it canceled electronic voting, but electronic transmission, but it’s saying look so where it is impossible.
It can be done manually.
Do you understand where it is impossible? It cannot be done manually. So if you ask me, I will say it only liberalized the process.
The fear is our nature, not even those who make the law, its us, the electorates and those who are going to be officiating the elections, those are the polling units, especially if we have sincere people, and there are provisions for electronic transmission, They will transmit it immediately, or we have corrupt people, they will not transmit it, and they will enter whatever the they are paid for.
Let me just use the right word, because the system has already become what it has become to do. So that’s the only danger they will go with the proviso that says, you can do it manually.
Do you get it? That’s the only fear. But as far as I’m concerned, it is a perfect law in any society, whether we like it or not, we cannot compare ourselves with United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Canada, all those developed countries, we still have a lot of challenges.
You cannot find network everywhere, even though there are argument that say, Look this process.
You can do it seamlessly, even where there are networks or there are non networks. I tend to disagree to an extent on that issue. So is a good law, but it depends on how we use it.
You know, we are used to abusing laws once there is a provision that is supposed to even enhance our processes, we as a people, take advantage of that liberality and destroy the process completely.
So it has its own implication, especially on electronic transmission. But again, if we are able to do it sincerely, we’ll still achieve the intention of that provision. But the problem is the is the sincerity of the actors . Is about us and not about the law. It’s about us and not the law.
The law is a perfect law. It has made provision that look where you are having challenges, you’re having glitches, and you cannot transmit it. Do it manually. So instead of abandoning the result, they are assuming there is no provision for you to transmit it.
What would you do with such a result? I want to tear it. I want to throw it. Do you understand? But it has said , you can still enter it manually.
By the time you step out, you can still transmit it once you have network, you can still transmit it, but enter it manually. Do you get it? Is actually to enhance the electoral process so that people will not be disenfranchised. Do you get it? But it depends on how we use it, if we use it wrongly, we get a bad result.
If we use it sincerely, we get the best result. And on indirect primaries, let me just tell you why our electoral processes have been facing a lot of challenges is because of how we manipulate the processes you are in a community, there are people who are out for contest. One has all the capabilities people want him to represent them. Two or three people will stand somewhere and say, no, they disagree, and give that person names at the end of the day, they manipulate the process.
During primaries, the person will win the election, and they go ahead and enter whatever they intend to enter. And then the courts over the years kept saying, Look, we cannot delve into the internal affairs of the party. What do you call it?
Internal democracy is facing a lot of challenges, and without the court actually stepping in to ensure that people who contest in primaries and win the elections are actually given their mandates over the over time, people will lose interest in participating in electoral processes, and that’s why you see, one of the challenges We have now in the nation, is electoral. Is election a party, voter apathy
A lot of citizens, when you’re talking about going to vote, when, when we vote the person and the person wins, there is no assurance that the person is going to be declared as a winner. So what’s the point? Considering how manipulative the use of delegate was, we used to like to say, the use of Congress has now is now restored sanity.
It will restore sanity based on our own actions.
We have seen people lining up for election,
winning the election, and the elections are nullified even completely. June 12 saga as 1993 right? If you understand, we, we had all those things in the past.
That’s even in the general election, we have had incidences here where elections have been carried out while other people are seated somewhere, entering the results. So it’s about us. Is not really about the law.
The problem is the citizens and our leadership, those stakeholders that participate, who are involved in electoral processes INEC is one the law enforcement agencies are key
The courts are also very, very key. These people are the ones that must do everything to ensure that sanity is brought into the system and then the citizens.
Yes, I will. I know that I can have a choice of a candidate or an aspirant, right? But I shouldn’t be extremely emotional about it.
To the extent of doing a lot of dirty things to ensure that the person emerges. I’ll give you my support. If you win fine. If you did not win, fine, we shouldn’t be killings ourselves. Elections are not Do or die.
They are not if you actually really have the intention of serving the people, you should not be seen as somebody who cannot accept results once they are carried out. Seamlessly. You so the major problem easy citizens. Easy citizens. The political parties are also stakeholders.
They also do a lot of attitudes, and that has caused a lot of challenges to our electoral processes. You understand? So it’s not about the laws. The laws are there. I can tell you that the laws are good,
but the people are the problem.
On How best I can assess the state of the nation? Can you assess the state of the nation, I can assure you that we are not stable yet .
one of the biggest mistake we made as a nation was changing the government in 2015 led by former president Goodluck Jonathan .we knew we had a lot of challenges.
We know that those challenges were also acts of sabotage within the system to destroy GoodLuck Jonathan’s administration. Goodluck Jonathan was already developing this nation to get the particular case. Our educational systems were being developed.
A lot of places where there was poverty, extreme poverty, there were a lot of efforts, especially the corners, to ensure that those challenges have been taken care of and addressed. But a particular group of people were not satisfied with the system, and therefore there was an internal sabotage that led to the word the insecurity that suddenly emerged and people were being killed for no reason.
And remember, there was also what international interferences with our processes now, when Buhari came into office, I can assure you that he was not prepared for leadership.
He wasn’t prepared for leadership. And between that 2015 to 2023 Nigeria was extremely bad, economically, security, wise, educationally, go on, you go on and on. The system was destroyed completely.
We were reversed over 50 Years backward now with the emergence of President Tinubu in 2023 you do not expect the man to perform a magic overnight. It’s difficult you see this building . It took me six years to build it, but if they want to pull down this building.
Three hours is even too much. You can bring it down in less than three hours, but it took me what six years to build it. So it’s easier to destroy than to build, and that’s the eight years of Buhari destroying Nigeria.
I don’t care, however I felt , if you’re a Buhari fan, all of you are on your own, but I’m just telling you the reality for people to rebuild, whether we like it or not, we must give him time.
I can assure you that, based on my assessment, by the grace of God, I am not just a lawyer, I’m a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Before talking, we make our assessments, and that’s why I’m giving I’m giving you these illustrations about building and destroying the way Nigeria is going.
If we are able to support the president sincerely within he has just been like two years and by May ,he will be three years in office. Most of the challenges we are facing are not just within.
You see the escalation, for instance, in fuel prices and the rest is not at home . I want you to understand because I want to use it to address other issues. These are global phenomenon.
You understand once one aspect of it is affected, the whole world is affected. When did he remove it. He removed oils as a subsidy.
There was a lot of cry here and there. But you see, after some time, we adjusted.
Do you understand the man has been making resources for all the state governors, I’m telling you the truth, there are a lot of efforts, efforts to stabilized the system, security wise, whether we like it or not, when the man came, he was very fair, the security architecture of the whole nation became different.
It was not one sided, like under Buhari. Buhari time, the whole security architecture was in the north when this man came. Him. He spread it across, not in short, across even the zones, the six political zones you understand, because even the middle Belt was factored.
I remember when became the chief of defense staff. Though we see he says from North west, but he’s still a minority.
You understand everybody, not West, you understand North West, but he’s still a minority. And to an extent, the issue of insecurity was addressed.
We saw him managing: the security. It went down, seriously trying. Drastically unlike during various time that you just wake up.
You wake up every morning with the deaths of hundreds of people. So my assessment is that, though not conclusive, there are still a lot of challenges.
But these challenges are not because of the direct action of the present leadership, but past leadership that has destroyed this nation, and they are not talking about it.
You see the difference throughout Buhari eight years when there is a problem, he refers to past administration. This present administration is not blaming anybody.
They are doing their best to ensure that look, okay, we’ll address these challenges, so I know that if we’re able to give the President the needed support. After some time, this nation is still going to change, except if the nation gets into another bad hand, when the man exists, because, of course, by our Constitution, even if he wins the next election, he will have, he has, like five years at most, because
