Pastor Blessing Adima is an ardent Peoples Democratic Party faithful from Jesse in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State. He was the secretary of Arise Nigeria, a group which clamoured for the reelection of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. He was also a House of Assembly aspirant in the 2011 elections.
In this interview with Okpalaume Mary Chidi, he assesses INEC’s performance in the just concluded general elections. He also spoke on diverse issues including his expectations for president elect, Mohammadu Buhari and Delta governor elect, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, as well as developments in the Urhobo Progress Union.
Excerpts:
The general elections have come and gone; how would you assess the performance of INEC and the choice of the electorates in choosing candidates in the presidential and Delta State governorship elections?
Actually, if you ask me about the performance of INEC, I would say that this is the worst election INEC has ever conducted. Coupled with the resources that has been put in place; with the sham they called card reader. It will amaze you to see that this so called technology to check electoral fraud put in place by INEC could not capture the card of the number one citizen – the president. He had to wait for some time. INEC was like instigated to cause a kind of chaos but I tell you, Nigeria, have suffered a lot.
Talk about Delta State, I think we are a civilized people. Deltans have taken the best decision. Among the three people that contested, one was most qualified and the result of the elections has shown that that one was most qualified. He won in twenty one local government areas in the state. It shows that he was accepted even before he was chosen. Choice cannot be 100%; if it is 100% then it is questionable.
So in Delta we have chosen the best but for me INEC’s scorecard is zero.
What about the electorates’ choice of an APC presidential candidate, Mohammadu Buhari?
If you say “electorates’ choice” that means INEC has done its best job. But the electorates did not actually choose the APC presidential candidate. We all saw the flaws of the election. I am disappointed because I thought the cabals are that far but the media is actually the strongest cabal we have in this country. The under aged voting of which issues were raised – under Vice President Namadi Sambo’s nose the under aged were voting. Thank God for the technological world we are in today. These scenes were captured and sent to the media houses but because the vote is swinging in favour of the opposition [they are still opposition until May 29], the media gave no attention. All they wanted is for PDP to be out. But if you want a government out it should be done in the right way, not a chaotic manner or preparing the country for another round of chaos. We just past through the civil war; we have been suffering from Boko Haram for the past four years. Boko Haram resurfaced after the 2011 election because Jonathan roundly defeated the northern candidate. They never expected it and they vowed to make the country ungovernable which they have been doing. You can’t imagine the scores of people that have been killed. Some people including mothers and children were kidnapped, students were killed in school and the hallmark of it was the kidnap of the students who were writing their WAEC. But I think Nigerians are really unfair or trying to be biased. The Chibok girls are human beings; the other Nigerians that were killed, are they not human beings as well? But nobody took to the streets. Nobody is talking about those souls that were killed. Nobody is talking about the kidnapped women and their children whose husbands and fathers were killed. It is only in the case of the Chibok girls that we smell dead rat. Sorry am bringing up security issues on the electorates. This is where 2015 elections would have led us to again. It would have been worse than what we are seeing. We just recovered from the Niger Delta crises which brought this country to its knees economically. The policy of President Goodluck Jonathan is so attractive that foreign investors are coming in but when you hear that Nigeria is a terrorist nation, would you want to come in? The north is a virgin economical ground for investors to come in but terrorist activities have scared them away and have made the unemployed continue to wallow in unemployment.
So I don’t think the man was elected. You might say I am biased but I am not biased. That is the truth. He knows it. If he is fair enough he would act like the late President Umar Yar’adua who came out and said that the election that brought him in was fraud but he believed he was going to do something good for Nigeria, then we will take him from there and say that the man is serious to do something. But if he is still saying that he was elected then that man is insincere.
By May 29, there will be change of power in Nigerian government. What are your expectations from the incoming president?
The man made loads of promises to Nigerians. He told Nigerians that this transformation agenda is not enough to solve the Nigerian problem; that he will beat the railway mark of today, the 23 upgraded airports, the 35, 000km roads that has been achieved, the foreign direct investment that has grown; the economy that has overtaken South Africa’s economy and the cut in food importation by 50%. I am expecting that within the first two years of his administration, Nigeria should not be talking of food importation anymore. We can see how the agricultural reformation has attracted investors to come and build a one billion dollar rice plant in Nasarawa State. I expect more rice plants to be built and more tomato paste companies to be built as well because it will encourage local production.
This administration that will expire by May 29 was the administration that confirmed minimum wage of N18, 000. Buhari has promised N39, 500 so we are going to hold him accountable for that. We are going to check him on the three million jobs he promised to create. We are now the opposition, our criticism is going to be constructive. We will ask him questions.
Then let’s look at the power sector. He said he was going to solve the problem of power; we are waiting for that. Now that the power sector has been privatized, I will advise him to check the current owners because those people who bought this thing now are even worse than the PHCN they took over from. I will want Buhari to set up a taskforce to check if these people are really living up to their billing. It is not enough to build power generation plants; we have enough power generating plants that will give a reasonable power supply in this country but the distribution companies deliberately shut off Nigerians yet they collect bills. They are doing it because Nigerian consumers do not know their rights.
The oil sector is also an issue. We want to see how we will be able to build refineries that will reduce fuel price from what we are buying now to at least the N40 as he promised us.
We have a lot of expectations from the Buhari government. As time goes on we will be calling the media to remind him.
How would you access or rate Jonathan’s administration so far? Give him your appraisal.
I score Jonathan’s administration distinction; he beat past 75%. He is better than the best that has ever existed in Nigeria. At the time the Murtala Mohammed government claimed it wants to tackle corruption, it was not at its zenith. Today, we have Nigerians who are even smarter than the technology which the westerners are using to contain corruption in their countries. It is this administration that unraveled the scam in the pension sector and yet nobody seems to recognize that the government has taken a bold step in that direction. We are now criticizing instead of praising him who exposed the dirty and shady deals that has been happening in the pension sector where people retire and die without collecting their benefits. And even when they are dead, some people are still collecting their benefits. He has been able to expose that. So in that that direction, President Jonathan has done well. President Jonathan introduced a body called PTAD and it has been able to check the crime in the pensions sector. So the hole through which these people drained the Nigerian treasury has been blocked and it is these set of people that are fighting the Jonathan’s government today.
Also, this administration has been able to trace 62, 486 ghost workers and that has saved Nigeria billions of naira. Government has been complaining that we don’t have money to do this or that, not knowing that the money is going to the pockets of few persons through these means.
Let’s go to the issue of oil subsidy. You are not aware that many of those people who perpetrated this subsidy crime against Nigeria are on exile. If the man is not fighting corruption will they go on exile? They are the same people who finance the opposition today because they want to come back and continue their shady deals. 120 persons said they have license to supply fuel for Nigeria and yet we were standing on the queue but when the number was pruned to 40 there was no queue until recently because they know their government are coming into power.
Talking about infrastructural development, 35, 000km roads, over 61 thousand housing units and bridges were built. Every government agencies is functioning effectively and NDDC is living up to their billing today.
Economically, Nigeria has overtaken South Africa. Investors have come into Nigeria because we have good economic policy in place.
I think Jonathan has really done well. I was expecting that Nigerians will allow him to continue from where he stopped in this tenure but fate decided otherwise. I think the peace that we are enjoying today is crucial- more important than one man sitting in government so that they will make Nigeria ungovernable for another four years. He has performed creditably.
It is obvious that your group, Arise Nigeria, is disappointed with the Buhari’s win. How would you react to President Jonathan conceding defeat despite oppositions from members of his camp?
That man is a hero. It is un-African; it is not a Nigerian character. There were many pro-Jonathan groups before we pitched tent with Arise Nigeria. The paper setting of Arise Nigeria showed that all we want is peace and progressive drive in this country. So some may be disappointed because human beings differ but I am not disappointed. I am in the PDP so those people who are disappointed are the people who sold out; who helped to machinate this sham called election in their states in the north. We are not disappointed with Jonathan. We still remain with Jonathan; he remains the hero after May 29.
So what are the plans of Arise Nigeria after May 29?
Oh, I forgot to mention, that body is dead. As the bible says, “when the shepherd is struck, what happens to the sheep?” As I am talking to you, the founder and the national leader of Arise Nigeria is in the opposition camp. If you go to the social media, you will see the identity of Arise Nigeria blasting Jonathan, calling him all sorts of names. I don’t see how Nigerians should take such a person serious. This same man praised Jonathan; telling the world what Jonathan has achieved but he is telling the world today that there is nothing to remember Jonathan for. I am disappointed. But as for me, I am loyal and committed to my course and Jonathan is the course.
There is a new group that would be put in place, just as we want to reengineer PDP. I am no more the secretary of Arise Nigeria. I am a Nigerian, a PDP member. So Arise Nigeria is a dead body as far as I am concerned. Anywhere you see it, know it is a fraudulent attempt to cajole this government to feed their stomach because Nigerian politics is about stomach infrastructure. I am too principled to wade to that direction.
What’s your candid advice to the president elect, General Mohammadu Buhari?
My advice to General Mohammadu Buhari is that he should not mess up this chance which he got by crook and hook. He should use this chance to wash himself clean of the rot and dirtiness that was called election that is pushing him to Aso Rock. Jonathan has already laid a foundation for him. He should not mind his overzealous lieutenants and advisers. He has to maintain the economic policy that will maintain foreign investors to this country because government does not build factories. He needs to tackle the insecurity situation in this country because that is the only thing that gives investors confidence, and that will create jobs for the people. The north east has been ravaged and people are afraid to go to their farms. So he should sustain the tempo of this agricultural revolution that has come up.
He should not listen to the fertilizer cabals who are angry that their food has been taken away from them. He should not listen to those who want to build private universities at the expense of the poor man. President Jonathan established 12 universities but as it stands now they are not fully fledged universities because they are not running all the courses. So he should look at the deficiencies in those institutions and see how he can upgrade them and make education affordable for the common man.
I will advise him to have sincere Nigerians who will privately advise him to take Nigeria to a progressive direction. The Nigerian problems are enormous. We must not deny that fact but there are people who are willing to take this country forward.
Let us come back to Delta State. Senator Ifeanyi Okowa won the gubernatorial election. What are your expectations from the governor elect?
My expectations from Senator Okowa are high. I know the man is not going to disappoint and I want Deltans to accept the fact that he is elected. People should stop driving that tribal sentiment. I learnt that there is a kind of underground arrangement within the Urhobo nation to come together to fight Okowa. You know when that kind of thing takes place you are drawing the governor backward. That is distraction. By that time he will be following court litigations and attending to what the opposition will be putting to him. If there are distractions, it will weaken the man.
Following his achievements in the senate, he was voted to take Delta to the next level. The slogan now is “Delta beyond oil.” He knows that. Delta is not always going to depend on 13% derivative. Deltans should be patient. We should kill that sentiment of Urhobo/Delta North. They will get the good from Okowa.
Speaking of Urhobo, UPU during the electioneering campaign had a lot of conflict and divided house. Now that the elections are over, what would be your candid advice to the UPU?
It is unfortunate that the people running the affair of the UPU today have taken Urhobo nation to the base. There was this division in the Northern Elders Forum and the Northern Consultative Forum but today they merged forces for the sake of their own son. That does not mean that those who have soft spot for President Jonathan still do not love him. But here we still have people fighting because some claim to be in Buhari’s party. UPU does not have two factions, it is one UPU that we know and by the time we are tired of Chief Joe Omene, there is a convention that will remove him; not through this un-ceremonial method that is driven by political greed- those who want to exhibit sycophancy to the government at the centre. I learnt that they visited Buhari but they did not do so as Urhobo, they did it as members of the APC.
It is high time these leaders put their acts together and address themselves or else they will drag the youths into this issue. And I think it is high time the youths man the opposition. The elders should stay by the side and give us advice since they have shown to us that they are not capable of running the affairs. It is so disturbing. I just can’t find the real word to offer the Urhobo leaders. At the appropriate time we are going to address them if they can’t put their acts together.
Do you think UPU should go back to base by protecting the social and cultural values of the Urhobo nation rather than deviating into political affairs?
UPU was not politically oriented. Although, the motive behind it is not devoid of politics because we must protect the Urhobo interest. The purpose of UPU is to see that the cultural values of Urhobo are protected. We should ensure that Urhobo language does not go into extinction. Nobody is minding that. We have lost our identity – we barely speak Urhobo. Some people cannot speak correct English; they can’t speak correct Urhobo either. That is a problem. People come to our land and cannot speak my language. It is a shame. That shows that we have lost our identity. We should go back to the days of our founding fathers, the motive to which UPU was founded. That is not to say that politics is not entirely the UPU’s business because it is an umbrella body where we resolve Urhobo issues. Supposing Buhari is robbing the Urhobos of what should be theirs, who would rise and protect the Urhobo interest when some sycophants have already gone to him to pledge loyalty. That is political loyalty. It is not in the interest of the Urhobo. In all these elections, the Urhobos have lost so many house of assembly constituencies. We have not talked about that. The economic value of Urhobo is falling but nobody is talking about that. Our chieftaincy titles hold little or no value yet nobody is looking at it. Kingdoms are being fragmented for political reasons and the people easily get what they want. Look at a situation where someone will carve out a community from another community and enthrone a king there. That is another drop in value. If we had known ourselves government cannot come to create a kingdom amongst us. Creating a kingdom without corresponding development is not what we need now. , what are Urhobo farmers benefiting from the government? Our land does not even need a kind of chemical aid to yield but supposing it does, nobody is drawing government’s attention to that. All they want is to be the chief that governor Okowa knows. All the noise you see them making is just to draw attention.
What is your advice to the Nigerians as a new administration comes in?
The citizenry should be awakened and grow above that level of ignorance to know what the government (federal, state, local) and the representatives are supposed to offer them. These are the things we are lacking. That is why politicians take us for granted. They should know where they are supposed to hold the federal or the state government accountable. Government itself should be willing to hear the citizens talk because criticism puts you in good shape. But I advise that criticism be constructive.
Above all, we should embrace peace. This whole chaos that is politically motivated should stop. Nobody should instigate crises from anywhere. If government fail, Nigerians should know that the government failed and if we want to tell the government that they failed, we must enlighten Nigerians. Nigerians should reject them through the ballot and we are going to check INEC too to see that the electoral process is completely sanitized. Elections should not be conducted in favour of a particular candidate.
