With Ongoing APC, PDP Verbal War, LP’s Akpata Can Emerge Victorious – Ebhomien

Professor John Ebhomien, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a former Consultant to the United Nations Office on Project Services. The former World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist and financial management expert, in this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, speaks on the September 21, 2024 Edo State governorship election and other crucial issues. Excerpt: The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mah­mood Yakubu, has said that the agency is ready to conduct the Edo gover­norship election, How do you see his confidence bearing in mind INEC’s poor record of election handling in the past? The INEC Chairman and his management should put in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure free and fair election in Edo State.

The good people of Edo State look up to Mahmood Yaakubu and his team to meet their expectations. By now, the INEC chairman must have learnt a lesson from their past mistakes. As an impartial orbiter in the conduct of elections, they must make sure the preparations of the election are in top gear, materials, human and logistics resources are put in place.



A situ­ation where election materials do not arrive at the polling stations or arrive late is unacceptable. The INEC management must ensure that the tools, including BVAS are functioning properly as expected they should realise that the people of Edo State and Nigerians are not ready to accept lame excuses for their lapses. A satiation whereby the courts give the final verdict of elections does not augur well for INEC and Nigerians.

They should borrow a leaf from South Africa and the civilised world to ensure that elections are conducted in ef­fective fashion. What is your advice to INEC and security agencies as regards the Edo governorship election? Security agents and INEC should ensure that appropriate security measures are put in place for a smooth conduct of the election. We have seen in the past where elections were marred with violence and in most cases, destruction of lives and proper­ties.

The security agencies, espe­cially the police and the military should endeavour to carry out their responsibilities with mil­itary precision. They must not be seen taking sides with any of the political parties. They should prosecute any individual or group of individuals involved in election malpractice in accordance with the rule of law.

How do you see the level of acrimony and politics of hate being exhibited by Edo politicians? Don’t you think that they are pointers to imminent danger and possible violence before, during and after the election? The politicians and parties that will be taking part in the coming election should shun politics of bitterness. Campaigns should be issue-based. Attacks on personalities, personal lives of people and circus displays of gangsterism should be discour­aged.

We have seen so far where some political rascality is too far. Certainly, the good people of Edo State do not expect to hear this from people who want to lead them. The politicians should ad­vise their followers against those things that can cause violence before, during and after the elec­tion.

They should realize that the peace and stability in Edo State should be the ultimate concern of everyone. Nobody is above the law. Elections should be conduct­ed according to the enabling Act and guidelines.

People see the Edo governorship election as between the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Don’t you think that with the continued bickering between PDP and APC, the Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata may create an upset having come from Bini, while the APC and PDP picked Esans as their candidates? The APC and PDP should put their houses in order. They should know that the election is a game of numbers.

Whoever scores the highest votes is the winner. My advice to the APC and PDP is that they should not underrate the La­bour Party. In elections, just like any contest, the party and group underrated may spring a sur­prise.

The APC and PDP should develop strategic approaches on how to win elections instead of baseless conjectures. Dr. Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of PDP, and Monday Okpebholo, the can­didate of APC, should take note of this and check the utterances of their party leaders and sup­porters.

. How formidable are the frontline candidates? I think candidates of the front­line parties, APC, PDP and LP are eminently qualified to vote and be voted for. The Edo people are ad­vised in their own rights to vote for whoever they believe can take Edo State to the next level based on their antecedents.

The Edo people are earnestly looking for monu­mental development, employment for young people and who will turn the state to agrarian hub of Nigeria. I could remember the good old days of Esan Rice, Auchi Rice, Ilushi Rice, the oil palm and rubber plantations. These are gold mines the eventual winner of the election in Edo State can tap into.

Are you foreclosing the possibility of any of the smaller parties like the AA, AAC, SDP, NNPP and ADC springing a surprise and coming tops in the election? I will not be surprised if any of the underrated parties like AA, AAC, SDP, NNPP, etc, spring a sur­prise. So, the APC, PDP, LP, should not underrate them in any guise or form. It will be suicidal for them to do so.

The Edo people are already traumatised by bad governance. So, there may be protests. How do you see the human rights record of the President Bola Tinubu administration, especially considering the reported arrest, detention and trial of several #EndBadGovernance protesters for treason? The constitutions of the Feder­al Republic of Nigeria, especially guaranteed freedom of association and right to vote and be voted for.

The people in all spheres of life would have the right to associate or protest. But, this must be done in a violent-free manner. A situ­ation where hoodlums or street urchins hijack protests does not augur well for peace and tranquil­ity of any country.

No reasonable government, even a family, will allow his house to be set on fire. So, my appeal to the government at all levels is to temper justice with mercy and do the needful to ensure that the hunger in the land is re­duced to the minimum level. The government must endeavour to re­lease those people who had been arrested and detained due to their involvement in protests.

The gov­ernment and the judiciary should be magnanimous to ensure that injustice is seen to be done. That is the way to go. Would you say that the government at all levels is doing anything to cut the cost of governance? How do you think this can be achieved? The government at all levels should go back to the drawing boards and put in place appropriate mechanisms to improve on their performance.

Where their perfor­mances fall short of expectations, they should take corrective actions for amendment. Where the govern­ment policies are ant-people, or fall short of people’s expectations, the government should consider all factors and reverse such poli­cies. That is the hallmark of good leadership.

The leadership must develop a diagnostic approach to solving critical issues of national importance. What is your take on how the nation’s oil sector is being run? How are cabals controlling this very important sector? The NNPCL has been in the news for bad reasons due to bad management, lack of probity and accountability at all levels of man­agement. The NNPCL is bedeviled with a high level of corruption and impunity.

The NNPCL has been hi­jacked by cabals who are holding it on its jugular. The government should come up with clear-cut strategies on how to rescue the NNPCL from these cabals who believe they are untouchable. The debt profile of NNPCL is scary.

I wonder why the humongous sums of money running into billions of dollars being sunk into the abyss in the name of revamping the re­fineries could not be well utilised. Nigeria is in dire straits because of the NNPCL quagmire. The Federal Government and President Tinu­bu should do something urgently to re-jig the NNPCL management so it can compete favourably with Aramco of Saudi Arabia and other viable oil companies of the world.

What is your take on the increased cost of petrol and other petroleum products? The increased cost of petrol, kerosene, diesel and gas is unimag­inable. Government should try ur­gently to reduce the cost of these essential products which are a live­wire of any economy. The high cost of the products has a multiplier ef­fect on the cost of other essential goods and services in the country.

The government should look into the immediate and remote causes of the high cost of these essential services which will have deleteri­ous effects on the economy. A cross section of Nigerians believes that the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, being a partisan politician, should not have been given the position by President Bola Tinubu. How effective do you think Ribadu has been in his position as NSA? The ruling party, APC, and the president have the right to appoint whoever they deem fit as the National Security Advis­er.

Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, whether an APC member or not is eminently qualified to handle the position of the NSA based on his antecedent as former head of the EFCC. So far, so good.

He has done so well. The NSA needs the support of other heads of security agencies to be able to discharge his duties creditably. With the level of in­security and terrorist attacks in the country, the NSA and heads of other security agencies should return to the drawing boards and develop aggressive approaches to tackle the problem of insecurity, especially kidnapping, Boko Ha­ram, herders’ attacks and bandit­ry that have assumed dangerous dimensions.

The government should endeavour to procure mod­ern sophisticated weapons for the police, military and other security agencies because security of lives and properties is based on scientif­ic approaches in place of outdated analogue approaches..