Former National Administrative Secretary of the defunct National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN), Chief Johnny Ucheaga, has charged Nigerian electorate to unite and defend their votes in 2027 whether election results are transmitted electronically or manually.

In 2023, President Bola Tinubu told Nigerians not to vote for him again if he failed to fix the power sector. Having failed in this regard as the national grid frequently collapses, should he be asking the people to renew his mandate?

Why should he not seek re-election just because Nigeria is yet to have steady power supply? Give me your statistics such as how many megawatts of electricity that was supplied before he came to power. You don’t understand the concept of collapse of national grid. It is not lack of electricity that collapses national grid.

Nigerians are concerned about the huge amount spent on electricity yet, nothing to show for the humongous investment?

I have spoken in the recent past about complete decentralization of electricity in Nigeria. You cannot micro-manage electricity because there is nothing criminal about people being allowed to generate electricity and sale it to other people. There is nothing bad about it, but first it was the military and now the National Assembly that does not want to make a law to that effect. They believe that if you allow people to generate and distribute electricity may be some places will be more developed than other places. Therefore, they want everybody to have mutually assured underdevelopment. I don’t understand why a businessman cannot setup electricity plant? And what is criminal about that? Somebody was comparing Nigeria to South Africa, but he forgot that the population of South Africa is about 68 million, but Nigeria’s population is over 200m. There are places in Nigeria that there is no electricity. Take the specific issue of electronic transmission or transfer of election results which will be affected by the unsteady power supply. And election is not only held in certain places like urban areas, it is also held everywhere even in the villages. Where are the facilities for electronic transmission of election results? This transmission is not a new thing because it was there in 1993 during the presidential election which Moshood K.O. Abiola won. At that time it was transmitted through Nigeria Telecommunications Limited, Lagos. It is not a new thing yet we are not able to do it rather we are still debating on it. There are certain things that defy reasoning. Why is electricity supply becoming something that seems out of control?

What would you say makes it difficult for the Federal Government to allow individuals and companies to generate and distribute electricity?

Some powerful people believe that if you do that one side of the country will develop more than the other side. So, we now do what I earlier referred to mutual assured underdevelopment. There are people who make a lot of money controlling the budget of electricity and when you now decentralize it you are hurting them. So, why should they allow private businessmen or companies to set up electricity distribution companies? It doesn’t make sense to them.

The hope of South-East in 2027 is still uncertain as many doubt that he can clinch the ADC presidential ticket. If Peter Obi fails to become the standard bearer of ADC, what will be the fate of Igbo in 2027?

I commend Peter Obi in his attempt and efforts to become President of Nigeria since 2023. Labour Party was a small or an empty party when Peter Obi went in there and revived the party and used it as a vehicle to pursue his Presidential ambition. He is now in ADC seeking to become the presidential candidate in 2027. The question now is: is he the person who formed ADC? No. So, I’m not in position to make a pronouncement on whether he will clinch the presidential ticket of ADC in 2027 or not?

Rotimi Amaechi called on the opposition to resist efforts to turn Nigeria into one-party state. What are your thought on this?

Those who listen to him will align with him and some won’t align with him because everybody has been going from one party to another. He was a governor in PDP, is he now asking them to go back to PDP or join ADC? Everybody is looking for where the tea is so he can put his cup. It is the duty of the opposition political parties to form a strong force to keep the ruling APC on its toes. As a national politician I don’t like dichotomy of North or South. Leadership at the top Is not something you use geographical point, it should be based on individual competence, capacity and capability. There are places where certain people from a particular area have been governors and they are doing better. We have so many ethnic groups in Nigeria so it will not go round. I’m not opposed to regional balancing, but the best should be given opportunity to serve.

Balance of power was the reason people ganged up against former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. Do you share the view that zoning has sustained Nigeria’s democracy?

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was not ousted because he contested 2015 presidential election and accepted defeat instead of going to the tribunal. But he is a man of peace that is why he said that his ambition was not worth the life or blood of anybody. And if he had gone to the tribunal to contest the 2015 Presidential election result he would have retained power.

Why does the North always oppose power remaining in the South for eight years whenever the presidency shifts to the region?

All these are cardinal things, but in reality they don’t exist. It is just some individuals who propagate such believe when it suits them. It depends on the of type system of government we have which is presidential system that has guaranteed stability of government. Nigeria is not a very easy place to govern. Ordinarily, a place like Nigeria is best governed by parliamentary system where the power is domiciled on the generality of the regions. What made us go presidential system was because the confidence that was being used then was going out of fashion as you can wake up and go to the parliament and say the Prime Minister has no confidence and people will start trouble. How long ago did Nigeria become a democracy? Those who have been having democracy before us are still having problems hence we should continue to push it as far as we classify ourselves as Northerners and Southerners. What of those in the Middle Belt who used to say they are Northerners, but now how are things with them? All those claims are not real because Nigeria is one united country.

What is your assessment of the economic reforms of this government after two and half years?

Well, I can tell you that a businessman has taken over office and not just a businessman but an informed and influential technocrat in the person of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. You may not agree if I tell you that we are in a better economic position now than before. Who would have thought we will survive buying fuel at so many prices and still go where we want to go? It is not the cost of some of those items that are subsidised that matters, but in stabilization some of those prices are coming down. If the price is yet to be subsidised, the big refinery won’t have been built by Dangote. But we will still be exporting crude and will still go back and import finish products which is fuel. However, because we could not do it here unless government subsidises virtually everything including labour that is the way we could afford them. People are watching the Dangote Refinery as an experiment; if it succeeds more refineries are being planned to take off in other places. How many refineries do we have in Nigeria? About five and only one is working – the one that is privately owned – because if it is government-owned we would have started hearing bad news and that is it. Look at how many refineries we have, which are moribund and no government could repair them, not even one. Some are bringing in fuel and government is subsidising it because they are not bringing it at the price we are buying it. We are judging a match at the first half not even full time before you talk about return match. So, the government economic reforms are so far so good.

It has been suggested that the purpose of the United States deploying few soldiers to train Nigerian troops on anti-insurgency will be sabotaged. What is your take on this?

There is something happening in some parts of Nigeria, especially when you want to prevent the society from going this way, but it is going the other way. Because if under your watch the society is going that way and you are not seen to be doing something you will lose your relevance. That is what I thinking is happening. That people who want to stop their own part of the Nigerian society from going a particular way because it is your responsibility to make sure it does not happen. They must modernize our society because what is going on is beyond religion. It is about culture, it about perception and wanting to put a cap on the development of certain places so that those cannot move forward. There is a touch of feudalism in some of these places that nobody should rise up because if you rise up their relevance will be reduced. The interest of feudalists and religious bigots collided. Look at where they are going to schools, why are they attacking schools? Is because of what those children did? No, they don’t want people to get educated. That shows you that those people are better illiterates and doing Almajiri because if they go to school they will become educated and they begin to question the overlords, they begin to say, ‘No, this or that is not allowed in the constitution.’ I want to beg the people sponsoring terrorism and banditry to allow God’s people to serve the Almighty God. There is nothing wrong with Islam as a religion, I know a bit about Islam and there is nothing wrong with Christianity. In fact, both Christianity and Islam are not in antagonism. It is this feudalism that uses religion as a cover because there is no antagonism between Islam and Christianity. (The Sun)

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