By Dickson Okafor
Former National Secretary of the defunct National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) and an accomplished legal practitioner, Chief Johnny Ucheaga, has said that the inability of Elders and political leaders in Rivers State to resolve the political dispute between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor and Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, prompted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a State of Emergency in Rivers State, being an option to restore peace in the oil rich state.
Excerpts:
Some politicians in Nigeria have signified interest in contesting the presidency in 2027. From the performance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, do you see anything visible that will earn him a re-election?
This is a very interesting question. President Bola Tinubu has been President for how long? Almost two years. And Nigeria is still there as one Nigeria. So, to keep Nigeria one for almost two years is even a rare achievement. Nigeria is not a docile country, but substantially a volatile country. Because there are places in this country where you will think whether there is warfare? And in other places, there is calm and in some other places there are internal strife. And the ship of state is still sailing, it has not sunk or taken water. So, I will not share your perspective that it would be surprising if people come out and wants President Tinubu to continue in 2027. There is a lot of things going as some come to manage micro economics. So, when you begin to judge about those who are interested in managing the micro economy against whose interest is managing micro you may misunderstand things. There was a time when everything was affordable in Nigeria, but we were piling bills. Now I’m told that Nigeria has 50 or 60% of all the foreign debts in Africa, and you cannot say those debts were accumulated only during this administration. If you are in a very stable environment, you don’t know that some people are making it to appear stable to you.
From what you have just said about foreign debt accumulation, former President Olusegun Obasanjo settled all Nigeria’s foreign debt before he left office in 2007 and the administrations that came after met a clean slate, is it APC that incurred the debts?
No doubt, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is close to me and I’m very proud of him. What you are talking about is Paris Club Debt. There are different categories of debts. Paris Club is a group and after the clearance of the debt, it was not cleared the day Obasanjo was living office. There must have been one or two more debts before he left and subsequently all government took their own debts which was not part of the Paris Club debt. A lot of programmes were done, projects were executed. What the debt forgiveness helped us to do was to make it possible for President Obasanjo government to do serious infrastructure projects. Those serious infrastructure projects also helped them to own debt component. So, don’t get it mixed up.
With the defection of Nasir El-Rufai from APC to SDP, don’t you the possibility of dethroning?
Who is APC? APC is a political party in Nigeria that is evolving. Many of the people, including the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai who are now members of APC were from the other parties before they defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). So, when you talk about APC, you are talking about Nigerian politicians. The original members of APC are not what you have now as APC, some of the key players in APC today were from other parties. El-Rufai and those who are criticising APC are some of the politicians who built the super structure they are now criticising. So, they know better than me on this subject. They are entitled to their opinion as Nigerians which is exercising their fundamental human rights. But eventually they are speaking to their own audience and they are not speaking to everybody. Therefore, El-Rufai decamping to SDP won’t affect President Tinubu’s re-election. It is a fruitless effort which is common among those who lose out in an administration. So, I don’t see any coalition or merger of some politicians and main opposition party that can dethrone APC in 2027. I’m very close to the leaders of those opposition political parties that are involved in the merger, but the problem is that everybody is known now. The people who want to do this merger, were they at one time or the other with the people running the present government? That is why an adage says “Show me your friend and I tell you who you are”. So, APC and the merger that is coming up is two sides of a coin.
President Tinubu has declared State of Emergency in Rivers State. What is your take on the action?
The Supreme Court is highest court in Nigeria and the Apex Court has given its verdict based on the case and the facts before it. The problem in Rivers State is hydra headed. So, they know their various cases and various facts. But the one that is decided by the Supreme Court is final and if there are other cases, when that one comes up, we will know. It is unfortunate that Governor Siminalayi Fubara could not find a common ground and resolve the matter in order to remain in office. Also, I blame Elders and political leaders in the state for not being able to resolve the political dispute between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike. Nyesom Wike is a very good friend of mine, he is not a bad person. I don’t think in my mind that he will want to destroy Rivers State. If you have been following Rivers’ politics, it always ups and down. You saw it with all the successive governors even before Bayelsa State was created. We all thought that if Bayelsa State was created out of Rivers State, then the political problem will reduce, but we have all been proved wrong. President Tinubu after consultation with the National Assembly declared State of Emergency in Rivers State to de-escalate trouble. So, the State Emergency becomes an option to end the political crisis in Rivers State. I assure you that Rivers State will come out stronger.