By Dayo Benson, Political Editor and Gbenga Oke
Chief Harry Akande is a founding member of All Nigeria’s Peoples Party, (ANPP). He was also former Chairman, Board of Trustees, BOT of the party. A one time presidential aspirant, Chief Akande who is seeking to become the party’s national chairman believes that ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP has over the years not only poached on ANPP but polarised the party, hence his desire to restore it to its past glory.

In this exclusive interview with VANGUARD, he spoke on sundry national issues including state of the nation, 2011 poll, zoning, President Goodluck Jonathan ambition, Professor Jega led Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and the crisis rocking his party, which has seen it postponing its national convention twice. Excerpts:

How will you assess the state of the nation especially as 2011 elections gather momentum?

Well, if we are to look at what has happened in the past, there is really nothing to write home about because it has been a very traumatic situation for an average Nigerian and I don’t think what we got in the past 11years is what we expected we will get after the military.

The military did their best even though they could have done better, but I don’t think the civillians have done any better at all because if you look at the state of the nation, if you look at the position of an average Nigerian, the situation has really been worse than when the military were there. The only thing you can talk about in the last 11years of democracy is freedom; we have got a better freedom of expression compared to the time of the military but in terms of economic development, an average Nigerian has not fared well at all.

There is no water, no road, the electric power situation is deplorable, traveling from here to Ibadan is so chaotic, even within Victoria Island, you can’t even move freely due to traffic congestion and you have to also understand that the roads we have in the country are the same roads that we built 30-40years ago. Yet you can imagine what has happened to our population. Having said that, we are hopeful that maybe if we have a free, fair and credible election in 2011, things might improve because we haven’t had any election in this country in the last 11years..

All the elections that we had were rigged ; the voters’ list was full of fake people with fake names. I learnt that the name of former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela is on the list, we have names of people like Clinton on the list.

So what PDP has given us in the last 11years is a situation that is very deplorable and I hope with the coming in of Professor Jega from what have read about him, I see some sincerity and I hope we would not disappointed. I think with the way he is starting with new voters list is good. If we can have a sincere and credible election, then we can start having the right personalities in government; but let us just hope for the best in the coming election because Nigeria cannot continue like this.

Even in the parties, there is no internal democracy; people put their surrogates in position of authority and power and the EFCC and ICPC that are supposed to go after people who have looted this country, they keep on telling us that they had about 30 ex-governors that needed to be dealt with for stealing and we still have a lot of these people walking around.

I don’t know how long this will continue and I don’t know how long an average Nigerian will continue to take this. I hate a situation where the poor people would start a revolution; I know there is a need for a revolution in this country, but I hate to see a bloody revolution.

I like to see a revolution of change of heart in terms of what is proper for this country, a revolution or a rejuvenation of the system, a re-engineering of the system, a situation where women can be allowed fair participation in governance because I really believe in women and the youths; I like to see a situation where these groups are given a chance to support the system that we have. But having said that, if the election we are going to have in 2011 is free and fair, maybe it will be the beginning of a new future for our country especially since we have wasted the last 50years. Maybe God is about to change things with the coming of Professor Jega as the electoral umpire.

The coming of Professor Jega is not the only thing that needs to be done; we have to understand that even the government itself has to be willing to support Jega and government has to be willing to contribute to a successful election.

I understand President Jonathan might be running, but as much as I like every eligible Nigerian to exercise their constitutional right to vote, I just hate a situation where an umpire is also running, I wish he wasn’t running not because I don’t want him to run as a Nigerian, but of course I hope he doesn’t become an umpire that will be biased because when you are in the race and you are also the umpire, there is a tendency for you to want to cut corners because everybody wants to win. If President Jonathan decides to run, I hope he will allow justice, fair play and credible elections to take place.

Apart from the appointment of Professor Jega, what other indices of free, fair and credible elections have you seen on ground?

We have to wait for him to tell us those indices. For instance, one of the biggest problems in any electioneering is the stealing of ballot boxes and in an election there are three things we have to watch out for. The pre election, the election proper and thirdly is the post election.

I will like a situation where ballots are counted right at the polling centres so that people will have an idea of who wins right at the centre. Look at the election in England, results were declared right there on the spot and whoever won knew right there but in a situation where you have to take the boxes away, only God knows what will happen on the way.

So, you are of the opinion that counting and declaring results right at the polling centres will curtail ballot stuffing and other election mal-practices?

Yes, I think that will be great and people must receive a copy of those results right there and then so that we collate to really find out who wins the election. Having said that, once we have internal democracy, that is in the party primaries, you have to allow every qualified person to run and stop these issue of zoning thereby creating position for people without going through due process.

Once there is internal democracy and everybody goes through the rigours of election so that people who are victorious during elections know that they earned their victory not that they were imposed on the people; once we are able to have something like that, no matter who becomes the leader of our country, we will respect them because they got there through due process and they were voted for by the people; afterall what is the definition of democracy, it’s a government of the people by the people and for the people. Vote XYZ, then that is who should be there and if the election is credible, I think we will all accept whoever becomes the leader.

You talked about zoning and you said we should do away with it; I want you to expatiate on that because it is a contentious issue in the polity now. What are the issues involved in zoning and how do you see them?

I think it is the sincerity of our people that will have to come in place here. When in 1998/99 there was a need to zone the presidency to the South or the South/West, there was a need at that time because the South/West people felt they were robbed because everybody believed that Chief Abiola won the 1993 elections and the South West was robbed; everybody believed that election was free and fair, but since Abiola was not allowed to rule, it was only fair to allow the South/West to rule at that time. You have to also notice that in the election of 2003 when Obasanjo was running for a second term, there were other people who ran against him in that election, Barnabas Gemade and Abubakar Rimi, they were contestants in that election.

The idea of zoning does not really preclude others from running; the idea of zoning just says majority of the people feel this zone should provide the presidential candidate but it shouldn’t constitutionally bar others who want to run. Personally, I have always been for the best man to win; let the best man win because if you insist that leadership or presidency should go to a certain section of the country, I think we might rob ourselves of the best material.

Let us face it, zoning might to some extent create some level of mediocrity but if we have everybody running and bringing out their pedigree and their credentials, I think you have a situation where you are bound to have the best. But having said that, PDP said they had a gentleman’s agreement; a gentleman’s agreement is as good as an agreement and if you don’t respect a gentleman’s agreement, then it is not fair and if they said the gentleman’s agreement says the zoning should be respected, it should be respected and I think what the PDP needs to do is to get together and decide if they want to change that zoning arrangement; but I will like to see a situation where every qualified person is able to run for any position; we want to look at what we call a united Nigeria.

I will like to see a Nigeria where an Abubakar can come and run for governorship of Oyo State and if he wins, let him be the ruler. I will like to see where Harry Akande can go to Bauchi and run for the governorship of the state and if he wins, let him be the governor there. We have to develop a situation where Nigeria belongs to everybody where we can really have a united Nigeria; how long that will take I don’t know.

The issue of lets zone to East or West, I think it is something we have to seriously think about because it is seriously causing confusion in the polity right now and we have that same problem in our convention in ANPP where the present executive led by Ume- Ezeoke just said the chairmanship of the party should be zoned to the South East, I mean who makes those silly statements?

I can understand the situation where you say let the chairmanship go to the whole of the South and let the presidency go to the North, and then you allow the southerners to get together and among themselves decide who will be the chairman of the party and even if they couldn’t reach a consensus, there is nothing that prevents everybody even people from the North to say no we don’t agree with that; then let everybody go to the field and let them fight for it and let the delegates at the convention ground make a decision for the party.

But when some five people just sit together and say we zoned the chairmanship to the South/East, that is unheard of and I don’t think that can be called internal democracy.

Are you saying that there should not be zoning even in ANPP, or what is your party’s position on it?

Well, different people within the party have different beliefs but what I am saying is that whatever we do has to be free, fair and credible; we must all agree that this is what we want to do; it shouldn’t be a decision taken by some handful of people who think because of their privileged position in the party, they can make a decision for the party.

Every decision that governs the party must be a decision of the people and one of the reasons why I am trying to become the chairman of the party is that I want to take the party from this cabal and give it back to the people whereby the people will make decision on their party. Let them decide who rules them and who controls the executive of the party not just some two to five people sitting in some corner to say this position belongs to Mr A or Mr Y; that is not democracy, that is just authoritarian and I think we have to go back and practice the true tenets of democracy and let the people decide. To me, that is what democracy is all about and that is what fairness, ideological progress for the party will entail; for a cabal to sit in their little corners and decide where the party should go is unfair.

Earlier on you said you would prefer the president not running for the 2011 poll because he was the umpire and again you did say that you don’t care as long as the best person puts himself forward. So what is exactly your position on this issue. Do you think the President should run or he shouldn’t?

If he is the umpire, my first inclination will be for him not to run so that he can really be an umpire that we can trust. Power is terrible; to be a president in a country like Nigeria is a big position that is difficult to shy away from; if you are not a God fearing person, you will want that position at all cost. Are you strong enough to resist illegality if you want to be president of this country? So what I am saying is this: Is Jonathan strong enough to want to run and at the same time ensure justice and fair play?

But he promised that………

(Cuts in)Yes he promised that, what about all the people around him who would be beneficiaries of him winning an election; would they be God fearing enough to do things the right way or would they cut corners to ensure the president wins? I don’t know but I really wish he wasn’t running and I think he would have given us a credible election from what he promised. Consider President Obama and what he promised in the United States. I feel if he wasn’t running, he would give us a credible election; I believe that.

Having said that, do I believe that inspite of his interest to run and of course if he is running, he is going to run to win and is that not a reason for him to close his eyes to some of the illegalities that could occur during this electioneering? I don’t know and he is the only one that can tell us that. But if he isn’t running, I would feel better than if he is running but like I said if he is a God fearing man and he sincerely believes he will do the right thing, then we will give him a chance bu
t constitutionally, he is eligible to run.

Having said all these, what I would have loved to see happen and I have talked about this several times before, is a situation where six months to the election everybody in government should leave and put in place a six month interim government that would be led by retired Judges; people who are neutral and have no interest in politics to run the government for 6months during which elections will take place such that there is a level playing field for everybody.

These people in government wouldn’t have the benefit of using government resources like government aircrafts flying everywhere at the expense of oppostion candidates because those who are running and are in government have the benefit of using government functionaries, government offices, government employees and they also have direct links to INEC and they have the control of SSS, police and the military; so really from day one you will find out that those in opposition are already handicapped.

But in a situation where everybody starts at a level playing field, I think we will have a free and fair election and this is what was done in Bangladesh; a country that has so much semblance to ours; that was what got them off that problem; getting a level playing field for everybody to run and nobody has the power of incumbency.

Everybody comes out, spends his own money and had a level playing field, that is the situation I would love to see and that might be very proper for us in this 2011 in the sense that for Jega to be ready with a voters list and all things that need to be done, it will take him to maybe March next year and if that is the case, in another few months, it will be time for this administration to quit.

Maybe they need to just finish their term and leave and we have in place this interim government of professionals and credible Judges who can run the country for six months and conduct the election so that it will be towards the end of next year that we have a new government.

It is something I would like our people study very seriously and make their contribution and input into because a situation where the government in power is supervising, the election is not just a level playing field.