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Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe, representing Apapa Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has said that a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is qualified to aspire for the position of the president of Nigeria. The lawmaker also speaks on other issues of interest in an interview with Oladipupo Awo jobi. Excerpts…
Some Nigerians are still not clear about what informed the decision of the National Assembly to approve the direct mode of primaries for political parties to select their for elections. What exactly informed this decision?
The decision was specifically informed by the yearnings and output of the Nigerian populace. They think that the idea of using party executives to select who to represent them at the local, state and federal levels was not good enough. They are of the opinion that every member of the party should have a say in who represents them. The National Assembly, Federal House of Representatives in particular, remains a vehicle, a medium, a platform to carry the position of the people to the centre. So the National Assembly is always a means to an end and not an end in itself. Those positions as canvassed, as agitated, were the voice and the position of the general populace of Nigeria who have elected us to represent them at the chambers. It does not represent that of the Speaker or leadership of the House, but that of the people of the Nigerian nation and we owe a duty to stand with the generality. That is exactly what informed our decision.
But there is still this mistrust that even with the direct primary mode, politicians will still have a way to manipulate the process. How would you react to that?
The law is made for the people and not the people for the law. The people drive the law, if you want to manipulate the direct primary, who says the indirect primary too cannot be manipulated. Even the indirect primary is more susceptible to manipulation and fraud based on the premise that moneybags will always count and know the number of delegates that can be bought over. But with the direct primary, you cannot, for example buy over the minds of the over 200 million Nigerian population. While I am not holding brief for any system is because every system has its own shortcomings, but it is we the people that will drive the system either directly or indirectly. I think what is more key and most important is for us as a people to have a change of mind. We should be a people of value, culture and character towards any system that evolves. We have been attuned to indirect primaries and nothing is static, the world itself is dynamic. Let us have a trial of this direct primary too and maybe we can at another point in time come to an equilibrium and say no, this is rather okay. Like I said, the process of lawmaking was made for the generality, the various critical stakeholders and all due process were followed in reaching the position of the direct primary, which means it is the voice of the people. Party excos are majorly meant for administrative purposes and they are not to choose who becomes the candidate and I think it is an aberration when we disenfranchise even one person from the party at choosing especially, who is to represent them. This usually is erroneous, the direct primary will rely more on merit. The opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is saying it is the responsibility of political parties to adopt a mode of primary they deem appropriate and not for the National Assembly to impose one on them. And even some governors from your party, the APC, are speaking against this particular mode of primaries… Laws from the National Assembly are meant for the generality of the people. Good law is a precursor for a better society. When we make laws in the National Assembly, it does not target the APC, the ANPP, UPN or any other party. What we are talking about now is governance and not politics. And like I said, the generality of the people have spoken through the National Assembly to determine the mode of electoral process so desired.
Going forward, 2023 is fast approaching and hopefully by next year, the timetable for the general election will be out. Are you assuring Nigerians that their representatives would be elected through direct primaries?
Like I told you from the start, the law, in the first instance, emanates from the people that we represent. They have surrendered their sovereignty to us to represent them. And if it emanates from the people, the first characteristic of any law is that it must be owned and earned from the people. You have never heard any complaints from the generality except from the political class, who are not just comfortable but we are not making laws for the political class but for the generality of Nigerians.
In your party, there is this issue of gentleman’s agreement that after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, power will return to the South but the Northern bloc is saying such doesn’t exist, where do you stand as a party man?
I must tell you that it is not my own purview at my level to say what becomes of that. But what is so paramount is that we should be thinking of development; infrastructural development, economic development, socio-economic development, and development in all facets of life. This majorly is what is important. Lagos for example is a mini Nigeria and anybody that has governed Lagos successfully, would surely find it easy to govern Nigeria. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu came on board in 1999 and he brought in some financial re-engineering that raised the internally generated revenue of Lagos from millions to billions of naira. Even when the Federal Government of Olusegun Obasanjo held back the money of Lagos State, we were still building roads, paying teachers’ salaries, paying staff’s salaries, recruiting LASTMA officers, recruiting KAI officers and all sorts of social mechanisms.
You just mentioned the name of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu just like others who have been pushing his name forward despite the fact that he has not expressed interest to contest… …
That is the responsibility of everyone including your humble self to woo him out. Let him come out of his comfort zone and serve this nation.
But a lot of people are afraid of his health, saying he might not have the agility and strength to cope with the pressure of the office. They are of the opinion that what Nigeria needs is a young and vibrant individual. What is your take on this?
Is he going there to run a hundred meter race or is he going there to play a football match? We are talking about presidential capacity and capability, identifying who to put in the various offices and what have you. How old is the president of America today? We have seen people that have come of age, that have performed well and we have some who have performed very woefully, does it have something to do with age? And for crying out loud, nothing is wrong with the man’s health. He has only done knee surgery, which could also happen to anybody, including me at my age. This is about fixing the right people in the right places and coordinating.
There are also people canvassing that Asiwaju who many have through him became leaders today, should rather support someone like the incumbent Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to become the next president. Don’t you think Asiwaju supporting Osinbajo will give him more honour?
If Asiwaju has groomed all these people, he has groomed them for a day like this, so that various experiences they have brought to the states can be brought to the federal.
Some days ago, a splinter group from the Lagos APC known as Lagos4Lagos Movement defected to the PDP and there is apprehension that this development could affect the fortune of the party in the state in 2023. What do you have to say about this?
Honestly, I do not see that as a threat. Anybody is free to move to anywhere he/she so desires.
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