I will no longer contest elections –Oni, Ekiti ex-governor
Former Ekiti State Governor and Social Democratic Party candidate in the 2022 governorship election, Chief Segun Oni, tells news men his thoughts on the state of the country and what the incoming government needs to do differently to correct the wrongs in the system
Diverse opinions have greeted the 2023 elections, some say it was peaceful and the freest so far, while some others say it was violent and highly manipulated, what is your assessment?
From my viewpoint, it was not free and fair and the Independent National Electoral Commission rehearsed what it wanted to do. The Ekiti governorship election preceded the general elections and ours was one of the first where the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System was used. It’s funny that Nigerians did not bother to find out how BVAS performed in Ekiti before they started jumping on the bandwagon. When the result was announced, we thought the next thing we should do was to go to the tribunal because that is the process. We went to the tribunal because we wanted to prove that there was no election in Ekiti. We tried to do that without any bitterness but to show that this system is terribly faulty, not because Segun Oni wanted to become governor at all cost, but because the system is faulty and it is for the sake of Nigerians. The tribunal gave orders to INEC twice to allow us access to BVAS and electoral materials because we knew we could prove the case, but on the two occasions, INEC refused. So, if Nigeria wanted to conduct a post-mortem, the same way they should look for the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa State (Hudu Yunusa-Ari) who called a wrong result is the way they should also look for the REC in Ekiti or any other REC that refused to obey court orders to allow people access to election materials. I don’t have any bitterness towards anybody. But if the system is that if you feel the election was not properly done you go to the tribunal, we went to the tribunal and one official, the REC, blocked our access. It is funny that the so-called civil society groups are not asking questions. Part of the funny thing is that even the election tribunal that gave orders twice that we should have access did also not remember to include it in its judgment. So, you should ask questions; is this a serious country; are we a serious people; are we serious about democracy? In this case, the judiciary, rather than being quiet when someone obstructed justice, should have pronounced that what they did wasn’t right. We are being too selective in what we do. When you see selective justice, it angers people and eventually it may boil over.
Do you mean the issue you witnessed with the BVAS in the Ekiti governorship election simply replayed itself in the 2023 elections?
Of course, what I expected to happen in the 2023 election was what happened because we did not have the cause to question what happened in the Ekiti election properly. The BVAS is an arrangement by the people who arranged it and I am sure they know where the problems are.
What issue did you have with the BVAS, because many people have argued that the BVAS worked well in most places?
In a lot of places, the BVAS was bypassed and very high votes were declared in such places. The figures in a lot of places in Ekiti were fictitious. We were also surprised that the result for Ekiti in the presidential election was the first to arrive at the National Collation Centre in Abuja. Was that because we were the nearest to the collation centre? The result for Ekiti was rushed for whatever reasons. We should make democracy a serious business. That is my contention. I am sure a lot of the international observers will have questions about our integrity if we spent so much and talked so much about what we were doing and they saw what they thought was very questionable. Like I said, the BVAS performed below expectations. People are not asking questions; how did the REC in Ekiti have the gut to refuse a court order twice and feel okay? Was it a grand conspiracy that goes to the very top, which I suspect it is? Democracy must be a serious business if we want it to endure.
There have been suggestions that the INEC chairman, RECs and the national commissioners should not be appointed by the president, who is partisan. Do you think that is better?
Are we serious people? Are the courts not instituted by our constitution? Are they being treated with enough respect and are they treating themselves with enough respect? We must be serious. We are always suggesting that democracy will be put to better use if RECs were appointed by the judiciary, I don’t know what difference it will make, because if the president appoints RECs, is there a process whereby they are also capable of being audited in whatever they do? The REC in Adamawa, for example, will he ever be subjected to an inquisition about what happened? Some of us are not talking for ourselves, we are talking for Nigeria and the future of the system. If anybody did not do things right, they should face the law accordingly.
How do you think free and credible elections can be conducted in Nigeria so that people won’t have to burden the courts with cases?
I don’t know, because the desperation of politicians first makes elections not to be free and fair. A few days before the Ekiti governorship election, some people came to me to market the idea that election results could be written and announced. But I said, ‘go to the streets and find out and you would see that if anybody needs the services of people to overwrite the people’s mandate, it’s not me because I didn’t think I need it’. Although, people are capitalising on the greed of politicians to put some of these measures in place. If you ask me how to ensure that elections will be free and fair, processes have to be designed so there will be control and auditing of the process thereafter. If people know they can be called to account, they will probably be more cautious.
What came to your mind when you heard about the interim national government the Department of State Services accused some people of planning?
Who will preside over an interim government and how will we arrive at that? From a democracy to an interim government, who constructed that path? Is it constitutional? I don’t see it as sensible. This is part of the aberrations we talk about. Nigerians can make anything look sensible. If this system is not working, let us find a way of conducting as much inquisition as possible so the future can be better. The idea of an interim government should not come from anybody who loves democracy.
People are saying the judicial process is slow and that election petitions should have been concluded before inauguration, what do you think?
In 1979, I was already an adult, I was already a graduate of chemical engineering and I was in Lagos. I attended some of the court sessions where Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s case against Alhaji Shehu Shagari over the 1979 presidential election was being handled and I saw the legal people working so hard to ensure that the cases would be disposed of before the swearing-in of the new president. There were extended sittings, the case of Awolowo went from the High Court to the Supreme Court and it terminated before the swearing-in. Where there is a will, there is a way. First, it has to be written in the constitution so it won’t be by people’s discretion. The people who designed this system should have a rethink and ask if we have to leave it the way it is or not.
It is believed that the 2023 elections caused a division among Nigerians along ethnic, religious and social lines, do you agree that it did and what do you think caused it?
To a reasonable extent, yes. It has left us divided a bit, but it’s because we allowed it to divide us. Looking ahead, I hope we will identify the issues that make us so porous along ethnic and religious lines. I believe the constitution can also be sensitive to such things. It will sound controversial, but those who are the custodians of the constitution would have to put a lot more into it than what they have done so far. I don’t think this is when we should be so divided along religious and ethnic lines as we are, but politicians would want to exploit any opportunity that benefits them. That was what happened. We should also be more sensitive to these and block such loopholes in the future.
The presidential election threw up some surprises, especially in the performance of some political parties, what do you think informed the way Nigerians voted?
What informed the way Nigerians voted was the fact that there was an army of silent people who suddenly woke up to be part of the process, either because they were tickled along their ethnic or religious lines. I believe surprises should be part of democracy if it is properly practiced.
Do you think Nigeria’s democracy is growing?
It depends on what you mean. I said earlier that it is a surprise that in this age, an official of the government refused a court order twice and got away with it. Will you call that a sign of progress in any system? I believe the CSOs should not just rehash criticisms, they should have a way of conducting an audit, they can set up their ombudsmen where people can send their concerns, they can find out and raise issues which appropriate government bodies will look at. So, there are aspects of our elections that we know have been better a million times. We are not making progress all round but we have made some progress.
Looking at the past eight years, do you think Nigerians have enjoyed democracy?
I am not in a position to say categorically if Nigerians have enjoyed democracy because the indices of what the masses have enjoyed should be taken from their reaction to a couple of things. However, I don’t think they have enjoyed a good life. The role of leaders is to provide a better life for the people. A lot of people do not even understand what democracy is and what it should provide for them. I believe Nigerian people are living a devalued life now, including those who are called privileged. The place we are conducting this interview has not had power supply for over a week and we are even lucky because I know places in Ekiti that have not had power for over 10 years. So, if we are all living a devalued life and we are trying to cope, would you say it is a pass mark on our democracy?
Do you think the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria succeeded in curbing vote-buying in the 2023 elections as argued by some persons?
As far as I am concerned, vote-buying was not curbed in the elections. Those who said that should have gone to the field to see things for themselves. Here, people still bought and sold votes freely. By the way, we all ‘dibo ko s’ebe’ (vote for us and get money to cook soup) and the people who started it are still around. Those who do it have also moved further. While you are trying to put a check on cash, they are already doing other things. They are getting people’s account details and sending money to them and so on. I don’t know what the CBN achieved. They said they redesigned it; what I saw was a change in colour, which was inferior to what it was. I hope they would have the courage to say ‘let us go back to what it used to be’. If you want to promote a cashless policy, the government can design a better process.
You challenged the result of the June 18 Ekiti governorship election up to the Supreme Court and your party kicked after the verdicts from the tribunal, Appeal Court and the Supreme court. Are you satisfied with the Supreme Court judgment that the APC won?
The Supreme Court did not say APC won the election. It has not come out with the reason for taking the position it took. Let me make myself clear so that people will know. We went to court based on three grounds – the first was that we knew that the BVAS needed to be interrogated to actually know the true situation of the election. That was our concern. If I was defeated in an election, I want to know if we were truly defeated. The second ground was the Governor Mai Mala Buni issue, which was technical – the people who said it were at liberty to do so. The third ground was the certificate of the deputy governor which our people put a question on. The moment we were blocked from accessing the BVAS and election materials, it meant there was no way we could prove the first ground. On the second one, we were not the ones who made the statement. For the third one, as far as I was concerned, that was the only thing that went to the Supreme Court. Whatever the Supreme Court said they saw or did not see is entirely left to them and their conscience. I have no qualms about that.
Since the Supreme Court has given its judgment, what next for you?
Life continues. I have told a lot of people, I don’t have anything against the governor, Biodun Oyebanji. He is my brother. I will even say that if the attitude of people close to him had been as close to his, maybe we would have an Ekiti without acrimony. I have a great deal of respect for him and his office and I have told my people. My people will have to continue playing politics if they choose to. I am bound to support them because they supported me before. I am going to continue in politics by now supporting people. I started politics by supporting people, and from there, people supported me. I believe it should be the natural course of events that as I am inching towards retirement, I should be supporting people, but my people will determine where our support will be going. Our system needs to be refined, else, it may lead us to a bad end.
Are you saying you will no longer contest for elective positions?
Right now, I cannot see any elective position that is attractive to me to contest again. I had contested for governorship and won and I was allowed to do it until I was removed. It was terminated, not according to how it should have been, but I left. Also, I had contested an election and I won but I was prevented – so what remains? Where is the third option? You won, you were there, you were removed. Then again, you won, but prevented. I don’t deceive myself.
After the Supreme Court judgment, the governor said he would visit you with the aim of inviting you to rejoin APC. Also, the PDP South-West visited you to woo you back to the PDP. As the beautiful bride here, which of the two parties appeal to you more?
Yes, he promised to visit and he has fulfilled that promise. However, I said earlier that the decision won’t be mine, it will be my people’s because they are the people I want to support. I owe them my support, especially young people, who have their careers. That is why I am trying to call a meeting here to say let representatives from all over the state come, let us ask how we should proceed. I believe that along party lines, there are clearly three options – SDP, APC and PDP in whatever order. I will listen to them, when my people have made a decision, I will explain it to as many people as possible. But I don’t want to prejudge whatever would happen. I am at home as far as whatever outcome is concerned because I will be part of it, but it will come from my people. I don’t want to be the one to say let us go to the West or East. I want them to think about it. I have made it very clear and I say this categorically, I am not contesting any election into any executive or legislative position again. I think I have tried; I want to support those who will contest elections. Wherever the larger majority of those I want to support want, that is where I will support them.
The president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will be inaugurated in a matter of weeks and he will inherit a lot of challenges, what is your advice to him?
First is sincerity of purpose. If he wants to solve these problems, he can, but he must be sincere. Therefore, he should not allow people whose conduct or actions will contradict the direction he wants to take to disturb him.
What do you think should be his priorities?
Reforms. A lot of things are bad; he knows and all of us know. If he carries out reforms with sincerity of purpose, not by allowing A to get away because they are his kinsman or B to get away because they are untouchable. I know he has enough facts. Any politician operating at his level will have enough facts about what went wrong as a result of lack of sincerity of purpose.
What specific areas need the reforms?
Reforms are necessary everywhere. Take the CBN as an example; do Nigerians have a way of measuring the performance of the CBN or questioning the capacity of its management? If they give you our currency to manage and you took over at less than N200 per dollar and today on the streets it’s about N800 to the dollar, should we be helpless? So, the reforms as far as I am concerned should start with the CBN because the whole challenge will be economic. We must look into the calibre of people to run the system. Should the CBN be competing with commercial banks to lend money to farmers and traders? The reforms at the CBN must be total and I am sure that the president-elect knows many Nigerians that can make it happen.
What do you think Nigerians will miss about the president, Muhammadu Buhari, after May 29?
We will miss insecurity. We want to miss it because the next person must take our security more seriously. We want to miss the economy that makes us second or third class in Africa. A lot of unauthorised people are selling our crude oil and they are milking Nigeria for illicit funds. With sincerity of purpose, we will identify them, block the loopholes and apply the laws. People know that these things are happening, but they still continue. So, we want to miss the lack of sincerity. We will miss the idea that some people know nothing can happen to them.
What will be your advice to your governor?
I always wish him well because the peace and the comfort that we enjoy in the state will be a function of how successful he is. So, we all must work with him to be successful. I believe he should tackle insecurity and there are ways to do that. I hope I will have a private session with him to throw in some of my own suggestions. I think he should also fix our roads. A few months back, a federal agency was reportedly advising travellers not to take some federal routes to Ekiti because the roads were bad. I expected Ekiti people, young Ekiti people, to reply that agency and take the Federal Government to court, if possible, because you are inflicting pain on us and you are making fun of us. The roads are bad, but I don’t think it’s a federal agency that should be advising people not to pass through here because the roads are bad. Has the Federal Government done its bit? So, security and roads first. It was this bad in our time and we declared what we called Road Revolution and in less than two years, a lot of people were passing through Ekiti to access other states because we had made a difference. I wish BAO (the governor) luck and I know the difference can be made quickly with the right attention and direction. I believe he is trying on internal roads, but he should do something on the roads that connect towns. If you look at the roads that traverse the state, whatever he can do to get the Federal Government’s attention should be done.
