INTERVIEW: Judiciary will do justice to election petitions – Former Okorocha’s Chief of Staff

Recent events in some quarters have set the political atmosphere in the country on edge.

Of major concern is the call for the arrest of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for allegedly daring to challenge Bola Tinubu’s victory at the Election Petition Tribunal, setup to address such grievances.

In this interview, UCHE NWOSU, a former Chief of Staff to the immediate past Imo State government of Owelle Rochas Okorocha, speaks on the way forward in contemporary Nigeria.

Excerpts

What is your take on the call for an interim national government?

No government is as sweet as a democratically elected government. An Interim government has no space in our constitution.

The worst civilian rule is better than the best military rule because civilian rule brings with it freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of everything that you can express yourself, and you elect whoever you want to be your leader.

But an Interim government does not have any space for that kind of expression. Besides, when you talk of interim government, it is almost a military rule.

Every reasonable democrat in this country should know that an interim government is not the best.

And we’ve enjoyed our democracy for 23 years since Abdulsalami Abubakar.

We’ve transited from one democratic government to another democratic government. So I believe that the best thing we can do in this country is democracy.

And whoever feels aggrieved with the 2023 elections should approach the court of law. I believe that the judiciary will do justice to their matter when it is brought to the court.

There’s this concern in some quarters that the court is compromised…

(Cuts in) I don’t believe that. Whenever a matter comes to court people believe that one party has bought the judiciary, which is not true.

I have seen where oppositions win election matters in tribunals. I have seen incumbent governors in a ruling party losing their seats to an opposition party.

It happened during Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo where some of the Southwest states were giving birth to ACN then.

PDP was the ruling party and the ACN was in the opposition.

So, when people say that the judiciary has been bought over, I think that they should know that the judiciary is an independent organ on its own.

Besides, the judges are not people you put in a room and tell them, this is what you should go and do, and they do it.

We’ve seen some judgments where some minority judges will give their opinion, and when it comes to the issue of tribunals, the judges come with their opinions.

And if the opinions concur, so be it. But if out of five judges two or one say the opinion is wrong, then it’s wrong, and if they say it’s right, it’s right.

I don’t believe anyone has bought our judges. People should have faith in our judiciary.

The Labour Party Youth Wing has warned those calling for Peter Obi’s arrest.

What do you think of such calls for his arrest if indeed it exists?

I don’t think that there’s any call to arrest Peter Obi. Remember that what we need in this country now is peace and unity.

Mr Peter Obi from his statement after the election has been asking every member of his political party and his supporters to remain calm while he pursues his election matters through the court.

And I’m not sure that there’s any matter like that. You know people just come up with stories.

You know what politicians does is that, because of their selfish interests they want to heighten the problems we’ve in the country already when there’s no trouble.

So people, especially political leaders should be careful because they are the people causing these troubles.

They don’t want peace in the country. They come up with one story or another to bring problems in the society.

And if people are calling for his arrest, the best thing we can do now is to call for peace. And when there’s peace the country would be united.

INEC has declared Bola Tinubu as president – elect. People in APC should not see it as an art of war. What they should do is to call for peace. Not to fan the sentiment of anger. There’s no need of calling for war, calling for this, or calling for that.

And the people in the Labour Party, since their leader said that he is going to court, why don’t they follow their leader.

And why can’t the leaders of PDP also go straight to court and follow their matter legally.

What we need now is peace. Because we call for trouble, when trouble starts it will affect all of us.

Much as it is that we should look for peace, how would you describe the just concluded general elections, and what are the lessons to learn from it?

Yea! Since 1999 we have transitioned from one democratic governance to another. From 1999 when it was Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration to Yar’adua, and then to Goodluck Jonathan. From Jonathan to Buhari, and now we’re looking at Asiwaju Bola-Tinubu who is the president – elect.

There’s no election in the world, whether it be American, or the United Kingdom that is one hundred percent perfect.

But I know where most people’s anger is. INEC told them that they’re going to transmit results through IREV or BVAS, which the presidential one was not done.

Would that therefore be the reason for the call of an interim government? No! If you feel that INEC didn’t do the right thing, then approach the court.

Some of these countries we’re comparing ourselves with, like the US and the UK, remember that their democracy has laster for over a hundred years. We’re just 23. I believe by the special grace of God, we will get there.

No election would give anybody one hundred percent, and our leaders need to be very careful.

I cannot as UCHE Nwosu call for hate on a Hausa-Fulani because my orderly is a Hausa-Fulani man. Then I grew up in the north.

I schooled in government secondary Maiduguri. My manager in my hotel is a Yoruba man. The secretary in my leadership is a Yoruba woman.

Other workers are Igbo. My chef is from the minority- South-South. We need to unite ourselves as one country not along the lines of division of where you come from, what’s your religion, and others. Whether you are Igbo, or Yoruba or Hausa-Fulani.

You find out that those calling for this war are those who don’t have any of these people around them. They only think about themselves and their families.

What’s your advice to the incoming administration?

I advice the incoming government to have a unity government, not not saying that this is APC government.

Remember that when the next president is sworn in, he is no more APC president. He is now the president of Nigeria. He is the president of people in PDP, Labour, SDP, NNPP.

So, the right thing to do is to move across party lines and say my brother in PDP, in Labour, what do you think you can offer.

Give me your best brains let’s join hands and build a nation that all of us will be proud of.

And this sometimes comes from the lieutenant, people who are working with the president. Because they will not allow them to go outside and pick. But what we are talking about is Nigeria.

Do you support the Senate President going to the Southeast in the 10th Assembly?

For us to remain united in a country with over 200 ethnic, people should be carried along.

Now that we have a president from the west, and a voice president from the north east, the Senate President should come from the Southeast or South-South, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives should come from the north central or north west.

That way if Mr Okafor comes to his people and they ask him what did they say, he should answer, yes, I was in the meeting with the president and this is what happened or what was said.

The major problem is when Mr Okafor comes back from Abuja, and they ask him what happened, and he says, I was not in the meeting.

The best thing is when Andulrahman from northwest comes back and they say, what happened, and he says, yes, I was there. This is what they discussed.

People would believe, and people will say, yes, they are been carried along.

When people are not carried along, this is what brings ethnic beef, yes, we are not part of it. We’re not been carried along.

And before you know it, people start thinking of where they come, what tribe and religion they belong.

Once every tribe and ethnic group is being carried along in running the affairs of this country, believe me, no single ethnic group will think of where they are coming from.