‘APC is credible alternative’

You are the Chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Compliance. What are the challenges facing the committee?

The House has discovered that many of its resolutions were not respected by the executive. The idea behind the committee is to interface between the legislature and the executive on various motions and bills that the House had passed. Many of them were ignored by the executive and that is why we ordered the executive to create the compliance departments in their various ministries and agencies. But up till now, the executive has not really done it. This has led to communication gap between the legislature and the executive. What that means is that the executive is not respecting the National Assembly.

Also in most cases, most of this agencies and ministries, especially NNPC, FRSC are engaging in process es that violate the law. People are sacked without following the due process and they come to the National Assembly to protest. Sometimes, they agree that they have done something wrong when they appear before our committee.

How do you intend to solve these challenges?

The last time we took a drastic step to correct it, the leadership of the House asked us to come down. If the executive does not take us seriously, the committee has agreed, with the support of the leadership of the House, that any organisation that refuses to comply with the National Assembly’s decisions without a cogent reason will be punished as the House will have nothing to do with the budget of such a ministry or agency.

What is the latest on the constitution review?

Our role at the National Assembly is to go to our various constituencies and deliberate on what our people want to be done on the constitution. We handed it over to the leaders in the constituency as directed by the House and they conducted the meeting themselves. Those who attended the meetings included the traditional leaders, community leaders, landlord association leaders and other major stake holders in the community. The template was given to those representatives and they agreed on what they want in the constitution. We have submitted the request of our people to the committee and as I am speaking with you, the committee has collated the whole template and they have reached us individually to confirm. Meanwhile, you know we cannot change the constitution, if we don’t have the two-third. That is what we are doing now to ensure that we provide a working constitution that will reflect the true wishes of our people. I want to tell you that the House is taking the issue of the constitution seriously and, by the time we finish the review, Nigerians will see that it is their true wish. They should be expecting a good result from us.

Can APC sucessfully confront PDP, the largest party in Africa, which also enjoys the power of incumbency?

APC is out to correct the bad deeds of the PDP. Although people have the final say on elections, I want to tell you they are tired of the PDP and its corruption. These parties know that the only way they can dislodge PDP is by coming together and let their people know the reasons why they should to give a red card to the PDP in 2015. If the PDP, which has been ruling us since 1999, is still talking about 4,000 mega watts of electricity, you can see that they need to leave that place for those who can do it. That means they cannot do it. They are not serious about doing anything. If between 1999 and today they cannot produce stable electricity, fix 100 kilometer road and yet, they are saying they want to come back in 2015, you can see that people need to come together and uproot them from the centre. With the APC, it will be difficult for PDP to use the rigging weapon, which they always adopt during elections. APC’s agent will be at alert in every part of the country. By the grace of God, couple with the meticulous ways and manners our leaders are working hard to ensure that APC is set up in the nooks and crannies of the country, we are confidence that the PDP will not remain in the central in 2015. The leaders are making serious sacrifices to ensure that APC dislodges PDP in 2015 so that Nigerians can have an alternative. By the time APC emerges in 2015, I have no doubt that our people will go back to work because the artisans will have electricity to work in their shops, the foreign companies will come to Nigeria, and our creativity will come to play because we are going to have a working system. I believe strongly that APC will be the answer to our problems in Nigeria.

Is President Jonathan really fighting corruption in the country?

I think Jonathan Administration is the most corrupt government Nigeria ever produced. I am not surprised because, if you look at the process of his emergence, it was not the wish of the masses. That is why corruption is the genesis of subsidy problem Nigeria is having today. Many people forged invoice for the petroleum they did not supply and that was why they said the subsidy fund jumped from 250 billion before election and raised to trillion after elections. Under his watch, we have many deficits and we have many ministers who are not performing and when the problem comes, they run to President Jonathan for cover.

What is responsible for the delay in the passage of 2013 budget?

The House insisted that we don’t need to borrow bond again when the oil money is more than what we have on the budget. Apart from that, we are talking about the inclusion of the constituency projects in the budget. But when I read through the budget from the page one to the end, I cannot see a single item that affects my constituency directly, when I expected that something must come to my people and you expect me to compromise. I will not compromise on that because my people must also have their share in the budget. Most of our projects that are not up to N50 million are pending. You are not going to give me the money directly on behalf of the constituency, but you do the project through your ministry. So, why are you delaying it? I don’t know how much they are doing those things, but all I want is to ensure that the work is done. If I request for street light on my road, they should do it. So, they are trying to cover up their weakness.

PDP is threatening to win southwest states in particular Lagos state in 2015 general elections. Do you think ACN will be able to withstand this?

People will decide. Our people who will determine who will govern them. On a serious note, I do not see the people of Lagos State voting PDP because they have seen the good work of the ACN in the region. They will not vote anybody who will come and disrupt the peace of the state. Look at what is happening in Lagos State. All other governors are coming to the Southwest, especially Lagos, to learn about good governance. The situation is so bad that you cannot even pinpoint to the things the PDP have done when theywere in the government in the Southwest.

 

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