A former National Legal Adviser to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mark Jacobs, has accused the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government of impoverishing and causing division in the country.
Mr. Jacobs, who is also a former commissioner for justice and attorney general of Kaduna State, said Nigeria has gone many steps backward since the APC government came into power.
In an exclusive interview with NEXT EDITION, the PDP chieftain said the country has witnessed “a total devaluation of human life.”
“I must say very frankly that this country has redoubled its steps backward. We are backward virtually in every sector. We have seen an unprecedented and drastic reversal of fortunes, particularly of the poor. The poor in the country have gone farther down in their standard of living,” Mr. Jacobs said.
“People are struggling to meet the ordinary demands of food and shelter. We have seen a total devaluation of human life whereby Nigerians die in hundreds and it looks normal. That is why a government in a state and at the federal level would only be bothered about figures when they heard people have been killed or an attacked has happened.
“The only question that draws the attention of officials at the federal and state level is ‘how many people were killed?’
“It is shocking that a country that has known peaceful coexistence is now being driven apart and the people are harshly coming to terms with the reality of division. The gulf between people is no longer economic but mostly on religious and tribal bases.
“Our differences have been heightened by this administration and it is such a terrible and fearful situation. For me, Nigeria has never had it this bad. Not even when we were under the military, it was not this bad. Our differences have been heightened by lopsided appointments and irresponsible action of state actors.
“It is unthinkable that in Nigeria you have state actors kill over 300 people in a single day and it was as if nothing happened and people have been trying to explain it away. I am talking about the Shite Moslems who were mowed down in broad day by state actors and when you come to Southern Kaduna, within one year, several villages have been attacked, some twice or thrice.”
He argued that with the continued disobedience of court orders and the growing impunity of government officials, the country was gradually moving towards anarchy.
Mr. Jacobs also expressed worry over the failure of civil society and prominent Nigerians to speak up against the atrocities being committed against the people.
Speaking particularly about development since his party was voted out of power, Mr. Jacobs said the APC administration has done more talking than work, adding that Buhari Government has no concrete plans on how to develop the country.
“Nobody is saying all the problems should be solved. But I am saying that more problems should not be created,” he continued.
“If you come into a house with the intention of repairing it and the initial damage was a leaking roof, suddenly the entire roof is removed, the ceiling is gone and furniture is being taken away, it is not repairs but chaos that you have brought.
“You have not repaired anything. It is very probable that they were sectors that were wrong during the previous administration and will not hold brief for anybody. But I do not agree because some wrongs were done, you come and exacerbate the situation. This country has never been this horribly managed. There is no doubt some things were wrongly done in the past.
“There is no doubt some people could have misbehaved or misruled in their little circles of power but I can tell you there is a holistic attempt now to destroy everything and it looks like the agenda is to cripple the country and reduce it to nothing. Within two years, the damage that has been caused to the very fabric of this country is much more than what had been done in 25 years.”
Instead of developing key sectors of the nation’s economy, Mr. Jacobs said the federal government allocated a “shocking” amount to the ministry of information and argued that the funds would be used for propaganda and manipulation of the populace.
The PDP chieftain also dismissed the government’s anti-corruption war as fake, saying as long as the campaign was hinged on individuals and not institutions, it would continue to be lopsided.
He maintained that those who were being arrested, investigated and prosecuted by the government were largely members of the opposition party.
He said, “It is only in this country that people are first arrested for crimes before they are investigated. They arrest, detain, castigate the people, pronounce them guilty on pages of newspapers and then start an investigation.
“It is strange and embarrassing that before a man is being tried, he had been convicted in newspapers and by journalists. You don’t fight corruption by just targeting individuals and subjecting them to public ridicule. When last did we hear of the trail of most of the arrested justices?
“They have been no trial. About eight months are gone since they were arrested and for most of them, their cases are yet to take off because it was after they were arrested and showcased as criminals that the relevant agencies started an investigation. And I suspect that when the investigation started, they ran into a brick wall and this has always been the case with most of the celebrated cases the EFCC have brought to public attention.
“Nigerians should begin to question why the arrests of people are heralded only to be unable to proceed with their trials. For me, there is nothing like fighting corruption, rather people who are perceived to be anti-government or members of the opposition party have been targeted. I make bold to say, why do you target those who handled the finances of the campaign organisation of the opposition party during the last election without also investigating those who handled the finances of the campaign of your own political party?
“Are they saying the money used for the APC campaign came from heaven? People contributed it and state actors, governors, senators, ministers, public servants and even civil servants, who are still serving are known to have contributed money to the campaign of the current administration. Why are they not being investigated?”
