Dr. Vitalis Etim, is a medical practitioner with so much passion and interest in politics. In this interview with Assistant Editor, CHINWE MADUAGWU, he thinks President Muhammadu Buhari is the most credible leader in the country and must continue in 2019.
TNE: You are a Medical Practitioner, yet you have so much interest in politics. Why all the interest and passion?
Well, like I always tell those who ask, everybody should have interest in politics. Sometime ago, I went through my son’s school’s year book for the past three years and noticed that a good number of the kids when asked what they wanted to be in future said politician. I found that pathetic and worrisome. Everybody is a politician. You have to have a profession before you talk about politics. That’s why we are in the mess we are in because we now have people who have decided to be professional politicians. They don’t have something to do so they are desperate. They have turned politics into a do or die affair.
But one cannot but be interested in politics. Politics is just the organisation of people within any community, any environment. There is politics in medicine, like in the medical association where I belong. Even as a medical student then, I was in politics. So there’s politics in everything.
TNE: If I understand you, you are saying that politics should not be anybody’s permanent job, but borne out of the desire to serve?
Not just to serve, but also to improve or correct the wrongs in the society. People should be involved in the Nigerian politics, desire to serve and improve the Nigerian society. Even in the church one should be interested to improve the community or society. People should be involved in the politics of their local government to improve their local society.
TNE:Talking about society, what do you make of the Nigerian society as of now?
The Nigerian society as at today cannot be anything different from what it is. Each and every Nigerian should be held responsible for the way we are.
TNE: First of all, what is ‘the way we are’ before we go on to talk about who is responsible?
Nothing seems to work. Things are not working in this country. That’s the truth. It’s everywhere, yet people are shouting Buhari must go. I ask them and I ask everyone; your governor in your state, are you satisfied with him? Have you gone to tell him that he must go? Your local government chairman, are you satisfied with him? Have you gone to ask him to go? These are things I do and what everyone should do.
When things are not going well, I express my mind, but the problem we have is that people don’t express their minds. If you see something wrong, say it. The schools where my kids attend, they know me. I don’t keep quiet when I see things that I’m not satisfied with and I also say how it can be done well. If I can mobilise to get that done, I do. But if I can’t, I would have said my bit.
That’s the bane of our society today. Everything has gone wrong. Every Nigerian is wrong even from the roots, that’s the family. People keep saying let a new person take over from Buhari and I ask them, who is the person? Is it still not a Nigerian that we are going to make anything? That’s the summary. We should be talking of a National re-orientation or awareness of the way we are, the way we behave, the way we do things and the way we ought to be and do things. That’s the solution to our problems.
Another problem with Nigerians is double speak. Today, they will say something, tomorrow, they change it depending on the side they are on. I campaigned actively for former President Jonathan and when I was not satisfied by his administration after I had waited two to three years, I actively campaigned against him. I have asked, I’m from the South South, what did Jonathan do for that region. The region that has kept this country has been so down and out, Jonathan came and from that region too. Yet, what did he change?
TNE: Okay, at this point, are you satisfied with the Buhari-led administration?
Let me be very frank and sincere with you, I expected a lot better but the truth is, we also have to assess him based on what is on ground. So, again I ask; does government not need money to work? When the government took over, the price of oil crashed. How were things when this government took over? These are some of the things people don’t want to look at. What was thrust on their lap? Yes, to an extent they have tried based on the fact that there have been so many active bottlenecks and we are beginning to see them.
I hope you know that Saraki was actively undermining this government from the beginning. First and foremost, he was not supposed to be the Senate President, but he connived with this same PDP making noise now to become the President and from then on, he had actively worked against this government. But in spite of all these, there have been some marginal successes, though I think it could have been better. Take the South-East that are making noise, people have challenged them, and asked, for the 16 years that PDP was in government what did they do for them? But the three years that this government has been in power, they can point at something.
TNE: Please can you point out just one project in that region?
The roads in the South-East. There are Federal roads in the South East now that this government is taking on. Anybody can go and see. But after 16 years, what can the PDP point to. Every election period they will promise heaven and earth. Second Niger bridge used to be a campaign promise for PDP every time there was election but they never fulfilled it because they did not have the capacity to perform.
If the truth is to be told, no Nigerian President can stand the credibility test more than Buhari.
TNE: What are you basing that comment on?
Everything. In every way, he has passed the credibility test. Even the international community knows it, that was why in a way, they supported his coming into office because they were tired of the level of corruption in the country. That’s the truth.
TNE: After three years in office, can Buhari still stand and pass the credibility test?
Very well. You are judging Buhari based on others. Isolate Buhari and judge him as an individual. It’s just unfortunate that Buhari is one person and that’s what I’ve been talking about. The rot after 16 years was too much and he’s struggling to correct things. For him to succeed, he needs the support of the institutions and part of these institutions is supposed to be the National Assembly, which the leader has remained unsupportive from the beginning.
TNE: Remember that one of the campaign promises of this government was to fight corruption. Is it fighting corruption credibly?
Yes I think so. There was a time when Arthur Nzeribe wanted to move a motion to impeach Obasanjo and people said the time was not right because our democracy was just starting. Nzeribe called a press conference where he asked a question, “is there a right time to catch a thief?” That’s the problem with Nigerians. Nigerians mentality work this way: You stole, another person stole. I come to catch you, you do not deny the fact that you stole, but argue that why don’t I catch the other person first. But I want to catch you first, simple. For now, I have decided that it is you I want to catch. That has been the approach of the government in the fight against corruption. It can not catch everybody at the same time.
TNE: But why are they not catching their party members?
I like that question. Tell me, the past governors that have been jailed in this country, which party do they belong to? It is the APC. So that argument has been thrown away since. The point is, let them start the fight, catching the corrupt ones. People will not be in the administration for ever, is that not so? Then, let the the next President use the same template and also pursue people. If PDP had been doing it like that for the 16 years they were in power, by now everybody would have been sorted out or they would have sorted themselves out.
If this administration decides to follow some group of people, let another person follow another group of people when the time comes. If they do that, when people are in power they would do the right thing because they know it would be a matter of time and they will come after them. It’s simple logic so why the hullabaloo?
Again, like I always say to people, if a government was in power for 16 years, it goes without saying that the majority of the people that would have stolen money would be in that party. You have been in power for years, I’m just coming into power, is it not people who have been in power that should be asked to account for their stewardship? Besides, is Orji Uzo Kalu not still in court? Is he not in the APC? So the fight against corruption is on course. People must also know that corruption is not an easy thing to fight. Corruption always fights back. Nobody expected that it would be an easy ride.
TNE: Insecurity has been another issue that has plagued this country under this government. How has it fared in dealing with it?
In answering that question, I will start with a question. Where did we come from on the Boko Haram issue? There used to be bombings on a weekly basis. The Boko Haram issue has been reduced to some manageable level by this administration, but the last administration couldn’t do it. The security experts have said that part of the Boko Haram elements, the ones that have been dislodged are the ones that have infiltrated the Fulani herdsmen perpetuating the killings and violence that we are witnessing. But the government is still on it. The last administration couldn’t even do 20% of what this administration has done so far.
They came in and tried to face the issue headlong and to some extent, they have tried. You must bear in mind the Boko Haram issue is like a gorilla warfare and no where in history has any country won a gorilla warfare over night because it is a non-methodological insurgency. Many countries have been fighting insurgency before Nigeria degenerated to this level. Besides, was it not under PDP that the country degenerated to this level. The herdsmen issue did not start today. This same Buhari that people are castigating over the issue of insecurity was the same person as a GOC somewhere in the North, who chased out some Islamic sect from the country during the Shagari regime. The only thing is that he is a bit advanced in age and slower.
TNE: Would you say that the Security Chiefs and their GOCs have put in or are putting in the same energy, which you say Buhari used in carrying out his responsibility in the second republic, in fighting insurgency today?
Everybody is not the same. The ones we have now are better than the ones before them. The insecurity issue is a complex thing and I don’t want Nigerians to lose sight of a lot of things neither am l saying that all is well. These are my opinions and everybody is entitled to theirs. For now, what we have is far better than any other time in the past.
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TNE: If what we now is good enough, is it that good enough to warrant this administration to return to office in 2019?
This administration is continuing in 2019. That’s not an issue. Who else is there to take over. It’s not about making noise on the pages of newspapers or in the social media. I always ask people especially friends and family touting PDP as an alternative, how many votes they can bring for the party. I can confidently say that I can give APC about 150 votes from among friends and my patients. I have boys who will always depend on my guidance to vote. These are people that I have touched. When they have problems they come to me and in my own little way I do what I can. How many of these people making noise do that. I tell people that it takes something to do those thing. It takes money to keep those boys.
TNE: Is that not vote buying?
No, it is not. I said when somebody has a problem you help. Did we talk about vote then? I’m talking politics, you’re talking vote buying. I’m saying be in people’s lives. Don’t just stay in the comfort of your home and make noise, you cannot influence one person’s vote. In the last election, I know how many people including my patients that I convinced to vote for APC with arguments and facts.
TNE: If the APC is doing well as you say, why do we have all these defections every where?
Which defection every where? Name one person that has defected that has been in one party for long. Among the people that defected, they are always defecting and will continue defecting. Things are going on well but the people defecting are selfish people. Their own definition of things going on well is for things to go on their own way. People who understand are still where they are. Take Saraki, for instance, he left because he said the party didn’t give him anything, yet it was as a member of that party that he became Senate President. Almost all the appointees from Kwara State were his ‘boys’, still he said he was not given something but when he left the party those people left too. Why did they leave if they were not his people?
TNE: But Saraki has denied making such a statement?
Of course, he will deny it now but he said so.
TNE: Were you there when he said it?
So why did he leave the party?
TNE: He said the party leadership in cohort with the security apparatus have been hounding him.
Hounding him how? He kept dilly dallying, waiting to see what the party would offer him. Really, Saraki is the least of anybody’s problems. I can tell you that he would be shocked in the coming elections because the Kwara people are even tired of him. They are beginning to ask themselves why Kwara State should belong to the Sarakis and they have decided that enough is enough. Even as he has defected, the sister announced her support for Buhari.
TNE: So are you saying that these defections would not have any effect on the APC in the coming elections?
As far as I’m concerned it would affect the PDP more and negatively too. Are you aware of Markafi’s comment that they were giving the defectors too much room? I tell you PDP will blow up. Saraki just defected and the party has already announced him as the National leader of the party and you think the other ones who have been there would be happy? Let them finish their primaries and you will see what will happen. By the time the primaries finish, you’ll know who will remain. Somebody jokingly asked me about the closing window for defection and I told him there was no closing window.
TNE: Former Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswil Akpabio recently defected to the APC. What are the implications for both APC and PDP?
It is the total burial of the PDP because that was the only person remaining in the party. I keep telling people that in politics you cannot talk too much if you don’t have electoral value. I’m not talking about people like Saraki now. To some extent, give it to Saraki and that’s because of his father, he has electoral value. No one can take that away from him. There are a lot of people that make noise who do not have electoral value. Akpabio has electoral value. If he says he will give you 900, 000 votes, he will do so. Did he not give that to Good luck Jonathan?
Akpabio’s defection is too big a loss for PDP because for them, it is finished in Akwa Ibom. When Akapabio was governor, if you enter the state and he is not around, you will know. The whole place would be dead. It comes alive the moment he returns and it starts from the Airport because the entire state would go to the Airport and welcome him.
TNE: Let’s look at the Ekiti Governorship election, would you judge that election free and fair?
Did you judge the 2014 election free and fair? If the 2014 election was judged to be free and fair and allowed to stand, then the recent election was free and fair. Somebody from Ekiti told me that their problem was not PDP but that Fayose had to go. That’s what PDP didn’t understand.
TNE: So as the 2019 elections approach, what do you advise Nigerians to look out for in deciding who to vote for?
The problem with Nigerians is that about 75%, if not more are political illiterates and that’s part of our problems. You know why: from the councillor down to the president are supposed to be serving us. Yet, Nigerians fail to hold them accountable. Our elected officers make themselves unapproachable and unavailable with their retinue of police officers and bodyguards and Nigerians take it.
Nigerians should first of all look for those who have their interest at heart. It’s not just about voting, it’s holding the people accountable. A lot of people, if they know they would be held accountable will do something but here the clapping and shouting is too much. Even when the elected officers do nothing, you still find people praising them.
The problem in this country is not APC or PDP, it’s the people themselves. The reason the governors in Lagos try to perform is because people will finish them if they don’t. In the place where I stay, during the last dispensation, we supported somebody to win counselorship, even to the extent of contributing money for him when his case went to the Tribunal because we believed in him. After he won, he didn’t do anything and didn’t even have time for anybody. When it was time for election again, he came out, this time for Chairmanship. We told him he wasn’t going to win and he didn’t. The person that won is doing well and the people have said party or no party, they will vote for him again. So, it’s not and should not be about party.
My point, therefore, is that Nigerians should learn to hold their elected officers accountable. The party they belong to should not matter as long as they are ready to work. After all, they are supposed to serve the masses that elected them. Let’s stop blaming parties. Again, all these people shouting Buhari must go, should first of all, go and sort their counselors and governors out. If the states are doing well, 65% of Nigeria’s problems are solved.
