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Tunji Shelle is a former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State and head of the party’s campaign team in the state for the 2019 presidential election. In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he spoke on the spate of insecurity.
What is your take on the worsening spate of insecurity in the country?
Personally, I am of the view that the service chiefs should be excused; they have stayed for long, they have done their best which is not enough. They are battle-weary, fatigued, even the junior officers don’t want to continue with them; if they give them instructions they don’t obey or they do it lackadaisically; that is the law of diminishing returns.
They cannot do better than what they have done now. The army, police size is too small to cope with the problem in our hands. The Air Force size, for instance, it is also too small to cope with the problem in our hand; so, who takes hold of the ground? The soldiers are not happy that their welfare is not being taken care of. What we can do in the meantime is what the Borno State Governor said recently; that we should use machinery, contractors to come to help us fight this battle.
The government would pay and help equip them and they help us fight these people. Our soldiers would be on the battlefield with them and they know our weak points and where we can get the result. The service chiefs are no longer enthusiastic, nobody is saying you have not performed; this is the consequences, this is the reward, so they are just there waiting for the President to ask them to go.
Everybody is crying; nobody is safe. This war is different from conventional war; the contractors know how to fight this. I expect requirements to be going on now into the army, the people in Borno should be ready to join the army now. During the civil war, people were trained for one week; they were able to fight, so all these people joining Boko Haram should join the army instead. The Republic of Niger and other neighbouring countries are there to help.
What is your take on President Muhamamdu Buhari ignoring the invitation of federal lawmakers?
Everybody should know that President Buhari is a reluctant horse who is not even in charge. We don’t have anyone ruling Nigeria today. The Senate and House of Representatives know what to do; they represent Nigerians; if he has breached the constitution and let him face it with no sentiment. The sentiment is too much in Nigerian politics; people are not talking objectively, we need major surgery in the country.
But it appears key leaders in the North are regretting supporting him in 2019?
Yes, but now that they have seen the outcome of their actions; some of them are apologetic; look at the former governor of Borno State how he reacted that Nigeria cannot be run like this. I don’t know who their advisers are, the NASS members know that the money, benefits they are getting is too much so they cannot say the truth, this is where we find ourselves; part of the blame should be on the National Assembly. The most important thing is that the President should speak to us, even if it is close to the door; tell us what you are doing. If you can’t get the weapons fine, you can buy from the black market.
That is what Goodluck Jonathan wanted to do; buy weapons and other logistics from South Africa but they all conspired and pulled him down, now we find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing well at all. All of us know the solution is in the hand of NASS members.
We had by-elections in some states including Lagos recently; what is your assessment of the elections in Lagos?
There was apathy in Lagos; few people were ready to vote for anybody at the time of that election and APC took advantage and went round to share money with people to buy votes. They have the advantage they are in control of all the total population of the local government; the staff can make a difference. The people in the State
House of Assembly would make a difference, the people in the civil service if all of them come out and vote, it would make a difference. Apart from that they also influenced some other people to come and vote for them. But let me tell you it would not be like that in the general election in 2023 when there would be awareness. APC is already a party in division; if other parties can put their house together; they would be defeated.
Voter apathy is becoming worse. How can it be checked?
But there was no voter apathy in Zamfara State during this by-election; someone would be in traffic for hours and over the weekend he wanted to rest. They say he should come out and vote for somebody who is not known. Most of these candidates are not known. Who knew Abiru before Tinubu pushed him out to go contest? What is his pedigree in politics? That is not the best. People who are ready to transform this country are few; some of the people who are ready to work are not coming out. What we have are people with questionable integrity, somebody is covering them up. There is corruption, by the time they make the salary of Senate President same with that of an academic professor, some of them would run away and go and face their business and leave politics for those who are ready to do it.
What is your take on agitations for zoning of the presidency in 2023 to the South?
All I want is the best candidate to become the president; he can come from any part of the country but other parts can lobby others, that is why everybody is calling for restructuring; if there is restructuring, we would not have more people from a section of the country dominating others. The Igbos, South-south are very few in the National Assembly, the bulk of the people in NASS are in the Northwest, so if all of this is not done correctly we may not have the right people running the country. We need to restructure so that this system can be changed; people representing us at various levels should be people who have clearcut ideas to represent Nigeria not a drop out; someone who could not pass school certificate but wants to be a senator.
Let the people promote the right people from the local to the national level, and then we weigh them side by side. The Igbos have not ruled before. It is still possible for them to rule, but we need to work together as one country. Everybody would identify who is best, and if we have to go through rotation everybody as somebody who is brilliant, but if rotation is written in the constitution let it be, if not let us look for the best man for the job.
We saw some defections out of PDP recently; does this signify a bigger crisis in the party?
That man or Governor of Ebonyi State has no integrity; that man has occupied several positions, state chairman, deputy governor and the rest and now he is changing party. What we are hearing is that some of them are being threatened by EFCC; maybe they stole money and are going to APC to hide. That is not the kind of country we want, we want people who would not steal. The constitution is not clear on defection; it should be written that if you defect on a party mandate you lose your seat. It is very irresponsible for you to be in a party and you cross over, do they think that other Nigerians are fools that they would be packing themselves and others are looking? No, that is not the best.
What is your reaction to the crisis in the Southwest chapter of the party between Ayo Fayose and Governor Seyi Makinde over who controls the party structure?
That is very irresponsible. The governor has put himself in a position to be in charge of the party in the region and he has been doing that. Nothing is clear. I don’t get it, we have a caretaker committee and they are not functioning when the right people are not appointed. If the caretaker is somebody who commands respect all these things would not be there, he would be able to face Fayose and the governor even the members of the caretaker committee are threatening to remove him.
Does it mean Fayose is working against the party?
I don’t know Fayose’s mind, but what I am thinking is that he is trying to fight Yoruba cause; if it is a Yoruba man that is there, I would join him in securing the presidency. He is still in PDP until he comes out to tell us otherwise.
The PDP is silent on zoning the presidential ticket for 2023 what does this mean?
It is not easy to zone now; it is only Tinubu who has billions in his account that can start from now to move from place to place, not many politicians can do that. So, PDP being in opposition would not want to jump and say we are zoning the ticket to this place it may be too early.
What is your take on the appointment of INEC chairman for a second term?
Well, the man presents himself as a complete gentleman, I admire his gentle character, but a bad government would make nonsense of anybody. I am sure he has learned his lessons; elections were rigged in 2019, maybe he could have done more. In some places in the North they were just writing results, they did it in some places in Oshodi where a policeman was dramatising. All of the men that snatched ballots should be careful, come 2023 all these touts would go because they would not be able to do what they did in 2019; they would be treated like looters.
I don’t know Fayose’s mind, but what I am thinking is that he is trying to fight Yoruba cause; if it is a Yoruba man that is there, I would join him in securing the presidency
