The
recently held election in Anambra State generated so many controversies and not
a few people are blaming the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for
the ugly development.
For
a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, who represents Alimosho
Constituency 1, Prince Bisi Yusuf, the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega
should have resigned his appointment over the matter.
People
are sometimes stranded in the Bus Stop as there would be no vehicle to convey
passengers, what is the collaboration between the state government and the
National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW)
on transportation in Lagos?
You need to commend the Lagos State Government
through the transport ministry because everyday, transportation is being
improved upon in the state, you cannot talk about transportation without good
roads, for instance, we are constructing roads in Ikorodu area, by the time it
is completed, people of the area would be enjoying. Many roads are undergoing a
lot of transformation, and by the time they are completed, people would enjoy.
Even, you have to give commendation to members of the NURTW, in the past, you
see them on the roads with canes fighting motorists, now they are being
trained. Also, most of the government vehicles are being run in collaboration
with the private sector. The people that
have money have invested, it is a good business and again, what the Lagos State
Government is looking at is maintenance, they would establish workshops to
maintain the buses, the mechanics would be there.
Are
they adding more vehicles to the fleet?
That
is what I am saying; I cannot disclose that because the budget is still under
consideration.
There
was a time we heard that the time of operation of commercial vehicles would be
reduced not considering those who work late hours, what do you say to this?
I
don’t think that one is right, it is not the policy of the Lagos State
Government, it is a misinterpretation of the whole thing. I met with the state
Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa recently and he did not tell
me anything of such. I beg you, if you hear anything, go to the authority and
engage in investigative journalism to come out with the fact. When you hear
such a thing, see the Commissioner, he is a friend of the press. But, I don’t
think they can reduce the closing time of commercial vehicles to 8pm, when you consider the condition
of Lagos,
definitely it cannot work. That is not what the government means.
They
have just held an election in Anambra
State, what do you see to
the future of elections in Nigeria?
It
is the more you look, the less you see, the issue is funny, but it is serious,
that a whole Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), with all the
resources committed to it, could not conduct election in only one state. The
number of workers of INEC that worked on the election is even more than the
total number of people that came out to vote. INEC could not organize the
election because they have vested interest, they are an appendix of government
in power. I said it recently that it is an inconclusive election and that the election
did not even take place at all. It is a stage-managed election. If the Chairman
of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega could come out to admit that they compromise
on the election, then why would you declare result? I have never heard of a
supplementary election, is it a supplementary budget. I gave an analogy of the
way the Chairman of INEC talked; he said there was compromise on the election.
It is just like somebody coming to my house to put poison in my borehole, and
you now say ‘Prince Bisi Yusuf, I put poison in your well, now you can start
drinking the water,’ poison is poison, it has not other name. INEC cannot claim
that it is only these places that are affected by these criminal malpractices
that are guilty of the offence. Jega said that they have arrested his own
official, definitely, the election should be cancelled. It portrays that in year
2015, Nigerians should be very vigilant. Another thing is that, the candidate
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, his mother, brothers,
and immediate family members could not find their names on the list and the PDP
is now sending congratulatory messages to the winner of the election, it is a
shame, it means they have a target and their target is the All Progressive
Congress (APC). They want to demystify APC and they cannot do that, people are
wiser and see, Jega said that he has no power to cancel the election, what is
he trying to say.
What
is the way forward, he said that it is only the court that can cancel the
election?
If
he has no power to cancel the election, he has power to clean his name and how
can he do that. He can say that because of what happened in Anambra State,
he is resigning as the Chairman of the commission. He might not be the one, but
when he is surrounded by unclean people, he would be affected one way or the
other. It is dangerous to continue in this manner, as far as I am concerned,
there was no election in the state, it is a charade.
So,
what is your advice to the political class as we move towards election year and
how would you rate our democracy so far?
We
should intensify the enlightenment of our people, I give kudos to the women in Anambra State, about 5,000 of them protested
against the election. People should be enlightened, we should be the one to
guard our own election, if it is just one man, one vote, there is no way PDP
would come to power again. What have they done to justify their existence in
power, is it darkness, bad roads or how many people have died along
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and I will tell you that you can see our leaders in APC,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and the rest, see the
way they are going all over the place, it is not because of their own selfish
interest, but they want to ensure that Nigeria remains Nigeria. Again, you can
see the criminality of the ruling power, when they put him under house arrest
even when he had the accreditation of the party to supervise election there,
are they not turning to undemocratic tendency, ours is just to cry as much as
possible that Nigerians take their destiny in their hands. They should not toy
with the lives of the people, if you are not performing, you would be shown the
way out, not by violence, but by ballot papers. In a situation where you
cripple a local government that is so dominant by an opposition party and
election materials did not get there on time, there shouldn’t be a
supplementary election but total cancellation.
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