Wale Ogunade, a lawyer and human rights activist is the president, Voters Awareness Initiative, Lagos. In this Interview with INIOBONG IWOK assesses the electoral process in the country and the increasing voter apathy in the country.
Your group, Voters Awareness Initiative, is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), how does it operate?
The NGO is a membership organisation, that is, our members contribute morally and financially to the progress and growth of the organisation and it activities.
If we want to campaign or carryout advocacy programme we fund ourselves, but principally funding of the group activities is from me as the president.
Does it mean you don’t seek foreign or local assistance?
Nobody has given us any support, both local and foreign, you can go and google it, we are a group of people who have come together for the purpose of good governance and patriotism for the good of our country.
We have not asked for financial support because we don’t want to be controlled by anyone, he who pays the piper dictates the tune, if they give you money they would want to control and check the way you operate.
If we want to carryout advocacy or check a project and our sponsor has a link to the contractor or someone in government we may not be able to carry out such work.
If we had to criticise a government officials we would not be able to because we are funded and they would not be happy: so that is the issue, we don’t want to be derailed, we want to be focused, we want to avoid all these things.
How do you react to the increasing voters’ apathy in the country?
Before now people think going out to vote is a waste of time. There are several reasons why we have voters’ apathy in the country.
The first is that people think their vote would not count and logistics may not be enough or arrive on time or the electoral officer may not be friendly. When people are not involved the process is bound to fail.
To the voters, people who still say why should I waste my time and am not appreciated, that means that we need to up our game form, we the civil society, the electoral body and the government.
If the people do not take part in the electoral process or are disenfranchised they would not have confidence in the system.
There is voters’ apathy in the country, we are more than 150 million in the country, but those that vote are not up to 50 million, which is nothing to write home about, those that voted are in the minority.
What we need to do now is to make the registration and collection of PVC accessible: a situation where someone go there more than three times and spend several hours without any result, it discourages the person and they may not want to continue with such process because they would feel their time and effort have been wasted.
Another one is violence during election; it discourages people from coming out to vote because they are concerned about their safety, especially in violence prone areas.
How do you react to a situation where voters expect to be induced before they exercise their civic responsibility?
I don’t believe in that. But it is about lack of democratic divided, lack of cushioning effect, and lack of social support from the government: that is why people sell their birthright.
How much are they giving them? Peanuts, N500 or N1,000, it is only the party officials that are given big amount to share.
It is the poverty in the country that is aiding this, the banks doesn’t give loans for people to start business and there is no job, so the situation is frustrating for Nigerians.
Are you confident that INEC as presently constituted can conduct a credible elections?
INEC would conduct a credible election because we want them to do that. It is the reason why we are out and engaging the media now too.
INEC should conduct a credible election because they have the facilities and if they don’t have or lack anything they should ask the government.
But we have started talking, and advocacy also has started. We have said they should start preparing now, if you want to wait till this time next year it may be late.
People are looking at INEC, if they have issues with card readers let them go to the National Assembly to promulgate the necessary laws and sort it out now before it is late.
There is the debate about restructuring of the country, what is your view?
Yes I believe in restructuring. Nigeria is a federal state, but we are practicing unitary system, it won’t work. We need to operate like a federal state, that is what I have been saying for years now; let us have a true federal system.
I think the call for restructuring is louder now because election is around the corner, Nigerian politicians when it is election period they bring an issue to use to get votes from the electorate and win election, and after wining you don’t hear anything again.
Restructuring could mean different things to different people, but I believe if we want to restructure let us do it based on true federalism and allow democratic tenet to take its course.
Let’s restructure and Nigeria should practice true fiscal federalism, the state can control their resources, the local government can have autonomy and we have mid- term election just like it is done in America this would help our democracy process.
Do you still believe in the anti-graft war?
The anti corruption war is on, as you see we cannot continue with the way we have been doing for years now. We need a change of mindset and orientation, I know there are challenges in the fight but I am sure they would get it right with time.
We have seen the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Ayo Oke sacked recently, if this is continued it would discourage people, even if it mean naming them it would put them to shame.
I am not an APC member, not a politician. Even when some people may be saying the war is selective, that is not the way I see it, but they can’t come to my house, your house or the reader’s house: It is the house of those who have been in elective positions before they would go to.
For me, the question is not if they are selective or not, it is if they are fighting corruption or not?
The President’s friends were investigated and a lot of people are returning their loots, of course they can’t touch the money due to constitutional issues, but everyone can see what is going on, there is increased awareness about corruption, if this is sustained it would reduce corruption in the country.
As the 2019 election approaches what are your plans for your NGO?
We are working and we are having meetings, infact we would be having one in the next one hour.
And we have been talking to the people through the media, we begin to create awareness and carry out advocacy programmes especially about voters register, and that people should try and register, the voters register should be a continuous process, and it should be sustained.
We would also be holding seminars and debates in which we would be tasking the candidates on why they want to contest for elective positions, it is not just to campaign on the streets and win and run to Abuja till the next election and you don’t fulfill your campaign promises, while the people remain ⌐poor.
We would want to hold these candidates accountable to the people.
How do you assess female involvement in politics in the country, amidst the recent rejection of the affirmative action bill by the National Assembly?
The statistics are getting better. I think it is about 10 Percent. We may not have gotten there when you compare Nigeria to the advanced world,
but in the last presidential primaries of the PDP we saw Sarah Jubril contesting for the office of the president and I know in several states of the federation women contested for several positions, including governor.
In Lagos State we had many women governorship candidates and there was also one in Taraba State she is a minister now.
I have interacted and spoken with big time female politicians, their response is that the field is murky and dangerous, as a woman you have to be careful.
Here in Africa you know women as wives and mothers, they have to take care of the home and you know this meetings are held in the night, it is only a singe woman or a women who is lucky to have an understanding husband that would allow her to attend meetings at such hour and be involved.
But how many men would allow their wives attend these meetings at such time? Obviously it is getting better and things are changing, we hope in the coming elections we would see more women contesting.
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What we need to do now is to make the registration and collection of PVC accessible: a situation where someone go there more than three times and spend several hours without any result, it discourages the person and they may not want to continue with such process because they would feel their time and effort have been wasted. Another one is violence during election; it discourages people from coming out to vote because they are concerned about their safety, especially in violence prone areas.
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