ECOWAS Not Being Teleguided By France, Coup Driven By Bad Governance - Prof Akinyemi |Politics Today

[Music] thank you Mounds are the capacity and policies of President tunable comes under scrutiny to dissect relations coming from Nigeria Republic and the tunables interventions everything of the ABC's an open letter to President raising some concerns over emergence of Governor gandhije as the APC National chairman the policy of its government hello everyone welcome to the program this is politics today live on China's television I'm sure in Abuja our special guests on the program tonight he's a former foreign affairs minister and a professor of political science Professor balajiakiyami will be speaking through us tonight on the program and the issues the handling of ecowas and president unobu in Niger the policies of this government and some of the major national issues stand by everyone with me tonight but first and foremost let's bring you up to people what is happening as of now we now know what the mind of the president and that of the acting governor of the central bank is personally will say that the Apex bank will in the next few days we're taking steps to improve the liquidity and the Foreign Exchange Market president who he said is concerned with the developments in the market and its impacts on Nigerians listen to the acts in CBN governor Mr President was very concerned or is very very concerned about some of the goings on in the Foreign Exchange Market and one of the things we discussed were what could be done to stabilize and what could be done to improve the liquidity in the market and also the goings on in the various other markets including the parallel Market we do not believe that the changes going on in the parallel Market are driven by pure economic demand and Supply but are topped by speculative demand from people some of the plans and strategies which I'm not a liberty to share with you mean sooner rather than later the speculators should be careful because we believe the things we are doing when they come to fruition may result in significant losses to them before we go to Professor balajiaki I mean let me bring you up to speed in what is happening around the country on your political Roundup [Applause] the leadership of the Nigeria labor Congress has warned that it will embark on a nationwide indefinite strike action should the federal government allow another hike in the price of petrol and miss the ongoing negotiations the president of the NLC Mr juajiro gains the warning at the African Alliance of trade unions executive meeting in Abuja the meeting which had an attendance labor Executives from Ghana Kenya Senegal and South Africa also advis leadership against the plans to deploy the military to Nigeria Republic to restore the Democratic order Nigerian workers will not give any notice if you have not addressed the consequences of the last two increases and welcome from our sleep to hear that they have tampered with it Governor Abdullah isli has sworn in 16 Commissioners into the Nassau arrested executive Council speaking during the ceremony at the government house in Lafayette the state capital the governor asked the new Commissioners to adhere to the policies of his administration foreign [Music] is asking political appointees in the state to key into the vision of State development framework through cooperation and teamwork which will help to achieve effective governance the governor was speaking during a retreat organized for political appointees at the National Institute for policy and strategic studies Plateau state [Music] between the people of plateau state we live to come together and understand ourselves and work as one unit the impulse between the factions of the labor party appears to have deepened as both factions elected separate principal offices to stay their Affairs of the party in Lagos both factions are claiming to be the authentic body that should be organized by inec the leaders spoke during separate inauguration ceremonies of the legal State Executives of the patients in Lagos please [Music] No Going Back aburi must go to court for the next few weeks in the next few months we are going to continue to take actions that will strengthen the party some persons with disability are lamenting the impact of the removal of your subsidy on petrol on their lives a co-chair person of the accelerate disability inclusion in emergencies Mrs Grace Jerry gave highlights of the theme parks during a media briefing in Abuja Mrs Jerry points to the increase in the cost of Transportation food items health care and other Essentials and once the federal government to include representatives of persons living with disabilities in the negotiation committee on fuel subsidy removal foreign thank you so much everyone for staying with us who are this open letter which I'm about to read portions of weight to you my uh be a bit worrying for members of the APC considering that the position uh the person who wrote The Open Letter who's in the party it's a national Vice chairman not west of the ruling APC Mr Salah lookman who recently said he's resigned under some uh leaders of the party said if not accepted his resignation is not open letter to President Bala tinubu accusing him of imposing another Muslim Muslim leadership on the party some part of that letter try to break down for you some portion of the letter first and foremost the first signal that is written uh the title of the letter is disturbing sickness and the very first one is about the competence of the national chairman of the APC uh Abdullah gandujah he says the imagines of the Dr ganduge as National chairman of APC send the disturbing signal of being weakly committed to fighting corruption and this is very troubling and is not a representative of the interests of APC members nor its representative The Wider interests of Nigerians he also spoke about a Muslim Muslim uh ticket or pairing or the replacement of in the party with the governor ganduje and Senator but ajubara basiru who replaced Senator adamu and Mr Mr Senator iyola omishore also eraser the fear at what he called The Fear Factor in the APC said the fact that a lot of people are not able to speak up on what is happening in the party is warring and disturbing one of the other issues erase is a factor that the policy of the britainable government is given a lot of Nigerians paint and the fact that some of these policies are going to throw Nigeria on Nigeria into a disturbing State He also mentioned the fact that a lot of expectations on president tinubu on the caliber and that persons is going to appoint but he said most Nigerians are disappointed all of these are captured in a letter you referred to as disturbing signals developments may be coming out of Nigeria Republicans for as the efforts of President tinubu and Equity is concerned as a military gender in that country has indicated redness for dialogue however the West African uh committee which is ecowas today latched Threat by Nigeria's military rulers to prosecute after president Muhammad bazum saying this contradicted the regimes declared within us to resolve the crisis peacefully the cool leaders who toppled uh president bazoom our last uh I mean some days ago said that they had gathered evidence enabling them to prosecute president bazon for what he referred to as high treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger as he said I was based on contacts uh bazoom had had with Nationals foreign organization they release a statement where ecowas today at the land of the threats with um which is worrying to them let's get some perspectives and of course some perspectives on the national issues I'm being joined by a well-respected professor of political science and a former foreign affairs minister Professor polaji akinyemi joins us live on the program from Lagos it's good to see your Prof thank you so much for joining us tonight uh thank you for inviting me to your program thank you sir let's begin the conversation on a Niger situation and a lot of Nigerians will be we want to know their developments which I've mentioned now it looks like good news if the military you understand they are willing to talk and dialogue but why do why is these a really different scenario these uh the what happened in Burkina Faso and in some other countries within the region When government democratic government were being toppled didn't get as much attention or why do you think that in Niger situation has gotten this kind of attention locally here in Nigeria well because you have to draw the line somewhere the fact that something that succeeded in Mali in Burkina Faso in Guinea much to the displeasure of ecowas it chosen that they accepted the cause that took place in those countries but discipline fund themselves in a position where they couldn't reverse the development there but this time they decided that's enough was enough and I haven't had one single commentator even those who are criticizing ecowas I haven't had one single commentator abroad the fact that the crew took place in Niger you have to draw the line somewhere and that it is better drawn um in the latest school case I must point out because we have to get the narrative light when President tinubo was elected chairman of ecowas obviously he laid down the parameters of his foreign policy there and he said under my watch he was not going at least he was not going to allow cools to take place he was not going to allow terrorism to take place those who are the two legs which he identified in Guinea bissau there was then a pushback by Civil Society by opposition parties by human rights organization that you cannot just focus on calls and terrorism how about looking at their courses what leads to these cools so by the time he then got to Nairobi at the midterm Summit of the EU and Regional organizations he then added the third leg that they will pursue issues that will promote an advance democracy So to that extent to not had a three-leg proposal biantico the anti-terrorism and be pro-democracy you must look at the time the timeline he was not expecting a coup and believe me if anybody tells you that they could foresee that equal was going to take place in Niger bissau that's just um hindsight nobody expected that there will be that immediate cool in Niger because there were no demonstrations the economy was progressing um there were no there was no crisis there were no conflicts at least that were open to any of us and then the good took place what was ecowas supposed to do relax and say oh well you could have taken place in Mali in in Burkina Faso and in Guinea uh Conakry therefore and they got away with it we will allow Nigeria to also get away with it it was just too close to the Declarations in Guinea Bissell and the Declaration in Nairobi for ecowas not to react forcefully and I keep telling people that president tinubo has only one vote at The Summit only one vote other African States of States who are members of ecowas are not dummies he could not bully them into supporting his stand so that ecowas took a forceful stand on the against the copists in Niger it must reflect the consensus of feelings of attitudes within ecowas itself and already we had evidence of that because at the last Summit held in Abuja if you look at the opening statement by President tinubu actually he laid more emphasis on dialogue on diplomacy but if you now listen to the statement by president wachara of the Ivory Coast it was tough it was strong it was militant and it seems to even have if you like pushed president Noble into a corner that the feeling of echoas is you draw the line here so that is a long if you like winded answer to your question why uh Burkina Faso and why not Indonesia fantastic so uh I mean as a Nigerian millions of those who are watching right now and they will be wondering why should Nigerians be worried or concerned at all about what is happening in Niger and especially as much as the concern of Nigerian leaders especially president and we've seen the reaction of some Northern Elites and leaders and their intervention also why is Niger important to our national economy or security look at the trajectory of schools in West Africa in fact West Africa seems to have become a belt of cupists and if you are ahead of State sitting whether you've been newly elected or you know you you were elected that long time ago and you see these coupes schools creeping on surely you will wonder about the condition in your own country whether in Nigeria whether in Cote d'Ivoire whether in Senegal wherever you will want you will wander how to put a stop to decrypting phenomenon of course that's number one number two yes Northern elements especially have been very vocal and in fact let me correct myself Nigerians whether in the North in the South or wherever have been very very vocal against the military component of the policy of ecowas they they felt that the military component being put on the table was too quick that there should have been more emphasis on diplomacy more emphasis on dialogue prior more emphasis on economic sanctions before you start to talk openly about the military option but there has been nobody and I will repeat that no commentator who had supported or approved or Justified the whole that took place in Nigeria so it's not just Nigeria the question you really should ask me is why is confronting the copies in Niger why is it important to Echo us and because people keep saying that ecowas policies towards Nigeria is not the nobus policies that it is ecowas policy towards the cookies and I've just explained that you don't want a domino effect who in Nigeria being the latest in what other country again will the soldiers be looking at what's happened in the year and thinking why don't we try it here the only thing that will put is stop to decrypting copism Will Be an Effective stop foreign so I I like to follow up with the development that we saw Prof now that they're willing and they they told us at their grievances uh the the the cool leaders in Naja they told us about their their Grievances and they wanted the world to know why they took the stand which they took earlier in the game but there are those who fear Prof about are possible new Colonial tendency and are those who say maybe there is there are some Whispering from some French of European leaders we spring to some of the ecowas leaders about the way to go immediate and now we've seen the intervention or the handwriting of a possibility of some other non-state actors like the Wagner group what do you make of the new development and perhaps is there a word of question for our own president those who say Nigeria's foreign policy is basically protecting the territorial Integrity of our nation first yes of course National interest trumps everything but then national interests conceptualization could be directed at a danger from outside your border and that danger does not have to be particularly military in terms of destabilization I've explained why was regarded by ecowas as equal to far now people have brought in all kinds of factors one being oh well maybe it's the French but in fact evidence available showed that the Co in Nigeria was primarily motivated by self-preservation that the the post-president was going to remove the commander of his God the presidential protective guard he was going to remove him and so demons from first before the president called Implement that decision that is really no primary cause of the coup but haven't done that of course like everybody else whether political party or army or military commander you now try to close your motives you want to drape it in nationalist flag and you look for the usual suspect France let me make this very very clear from the beginning French policies in West Africa or in Africa has been obnoxious French policy has been preposterous it has been new colonialism at its worst in fact if in chroma were alive he probably will find a new term to describe what France has French activities in Africa deserve to be condemned and condemned by all haven't said that I don't see French hand in when you see this is the thing at the very beginning people said oh it's France that is behind the coup at the for the first few days drought was all in the media oh it's France that's behind with the coup until the French knock started condemning the coup and then the copies now turn around and starts saying actually They carried out the coup in order to protect their country against France yes French the French have troops there those troops deserve to go because if those troops had been there and yet the terrorism activity this ahead whether in Mali or in Nigeria or in Burkina Faso have not been contained and here friendships have been there for 60 years you'll wonder what have they been doing obviously they have been looking after French interest and not the interests of the Africans so the French troops deserve to go so I am not defending France at all but as a scholar I don't see ecowas policies being in tandem with French policy interests which is to protect its economic interests trust was to regard the cool energy as a threat to their own stability and safety in their own countries they don't want the spread of calls into their own territories that's why they felt they had to draw the line in Nigeria so that does not mean that ecowas is being teleguided by France or that Nigeria has been teleguided by France both parallel policies both had their reasons for opposing the coup but does not mean that France is teleguiding ecowas ecowas is trying to defend even their own sovereignty in their own safety to prevent the virus of cause spreading into their country that's the motivation that is what is motivating ecowas why France had his own motivation and the two are not the same I mean talking about policies Prof and trying to save God uh one's own territory especially uh those who have questioned the quality of governance in Africa and the reason for the rise of these schools you will remember some one of the major reason coop is here in Nigeria in the past coup have given is bad governance they will say there is a high level of corruption and that's why they have intervened I like to get your view on a local uh political Dynamics in Nigeria the leader in a leader in the APC who has written an open letter to President who says that and I read a portion to you Prof it says your Excellency throughout the 2023 electoral campaigns one of the strong campaign points was that you know how to find Talent when it took you more than eight weeks you nominate your ministers that believe was that you are taking your time to identify indisputably proficient people we due respect to all those you nominated many party members and extension Nigerians quite disappointed it is clear to any descending mind a political consideration Eclipse any other Factor definitely no argument about Talent can be sustained as it is both as party members and as Nigerians our expectation from your government has crash that is a leader in the APC commenting on President tunubu's choice of cabinet members what are your views on president tinubu's cabinet formation Prof June keep me completely out of EPC affair keep me completely out of the politics of this is good to sand you know convoluted but keep me completely out of the politics of politicians in Nigeria um I wouldn't go batting or I wouldn't go to war or or on behalf of the politicians in Nigeria let us let us frame this debate or this conversation this way you are absolutely right when you started by saying cools had been motivated by bad governance you are absolutely right not only bad governance but there's something that has now crept into the language of the political scientist and that is civilian cools this is when you have a sitting president who manipulates the Constitution his own Constitution he manipulates it for term elongation the arriving some who scrap the concept of time limitation completely and now say we are starting our fresh Central African Republic I just done so haven't completed the regulation two terms he now says he introduced a new Constitutional Amendment now of seven years starting with him his Supreme Court throughout that Amendment and what did he do he dismissed he removed members of the Supreme Court and assembled new judges and then he called on his people to have a referendum of course the rest his people quote unquote adopted the referendum now that is a civilian coup which deserve to be condemned this president of Senegal toyed with the idea of time elongation until Senegalese poured into the streets people got killed through riots within cities destruction of goods until he now backed off that well-known he will not go for a Time elongation and even when they keep within the term the corruption is so endemic that politicians get fat while the people lose weight the devastating state of our economies in Africa we don't deserve that our resources are there but at these resources in the are they resources you know implemented in the interest of the people to protect the people to advance the interests of the people absolutely not and so these are the things that have not led to people coining the term civilian uh um and what I would suggest both for ecowas and for the African Union and hopefully they can take it to the U.N and get the U.N to adopt it is let us have a charter of democracy a charter of democracy where we will identify anti-democratic Acts and where will then identify the I mean the sanctions against sitting governments that seek to derail the Democracy of their own countries and the same kind of sanctions which you then table against military coupists you also table against civilian copists of course it's easy for me to say this have you I mean the Americans have a saying do turkeys ever vote for Christmas how many of the city head of states will vote for that chapter of democracy especially if that Charter comes with sanctions which can be implemented they won't vote for it so how do we now you know activate a charter for democracy is by arguing for it by Civil Society by by the media pointing out that the greatest and easiest course of schools in Africa is civilian anti-democratic Behavior maybe that will now draw meeting to their head but do we now say that there are good cause and bad quotes theoretically You could argue that but in actual practice we have to take a stand that all cools are bad all right Prof please tell me for a moment because I need to uh go on a commercial break and when we come back our conversation we continue we take a break everyone I Professor abology Academy is still with us on the program we'll be right back after now [Music] thank you so much everyone for staying with us on the program tonight Professor Balaji akimi a former action affairs minister has been speaking with us he's a professor of political science thank you so much indeed Prof for giving us insights on uh the cool situation in Nigeria intervention of President tinubu Wu is a leader in ecowas and some of how that's in those scenarios are playing out or affecting a local situation in the country and I'd like to get your view on um what is happening within the after the Nigerian context for example what has become a major concern is the impact of few subsidy under the prices of most Commodities in the market recently some a leader of the NLC the president of NLC is warning at it should there be any kind of hike in the price of the product again there will be reaction from labor but how do you think this situation can be managed it's definitely has affected every Nigerian in every Strada yes I mean one must admit that it has one must admit that their their actions of branches of government that have not proved encouraging if you are going to ask for your people to tighten their belts then the political class must be seen to also to be tightened in their belt and that has not been evident it is the opposite that we have seen removal of subsidy everybody again that's a consensus that is got to go that it has to be removed the the question now is how do you cushion the effect of the removal of subsidy on people how do you question the effect not that it will not have an effect but how do you cushion that effect um I'm not an economist and frankly I I often hesitate to divert from my specialty into areas that I am not well grounded because one of the things that I have found irritating on the issue of Niger is how everybody has become a foreign policy expert everybody even when they don't know what they are talking about two people are using it to TransCore points I welcome I'm sorry I'm I'm I'm drifting away from the subsidy I'm going to get back to it but I think that's a an issue that I don't want to to sweep on that the carpet I welcome the intervention of the Muslim clerics because you see in diplomacy there is something we call soft diplomacy you use factors that can achieve your objectives or I think they are the language that is just nice kinetic versus non-kinetic I prefer the old term use soft diplomacy that's available to you and see diplomacy is one of these special areas where several different keys will open the door normally a job has only one key that can open it but in diplomacy there are several Keys the hard keys the soft keys and the use the intervention of these ulamas the Muslim clinics I welcome it because if it is going to get the other side to the dialogue table when it has rejected approaches what is wrong with that of course there are people who have warned and a good friend of mine had actually you know spoken to me that be careful because in Nigeria there are several factors and several factions and the religious faction is just one of those fine I accept that after all once you be careful about getting on the top of a tiger riding a tiger because the only way you will get off the back of a tiger is to end up inside the Tiger if you are not careful so you also have to look for other factions that can constitute intervention needs factions that are not necessarily religious but I welcome the intervention of the religious but as you can see yesterday one you thought there was a movement forward today now there's a movement backwards that is not progress the decision to try the former president is not a step in the right direction because a second verse has rightly pointed out then what are you what are you coming to dialogue about if you've already made up your mind you know uh to to hunk the criminal or to hand the accused before the trial then what are you coming to dialogue above but nevertheless doors have creeped open and I think we should be exploiting several doors being crimped open to keep Dialogue on the table so having said that let me go back to what you said about um about um the the um the subsidy and I think the advice that one should give government is hurry up about whatever party it is you intend to put on the table hurry up [Music] um I think it was a mistake for us the political and the media Elite it was a mistake for us to have stampeded the Chernobyl Administration into withdrawing that 8 000 naira that he was putting forward for the poor for six months those of us who live in this city came up with the agreement that What will what will eight thousand do what will they achieve how many are forced in this city send more than 5 000 to our appearance in the village how many 8 000 could make a lot of difference to people in the rural areas where the majority of Nigerians live but instead we stampeded the government interchanging its mind that okay to be reviewed no new figure had come up no new figure is being implemented and so let's begin that be a lesson to those of us in the urban areas that we are not the only Nigerians that is not only our interests that constitute into the the national interest but whatever it is I hope that the government will hurry up to bring out specifics of these qualities and sewage the hunger and the anger of the people on these streets and the people in the rural area that's the first point I would like to make the second one already made reference to it in passing I think that the executive and the legislature to put their two heads together and stop this insensitive allowances that are being voted for members of the executive I mean sorry the legislature it is indecent it should never have happened they are not on the same page as the executive I'm talking about the legislators they are not on the same page and thank God that because there are some elements within the legislature who said other conscience we have access now to the figures they are voting for themselves and I think it's incredulous they don't encourage people to tighten their belts if they are not going to tighten their own bills so um that's that's really all I can say in general because I'm not an economist and I like to anchor on this note Prof I like to get your for someone who is served that I at that level as a cabinet minister and we have an understanding of what it is and how to maintain the trust of the Nigerian people in the midst of a very difficult situation a floating of the Nara has also had its ripple effect uh in the market naira dollars sales of up to over 900 naira that has not happened in my very short stay here on Earth I've not seen that incredulous uh level of rise in the disparity between the naira and the dollar and the food prizes have also shot up and in fact I mean maybe any commodity in the market that is not really incredibly I today how do you then manage that kind of situation there is anger there is anger and the government that is just how many days old what can the government like that do what what are your views on the way forward Nigerians are definitely very very upset about some of the situation isn't it yes you are right and what the government needs to be aware and be careful about is what I will call the father-in-law taught his syndrome in Nigerian culture the father-in-law taught this syndrome you you record this story I'm sure everybody knows about the story where the doctors went to steal yam from his father-in-law's Farm so the father-in-law grabbed him they tied him to a tree on the road to the market and everybody who was going to the market in the morning was pouring abuse on the tortoise for what he had done on their way back from the farm the tortoise was still there died and they said wait a minute ah did he kill the man in any case the yummy store was he not going to use it to feed the the man's daughter views changed attitudes changed and now to the father-in-law who was now being cursed that shows the what I will call the patience deficiency in our culture Nigerians are not a patient people maybe because we've been so brutalized from 1960 when we became independent up till now we've become so brutalized that we are not prepared to give any government a chance the time that the government has to retain the Loyalty of the people is very short in this country and the government should stop behaving as if it has all the time in the world not when it comes to dealing with Nigerians you don't you ask me what's the way forward well I I have already identified to uh but let me repeat them the first is that the palliative should really be put on the table um as I said I'm not an economist but if I at my elementary level can think of if I were the president I would bring back that eight thousand if you like accuse me of flip-flopping I will bring back that eight thousand or if I want to really justify the fact that I withdrew it in the first place I will make it 9 000 or make it ten thousand then at least I can justify the fact that I have increased it that's the first one the second one the administration should abolish tuition at every level primary secondary tertiary now you will say to me but the federal government does not have a primary schools so what are you talking about Prof I know it is the states who have primary schools tell these states this you will compensate them for removing tuition in their primary schools the prime and the federal government and the states to abolish also tuition in the secondary schools you see mamaku is selling groundnut beside the road has a child in the primary school she does if it probably has to when you remove the tuition at that level she feels it immediately World Bank theories she fills it immediately so look for measures like that and Implement them right if I were a president if I were a president I will call him my vice president I will say let us announce 50 percent of our salaries we are cutting for the next one year in any case they don't need those salaries I mean after all they live in government houses yes we're totally out of time sincerely thank you some very insightful perspective that you have given tonight thank you so much indeed Prof and I'm so happy that you're able to join us tonight thank you so much indeed Prof thank you soon thank you for having me on your program a former minister of Veteran Affairs and a professor of political science that's our show for tonight everyone many thanks for watching I'm sure Kim Ali good night [Music]

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Length: 54min 11sec (3251 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 14 2023