There is Currently No Government in Nigeria -Yesufu

now if ever there was a famous much admired political and civil rights activist in Nigeria it would have to be Aisha yufu the people's activist as someone once called her a woman of extraordinary courage who for years has openly challenged what she sees as the repressive rule of successive governments in this country but the ability of her active ISM to withstand official pressure has been sorely tested by her many run-ins with the security services and the political establishment through it all though she's emerged undaunted and un toppled and last year she became an influential figure in the labor party's OB daty presidential campaign pitching her considerable oratorical and activist skills behind their attempt to win the keys to the asor Rock presidential Village but after what the opposition claimed was ruling party scal dugery they were left to face up to the agony of electoral defeat today Aisha yufu is pressing ahead with her push for good governance and her untiring efforts to erase Nigeria's afflictions of Human Rights abuse corruption and prolonged economic chaos she has a massive following online through which she connects with her more than 2 milli million active supporters and followers it's clear she's not going anywhere but after so many years in the trenches how confident is she that her activism can help deliver real change in Nigeria well more on all that I'm suitably delighted to say that I'm joined now in the studio by one of Nigeria's best known political campaigners and civil rights activists Aisha yuu thank you so much for coming in thank you so much for having me and I hope you don't mind my saying it but I was observing at the outset that you've lost a bit of weight oh yeah was that was that yeah it's on purpose I'm 15 now and I want to be 18 and I want my husband to remember the bab he got Mar well I have to say you're looking very good thank you um and and you of course emerged from that disappointing defeat of the labor party in the 2023 election and since that time you've had to contend with the fact that the ruling um APC party and president Bola chibu are the de facto and de jury rulers of Nigeria what impact do that had on you uh so for me uh the 2023 election there was no defeat uh the Nigerian people won and we know that uh Mr pet won the Pres presidential election labor party won it and for me it's it's something of a beauty to see Nigerians who he to did didn't bother about politics all of a sudden were interested and invested and they were able to actually unmas what politic is all about in Nigeria that it's not it's not rocket science it's not what we thought it was where people were afraid of politics and thought there was some kind of uh uh what do they call it now some kind of skills or whatever that this old uh old politicians have that they don't really have anything and if people come together they can do the needful so for me that 2023 there was so much that was achieved and you are of course a well-respected activist as well as a social media icon and and if you don't mind my saying so an internet celebrity who creates and sets Trends with your pioneering and inspiring sort of thoughts um in other words an influencer how useful has that power to express your thoughts and be listened to being in your activism uh well it helps when people are able to hear you and believe in what you're saying I think it it comes up out of being being truthful be just saying things the way they are and not oh will will people like you or not like you yeah so it's being instrumental in getting my voices out there and sometimes in shaping narratives in making people to look at certain issues the way they haven't looked at it before but also in a way uh it's also uh limiting in in the sense that you actually you actually get a voice for the people but you lose your voice for yourself so there are certain things that ordinary if it was before I wouldn't take it but now I'm like okay since it's against me self yeah so you just have to now just okay not make a scene out of it or anything but for me uh the the worst part of it all is the fact that I've lost my anonymity I used to love it when I would go out and people say in a job and actually look Meek I have a Meek appearance so people are like okay this one can she even speak English and then when I start something like oh who is that I don't have that now before you even get there you don't even know the person but the person knows you and somehow for me that loss of anonymity just being in a place where nobody knows you're there just do your thing and just walk away I've lost that and it's it's it's not it's not a good thing for me all the time yeah and that's the price you've had to pay for your forthrightness and your activism um but in that regard how do you keep your morale up because I mean when you become the voice of the people and you become the focus of the forces that are trying to suppress the voice of the people I mean that must be quite uncomfortable how do you keep your morale up how do you put on a bright face against the the backdrop of the darkness that you have vowed to fight against so for me the first thing that I do is that I ensure that my inside match my outside so if I'm happy you're going to see me happy if I'm sad I'm going to be S if there's something that that make me cry I'm going to cry so I don't try to hide you know try hide my emotions and and all of that and one thing also I do know is the fact that Integrity is very expensive having character is extremely expensive in Nigeria and uh so I I always keep I always ensure that I hold myself to higher standards than I hold other people so before I'm saying oh you should do this I should do that for something my words mean a lot to me like for me my words are my bond if I say something no matter how difficult is going to be for me I have to keep to the things that that I've said but most importantly it's I I don't know how to say this but most importantly is being contented being for me I I always say I think a few days ago I was saying it to someone I say look if something is above my means above my husband's means I don't want it and I'm one I'm not going to go to anybody's office I was say I said look I can be on the streets of Nigeria today if condition warranted and I will be hking pure water I would not feel an alter of shape because I'm doing an honest job but I would never ever go to anybody's office where I'm looking for contract or I'm looking for job or I'm looking for appointment or I'm helping somebody look for appointment I get a lot of people who come to who feel oh but you're popular but you could go and meet and ask for this thing or that thing I'm like no I don't do that that's the reason why I have a mouth that's the reason why I can call out anybody that has done something when I want to call them out because I'm not feeling that oh I will need something for I've already taken something from them so it's quite sometimes it's it's difficult in terms of the fact that even like your businesses you there's there's certain loss that you get like my my husband is is a ched accountant he has an accounting firm you know he's a partner there sometimes there are certain because of me there are certain things that the firm has to you know lose and stuff like that because of my stance and something like that but hey I married a great guy and he's always supportive and like in this world he always says whatever will make you happy so no matter the loss and everything he's ready to be there with me and for me to do the things that I'm doing so my home support is amazing my kids my husband family great well that's good to hear but beyond that sort of um home support that you talk about would you say that today the political landscape in Nigeria is much darker and much Bleaker from the point of view of your political activism as an opponent of President ubu and the APC after all the APC was reelected and um it's power looks more entrenched than ever and the labor party that you supported seems to be imploding so first of all for me APC was not elected APC they Rigg their way into office that's my own opinion AA that's my name and I'm not putting what in my mouth when I say it so that's on one part in terms of the political space it's not Bleak it's extremely bright governance yes it's bleck it's been bleck for like over 8 years we've we've been there over the time like over over a decade and that's why we got to where we are today but I can tell you something in 2018 I think 2017 2018 it took a lot to even tell nigerias we were doing the red card movement and we were saying to Nigeria look there can be an option outside of APC and PDP outside of the two main opposing opposition two main parties and many people didn't believe many people you know people thought we were crazy we going all around the country you know speaking about this thing today people have seen that it's not only an option but it's doable and it can be done and for me that's a huge thing in in nation building nation building takes a it's very slow so it's not something that oh you expect that yes you you do this and then you get in there and that's it no it's very slow I mean there are a lot of setbacks so as far as one must do and this is something I constantly do is that you must continuously look at the little wings and take them if I where we used to be where young people didn't bother about politics where a lot of citizens W bother people didn't even understand the relationship between Governors and their lives and I look at it them like politically yes we've gone a long way but in terms of governance of course it's bleck because it has been but for over a decade when we on the streets those are part of the things Governors had gone you know hair wire and today where we are there's no government in Nigeria that's one thing there's no government we are just on um uh Auto pilot we're just free flowing yes there's someone who claims is the president of the federal republic of Nigeria there's someone but people are not feeling the impact of governance it's not about you carrying the key getting yourself swor in and being at Alo V and have being able to appoint ABCD it's about what positive impact have you made in people's lives if you've not made any positive impact in people's life come on you can yeah you how do they put it it be like paracet but no be paracet I for the other name there no one do ADV for somebody but but given all that I mean do do you feel given what you just said do you feel lost in terms of what's next for you absolutely not I'm not lost I I I know what for me uh it's it's the next step see I I am one person who before I do something I I really think about it and I look at all the commitment that it's needed and when I commit to something I go on I never even as a child even as a young person I never focus on the result what I focus on is on my effort what am I doing yes the result might have gone not the way that it was supposed to be not the way but what am I doing that's what is most important for me and so that's what I'm still focusing on today I believe that we need to have a lot of people in politics this whole issue where people sit back and say that oh they're not doing politics they don't want to do politics it hasn't served Niger in any way nature ABS vacuum and if you if you allow child if there's a vacuum charans will go in there they will occupy the space first of all we need people with second jobs in politics politics should not be people's primary jobs that's one of the problems that we have here we need people with competence character capacity running for offices we need people being part of politics even if you're not running for office you could be a party member you could be one of the delegates you could be someone who's going to be a party agent there are so many things that you could do within that uh political space and so it's very important for us to begin to do that the the uh legislative arm of government I keep saying it is a Bedrock of democracy the legislative arm of government is more powerful than the executive the only thing is that the executive controls the post of the nation so what are we doing to send people to the legislative arm of government today election in Nigeria is very expensive it's it's not about oh whether bribing or doing anything just doing the main the normal things you're supposed to do election is is quite expensive and not a lot of people have that money even if they have that money you can't expect someone to bring their own personal money and use it to run for office then it's no longer politics it's not business when they get in there they're going to get their monies back and they also going to get monies that they will use for the next election so we as a people we must put our monies where our votes are we must begin to say to ourselves what are we going to do I've said this before if 1 million Nigerians decide to give 1,000 n every month put it together in a common post we will have a billion n every month 12 months in a year that will be 12 billion in 4 years that will be 48 billion 48 billion can help in putting the Mone is needed for election to be able to send a substantial amount of people to the National Assembly and the state houses of assembly these are the people that will make the law they make laws they have oversight for function they ratify treaties even when there's appointment they confirm appointment so that they will make laws that are pro people not laws that just you know for regime protection that's a very interesting um idea and um are you still an active member of the labor party I've never been a member of the labor party uh so I was I I am a supporter of Mr uh pet and there are candidates of have come so you had nothing really to do with the labor party I mean well I've I've supported some of their candidates but never been a member often I've not yet been a member of a of a party but anytime that I am definitely it will be U made public it's part of the things that I also need uh uh to do and a lot of Nigerians need to do because at the end of the day the parties there are no internal democracies in this parties and these parties are the ones that give us the people that will govern us we need to have people in all in the parties all the parties that are that are out there whether there are new ones or whatever we need to have people there that would ensure that the best are the ones that are fill not the worst you were willing to work within the Machinery of the labor party because Peter B was the presidential candidate so you couldn't have supported him in isolation from the labor party so when you said with I don't know whether it's really within the Machinery because I was his supporter I worked with him so I wasn't really in the Machinery of the but of course because pet was running under labor yes I did support our labor and other candidates whom I felt you know they they are competence uh they had the competent character capacity to lead like even the 2023 election I in in N State I supported uh Frank W J who was running under ABA for me it's always been I've always said it I think in the last five six seven years I've always said that it's for me it's about more about candidates rather than the parties because at the end of the day we need people that will really go there and work but what we've seen is that there's no incentive for the parties that we have right now for them to give us a credible candidates they would rather bringing candidates that they can control candidates that they know corruption wouldn't be uh would be nothing to that they'll be ready to partake in the those with Integrity those that will not partake in the uh corruption and and all of that they usually don't bring them and the way it is because of the ring that normally would happen they just feel that the people are powerless initially we used to have citizens not bordered about the election they don't come out to vote of course when citizens don't come out to vote it makes it easy for them you know to just declare the people that vote them declare they get declared as winners but now that citizens are coming out and they are coming out with riging we as citizens of the federal republic of Nigeria need to find way to mitigate the riging to mitigate the violence and Ure that the will of the people is what comes it doesn't matter who the people vote for it's democracy just allow the will if the people decide that they're going to vote a stone so be it let the stone be the person in charge but I'm wondering who you blame for the crisis that's engulfed the labor party today because obviously by extension um you you had affiliations with the party because someone has suggested that it is as a result of or some people have suggested that it's as a result of infiltration from the ruling APC party others have suggested that without the active leadership of P Toby and the support of the likes of you being in the labor party is like swimming in a river full of hungry crocodiles who call themselves politicians I mean I wonder what your thoughts are on that well for me I'm I so I'm trying to look at it and look at where it's all of that coming for it's when they say infiltration I mean that's normal everybody infiltrates it's it's part you send some people who are loyal to you to certain parties or whatever to disrupt things well whether to disrup or to know to have an ear on the ground and know what is happening and be able to spy on the other one sometimes these are some of the things you know that that happen so that should not be a reason why anybody should say that that's why whether there are crisis or or or no crisis but I think and also when we look at people who always say uh Mr pet Al be should have been uh should have taken charge of the party and done all of that do we really want democracy if we want democracy democracy have to start from parties internal party democracy what we are used to in Nigeria is the fact that there's one person who controls the Machinery of the party so hijack the party owns it puts all the money out there makes all the decision and that was what you know people are also expecting of Mr pet I I was also on his case and I was like you know repeatedly I like no you need to then you know it dawned on me I when we kept having our conversation like okay we're doing the same thing where we want a dictator to be in charge of the party and hold the party and make them by force be online rather than allowing democracy uh to happen the thing is that Mr Peter OB is a member he's a c car member of labor party he's not a member of the NWC uh he's not a party official so he's really just one person amongst other people there so expecting that oh he is the one expecting him to come and do that is the same kind of politic then by the time he gets there just like we've seen in other places where one person will be the one to buy form for everybody campaign put whever it is that he wants and say oh people should vote for that person I mean that's not what what we looking for so hopefully this is like a storming situation for labor party labor party should understand that they were nowhere Before Peter OB came to the party and before Nigerians decided to support the party and Mr Peter Obby if they begin to feel like they want to chill with the big boys you understand they want to bum buam in no time they will start running kitty kitty start R so it's better for them to understand that you know now citizens want democracy not they just don't want to be Affiliated to parties and just be and just continue business as usual they want to see a difference and it is time for them also to begin to give that difference in terms of right from leadership in terms of internal democracy in terms of opening up and getting people I mean by now you the labor party should have at least nothing less than 50 million members what's happening they have built on the bu on it not in of them thinking they shouldn't think small they should think big they shouldn't think oh what is it something like uh territorial protect territory protection and all of that that's not what what it is about it's about the bigger picture it's about what is what is best for Nigeria it's about who are the best hands that will do the work that needs to be done right but beyond the labor party in particular do you think that that opposition politicians in general are right now failing the people of Nigeria who face so many economic and social problems oh they've been failing since 190 there hasn't there hasn't been any opposition in Nigeria since 2015 and even opting out there's no opposition yeah but Peter is part of that opposition yes no the party isn't doing anything the party that he's part Mr Peter is part of he's really not playing opposition it's just there I don't know what what they're doing but Mr pby himself right he is playing the opposition so he's literally almost as if he's that lone Voice who is you know playing that opposition within the political space but the party that he belongs to no they haven't done H they haven't played opposition at all they failed Nigerians absolutely and you know it was the fact that opposition had failed Nigeria that was why nigerias were looking for an alternative and they went on with labor party and we expect Nigeria supect labor party fa them as well no they have failed there's not two there's not two ways about it we can't see and call it black they have failed they haven't done what that was expected of of them there is more that they can do because right now with the suffering that is happening with the fact that insecurity people are being killed left right and Center nothing not a word nothing people are people are suffering people can't feed themselves you know uh is it yes is it yesterday there was a report I'm International has a report of a young man I can't remember which of the states whether it's Bono or something who stole some uh Noodle and then police you know he was arrested police beat him to death and you know he died in the hospital and all of that people are hungry people are going through so where is the opposition they just they supposed to be the voices of the people one of the things I always say to people is that because I see a lot of people like oh I sh you used to do advocacy why are you doing politic I said advocacy activism and politics are the same thing they are supposed to be for the greater good the only difference is the approach where The Advocates and activists we point out what the problems are the politicians are supposed to solve uh those problems so right now the opposition they have failed they just waiting for the years to roll by and then in the next four years they will not start or is it 3 years now they not start telling citizens to come out and vote for them they should it's not just about Pol democracy is not just about electioneering it's about make it's about dividends of democracy and ensuring that the lives of the people are better right now where are the policies we have policies that are going that are crazy and I mean Nara went from where to where to where and I remember people insulting me abusing me because I said hold your dollars you know closer right now even at the moment at the time where they brought in their kangaro you know policies and decided that they were going to force the Thea to uh the the N to to be strong what happened you you you can you can you can you cannot govern with propaganda that is nothing and some of the questions that I asked and I ask people I say look okay fine they n it was almost 2,000 you know n to a dollar it's coming down now what is it that was done is it that Nigeria have stopped importing uh crude petroleum product is it that we are now exporting more crude oil is it that we are now manufacturing more things are selling is it that our politicians are no longer going outside to go and buy vehicles and all of that I can't remember there's a particular I think it's Customs that it was reported that they going to use how many billions to go and buy uh Vehicles Toyota vehicles well let me just while here let me ask you to hold that thought cuz we're going to come back to you in a minute uh you're watching arise Prime Time plenty more to come we're talking to Nigeria's best known political campaigner and civil rights activist Aisha yufu stay with [Music] us welcome back to arise prime time where we offer perspectives on the news and talking points of the day I'm Charles Anu she's arguably Nigeria's best known most high-profile file female civil rights activist who transitioned between taking to the streets as an advocate for the Bring Back Our Girls campaign and against villainous government policies she disagrees with to being an active political campaigner during the 2023 presidential election in this country an election she believes was manipulated by the government Machinery that oversaw the ballot but on daed by the way Nigeria's version of real politi crushed that moment of political idealism Aisha yufu has remained steadfast in her attempts to prevent the worst of state sponsored crimes and uh Isa is still with me in the studio thank you very much indeed for staying with us and just continuing along the the trajectory that we were on before we took a break um do you see the there's a lot of talk about Mega mergers and you know political parties coming together do you see the opposition parties working together together to create a new political movement that can take on the APC in 2027 well honestly to be in my candid opinion I I I really don't know I really don't it could go either way they could decide that they they're going to work together uh but for me the thing is that it's not really sometime it's not really just about having a marer so I was one person who in 2015 knew the the government the the den government had failed and there needed to be a change and I felt and I remember a lot of my tweets I mean they are still out there for anyone to search where I kept saying that look Nigerians we are the ones that have to ensure that we are holding this politicians accountable bringing anyone if they don't do well vote them out but unfortunately Nigerians voted and then went back to go and sleep and because one of the things that we fail to do a lot of time is to hold people in offices accountable the demand side of government as citizens we've not been able to do that a lot so we it's left to a few people and I always say that Nigeria needs more act active citizens and not more activist everybody has to you know do that demand side of go of government so if it's not about they coming together to just win election first of all they need to reform and I don't I've not seen any of these parties doing that they need to reject their party Machinery their internal democracy but if became the candidate for that party would you support it for me I'm so I I I will support Mr pet as a person that's why for me is the candidate I'm supporting it doesn't matter whatever uh party whatever it is that he goes into but one thing that I will not support it's where if P becomes a running mate to anybody n I'm not I'm not on that ticket I wouldn't be on that so so that's why we don't have party there are no parties with ideology that you say if this party is voted in you'll be sure that the people who come within that party have to thr a certain line and there are certain things that they're going to do we don't we don't have that yet so it's basically individuals and so you look around and say okay who is this person for me that's it's about the candidates and rather not about uh the party but if they were to work on if you were to see something like you know even from their constitution begin to work on it ensure that you have a situation for example I hear that thing called women leader and youth leader what does it mean you're telling me that by giving them youth leader women leader what you've cut them out of everything instead of having Youth leader women leader why don't you have a constitution parties that have Constitution that say uh no one gender cannot have more than 60% of position so you have if he's female Le you can't have more than 60% or 40 and likewise when it comes to Youth and the older generation in this way everybody everybody is you know welcome to that this thing there's um uh not there's equity and people you know uh there's I'm looking for the word now it's it's gone off but you know people are work welcome there and they can all work together we haven't seen that we've not seen situations whereby uh part party ticket how much is it why are you selling party tickets for Millions I think I can't remember which state now they're going to do a local government election and the chairman is supposed to pay nomination and expression of Interest everything 25 million n somebody who buys tickets for 25 million n are putting all the expenses to get to win there's no way it's going to give you good governance he's going it's a business he's going to go the F and recoup that money and recoup what he will use for the next election so which of those parties are giving enabling environment for people who have what it takes to lead who have competence Char capacity who have the experience but not necessarily have the money that will be able to run under those parties so these are the fundamental things that we need that really need to be spoken about not just a matter of oh let's come together and then be able to just win election there's something I I just want to quickly say and I think was it about uh after the 2023 election I was asked that question someone said oh aa are you going to be on the street uh you know making the M I'm like who am I going to be on the street with there's no government so m is because when you on the streets are making Dem man cuz I see you mentioned that quite a while when you're on the street going to be my next okay so you have taken it out of your mouth when you on the streets and making the M that means you believe in government you believe in the person who is leading the government wa who is leading what government so I will not be on the street and be making demands on who yeah but neveress I'm not going to I'm not I'm not going absolutely not going to do nevertheless beyond the streets I mean I noticed that you've been using online activism to push for good governance so in a sense you are still campaigning I mean but is social media the new way to protest against misrule or is that just one of the ways for you it's always been one of the ways I've always used social media I remember was it 2017 2018 I used to have a program called let's talk nja people because for me one of the things that uh we sort of like Overlook is that we we we we think everybody knows what's happening people can connect relationship between Governors and their Liv or politics and their Liv there are many thoughts that a lot of people don't know how to connect and so it helps and and that's why I used to say that look the education that we have it's not for us alone it's for millions of others who didn't have the opportunity to be educated or who don't know as much and so we should teach and also be you know willing to learn so I've always used that so for me issues that are wrong issues that I will talk about them I will speak on them no matter what I know they've C for my arrest many times I'm like me if you arrest me you even doing me a favor because my heart will not be be beating when I'm sleeping in my house cuz even right here in Abuja they come into houses and kidnap people so I will have a lot of this thing you know people that have been arrested in prison actually safer than those of us that are outside so but the main thing for me is that that making direct Demand on someone who this way into office n i don't waste my time well on that note um first of all let me just say I hope you don't get arrested because I think there'll be a lot of very angry people if that happens but I want to thank you very much indeed for taking the time to come in to talk to us Aisha yufu is one of Nigeria's best known political campaigners and civil rights activists thank you very much thank you so much for having me CH so with a pleasure

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Length: 32min 43sec (1963 seconds)

Published: Thu May 16 2024