2007 Elections:Blight on Nigeria’s claim to leadership in Africa – Aregbesola

AregbesolaRauf Aregbesola, the gubernatorial candidate of the AC is angry, not just because he believes that his mandate was stolen during the last gubernatorial election in Osun State but, more so because he believes democracy has no meaning to some people. In this interview conducted in his Ikeja home, Aregbesola, who denied that he was delaying justice through several adjournments, also spoke of his frustrations and hope. He spoke with Associate Editor, Debo Abdulai.

Having gone this far at the Osun State governorship election tribunal, do you still expect justice? Let’s put this properly because it is quite expected for one to say he has confidence or that one does not have confidence.
Why it must be put properly is that the tribunal is just a part of a two-part process in an election petition. The question should therefore not be, inspite of all that I have experienced, what my expectations are. My expectation is unrelated to whatever I have experienced at this tribunal of first instance. It has nothing to do. My expectation is based on one, the lucidity of my proofs and evidence and the veracity of my claims.

I have no doubt at all that I am the popular choice of the electorate in Osun judging by their reaction and responses to me before, during and after the election. That is number one. Number two, the result of the election devoid of the manipulation witnessed equally showed that I won. What is being bandied by the PDP, the beneficiary of that fraud, is fraudulent. As I said earlier, there are materials to prove the fraud, the electoral heist, the brigandage, to prove the banditry. There is no confusion as to who the people of Osun State freely gave their legitimate mandate for governance. So, I expect victory, by the grace of God, victory at the end of the judicial process. I expect justice from the Nigerian judiciary. I expect the ultimate triumph of my quest to bring to bear the abandoned Awolowo legacy of good government, responsible administration, caring leadership and the credo of Awoism which is freedom for all, life more abundant and the ultimate integration of the Yoruba economy in the Nigerian state.

I have asked that question against the backdrop of what is being touted. That is, if you expect victory at the end of the day why is it that it is at your own end that you’ve been asking for adjournments, several adjournments? That there is something wrong with you people just asking for adjournments. It is like you people don’t have a iron-cast case.

Let us put it this way. Stupid people could input whatever they want to input to legitimate legal process or legal requests.Those who are ignorant of the law and the process of it could input whatever they want. It is left to them. But, going by your question, if lawyers think that an adjournment is necessary to their case who am I to say no? That is one. And in what way does asking for adjournments obviate or negate the judicial process, afterall judges themselves, due to myriad of reasons, adjourn cases. Does that translate to the subversion of the judicial process? The answer is no. I wouldn’t want to go into some few things that happened when sometimes the tribunal adjourned abruptly. I think it is in the nature of those who want to deride their opponents to read negative, obnoxious meanings to legitimate demands.

That is on the intellectual plane. The real response to that is simple. And that is counsel, for whatever reason, may be for confirming evidence, for enriching his evidence or for perfecting his strategy may seek for adjournment and may also seek for adjournment to attend to some personal issues. That does not remove the fact that justice must be done.
I will give you two instances. There was a day that one of my counsels said he would be otherwise engaged on some other things and therefore sought an adjournment and it was granted. We note the way and manner the tribunal reacts or its response to some of our motions particularly the one on extension of time to bring in Adrian Forty. We were dissastified with its treatment of it and sought to have an interlocutory injunction at the appeal court. And for that reason and purpose demanded for a stay because we felt that the consideration of the forensic evidence was vital and germane to our case and for that reason we will want it to be treated along with our other evidence in the tribunal. Since we were not satisfied, we went to the appeal court and the appeal court ruled that a stay was unnecessary because, for whatever it was worth, the appeal court is the ultimate arbiter of the case. Conclude whatever you want to conclude there and bring everything wholesale to us, the appeal court reasoned. I don’t see how any adjournment or the process we have adopted could be interpreted to mean loss of confidence or rejection of the judicial process.

I want to restate that I, who is a principal petitioner in the gubernatorial election petition, have implicit confidence in the Nigerian judiciary to do justice and ensure that the Osun people are given their desires which they truly expressed on the 14th of April.

You’ve been at the tribunal for almost a year now and you said earlier that you expect justice to be done still. It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. How does that affect you and the people of Osun state?
I have responded to this before. The aphorism you pointed at is quite irrelevant in this case. In criminal cases, if you delay justice you might be denying justice. I will give you an instance.

If a man is accused of murder and he is kept in the custody of the law, in prison, for as long as the trial lasts, then you delay justice. You are denying justice because you are depriving that man of his freedom and liberty. It ought not to last for eternity. Let’s also take the case of Obi. We tend to unnecessarily heat up the system because of our misguided utterances in several cases and don’t remind our people of recent relevant historical happenings. Obi was out of the legitimate seat in Anambra for close to three years before he got justice at last and through that the Nigerian electoral calendar has changed.

If because of haste we have denied Obi and the people of Anambra their legitimate choice, the enrichment of our democratic process and practise would have been distorted and badly affected and the space would have been restricted while the gains would not be there. So, we must put this in context and not just apply adages because we want to sound off. If our electoral calendar was such as to allow four to six months of keen process, keen judicial process before swearing in, the abnormality we are witnessing would not be there, the incongruous imposition of vote robbers and bandits would not be there. And we will have those who should legitimately be in power in power but with the skewed programme that exists today, the best we could have is what we have. And for all I care, except for the legislators whose tenures are usually defined by the tenure of the House, I don’t see how any gubernatorial candidate could be short-changed if and when justice is done. We must also collect evidence and this evidence could not be assessed before the inauguration of the tribunal.

Going by my experience about the election, we wanted to get a court order for the inspection of election materials in the custody of INEC before the expiration of deadline for the submission of petitions, we went to two courts and none of them was ready to give us any order for such inspection. The High Court in Osogbo said it was not the tribunal and as such was not ready to give us the order. The Federal High Court did not even treat our motion so we were left with no choice than to just indicate that we will need those materials to maintain our petition in our petition. So on the 22nd of May, several days after the expiration of the deadline for the submission of material, we got an order of the tribunal. The tribunal was not even there on the 14th when willy-nilly you must submit your petition.

So, if there had been that institutionalised delay of the process, it would be wrong of anyone to want to blame any of the parties for what we have experienced. The third issue is in what way is the process being helped by the attitude of principal officers of the various tribunals. I will not be specific but I am speaking generally. Afterall, if one asked for extension of time to move for his motion for the result of forensic analysis, I don’t see how the issues raised... let’s leave that, I have been advised not to comment on issues at the tribunal. But, let me say this, if there is fairness generally, most of what we now see as obstacles to speedy judicial process, speedy trial would not be there. And, I have almost forgotten this: a situation whereby a single tribunal handles about 36 petitions could not help speedy management.

I think there are two there now Don’t let’s be personal. There was a time the tribunal handled 36 petitions. How would they do it? It would have been far better if tribunals are set up to meet the demands of states, not just using a general order. If a tribunal is assigned about five, the period of delivery would be faster and there would be less frustration and less delay. Finally, there is a thing I believe we must do arising from my experience and exposure at the current tribunal. We now know that forensic examination and analysis of election material is a sine qua non of effective judicial process. Therefore, let the Nigerian judiciary take over that as a basic provision, that is, it should not even be at the behest of the litigant, the petitioner.

Let that be a service that will be compulsorily rendered to the litigants in any election petition by the Nigerian state. At least from that there is a level playing ground for all. If potential litigants are aware of the ultimate forensic evaluation of the electoral process, it will reduce considerably the penchant for manipulations and the fear is that, which is a major gain to the Nigerian electorate and the democratic process, the huge expenses that go into hiring experts to inspect, analyse and to report on the electoral materials would be reduced and virtually eliminated for litigants. That will sanitise the process. I am more concerned, not even the cost, cost is not totally irrelevant, it is; many petitioners could not even afford the cost of it but I am more concerned in the enrichment of the democratic process and the sanitisation that will bring because it would be more difficult to want to depend on fraud, manipulation, rigging for victory.

Should I take it therefore that the refusal of the tribunal not to admit your evidence on the forensic analysis was a major setback to your petition?
Let me help you. To say it is not a setback will not be true because I wouldn’t have proposed it if it was not a major platform but being a newspaper, sensation is part of your trade, you want to have a screaming headline. Whether I say so or not is not an issue. The real issue is this: we have gone through a lot of effort to do the inspection. We mobilized close to 60 handlers in Osogbo for over 6 months. And they were all over the INEC thing poring through every single item that was used for the election. Taking notes and noting whatever that should be noted. We also brought in experts to scan, that is digital imaging of documents for archival purposes in its true and original form. The second phase is the analysis.

Those who inspected were pure, ordinary hands. They look and record, photocopy in some cases. And another group full of experts took all the materials and analysed them and drew conclusions. So considering the effort that went into them and the discoveries made, of course, one had a lot of expectations. We don’t even believe that any calamity has befallen that. No, no, no. We see the inability of the tribunal of first instance to appreciate the weight, the value of that materials as its own wish which it is free to have. That is its own judgement. But that will in no way affect the ultimate end because evidence is the cardinal eseence of justice. So if we exclude evidence it does not require definition anymore if you require justice or injustice.

If a man is accused of murder and the instrument of committing that murder is not admitted in evidence , you are saying there was no murder. I do not see it as a setback therefore in the classical sense that you want to see it. It could be frustrating yes, but it is to me a question of what we have laboured, so much laboured for, and had hoped would be taken and considered by the appropriate authority of the Nigerian juidiciary and adequate weight would be attached to it. We have done what we should. I believe that the Nigerian judiciary, which has for a long time defined the essence of the admittance of evidence as the relevance of that evidence and has equally shown that no justice could be done without evidence, I am quite sure that as the matter progresses that the onus of justice and the need to see it being done will be done. I do not have any animosity against anyone on this, I must say.

The Yoruba have an adage that the gangan drum has two faces. It is only those at the back that sees the one facing them. I am not bothered at all. And let me restate this, I have implicit confidence in the capacity of the Nigerian judiciary to do justice and there will be no bitterness to anyone. I am motivated and imbued by the commitment to the cause of democracy. I have unshakeable belief in the ability of the Nigerian judiciary to ensure justice so much so that I will harbour no doubt in my mind in what will be the outcome of my petition ultimately.

As a very important actor in the democratic experience and you witnessed the kind of impunity that had crept in in the last five years, particularly the last one year which has been described as the worst, does it shake your faith in the capacity of the system to sustain democracy?
The last election was without any gainsaying a blight on our claim to leadership in Africa. Our nation has so much potential in human, in material, in intellectual, in size. We are also properly located. Nigeria is in the heart of Africa. We are strategically located. One feels bad at the way things are going politically, socially and economically because if Nigeria does not make it, the consequences on the black race will be enormous, it is as if the blacks are doomed. So in that context, one is depressed and I want to believe all patriots should be depressed because it should not be what it is.

One, what does it require to have a free and fair election? It is just the will of the people and the commitment of the leadership to have it. The determination of the police that they will never permit any desecration of the laws of the land. Should INEC not be ready to deliver a credible process if the police is ready to stand firm on its own legitimate constitutional duties? Shenanigans would have been totally eliminated, would not have existed.What we saw in the areas where we are challenging the travesty of the democratic process was collusion between a section of the NigerianPolice, the PDP and the INEC. Clear, open collusion! If the police would just bring all those that perpetratedviolence during the election, we will not even be at this level at the tribunal because police would institute criminal cases against them which would be sufficient enough to prove our claims of violent disruptions of polls and manipulation of the results. But because of the mindless collaboration of the law enforcers, the electoral felons and the biased umpires, what we have is this tragedy, this charade.

I want to believe that until men and women of honour and integrity really rise up to resist the primitive attitude of the debased section of our leadership we really have no hope. Those who are debased know themselves. They see power not because of any noble objective, noble purpose, social service but for self, pure aggrandisement, it could be for the glitz and glamour of office or it could be for sheer promotion of ego. Nothing for the people. When you look at this people and you assess their impact on their most immediate environment you are gawked at their total lack of impact, total effect on their homestead. No impact at all on what could be described as social or communal.

The only part of their being that a semblance of power is manifested is their personal body and immediate family. So those of us who are impelled by the desire to see a society where men live lives worthy of their peers in some other parts of the world must understand the need to get organised and terminate the state of anomie. If we don’t we will all be swarmed in the seedy social sewage that they’ve turned our nation into. That’s my take and that is why one is putting so much effort at ensuring that reign of pugnacious impunity ends, reign of recklessness is terminated.That is why inspite of ourselves we are saying no to their chincanery. I agree with you, there can be no pain without gain. I am not in any despair. I am convinced that history has not recorded the defeat of a people that is conscious of its rights, privileges and is determined to have those rights. The Yorubas are not known to succumb to oppression, exploitation and their eternal humiliation.

So I am sure this process will end in triumph and victory in the cause of progress, in the cause of justice which our people are renowned for. You’ve spoken so well about your fears for democracy as well as your optimism.

I want to ask you about your kind of intervention. Is it by raising a militia? Because some people pinpoint the Oranmiyan as your own dimension of militia. Some poeple will also situate the violence in Osun to that, that you started the violent disposition to politicking in Osun. How do you react to that?
First of all, let’s do a profiling of the major contenders to power in Osun because that would be appropriate to really understand the propensity of either of them for democratic culture or military action. Rauf Aregbesola attended The Polytechnic, Ibadan. He was a student union leader there and his era, his period of student activism is today historical. How? Whoever is interested in a deep understanding of him should go into the period he was there as a student and as leader of students to understand how issues affecting students were handled.

Year Sir?
From 1976-1980. Throughout my years in The Polytechnic, Ibadan, there was no violent student uprising. We had the most robust engagement with the school authorities because I value application of wit, intelligent discussion, debate over and above the use of force.In my years in partisan politics, I have equally demonstrated the superiority of intellect, oral engagement with people over and above despotic imposition to a successfull end in Lagos. Another example: the Ajeromi Federal Constituency was a backwater of political consideration in Lagos. A backwater until our emergence. I became a fulcrum of progressive political organisation in Alimosho from 1993. By 1998 we had developed such a force that turned Alimosho from an inconsequential political part of Lagos to the most vibrant, the most electoral viable constituency in Nigeria. I challenge anybody to tell me of any federal constituency with close to half a million registered voters and could deliver over 200,000 legitimate votes. And it remains the least violent constituency in Nigeria.

we have reduced our political activity to dialogue and debate which was what we transferred to Osun state in 2005. We launched Oranmiyan as a social, political and cultural vehicle. It worked wonders. There was not a single place where violence was used by us as atool of mobilisation . We went to the repertoire of the folklores of our people, their political history mixed with what we know is their expectation of leaders to engage them, stimulate them, arouse their interest and desire for a change.

These we used to totally undermine the despotism that Oyinlola represents which we stripped of all the false covers and which we exposed in its natural nakedness to the people. These we used to anchor our victory which is not an happenstance, which is not a fluke. Were there to be a free and fair election in Osun state today even Oyinlola’s Okuku, the man talking to you, will win by a landslide margin! So when I read him talking about desperation, talking about sub-ethnicity, I wondered where truth and objectivity has gone because a truthful man will be fair to himself and the people by being silent if telling the truth will be so hurtful. Oyinlola does not have any grain of support anywhere in Osun State. He knows it. There is nowhere he gets to that he is not being booed.If I mysteriously appear anywhere, if I should evaporate and condense in any part of Osun, let’s just imagine it, it’s an assumption, the sensation that will be generated will be earth-shaking, the sensation will be extra-ordinary.

Yet, to tell you how magnetic we were, how attractive our programme, style and policies were, how enamoured to our philosophy the people of Osun were, we defeated PDP in all the ancient towns where the election was even given 50 per cent allowance. There was no place they did not attempt to muzzle us, to scuttle the process, there was no where they did not bring out brigands, hoodlums and miscreants to scuttle and frustrate the process but where 50 per cent of allowance was permitted for election we defeated them. Even in Ife we defeated them.

But they rolled out their guns to void all our victories and votes and put in their already thumbprinted ballots. And wait, a worse example: At OAU where students were on forced vacation and totally sent out of school except those who had other places to go on campus like their parents’ home, no student was left on campus of the OAU from February to July when the school was reopened. PDP returned for itself a conceited figure of 35,000 votes. That is not the only mind-boggling thing. At Odu’a Hall, PDP returned for iteself over 2000 votes where the registered voters were under 300.

So, inspite of their military approach to the election of April 14. I won. My characterisation shows that I have a record of democratic engagement beginning from 1976 at the The Polytechnic Ibadan to date without a single blemish of violent engagement whereas my opponent, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who calls himself a prince, a prince in a republic. We must remind ourself at this stage that Nigeria is a republic and in a republic there is no monarchical or royal distinction.We must be ready if we want to come into the frame of public debate, for what it takes. Nigeria is a republic. A cardinal principle of a republic is the uniformity of everybody under the law. Our man is recorded, because he wants to hide under some false claims,of leading Nigerian troops in Somalia to series of disasters. New York Times has a record of him deliberately provoking the Somalis, which is against all norms of decency and military orderliness, to kill seven of the Nigerian troops unnecessarily. New York Times of 1993.

And it was his notorierity for mindless assertion of might that qualified him during the Abacha period as the administrator of Lagos during the hey days of June 12 struggle and he really made a good use of that. We all knew what happened then.. He is trying hard but the records are there... A man does not do anything just for the heck of it, every action of man has a motive. What could have been the benefit to Rauf Aregbesola if Oyinlola expires? The truth is he is the de jure if not the de facto governor. He is the governor known to law and the law of Nigeria prescribes the process of succession. No matter what, the death of Oyinlola will not result into me taking over that position.

The only way I can take the position which the people of Osun freely gave tos me on the 14th of April is through this process and so much resources, energy and emotion has been expended on the judicial process that it would be stupid and foolhardy of anybody to think of any other method other than that.

So his death is not beneficial to me, the destruction of INEC is to his benefit. That is where the evidence where I need to prove my case is. I went to court twice to get orders to inspect, to scan, And I put even at the time of the blast, not less than thirty men working for me there, rummaging through the papers and documents of INEC facts and events to prove my case. So when you put all these together and you want to make some reasonable judgements, it is clear that Oyinlola is a military man that does not believe that any opponent at all must be seen outside the military description of opposition – enemy that must be eliminated! Rauf Aregbesola is a politician that knows that the value of democracy is the richness of debate and the depth of valuable engagement.

So the two of us are not the same. Rauf Aregbesola could not therefore be the militant you want to see. I am a patriotic Nigerian nationalist that totally rejects the backwardness of our land, the suffocating poverty and misery of our people and will want to collaborate with whoever is equally so motivated for a quick transformation of our land, the elimination of poverty, misery and despondency in our people and the eventual greatness of our race. Still on that.

In all these cases of violence, are you insisting that none could be attributed to your group? Does it mean you people just folded their arms, turned the other cheek, that you did not raise a finger? That there was nowhere in Osun that your group was the aggressor?
It is most distressing to be a victim of the worst form of persecution, harassment, brutalisation and yet have the table turned against you. I want to say without fear or favour that there was never a time, and all the records of our campaign are there to see, that we prophesied, promoted, encouraged violence. I even challenged them to bring a picture of any member or sympathiser of AC with a bunch of broom on the day of election. As a matter of fact, we trained them on how to win elections freely and fairly. Infact, I have been saddled by our leadership in Osun to produce a manual on easy victory through free and fair elections. And it is not difficult. You only need to understand the science and art of elections. You don’t need to go into brigandage to win elections. Infact, brigandage does not win elections, it only promotes tears, blood, sorrow, pains and agony. By the time the electoral reforms come up and all those I suggested are there and implemented, if truly we want free and fair election, you will see the stupidity of their act. There was no time, no time at all, that any member of our party was involved outside being the victim.

What about the one in Ilesa, shortly after the election when it was alleged that members of your party torched the houses of known PDP leaders?
I will come to that. I was to say that over a thousand members of our party were arrested, why isn’t there a single conviction in their court? That is the question you must ask. Up till now, not a single conviction, that leaves much to wonder about. How correct then is your allegation? To the April 15 incident: I said there was no single instance of an AC member of whatever description caught with a symbol of the party, the broom. No, rather we were victims. Nobody will tell you that in March, my father’s house was invaded and destroyed. And the police refused to do anything.

My brother’s car was damaged, old women living there were assaulted. We have photographs of it. To be specific on the event of the 15th. I left Ilesa 1.30 p.m. Sunday the 15th when the first announcement of the result was made. I left and, of course, all over the place people were expectant and the falsity of the result really jolted them. There was what could be described as spontaneous reaction of the people. That was not actually what led to the torching of the buildings and none of their members was assaulted by our people because we didn’t organise anything.

If you go to the secret report of the SSS you will be told that we were not the vandals or the arsonists. If you go through the records of the police, there was nowhere where we were identified as perpetrators of those crimes. Members of the PDP who felt cheated, who felt conned by their leaders who didn’t believe that they used the resources provided for the election well carried out the attacks on those properties in Ilesa and Osogbo.

Our people were too shocked by the brazenness of the manipulation which led to the false result announced to think of destroying, damaging or attacking anybody. We were in a state of shock. If the SSS wants to be honest, they have the result of this. The PDP leaders are aware of this but it is suitable for them to put the blame at the doorstep of the opposition.

Let them indicate just one day that our people perpetrated violence. For your information, before the election, I did a letter to the governor and to several stakeholders that there was the need for us to meet and develop some understanding and rules of engagement to prevent violence.

What was his reaction to it?
He threw out! That I had no such rights to suggest that there should be a forum of stakeholders in the election so as to eliminate violence. It is on record! It was recorded by the Nigerian media. We presented documents to the peace committee that he set up identifying their various acts of violence and we are continuing in calling on the Nigerian state to institute a judicial enquiry into the political situation in Osun since 2004 to date so as to understand the causes of the violent, the generators and perpetrators of the violence and when used that to sanction culprits and put an honest end to it.

We are still making that demand because we believe that any impartial investigation to the political situation will throw up those who are benefitting either electorally or materially from the bad political situation in Osun. We have lost lives! AC did not lose less than 12 lives on the day of the election and we are still losing lives. We are the victims of the gross abuse of state power; myself, my party and its leadership. They are the villains, we are the victims of their villainy.