The radical Lagos human rights lawyer, Mr Festus Keyamo, in this interview with MOSES ALAO, speaks on the recent killings in Kaduna, saying the sponsors of the attacks were waiting for reprisal attacks to happen. He also describes the House of Representatives as a house of scam, touching on a host of  other national issues.

There is an increased spate of insecurity in the country with the latest being the killings in Kaduna and Yobe States in the last one week. But surprisingly, there were reprisal attacks in Kaduna; where do you think all these are leading the country to?
They are leading to a complete disintegration of the country; they are leading a complete breakdown of law and order. I understand that despite the curfew that was imposed in Kaduna, certain youths defied the curfew to continue the mayhem. The people who have been sponsoring these attacks have been praying for this period to come whereby there would be reprisal attacks. Obviously, what they have been working on is for reprisal attacks to occur because they never could have assumed that all these attacks would be carried out on Christians without there being a reprisal for once. So, they were prepared for the reprisal more than anyone else. They want to instigate a reprisal and now they have it, what they will do with it can be anyone’s guess. So, it is for government rise and take drastic and unorthodox methods in tackling the situation.

What methods do you suggest that will be drastic and unorthodox?
They are the ones in government; they are the ones who swore to protect the lives and property of the people, so they should have advisers. And if the advisers cannot provide drastic solutions to curtail insecurity, they should resign. If the security adviser cannot provide solutions to insecurity, he should resign; the citizens cannot continue to offer solutions and they look the other way or they use such advice to go and make money somewhere else. The supposed security advisers should offer solutions or resign. At a point, President Goodluck Jonathan authorised the security agencies to use all lawful means including justifiable force, to end the spate of violence but the problems persist, maybe if you suggest the drastic and unorthodox method, there would be headway. They are the ones in government and they have security advisers, if they cannot offer practical security solutions to Mr President, what are they advising on? They should resign; it’s as simple as that.

The battle against corruption suffered another huge setback recently with the bribery scandal against Honourable Farouk Lawan, the chairman of a committee meant to probe the fuel subsidy regime; what is your take on the entire issue?
It is only that Nigerians just know that this has been happening; it is a normal trend which had been on since the time of Honourable Ghali Na’aba till now. It is just that they have been perfecting the crime more and more as time went on and they have become more brazen; it is their brazenness that got them into this trouble. I can assure you that it is not a new thing, the House has always been a House scam.

So, you are in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s school of thought that there are rogues in the National Assembly?
They are more than that; there are armed robbers in the House. It has always been like that; the House has always been a House of scam and fraud. That is what the House has always been but they have always been deceiving Nigerians. But at the point when they set up the committee, most Nigerians saw the move as necessary and noble. Nigerians were foolish; that was why I never made a comment on the setting up of the committee. I said Nigerians were foolish because the anger of the House in setting up the committee was that such huge amount was spent and they were not part of it. That was their anger, their anger was not that Nigerians’ money was stolen; no. Their anger was that ‘you meant that this amount was stolen and we were not part of it; how can we now be part of it? The only way we can be part of it is to blackmail those people so that we can get our own cut.’ And that was what they did, they were asking for their own cut and in the process of asking for their cut, they got caught. So, we were all fools by thinking they were doing anything patriotic; that was why I never commented all this while because I know it was a scam.

With the corruption allegation against the committee’s chairman and secretary, what is your view on the committee’s recommendations which most Nigerians had been calling on the Presidency to authorise the anti-graft agencies to work on by prosecuting culprits in the fuel subsidy scam?
The objective was good but the method was wrong, so the objective should be kept alive. They should look at the report and the culprits should be probed but the report must first be subjected to forensic analysis. I said the report must be subjected to analysis by law enforcement agencies because we don’t know how many people they collected money from to exclude their names. We don’t know how many people refused to give money and they included their names because we have seen an example of somebody who gave money and his name was removed on the floor of the House. Anyone that says the report should be considered hook, line and sinker is not being realistic.

That takes us to the recommendation of the Steve Orosanye Panel that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) should be merged. Where do you think that will live the war against corruption?
It is not the issue of merging; it is the issue of strengthening these agencies and making them truly independent. The merger will lead to the same thing; it is not the solution. The problem is the political will to fight corruption and not to interfere in investigations; so the real problem is not in the merger but that they should be given free hand to operate. So, the recommendation is nothing but diversionary, it is treating the effect not the cause.

Against this backdrop of zero achievement in the war against corruption, continued instability of electricity and the incessant violence and insecurity in the country, how would you rate the Jonathan administration in the last one year?
Unfortunately, his administration has been very disappointing; it has been extremely unsuccessful in terms of his own objectives and expectations from Nigerians.

You said disappointing; does that mean you were one of those who expected much from Mr President?
I am talking about the expectations of Nigerians not me, I never expected anything because he was never a breath of fresh air to me; he has always been part of the same old story. Somebody who has been part of the ruling party since 1999, who has always gone after the juicy positions; deputy governor, governor, vice president and then president and yet he said he is a breath of fresh air and you believe him, then it means you were foolish.

Oh, you have something against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party?
The ruling party has misruled Nigeria since 1999. What are the dividends of democracy you have seen since 1999?; you tell me. The basic things we can expect are the basic amenities, infrastructure, water, light but there is none for 12 years. They say it took some people 200 years to get their democracy right, we are not talking about that; we are just saying give us light and water. You have been rigging elections, yes, we will come to that but first give light and water; as we speak I am using a generating set.

With your aversion for the PDP, do you think there is a credible opposition that can be a worthy alternative?
There is none. All we have as opposition is just a party of people who have not had the opportunity to put their hands in the public till. It’s not as if the opposition is credible, whether it is ACN or any other party, the opposition is just a party that has not put its hands in the public till. So, when you see that the opposition is angry, their anger is not because the ruling party has not delivered the goods with public funds but because they are not the ones in charge of the funds.

The case of the President Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, has also generated divided opinions about this administration; what is your position?
I will only like to comment from the point where he was recalled; since he had been recalled by the National Judicial Commission (NJC), there is absolutely no reason to refuse to reinstate him.

You became popular with the role you played at a point trying to solve the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige’s murder case, have you been doing anything on the case since. Do you think justice will ever get served?
It is left to the Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, now because what destroyed the case was the election of Senator Rashidi Ladoja as the governor of the state. The PDP government, which took over after Former Governor Lam Adesina, who started the case, destroyed it. I am telling you this as an insider in that trial, once the PDP took over in that state, the case became political and that was how it was destroyed.
Since then, the opposition had not been in power but now that the ACN is in power, they have the chance to revive that matter. I am calling on the government of Ajimobi to reopen that case.

Finally, the Federal Government has been said to be planning to fully deregulate the downstream sector in July, what do you think this proposed move portends for the country?
It portends another round of crises.

But you were not around the last time, you only briefly came back to join the protest; how far will you go this time?
If I know ahead, I will not travel at all so that I will be part of the whole thing.