Prince Halliard Eta is the national vice chairman (South-south), of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He speaks to BODE OLAGOKE on the forthcoming governorship election in Edo state, one year anniversary of APC-led government at the centre, and the recent agitation by the Niger Delta Avengers, among other issues.
Edo state recently got on the boil when the governor and his deputy had issues. We are preparing for election in that state and similar thing happened in Bayelsa when the two key candidates had issues leading to the loss of that state.
Are you not worried that this might repeat itself in Edo?
Let me say that the two situations can never be said to be the same. What we had in Bayelsa was a disagreement between members of the party with regards appointments, and I will leave it at that because the party is doing everything to reconcile the warring tendencies.
For Edo, you are aware that after the achievements of Ambrose Ali, the state is for the first time experiencing real development and the clamour for the APC ticket is quite high and sustained than the narratives as seen by those who are seeking to have our ticket. The party is conscious of the heightened tension and has set up a small committee to go to Edo to try and reconcile the various tendencies.
What you have said is suggestive of the fact that the other elections lacked good conduct?
You are aware of the reports of the international observers with regards the Rivers and Akwa Ibom elections. Everybody alive and well today must have come by that report. The Supreme Court judgement is an antithesis to the report of the international observers and we, of the APC will like to align ourselves with the report of the international observers that there was no election in Rivers and Akwa Ibom.
You have read Prof Itse Sagay’s writing on the judgement of the Supreme Court. Suffice to say that he spoke our mind. We will not bear the burden of peace alone in Edo. We will share it with those who have come for the contest for the soul of Edo state. We will either share the burden of peace or share the strife of war.
There are allegation against the Minister of state for Agriculture who is from Bayelsa state, bought the position….? (cuts in)
Look, these are the things that the party at the national level have waded into. So, it is important that we allow reconciliation process to take its course and at the end of the day, we will address the press.
You will agree with me that there is a kind of gathering storm in the polity today, obviously because of the sharp increase in fuel pump price. The APC government has really not come to the rescue of Nigerians almost one year in office and a lot of Nigerians are not finding it easy.
What will be your advice to government?
I am one of those who have always clamoured for the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. The truth is that I was a little bit taken aback when there was a cap of N145. My take is that if you deregulate a market, you should not put a cap. I believe in complete deregulation because it will bring down the price of our petroleum products. It will go down even below N86 because it will now depend on the vagaries of the market.
Don’t you think there should have been some palliative measures before the deregulation, because Nigerians are bearing the brunt?
I think that palliative has been given a wrong meaning by the former government. If you look at the budget of 2016, you will discover that embedded in that budget is all manner of palliatives, social safety gaps. You talk about intervention is terms of employment 500,000 teachers, feeding of primary school pupils and many others. These are all palliatives. We must not always link palliatives to anytime we want to increase prices of petroleum product. The last palliative is the source of the slush funds that people will be going to jail soon for under SURE-P.
What can you really say that this government has achieved in the last one year?
Our President campaigned on the basis of a tripod which include; security, corruption and the economy. We all know how much this government has achieved in curbing insurgency in the north east, and even the international community has accepted the fact that this government has done so much in the area of dealing with Boko Haram insurgency in the north east and security generally.
In the area of corruption, except one is blind, government has been sincere not just by mouthing the war against corruption, but actually doing what is actually necessary to curb corruption, first, by living by example. Because the saying goes that when a fish is getting bad, it starts from the head. For change to take place, there has to be a gestation period, while miracle is instant.
I know that Nigerians are impatient. This government has laid the foundation for the take-off of the economic boom that we must necessarily bring to Nigeria because that is what we promised.
So, the 2016 budget is that catalyst that if faithfully implemented, will jumpstart the Nigerian economy. That is why, for us to expand the economy of Nigeria, for us to begin the real development of the Nigerian economy, we must deliberately create jobs for the youths of Nigeria because the unemployment issue is a tinder box, a gun powder. If anything should happen to state today, it is unemployment that will be the reason for an uprising. This government is very conscious of that.
Some have said the approach adopted by the Buhari government in dealing with the militants in the Niger Delta appears to be naive as compared to what the PDP government under Yar’adua did to calm nerves and return normalcy to the region. How do you react to this?
Those who have said so are in bed with criminals. Let me tell you the story of two governors in the Niger Delta. The former governor of Rivers state did not negotiate with any militant and did not offer any palliative to any militant. He fought them on the streets and on the creeks of Rivers state and earned peace for the people of Rivers state. Go and check your records for the period of Amaechi’s administration even as PDP governor. You cannot negotiate with criminals.
These persons that are blowing up our oil installations now, I can tell you are linked to Tompolo. I am not telling you that I know the person, but will not mention his name. The reason is very clear, that they want to sabotage the country. There is absolutely nothing they are fighting for. I am from the south-south. What is Asari Dokubo fighting for? Who told you that he was fighting for the people of the south-south? Whoever told you that Ateke Tom was fighting for the people of Rivers state? They were fighting for their pockets.
Does that include the Avengers?
You see, when you are fighting for your people like Ken Saro Wiwa did, when he died, he died almost kobo less. Go and look at the houses these people are living in, go to the airport and see their private jets. They have never fought for the people of the Niger Delta. They are criminals. So, you are saying we should engage them and begin a new process of amnesty. My brother, if you give a mouse biscuit, it will ask for milk. You cannot negotiate with criminals. Avengers or whatever they call their name are all criminals.
But the federal government is willing to negotiate with the criminals in the north
The truth of the matter is that we now want to democratise criminality. We now have our own criminals and their own criminals. These people are fighting a religious war, while these ones are fighting with our resources. We cannot compare apples and oranges. Not because we are all from the south and so we say, why must we be negotiating with them in the north-east and then, our boys in the creeks should be killed. Insurgency is criminal. Blowing up of pipeline is criminal.
Do you have evidence that these people are linked to Tompolo?
Don’t worry, the evidence will come out soon and Nigerians will see it. He has come out on the pages of newspapers delinking himself. Who told him that they were linked to him?
Before this government took over, the dollar was less than N200, but today, we have a dollar that is over N300. We also know that there is high level inflation in the country today. Do you think this government is positioned economically to lift this nation out of the woods?
This government is giving us the best economic paradigm to bring us away from our import dependent economic system that we have been practicing for decades now. Let me correct the impression that the dollar is above N300. The dollar is N197, every other thing is illegal. Every country has a legal regime and the one on the street. What kind of society are we building? Whoever said that the dollar was above N300 when it is N197.
No, till the Central Bank of Nigeria devalues it, it is N197. Now you are talking about inflation. We must begin consciously to produce in Nigeria? If we have inflation today, it is simply because inflation is imported into Nigeria by the sheer fact that we cannot control the prices of these goods that we buy from other countries.
So, if the government says we don’t have foreign exchange for the importation of toothpick, I think Nigerians should key into that because where I come from, we have a lot of milliner trees from where toothpick is made. So, let us begin to appreciate the goods that are made in Aba, Lagos and other parts of the country. That way, we will deal with inflation, employment and wealth creation. So, I think that the paradigm the government has brought is indeed the best for Nigeria at this time.
