With less than 20 days to the February 25th presidential election, the President Political Science Teachers Association of Nigeria, Professor Hassan Saliu in this interview with ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU cautioned that persistent naira, fuel scarcity will encourage vote buying and voters apathy.
In the last couple of days, Nigerians have been struggling to get naira notes, as somebody who understands the tricks in politics, do you think this will possibly affect the outcome of the 2023 election?
Well, I want to align myself with Kaduna State Governor Nasir El rufai, who alleged that some elements in the Presidential Villa are doing it to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC), Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I want to also align myself with the response by Alhaji Lai Muhammad. Why one will want to align himself with Alhaji Lai Muhammad because, there’s no scientific proof and when you have human beings who are from different backgrounds, no matter how hard you try, they may not know what is going on in their minds that extent one cannot be too categorical. And I think Governor El rufai too was not too categorical. But if you look at the trajectory of the nation, over the last year, it will be difficult for you to dismiss all manner of conspiracy theories that are coming out because if you say this theory is not reasonably certain things will just happen. So in other words, this is an election where there’s too much uncertainty and where there are too many concerns. The two sets of concerns staring one another in the face, look at the economic aspects. Shortage of petroleum and stuff like that, you realize you have a complete circle of one not able to know what will happen but we pray and hope things will be sorted out.
It will certainly impact the outcome. But whether the impact will be positive or negative, depends on the Federal Government.
You have been very vocal on ways to discourage vote buying and voters’ apathy. Don’t you think this cashless policy that the CBN is promoting will help curb vote buying in the February 25 presidential election?
With due respect to government officials who have expressed their few positive views on currency redesign, the intention may be good, but the point is why now? Why now? What happened in 2021 that we couldn’t do it? What happened in 2020 that we couldn’t do it? What happened in January 2022. Must we solve a problem while creating a multitude of others? I don’t buy the argument, the objective behind it may be good but the time is wrong, wrong, and wrong.
So you think it won’t have any impact on vote buying and voters’ apathy?
They are encouraging vote buying now, a man who has about one hundred thousand naira in the account can only get 5000 Naira, and if you have somebody who can give him more than what he needs. Since it’s legitimate money and is not released to him, most of them will sell their votes for cash. The truth of the matter is that careful reading will tell you that these people are just deceiving Nigerians. The policy will not solve the problem of vote buying. Because with naira scarcity people after a while will become more desperate. And the people they are trying to block from having access to money would have access to it and this policy won’t affect them. So there will be vote buying because there is a scarcity of naira among the electorate and the politicians will find a way of having it. Also, by the time the CBN makes it difficult for ordinary Nigerians to access their money, they may want to take some other options available to them. If we must tell ourselves the truth. These politicians will have their way if possible, they spend dollars. So you’re only suffering the masses for nothing. I don’t buy that argument, it’s reasonable to assume that there’s too much politics in the current naira policy.
On voters’ apathy, with what’s on the ground now, no fuel, no cash, where will the turnout come from? The least concern of some Nigeria is the election. They are more concerned about what they will put in their belly, They want to survive before the election. CBN and the Federal government are also promoting voters’ apathy with this policy. I think people need to tell them in clear language. That if naira and fuel scarcity persists it will promote vote buying and voters’ apathy. All these theoretical arguments for stopping politicians from having access to cash are not possible. Tell me, who among the presidential candidates doesn’t have access to money through a bank in Nigeria? Let people look carefully. is possible vote buying is already going on.
Campaigns will soon be over, having read and seen the manifestos of most of these major presidential candidates, are you optimistic that if one of them eventually emerges as the President, some of these problems will be solved?
Thank God, you interview me in August in the same town, not in the same place. And you caption the text of the interview. “2023: whoever wins nothing will change”. I think I still maintain that stand. I don’t know who will win. But given the multitude of problems and the shortage of presidential candidates. Also, considering that the solution they are coming out with is not just deep enough, most of the candidates with too much anxiety, too much eagerness, and desire to be president and no concrete plans on how to address these problems. They are just interested in how to capture the power and then start thinking after they must have hijacked, and capture power. So, nothing will change.
Are you saying Atiku Abubakar, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Peter Obi, Kwankwanso, and the rest will not be accountable for what they stated in their manifestos?
Are you not living in Nigeria? we have seen manifestos being disowned by some Nigerian leaders. So what’s the importance? Of what value are you then placing on the manifesto, where people just make statements after capturing power, you go to them, question them about the manifesto. They will tell you, I don’t know anything about it. They won’t remember anything. So I don’t think we are there yet. I will resist the temptation of matching the candidates with their manifestos. I will resist the temptation because they would have given people money to go and write the manifesto for them. Ideally, the manifesto of presidential candidates is supposed to be an important document to guide the electorate, unfortunately, with the reality confronting us, this is not the case in Nigeria.
You have seen what INEC is doing and heard from the Commission, are you satisfied that the Commission led by Professor Mahmoud is going to do its best to ensure that the election is free, fair, and credible?
Even though I know so many people in INEC, I will still say a few things since what is at stake is Nigeria’s interest. I will say that I align myself with those who express fear over the dates of the 2023 election. This is because of the regular attacks of INEC facilities and staff in some part of the nation. With these bombings and attacks on INEC, the election might not hold. With the fuel scarcity, we may have to postpone the election too. Professor Mahmoud Yakubu is a human being, all the people in INEC are human beings, and they are a product of society. So whatever affects the larger society, definitely will affect them and their activities or plans. They have the desire, they have determination, and they have the concern but is the environment right?
