A social critic, Ademola Opetuga, spoke with reporters in Lagos on President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term bid and other national issues. RAYMOND MORDI was there.
Given the groundswell of opposition against his second term ambition, do you support President Buhari’s bid for 2019?
Frankly speaking, I would advise him to go and rest, because of his health and his age; so that he can spend the remaining years of his lifetime peacefully. But, I can see from his body language that he is bent on seeking a second term.
How would you assess the president’s performance?
I will say a lot of things are happening around him. He is not capitalizing on his goodwill among Nigerians to initiate policies that will earn him more credit. He appears to have been incapacitated by some people around him; the so-called cabals who are doing certain things for their own narrow selfish interests. In fact, this nation would have gone very far, if we have a man with the foresight, who had strong views about things and was ready to forcefully see those views though. He is a very strong character, no doubt, but he appears to be cynical in some way. That is my view.
But, how would you rate his performance in the areas of economy, insecurity and the war against corruption?
I think the President has driven corruption into a corner. He has initiated some policies that have mitigated corruption like the Bank Verification Number (BVN). The regulation that encourages European countries to inform the Nigerian government whenever some kind of funny money is entering their countries is also good. On the economy, a lot of things are happening. This is also because the nature of Nigerians is dynamic; they are very hard working. On insecurity, we have not reached the promise land yet and they have started shouting Hallelujah. The Boko Haram sect is still wrecking so much havoc in the country. Besides, as the Boko Haram scourge is going down, the menace of herdsmen has been on the increase. He is busy fire-fighting and he doesn’t want to accede to the demand for state police by various stakeholders, in spite of the fact that it is now widely regarded as the panacea to the insecurity problem.
Do you really think the establishment of state police will help curb insecurity?
Yes, it will help. It will help, because if there is community policing and you see any strange person walking during the day, he will be accosted and questioned. That person will be afraid, so community policing would do a lot of good for this our nation.
How would you assess the performance of the Eighth National Assembly so far?
The National Assembly has been very parochial; they think only about themselves, their selfish interests. They are so much concerned about their constituency projects. Is it not intriguing that our lawmakers most of whom are bench warmers or mere talkers are the highest paid legislators in the world? Our senators and members of the House of Representatives practically do next to nothing; at least when it comes to issues that impact positively on the people.
What is your assessment of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration?
I think with his emphasis is on taxation; he is getting a lot of money and making good use of it. He tries to take care of all the divisions of the state; 100 roads, 500