HARDSHIP IN NIGERIA WON’T END EVEN IF TINUBU REMAINS IN POWER FOR 300 YEARS – DEJI ADEYANJU

Human rights activist and lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, has said President Bola Tinubu can’t change the hardship in Nigeria even if he remains in power for 300 years.

Adeyanju maintained that the hardship in Nigeria will continue under Tinubu’s administration because he has no solution to the current challenges.

He disclosed this in an interview with DAILY POST while speaking on other sundry issues like the arraignment of EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protesters, as well as Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi’s presidential moves.

Excerpt below…

What is your perception of the current situation in the country?

This nation, as currently constituted, can be akin to a concentration camp where citizens are forced to stay. And if you doubt me, if you think that Nigeria is not a concentration camp, let’s run a social experiment.

Let the United States of America alone make their country visa-free to Nigerians, and let’s count how many of us will remain.

So that is what best describes this nation—a nation where the rich are not paying for doing business, for buying private jets.

But the poor are taxed to pay triple the price, and now quadruple the price of petrol cannot be said to be a nation for poor people. This nation is anti-poor; by and large, it’s an anti-poor people’s nation, so that is my take. In terms of the economics, in terms of the polity, it does not favor the average Nigerian in any way.

So, a nation where minors are being arraigned for terrorism, for saying, “We are hungry; this is the reason why we are protesting; please, government should help us, government should stop insecurity.”

In response, the government says, “Come on, lock them up for 93 days without food, starve them,” and above all, slams them with treasonable felony charges and parades them like common criminals.

And this is a nation where police chiefs are hustling to take pictures with bandits in Zamfara. They organize an elaborate ceremony, according to them, to integrate Boko Haram members into society. Then you arraign minors in the society for terrorism and treasonable felony charges, so our nation is an irony.

What did those minors tell you about how they were arrested?

Well, from day one when they came to Abuja, we started speaking to them, even before they arrived and were arraigned, we started speaking with their parents. Many of the minors were just in front of their homes when police came to raid.

It was a joint task force of police, SSS, and others that came to raid. Anybody seen on-site was arrested.

One of the minors, whose mother still called me even yesterday, said he was just sitting in front of where they were playing football. So immediately they heard police, everybody started running. You know it’s a Nigerian thing.

And while they were running, police arrested both the adults and the minors—anybody they just saw on-site, they arrested. And subsequently, we started tracing where they were. Where had they been taken to? They said they were taken to Kaduna; some said Abuja.

So we kept going back and forth between Force CID, Force headquarters, and the notorious Abattoir, where there is now IRT and the anti-kidnapping unit, and that was where we eventually found them.

There is nobody in this country that we did not meet, except maybe, just maybe, the president and the vice that we didn’t beg to release these children to us.

We kept at this for over two months; when it became obvious and clear to us that everyone was saying, “We had orders not to release them,” we had to go to court to force their arraignment.

And if not for our actions—filing fundamental rights proceedings against the government and putting pressure on ensuring that the kids were arraigned—I can assure you that the kids would not have been arraigned 93 days later. We had gone to Justice Nwite’s court on three occasions to move applications, and the police intentionally would not come.

And it was at the last adjourned date that we told the court that if the police do not come, the children must be set free.

Only for us to be told that the police had just filed charges against the children and other protesters arrested in Kaduna and Kano. So, that was what led to the arraignment of the kids and the international embarrassment we saw in the open court on the day of the arraignment.

With the recent arraignment of those minors and their eventual release, don’t you think the Tinubu government is a joke?

Their government is not just a joke; it’s a tyrannical regime. That’s the only way to define the government.

You know, the irreducible minimum in a democracy is that the rights of citizens be respected. How can a protest be equated to a treasonable felony when bandits killed a traditional ruler in Sokoto and other parts of the country?

Have you seen any of them being arraigned in any court? Not one person since Tinubu has come on board—not one bandit has been put on trial, not one Boko Haram member is facing charges—but because he’s a chief protester himself, you know, he does not want any form of dissent or criticism; he does not want any form of opposition or protest.

They feel that by slamming treasonable charges and trivializing the offense of treasonable felony, they will be able to scare people from protesting. We just finished protesting today in Abuja. How many treasonable felony charges can one government file in its 4-year term?

The aim was not to prosecute the kids; the aim was to deter people from protesting. They want to send a clear message that if you try it, we will detain you for 93 days. If we can detain children, who are you that we will not detain? We will detain you, dehumanize you, and starve you.

They denied us access to the children several times. They denied us legal representation in contravention of the constitution, and they denied their families and parents access to see them on numerous occasions.

What else could be worse when it comes to the issue of torture? That’s torture. Denied them from feeding; that’s torture, simplicita. The government is just a huge joke; the government is no different from a military regime. There’s no difference.

Tell me, even Abacha did not arrest or arraign children in open court. This president (Tinubu) fled the country when Abacha was looking for him, he didn’t want to be arrested. Today, he is the one arresting children and putting them on trial for treasonable felony while bandits roam freely across the country. Bandits operate for 7, 8 hours unchallenged in most parts of the country.

Look at Kaduna; they’ve ceded most parts of Kaduna to bandits. Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, all have been ceded to bandits. Kidnappers are having a field day in the country. Yet, these kids cannot protest bad governance.

Kids protest bad governance, you arrest them, imprison them, starve them, and slam them with treasonable felony charges, then parade them in front of the camera before the whole world.”

Who do we blame for the arraignment of those minors?

The president (Tinubu) is the person to blame and nobody else, because the buck stops at his table. Every day, the president gets security reports, so you want to tell me that for 93 days the president did not get any report that minors were arrested from Kano or Kaduna?

The president wants to feign ignorance that when the first protesters were arraigned before Justice Nwite, he did not know? With all the noise we kept making that minors were in custody, will the president say he did not know? Of course, the president is to blame because he gave the order for people to be arrested during the protest.

When he said people should come forward so he could meet them, once the protest stopped, did you see him making any effort to reach out to them anymore? The only step taken was to arrest and lock everybody up. The president is to blame and no one else.

From what you have said, it seems the Tinubu government has failed. So, who do you think is the Messiah Nigeria needs?

For me, we should not be talking about crises, but rather about all stakeholders coming together. Tinubu and the APC are the common denominators and enemies of Nigeria. At this point, it should not be about who is better.

No, all political stakeholders should come together to fight the APC government and Tinubu. They should provide credible opposition; look at the recent U.S. election, where the opposition united against the Democratic Party.

All critical stakeholders rallied around Trump because they knew there was no third-party distraction in the U.S., and that’s why everyone knows what they are doing. Doyin Okupe, who was supporting Peter Obi today, is now supporting Tinubu.

Such distractions must be avoided in 2027 if they want to stand a chance. Whether they will have any chance with the “Tinubu-INEC collaboration” is another matter; as I humorously said after the U.S. election, INEC could have still saved Kamala because what INEC can’t do does not exist, and I stand by the notion that INEC is one of our major problems in this country. Why do I say INEC is a problem? Since 1999 till date, people have been snatching ballot boxes, buying votes, and inflicting harm on voters and party agents, yet not one person has been put on trial by INEC.

So, INEC and our security agencies, which enable electoral malpractice, are our main problems. Many Nigerians will tell you that even the legal profession is complicit, but if INEC were credible and truly independent, we would have fewer problems.

Since we already know that the majority of the people in INEC are politicians, card-carrying members of APC—we have Prof. Gumus from Bayelsa, with whom we are in court.

We have been saying that this woman cannot be an INEC National Commissioner because she is an APC card-carrying member from Bayelsa; the majority of INEC commissioners are APC members.

The only way to prevent INEC from continuing as it is would be to allow all political parties to nominate representatives to INEC.

If PDP nominates ten people, APC, LP, and others should also nominate the same, then the president can have the discretionary power to present the INEC Chairman. This would make it impossible for INEC to rig elections for any particular party because all critical stakeholders would be at the table, and they would never agree on a consensus for rigging.

You will never have INEC rigging for a particular party, and by not doing this, we continue deceiving ourselves. INEC commissioners are politicians; they are not independent-minded people.

Do you think Peter Obi would have done better than Tinubu if he had won the 2023 election?

For me, if Tinubu, Atiku, and Obi were on the ballot, I would vote for Obi. But what changed my mind is that I can’t have Sowore on the ballot and still vote for Obi. Ideologically, Obi is not much different from Tinubu and Atiku.

They all campaigned for capitalism, advocating fuel subsidy removal. Why can’t they remove subsidies for politicians and the rich instead?

Do you know how much we subsidize for Dangote in this country? Nigeria practically subsidizes Dangote. He thrives off Nigeria’s resources. Do you know how much we subsidize for Akpabio and others in the National Assembly?

Did you read that the First Lady wanted to travel one time and exchanged naira into dollars? I can’t recall the amount exchanged. Didn’t you see the president buying a new jet? Haven’t you seen some people saying the Vice President needs a new jet? Why should the poverty capital of the world buy new jets for unproductive politicians?

Why should I believe that Atiku, Peter Obi, and Tinubu are any different when they all promote capitalism and bow to the IMF?

2027 is around the corner; does Nigeria need a new breed of politicians?

For me, I would go for a new breed because these are birds of a feather. They have been doing the same things repeatedly. They all advocated for fuel subsidy removal; only Sowore was different.

But as bad as considering them as options is, I still advise that Atiku, Obi, and Kwankwaso should unite because being divided is detrimental, which is one of the things I condemned during the last election. They only united after they lost, even holding a joint press conference to protest their loss,” he said.

What is your problem with Peter Obi?

Sincerely speaking, I don’t hate any of these politicians; I just criticize them. Nigerians don’t love to be criticized. It’s not only the leaders—Nigerians generally don’t like to be criticized or held accountable. Nigerians generally have a “God complex,” and that’s why they treat people they support as demi-gods. You can actually see this God complex in our polity. Most Nigerians block people who criticize them, and I think I’m the only Nigerian who retweets criticism and insults. Why shouldn’t we tolerate criticism? Why should we see criticism as hatred? Tinubu will say we hate him—no, we are criticizing you.

What I was saying, paradoxically, is that none of these guys is the messiah or different from the bullion van convener in the villa; they are all the same. That was just what I was saying.

After all, he invested Anambra State government money in his family business; how would that amount to hate? I’m just stating the obvious.

Would you suggest a situation where Atiku steps aside and supports a younger candidate?

Ideologically speaking, should Atiku still be contesting? Did they swear for him to keep contesting the presidential election? Now that Trump has won, do you know that Atiku believes it’s also his own “Emi Lokan”; his supporters have been gingering, saying Trump is almost 80, so nobody should say Atiku shouldn’t contest in 2027.

Were you born to contest every election? Should Atiku not be tired of contesting every election and perpetually losing? How can he feel so entitled? And that’s my problem with Dangote—he feels so entitled. The guy went to court to stop other people from importing fuel into Nigeria, arguing that now that he has a refinery, he should be the only one to import. That is an “Atiku behavior.”

It’s only someone who feels that the country was created for them that will feel so entitled. Have you seen people in life who refuse to work and say it’s because their uncle has refused to help them?

Why are you not happy with the birth of the Dangote refinery?

I know Aliko, and it’s like Tinubu saying he’s coming to fight corruption—a bullion van man coming to fight corruption? A capitalist saying, “If I come, things would be cheap.” How? I said it, and I have been vindicated. It’s just like the last election, when I said this division within the opposition is counterproductive, but they said, “Deji has come again,” but I was vindicated eventually.

Dangote will never, ever want things to be cheap, and that’s why you see him making all this drama where he starts propaganda and counters it. There’s nothing I have said about him that has not turned out to be true. How can fuel from Argentina and Brazil be cheaper than the one refined in Ibeju Lekki?

You are not putting it on a ship, you are not paying duties, yet fuel from Brazil is cheaper than that of Ibeju Lekki, and you say someone like me should be deceived and vulnerable about Aliko? We all know. There is no business that Aliko Dangote does not want to monopolize; oil and gas will not be an exception.

People like Dangote only thrive when there is a monopoly; a nation should not be built around individuals; Nigeria should not be built around Dangote.

The way we built a refinery for Dangote, we should build for other people. When we have like 12 refineries, let’s see if he will not abandon his own and move into another sector where he can monopolize.

With our four refineries combined, we can produce about 400,000 barrels, and Dangote’s is only 600,000. That is why I support the idea of selling the refineries and making them work because of corruption and bottlenecks, as the government has no business doing business in Nigeria; they are not effective managers. So if we sell those refineries, including the modular refineries, Dangote will not be able to determine market forces.

The reason fuel is almost N1,200 today is because of Dangote’s refinery. Before the refinery came on board, we were buying fuel for about one hundred and something naira, and he’s the reason we are experiencing hyperinflation in the country.

The idea is that he has a refinery now, so let market forces prevail. All over the world, governments subsidize products—in America, in the UK; even the IMF that is misleading Tinubu can’t tell people in America to remove subsidies.

They even subsidize walnuts abroad. Let IMF go to Canada and tell them to remove product subsidies. They should tell the UK government or that of Ireland to remove subsidies, but they come to the Third World where their leaders are naive, so they mislead them, and after the mistakes are made, they start mocking them. IMF was just mocking Tinubu the other day, saying they never asked him to take the bad economic policies he has taken.

What do you think are the policies that Tinubu introduced that led to hardship in the country, and what can he do to correct them? Even Tinubu will tell you that Nigeria won’t come out of this hardship under him.

Even when you ask the person who is president… Have you not heard the audio he made, admitting that he knows he has destroyed the economy and that his policies are hurting Nigerians?

The same Tinubu who just bought a jet is the one you expect to get Nigerians out of hardship? Or is it the Tinubu that proposed a tax bill you’re expecting to reverse his harmful policies? How can things get better under this kind of government? Even if you give Tinubu 300 years, things will never get better.

2027 is around the corner. Any advice for Nigerians?

My advice is simple: Nigerians should press upon the political actors to unite against the Tinubu government and APC government. If Nigerians do not come together to dismantle APC, APC will kill and finish them off. If Nigerians choose to continue living in denial, they should remember that those who collected money in Edo were already hungry three days later.

The INEC officials who compromised in Edo—whatever money they collected is already gone because it has lost its value. N20 million now has no value in the country; you can’t do anything with it. The compromise, silence, and lack of integrity are not worth it.

The only thing that can make this country function well is if we all come together and do what is right to get our country working again.