Posted by By STEVE NWOSU on
Human rights activist, Oronto Douglas has applauded the Vice President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan for responding, positively, to the agitations by Nigerians for the public declaration of his assets.
•Faults FG on Niger Delta crises
Human rights activist, Oronto Douglas has applauded the Vice President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan for responding, positively, to the agitations by Nigerians for the public declaration of his assets. Last Wednesday in Abuja, Imo Niboro, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the vice-president made documents available to State House Correspondents, revealing the assets of the vice president to the tune of N295 million.
In this interview with Saturday Sun, Oronto Douglas, submitted that the demands should be wholistic: Ministers, Senators and serving governors should equally be compelled to toe the line of President Yar'Adua and his deputy
While not holding brief for those who may be aversed to public declaration of assets , the former Information Commissioner in Bayelsa State equally called for the passing of the Freedom of Information Bill into law to douse the agitation for public declaration of assets.
'If that bill has been available, then anybody can go and access. I think that was the point the Vice-President was making when he said Nigerians should go to the Code of Conduct Bureau and collect his assets declaration documents".
Let's start on this note; do you think the public pressures have anything to do with the eventual public declaration of assets by the Vice President?
There's absolutely no doubt that the Vice-President acceptance to declare his assets publicly, was as a result of the Nigerian people demanding that he should declare, publicly. This emanated from everywhere. the grassroots to the top.
I think, for him to 've listened to the voices of the masses of this country, we must give him kudos, because in the true past, leaders were deaf to the demands of Nigerians for justice, leaders refused to listen, they were all knowing, arrogant in their behaviour and consumate in their belief that they know more than the people of his country.
So, Jonathan is setting a good example on how a good leader must respond to the voices, of the masses of his country. It's a good move, it's in the right direction and we must toe that path, because in doing so, we'll be helping to build on democracy and setting a new path of public accountability and responses to the issues that affect Nigeria's most. Today, the clamour is for transparent and accountable, honest, humble leadership. Jonathan encapsulates some of these values and has added a new value into it; that's responding to the wishes of the people of Nigeria in matters that affect them.
You've said the Vice-President is an embodiment of humility but in the media, the impression we get is that, that's a facade; that the man is a hawk and that he has refused to give the Governor of Bayelsa, free hand to administer the state.?
I think that view is coming from people who don't know the politics and the dynamics of Bayelsa State. You can't call Timpire Sylvia, a green horn. This is a man who has cut his teeth in politics, all over the years. He was in the old Rivers State Assembly as legislator; he was a political adviser to Alamieyeseigha, he was special adviser to the former Energy minister, Edmund Daukoru, he has always been in politics and had acquired tremendous experience in this area of life. Remember, that he came into the gubernatorial race very strong and was second in the hierachy of those who ran for the election.
So, it would not be right to point to him as a green-horn. Jonathan on the other hand, is one man who believes that you must allow people to do their own thing and rightly. Take note, Jonathan isn't an ambitious man.He's not a man who wants to hold on to something, for the sake of holding on to it. He's one man who didn't want to be deputy-governor, but he was called out to be deputy governor.He didn't want to be, governor, but he became governor. His ambition was at the time to become governor by 2007 but God, and fate propped him up and he became vice-president.
At this moment, his desire isn't to outshine his boss. So, he has always lived that life of let me be, what the people desire for me. So, to say that he's holding on to Timpire Sylvia will be totally unkind to Timpire Slyvia and to Goodluck Jonathan himself.
Now that the vice-president has declared his assets, what next? Don't you envisage pressures on him? Secondly, where do we go from here? Do we just let it lie and forget about it?
I don't believe that there'll be pressures on him, the law is very clear on this matter. Those who've submitted their documents to the Code- of- Conduct Bureau, they will soon verify, what those assets are.
I think, what we should do as Nigerians is that, in view of the clamour for public declaration, we should go all the way to ensure that all those who've not declared, should so declare so that by the grace of God, the demands of Nigerians will be met; the demands are for transparency, for accountability for good governance.
I believe that we're in a new season, where every Nigerian is demanding for justice., For me, as a Niger- Delta person, I'm even more interested in how money that comes into the Federation Account, money generated by Nigeria be utilized and I do know that from 1958 when the export of crude oil started to 1970, when crude oil took prime stage in revenue generation of this country, that we, the people of the Niger-Delta ‘ve been the ones sustaining this country.
If that's the case, oil money -the almost 600 billion dollars generated from crude oil've come from the Niger-Delta. We understand that there're some people who've golf courses in some parts of the world; there're people who own mansions all over the world, there're those who ‘ve acquired aircraft and so on Most of these assets were money taken from the impoverished communities of the Niger-Delta. People's dying of hunger, you go to the Niger-Delta today, people ‘re moving corpses, and polluted water, fouled air, anger and desperations out today.
Nigeria has to respond, immediately, by ensuring that whatever money being generated in the region is utilized accountably. Two, that they return all stolen resources back to the Niger-Delta. Thirdly, if the EFCC operation is to be taken to its logical conclusion, those who've governed before now, ministers, ex-heads of state who've so much stashed away in assets, all those money should now be retrieved.
Still on this assets declaration, there is this cynical mindest that public officers might be indulging in anticipatory declaration; will the code of conduct, take the initiative to verify?
I think the biggest drawback in Nigeria is that some institutions of governance aren't as strong as we want them to be. We're at the beginning of a new era and we should begin to strengthen the code of conduct. I think that's the point the Vice-President was making about the rule of law. If you strengthen the institutions of governance, Nigerians don't need to shout.
Those institutions'll be galvanized into doing something. In the United States and Britain, public officers don't declare their assets, publicly but the moment you step into the public arena, to say you've running for office or you're in office, these institution's step in, get the assets and act.Regardless of whatever you declare or you don't declare.
So, we need to strengthen those institutions. That's what I mean by the next level. How do we strengthen those institutions so that they can help us streamline and ensure accountability like the EFCC has done. Of course , they ‘ve areas that Nigerians ‘ve expressed disappointment.
Don't you think Nigerians wouldn't ve been as vehement as they were in insisting that the Vice President declare his assets , publicly , if the Freedom of Information Bill has been passed into law ?
You see, that bill in the National Assembly needs to be urgently passed. As a believer in constitutionalism and the rule of law , and somebody who campaigned for the rights of Nigerians, I believe that the Information Bill must, be passed into law , so that we can have access into these documents
If that bill has been available anybody can go and access it That was the point the vice president was making when he said that people should go to the code of conduct bureau to collect his assets declaration documents . Now in the absence of that, the other option was to go the court of law . But our judicial system is slow . So, I agree with you that we need to pass that bill into law, to also strengthen the institutions that were talking about .
But why didn't the Vice president declare his assets , until now; secondly why did he leave out his wife's assets ?
I think my limited knowledge of the law in that area is that public officers or civil servants ‘re not compelled to declare, publicly. So, I think it's in deferrence to that he didn't declare his wife and teenagers assets.
If you were in a position to run this country for one day, what do you think is the solution to the Niger-Delta crises, to stave off all these hostage takings and kidnapping?
I think that for almost five decades, the people of the Niger-Delta 've been demanding for five key issues to be looked into.The first is access and control or resources. Two, environmental justice. Three, self determination; political, economic and social development of the nation and finally, the building of a united Nigeria that's based on the rule of law and justice where minorities rights are protected.
These five cardinal issues that have been canvassed by the people of the Niger-Delta've not been attended to all these years and it has led to several major upheavals, leading to attacks and violence, visited on our people.
In 1966, Isaac Boro declared a secession. In 1990, Ken Saro Wiwa led a major movement anchored on peaceful, non-violence in Ogoni; in 1998, Ijaw youth rose in unison, via the Kiama Declaration. Now other nationalities like the Urhobos, the Itsekiris, Usokos, ‘ve at one time or the other made one big declarations in their demands for justice.
Now, what has been the results of all these? Between 1987 and 1997 and 2007 over 10,000 Niger-Deltas people ‘ve been killed… the violence visited on our people is uncalled for.
We're saying this violence must stop, but we must go to the round table to discuss. It's not in the interest of Nigeria. We only think in the terms of cost. When you ask the oil companies, they will reel out the figures.
The people ‘re saying, they want to be part of a united Nigeria, built on justice. They're saying they want to be part of a united Nigeria, based on dialogue and justice. That has been the position of our people.
The violence that's now going on is a tip of the ice-berg, compared to the violence that ‘ve been visited on our people. Nobody wants to excuse what is going on there, but we're fighting for the rights of our people and we must not visit them with violence. The Inspector-General of Police , the other day said most of the hostage takings were being sponsored from outside.
So, we need to put all these things on a template and do an analysis . Kidnapping and hostage taking is now a big business, being financed by those who wants to undermine and distract the legitimate cry for justice by our people: that the basic reconsisties of live can be enjoyed in the Niger-Delta region. That's the basis for the agitation for resource control.
The vice-president, whether by accident or whatever is the leading light of the Niger-Delta for now. Do you think he has what it takes to galvanize the people?
I don't think that ‘s an issue, because it's all clear that he has succeeded in creating the political space for direct discussions with those who're in the creeks and in the streets insisting that there has to be a change. It hasn't happened before. His coming in has created opportunities.
The responsibility of resolving the Niger-Delta crises doesn't lie with the vice-president. It lies with all Nigerians who're the beneficiaries of whatever goodies that ‘re in the Niger-Delta. Goodluck Jonathan may only ‘ve been sent a message, by the government and to my mind, he has done what has to be done. The next thing to go to direct dialogue.
Here was a group of people who didn't want to talk to government. Asari Dokubo came out and said, we're for dialogue. This is a show of good will. May be they realize that one of their own is now in a strategic position. But they should also realize that he's just one person and the fundamental issues that galvanize the struggle mustn't be sacrificed on the altar of one man appointment or election. So, they're pretty aware of that, but they've equally supportive of Goodluck, believing that by his being vice-president, the Nigerian state will very urgently address the issues that have been raised.