Hon. Ibrahim Bello represents Igabi federal
constituency of Kaduna state in the House of Representatives. In this
interview with Ruth Choji, the lawmaker takes a swipe at the on-going
national conference describing it a waste of resources. He also avers
that most delegates to the conference caused the problems Nigeria is
facing tod
What is your take on the on-going constitutional conference?
Well, in my view, the whole thing has conflict of interest because I am a legislator; I believe we have three arms of government, the legislature, executive and judiciary. We in the legislature are saddled with the responsibility of tackling Nigerian issues.
We were sent last year to our various constituencies to get our peoples’ opinion on some laws that needed to be amended in the 1999 constitution. It was a successful exercise.
That is a process that is on and then the issue of national conference came up. I just learnt that the resolutions will be sent to the National assembly, but in what capacity? Then what is
our responsibility in the National Assembly? Does it mean that the confab will supersede our responsibilities?
I envisage trouble by some people; they want to turn the public against us so that when we didn’t deliberate on the resolutions, they will say we are the ones frustrating it.
But the senate president and speaker were at the inauguration, why would they attend an event that is illegal
Going there cannot change the constitution or change what we have done. I see what is happening as wastage of tax payer’s money.
What do you foresee will be the outcome of this conference?
We all know that Nigerians need jobs. Most of the delegates know the problem of Nigeria, some of them even caused it, and they also know when we went round to consult our constituents and some of them even gave us their opinion. So there is nothing that will be different from ours. What they are looking at is illegal.
Are you saying the confab has no legal backing?
It doesn’t because….
What is the consequence?
The consequence is that there will be conflict of interest; it is an illegitimate and this is broad daylight robbery. They are robbing us of our jobs. If we refused to consider their resolution, they will use the public against us.
Is that why the APC refused to join the conference
We in the APC will not participate in illegality; we want to have a good Nigeria and a change in Nigerian system. We want to do the right thing at all times and this conference is not the right thing because its foundation is faulty.
Talking about defection, is it healthy for our nascent democracy
It is not healthy, I have been in APC and I am happy that people are defecting and that is what is happening to the PDP. But we are waiting for the final verdict of the court on his issue. We lack internal democracy in our party. The constitution says as that anybody defecting should be because their party is divided, but in Nigeria politics, we don’t have any judgment that will give guidance on this. We have a law yet nobody has ever complied with it and now that the reverse is the case and it is not favouring the PDP, they want to revive that law.
But what are the chances of the APC seeing the crisis they are having in some states
Nigerians want change and there is no way you can get that change without challenges. When we were in the CPC, we didn’t have such crises but now we have governors, senators and others, so it is normal to experience such challenges.
In the coming elections, people should expect lots of dramatic changes because of the strength of the opposition.
Some Nigerian believe that Prof Jega did not conduct a free, fair and credible election in 2011, do you think so and should he be retained as INEC chairman for the next general elections
I don’t think we should blame Prof Jega alone. INEC told us they have the biometrics and some people claim that there was massive rigging in the last elections, and then we expect those people to be prosecuted, whether they are INEC officials or not because this will serve as a deterrent.
So I don’t blame those calling for Jega’s head because they know what happened in the last elections and they think it can still happen. Another thing I don’t like is the way INEC uses NYSC, it is another problem and seizing their certificate will not change anything.
We have millions of youths in Nigeria who are jobless. We saw it from the last Nigerian Immigration Service test that took lots of lives, INEC should make a budget that will employ more people and bring it to the National Assembly and we will approve it.
Now that you mention people dying, are you worried about the state of insecurity especially in places like Kaduna state and the rest?
It is very sad and it is worse when we have government that has a lot of power and resources at its disposal. Government must go to the people; it is embarrassing that the Bornu state governor can say that the insurgents have more sophisticated weapons than our security.
It is unfortunate that innocent lives are being lost every day with nothing being done by government. Nigerians too should not leave it to the government alone because the insurgents are not ghosts; they are people who live in the midst of us.
As one who has to seen the budget, what should Nigerian expect from it?
What we saw in this year’s budget are new things. We thought the government will want to continue from where they stopped or finish some of the projects that were started last year, but reverse was the case; most of the things in the budget are new. We want to ensure that the will do that which has been budgeted for.
There were reports that the minister of finance has answered the fifty questions the house set for her; is the house satisfied.
If the minister had answered all the questions like we wanted, the whole country would have known because it would have been in the news. The questions were not answered property and the thing has been turn to a sort of witch hunt, but we did this in the interest of Nigerians.
Some are saying we should impeach the president, but will that solve our problem? I think it will take us backward. People given opportunity to serve must do the right thing. You don’t have to wait for somebody to tell you or force you into doing what is right.
There has been this outcry on Nigerian rising debt profile, what is your take on this
We need a practical leadership in this country, a person that will be patriotic enough to do the right thing. What we are seeing now is the more you look, the less you understand.
It is very unfortunate that government go on borrowing without considering the effect it will have on the nation and future generations. The debt is piling and instead of government to service it, it is spending money on other things.
Well, in my view, the whole thing has conflict of interest because I am a legislator; I believe we have three arms of government, the legislature, executive and judiciary. We in the legislature are saddled with the responsibility of tackling Nigerian issues.
We were sent last year to our various constituencies to get our peoples’ opinion on some laws that needed to be amended in the 1999 constitution. It was a successful exercise.
That is a process that is on and then the issue of national conference came up. I just learnt that the resolutions will be sent to the National assembly, but in what capacity? Then what is
our responsibility in the National Assembly? Does it mean that the confab will supersede our responsibilities?
I envisage trouble by some people; they want to turn the public against us so that when we didn’t deliberate on the resolutions, they will say we are the ones frustrating it.
But the senate president and speaker were at the inauguration, why would they attend an event that is illegal
Going there cannot change the constitution or change what we have done. I see what is happening as wastage of tax payer’s money.
What do you foresee will be the outcome of this conference?
We all know that Nigerians need jobs. Most of the delegates know the problem of Nigeria, some of them even caused it, and they also know when we went round to consult our constituents and some of them even gave us their opinion. So there is nothing that will be different from ours. What they are looking at is illegal.
Are you saying the confab has no legal backing?
It doesn’t because….
What is the consequence?
The consequence is that there will be conflict of interest; it is an illegitimate and this is broad daylight robbery. They are robbing us of our jobs. If we refused to consider their resolution, they will use the public against us.
Is that why the APC refused to join the conference
We in the APC will not participate in illegality; we want to have a good Nigeria and a change in Nigerian system. We want to do the right thing at all times and this conference is not the right thing because its foundation is faulty.
Talking about defection, is it healthy for our nascent democracy
It is not healthy, I have been in APC and I am happy that people are defecting and that is what is happening to the PDP. But we are waiting for the final verdict of the court on his issue. We lack internal democracy in our party. The constitution says as that anybody defecting should be because their party is divided, but in Nigeria politics, we don’t have any judgment that will give guidance on this. We have a law yet nobody has ever complied with it and now that the reverse is the case and it is not favouring the PDP, they want to revive that law.
But what are the chances of the APC seeing the crisis they are having in some states
Nigerians want change and there is no way you can get that change without challenges. When we were in the CPC, we didn’t have such crises but now we have governors, senators and others, so it is normal to experience such challenges.
In the coming elections, people should expect lots of dramatic changes because of the strength of the opposition.
Some Nigerian believe that Prof Jega did not conduct a free, fair and credible election in 2011, do you think so and should he be retained as INEC chairman for the next general elections
I don’t think we should blame Prof Jega alone. INEC told us they have the biometrics and some people claim that there was massive rigging in the last elections, and then we expect those people to be prosecuted, whether they are INEC officials or not because this will serve as a deterrent.
So I don’t blame those calling for Jega’s head because they know what happened in the last elections and they think it can still happen. Another thing I don’t like is the way INEC uses NYSC, it is another problem and seizing their certificate will not change anything.
We have millions of youths in Nigeria who are jobless. We saw it from the last Nigerian Immigration Service test that took lots of lives, INEC should make a budget that will employ more people and bring it to the National Assembly and we will approve it.
Now that you mention people dying, are you worried about the state of insecurity especially in places like Kaduna state and the rest?
It is very sad and it is worse when we have government that has a lot of power and resources at its disposal. Government must go to the people; it is embarrassing that the Bornu state governor can say that the insurgents have more sophisticated weapons than our security.
It is unfortunate that innocent lives are being lost every day with nothing being done by government. Nigerians too should not leave it to the government alone because the insurgents are not ghosts; they are people who live in the midst of us.
As one who has to seen the budget, what should Nigerian expect from it?
What we saw in this year’s budget are new things. We thought the government will want to continue from where they stopped or finish some of the projects that were started last year, but reverse was the case; most of the things in the budget are new. We want to ensure that the will do that which has been budgeted for.
There were reports that the minister of finance has answered the fifty questions the house set for her; is the house satisfied.
If the minister had answered all the questions like we wanted, the whole country would have known because it would have been in the news. The questions were not answered property and the thing has been turn to a sort of witch hunt, but we did this in the interest of Nigerians.
Some are saying we should impeach the president, but will that solve our problem? I think it will take us backward. People given opportunity to serve must do the right thing. You don’t have to wait for somebody to tell you or force you into doing what is right.
There has been this outcry on Nigerian rising debt profile, what is your take on this
We need a practical leadership in this country, a person that will be patriotic enough to do the right thing. What we are seeing now is the more you look, the less you understand.
It is very unfortunate that government go on borrowing without considering the effect it will have on the nation and future generations. The debt is piling and instead of government to service it, it is spending money on other things.
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