By Charles Adingupu
As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu continues to grapple with the stack stark realities of his office, on ground upon assumption of office, most Nigerians have been expressing their have expressed expectations as to what the from the new administration. needs to establish before its “house cleaning agenda.”
Right Activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Olisa Agbakoba has stated amongst the numerous expectations piling up for the administration, spoken of n the urgent need for the President to unite the nation through proper communication with political groups representing sub-national ethnicities of in the nation.
“Nigerians are more divided along ethnic, religious, tribal and political lines than ever before.
“Hence, the President must work assiduously with the group of ethnic nationalities and their leaders as the Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide currently led by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Afenifere as led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Pan Niger Delta Development Forum (PANDEF) under the leadership of Elder Statesman and former Information Minister, Chief Edwin Clark, Northern Elders Forum and Arewa Consultative Forum among others to chat a new course for peace in Nigeria,” he said.
Agbakoba who made these declarations in an interview with the Arise TV Morning, dismissed the idea of the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC).
He noted in dismay that nothing tangible was achieved at the last SNC where that he was elected as one of the delegates, adding that Tinubu must work with leaders of these ethnic groups to restore lasting peace that which has eluded Nigerians for so long.
He also insisted on the honourable resignation and replacement of certain key officials in office due to their alleged ineffectiveness in the previous administration.
“A lot is expected of him and here are a couple of things I would say. National unity; the country is so divided that nothing can happen without President Tinubu making a big attempt to unite Nigerians.
“I would suggest that he can call a meeting of the sub nationalities of Nigeria. The Afeniferes, the Ohanezes; because these guys have a very strong hold on the ethnic nationalities . If that happens and it is successful, that then pushes the way forward for him to unleash a couple of big programs.
“One would be insecurity. I would say all service chiefs should honourably resign. All of them including the IG of police because they’ve not done well. President Tinubu cannot go on with these service chiefs. We need to create a new security infrastructure.”
He insisted that the current Chairman Of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), AbdulRasheed Bawa must be asked to resign as his combative approach of fighting corruption is antiquated.
Dr. Olisa pointed out that there is a need to rapidly improve the nation’s economy as he describedsaying the debt to revenue ratio as “horrible.” After which heHe further stated that the legislature would need to review up to 56,000 uncompleted projects including the Nigerian maritime service and the Nigerian Sea ports to which he estimated would both bring in over 18 billion Naira in revenue for the nation.
He suggested that moving forward, the administration would need to get rid of hindrances that would misrepresent the government by taking steps to reduce its size, according to the SAN,
“We need to talk about limited government. The government is simply too big. We need to talk about anti corruption.
“The anti corruption process is not working. I have challenged the constitutionality of the EFCC. EFCC is a behemoth. EFCC needs to be dismantled, Mr. Bawa needs to go because what he’s doing isn’t attracting people’s confidence. He’s always in battle with everybody. Now he’s battling Matawalle. That’s no way to fight corruption.
“So we need to see Mr. Bawa step aside honourably. So that the anti corruption process can be seen to be genuinely fought by the president without any equivocation.
“All the guys who took part of the old government should honourably step down. He needs new people.”
Dr. Agbakoba made a few recommendations of “good people” he suggested would help the administration improve itself at certain administrations areas including such as Babatunde Ogala or Babatunde Raji Fashola for the position of Attorney General and Governor Bagudu as Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He also stated that the people are more interested in development than the person who currently occupies the position of the president.
“The fact that there are cases in the tribunal should not prevent him from absolutely getting the job done.”
He noted that “hope is what makes people happy even if they are poor, adding that the President must endeavor to promote unity and not to look back on what former President Muhammadu Buhari did not do.
Agbakoba insisted that the continuing detention of the leader of Independent People Of Biafra, IPOB, Nnadi kanu is over heating the polity, adding that the people are crying for Biafra doesn’t mean it would resurrect.
