Chief Celestine Chuckwu is the current cordinator of People’s Democratic Party Grassroots Support Foundation (PDPGSF) in the FCT. In this interview with SOLOMON AROWOLO, he speaks on electoral act, insecurity across Nigeria and other issues.
You have been a crusader for societal justice, fairness and equity. What have you been up to lately?
Well, I think I’m an advocate of justice, fairness and equity in the polity or nation state called Nigeria, because I would like to see a united Nigeria not a segregated one.
What do you make of political activities gradually building up to 2023?
We are still advocating for a conducive atmosphere in Nigeria that would lead to 2023 elections. We hope to achieve this, but the government of the day is not helping matters, but we would keep on pushing. We won’t relent because it is peace that would beget unity and without unity, we can’t see 2023.
With agitations for succession mostly in the southern part of the country, do you foresee a peaceful 2023 general election?
You see, most of these agitations are encouraged by leadership imbalance in the sharing of democratic dividends, social amenities and resources in Nigeria. All of these things should be blamed on the present government. In a marriage between a husband and a wife, from the inception of that marriage, it must be understood that if one part is treated abnormally, there would be no peace in the marriage and if it continues, the marriage would disintegrate. For instance, in this country now, with what is going on, the atmosphere is too bad for any election to take place. The present administration should stop the high-handedness and killings. In fact, I’m mourning Nigerians that have been killed in all parts of this country. Since the inception of this government, there have been insecurity in all parts of this country. It is not just Boko Haram killing in the north, it has moved to the east, the Middle Belt and all the regions are now affected.
You just mentioned that government hasn’t been doing enough. Who would you blame?
You see, at this point, leadership is insensitive to the plight of citizens. It is quite unfortunate that the present administration didn’t want to take blames but 95% of the blame should go to them because it’s their conduct and leadership style that is responsible for the level of insecurity going in the country. If they refuse to take the blame, who should we blame?
What do you make of the electoral act that’s yet to be passed by the lawmakers?
The big question should be why has the electoral act not been passed by the National Assembly? What’s drawing it back? What are the articles in the electoral act that are withholding its passage? You know one thing is that to an extent, this government has constituted retrogration in the wheel of the progress and development of this country. If the constitution has a provision for the National Assembly to pass it to become a law after presidential assent, it is for the betterment of the country, but you see, the National Assembly, to an extent, has been acting as a rubber stamp in recent times.
Recently, INEC created more polling units. What do you think on this latest development on the upcoming general election?
I’m not very comfortable with all the latest developments because of the possibility of using it as one of the ways to manipulate future elections. This is the similar problem emanating from Nigeria’s population census. Land mass doesn’t determine population of a people; so, with that act alone, you can see where we are going to. Let us watch and see, but I know first thing first, let the tension in the country be calmed down before we talk about election, if not, all these stories would be like a child’s play. We can’t be preparing for elections in a situation where the level of insecurity is very high beyond expectations. Some of INEC offices are being burnt and nobody is taking about that; so how are you sure that the electoral officers would be safe in those places when the time comes?
