Mike Omeri was the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) under former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. In this interview with AHMED TUKUR, he bares his mind on next year’s general elections as well as other national issues.
Do you think that government agencies are doing enough sensitization to ensure free and fair polls?
You see, every situation has its own type of approach and comparing it with what we did, during our time we had a long-term engagement and sensitisation, but this time around I am not sure government is funding agencies enough to sensitise communities; which is very important. They are various aspects to sensitisation right from the voting process, thumb printing, the conduct of the voter at the polling unit and so many other aspects which also include the voter to knowing the party symbols, although that is the responsibility of the parties. But in overall, the agencies with those responsibilities are trying their best within the limit of the little resources available to them.
With your observation, do you see INEC conducting free and fair elections?
Well, INEC has been consistently saying it can conduct free and fair elections, but a free and fair election is anchored on how voters know the election process; so, if they are not able to do well in
sensitising or mobilising people to come out, I am not sure they will be able to conduct an effective election that is the true representation of the feelings and views of Nigerians.
What can political parties do to overcome INEC’s perceived short-comings?
Well, fortunately for us, this time around the election is not as we like had in 2015 or the previous ones. What the parties can do is to engage in people-centred conversation around the issues that will shape the present and the future. We need to shift away from the era of ‘I will do this and that’ but to tell the citizens how this things can be done so that people can make their own choices and begin to ride on the train of political parties that the electorate agree with their ideologies and philosophies.
We should be able to gauge performances of political parties based on their plans and what they can do at the right time and action and to be able to know who is telling us the truth and see it with own eyes. That way we will have a society working together to move the country forward.
Don’t you think that the electorate are tired and are no longer interested in political ideologies with politicians jumping from one party to another?
Those politicians that engage in jumping from one party to another don’t even know why they join politics in the first place, but again the absence of strong ideologies in some political parties is responsible for that because some people just join political parties to win elections without nothing to offer so they betray people’s expectations because after coming to power they lack what to do for the society.
So, what we need to do now in other to move forward is for the political parties themselves to design a plan in such a way that anybody who just jumps from one party to another must be made to start from the lower level to discourage such attitude.
The second option is that the parties must move towards developing clear ideologies where if they are capital-driven the electorate should know and if they are pro-market in their orientation we should also know; so that everybody knows why you are joining a particular party, but I think people jump from one party to other because of lack principles and discipline.
What is your view on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen’s assets declaration trial?
Considering the nature of Nigeria and the tension that we have presently because of the forthcoming general elections, even if it is good intention this time is not the right time to do such a thing because it will certainly create tension and suspicion and the manner that it is carried out, the short cut that they employed is what has caused the problem. We are yet to see government ensure the society respect the institutions it has created for the people.
The timing is wrong and repugnant to good conscious that such will happen at a time that tension is all over the place in the land. Few days to election and you just threw it up through a short cut that will surely create suspicion and doubt because at this material time everybody is looking for how to win election.
Your expectations about the outcome of elections in Nasarawa state
I expect the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to win because we have a good agenda and a plan centred on solving the mirage of problems we have in the state and how to ensure the progress of our people and the society.
We have plans on how to restore our unity and be together as one united family in the state and evolving in a state solidarity and grand alliance against the evils that have made us to remain in one place.
