Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), in this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI, spoke on current issues in the polity.  Excerpts:

What is your take on the decision by the Federal Government to share the recovered $322 million Abacha loot to poor families in the country which some Nigerians have described as a way to reloot the loot by those in charge?

That is a very vague way to put it. It is not correct to say the money will be shared among households.  It is a social investment. In other words, it  is to achieve three objectives. One is to empower young people to acquire skills so that they can be productive and employ people themselves after they have acquired their skills.  The number two objective is to feed all school children in Nigeria so that people from poor homes who are not feeding well  can have at least one nutritious meal in a day. Thirdly, there are some families whose income is non-existent and there is a United Nations template for measuring  this level.  The crop of them whose situation are so bad that they desperately need help, about 1 million of them will be identified and will be earning N5,000 in a month while they are looking for a way to make a living. Finally, you have another empowerment programme for young and middle-scale entrepreneurs. This is targeted at young women embarking on business, young farmers and young people generally who are trying to stand on their own through one business or the other. These ones will be given loans up to N300, 000 per person without having to pay any interest.  All they need do is to pay back the capital. These are the four categories of people who will benefit from the money and I don’t think any of these can be regarded as sharing of money among families. The beneficiaries are people who are productive. They are sowing into our society so that it can grow upwards. And I absolutely agree with the programme.  What is more? It will also benefit the most vulnerable Nigerians, the ones who are most in need, who need a helping hand, a ladder to grow up. These are the worst victims of looting and they are the ones who are now going to benefit from it. We elites don’t lose much but these poor ones actually lose a lot when schools are  not functioning well, there is scarcity of jobs; as  productivity is going down you sack people and throw them into the unemployment market. Those are the things the programme is targeting.

Last week, some members of the ruling APC announced their exit from the main group and christened themselves as Reformed APC (rAPC). Don’t you think this will affect the fortunes of the party in the 2019 elections?

The so-called Reformed APC is also the same as the New PDP.  These are itinerant characters who are not better than the cattle herders. They move from place to place in search of greener pastures. Once the grass is no longer lush again, they move to another place. They think they are not enjoying enough ‘chop’ in APC, so they want to go and look for somewhere else to perch in order to ‘chop’. All they believe in is to live to eat, acquire assets without the interest of the country at heart. How to develop Nigeria and rid it of corruption doesn’t matter to them.  These are people who have not made any contributions to national life. So, I am not surprised that they have moved.

The only caveat I will enter for them is that they should not use the name rAPC which is Reformed APC. They shouldn’t use that word because they are not registered in that name and they will not be registered in that name. If they feel they have clout and support, let them form their own party and contest elections independently instead of behaving like spoilers which is really what they wanted to do. So in my view, I think it is good riddance for them to go, a very good riddance. It is like getting rid of poison from your body. These are the moles within the APC; the enemies who have been ruining and wreaking the party right from 2015 that has rendered the management of the party in tatters.  These are the enemies who sold the Deputy Senate President position to PDP. Thereafter, they, alongside with the people to whom they sold the APC’s slot of Deputy Senate President now form an official opposition to the APC-led federal government. There is no other opposition to the federal government than these two.   The senate, made up of those who sold the birthright of APC to PDP and PDP lawmakers, these are the two people who constitute a very vicious opposition to this government. So, their leaving the party is good riddance.  With their exit, the APC will now be leaner, purer, fresher, stronger and more united.  They will now be filled with real progressives and they will be stronger for it.  These ones who left are like viruses in a human being. It is an additional element in your system but it is running down that system. That is what they were. So, it is good for them to go.

There are concerns that Vice-  President Yemi Osinbajo may be dropped as President Buhari’s running mate following a statement credited to the president that Osinbajo’s position is being threatened by women. What is your take on this?

Buhari is on a rescue mission.  If you look at his team, himself and the Vice- President,  Prof. Yemi  Osinbajo, there can be no better combination than that.  The president provides the aura and the image. He has the reputation. He is coming from 1984 to 85. He has established himself as the rock of the anti-corruption war, which the African Union (AU) has recognised by declaring him the champion of the anti-corruption war in Africa. Then we have Osinbajo, an impeccable character, indefatigable leader, totally and outrightly honest. A man of integrity who is doing all the appropriate physical activities, going from place to place, promoting the policies of this government from tirelessly.

So, between the two of them, we have a perfect combination- the man who provides the aura, the ambience that everybody accepts that yes, we are now in the phase where anti-corruption war should be stamped out and that integrity and honour has to be the watchword of this country now. He also leads by example because you can’t see him acting contrary to what he says. Then we have Osinbajo, who is going about, physically planting all these policies everywhere. So, if you say Buhari is not everywhere all the time, the president and the vice-president constitutes the presidency.

As long as the vice-president is somewhere, the president is also there.  He goes everywhere with the authority of the president. So, you don’t need to see the president everywhere.  He goes to certain places but he doesn’t have to go everywhere because he has his companion in government who is doing his own thing while the president is also doing his.

These two are a beautiful combination and I don’t think any group in this country for now can produce that type of combination. That is the team for this country in years to come and I don’t think Nigerians will make the mistake by looking anywhere else except this two people.

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