Usani Uguru Usani is the National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. In this interview, he speaks on his suspension by the Cross River State executive of the party and the 2027 general election, among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU reports

Your suspension has come on the trail of a whole lot of allegations from antiparty activities to gross misconduct and insubordination. How would you respond to that?

Indeed, I didn’t even think you were going to talk about this. I expected, or I still expect anyway, that I would be talking about the issues of governance, which actually are at the front stage of Nigerian system. However, I am conscious of the fact that when discordant tones of misguided convocation are found in a system, such anomalies will take place.

First, from the language of the socalled suspension, when somebody accuses a superior officer of insubordination by a lesser placed officer in the system, how does it count in the context of the meaning of that lexicon to say a superior officer is insubordinating a junior officer?

Does it make sense at all? However, no such suspension exists because everything done is in absolute abuse of the provisions of the constitution of the party.

Given that the constitution states that no arm of the party takes a disciplinary action below the level of official arm of the party or organ of the party where the person operates, and I belong to the National Working Committee (NWC), how does a state executive committee penalize me? It’s a contravention of the constitution.

Can you tell us more about the suspension because I think there’s not enough clarity and detail on it. Can you probably talk to us about how this has impacted your role within the ADC and the broader South-South zone?

For God’s sake, before you talk about a personality vis-a-vis activities in any system, there is a need to have the conduct or the antecedents of such a personality.

Consider when political migration is informed by people who move from wilderness to where there is butter and bread or bread and butter, it shows that people move for either stomach infrastructure or for relevance or for being important or for continually remaining essential to the benefits of their wishes.

But when you find somebody who moves from the position of advantage to a place of uncertainty, then such is guided by actions of conscience. So, my politics is actually determined and directed by what I believe as service, which is basically sacrificial. I was in government and I left the All Progressives Congress (APC) when the president who appointed me as a minister was still in office.

Couldn’t I have negotiated for anything to come back from the position of minister? So, talking about the suspension that does not exist from people who are obviously rather traitors to the party or to the system is unfortunate.

If INEC does not sit upright this time around, Nigerians will rise against the status quo they want to defend, and they will be the ones to answer for themselves

More so, the very people you are talking about have embarrassed the party because the publicity given to this non-existent so-called disciplinary action is global, giving the impression that the ADC is not a stable institution that can take care of its own affairs in the face of nothing whatsoever. So, there is nothing to talk about in anything called suspension.

There is no suspension anywhere. And that is why those who sponsor them are troubled because when my name comes into focus in the politics of Cross River State, there is a need for panic.

What steps would you be taking to clear your name with all that has been happening?

My name is not immersed in any controversy whatsoever. People want to gain relevance by dragging me into that type of discussion. Since it was meted out, of course, I refuse to comment on it because there’s nothing in it.

Absolutely nothing! It is just the agenda. Of course, you know, having been a founding factor in the APC, one time state chairman, I had experienced this type of situation, merger that brought about the APC.

Here, it is coalition. The common denominator is that people are coming from different arms of the political domain to get together. I was state chairman of APC, I midwifed the process seamlessly and there was no rancour. But here, the people have a focus.

That Usani has come out to work with Liyel Imoke, who is perceived to be an enemy of Usani, is a dangerous thing for the opposition of the ADC. And so the conspiracy is that if they don’t set us apart by making sure Usani is a focus to target so it does not concentrate on the affairs of the party, then they will be able to deal with the rest of the ADC as a remnant of what would have been a wholesome fabric.

How do you intend to sustain your legitimacy in the party in terms of representation?

Lawyers will tell you that something cannot stand on nothing. So, if there’s no suspension, how is my legitimacy questioned? It is common sense.

What is your assessment of the current state of the nation and the preparedness of Nigerians for the next general election?

Incidentally, we perceive politics to be the beginning and end of an election. But for me, politics is deeper and greater than that. Politics, for me, is something fundamental that should be played by people who are honest, sincere and sacrificial. The reason is because it is the channel of ascension to places of public service in governance. A statement of policy for one minute can affect the generation for 50 years to come.

Therefore, if the sanctity of character is not introduced into politics, you continue to have the base system that we have. So, preparing for election, we would rather ask you, from the angle of the ADC, are you prepared for election, where election means choosing from the mindset of probity, of character, of manifesto, of assessment of individuals who are to be involved.

So far, you know that Nigeria is witnessing every index of governance failure, taxation, insecurity, high rate of unemployment, high rate of inflation, border failures. Indeed, for current governance globally, you cannot manage a sovereign economy without deep knowledge of global indices in the entire world.

And so having a limited classical understanding of the model you are using, which is only sovereign bound, will obviously take you into chaos in national welfare of governance. So, we are ready but are Nigerians ready. It depends on them to be ready to choose right.

Isn’t ADC facing a membership and identity crisis with many of your leaders yet to formally resign membership of their former parties and still running the affairs of the ADC?

I will tell you that everybody in ADC from the leadership to the members is focused. Every political strategy must not be the same. However, assuming what you have said is in context and is the standard; it means we are learning fast from the current so-called former leading parties. That means ADC is set to create a departure from what you people see as normal today, where you are in party A and you’re supporting party B.

So, the ADC is giving that ultimatum to tell you that our clarity in focus is apt and we want a departure from that nonsense. It is merely to conform with the regulatory rules that govern elections, so that you must belong to a political party. We want to shape our house right even before the time. That is the reason.

It’s not because of lack of trust because we came as a coalition. A coalition is different from a merger, so the factors that govern a coalition must have a variance from what a preferred merger would be. So, at a certain point we are to introduce what is essentially important for the coalition to become fused into the main goal which we are targeting.

From your perspective, how prepared do you think the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is with new technological advancements and introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the new system?

Well, everything is on hook. But building from the remnants of what we know in the antecedents of operations of INEC, it is not for anybody to speculate on the positive-wrong.

But there is a litmus test. They have just gotten a new chairman; let us see how it will function because if INEC does not reform, then it means INEC itself will be the first victim of its malpractice. INEC has always been known for malpractice. They defend the malpractice. They propagate the malpractice.

So, if INEC does not sit upright this time around, Nigerians will rise against the status quo they want to defend, and they will be the ones to answer for themselves.

The ADC is accusing the Federal Government of toying and manipulating food inflation for political interest. How would you substantiate this claim in the face of some substantive improvements because the food inflation stands at 16 per cent now?

I will take it from two perspectives. One of them is when you say it is now 16 per cent. That means trending downward and therefore meaning favourable to Nigerians and the market forces. Interpreting the records in this perspective means that where was it before it rose to above 16 per cent? That’s so that when it is coming to 16 per cent then we assume that it is favourable. That is the first question. Second, I take it on comparative perspectives.

If you want to grow a local economy, how then do you go on mass importation of the same crops that you should be growing to encourage local economy growth? Unfortunately, whenever they introduce some kind of obnoxious expenditure, they call it economy growth and translate it to mean development.

These are very different theories in management of a sovereign economy. And so we as ADC are perfectly correct because we understand the indices of economic management and that is why we are revealing to you what you could see as positive action that it is actually negative.

The government I served in 2023 came out in May. However, I wasn’t there up to 2023. Nonetheless, in 2023, when you say it was 27 per cent from NBS statistics.

Now, it tells you something. The government, beyond May 29, 2023, started its inflationary trend on May 29. So, you should know that on daily basis, there are upsets within the government I served in Buhari’s time that some months it goes higher, some months it comes lesser.

And that has to do with what I mentioned earlier, the indices of global governance in economic manipulations, and you know, that all the agencies of World Trade Organisation (WTO) have roles to play. These are the upsets of what is introduced in foreign exchange.

Let’s look at the major economic drivers, the flotation of the Naira and the removal of fuel subsidy. What other option would your party have adopted, being in the shoes of this current government?

I mentioned something about classical theories earlier and when you think that Adam Smith and the Keynesian economics of 1940 and so on. How do you float the Naira when you don’t have a stable rate of exchange and you cannot monitor the tranches of introduction of forex into the system or adequate records about how much is expended in every sector of the economy. Then the other one you mentioned is removal of oil subsidy.

You removed oil subsidy in the midst of what they say you are deregulating the petroleum sector, so that you’ll be able to get market forces competing. You do that without putting in place the raw material to feed the refineries that should bring about competition in market forces. These are abstract policies, which can never manifest in anything good and you’re seeing the results, of course.

What economic policies do you believe will drive Nigeria’s development?

Again, to answer that, we’ll take sector by sector, from education to health. But a general overview is to be responsive as the issues of offset come, to be able to understand the system, so that in proactive terms, you will always prepare for the kind of upheavals that will upset your systems. That is the way I can give you a general view