INTERVIEW: Tinubu’s biggest mistake was petrol subsidy removal, says PDP rep

INTERVIEW: Tinubu’s biggest mistake was petrol subsidy removal, says PDP rep

Benedict Etanabene, lawmaker representing Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie federal constituency in the house of representatives, is the Delta state governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction led by Kabiru Turaki.

In this interview with TheCable’s SAMUEL AKPAN, Etanabene says President Bola Tinubu’s administration is not being truthful with Nigerians about the state of the economy and the implementation of the federal budget.

The lawmaker also explains why he moved a motion inviting Tinubu to parliament over delays in funding constituency projects. He also speaks on the petrol subsidy, the performance of the national assembly, the 2027 elections, and his preferred presidential candidates.

TheCable: You recently moved a motion asking the parliament to invite Tinubu over the non-release of funds for the implementation of constituency projects. What was your goal?

Etanabene: I suspect and believe that the government is not telling Nigerians the truth about their predicaments.

Truth heals the open wound called conscience. No matter how bitter it is, if people know the truth of the situation, it helps them to understand and appreciate the difficulties faced by the government. I do not believe the stories being told to Nigerians that the president is not funding the budgets and is not releasing money to MDAs, which have not received releases in the last three years. And for those MDAs that got releases, it is a very small percentage of 2024.

People are saying Tinubu is keeping money for elections and that he wants everybody not to have money so that he will be the only one with money to give to people on election day.

I really don’t believe these stories. I think that the government is really broke, and they don’t want to tell Nigerians that they are, in fact, broke. I believe they want to paint a picture that all is well when, in fact, the situation is that bad.

And in retrospect, a few days ago, when some traditional rulers visited him, he told them he had given governors more money than before. He did not elaborate.

The president, upon taking office, thought he could tackle poverty and stimulate the economy more effectively by starting at the grassroots level. He’s a grassroots man. That is why he went for financial autonomy for the local government, so that LG chairmen can have funds to do what they need.

He reduced what would have been gathered at the federal level and multiplied what the governors were earning by up to five or six times, hoping that hunger eradication and establishment of industries would be taken care of by states. Having done that, he’s left with little at the federal level to actually run the government.

 

TheCable: But there have been savings from petrol subsidies, and he has also been trying to expand the tax net.

Etanabene: I have never agreed with the removal of the subsidy
Etanabene: That is part of the things I told you just now. The government is not telling the people the truth.

They are still paying the subsidy, if you look at NNPC’s books recently. So they didn’t actually make any savings. Look, it is the right of every Nigerian to receive a subsidy on petroleum.

TheCable: Why do you say so?

 

Etanabene: Because that is the mainstay of economic livelihood for every Nigerian, energy, petroleum in particular.

So, any government that believes in the constitutional provision that it must provide welfare for the people must identify areas in deep need and subsidise them. Assuming the government wants to tax people who are drinking water, so you put bigger taxes on water so that the ordinary man who needs water for survival will not get it? That is how Nigeria’s economy needs petroleum products to grow.

Every small business depends on light. We are not even sleeping well. Industries are being propelled by diesel generators. We don’t have the normal power. So, the government must, as a matter of priority and rights, provide a petrol subsidy. I have never agreed with the removal of the subsidy. In fact, the first month after we were sworn in [as lawmakers], I was on the floor of the house when the president said the subsidy was gone. I said that is the biggest mistake we’ll be making. The subsidy should not go; it should remain. As a matter of fact, if possible, we need extra money to subsidise it so that it becomes very cheap for ordinary people; that would be better.

TheCable: But there have been controversies and claims of fraud in subsidy payments.

 

Samuel Akpan (R), TheCable’s politics editor, with Etanabene
Etanabene: The issue of corruption is different. If we are talking about corruption in that process, deal with it. I was a branch chairman of PENGASSAN in 1999, and when this matter came up during President Obasanjo’s tenure, the president was going to justify that we needed to remove the subsidy. When some market women visited him from Lagos, he said that the reason he wanted to remove the subsidy was to build the Second Niger Bridge.

But let’s not lose sight of the question you asked me about why I moved a motion for the president to be invited. There is a lack of communication from ministers working for Tinubu. They are not saying anything.

I see them here every day. I stay on committees to hear them defend budgets. When they come, the pattern is the same. Nigerians don’t hear it. They will tell you that they haven’t got releases or what they want to show.

So, the ministers at the highest level have been acting dumb. Mr President is not hearing. He’s not watching. He’s not seeing. He’s not being told about the stories of their performance. It was out of goodwill and patriotism that I said Tinubu should come and talk to us. The buck stops at his table.

TheCable: So your intention was not to embarrass the president?

 

Etanabene: How can I embarrass the president? Even if he was not elected by my party, he is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He’s the father of the nation. I have a duty to help make Nigeria better. I’m not the only one using the road, flying the planes, buying the petrol, or going to the market. It affects everybody. None of these things has party colouration. When you go to a filling station, they don’t say APC people buy for 20 naira, and PDP people buy for a different price.

So I owe a duty to assist the president, at least for the time that he has been elected to govern, to do better for the interest of everybody. For people like me, if this country is running well, I don’t see the big deal about politics. I would prefer to face my private business, which is farming, and do it happily, rather than wade into the murky waters of sincere people and those whose characters cannot be predicted.

TheCable: We saw how the presiding officer handled the motion by preventing Tinubu from being invited. Does it reinforce the claims that this house is rubber-stamped?

Etanabene: It’s not in my position to judge whether the house is rubber-stamped or not. Nigerians should judge.

TheCable: But you have an opinion as an opposition lawmaker.

Etanabene: Yes. As the opposition, we are doing our best, especially now that we have new leadership. But in parliamentary practice, the majority will have their way. We [minority] can only have our say.

When people describe the house as rubber-stamped, the general outlook is correct. But in that process, people are forgetting that not everyone endorses the issues that lead Nigerians to say the house is rubber-stamped. As an individual, I’m not rubber-stamped. My activities in the house have shown that.

But what do you do under the circumstances that the majority will certainly carry the day? Their opinion is what will hold sway, no matter how different your opinion is from theirs. So, it’s sad. I did not think the house would agree that the president should be invited. We have invited ministers, and they have refused to show up. So, is it the president who will come? It’s a pattern. But it is good to set legislative practices straight.

I know that when the constitution makes these kinds of provisions, they are not for decoration. Even if we do not respect them today, another president may respect them tomorrow. There are so many issues in this house that actually need Mr President’s intervention. But Mr President is being shielded, not because people are going to embarrass him, but just to show that they are the president’s boys. That is the mindset of leadership you have in the house. And for the president to really see that the people are working, he wants to see them act in this form. It doesn’t even matter if the issues require the opposition’s views to gain credibility.

Let me give you an example of the state police bill. We wanted it debated clause by clause, and it would take time. We didn’t want to rush through it. Perhaps it would take days.

But eventually, we all keyed in to the police bill. So it does not matter if it has taken five more days of consultation and debate, and it is eventually passed with a thorough job done; it would be better than rushing to pass it in 20 minutes and saying it’s over. The impression is that members of the national assembly do not read. And that is how many of our laws come out. At the end of the day, by the time we put them into practice, we begin to see flaws because of the rush that we use in passing such motions.

So it’s just to impress Mr President. We know exactly what is going on.

TheCable: With the 2027 elections just a few months away, the opposition is divided and has not been able to rally behind one presidential candidate. Who do you think is well placed to defeat Tinubu?

Etanabene: I don’t think the INEC of today has shown true independence
Etanabene: I’m not really worried about this issue that the opposition ought to come together to present one candidate. If the electoral process is transparent, anyone who wants to run for office can do so, and Nigerians will decide who is best. The more, the merrier. But it is because we are now beginning to think that some people in government believe that it is us versus them [opposition]. They are now finding a strategy to win you by all means.

But be that as it may, as the circumstances demand, any of the candidates on board today can become a very good president and defeat this incumbent. But I’m more particular about the culture we’ve seen in Nigeria recently, where the president comes from one place and, after some time, goes to another.

I would have supported a system where the best person truly wins. But people will say you are not sensitive about those who have been ruling Nigeria for a very long time. In line with these thoughts, I believe that the president should come from the east. I believe the easterners have been marginalised for too long in line with social integration.

The easterners should produce a president at this time, and we should look at all the candidates emerging from there. Peter Obi seems to be the most widely accepted candidate. There’s nothing wrong with Nigerians queuing behind Peter Obi. Peter Obi may not be perfect, but there’s something that I know about Peter Obi that is relevant in Nigeria today.

TheCable: And what is that?

Etanabene: He is a very prudent person. Like I told you, Nigeria is broke. They don’t want to tell us the truth. The little money we are getting and the loans we are collecting are some of the things I wanted Mr President to come and explain what we are doing with them. If Peter Obi has those opportunities, he will do better. So, for me, the best bet we have, as it stands today, is Peter Obi being elected as president.

However, I am a member of the PDP, and my side of the PDP has a square peg in Goodluck Jonathan. But as INEC has issued its releases, I’m not going to be talking much about Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. But should Goodluck Ebele Jonathan be on the ballot, he is the square peg for a square hole. One is experience, so he’s hitting the ground running. Two, he understands today’s dynamics.

TheCable: Since he was nominated as the presidential candidate by the Turaki-led PDP, he hasn’t said anything. Nigerians are confused. Why do you think he has not spoken a word about his candidacy?

Etanabene: Because he’s actually watching the terrain. He’s not a greedy man. He’s not desperate if you know his style. He has always maintained that if there’s a need for him to run an election, he will do it in the political party to which he belongs.

He has questioned the movement of people from one party to another. So he doesn’t want to be the kind of person who sets that kind of example. He remains in the PDP.

But you know the PDP isn’t what it used to be. There’s a crisis in the PDP. So I’m very sure that if the court resolves the position in the PDP, he will not hesitate.

Nigeria needs Goodluck Jonathan now, more than when he was president. We actually need a man who looks at everybody as his own. It’s not this combative nature of “capture them by all means”. Jonathan was not like that. He had all the opportunities. It’s not like these things these people are doing today.

Remember how he conceded the election. Jonathan knew that the blood of innocent Nigerians was not worth his presidency, the way we are going today.

Look at only yesterday; the governor of Osun was shouting that there was going to be violence, and the president should please intervene. See, Jonathan won’t let things get to that level. A president for all is who we need today, and Jonathan fits well into it. There are no controversies around him.

We have come to see that the way he handled government at the time showed respect for the judiciary. You can’t say that about the judiciary today. I did not deny when you said that Nigerians say we are rubber-stamped. I did not deny, but I am not rubber-stamped. I’ve done my work, but collectively, we have acted as if we were rubber-stamped.

Jonathan respects the legislature. He respects the judiciary. The separation of powers works. And what many people don’t know about those who propagated this theory of democracy and the benefits of democracy in terms of separation of power is that they complement the growth of democracy. So, if you try to capture everything together, you are not growing democracy. By nature, democracy will begin to retard itself.

So, we need people with that kind of temperament, like Jonathan, in Nigeria today. If he is on the ballot, so fine. But if he is not on the ballot based on what we are seeing from the court, then we have an alternative. We should all rally behind Peter Obi.

TheCable: What is the biggest waste you see today that you will cut if elected governor?

Etanabene: What it takes to maintain government officials is too high. It’s not necessary at all. I don’t see why you should have many PAs and SAs. These are people who can be useful in some other paid jobs.

The personal life of running a government house is incomprehensible. Also, the amount is too much. And there are projects they are doing that are unnecessary.

Even Mr President said a few days ago that governors should desist from constructing unnecessary flyovers and focus on things that can stimulate the economy.

TheCable: Is INEC well placed to conduct credible elections in 2027?

Etanabene: What I fear in governance is precedent. When you set a bad precedent, people will replicate it. I don’t think the INEC of today, based on the facts on the ground, has shown true independence. We’ve had elections recently with the current chairman, and the outcome has not been too pleasing.