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Fuel subsidy culprits will not go unpunished - Hon Amere
Written by MOSES ALAOSunday, 10 June 2012
Hon Amere
Sir, how would you react to the National Judicial Council’s recommendation that Justice Ayo Salami be reinstated as President of the Appeal Court?
I am strongly in support of what the National Judicial Council (NJC) did. In fact, this has gone a long way to show that light has finally prevailed over darkness and truth over deceit. Justice Ayo Salami is a believer of truth and justice. He is a man who was doing his job without any fear or favour. He believes that no one is above the law, no matter their placement in the society. He is a man of proven integrity, very hard working as well as a believer in the rule of law and the need to uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
What do you think the NJC should do with its recommendation since the Presidency is citing the pendency of cases in court as reasons for not reinstating Justice Salami?
I see no reason why President Goodluck Jonathan should be delaying this matter on the pretext that there are still some pending court cases against Salami.
As a respecter of the rule of law, the president is supposed to comply with the decision of this independent arm of government by reinstating the jurist back to his position.
I wonder why Salami should be made to suffer for offences he did not commit; there were glaring evidences that the Appeal Court he headed, which gave victory to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governors, Dr Kayode Fayemi and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, did not err in its decisions. The ACN won the governorship elections in these two states during the 2007 general election.
In fact, I agree with my leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, who said that President Jonathan’s action showed that Justice Salami’s case is more political than legal.
The House of Representatives recently came out with a report on the fuel subsidy scam; do you think anything can come out of the probe?
The fuel subsidy probe report is definitely going to yield a positive result. As a fall out of the subsidy probe, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been ordered to arrest all the key actors involved in the subsidy scam.
You know that the fuel subsidy scam is more of great national interest than any other issue; this is because fuel is a commodity that is being used by both the rich and the less-privileged people in the society. Apart from this, 90 per cent of the country’s revenues come through crude oil.
So, the members of the House of Representatives cannot fold their arms to allow such an issue of great national interest to be swept under the carpet.
Looking at Nigeria today, the prices of commodities are being determined by the amount our fuel is sold; for instance, industries, companies and vehicles operators rely on fuel to be able to function.
Therefore, the National Assembly knows the importance of the fuel issue and it will not leave any stone unturned in making sure it gets to the root of the matter by not allowing offenders to go unpunished.
The House recently adopted a motion condemning governors for not conducting local government elections, what step can the House take if the governors remain adamant?
Well, the constitution is very clear about it; since the governors are the chief executives of their respective states, they still have the right to conduct local government polls at their convenient times.You see, majority of them have good reasons for not conducting local government polls; some may be as a result of financial constraint.
Having said that, my only advice is that in the interest of democracy, governors that have genuine reasons for not conducting local government polls should try as much as possible to do it.
The National Assembly has often played the role of defender of the masses, so what is its position on the Federal Government’s hike of electricity tariff, which many Nigerians have spoke against?
Well, we all have different opinions about it. However, left to me and other progressive-minded lawmakers in the National Assembly, we are totally against the Federal Government’s increase of electricity tariff.
What it needs to do is to address the stability of electricity supply in the country; if electricity is stable, definitely our economy will improve and even foreign investors would be encouraged to invest in Nigeria.
How would you react to the allegations that Governor Aregbesola is plotting to Islamise Osun and even secede?
How do you think it is possible for a governor who has Christians as blood relations including his younger sister to think of Islamising the entire Osun State?
Here is a governor who happily welcomed the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye to Osun to come and establish Redeemer’s University at Ede. Aregbesola had on several occasions visited many churches for prayer.
He sponsored several people on holy pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Even within his cabinet, more than two-third of his commissioners and special advisers are Christians, likewise in the state House of Assembly.
I want you to believe that today in Osun State, Muslims and Christians are allowed to practise their religions freely without any molestation.
On the allegation that Osun State is having its own anthem, there is nothing wrong in that and the governor has not violated the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in that regard. Even schools, churches and some special groups and organisations have their own anthems, not to talk of a whole state. In Cross-River for example, they have their own state anthem.
As a member of the House of Representatives, can you say the people at the grass roots have felt your impact?
I can boldly say that in the last one year, I have touched the lives of my constituents positively in the areas of assisting people to secure federal appointments. More than 80 per cent recommendations have also been offered to the Federal Government for the completion of all the federal government abandoned projects in my constituency.
Apart from these, I have also taken over a lot of MDG projects such as big federal health centres to be constructed at Ile-Ogbo, Amere village in Olaoluwa Local Government and Moleefon area in Iwo; the Federal Government has already approved the projects and very soon, work will commence on them.
As part of my effort to make agriculture one of my priority areas, I have distributed a lot of manual sprayers and chemicals free of charge to many people, while a lot has also been done in the aspects of subsidising the price of fertilisers and provision of loan facilities through the bank.
I have also attended to the welfare needs of my constituents.
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