No alternative to restructuring – Admiral Onah

Political leaders in the country have been implored to regard political offices they are holding as an avenue to serve rather than a platform to amass  wealth or pursue selfish interests. Giving this advice in this interview with TUNDE THOMAS in Lagos, National President, Ndokwa Leaders Political Forum, Rear-Admiral Mike Onah (retd) decried the attitude of  some  political office holders who are using their positions to advance their interests rather than serve the people who elected them into office. Onah also spoke on other national issues including 18 years of democracy in Nigeria , restructuring, two years of APC and Buhari’s administration, corruption, among a host of others.

It has been 18 years of uninterupted democracy in the country, how do you see this development for our country and the growth of democracy?

It is a good omen for our democracy. Although there have been trials and challenges within the period but we thank God that democracy has been enduring – what this shows is that we are maturing as a nation. Life is about give and take, nobody is perfect.

My belief is that as we march on in our journey through democracy, we should be tolerant of one another, both the government and those being governed. If we can tolerate one another, we will be able to avoid pitfalls of governance. God has also been on our side, if not for God, we have moments where democracy have been threatened but God has been kind to us to enable us weather those storms.

There is no system that is 100 percent perfect, so are human beings. Nobody is perfect. Only Almighty God is perfect. What this means is that we should strive to play the game according to the rules. Elected leaders should strive to serve diligently. Service is about giving your best to the people who repose confidence in you by electing you to serve them, but unfortunately some of our political leaders are selfish and self-serving. Such politicians should remember that they were put in office to serve people, and not to indulge in self service. It is very unfortunate that some politicians have come to view public office as an avenue to amass ill-gotten wealth rather than to serve  the people.

What’s your assessment of the last two years when power changed hands at the centre, with APC now in control of the Federal government?

What people should remember is that before APC took over power, the country was already in bad shape, and Nigeria is a very big country with equally big problems, so people should be fair to APC. You can’t blame the party for Nigeria’s problems. The party inherited a lot of problems which I believe government has been trying its best to address, and this cannot be done overnight.

We Nigerians also have a large chunk of the blame for the present situation we find ourselves. We Nigerians are greedy and selfish. We don’t know how to manage ourselves. Corruption is the major problem facing us as a nation. Read more