Author: IDEAs Moderator

eah, I mean I think Rotimi, the first thing that we need to, when we’re talking about IDEAS, this is not … people have been talking about this as though it is a political decision by INEC, or as though it is a subjective matter within the discretion of INEC. And so I think that if we are trying to see: Is INEC behaving … with … in an Ethical manner, behaving with Integrity and so on, we need to emphasise that actually, at this point in the proceedings, the … those issues don’t really come into it because INEC is applying a formula that had been put into the issue of registration, or of deregistration, by the Fourth Alteration to the Nigerian Constitution, which was the amendment to section 225A of the Constitution. So what has been done is not that INEC has woken up and decided: We have too many parties, we’re going to remove some of them. INEC has actually done what it should, what is expected of it, and …

Well, as I said, there are … this matter raises IDEAS issues, because as you know IDEAS is about Integrity, Democracy, Ethics and Accountability. And one of the issues, one of the questions that has been raised, is that: Where does this come from? … And the Government, in its publicity, is saying: It is the 2018 law, Transport Sector Reform Law of Lagos State, that we are merely enforcing. Ok? So that’s one aspect of it. And of course the immediate response is: But that particular piece of legislation said that the ban on plying certain named routes would only affect those motorcycles which had an engine capacity of less than 200 cubic centimetres. And, but the government, in its publicity, Lagos State Government in its publicity, has been justifying … the question had been asked: Why is it going … why must it affect “Gokada” and … similar ride-hailing … people who use ride hailing apps? Why is it affecting those? And it does seem to me that the government, if it’s going to say that: We’re standing on the 2018 Law, then it has to stick to that.


But before I get into the discussion with Joshua about the role of the creative arts in public awareness, education and so on, I should say that one of my … our correspondents on Twitter did express some sorrow that the programme only lasts for such a short while, and that we should have some phone-in. And so I was sort of saying: Yes! You see! My listeners are keen to have me! Then he said: Yes, because I wanted to correct a mistake that you made in your last programme! So I think I should correct that mistake, which was that I was talking … it’s education-related, I should say. We were talking about the decision by JAMB that … to demand what I said was the National Identity Card, and then they later said: Ok, no, you don’t need it. But what Mr. T.C.P. Whyte said was, that he wanted to correct, was that JAMB asked candidates to get their NIMC, their National Identity

Hello Rotimi. But I always like to try and accentuate the positive, so I would rather say that rather than saying we’re going to look at abuse, we are going to look at the IDEAS issues in the use of public property and the use of public power generally. I mean, the one that springs to mind immediately, the one that I put out on the Twitterfeed, was the question of so many people who were trying to register for JAMB (the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board) examinations, and they were instructed that they would not be able to register unless they had their National Identity Card. Now, there are issues with the National Identity Card as it is, I’m sure I’ve told you that they awarded me my law partner’s date of birth and said that I can’t change it, even though the Bank Verification Number on which it was based had been changed.

Well, it’s in the same stand … it stands in the same shoes as the Hisbah in Kano, because I notice that the … the National Congress of Northern Youths, or some similar group, had complained … National … Northern Youth Council of Nigeria … had berated the South West Governors for establishing Àmọtẹkùn, and I’m just thinking to myself that the issue should not be that because the Governors have joined up together. I mean one of the things that we’ve always said about the question of whether we want to establish regional governments, is that you don’t have to be forced into cooperation with anybody. That’s why you found Lake rice because Lagos decided to cooperate with Kebbi state on the issue of rice production. Now, the South West Governors have decided to cooperate on the issue of a state security type of outfit.