Rev Chris Okotie has stepped up his campaign for the adoption of an interim government before the 2023 general election.
The Reverend continued his national dialogue on restructuring and the inauguration of an interim government when he was hosted yesterday by the Africa Independent Television’s Gbenga Aruleba on the popular talk show ‘JIGSAW,’ via Zoom in Abuja.
In the hour-long interview, the veteran interviewer drilled Okotie and tasked him with numerous questions arising from his widely reported proposition for interim government unveiled recently in his church in Lagos.
Asked to defend his call for an interim government, which had no constitutional provision, the cleric said, the will of the people was the basis of any law.
”At the end of the national debate, we intend to compile the summary of the discussion and send to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the National Assembly to make the necessary legal provision that would facilitate the inauguration of the interim government,” Okotie said.
He argued that the legislature had no relevance in the new order, which he christened, Aboriginal Democracy. He claimed that the tripartite concept of our presidential system of government was alien to our culture, which was why all the existential problems of the nation had remained unresolved, despite the change of government from PDP to APC, since the return to civil rule in 1999.
Aruleba asked Okotie to react to accusations that he was trying to get the presidency through the back door because of his unsuccessful bid on three occasions on the platform of his party, Fresh Democratic Party.
But Okotie dismissed the allegations, saying if he wanted power he would have joined one of the dominant parties because FRESH was incapable of winning the presidency.
‘If President Buhari had contested on the platform of FRESH, he wouldn’t have won’, Okotie insisted.
He said his quest for change was to engender true federalism which could only happen when the construction was rewritten to reflect the realities of present day Nigeria.
On his desire to head the interim government, Okotie said his qualifications for such an assignment were based on the fact that he would not be contesting for the office of the President once the mission of reconstruction, restructuring and inauguration of an interim government was accomplished and the nation returned to normalcy.
He further argued that he had been on the project to give Nigeria a new paradigm longer than most of those running for the Presidency today.
Although the interview was aborted because of the Osun governorship election live telecast, the AIT presenter promised to feature Okotie again to answer other critical questions on his interim government project.
