The politician also spoke extensively on other burning issues in this interview with Senior Reporter, AKINWUNMI KING.
More speech when you continue.
Nigeria recently celebrated its 53rd Independence anniversary, do you think the celebrations were justified?
Well, to me, we have nothing to celebrate. Our president has been very busy fighting known and unknown enemies in the name of second term. What Nigeria needs at this period is prayer. We really need to pray because 2015 is an ominous year. Former colonial ruler of Nigeria, Lord Frederick Lugard, said that in 100 years the arrangement may no longer be there and the United States of America predicted that by 2015 Nigeria would no longer be a federation, and our leaders are working towards making those predictions a reality. Rather than celebrating, all Nigerians, not government alone, should have set aside the Friday and Sunday next to it or before it for special prayers for this nation, because we the political class are leading Nigeria to the brink. Our president has not been able to do anything for the past three months just because he wants to get his party’s endorsement, not even that of Nigerians. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in disarray, we have surrendered government to new godfathers. I have not seen a situation where the President of a nation would stand behind somebody who would be reading an address like he did. When the BOT Chairman of the party, Chief Tony Anenih, was reading an address to the press, he was behind him. It shows that he has lost control; the Northerners are determined to get that presidency or there will be no Nigeria. I don’t know how you can wine and dine in that process. A former National Secretary of PDP, Baraje, is the Chairman of a new PDP, so there is problem in this country. We in the opposition are waiting in the wings to take over and election year is approaching. I want to say that, sincerely, we need to pray because 2015 may signal the end of this country.
Don’t you think that the opposition has kept the people in suspense as they have not produced or presented an alternative presidential aspirant or candidate?
I believe that our party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), may not allow anybody to stampede us into rushing to pick a candidate. Three different heads (parties) are meeting together and it is going to take time to select somebody, we cannot rush into it or else, we will run into trouble. Consultation is the order of the day, we don’t need to rush, the cardinal point or programme of the party has been listed, the number one on it is fighting corruption, that would signal to you, who is likely to be our candidate, but whenever we pronounce it, Nigerians would be happy. We really need to think and search for a better leader, election is two years away, so we should not be rushed, in fact more people are coming in and politicians don’t like that you conclude everything before they come in, so we will do that at the appropriate time.
Though we agree that we need prayers, some think we should also work, in which areas do you think we are lacking?
When I talk of prayers, I am just saying that to smooth the souls of Nigerians, the future of Nigeria is actually in our hands as a people. Choosing leadership should be taken away from the leaders, it should be given back to the followers, in 2015, we should choose our leaders, with that, the future of Nigeria would be guaranteed, if we choose a wrong leader, the nation can get disintegrated, we can lose democracy and it would mark the end of the country. Any leader that we are going to get should come from the bottom to the top. All this while, it had been from top to bottom, the last one, the late president Umaru Yar’Adua, was given to us by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, former president Shehu Shagari was given to us by Obasanjo, as a military man. For a long time, we hardly have a president that wanted it and come to the people. I have never remembered where we have voted in a leader like President Goodluck Jonathan, but even the nomination and voting should start from the bottom to the top. Today, I read the release of the new PDP, where President Goodluck Jonathan was quoted as saying that he did not want to come back. If it is true, then somebody, who wants to be the new godfather, wanted him to come back. He said that he would provide electricity, I think we need to really educate the electorate and the media is not doing enough because the people don’t really know, they don’t know that power is in their hands. Also, poverty has disallowed the people to know and to say it, so prayers, yes, is secondary, but the willpower of the people to put the people they like there is not there. It is poverty, but there are some poorer nations that still stand by what they believe. Even if you call a general strike in Nigeria, after four days, commercial vehicle drivers will start coming out, people would say I want to go to the market. Look at Egypt, the first time we will see Nigerians standing up to their rights is the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and people are even saying it is too long, whereas what they are fighting for is to ensure that a good percentage of our budget goes to education. If they fight it out and force government to spend money on education it would be good, but do we need to strike before we get it right or else doctors too will go on strike too and people will die before they do it. So, why don’t we change our orientation and run an open government. The President is not capable, it is very clear; we don’t need to consult an oracle to know that he is not capable. I have never seen any president in this world who would stand behind a party leader when he is reading an address. The day I saw it, I knew that was the end of the man, quote me.
Can we then say that the political class has failed to deliver?
Have we ever delivered? We have failed, there is no gainsaying, we have failed, but there is no replacement. The alternative is military and it is not a good alternative. What we got wrong is that we are slow learners, we have read history of democracy in the United Kingdom over 600 years, we have read about the United States of America, but we have refused to learn, we don’t need to go through what they went through, can we afford another 600 years. I believe in prayers, but every nation gets the leadership they deserve, in some nations, you can’t rig elections there, they will go to the streets and they will not go home until they get their results. After the annulment of June 12 1993 election, which was presumably won by Chief M.K.O Abiola, we came out, had it been we were dogged, it won’t happen, but Nigerians have never been dogged. I was on a programme in Britain on a radio station and I was giving credit to Lagos State and a Nigerian called me that it is just one out of 36, it is not a pass mark, I said Akwa Ibom State is also trying, he said that is 2/36, he said is that good. So, I was sober on hearing that, even the performance of Lagos is not better than that of Atlanta City in America, a city in the US. So, where are we going?
President Jonathan is asking for assistance to fight terrorism, what do you say to that?
It is not just terrorism. I read his speech, he was telling President Barack Obama of the United States of America that if he wanted to fix the world, he has to fix Africa, he has to fix Nigeria. I think what we lack is willpower and the President is not strong, if you are not bold, you can’t lead Nigeria, if you are indecisive, you cannot rule Nigeria. Somebody say he banned Boko Haram and he is talking to them secretly, he said he has removed Governor Rotimi Amaechi from the PDP and after sometime, he said he can come back. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo will never say something and go back, for every step President Jonathan takes, he takes two backwards. I saw on the television where Asari Dokubo is now a football tournament chief patron because money has come, he is now a personality in Abuja, a common criminal is now protecting pipelines and earning billions of naira, don’t they have pipelines in other countries. The leader of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, is lobbying to get his own, Otunba Gani Adams will soon get, very soon, I too will lead some people in Ilesha, Osun State. When a nation loses direction, it is the leadership; the President should be told in plain language that he cannot do it.
It is like there is a clique that is drawing us backward
Clique or no clique, a good leader should take his people, where they should go and not where they want to go. Do you want to tell me that Rtd General Muhammadu Buhari would be president and someone would tell him this is where you should go and he would listen, no. Fuel subsidy was not as high as this during the time of ex-president Obasanjo, now it has multiplied, the fathers were the rogues, now they have handed over to their sons, Bamanga Tukur’s son, Alhaji Alao Arisekola’s son, Ahmadu Ali’s son have been accused of mismanaging subsidy money, nobody will hear about the case again and they are in court for stealing billions of naira. I think the President is guilty, he is now you are against me, you are a thief, if you are not against me and you are a thief, you are okay. People will answer to God, when they die, Obasanjo is one of them. He prevented former vice president, Atiku Abbubakar, from being president, got the late president Umar Yar’ Adua in against his will, made Goodluck Jonathan his vice then, today Jonathan is President, Yar’ Adua didn’t ask for it, Jonathan didn’t expect it, so it is against their ability. What was the achievement of the late president Yar’ Adua as governor of Katsina State then, we can tell the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, to go and replicate what he is doing here in Nigeria, you cannot tell somebody, who is not doing anything to go higher. Now, you brought someone in to prevent somebody, now all these problems come from Obasanjo. The Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido has been endorsed by him long ago, now he knoaws about the new PDP, but he is not bold enough to come out to say it. So, left to me, Nigeria we hail thee, we wish Nigeria well, but we should not do things that would make Lord Lugard and America right in their expressions. For the last three months, we had no foreign diplomacy, nothing, because he has been bogged down by party politics. He is not even bold, he can’t deal with people, if he fights you, once you say you want to settle it, he would surrender. He is now making former president Obasanjo to look like a hero; we now see that he was a saint. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo cursed Nigeria that if care was not taken, we will be comparing government to government. If we should now say Jonathan tried, that would be the end of this country.
There was gross voters’ apathy in the local government election in Cross Rivers State, what does it signal for our democracy?
Was there any election, the election that was not announced, if care is not taken, the military will take over, if people don’t believe in ballot box, then there would be problem. Look at what happened in Jigawa State whereby despite the fact that INEC confirmed that the names of ACN, CPC and ANPP have been removed, they still put the names on ballot papers. Now, PDP scored 20,000 in a bye-election, APC scored 19,000, CPC scored 6,000, ANPP scored too, how could you confuse people to vote wrongly. People are not interested and if they are frustrated, anything can happen, we have to pray, call election in Lagos State today, how many people will go out to vote. They know that their vote might not count, if the ballot does not count, you are calling for anarchy. You put 44 elders together for election and you put dead bodies there. Obasanjo has told Jonathan in confidence, but the man would not listen, Lamido is his choice, but he has lost control of the party. Obasanjo should just leave politics and become our own Nelson Mandela of South Africa. If he can be our Mandela, he would have been able to lead this country, he is a great man, but once he is partisan, he would not enjoy the grace God has given him.
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