Sunday, February 22, 2015
Buhari's Former Spokesman Speaks On Why He Endorsed President Jonathan
In 2011, you were the spokesperson for Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) who was then vying for the presidency. He is now contesting same position on the platform of the All Progressives Congress but you are no longer speaking on his behalf. Why did you shift camp?
There are so many shiftings. Gen Buhari himself has shifted. When I worked with him in 2011, he was the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change. In 2015, he is now with the APC. APC is not CPC. The characters around him in 2011 are not the same characters around him in 2011. In all honesty, Buhari is an honest man. I have made my feelings known to him that I cannot function in a new environment. I was with him in 2011 within a period of six months. I have been on the public scene for two to three decades in Nigeria. I have my goals and objectives. My being in politics is not for any pecuniary means. It is about issues that I think are fundamental to me, what I represent and the people I represent.
Why didn't you see the ruling party as the path to freedom in 2011?
I have told you that this is not about political party. What is party? Let no one deceive me with any label. Some of us work on convictions and principles. When we worked for Gen. Buhari and Bakare in 2011, we were largely influential to the manifesto of the Buhari/Bakare campaign. We said we could restructure Nigeria through elections. We have not abandoned our beliefs. That is our conviction. It is online. The twelfth item on the document is on restructuring. There is nothing of such in the APC manifesto.
What makes you think that your convictions are sublime and genuine?
My convictions are my convictions. We have not attacked anybody for believing in the change mantra. Why are they now attacking us for taking a position? We believe our beliefs are right, they also think their positions are right. We should go with our different views since March 28 is just around the corner. Why the blackmail?
Don't you think the ruling party is also not free from the situation you just painted?
I do not know about that. I am talking about the one I know. I do not trade in abuses. I engage people on salient issues. Now they are talking about corruption. If not that the world is coming to an end, is it some of the people in APC that will be talking about corruption? Individuals who are poster boys of corruption; some have cases before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The way some people are desperate for change, if some notable armed robbers were placed before them and they were told to chant change for such individuals, some would still shout it. For me, it is not about APC or PDP, there is nothing being put forward that is different.
We keep talking about corruption as if it is limited to only the federal level. Which of the states under APC can pass a corruption test? I once took a former governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala to the EFCC because he asked all the local governments in the state to award five kilometers of road at N50m each. I wondered how there would be such uniform road project. When the commission charged him, it was part of what he was charged with. But given what APC is doing in South-West now, if I see Alao-Akala today, I am going to apologise to him. A five kilometre of road awarded for N50m which I frowned at, is now awarded for N1bn. These are the change agents. When the elections dates were shifted within the law, we saw many things flying about. We read several vitriolic editorials on that postponement when things actually showed that the commission was not fully ready to conduct the elections. Local government elections were supposed to have held in Lagos State since October, no one has questioned that. I am certain that anybody who says he wants to fight corruption yet keeps the 1999 Constitution is a fraudster. This is because the constitution encourages corruption by giving immunity. This is part of the things the confab addressed. There are a lot of criminals in government who have enjoyed immunity over the years. They will not want it to be removed. Are we not in a democracy? Is there a law mandating that if A supports B, I must support same?.
What will your group do if the Presidents wins and reneges on his promise to implement the confab report?
When he met with us in Akure, he told us categorically that he would implement the confab report within the 12 months of his return to office. If he reneges, we will mount the barricade.
You don't think it could be late in the day then?
Nothing is going to be too late in the day. A philosopher said if we fight we can win. If we don't fight, we have lost. We can hold President Jonathan to the promise but we cannot hold APC to it because its leaders did not participate in it.
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