What is your take on the conduct and outcome of the just concluded elections?
I will say that democracy have come to stay in Nigeria, this is the very first time we are witnessing such level of maturity in this nation and within our neighbouring countries where an incumbent president concedes defeat and quickly congratulates the winner of the election. The underlining understanding of the whole exercise is that Nigeria is fast developing in governance and I hope the coming generations will emulate this commendable trend.
Does President Jonathan conceding defeat and congratulating his opponent make him a hero as being celebrated?
About Jonathan being a hero or not - he lost an election and has nothing else to do than to hand over to the winner, which is democracy. He did not context that he didn’t lose the election. The process of the election was free and fair at least to the best of our ability for now. Being a gentleman, there is nothing he can do than to accept defeat because he was actually defeated. So I don’t know what you mean by hero, in what way. He lost an election and that’s not heroic or do you mean he shouldn't have accepted the outcome of the election; that’ll amount to transiting the nation into something else that will destroy our democracy that we are building. That he lost an election and concedes defeat to me does not make him a hero, rather I see him as a man who has aligned himself as a gentleman, who has seen that his people desire change and have to accept the wish of the people to prevail.
How would you rate President Jonathan’s reign over Nigeria?
I think Nigeria has been together without encumbrances and he has been able to come up with a clear democratic process. I give him kudos for that. At least to the best of our knowledge, he never tried to manipulate the democratic and electoral processes like most of his predecessors did. Beyond that, every government in Nigeria has been characterised with corruption. And his administration is no exception. We have seen and heard through different news portals of high-level corruption under President Jonathan’s reign. For instance, I heard in the news this morning that the NNPC have started refunding some money back into the national treasury, which actually means that indeed deep-rooted corruption thrived in the system under the watchful eyes of Mr. President.
What in your analysis could be responsible for his losing the election?
I think the people where fade up of PDP and secondly, this Jonathan’s tenure was rooted deeply in corruption. Evidences abound here and there to buttress the claim. Again, Nigerians are reasoning very well now, questions are being asked and our people are not just following the order of the day. People are ready to speak up and make their voices heard irrespective of whatever you give them as inducement. For instance, there was a situation in this past election where people collected money from a certain political party but went ahead to vote their desired party and candidate.
I think one of the major factors that made him lose was bad governance and corruption in high places. He was unable to control those working under him. He lacked the charisma and potentials of a president. He’s so soft that even when the corruption is stirring him in the face, he lacked the well withal to either question or bring the culprits to book. Recall that in the past six years that his tenure lasted nobody has been taken to court or jailed for corruption in spite of the massive outcry of looting the was the order of the day. Does it mean that all was well, everybody was upright or that everybody is now saint in Nigeria? No! But he lack the propensity to act or prosecute those working under him who where enmeshed in high-level corruption. I think Nigerians don’t want that anymore, we want to protect the sanctity of our nation.
Do you see the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari as the much-anticipated messiah this nation yearns for?
Is only God that can determine who is a messiah in a country and it’s only Him that reserves the prerogative to send one. I have never seen the President-elect as one, at least for now. I cannot judge if he is a messiah or he is going to be the best or worse president for this nation. We never can say until he set up his machinery of governance.
But looking at the kind of people around him, with one questionable character or the other, one can be forced to say that we are still in the same situation except he can come up as the who nation has anticipated him to call the bluff of even those who helped him to actualise his mandate if he discover they have inordinate ambition to drag his administration in the mud, and bring everybody to justice irrespective of positions and involvements to his ascendance to power.
Judging by his past records, I think he is an anti corrupt crusader that could bring the hydra-headed corruption in this country to its knees. You know people are judging him based on his military era where he has a knack for high level of discipline but you know he is coming back as a democratically elected president who does not have all the autocratic powers to carry out what he wants at will. He has the House of Representatives, the Senate and other agencies of government to pass through appropriately, who will contribute to the day to day running of government as required under democratic setting.
Do you see him as being courageous enough to dare even those who oiled the wheels of his political machinery when found guilty of corrupt practices?
I believe he has such character judging by his past records; I believe he is a man who is against corruption. He’s a highly disciplined man. I once read of how he divorced his wife for receiving money from an ex president. If he can do that to his own wife then I don’t think he can spare anybody. But he needs wisdom and understanding in whatever steps he’s taking.
As a politician who was actually prepared to run for the office of Abia State government before you stepped down, looking back at the entire scenario, do you have any regret?
I don’t have any regrets whatsoever. One of the reasons I stepped down was that when I was about obtaining my nomination form, I met a very trusted brother, Alex Otti who was equally of same village with me. We had detailed discussion and I decided to step down since we share almost the same vision for our dear state, though he eventually lost the election gallantly. But seeing what transpired in Abia State, casting my mind back to your earlier question if we can see Jonathan as a hero for conceding defeat. There are some people who cannot for one reason or the other do that, they will rather die than conceding defeat to their opponent even when it’s obvious they lost; that was the situation we found ourselves in Abia before the election was declare inconclusive for a rerun which my brother was eventually schemed out.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fast assuming the status of Yoruba political leader, only recently he was compared to the legendary Pa Obafemi Awolowo. What is your take on that?
The only way I can describe Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that he is a political enigma. He is a king and also a kingmaker. He has the well being of his people in mind and his people realising that, gave him all the support. He’s a great leader, I can recall attending a political event at the TBS sometimes ago, the way Tinubu came down to the downtrodden mingling and chatting away with them without being conscious of his social status tells a lot about his and such disposition can build confidence around his followers. Tinubu is a bridge today between the south and the north because of his political charisma.
He’s a great leader and God makes people like him for a purpose. If not for people like Tinubu today, we’ll not be talking about change that we have today. Recall that at a time, Tom Ikimi and Chief Vin Ogbulafor in separate statements told the nation that PDP will rule Nigeria for the next 60 years, now, if people like Tinubu are not there, there wouldn't have been much that Buhari would have done because if the whole north give him their votes, I don’t think he can win the election but the likes of Tinubu were able to galvanize the whole south west together as someone who enjoys the trust and confidence of his people and then the change came.
So I will say that Tinubu has done creditably well, take a look at Lagos State today which has become a model for the nation, the leadership is being navigated by him, you can see peace prevailing. The most secured state in Nigeria today is Lagos State. The most developed state in Nigeria today is Lagos State. I think we should allow this political colossus to extend his tentacles and see what he can do nationally.
Being an Igbo man, do you think the Igbos are lacking a character like Tinubu?
Greatly! There is nobody like Tinubu in the entire Igboland and it didn't start with this political dispensation. The problem with the Igbos started during the colonial era.
When the colonial Masters came to Nigeria before the amalgamation, they used the leadership in the Northern protectorate provided by the Sultan of Sokoto and other Emirs to govern them, they came to the west and the Obas were on hand to assist in governing the people of the region because the people are subjective to what the Obas say, so it was easy because of the trust and confidence the reposed on their Obas, but in the East, there is a popular saying that “Igbo enwe Eze”, meaning Igbos have no King. Everybody is a king in his father’s compound; so it will be very difficult for them to come together and say let us listen to one man. This or that man can take us to the Promised Land. No! That is lacking in Igboland.
I think it is high time the Igbo political think tanks should start thinking of the best possible way out of this quagmire; otherwise the Igbos will continue to lag behind in the polity of Nigeria.
What do you think is the place of the Igbos in the coming political dispensation?
Well, we are part and parcel of the nation. We are pure first class citizens of this nation and we still have our pride of place. The fact that we do not have an arrow head does not stop us from being part and parcel of the nation after all bulk of the nation’s wealth comes from this divide of the nation.
Secondly, I don't believe General Buhari’s administration will marginalize any part of the nation for that matter, the Igbos have the right to integrate and belong to any political party they so wish, it’s a matter of choice. That we don’t have APC Senators from the whole of South East, though regrettable but does not stop us from having a part of the national cake. I think there must be an adjustment to bring an Igbo man into the federal character. There could be important appointments and don’t forget that it’s all politics, some senators and high ranking Igbo politicians might decide to defect to the APC to actualize the place of the Igbo man and I think in future, the Igbos will align with the national government. The truth was that there was massive believe across the south east that President Jonathan was going to win, and they decided to offer him massive support, you may call that political suicide.
Source: Thisday
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