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Our conversation is always tailored
towards nation building, as journalists, analysts, commentators; it is all
about building the nation. I want you to, in your own view, for many Nigerians
there appears to be an uneasy calm in the polity, what do you think is
responsible for this uneasy calm in quote?
When you say
uneasy calm, I don’t understand, how do you mean, what do you mean by uneasy
calm?
The purchasing power of Nigerians has
been eroded especially since the removal of the petroleum subsidy, people can
no longer meet their daily needs?
You see,
since independence in this country, we have always had what you called uneasy
calm, according to you. It has never been the same, things keep changing, so it
is not peculiar with today’s situation, go and check the records. Then coming
to fuel subsidy removal, yes I agree that the price has gone up, it is
affecting everybody; nobody can deny that, even the president cannot deny that,
but if you listened to him, as a man that is determined to change the
narrative, he has the courage to remove it, and have made several statements
and promises that we should calm down because he is coming up with palliatives
to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal. Now there is an adage that says,
when the going gets tough, the tough keeps going, so in all these, the tough
has kept going. Past presidents hadn’t that courage, if I may say, to remove
the fuel subsidy, and when you look at the campaign period almost all the
presidential candidates maintained that fuel subsidy is a problem, it should be
removed so that we face this battle and fight it once and for all. And the
president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on winning this election, at the
inauguration ground, showing that he is prepared to lead this country had the
courage to announce the removal, and some people started talking and shouting
and saying all manner of things. Is it because he is the one that said it? If
it were to be other candidates, maybe some people would be clapping. Look at
his policies, look at the decisions he has taken so far within this short
period, in as much as I am not defending him for now because he has just
started, but we must say the truth. So for him to have the courage to remove the
fuel subsidy, I thank him, and not only that, he was able to quench the
reactions of the people by engaging with various stakeholders telling them the
need for the removal, and I want to congratulate Nigerians and those
stakeholders who saw the need, as explained, we have been crying for, so my
advice is that we have to calm down, we are not finding it easy, nobody is
finding it easy, but with time the system will adjust itself, and with the
measures the president will be coming up with, it will be okay, but we need to
give him time.
What can you say about Tinubu’s
administration, in terms of the steps he has taken, major policy steps he has
taken, your assessment, do they portray light at the end of the tunnel?
Like I said,
he has just started and people are setting goals for him in one way or the
other, without even looking at the renewed hope manifesto. He is working in
line with the renewed hope manifesto. He has hit the ground running. His
actions so far show that he is prepared, he is ready, he is capable and he will
deliver, it is a rough road for him, taking into consideration the quantum of
damage already done for decades, so it is a rough road for him, but he is
plying the rough road, and as you can see, the opposition is already clapping
for him. I am not saying it because it is my party, the opposition is already
clapping for him. And that is why a lot of people are now saying all these
distractions, petitions, here and there, let us drop them, and join hand with
the president. So I see Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a man that is created by
God, ordained by God right from childhood, when you look at his history, the
huddles he has passed, the attacks he has dogged, right from the military era, up
to this stage; he defeated the military, they came up with his parental
background, it didn’t work, they came up with his academic qualification, the
thing came to not, they now came up with attack during the primaries, and you
see people stepping down for him, frivolous allegations came up again that he
bought them over, as if that was not
enough they came up with health issue, as if to say that those people criticizing
his health are healthy themselves. And I keep asking, who is healthy, tell me
any person that is healthy? The same thing they did to Buhari, some people said
he would die within one week, the same thing they are doing to Asiwaju, then
Asiwaju cleared the Primary stage, went into campaign, they started criticizing
him, anything he said, they would use computer and anything to change his
speech and talked all manner of things. And now they are saying Asiwaju is
speaking Queen’s English, oh this man is intelligent, oh this man is
determined, look at him working majestically, where do we go from here? Our
people are so insatiable. I am not against criticizing somebody but criticise
the person within the ambit of law and facts you can substantiate.
And I come
to terms that if God does not curse anybody, don’t curse that person, so
Asiwaju is ordained by God, whether he will get it right or not, let us give
him some time, let us watch him, look at his appointments, surprises are
coming, and I know by the time the list of ministers come out, there will be
surprises again. All the Bills that were unsigned, he has signed all of them
and today, you can generate your own electricity, I can generate mine. It is no
more monopoly. Students can now get loan, they cannot complain again that there
is no money to go to school. This is a man that has a vision. Upon that you see
some political nihilists still attacking him unnecessarily forgetting that he
is not God, he is only a human being. And I insist that we must rally round him
in this cause, in this journey of nation building. Let us give him a chance, it
is not even up to 60 days. When he travelled after the primaries they said he
is dead, because he went to rest. In this country, if you do right you would be
attacked, you go left you are attacked, you step forward you would be attacked,
you step backward you would be attacked, but I want to congratulate him, for
his will power. What attracted me to the man is his will power to take hard
decisions in order to move the system forward, in order to change the whole
narrative, and I believe he will get it right.
PDP, Labour and APC are still in
court over the presidential election, in the midst of all this, the European
Union election monitoring group came out with their final report on the election
indicting APC and INEC, what is the implication, how do we juxtapose all these?
Let me ask
you, is EU a political party? What is the full meaning of EU, European Union,
are they political party in Nigeria? Is it one of the political parties in
Nigeria? Are they polling agents? They are just observers. The political parties
that are involved in the practical election are in court, the polling agents
are there and they are talking about an observer, I don’t know if it is known
to law in election tribunal, in what area is the election flawed? The INEC that
conducted the election are there, political parties are there with their polling
agents, is the EU trying to tell the judges what to say or what? You see, I
don’t want to comment much on this, because this thing is before a court of
competent jurisdiction, but I wouldn’t want third parties coming in to coerce
the judges, using social media or whatever to direct the court. If in the end
the court says, okay, APC or Tinubu didn’t win, then so be it, if they confirm
the election, so be it. But the issue of EU coming at this point in time to
talk I don’t understand, they are not polling agents and I don’t see the court
taking them serious. Just when you open your phone you see all manner of reporting,
talking one thing or the other, this one will say Tinubu appeared in court
today, Peter Obi, Atiku, all manner of things, you cannot shoot gun and start
shouting at the same time, because the sounds of gun go high beyond your voice,
you cannot be in court and out of court at same time. I have said it several
times, people should allow NEC, Agents and the Tribunal to do justice to this
case. I want to commend the judges at the tribunal when they said, we are going
to do justice, we are not going to favour Mr A or Mr B, let’s give them the
benefit of the doubt, this EU report is neither here nor there, that is my take
on that.
In as much as the election tribunal
is still in progress, there should not be any vacuum in governance of Nigeria. What are the steps you think Tinubu can take
urgently, to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerian?
He is
already taking the steps by addressing the nation to say we should calm down,
he is coming with a package, so let’s wait for him to come up with the package
to cushion the effects of hardship, he himself is not finding it easy, whether
he is rich or poor, like wise myself and every other person. So it is not that it
is affecting one particular individual, it is even global, and it didn’t start
today. He met most of these situations on ground. And he is working round the
clock to make sure there is serious improvement, otherwise why did he harmonise
the exchange rate, so that there will be no monopoly? What you buy from the
bank is what you buy from the street. And you can see that since then investors
are indicating interests to come and invest in Nigeria. He has just changed the
service chiefs, in order to beef up the security, and those service chiefs have
just started work, Rome was not built in a day. So he is already taking urgent
steps and you can see the accolades being given to him. He has started well, he
is moving well, but because of the quantum of damage that has been experienced
in this country, some people feel, or we feel generally that he has not done
much, he is coming. I will not rule out the insatiable nature of political
nihilists, even if you give them your wife, they will still complain and
condemn. We know them. I think he is already taking those steps. Let us give
him a chance. Remember I said, in my last interview that when people talk, they
fail to recognize that the opposition handled this country for 16 years, so let’s
give APC 16, APC has just done eight years, remaining eight, by the end of that
eight years, we will be able to compare. So Tinubu still has eight years to go
and by the end of that eight years we will be able to compare and I think when
that period comes, those who condemned APC will sing our slogan.
When we heard that the borders were
now open, many thought that it was meant to allow immediate importation of food
items, at least in the interim, to tackle the food shortage being currently
faced in the country, instead it was opened for those who want to import
vehicles.
Is Tinubu an
importer?
Why I asked this question is because
he said cars
The
President analyses situations before he talks; he is taking them one by one,
yes. If he had opened the borders for those things you people would start
talking, we should allow him, I still insist that we have to allow him and give
him time.
Recently in Lagos there were house
demolitions in and around Alaba International Market which affected the traders
in that axis, initially the government claimed the demolition did not affect
the traders, but investigation has revealed that indeed many of the buildings
house various businesses. We also know that Imo State Governor, Senator Hope
Uzodinma has met with his counterpart, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to find
amicable solution to the standoff. Your view.
It is quite
unfortunate that such things are being experienced, but then I have not taken
time to, at least know, the government policies concerning those areas, to know
whether there was violation, in as much as I will never subscribe to demolition
of Igbo properties in the name of politics or any other thing, because I am an
Igbo man, but we need to study the situation, and that is why I commend Governor
Hope Uzodinma and all other notable Igbo leaders that have stepped in, and
equally commend our ever ready listening Governor of Lagos State, Sanwo-Olu who
granted them audience and they are talking, so let’s wait and see the outcome
of the discussion. But I believe that there must be balance of convenience in
anything we are doing, there must be symbiotic association and that is what
Igbo leaders are talking about, and I commend them for doing that. Yes we have
come to Lagos to do business and earn our living, I will not support the idea
of attacking us, the Igbos, in as much as I will not subscribe to our people
violating government policies by erecting certain structures, I am saying this
because I have been in a position where such things were being discussed, which
is not the purpose of this interview, so let us allow that discussion to go on.
I don’t believe that the Lagos State Government intentionally will start
attacking the Igbos for one reason or the other, and I equally don’t believe
that Igbos will intentionally start violating government policies, maybe there
is information gap, because nobody raises money and tries to throw it into the
ocean. The government says don’t build here, you go and build, I don’t think
so. Igbos are not careless, they are entrepreneurs, so there is a communication
gap; that is my own opinion, I might be wrong but it is obvious there is
communication gap between the system and the people, and that is what Senator
Hope Uzodinma has come to handle. So let’s give them a chance, and all other
notable Igbo leaders that have stepped into the matter.
I want to
appeal to Lagos State Government to give them listening ears, because we have
never been divided in this country along tribal or religious lines, otherwise
we wouldn’t have had the likes of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Sarduana
of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, coming together to say we have one Nigeria, and that
spirit should not be allowed to die. And on a final note, I commend the Igbo
people, their cool-headedness, for their entrepreneurial nature, for their
readiness to develop anywhere they find themselves, may God continue to sustain
them, sustain our hosts, Amen.
If there is a message for the new
government, you can state it now
There is no
message I have for our revered Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, other than please
implement to the letter the renewed Hope Agenda because I have read the
document, it is whole and encompassing if it is properly implemented, no
section of this country will complain. It is a masterpiece. And equally, I
appeal to him to always apply balance of convenience in anything he is doing
because he is a human builder, he has built so many human beings even before he
became president, he has built human beings across the six political zones, let
him keep it up to make sure that this country remains rosy for everybody.
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