You have continued to contribute your
quota to nation building, through your public commentary, analysis and opinion.
First Chief Congratulations on your
appointment as co-chairman, Contact and Mobilization sub-committee of the APC
Gubernatorial Campaign Council for the forthcoming election in Bayelsa and what
does that portend?
How did you
come to know about it, because I never divulged that to any journalist?
Don’t worry Chief, the whole information
is in the public domain, as they say, a big fish does not hide in the pot of
soup
Okay, I am not denying that, it is a welcome development in
the sense that it is a call to serve the nation, it is a call to serve the
party, and there is no way I can say no, I will not serve because everyone of
us is talking about nation-building, and Bayelsa is very very important to us;
we have a very good candidate, His Excellency Timipre Marlin Sylva. He is a
good party man, and a seasoned administrator; if we have him there, the face of
Bayelsa will change for better. We were there on the day of inauguration of the
Campaign Council presided over by our revered national chairman, former Governor
of Kano State, His Excellency, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, it was a very wonderful
occasion; all the party officials were there. Then the national chairman of the
National Campaign Council, the Governor of Gombe State, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, he
was equally in attendance. So we had a very good time and thorough deliberation
on how to win that election in Bayelsa.
Then in Contact and Mobilization Committee, we have Uncommon
Governor and Uncommon Senate President as our Chairman, and we are talking and
we are strategizing, the way we are going to do it is not what I am going to
discuss on the pages of newspaper, but the only thing you should know is that
we are strategizing, and God willing, come November 11, 2023, the result we
will hear is that Sylva has won, APC has won so that by 13th or 14th
February, 2024, he will be sworn in as Governor of Bayelsa, and we hope
it will work out like that.
With the
whole issue pertaining to Tinubu’s certificate, going to America, Supreme
Court, do you thing all these things are important or do you thing they have
become distractions to both the President and the nation?
Well in as much as everybody has his right to defend whatever
he feels, or to pursue whatever he feels, I think we have come to a stage in
this whole wahala where we must be counting our teeth with our tongues. You and
I know that this is a very serious distraction.
Whenever I talk I still refer to former President Goodluck
Jonathan who advised that when you contest and lose, try to re-contest, it is
not a do or die affair and when you win, try and accommodate everybody. We have
a lot of problems in this country we supposed to face instead of all these
Chicago, America, Supreme Court, certificate, this, that, after all, what is
the minimum qualification to be president in this country? Has President Bola
Ahmed Tinubu not met it? So many people are qualified to be president of this
country, I wonder all this hullabaloo; you see people appearing on television,
talking all sorts of things, saying all manner of things; you see, you don’t
win election on pages of newspaper, you don’t win election on social media, in
as much as those things help to project an individual candidate.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as I said and I am still saying,
has paid his dues in politics in this country. He was at the war front, when people
were hiding, and today, as God would have it, he has won, why can’t we allow
him to govern us? And he said that his government is government of unity, you
can see his appointments, it cut across all political parties, all geopolitical
zones, and he is just coming out, there are so many appointments to be given
out, you can see his policies, and he has said and admitted that we are all
suffering and he is working towards ameliorating the whole situation. You can
see how he has engaged the Labour, through the Minister of Labour and Employment,
the former Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong. You have seen the MoU they
signed in order to quench the tension, why can’t we allow the man to work? So I
see these things as distraction, no matter how genuine, no matter how bad it
is, it is distraction. Somebody must be there, if it is not me, it must be
another person. If it is not Mr A, it must be Mr B, somebody must be the
president; there can never be a vacuum.
And some of these issues coming up are issues, even though I
am not a lawyer, are issues I call ancillary issues that have nothing to do
with proving that Mr. A or Mr. B did not win the election. Chicago University
is now a centre of attraction, everybody is writing letter and, what do people
think, if I may ask? Everybody is pushing letter, making enquiry about one man.
I must tell you, Asiwaju is a political colossus, he is a great man; I didn’t
even know that his popularity is like this. For everybody to be making inquiry
about him; I congratulate him and I see him as a great hero, may God help him
to lead us well. May God help him to pilot the affairs of this country very
well, may God help him to accommodate everybody, even the opposition. What we
want is peace and nothing more.
Many see
Atiku’s move to unseat Tinubu via the court as fighting his last battle to have
his way to the presidency, is it not proper he rests this case and prepare for
another election?
I won’t join people to say that it is his last battle,
because I don’t know his intention, I don’t know the plan he has for future
elections, whether it is his last battle or not. I don’t want to say that. In
as much as Waziri Adamawa, Atiku Abubakar, has served this country very well, as
a Vice President, I know at the time he was in office with Obasanjo, he was
described as the busiest Vice President in the whole world or in Africa, he is
well known all over the world and I respect him, if he had won this election, I
would still respect him. So it is his right to pursue his mandate if there was
any one. But in doing that, he is an elder, as a statesman he should know when
to apply break, by now I expect him to apply break, for where he is going,
there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Let me tell you, Presidential Election Petition Court is not
court of general issues, the much I know, it is for a specific issue, guided by
an act which is called the electoral act, and once they finish their case they
stop, they go into extinction legally as stipulated by our electoral laws. They
have gone to an appeal and appeal has passed judgement. You see, the issue of
people filing matters in the court and coming out to coerce people, to coerce the
judges, to weep up sentiments as if to say the courts don’t know what they are
doing, it baffles me a lot. And that is why I thank the Chief Justice of the
Federation. Recently when he was inaugurating 23 Federal High Court judges; he
made it clear, that public opinions do not guide the proceedings of the court.
It is a very very powerful policy statement that should come from a seasoned
leader. I want to advise our people, when you file a matter in court, please
calm down, allow the court to decide, unless we say we don’t want court again,
then we can amend our constitution, abolish our court processes.
However I don’t blame the candidates or petitioners to some
extent, because it is some of us, it is people that invested in some of these
things that are pushing them. So presidential election petition court is not a
court of general issue where you keep on pumping in evidence, no. I am
appealing to all the stakeholders in this country including journalists, to
please, we are in a very very precarious situation in this country, let us
allow the Federal Government to function, let us allow the National Assembly to
function, let us allow even the governors to function, the local governments,
wherever they are, let us allow them to function, let us allow instituted
authorities to function so that we will be able to assess them at the end of
the day, to hold them accountable at the end of the day. With all these
distractions you cannot check them, you cannot assess them. So my advice and
appeal is, let every Nigerian calm down and allow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
to finish his tenure, in the next four years, we are going to have another
election, I can contest, you can contest, any of them can contest, if he wins
you, fine, but now that we are at the Supreme Court, let us allow the Supreme
Court to decide. I belong to a Whatsapp group and they keep analyzing what the
judges would say, each time they keep doing the same thing and at a stage, I
got tired and I left the group because the objective of that group was not being
met. And I see this thing as a slap on the judiciary. I am calling on the
Judiciary, I am calling on the National Assembly to please, take steps to
correct these things; our judges are being harassed on the pages of newspapers,
Whatsapp groups and all the rest, they are being harassed unnecessarily, allow
them to do their job. Good a thing, we have magistrate courts, high courts,
appeal courts and the Supreme Court, God created us to live freely, when we err
he doesn’t kill us; then why must we go to this extent? So my appeal is that we
should know that that is a court of a specific issue, not general court, and I
don’t see the Supreme Court accepting new evidence which will not be even
sustained. The Chicago university admitted that Tinubu was their student,
graduated from there, then how come all these allegations here and there? Who
will be there and there will be peace? I want to know, who will be at Aso Rock
and there will be peace? I tire oo.
I forgot, I listened to the former Vice President, Atiku
Abubakar, calling on Peter Ob, Kwankwaso, all political leaders to join him. Is
it to join him to fight at the Supreme Court or join him to merge their votes
with his? He said he won the election, Labour Party said they won the election,
and now he is calling them, is he calling them to abandon their case, is he
calling Labour Party to abandon her case or what? He even invited the spirit of
the late legal sage, Gani Fawehinmi, to come and help, all these are nothing
but distractions.
However, I must commend the Labour Party, I was listening to
the Radio this morning and I heard that the Labour Party maintained that they
are at the Supreme Court, so they are distancing themselves from that call, and
I want to commend them for doing that. And that is why Peter Obi is different
in this pursuit, he is pursuing his mandate within the legal framework, he is
not into this Chicago this, Chicago that. However, it is good as Waziri Adamawa
said that he will stop at the Supreme Court. If he wins, he will go and rest;
if Tinubu wins he will go and rest, and I
want him to keep his promise and drop all these Chicago this, Chicago that, all
those issues that are neither here, nor there. These issues are dead on arrival,
as far as I know as a lay man, it is not within the legal framework of the
presidential election petition court, the much I have read, the much I have
known. So let us allow peace to reign.
There will
be off season elections in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi and in 2024, Edo will follow
suit, so don’t you think that the hullabaloo generated by the 2023 election
will dampen the interest of the electorate and perhaps enthrone unpopular
candidates?
That is why I said from the beginning; let us reduce the
number of court cases; they are turning Nigeria to a place where elections are
won in the court, they are turning Nigeria to a place where they are making the
electorate feel unsafe to come out and vote because if after voting and INEC
declares result, and they go to court, then it is better you go to court from
day one, contest there and win there, do your vote there. However these things
are deepening our democracy, one way or the other, because it is making us to
learn, myself I have learnt a lot from February 25th election till
now. If I am going to get involved in any elective position, I now know what to
do, the dos and don’ts. But then our judges are being over-stressed, our security
agencies are being over-stretched. However, I believe that voter education is
deepening, electorates are coming out to vote, so all these hullabaloo as you
say will not cause problem, people will come out and vote. Like I told you, we
were in Bayelsa, you need to see the mobilization; you need to see the number
of Bayelsans that trooped out under heavy rain to hail our candidate, Sylva. So
it is very encouraging. Am I talking about Imo State, Governor Uzodimma has done
so very well, he is blazing the trail on daily basis, you can see the support.
In the last election you can see how APC in Imo took over everywhere, the same
thing in Kogi, and in 2024 the same thing will happen in Edo, Edo has been an
APC state, and it will return to APC, and with the type of President we have,
who knows how to organize a party, who knows how to nurture a party, and the
type of party Chairman we have, everybody is beginning to come together more
than before, and I want to tell you, in those states, APC will spring more
surprises as they have been doing.
Another
issue that appears to be a distraction to the polity is the incessant threat by
labour to go on strike. Chief I want you to advise labour on how to go about
this issue of their welfare.
I have advised them before and I am advising them again, and I
am happy with labour, they are closing ranks with the Federal Government. You
can see that the last proposed strike was shelved off, so I believe between now
and month end things will change for better. The labour is complying, their
leaders, Ajaero and Osifo, they are doing a good job. You know it is not easy;
they are leading some people, but I am glad that they are listening to the
federal government. You know this is a new cabinet and Lalong is trying,
remember that President said the era of incessant strikes has gone, and I don’t
know Tinubu as someone that reneges on his promises, he has never reneged on
his promises; but then labour should know that this is a new government, and I
want to commend them, they are complying, there is peace, and I want to assure
you that God willing, there won’t be any strike.
The suffering in the land has continued,
especially among the downtrodden, what is that thing, if you were asked to say,
you feel the president can do to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses?
You see, this question has come up several times, the
president is already tackling those issues, there are so many palliative
measures he has brought out, and I think we should give him time for those
things to get to the people; that is much I can tell you, yes, he has a lot and
they are already being pushed out, but it takes time, because you have to document
them, profile them, otherwise the bad eggs, hoodlums will hijack those
palliatives. So I am still appealing to people to calm down, it is coming and
he will deliver. I have no doubt about his ability to quench this hardship. But
he is not God, it is only God that can wipe out hardship totally, he is not a
magician, I know he would work within the framework of the available resources.
Tinubu is not known to be a person that starves his people all through his
life. So he is generous as a person, and I know that he would be generous as a
president.
If there is
something I missed, you can say it now
No, it is still prayer, I pray for peace in the land, I pray
for progress, I pray for the new government to live up to expectation, I pray
for the life of the president, and his workers, the federal executive council,
the national economic council, the national assembly, and various agencies of
government, may God give them health, because health is wealth, and wisdom to
pilot the affairs of this country.
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