ON the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC 2015 timetable
First of all, they have a
constitutional responsibility to take care of elections; it is that
responsibility they have adhered to. For me, it is part of the transformation agenda
that those who are given responsibilities to perform do so without let or
hindrance. That is what the Professor Attahiru Jega-led INEC has done. Nobody
was expecting it. If anybody was saying that they were under some influence
that person is wrong in his presumption. It is the independent nature of the
various organizations under this administration that is coming to play. We must
thank the president for making sure that these organizations have a free
atmosphere to function. Please continue after cut for the complete interview ...........................
So, when is President Goodluck
Jonathan declaring whether or not to run?
I want Nigerians to understand one
thing. I have been on the side of the opposition for very long. Now, I am in
the executive, current leadership.
Path of governance
President Jonathan appealed to
Nigerians and said he would not discuss politics until 2014. Despite all the
pressure mounted on him by the opposition to draw him into politics much
earlier than 2014, he resisted it; he continued on the path of governance and
maintained that he would say something in 2014. Now we are in 2014, now INEC
has spoken, we do expect that with all of these, I am sure he will sit down
with his kitchen cabinet and look at the pros and cons, what his administration
has done and then take a position clearly on what his next line of action will
be. I want say, as somebody who has been deeply involved in the management of political
parties; a political party will only sponsor a candidate, whose achievements
they are proud of. So, when I see people talking about who the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) is going to sponsor or not, I feel sorry for them because they
don’t understand how political parties are run. I cannot tell the APC that
because I had been associated with most of them one way or the other that A or
B is a better candidate. I can’t do that.And I expect that they too will not
try to put themselves in a situation where they will be dictating to the PDP.
Their business is to go and wait for whoever it pleases the PDP to produce. In
every climate and political understanding that I know of, particularly, when
the constitution is on his side, they concede the first, the right of refusal
to seek re-election to the incumbent. The constitution is on the side of
President Jonathan. His achievements speak for him. If you feel offended or
aggrieved, he has put out a mid-term report, cataloguing his entire
achievements. I am still waiting to see a critical objection and rejection of
that document rather than people just shooting in the dark. He has put down his
achievements in black and white. Take them one-by-one and dismantle or dislodge
them but that has not been the case. So, as far as I am concerned, I serve a
president who has made a tremendous impact in the lives of Nigerians judging
particularly from where he took off. What was the situation when he came on
board and what is the situation today?
How soon will the President meet
with his kitchen cabinet over the issue?
Like I said he will meet with his
kitchen cabinet, they will study the INEC guidelines and timetable and decide:
what do we do? Where do we go from here? Nigerians will be adequately informed
at the appropriate time. As far as I am concerned, they (president and his
kitchen cabinet) still have some two to three months to really concentrate on
governance and that is the Jonathan philosophy. His New Year message was very
clear: ‘Nigerians will enjoy a better 2014,’ which means there are certain
things he will want to put up that will make a difference. Let’s complete that
process before we go into the political event. Let’s create the atmosphere for
a better Nigerian environment.
On allegations that the government
influenced INEC to put the presidential election first to create a bandwagon
effect in favour of the PDP
Go back to the past INEC elections
and draw your analogy from there. There is nothing INEC will do today that
people will not say it is doing it in favour of the president in power. But
those of us who are part of the government in power are really a bit perturbed
the way things were done without consultations. Consultations I mean here is
the council of state and various bodies. They are performing their
responsibility as a body under the constitution. For anybody to think that all
they are doing is in our interest is unfortunate.
On leadership tussle in the House of
Representatives between APC and PDP with APC claiming majority over PDP
We have legislators from APGA and
Labour Party. Have you taken their numerical strength? Where do they stand? APC
has 172 and PDP 171 members, if you add APGA and Labour, who then constitutes
the majority? It is always better we do stocktaking before we come to the
public domain. I must commend the Speaker for the matured manner he handled the
issue that day. Both camps, APC and PDP poured encomiums on him.
APC tied its directive to shutdown
government to the resolution of the crisis in Rivers State…
Again it is a vindication of the
position of the President. If the president dabbles into the issue of Rivers,
he should be ready to dabble into the issues of the 36 states plus one – the
Federal Capital Territory. Having appointed people to take charge of the various
departments of government –the Inspector General of Police, Director,
Department of State Services, etc, it is when the matter overwhelm these people
that there can now be a communication to the government. Like many people talk
about corruption, have we had complaints from the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) or Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences
Commission (ICPC) that they are under-funded? Have they said there is
this intervention from the government that is making us not perform? As far as
the presidency is concerned, the right people have been put in place and they
have been doing their assignments. Until they fail, there is no point to
intervene. I was listening to Amaechi, he said he spoke to the IG, ‘I am going
to lead this Save Rivers Rally myself.’ And he thanked the IG because the IG
sent men to make sure that they are protected. Some of these things are due to
gap in communication.
On Speaker Aminu Tambuwal’s comment
that President Jonathan is not fighting corruption the way he should given
issues around Aviation Minister, Princes Stella Oduah and Director General of
the Stock Exchange Commission (SEC), MS Arunma Oteh?
On Oteh, I am a member of the
Presidential team, I do not know nor have I heard of how the president
found a way to fund SEC.
International politics
But I do know that Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of the
Economy, a highly respected international figure, who but for international
politics would have been president of the World Bank and the President of the
World Bank pays her absolute respect, set up a committee and that committee
vindicated Oteh. The legislature came up with its own issue. Ordinarily what
needs to be done here is to look for solutions. It is not my duty to start
educating the legislature on what to do. I just want to make sure, as somebody
who has served on both sides, I can tell you there is always a way out of such
a dilemma. That is a way that must be looked into at resolving the issue so
that both sides can sleep with their eyes closed. On the issue of Speaker
Tambuwal talking about body language, when I was in the Senate a couple of
people talked to me about the Third Term agenda. I was the person who
coordinated the project. I was not the chairman. Senator Idris Kuta of blessed
memory was the chairman. A lot of offers were made to me on how we should allow
the third project sail through. The speaker talked about body language, when
you are in the legislature, the truth of the matter is that you see permanently
a challenge from the executive. And the more challenge you put across to the
executive the more assured you are of your position.
Purview of the executive
I say to my colleagues in the executive,
the young man (speaker) is managing 360 legislators from different political parties,
background and interest, etc. So he has a duty to navigate the storms and as
long as whatever he says cannot be used against him, all well and good. Talking
about Stella Oduah, the president did what he should do. Within the purview of
the executive, he set up a committee immediately to investigate Stella Oduah. Let
me tell you something and I say this with all seriousness and experience as a
politician, 35 years experience: this woman has done what no minister of
Aviation had done. She has done so much in improving our aviation sector. I
don’t see how on earth she will bring herself to a level of deliberately
engaging in unexpected and unbelievable scam. A lot of Nigerians across the
country have commended her. I, as a son of Anambra State where she comes from,
I am exceedingly very proud of her. I am happy. Whatever it is, a committee has
been set up. By the time a decision is taken, it will be clear that the president
will not go out of his way to shield anybody that is indicted. The President
Jonathan that I have seen and known in the last two and a half
years will not shield you if you are found wanting President Jonathan is
not the typical Nigerian politician, who lies and promises you what he would
not do. He is not the aggressive type of person. He is somebody who means well
for this country. He is committed to seeing a true Nigerian nation unfold. That
is why he is all-accommodating. No president has been bashed by the media as
him.
Divine message
I keep telling our people, the way
you make your bed so you lie on it. If we ridicule our president that is the
way people outside will see us. It is not about Jonathan. Beyond all of these,
there is a divine message in Jonathan’s appearance on the political scene. It
will be better if all of us join hands to make this country better.
Jonathan’s critics say he is too
slow compared to rulers like Obasanjo…
I was a victim of the Obasanjo era.
All those who say this now were saying a different thing when Obasanjo was in
power. Today, President Jonathan is consulting. For every action he takes, he
consults. Every action he had taken that needed to be reversed was reversed.
Let us give him his dues.
On comments that the national
conference is now threatened with discordant tunes trailing the report of the
Senator Femi Okurounmu committee
I don’t agree. The national confab
is not threatened. The President set up a committee, to come up with a
template. The committee has submitted its report and people are reacting.
Naturally, that is what it should be. The committee is not all-knowing, it is
not omnipotent. People are reacting from the various zones of the country, that
is what it should be so that by the time the report is finally collated and the
way we are going to hold the confab is decided, everybody will feel included
and involved. I see the president’s position as purely defined and
straightforward.
No comments:
Post a Comment