Nigeria Will Collapse If Jonathan Wins Presidency In 2015 By Osuagwu Kingsley, Abuja Barely three weeks ago had interim national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) shocked the nation when he described President Jonathan as “a kindergarten President.” While the exchange caused by this outburst is still ravaging, deputy interim coordinator of the party, north east and member APC National Executive Committee, Umar Duhu, in this interview with OSUAGWU KINGSLEY revealed that Nigeria will cease to exist if President Jonathan is re-elected into office in 2015. Not long after the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formally recognized as a political party in the country, the interim Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, stirred the hornets’ nest when he described President Goodluck Jonathan as a kindergarten President. Is this the type of politicking Nigerians should expect from the APC? Well! I am not Bisi Akande and I don’t see Akande’s statements as a loose statement as some people will readily do. The man’s statements are statements of fact. You and I know that Nigeria is ruled by God’s will not by a reliable or focused president. I agree with any Nigerian who thinks that President Goodluck Jonathan is incapable of ruling this country for reasons among which include that the President is uncharismatic. He is never an inspirational leader and has never at any forum, made statements that attracted applause or even the international community noting that the President of Nigeria made a powerful statement that needs students of Mass Communication to pick his words and evaluate them for philosophical meaning (s). As militaristic as Obasanjo and Abdulsalam Abubakar were, they introduced such words as sacrosanct into the country’s political lexicon. But President Jonathan has never been inspirational. So I believe he is still learning the process. Unfortunately he has not been able to learn because he would not allow people to advise and criticise him accordingly. Because from the criticism of your opponents, you gather insight and work against whatever they are criticising you about for the good of the entire country. President Jonathan is completely lacking behind as a leader of this country. But all you have said so far does not excuse the denigration of the office or person of the President by any Nigerian regardless of status? What is denigrating about what Akande said? There is nothing denigrating about what he said. In truth, as it is today, the President is learning the role of a president. With three or four years in office, it is sad that he is still learning the process. What does that tell of him? We don’t need the type of President Jonathan as the president of Nigeria. I am sorry to say, but they say he is a philosopher. What is he philosophising on? The man is lacking in some many things especially his lack of ability to govern this country. I am pained by the way people speak of our leaders outside the shores of this country. Nigeria is a great nation and the international community accords us such regard not because of our leaders but because of the size, population, ingenuity of our people and resources of Nigeria. Few days ago Obasanjo came to say that those who have led this country will perish in hell including him. And yet we celebrate these leaders. A deputy inspector general of police recently announced there are more armed robbers in the Nigeria Police Force than the real police men and women. And yet we still have the Nigeria Police Force in existence. President Jonathan contracted out the most sensitive part of the economy to terrorists; the security of Nigeria’s oil pipeline. And yet he is celebrated as the president of Nigeria. It is rather unfortunate that Nigeria is condemned to have a president who talks and act like a toddler. It is obvious that this criticism from your party is aimed to garnering public recognition for the party? The criticism is not a ploy to garner public recognition for APC! We are not ascribing kindergarten to Jonathan because of PDP but to him as a person. The man is not capable to run this country perhaps because of his upbringing. I strongly believe at for Jonathan to rule this country, he has to change his leadership tactics. We are not criticising PDP. Moreover, I think that Bisi Akande’s statements have been quoted out of context by the media. The interim chairman’s statements are his personal opinion as a former executive governor and as an elder statesman of this country. Therefore his statements have nothing to do with the position of APC on President Jonathan. There are people in the PDP that can deliver good governance to Nigeria if given the opportunity to do so. All we are saying is that, the practice of selecting leaders in PDP is what foisted Jonathan on Nigerians. In fact, the complete absence of internal democracy in the PDP is the headache of Nigeria as it stands today. Our mission in the APC is to ensure concretized internal democracy in the party, as well as ensure that every leader of the party emerges through a democratic process. Does that mean that APC is learning from the mistakes of the PDP? We are not learning from anybody or party. We are trying to tell Nigerians that we have better ideas than the PDP. We are better off as none of these other parties have delivered anything worth learning from. While it is comfortable for the opposition to say that President Jonathan has not done anything worthwhile since he assumed office, many Nigerians will disagree with you on that given the administration’s midterm report? The performances on the midterm report are theoretical. They are not on ground. Take for instance the colossal sum of money that has been released on electricity alone in this country, you will see that that report is a ‘lone-ranger in a desert.’ Electricity is been rationed in Nigeria. One minute you have it in your place, the next minute it is put off. What then is the justification for the resources committed to power in Nigeria? So the midterm report is just theoretical. It is not on ground. That means that the money so far budgeted for power generation and distribution has either been stolen or mismanaged. Does it not bother you that the opposition always think that the Goodluck administration has done nothing that deserves credit? Tell me where he has done anything good. In fact, the APC has not started criticising President Jonathan yet. Whatever criticisms you hear from its members are personal opinions. But in a short while the APC will tell Nigerians the ills associated with President Jonathan and his administration. We are compiling the activities of the government. We are also concerned with telling Nigerians what we can do to better their lives, as we are tired of hearing that our hospitals have turned into mere consulting clinics. A mere clinic is better than the National Hospital in regard to the charges at the National Hospital. The charges at the later have surpassed what you get from a private clinic. Where are we benefitting from the resources of the nation when an average Nigerian is a local government for himself given that he provides water, security and pays for all the essential services by himself? So what will you say that we are benefitting from the country? Where is the common wealth going to? Nigerians should begin to ask questions and appreciate that PDP especially the Jonathan’s administration is leading Nigeria to extinction. Well, thank God some former leaders of the country have said they are reading to enter the boxing ring with anyone who wants Nigeria to disintegrate. We are ready to support them. But the direction we are going to is tantamount of causing a civil war in this country because the president is ruling Nigeria as a regional leader. Look around you. Just in Abuja alone, a significant portion of the new buildings you see around belong to the Niger Delta people. With this monumental corruption in the system where only people from the president’s region fair better in the country, if President Jonathan steals another opportunity to rule this country in 2015, Nigeria will crash. It will cease to exist! On the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, is the APC not aware that ASUU may be asking much more than the federal government can give? What is 92 billion naira compared to the money they are stealing from the coffers of the country through fictitious contracts? The money is too insignificant. Moreover the money been requested by ASUU is to put infrastructures in place in our tertiary institutions so that our graduates can compete favourably with graduates outside the shores of Nigeria. It is sad that smaller African countries have better institutions than what we have here in Nigeria. Simple titration in chemistry laboratries in some schools can no longer be conducted because the facilities are not there anymore. Titration was the commonest thing done in secondary schools in Nigeria years back. And you think the Jonathan administration should be blamed for all these woes even when the states are there to provide some of these facilities for schools? We are talking of universities today and not secondary schools though some governors are doing very well in terms of keeping the secondary schools in shape and providing incentives to keep them running and up to standard. For instance, the governor of Borno State has been able to train and retrain staffs in secondary and tertiary institutions in the state. That is despite the challenges that the state has been enmeshed with recently. Many governors of the various parties have done incredibly in this direction. My anguish is the monumental corruption among PDP governors making them to lose sight of their duties to their people. Many Nigerians may not readily agree with you if you say APC governors have done well especially when for instance it is considered that Nasarawa State that is governed by an APC governor has not maximized its proximity to the federal capital territory in the area of development? The proximity of Nasarawa State to the federal capital territory where PDP is in control is enough to make you expect such thing because the PDP is not comfortable with Abuja been surrounded by states controlled by the opposition, especially Nasarawa State. So far, the efforts of the Nasarawa State government in developing the state have repeatedly been sabotaged by stooges of the PDP. On the other hand, the governors of the various states are there to ensure that constitutional provisions as far as the governance of the federating states are concerned, are upheld. Governor Tanko Almakura tried to ensure the creation of another road from the Nyanya axis into Abuja, to ease the traffic situation there. There are significant improvements in Nasarawa State. But how much resource is the state getting after all. The state is a small state. If the index used to allocate resources to the state does not favour the state, how can he perform? The business class that sorround the state on the fringes of the FCT, in Nyanya and Mararaba, are not willing to pay taxes. So where taxes are not collected in relation to the amount of development needed in a state, it will be very difficult for a government to operate and/or perform. However, there is a paradigm shift in development in Nasarawa State from what it used to be under the PDP administration. What are the chances of survival of the APC with the overwhelming presence of the ‘Big-Masquerades?’ Well, the answer to that concern is that as a party we have agreed on ensuring internal democracy at all cost. No matter what happens especially with the forthcoming Anambra elections, the APC is poised to ensure internal democracy. In fact, the party’s deputy national chairman, south, Sen. Ifeanyi Okonkwo, who is contesting the Anambra elections have had to resign his position as the deputy national chairman in keeping faith with the APC constitution. If he wins the elections, fine for him. But where he loses, he will congratulate the winner and then continue with the party but not as the deputy national chairman, south, of the party. His zone will produce someone to replace him in that office. What is this feud between Gen. Mohammadu Buhari and former governor of Lagos State who is also a strong man of the APC, Bola Tinubu? There is no feud between these two gentlemen. That report that suggested a feud between them is the handiwork of mischief makers. Tinubu has been away for sometimes attending to health issues. And we believe that he will be back soon. The issues are simple. If Buhari desires to be president of this country, as a Nigerian he is free to contest. Any other person that wishes to contest is free to do so. As a party our focus is to ensure that at the end of the day internal democracy in the strictest of senses ensures that the people’s choice emerges. Even where it is a consensus candidate, the party will ensure a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote before the person is adopted as its flag bearer for elections. This is not a party where people will b foisted on others. Transparency is our watch-word.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 17:13:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015