No Law Stops Jonathan From Running In 2015 – Sen. Kunlere Ruth Choji — Nov 10, 2014 | 1 Comment Sen Boluwaji Kunlere represents Ondo south senatorial district in the Nigerian senate. In this interview with Ruth Choji, the vice chairman, senate committee on solid minerals berates those using insurgency to campaign just he opined that President Goodluck Jonathan is qualified to run for presidency in 2015. Were you not surprised when your state governor defected to the PDP? How could I have been surprised, he was secretary to government under PDP government, minister in the PDP government and he was aspiring to be governor under them until he got angered by some manipulations and left. The people of the state supported him and he assumed office in 2009. Since then, the PDP government has been supporting him. When we came to the senate, he handed us to Senator David mark and said, ‘these are my people, they will work with you, though one of us went off later to ACN. Some people see Mimiko defection as a cover; what is your take on this Cover as how? As far as I am concerned, he has performed well to be associated with any political party in Nigeria. You can go there and see the quality of schools he has built, hospitals and other things he did. You can eat in our hospitals now without getting irritated. Now there is urban renewal, empowerment of women through opening of market, get to the motor park it is just like arrival at the airport. So if you look at those things, you will know that he has improved on what he met on ground, which is not to say that there are no areas of improvement. What was the reaction of the people of Ondo state when the governor defected? This is democracy and people are entitle to their feeling and opinion, some people celebrated it because the battle before was between PDP and LABOUR, that when they come together, it is for the good of the state, and it will make the opposition know that there is no room for them. But there were other people who feel that the manner of the defection was without consultation. For me, I went to my ward, I consulted with some of the notable leaders in the district, because there are some that will always be negative. Most people in PDP know me; I met the current chairman when he was governor of Bauchi state in his state when we went to settle the PDP crisis there. So whenever he sees me, he will acknowledge me in public because of what we did then. I was also a former party secretary of the PDP for 6years in my state and I know when the party will cover their register. As a senator, I don’t have power like the governors that I can go to the villa or secretariat and tell them to open the register for me to register. Some people didn’t reason along with me, but I had to decide before the register was closed and one thing is that, if the law and democracy is on your side, then you have an advantage. Some PDP members are still of the opinion that the Mr. President should not contest the elections, some have even taken him to court; do you share their view? In other climes, there is right of first refusal. In this game, there are people who will always like to enforce their fundamental human rights, whether they are losing money or not and I admire people like that. But from the legal perspective, do you think Mr. President is eligible to contest? Well I am not a judge but as a lawyer, it states that if he has sought election twice, not sworn-in twice, but in this game, you look for ways to give more trouble to your opponent. Mr. President is eligible to contest the elections. Some Nigerian are a bit skeptical that the elections might be marred with the increased activities of insurgents; any opinion on this? I visited the north east and other places like Plateau, Benue, Nassarawa and the rest. We visited internally displaced people and I felt for them. These are the real voters, the elite will sit in their offices and be controlling through telephone. But these IDPs that will vote, sometimes they don’t get to see the governor or person elected until the end of the tenure; they are people that will genuinely wait in line to cast their votes, what will happen now? You will see about five thousand people now living in classrooms that are meant for just 100 students. How can these people go and cast their votes? That is why we are appealing that it is not enough for somebody to mount the podium and shout, ‘when I win, Boko Haram will be a thing of the past’. Why are they not suggesting solution to Boko Haram now? Instead they use that issue to run down government. When they hit 20/11 in America, the people rose up with one voice and said ‘terrorist, we shall defeat you. When Obama came on board, it was the same thing. That is from Republicans to Democrats, their country is first. But here, politics is first, nation building second. But some are of the opinion that somebody is using the insurgence to break the ranks of the north; can this be true? These crises did not start with Jonathan, it is only that it escalated during his time and I think it is because they are receiving local or international support. How about the Maitasine that took place during Shagari? By the time you see small problem coming up and you don’t address it in time, it becomes cancerous. When Awolowo was shouting that people must educate their children, they were making fun of him. When you encourage ignorance, you are building a tiger that might not take instruction from the people managing them. The other time they said he didn’t invite America, but he told us how he invited all these countries and the press went about with all manner of reports. So who is to blame for the escalation of insurgency? I will say our intelligence gathering; I know if it in America, they would have exposed their financiers because where are they getting money for their armory?; for the Hilux pick up and other cars they use in bombing? Are people complaining of their cars being stolen? They used a jeep to bomb Thisday office, when you look at the cars they use in bombing, you will know that it is not ordinary people sponsoring them.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:23:19 +0000