Q: The state of health of President Muhammadu Buhari seems to be shrouded
\nin secrecy, with his aides giving conflicting remarks. Nigerians are much
\nworried that the present situation speaks volumes about the
\nadministration\u2019s claim to transparency. What is your take?<\/p>\n
A: It is unfortunate. Just as the average politician,\u00a0 what Buhari said
\nduring the campaigns is in conflict with what he does after coming to
\npower. I sympathise with Nigerians for voting Buhari. Buhari the aspiring
\npolitician and Buhari\u00a0 the incumbent president, if you compare and
\ncontrast what he says with what he does and from that , you can then draw
\nyour own\u00a0 conclusion. As far as I am concerned, a lot of what we heard
\nfrom Buhari, from his friends,\u00a0 from the leading members of the party was
\nsloganeering and that unfortunately hasn\u2019t helped him. What we are hearing
\nnow is an attempt to hide the truth from Nigerians and much more confound
\nhis problem. It shows that quite a number of people who are either cronies
\nor friends of Buhari who helped him to government, whatever it is, have
\nnothing to do with the party which is supposed to be the ruling party.
\nSo, they have clearly messed up and I knew they were going to mess up and
\nI said. It is nothing but an indication of the fractured nature and lack
\nof principle of our leaders and it is still the same principle which has
\nencumbered\u00a0 a lot of meaningful intentions to deliver Nigeria.
\nThe media aides have insisted that President Buhari reserves the right to
\nor not\u00a0 to address Nigerians from his London, where he is having his
\nvacation. Do you align with that submission?
\nI think that is an irresponsible statement from people who claim to speak
\non behalf of the president.\u00a0 Frankly speaking, he reserves the right to
\ntalk or not to talk to the people as Buhari, the person, but not as the
\nPresident of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He owes allegiance to the
\npeople who lined up and voted for him to be the president of Nigeria. This
\nisn\u2019t\u00a0 a personal matter. What Nigerians are asking Buhari to do is what
\nany responsible people will ask their leader to do. If Buhari talks to
\nNigerians to assure them that he is alive, even if he is frail, he isn\u2019t
\ndoing Nigerians any favour. In fact, it is the right of Nigerians to know
\nabout their president. If he is living as a private man in his village in
\nDaura or Kaduna, nobody will care. He is today, by the grace of God and,
\nof course, the votes of Nigerians, the president. This cannot be reversed
\nand in fact, it is absolutely absurd for people who haven\u2019t won election,
\nwho cannot organise a ward election, whether as members of a cabal,to be
\nmaking the pronouncement they are making on behalf of Buhari.
\nFrankly speaking, I find that disgusting and disgraceful and I want to
\nassure you\u00a0 that whether Buhari is well enough to talk or not well enough
\nto talk, from what his conditions are today, those spokespersons cannot
\nclaim to speak on behalf of Buhari, because\u00a0 occasionally they don\u2019t have
\nthe true picture . I recall one of them saying he has never had any
\nprivate audience with Buhari since becoming Buhari\u2019s aide.
\nThat throws more light on the kind of president we have. We have a
\npresident who doesn\u2019t have a friend, outside the North and that\u2019s a
\ntragedy. Nigeria\u2019s president must be a man who is nationally and
\ninternationally exposed, who appreciates people and feels comfortable with
\npeople no matter their religion or ethnic background. That\u2019s not the case
\nwith Buhari. Though that doesn\u2019t make him a good or bad president,\u00a0 we
\nneed somebody who is sufficiently confident of himself, so that the
\ncountry can move forward.<\/p>\n
Q: Are you insinuating that the president suffers from inferiority complex?<\/p>\n
A: I didn\u2019t use those words; those are your words! I am too old in this
\ngame . I don\u2019t have problem with that, whether it is an issue of complex
\nor not. The truth is that Buhari as a man has issue relating with people
\nhe isn\u2019t comfortable with. People he is comfortable with represents a tiny
\nminority of Nigerians and as far as I am concerned, you don\u2019t have to see
\nyourself either as an Hausa man or a Moslem. None of those makes you
\neligible for the office because the Constitution didn\u2019t say you have to be
\nan Hausa or a Moslem to be the president of Nigeria. The requirements for
\nbeing president are there in the Constitution. Go and read them. Being of
\na certain faith or ethnic background isn\u2019t a qualification for being the
\npresident of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Q: Talking about the cabal, would you say the acting president is
\neffectively in-charge, because there has been speculation that he has to
\ncontend with a certain cabal within the precinct of the Presidential
\nVilla?<\/p>\n
A: Look, even if Buhari\u2019s own biological son is given the mantle of
\nleadership, he is going to have to confront with the reality of the cabal.
\nThe fact is that this cabal doesn\u2019t represent the interest of Nigeria. If
\nyou believe you have a problem, the fact is we expect that you are going
\nto do something about it. Now, Nigeria is trapped because the President of
\nNigeria hasn\u2019t been Buhari, but one man called, Mamman Daura. In his
\nentire life, he has never won an election and the only opportunity he had
\nwas when in the old Kaduna State, he wanted to be a senator from Kaduna or
\nKatsina and some people wanted Mamman Daura to pick the ticket. The people
\nin Daura and eastern part of Kaduna said they were prepared to concede
\nthat senatorial seat to somebody from Daura, even though they are in the
\nminority, but that they wouldn\u2019t accept Mamman Daura as the person. So, he
\nhas never won an election.
\nWhy would somebody like that, who is a relation of Buhari, assume the
\noffice over and above Buhari that Nigerians voted for?
\nThat\u2019s the point.\u00a0 Number two, some of the appointments which have now
\nbecome a disaster made by Buhari , that include the Chief of Staff, Abba
\nKyari and the Secretary to Government of the Federation. Buhari has made a
\nmistake of conceding sensitive positions in his government to people who
\nare neither politicians nor technocrats. They see their appointment as a
\nlife time opportunity and that\u2019s why the cabal is a problem to Nigeria
\ntoday. It isn\u2019t a problem for Osinbajo; the acting president himself is in
\na very tricky situation and I don\u2019t know much about him. But from the way
\nhe is handling issues and from the way he has started dealing with some of
\nthe people who are above everybody, that\u2019s the cabal, then if he succeeds,
\nthere is the likelihood that Nigeria will succeed. But we have a
\nprecarious situation, whereby the elected president is infirm,
\nincapacitated. He is out of the country physically and he has written a
\nletter to concede all his powers to\u00a0 the vice- president who now becomes
\nacting president.
\nIf we continue with this situation, perhaps some sanity can be brought
\nback, but the plan of the cabal is to bring back Buhari\u00a0 from London. If
\nthey bring him back to Nigeria they can do a lot of things in the name of
\nthe president and they will be claiming it is the president! So, they are
\nnow so desperate to bring him back at all costs even if his condition
\ndoesn\u2019t warrant his return. In fact, he cannot afford to come back now as
\npresident of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Q: But the SGF, Babachir Lawal, has said his boss is very fit and would be
\nseeking a fresh mandate in 2019.<\/p>\n
A:But we have had this kind of statement before. I remember Chief Tony
\nAnenih said the same thing as regards the presidency of both Chief
\nObasanjo and Jonathan, but the will of the people must be respected. In
\nfact, there is going to be an election in 2019 and if Buhari were to be in
\ngood health and contest, I am sure he will lose and if he attempts to rig
\nthe election, there will be violence in this country. So, as far as I am
\nconcerned,\u00a0 I won\u2019t dignify the comment of the SGF with any response,
\nbecause who was Babachir Lawal, until he was picked from nowhere and made
\nthe SGF by Buhari? What has been his performance since becoming the SGF
\nand what is the justification for his statement on 2019 presidency? The
\nman has no quantum of experience as a civil servant.<\/p>\n
Q: There have been startling revelations from the Senate regarding crude
\noil lifting. According to its findings, there is no record of crude oil
\nlifting from May 2015 till date. How do you reconcile that with this
\nadministration\u2019s commitment to transparency and accountability in
\ngovernance?<\/p>\n
A: I have said it earlier, that what politicians say shouldn\u2019t be believed
\nunless it is backed by what they do.\u00a0 Apparently, since they have made
\nclaim of transparency and with this kind of thing, they should\u00a0 have made
\nfrantic move to explain the situation. What it means is that from June
\n2015 till date, a lot of terrible things have happened. I expect them to
\nreact to this, but if they don\u2019t want to respond,\u00a0 then we must be
\nprepared to go through the excruciating process to recover our money,
\notherwise the country is going to be run permanently prostrate until
\nsomething happened. We are talking about billions of dollars not accounted
\nfor.<\/p>\n
Q: Finally, each time you criticise this administration, what is the kind
\nof feedback you get?<\/p>\n
A: I don\u2019t, because the president himself, it is either he isn\u2019t in charge
\nor he doesn\u2019t consider the issue worth commenting on. And when they
\ncomment, it is at variance with what you said. What I expect from them is
\nto confront fact with fact, not abusing somebody like his aides do .
\nThey know I am saying the truth and I know\u00a0 what I am talking about. I
\nhave been in power in this country since some of these people around Mr.
\npresident are either in\u00a0 primary or secondary school. I am not somebody
\nwho is an entire outsider.
\nI have served in the national assembly, two terms and I have served in the
\nexecutive arm of main stream government and in some of the leading
\nministries, departments and agencies of government. So, if somebody wants
\nto take me on, somebody who has never worked as a clerk in government,
\nthen we are in serious trouble. I don\u2019t see how they can lie their way out
\nof the situation they have now found themselves.
\nThey said the president went on vacation and later they changed the story.
\nI remember what an American president, Abraham Lincoln said, that once a
\nleader has lost\u00a0the confidence of its citizens it can never regain it. You
\ncan deceive some of the people, some of the time, but you cannot\u00a0deceive
\nall the people all the time.
\nNow, as far as I am concerned, this government has been lying and they
\nimagine they can succeed in deceiving all Nigerians at the same time.
\nFrom all indications, their game is over. As I am talking to you, I am
\nconvinced that President\u00a0Buhari\u2019s presidency is dead. He may be physically
\nalive and I wish him good health, but as far as governance is concerned,
\nhis presidency is dead and nothing can be done to resuscitate it. A
\npresidency can be alive in terms of a leader, but\u00a0in terms of programmes
\nand achievements\u00a0 it can be dead and historically forgotten!
\nTribune<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Q: The state of health of President Muhammadu Buhari seems to be shrouded in secrecy, with his aides giving conflicting remarks. Nigerians are much worried that the present situation speaks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n