50 BUSINESSXTRA
Daily Trust: As a former political ally of President Muhammadu Buhari in the defunct ANPP, how is your relationship with him now? I joined in 2001 and ran for President in 2003 but stepped down for General Muhammadu Buhari, again I ran for President in 2007, Buhari emerged, and I had to step down for him. I was the spokesman of his campaign team.
So I stepped down twice and it was unconditional. I thought that being in the opposition we should come together and confront the PDP, it did not work but as at now, I am still supporting Buhari. I defend him when necessary. I have not met him and so have not advised him one-on-one but wherever possible I defend him and I bring the salient points of his achievements. I point out to people that whatever they think about shortcomings of this administration, there are also many achievements.
DT: What do you think of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s 20-page letter to President Buhari?
Obasanjo said something which he should have said to President Buhari one-on-one without publicizing it if he was not playing to the gallery. By the history of General Obasanjo he was always playing to the gallery. I think he wants to be regarded as the father of modern Nigeria and a person that brought down all governments in power.
But people are beginning to see that what he is doing is self-serving, trying to promote those people he believes he is mentoring and pulling down those he feel he should pull down. Obasanjo has his candidate for presidency in 2019 and unless he brings down President Buhari, he would not succeed in planting those people he has in mind, therefore he would do his best to bring down President Buhari so that he can bring in those he wants. I do not believe he would enthrone them and still praise them because he keeps enthroning people and then bring them down. I do not believe his motives are honourable and he is criticizing an effort which is still ‘work in progress’ so I do not believe he is honourable.
DT: This is not the first time Obasanjo would write to a sitting president. Why do you think he does that?
Obasanjo is an axe-man who has gone into the forest cutting down every big tree but has not been able to plant any new one. He wants to bring down everybody so that at the end of the day, it would be on record that nobody said anything about him. If you look at history, Obasanjo excoriated former President Shehu Shagari, criticized and tried to pull him down. Then he had the opportunity of trying to pull down Babangida. He had written this type of letter to Babangida.
When he attempted to do same to Abacha, he ran into trouble and ended up facing a treasonable trial and went to prison. It was Abdulsalami that saved him from prison. So the only person you will not hear Obasanjo criticizing is Abdulsalami Abubakar. When Atiku Abubakar was trying to succeed him, he went against Atiku and said the nastiest things about him whether deservingly or not. You remember what he did to Jonathan, now it is with Buhari. So people should not listen to him because it was self-serving, playing to the gallery and trying to destroy people he did not make.
People said he tolerated Buhari for some time because he made Buhari but he did not make Buhari, Buhari was a finished product, he was just trying to pull down Buhari so that he can elevate his own people, we should ignore him.
DT: Obasanjo, few months back, said he would not partake in politics again. Is he
A former Minister of Education under the late General Sani Abacha, Alhaji Dauda Birma, in this interview says Obasanjo’s controversial letter should be ignored and that the recent choice of President Muhammadu Buhari to lead anti-corruption war in Africa by the continent’s leaders belies Obasanjo’s antagonism of the president.
changing his mind or what do you make of this development?
Whatever he does, from my political point of view, is an exercise in futility. There are parties with their infrastructure and trajectories. He has people in other parties we do not know. Those speaking with him or those he has endorsed and to promote these people, he has to remove Buhari from the pedestrian by attacking him. We do not know what he has planned but he certainly has mischief up his sleeve. He wants to destroy Buhari and we should not allow him to have his way. We should tell him to mind his business in the interest of the nation. If Buhari is willing to run, we should support him to run.
DT: If by chance you meet President Buhari as an old friend, what advice would you give him?
The first advice is for him to recall the advice his wife gave him sometimes ago when he was hospitalized, secondly is to introspect on whether those speaking are his friends or enemies, let him ask himself in what ways has he gone wrong. We know where he has done well. Let me mention at least three things; Buhari has successfully fought insurgency in the northeast. Insurgency is not like electric switch which you put on and off, it takes time to handle. Secondly he has fought corruption, a lot of things that were not known are being known and many people are being prosecuted. Thirdly he has diverted the attention of Nigerians to agriculture. You can hear the Minister of Agriculture saying that by the end of 2018 Nigeria would not import a grain of rice. We were spending about two to three billion dollars annually on this commodity.
DT: President Buhari was recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where African leaders chose him to lead the fight against corruption, what do you make of this?
From what he has done so far, we know that Buhari has set the momentum and has endeavored to fight corruption. As a person, he has integrity but corruption is fighting back. He has openly declared war against corruption and is seriously fighting it, therefore who would the leaders have trusted other than him to lead the Africa movement in that fight? And they are right.
DT: Some people still wonder why until this moment no corruption case has been successfully prosecuted and person(s) jailed, what is your take?
The key target of fighting corruption is to retrieve stolen wealth and if you arrest someone and just jail the person, nothing would be retrieved. Retrieve the money first and do other things later.
There is the plea bargain or soft landing but you must return what you stole. What has been stolen is so much that it may take long to squeeze the person and retrieve the stolen wealth. But I believe between now and the end of his first term some examples would have been set with convictions.
There was also smuggling which was flourishing until this administration came on board and we can all see what has been happening in that sector.
DT: You listed defeating Boko Haram as one of the key achievements of this administration, how do you justify that with the daily surprise attacks by the insurgents?
The security situation improved under Buhari but some situations have become afflictions. For instance, before Buhari emerged president, cattle rustling in Zamfara and other places were not pronounced but when people decide to fight, they fight you by literally surrounding you to distract and confuse you. With impatience, you tend to believe nothing has been achieved but I am among those who believe that things are happening for good and so government should not relent.
By the history of General Obasanjo he was always playing to the gallery. I think he wants to be regarded as the father of modern Nigeria and a person that brought down all governments in power