42 INSIDEPOLITICS
Daily Trust: What is your take on President Buhari’s chances in the election? I will start from my region. I have seen that President Muhammadu Buhari has made tremendous inroad in my region, the Southeast. In 2015, he made four per cent in Abia and didn’t make more than that figure in Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi. In the last governorship election between Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance and Tony Nwoye of our APC in Anambra, we were coming far behind. Apart from Arthur Eze who supported Nwoye, I was the second APC man to support him. But we came from four per cent to 39.8 per cent. That was a tremendous improvement by the party. We didn’t win that election but there was a tremendous improvement. Now when you talk about the APC being on ground in the Southeast, you can say we are serious about gathering huge votes in the general elections. Nothing will stop President Buhari from making between 52 and 70 per cent in Abia State where I hail from. The mood in Abia today has indeed gone very high. Even in Rivers State, President Buhari will make the required number there because the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and his group are working very hard to win. In Edo, Oshiomhole and Obaseki are working very hard too. In Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio and his people are working to win. In Cross River, the Minister of Niger Delta and Chief Victor NdomaEgba are strong. Everywhere is rocking for Buhari.
DT: How do you view the prediction of The Economist magazine of London that Atiku Abubakar would win the election?
I won’t talk on the prediction by The Economist magazine, or by any newspaper. They are not on the ground here politically, but I am. My analysis is based on what is on the ground.
DT: A former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has also said Atiku would be better than Buhari as president. Aren’t you also worried about that?
I am surprised that some Nigerians are still taking the former president serious. To me, Obasanjo blew up a lifetime opportunity to be a great statesman. He was busy chasing a rat when the house was burning instead of attending to the fire burning the house. Obasanjo had tremendous goodwill when he came into office but he blew the opportunity. I always remember what the late Nelson Mandela told me about Obasanjo; it’s better for him I don’t discuss it for public knowledge. What I’ll say now is that the African community, and indeed, the international community at large has lost confidence in Obasanjo. They now know he talks from the two sides of his mouth and can’t be trusted.
A former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, opens up to on a wide range of issues bordering on the forthcoming elections. Excerpts:
He may love this country, but certainly he loves himself more. So everything he is doing against Buhari is for his personal gain and not for the benefit of the general public.
DT: You spoke of your region, so what would you say of Ohaneze’s declaration of support for Atiku?
Ohaneze’s endorsement of a particular candidate is not really a big thing to me. Ohaneze is just a sociocultural club of N’digbo. Does that mean all Igbo people would vote according to what they said? Of course, no. They know some of their leaders are sincere as they also know some of them are not. I have a lot of respect for the president of Ohaneze, but based on such decision, would you expect Ken Nnamani, Orji Uzor Kalu, Andy Uba and the rest who are in APC to believe in that small group of Ohaneze who endorsed Atiku? The danger is that such partisanship might divide the Ohaneze, which is not right. They should have been neutral, they can even play their political games underground. One wouldn’t expect some elements in Ohaneze to go public and endorse a particular candidate. It is like putting all our eggs in one basket. As it is, I don’t think the Igbo who
Buhari has already galvanised agriculture, which everybody knows. Power is in private hands now. The problem then with power was that they gave it to some people that were not very serious
have just been empowered by the Buhari administration with power supply at the Ariaria International Market, Aba, would listen to the Ohaneze, or the people who never had good roads to their towns but Buhari has made that possible would listen to them. What about old, retired Biafran soldiers and policemen whose pensions it was the Buhari administration that eventually paid? What about pensioners of Nigeria Airways, Railways, NITEL and NIPOST who are Igbo whose welfare the PDP neglected for 16 years but the Buhari administration paid their entitlements? Buhari paid all federal pensioners including Biafrans without discriminating. These are things that had been lying down for over 50 years after the civil war and now Buhari is the first president that had the courage to pay them. It’s simple reasoning to know who they will vote for. What the Nigerian people say is more important than the endorsement of some Igbo elders. The second Niger Bridge which every government and especially the PDP, promised to build but they wouldn’t, Buhari is building it now and it would be commissioned by 2021. President Buhari only needs to work harder to ensure the Igbo are back in the centre of things in terms of infrastructure. He is already addressing the marginalization of our people by giving us these amenities.
DT: What are your chances of winning the election in Abia North Senatorial district?
I cannot talk for myself. I have done what I am supposed to do, I am running on my good record as governor. It was my problem with Obasanjo that slowed me down. He used federal might to descend on me. I lost everything I had as business - banks, insurance companies, airline, etc. I am not perturbed, though, by that because everything in life is just vanity. Why am I going to the senate? We need to have in the senate legislators who are sincere about making laws that will unite this country and also bringing economic prosperity. Everybody knows I am pan-Nigerian. I attended school in Maiduguri and live in Lagos, Abuja and my village in the Southeast. I am an employer and have workers across all tribes in Nigeria. We also need senators who are experienced politicians to guide those who do not really know what politics of Nigeria should be, who do not know that politics is about negotiation.
DT: How would you rate President Buhari on the management of the economy?
You will not blame him so much because in the first two years and half, it was deep recession all over the world. Remember there was a time former Finance Minister, Ngozi OkonjoIweala, said they were borrowing money to pay federal civil servants. Buhari has now reversed all that. The next agenda now is to revive economic prosperity for Nigerians. We’ll work on all the indices that will bring growth to the economy. I am sure we will constitute a strong economic team that will position the economy where it should be. We have done very well and are on course to do a lot better. Usually in every country when it is one year or six months to elections, the economy goes down because investors want to be wary of what could be new policies so they trade with caution. After the election, the economy goes up. Once this election is over and Buhari is sworn in for a second tenure, we will sit down with him and fashion out a stronger path to economic prosperity for Nigeria and Nigerians.
DT: What about issues of power and agriculture?
Buhari has already galvanised agriculture, which everybody knows. Power is in private hands now. The problem then with power was that they gave it to some people that were not very serious. They sold it to themselves but unfortunately, could not put in the volume of investment required to drive it. Buhari has vowed to take it away from them if they don’t get serious.
DT: What about the farmers/ herders killings…?
This has been there since Nigeria was created. It has been here more for than 200 years. It is not a new thing but we have politicized it.
DT: What is your level of relationship with President Buhari?
I have known President Buhari since he was the General Officer Commanding Third Division of the Nigerian Army. Then I was a student at the University of Maiduguri. He is a very nice man, what haters say about him is not what he is. He is very humane. I read a newspaper report that Buhari is shielding me from the EFCC. Is Buhari a court of competent jurisdiction? I can’t even discuss this kind of issue with him because he is a very strict man. He is honest and very straightforward. My case is not with the EFCC, it is with a court of competent jurisdiction and it is only that court that has the right to decide it. May be Buhari could have stopped it if he really had interest in it, but he has no interest in such things.
DT: How far can President Buhari go in fighting corruption?
He should not stop at anything. Yes, he has the character to do it, but while at it, he and his people must obey court orders. If you don’t obey the courts, you breed anarchy.