It’ll Be Difficult to Create Rift Between Buhari And Osinbajo - Jafaru Isa
Brigadier-General Jafaru Isa (rtd) is a former Military Administrator of Kaduna State and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who contested for the governorship seat in Kano State under the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressives
Brigadier-General Jafaru Isa (rtd) is a former Military Administrator of Kaduna State and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who contested for the governorship seat in Kano State under the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) and APC in 2011 and 2015. In this interview, he speaks on pressing national issues, including the alleged stagnation of governance occasioned by President Muhammadu Buhari’s health.
Since President Muhammadu Buhari returned from medical trip in London, the general impression is that things are quiet across the country to the fact that his simple appearance in public seems to be a big story. What is your view?
I don’t believe in that and in the first place, any discerning observer will agree with me that so many things are happening at the same time. We have to be thankful to God that the president has come back safely and from the time that he came back, we have seen improvement in his health condition day in day out and I believe that very soon the president will be up and doing. Beyond that, most Nigerians will agree with me that a lot of successes have been recorded.
Well, in many areas; starting from agriculture to education, transportation, aviation, youth employment, security and the anticorruption crusade.
The major agitation is that his public appearance should have been more frequent than what is happening now. Don’t you think there is cause for concern?
I do not believe there is any cause for concern; I think governance is not about appearing physically, it is about what is being achieved in order to make life better for the majority of Nigerians. I think it should be noted than his constant appearance, that he appeared 20 times in a week or he appeared 10 times in a week does not matter.
What about the delegation of powers to, for instance, the vice president?
Democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people; it is a government of representation. The appointees of Mr President and elected officers in the country all represent the people. They represent particular geographical areas; so, if a responsibility is given to them, it is done actually in maturing democracy. This government has done a lot to deepen democracy in our country. What Mr President has been doing as a respecter of rules and regulations in the country is to actually test democracy, whereby when he travels out of the country, he now quits power to his vice. His vice had all the powers he needed to carry out all the activities of governance and this is the first time that has been done in this country, whereby such delegation is done and you will reap a lot from such delegation. The vice president performed well and had good relationship with the legislators, the judiciary and he did all, of course, in consultation with the president and people were happy for it; and we are now seeing that our democracy is not only maturing, we are moving away from any involvement that is outside constitutional provisions and that is very important for us as a young nation. We have been able to project our force to foreign countries like in the Gambia to ensure democracy. This is a very serious commitment and it was done by this government. So if government can now send its own forces to go and ensure democracy in a foreign land it is embracement of democracy.
Some Nigerians reportedly wanted to cash into the cordial relationship between the president and the vice president to say this one is performing better than that one. Do you think this is healthy for democracy?
Well, people were expressing their views but what I could say is this, nobody can run faster than the horse carrying it, the president is the president and the vice president is the vice president and there is constitutional provision which provides the role for everybody. The President, of course, came on the same ticket with his vice, but clearly, people are free to express their views; that does not make their views to be right. And the most important thing is that both the president and the vice president have reached the pinnacle of their career. Buhari attained the position of General in the Army and had served as a head of state at a time. Osinbajo is a professor of law, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a cleric; the integrity of the two cannot be questioned and they have the same purpose, which is to see to the betterment of Nigeria and therefore, it will be very difficult to cause friction between them. They are partners in progress who are not materialist or selfcentered and therefore they are not in competition with one another.
This is two years since the APC-led government took over but there are so many complaints that the government has not performed. What is your take?
A lot have been achieved in all sectors as I mentioned earlier.
On agriculture, most farmers of rice and wheat today in Nigeria are very rich. When this government came into power, only about five states were able to pay salaries but the situation is different now. More states are paying salaries and their pensioners get their dues as at when due and that is very important. There is the issue of aviation. The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja has been renovated and updated, That is another development. In respect to roads, during the 16 years of the last administration, there has not been improvement on roads. Today, the roads are being improved from west to east; there is railway being connected which is also a great development. Many housing projects are being carried out in order to meet the shortfall of about 21 million deficit of housing in the country; this is being taken care of by this government. Don’t forget the N-Power for the youths. In the ministry of education, if you notice, so many appointments were released recently. This is actually in conformity with the style of the President; people have been agitating to be given appointments. Now, if you noticed, there is a lot of sanity in the comments of people when the appointments were released. Before now, there were a lot of complaints but when due diligence was exercised, there was no much complaints; people were happy. People were actually fit for the appointments that were given. There were round pegs in round holes and that is what is important. It is not all about appointments; it is about what you do to improve the lives of the people. Before now the former government for 16 years had been in power but what is it that has been achieved? I heard sometime last month that the Executive Secretary of TETFUND said that the president has approved the biggest ever fund release to tertiary institutions and it has been disbursed to federal universities and polytechnics in the country. And mind you, we are just talking about two years in office.
In the last few weeks we witnessed resurgence of ambush by the Boko Haram terrorists attacking military formation in Borno State. Don’t you think this is a setback?
The kind of operation that is happening in the North-eastern corridor is the type of operation that is quite different from the normal military operation that we are all familiar with; that is general war or civil war. But this is a case of insurgency and it is a very difficult type of operation. The same gentleman you shared cigarette with or tea with will come back some few hours later with weapons and will shoot at you. And there is no way you can know that he is your enemy because he appears normal and innocent, he is friendly like any other person. So it is expected that this kind of thing will be happening. But what should be noted is that at a time, many local government areas were taken over by the Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states; but the situation is different now; I think it is a remarkable achievement. Businesses are being carried out and people are being returned to their habitat. I think it should be seen as an improvement. Even this kind of ambush or sporadic bomb attack that you are talking about will be done away with. It cannot be completely done overnight but with time, we would see the improvement. What is most important is that have you been able to break the backbone of the enemy? The answer here is yes. Have you been able to make him to be less confident in himself? Remember what they did? They would come and sack the entire town, village, burn all the houses down and they will go with impunity; that does not happen this time.
The PDP is still complaining that the anti-graft war is targeted only at its members. What is your take on this?
Well, I think we are talking about corruption in government. PDP has governed this country for 16 years; their members were the ones in government, so it very understandable if they are the ones that are being accosted on the issue of corruption now. May be after this government, another government may come and be asking for account of stewardship. So it’s normal. So when this issue of being one-sided is mentioned, I a kind of get surprise.
This government has done a lot to deepen democracy in our country. What Mr President has been doing as a respecter of rules and regulations in the country is to actually test democracy, whereby when he travels out of the country, he now quits power to his vice