PDP chieftains’ defection may cause implosion in APC — Ojo

As a security expert, will you say Nigeria has actually won the war against insurgency in the North East?

No, what we are now celebrating is called ‘momentary victory or temporary victory’ over evil. I would have been congratulating the entire country now for total victory assuming we know that the number of the Boko Haram members is two million and we are able to kill 1.9 million. But now, we don’t know the number of these men in this criminal gang called Boko Haram and we have dislodged them from where they were, so where are they now? Are they spirits? Are they abstract and have disappeared forever? No, I want to tell you that they are everywhere in Nigeria now. Any place that is like safe haven now is where they will go. Unfortunately, they don’t move in droves. We would have been tracking them in one direction. And there is no way anyone will say the Boko Haramists are 100 percent Nigerians.

Now, we need experts in intelligence gathering, men that are experts in body language to be spread across the country so that we can read them through body language because they won’t be comfortable where they are; they will look suspicious. Not until this is done, we should not celebrate. But I must give kudos to Mr. President, Chief of Army Staff and the entire military hierarchy.

Your former party, the PDP, is hit by a gale of defections to the ruling APC. What is responsible for this?

PDP chieftains are defecting to the APC for four major reasons. One, they are broke and they want to join the ruling party to see if they can bring their corrupt tendencies and strategies to make illegal money. Two, most of them want to become APC bigwigs and cause serious implosion. Three, they are running away because of the anti-corruption fight. Four, PDP is in the coffin now and is waiting for interment, so none of them would want to go into the grave with the party. However, I want to advise Mr. President never to have pity for any one coming in under any guise. Arrest them, probe them and if possible, jail them.

Some say the APC has a hand in the prolonged leadership crisis in the PDP. What is your take?

No, the PDP produced the venom that is killing it. It started a long time ago when the party could not manage its five governors Kwankwaso, Abdulfatah, Nyako, Amaechi and Wamakko - and said let them go. Also, when they lost power in 2015, they lost their economic base. Now, they have a disease that is resisting doctors’ treatment; that is Ali Modu Sheriff. Sheriff was one of the three major factors that built the APC, but something happened and he left the APC for PDP. Sheriff has fought the PDP to a standstill. He has fought the party to the extent that it lost the Edo and Ondo states governorship elections.

This fight will continue and the party would lose Osun and Ekiti in 2018. It will continue and by 2019, there won’t be PDP. But for me, I don’t want a one-party system which we are drifting to now. So, I will advise that between Sheriff and Makarfi, one person should pull out and form a new party or get any of the existing political parties and move with his loyalists to prove his popularity and leave one faction in the PDP.

Are you not afraid that merger of various political forces would threaten the chances of the APC in 2019?

The APC will not suffer defeat in 2019. APC remains the party to beat anytime anywhere.

Some Nigerians are complaining that two years into this administration, they have not felt the impact in terms of campaign promises made by Buhari. What is your view?

The APC as a party had no contribution in the appointment of the so-called ministers. That is part of the problem. It is not government of the APC alone. Nigeria can parade an array of qualified ministerial materials of global repute. If the APC as a party is allowed serious contribution into the socio-political, cultural and economic situation in the country as regards to governance, there would be serious improvement. But what we have now is autocratic system.