Eta: Atiku is No Match to Tinubu
A former National Vice Chairman, South-south of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hilliard Etta, in this interview says the Presidential Candidate of the Party, Senator Bola Tinubu will beat his opponent in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Ab
Prior to the APC convention, the national chairman of the party, Senator Abdulahi Adamu almost derailed the convention by saying Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has been anointed as the consensus candidate. Now, do you see the national chairman of the party playing Hanky Panky games?
The issue is that the Chairman took a unilateral decision. Of course, we heard from other members of the National Working Committee (NWC), he took a unilateral decision that was disowned by the presidency, disowned by the NWC, disowned by Northern APC governors, disowned by the membership of the party. He stood on his own. There is a saying in my place, monkey dey make show when tree near tree. If you put monkey for desert, he no dey do jack. Only the Chairman will not derail us. Some of us who are progressives will call on the Chairman to join the train. If he was left in the past, if his mind was left in the past, in the relic of Nigeria, he should join the train. This train is a new Nigeria. What the Chairman said reminded us of the old Nigeria. So, we can only ask him and urge him to join the boat and join the train of new Nigeria led by a captain that is capable, competent, courageous; who has shown it all across board, whether in private business, public service, political arena, that he is capable. So, Mr. Chairman, I ask you that you lead a progressive party, not a Conservative Party. Not the party where people sit in a room, a cigar filled room, drinking whiskey and deciding for the others, what will happen to them. A progressive party is a party that is inclusive, that is empathetic, that is people- oriented, that is populist, that is a progressive party, as against the conservatives who rejoice at the status quo and believe that they and their friends are entitled to the commonwealth of the people, we cannot do so. So I urge the chairman, he should purge himself of those anti democratic tendencies of the Conservatives and come aboard the progressive thing.
The convention has been lost and won but there is an acid test before Asiwaju and that’s the issue of the running mate of the APC.There are so many insinuations out there that we may end having a Muslim Muslim ticket from the APC.
What if we do? first of all, I do not predicate my politics on religion. I don’t even predicate my politics on ethnic consideration. If my politics was considered on ethnic considerations. I would have worked and voted for (Rotimi) Amaechi. He’s from my zone, I don’t care about those kind of things. Those are the things that have held Nigeria down. In any case, has anybody in Southern Nigeria looked at Asiwaju as a Muslim? Is he really our definition of the Muslim? Please, Asiwaju represents development and that is all. Whoever he chooses does not matter to people like me, it does not. So I’m not the right person for that question. Asiwaju is far better to me than even pastors on the pulpit who spew hate, they spew bile. Asiwaju shows only love. Have you ever seen Asiwaju having a public spat with anybody?. I don’t care about religion. I care more about the bread and butter issues of Nigeria.
Hilliard Eta is from Cross Rivers and that is incidentally a South-south state.You had two chieftains, one in the ruling party and the other in the opposition party who were contenders. Ameachi in APC, Nyesome Wike in PDP. In the two parties, the South-south could not produce a presidential candidate. Where does it leave the region in the power equation?
First of all, I must thank the nation for giving us the opportunity. We have presided over this country for six years and we have absolutely nothing to show for it. You see, I have told you I am not the right man for the question that border on religion or ethnic consideration, regional consideration, it does not matter to me. I want to see a Nigeria that is competing with Singapore. I want to see Nigeria who will stop being the dumping ground for China. I want to see an ideal nation that will not be exporting jobs to China and importing unemployment. That is the Nigeria I want to see. I don’t care whether Wike is from Ikwere or whether Asiwaju is from Osun state, it doesn’t matter to me. If Asiwaju was a Northerner, my head, my shoulders and my legs will be there. If he was from Katsina Ala. You go to Rwanda today, Rwanda is a success story. You go to Ghana, go to all of these places, you have countries that are less endowed than Nigeria doing the right things and are moving ahead. We keep pulling ourselves back because we’re talking about basic things. Things that should not even bother us.
The battle ahead now is much more between Tinubu and the northern hegemony. We have Atiku in the North and we also have
Kwankwaso. How do you think Asiwaju will be able to win the presidency?
I do not see the North and the South in the next elections. People who saw this in 1993 were disappointed, they did not see North and South. They saw an Abiola who went through the villages and defeated champions of ethnic chauvinism, all over the country, defeating Tofa in his local government area and in his state. I’m not seeing that. I see Asiwaju presenting Lagos as his own antecedent and I also see Atiku presenting Adamawa. It cannot go beyond that. He should bring Adamawa to the table, Asiwaju will bring Lagos, Nigerians will compare. You see, we have gone beyond rhetorics. Nigerians must not be persuaded by primordial issues. Atiku has no story to tell. We will take him to the cleaners. It is not yet time. Asiwaju has never lost an election, not one. He has never lost an election. Atiku is a serial loser. We will compare all of this. For anybody who thinks that Asiwaju’s influence is restricted to the South, Northerners gave us more votes in these primaries than Southerners. Go and find out how APC voted. We had more support in the north than in the south. So don’t ever think that Asiwaju versus Atiku or Kwankwaso. In fact Kwankwaso is not even in the equation. Kwankwaso can take his Kano if he is able to do so, in fact we welcome him. You cannot for instance put together kwankwaso thoughts for Nigeria. Let somebody bring any document that you can see Kwankwaso thoughts or Atiku’s thoughts on Nigeria except that he would privatise Nigeria and give it to his friends. That is the most that he has said that he would do. But I can give a book, I have it in my house here, to hear and feel the thoughts of a deep thinking man, a visionary, a courageous man, a man who loves his people with a very acute sense of history. We’re not going to be fooled. We will not be fooled.