He spoke to newsmen on President Jonathan’s mid-term score card, the right of first refusal and undemocratic conduct of some governors.
Excerpts:
President Goodluck Jonathan has just presented his mid-term score card where he asked Nigerians to assess him. What is your reaction?
First of all, I must commend Mr President for his courage and confidence to ask Nigerians to assess him. I must also congratulate him for his transparency and honesty.
I can’t remember any of our past leaders coming out to document what he has done in mid term even the challenges and asking Nigerians to look at his report. For a leader to do that, it means he is sure footed and knows exactly what he is doing.
As a Critic and social commentator, I will say that President Jonathan has done very well, the security challenges notwithstanding.
Both within tangible and intangible spheres, the president has acquitted himself well. It’s my hope that we will continue to support and pray for him in the difficult task of governance .
What do you mean by tangible and intangible achievements?
Let me start with intangibles . Remember that before Jonathan’s ascendancy to the presidency, many Nigerians were frustrated with our electoral process. The late President Umaru Yar’Adua inaugurated the Mohammed Uwais committee to look into the issues. Jonathan inherited the report of the committee and promised Nigerians that he will reform the electoral process.
Remember that majority of Nigerians declared that since election was our major problem, that Jonathan would be a hero if he could achieve that. What happened? The President set the machinery in motion and the 2011 elections where he was a candidate was a test case.
He went on national television to warn his party people, our own PDP that nobody should rig for him. He said his election was not worth the blood of any Nigerian. The 2011 election was adjudged by both national and international observers and monitors as the best in Nigeria since independence. Since his assumption of office, elections had been held in Anambra, Edo and Ondo States and the opposition won and commended Jonathan for his impartiality.
Because we have crossed that bridge of fair and free election, we now take it for granted. Another area is rule of law. This administration which is an off shoot of the Yar’Adua government is a stickler to rule of law.Judges no longer take instructions from Aso Rock as was the practice . Judicial failures is not attributable to the executive etc .
Under Jonathan, we have freedom of speech.FOI Bill was eventually made a law under Jonathan . Remember a former Iranian President Mr Khatami was re-elected because of his policy of freedom of speech even when the elites and the National Assembly fiercely opposed him.
Under Jonathan, people have been committing treason and getting away with them because there is unfettered freedom of speech and that of the press. These are what you call intangibles and they are key to any democratic government .
But sometimes, the Presidency gets edgy even with comments made on the floor of the National Assembly?
I don’t call that being edgy.
When there is a misconception or distortion of information deliberately twisted by the opposition and enemies of government to achieve a pre-determined goal, the presidency owes it as a duty to keep the records straight. Now talking about the National Assembly, this president believes in the fine tenets of separation of powers among the arms of government. In the last dispensation, we had five senate presidents, but now we have only one who was also re-elected and has served for six years. Jonathan’s government promotes stability. What about the tangibles?
Okay, I come from Imo State. You may know our history as a people that built an airport through communal efforts. Since then the federal government has left us on the lurch until Jonathan came. Just visit Imo Airport and see the unbelievable transformation. Go to Enugu Airport now known as Akanu Ibiam International Airport.
The entire South East had been denied of an international airport until Jonathan. We have the Owerri-Onitsha highway completed. Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt are on course. Elsewhere in Nigeria, we have brand new roads and other infrastructures.
Now there is something we have completely forgotten. In the last 20 years, our rails have not been working, thus putting pressure on our roads with heavy duty and articulated vehicles. Now the story has changed.
The rails are working. Yet some implacable critics still claim that Jonathan has done nothing.
The power sector is still in shambles in spite of broken promises of steady power supply in the last three years?
If you are sincere, you have to admit that there is a vast improvement of what was and what obtains now. The decay in that sector didn’t begin with Jonathan.
But the president has done much to deliver on this critical sector. The privatization process, unbundling and so on may appear slow but they are systematic. The IPP is something that will revolutionize the sector. It was started by Jonathan’s predecessors but he is realizing it. Remember that Obasanjo leveraged on what Abacha did to realize the GSM revolution.
Look at the report and dispassionately score Jonathan. In the Agricultural sector, Petroleum sector and most importantly, the economy, the president has done well. We may not be there yet, but the transformation agenda is fully on course.
Does that justify your clamour for automatic ticket for Jonathan by PDP?
There is a slight difference between automatic ticket and offering Jonathan the right of first refusal. I commend our leader, Chief Tony Anenih for amplifying our campaign for the PDP to buoy Jonathan’s confidence and hand over the ticket to him through a democratic process.
It is a standard practice in advanced democracies that an incumbent President is not subjected to the humiliation of primaries if he decided to seek re-election. The party passes a vote of confidence on him by handing him the ticket. If a party in power cannot give its own candidate as an incumbent the right of first refusal, the party has automatically admitted failure.
So what we are saying is that under the concept of first refusal, there will be a properly constituted national convention where PDP members will vote and affirm Jonathan as the presidential flag bearer. That was how Democrats did it last year prior to the re-election of President Barrack Obama. This will help reduce tension and acrimony associated with bitter primaries. We want to reduce war and eliminate politics of bitterness in the ruling party and the nation .
But people like former Vice President Abubakar Atiku have opposed it describing it as undemocratic?
If Turaki (Atiku) was the president, would he allow anybody to deny him a constitutionally entitled second tenure? The answer is no. We must be realistic, I expect His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku to be statesmanly over this matter. He should play the role of a father. Primary election with an incumbent president can never be said to be a free and fair election because of obvious advantages at presidents disposal .
Our leader and former VP knows better . I have had fierce argument with his strategists and they agreed that it’s an uphill task to defeat an incumbent in his party . . Beyond that, our advocacy for this right of first refusal is not about Jonathan. It is for our party and its development. That is why we have written to NEC, NWC, stakeholders and other organs of PDP to formally adopt this universal concept for the growth of our party. Jonathan may be the beneficiary now but the ultimate gain goes to the party.
This issue must not be about the messenger but the message . People Erroneously think it’s about Jonathan , others want to sabotage the idea because it’s not coming from them , yet others are opposing it because they believe the credit will not go to them . Some are even saying why Anennih etc . It’s not about anybody but for the good of our party and country . PDP, as it were, is already crises ridden.
How can this work? I am happy that the NWC and our able chairman, His Excellency, Alhaji Bamangar Tukur are addressing the growing rate of insubordination and rebellion among some of our party members. The renegades are now being issued yellow and red cards. Contrary to the fears of some Nigerians, PDP will never implode. We are capable of handling our internal problems and at the same time offer quality service to our country. It happened before and governors were even impeached . We must be good party men at all times . Saboteurs must be dealt with accordingly .
How come the PDP is always intolerant of divergent views, in fact lacking in internal democracy? That is not true. We have a constitution and if you run foul of the provisions, you are sanctioned. You can’t be a member of PDP and yet behave as if you are in the opposition. Some people play to the gallery with fool hardy posturing. It is either that you are with us or you are against us.
Having said that, I think Nigerians should beam their searchlight on the states where the governors are behaving as emperors. They have completely murdered the local government system. Under a nebulous contraption alien to the constitution of Nigeria, they are operating as trade unions holding government hostage through blackmail and subterfuge.
They want to dictate to the President and in fact even do his job for him. Nigerians should ask these governors why they don’t want the local government autonomy. Some of these governors are performing? Yeah, I agree with you.
But what is performance without the people?
There is uncommon transformation in some states like Akwa Ibom which is a PDP State anyway. But in most of these states, elders and stakeholders have been chased away. Some are running illegal fourth tier of government. Some are busy over personal comfort of owing private jets.
But the most worrisome is that they are obstructing the growth of democracy. Whenever they conduct local government elections which are rare, the party in power will win 100 over 100.
Does that encourage democracy?
They should learn from what President Jonathan is doing and stop opposing him like a band of disgruntled teenagers.
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