Quote me! Nigeria’ll break if Jonathan runs in 2015 –Shuluwa

Reactions continue to trail the just ended general election. For some, the 2011 poll was a huge success, but to others, the nation has not got it right yet. In this interview, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Benue State, Chief Abu King Shuluwa, joins the cacophony of voices and takes a holistic look at the exercise, among other issues. Excerpts…

The 2011 elections have come and gone. What is your assessment of the exercise?
With my 23 years experience in partisan politics, Nigerians, I mean the electorate; have not learnt any lesson yet. And the simple reason is that we still have this I-must-win attitude. That is why it has taken so much resources; so much energy to organize this election. Billions of naira have been put into this election. We shouldn’t put so much money into organizing an election in this country the way we have just done.
Those billions spent, if you put two billion in every state to build a standard hospital, we would be better off. But we used that money in conducting elections. As far as the organisation of election is concerned, Jega has got a pass mark; he has tried. I had always said Iwu was not the problem, but we the electorate. Nigerians’ attitude of I-must-win, it must be me, is the one thing killing any electoral process. Whatever arrangement you have made, if your attitude is the same, you cannot succeed the way you should. Jega thought he had succeeded, but there are still people snatching ballot boxes, people printing ballot papers, there are still people engaged in all kinds of electoral malpractices because Jega cannot be in all the polling units in the country.

There are 774 local government areas in the country, Jega cannot be in every state nor can he be in every local government area. Secondly, we brought in corps members, some of who were not trained, while some were half-trained. And most of the mistakes made at the polling units were by those presiding officers and poll clerks, and so on. Some of them could not even add up all the votes as it is supposed to be. On the whole, we can give Jega pass mark. He tried, given the resources put into the election, but the election is still not the best yet.

And I do not think we will ever have free and fair elections in this country. What I am trying to say is that this election is not free and fair. And the issue is not Jega, but you and I. One would expect that we do not have to see so many security agents all over. In the conduct of elections, if we had to live up to our civic responsibility, why should we even expect a policeman or soldier to stay around the polling unit? Why? Why should our movement be restricted? You can go about your business when you want since you know the time to vote. One of the major problems we have is that there is so much unemployment.

The young graduates are not getting jobs, so they move into politics and when they get into politics, some of them who cannot be elected, what do they do? We employ them as thugs to snatch ballot papers and cause violence. In the First Republic, you never saw this kind of violence after election. Violence usually was between political parties before election. But this time, you can see that violence takes place even after election. This shows that something is wrong somewhere. Rigging is still there. Another thing is that we elect representatives to represent us and then they become our leaders rather than our messengers.

The people we have elected to represent us turn round to become our leaders. That is another bad thing. This is because the elective positions are too lucrative. Too much salary and everybody elected thinks it is time for him to make money, buy houses, buy cars and so on. For us to move forward in this country, we should have elective positions as part time and also make it less lucrative and allow people of integrity, who are not looking for money, to represent us. And then, the executive should create enabling environment by providing employment for young graduates so that they do not move into politics and become thugs.

Your boss, Atiku Abubakar, who contested the primaries with Jonathan and lost, came out to congratulate the President-elect. What is your comment on this?
Atiku is a politician and he belongs to the PDP family. Himself and Jonathan are all PDP members. They were both looking for this position and each of them knows he can be a better candidate for the position. And the people picked Jonathan. And if he wants to remain in PDP, it means he has to go with the party. He has to give his loyalty to the party by congratulating Jonathan, because Jonathan is now a candidate of the party, which Atiku belongs. So, what Atiku has done is in order.

You believe in zoning. Now that Jonathan has won, what happens in 2015 if he runs again?
No, he will not.

But he has the right to do so as a Nigerian?
No, he will not. He cannot be President for three terms. He was elected together with Yar’Adua. Yar’Adua gave way and he took over the position. He was sworn in. He finished up that tenure. Is there anything in the Constitution that you should consider as not your own? In other words, I think everything is possible in Nigeria, because even this 2011, it was supposed to be in the North, yet those who signed the papers claim they have changed the rules. So, even when the time comes, they can still change the rules. And if they do, I’m sorry for Nigeria in 2015 anyway.

Nigeria is not going to be the same in 2015, the way you look at it. In my previous interview with you, I talked about the amalgamation and I am telling you that between now and 2015, Nigeria definitely will shake. Go and write it down that I said it. By 2014, you will see Nigeria turning itself into a way of either trying to break up or trying to be together. So, any attempt by Jonathan to stay beyond 2015, Nigeria will never be the same.

The ACN is a major opposition party in Nigeria. How would you assess its victory in the South West?
The South West had always been in opposition since Awolowo’s era. They only tried to come into the PDP. They were not members of the PDP because they were forced to become PDP by Obasanjo and they have decided to go back to their original terrain.

You are still in the PDP.
Very much.

Is your party not threatened by the strength of the ACN?
No, PDP is not threatened by the strength of CAN, but PDP is being threatened by the wave of young people demanding for a change. It can be to anybody. So, the threat is the change coming up across the globe. Otherwise, ACN in Benue State, for example, came on board only three months before the elections, and it gave PDP a good fight, especially in Tiv-speaking area. There must be a cause for that kind of change. The rift between Akume and Suswam was not settled and if it had been settled, this wave of ACN in Benue wouldn’t have taken place. But since that rift is there, it provided a proper ground for the change to thrive.

But don’t you think the elders of the state also contributed in fuelling the rift by not playing their role as they should?

You can take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink. The elders have tried. When this rift was going on, I wrote to the Tor Tiv to intervene and we were all called to the Tor Tiv’s palace and as we got there, the two of them seemed not to agree that the rift should be settled. They thought the crowd the Tor Tiv called for the meeting was too much. They expected few individuals that would sit with the two of them and iron out the matter. So, they all agreed that the two of them could settle the rift. And at the Tor Tiv’s palace, I said no, the issue is simple, whether they agree to settle or not, the issue is a matter of one person saying you will not repeat. I said the best is to ask Suswam not to interfere with Akume’s ambition, and Akume should not interfere with Suswam’s ambition. But nobody heeded my advice and the rift continued. And again, the answer is yes and no.

There are some elders who had an axe to grind with Akume, and they thought they would use Suswam to fight Akume. And Akume also, when you have a child you have given a position, allow the child to operate the way he wants. Akume believes that since, according to him, he was responsible for bringing this young man on board, Suswam should do his biddings. It is always like that. What about your child that you gave birth to? He can always do what he wants.

The governor of Kwara State decided to disagree with his father and they both brought different candidates. Even in Tivland here, we had a case in Vandeikya during the UMBC days in the First Republic. A son and his father contested for a position and the son won, and the Tor Tiv at the time called the son and said, ‘look, relinquish that position to your father’, and he did. So, you can see, some elders played a major role in making sure the rift continued because they were benefiting from it.

Now that Suswam has won and Ugbah has supposedly lost, what is your advice for these two illustrious sons of the state?
The issue is that Suswam has won; Ugbah has not yet given up. I hear he is going to the tribunal. And to say that Suswam has won now is temporary, pending the outcome of the tribunal case. So, let’s see what happens if Ugbah goes to the tribunal. My advice would be as at that time. I am not in a position to tell Ugbah not to go to the tribunal. Who am I? I don’t belong to CAN; I am in PDP. Let’s see the evidence he wants to present before the tribunal. If he doesn’t win, then I would advice that Suswam should embrace everybody. He becomes the father of all and not for the few of us. Secondly, he should do away with sycophants. There are people, particularly some elders who are busy looking for positions at the federal level and they are sycophants. All they can do is to praise-sing for Suswam.

They will never give him good advice. Where they know he is wrong, they will never tell him so; they will tell him to go ahead because he is the governor. They will say, you are the governor and nobody should challenge you; do what you can do, you have every power.

The issue is that we have given him the mandate to administer Benue for the benefit of all, and not to show us power that he is the governor. We should be able to help by telling him the truth. He should avoid the sycophantic attitude of some of these elders who don’t have electoral values. Many of these elders don’t have electoral value. In fact, many of them lost in their polling units, not to talk about their wards.

They could not deliver even their polling units. Majority of these elders hovering around Suswam have not been able to deliver their polling units. And they collected so much money, and many of them having collected money to go and deliver their polling units went about building houses and hotels, and so on. This kind of people should not be around Suswam again.

They are sycophants. And if he doesn’t listen, we will force him to listen, because this is the last time he is going to be governor. Therefore, we will not allow him to make any mistake. The young man has a future and what these people are doing is to damage his future.

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Posted: at 15-05-2011 01:01 PM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

I'm not proud of u Benue brother. If JEG does well, what stops him from continuing. No matter what all of u tribalists think, we will encourage gud leaders to continue. JEG has d opportunity 2 write his name in gold and I hope he will shame all of u. 

Posted: at 21-05-2011 07:26 PM (12 years ago) | Newbie

Mr Shuluwa I can asure you that Nigerians are waiting for this
It will be the best thing to happen if north decide to go separate
ways. The time is now

Posted: at 28-05-2011 05:58 PM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

Summarize this guy is too long......breaking or no breaking Naija we know

Posted: at 1-06-2011 07:58 AM (12 years ago) | Upcoming