National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ralphs Nwosu has decried the continued witch-hunt of those who served under the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that nobody could rubbish the achievements of the former president.
Granting an interview to newsmen, Nwosu spoke about the past administration, President Buhari and the fate of Ndi Igbo in the current administration.
Excerpts:
SOME Nigerians have expressed strong reservations that former President Olusegun Obasanjo is still criticising immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan months after he left office…..
Let me say without any form of contradiction that Obasanjo has a complex and wild syndrome of a sort that is associated with age and his now, ancient military background. Never in the history of the world have I read of a leader and former president talk down and try to bully a serving President, and continues to do so even after the man has quit office. In terms of performance, I believe that Jonathan achieved more than Obasanjo, I mean metered performance, not propaganda. And in the area of corruption Jonathan and all members of his team were more prudent, transparent and humble. Whatever our democracy, polity, and various processes are suffering today is the handiwork of Obasanjo.
If current President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are able to carry out their anti-corruption crusade and probes, I am sure Nigerians will not even be surprised to find out that most of the seriously compromised and corrupt Nigerians are the ones making the greatest noise now. At least the Halliburton United States (US) documented papers are available; I am sure President Buhari has them by now. The fact that Jonathan focused on developing systems to check and mitigate corrupt practices rather than politics of tyranny out of the phenomenon does not make him and his government anything close to the present propaganda. The tax systems were put in place; monetary policies that limit cash transactions were put in place. Through the new federal salaries and other payment systems, a lot of the loopholes were sealed. Now, Nigerians have identity within the financial and banking systems to assure efficiency, transparency and records. By the time all of the processes initiated by the financial and economic team are in place, it will be difficult to fritter money as before. In the long run, Nigerians will live to say which one is better. By the time the Buhari government will conclude broadcasting to the world how corrupt all of us are, I wonder what nation and business people will want to do business with such a people or invest in such a country.
How do you mean, because the authorities have shown their commitment to stemming the scale of corruption considered as the bane of the country?
Serious governments don’t operate on drama and propaganda. It is unfortunate that the APC as a party and the President’s men cannot draw the line between politics and governance. I regard the threat to probe Jonathan as mere propaganda. Except for Gowon, all former military heads of state or presidents of the country are known to be multi-billionaires in Naira and dollars. Do you make billions from salaries?
Let them declare that all this witch-hunt will stop. It is crude and shows lack of direction the way the APC still attacks people, who served under Jonathan. He handed over to them peacefully and they want to demonise him. These people do not have shame; they lost election three time and never had the decency to accept the outcome even when the international community attested to the fact that all the elections conducted under former President Jonathan were the best in this country. Because of their attitude to their election losses, lives were lost, properties destroyed and the nation was embroiled in the harshest form of insecurity and terror. The courts and all institutions in the country, including the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) were abused and called all kinds of derogatory names. Now that the same system has declared Buhari winner and Jonathan accepted, his party and leaders do not have the grace to apologise to the people and appreciate the generosity of spirit shown by Jonathan.
I see clearly the plot to demonise the non-military presidents in Nigeria. In 1983, General Buhari staged a military coup and chastised President Shehu Shagari and his government. The airwaves were filled with concocted tales of monumental corruption. Shagari corrupt? Now, put Shagari side by side with all the military heads of state that governed the country after him, which of them is close to Shagari in piety and financial fidelity? None! The four non-military men from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to Shagari, to Ernest Shonekan, and now Dr Jonathan are being made to look incapable and incompetent to run the country. This circus of evil will not be allowed.
Unfortunately, this elite deception seems to be gaining credence among the masses. But, nobody will be allowed to single out Jonathan this time. I will lead a vanguard to resist it.
How real are those achievements of the Jonathan administration, as Niger Delta remains a potential boiling point because of official neglect?
The truth is that governments in Nigeria have confiscated the natural resources found in the Niger Delta. They have feasted on those resources for half a century and are conspiring to intimidate the people. If anyone says that their son Jonathan failed as president, I dare to ask, against what indicator? Any real indicator shows Jonathan’s government as the best so far in the history of Nigeria in all ramifications. He and his administration did better in education, agriculture, infrastructural development, and financial planning They did more constructive work on curbing corruption. Our airports witnessed an unprecedented rehabilitation, while new ones were constructed. The states were allowed to try to exist without encumbrance. That is democracy and good dose of federalism. The dismantling of the humongous Power Holdings structures took nerves, and it will eventually become the genesis of real electric power accomplishment for Nigeria if the incumbent president allows the process to run.
In this country, you hear all sorts of things, as the so-called knowledgeable elite feed the people with nonsense. Recently, some people said we need a father figure in the polity. In short, I cannot fathom what the publisher of the magazine, Ovation, Dele Momodu meant by that we need a father figure to guide and guard our politics. He said that is why he sided Buhari. It is curious, disturbing and ridiculous when the elite in their fifties and sixties still need father figures that are melancholic as men and women under this bracket as father figures; people that have become fathers many times over, and even grandfathers and grandmother, and even great grandmothers. Look around the world and tell me where you hear such sentiments by the educated elite? When will Momodu become a father figure, if he is not at the present? We despise ourselves.
Most of our elite, who sought appointments with Jonathan, and could not get immediately, went offensive against him. I did seek appointment, I did not get. But that does not make me feel that Jonathan is a write-off. Some people looked for contracts or patronage of some different kinds. When they did not get, Jonathan became clueless. I did not seek contract or oil well. Also, I did not get any patronage, but Jonathan remains the most educated president that Nigeria ever had. This is true until this day.
What is your impression about the Buhari administration, as some claim the pace of the administration is not in tandem with public expectations?
I will always speak my mind. Buhari is slow and it is not a joking matter. He prepared for this Presidency since 2003; he contested every presidential election since that time. He finally won the election in 2015. He is not facing any case in court or before the Election Petitions Tribunal. There is no I no go gree tug-of-war. Jonathan gave him a peaceful ascension to the office he angled for for more than 12 years, and yet, four months after his victory, the president cannot present his team or agenda and vision for Nigeria. And you expect me to remain quiet? We are deceiving ourselves if we fail to get Mr President to pick speed.
Before he embarked on his US trip, I advised that it was hasty. No minister of Foreign Affairs, economic team, defence and intelligence portfolio and you go to America to talk about Boko Haram, economy, and other shunting with shopping lists. What has happened? Carson hosted them to a jamboree, and feasted them with baloneys that they like to hear. If you have any contact with the US State Department and the White House, you would find out how low Nigeria is now regarded. They do not see any future soon. I got many “Ralphs what is happening to your country” calls. The system, the economy, and indeed the nation is bleeding in many ways for his lethargy. Look at the disparity in exchange rate; the effect is ominous. We may go back to a double exchange rate regime and import license racketeering, I must warn. However, I think the National Assembly seems to be seizing the initiative to drive the system until the executive gets their acts together or wake up from their deep slumber.
But, don’t you think he needs sufficient time to reorgansie in view of the onerous task ahead?
Oh, I see! Anyway, the other very disturbing scenario of the Buhari and APC government is this thing about leveraging only the states that voted for them. I dare to ask Mr President, when he came to power through the 1983 military coup, was it only those involved in the change that benefited? I am not a parochial person but, I do not understand why after about 24 appointments, President Buhari has not considered anyone from the South-East as worthy of appointment. That is a shame. Never in the history of Nigeria has such a thing happened. When Obasanjo won in 1999 with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as his Vice, he first appointed a political adviser in the person of Professor ABC Nwosu. We are not related. That was strategic. So, when leaders show insensitivity to some national realities, the result is always predictable. The Igbo nation will not die even if Buhari finishes four or eight years without appointing anyone of Ndigbo to any position. He can keep his appointments but, let us have fairness, equity, and level-playing field. Ndigbo or any people in Nigeria will blossom in a free, fair and equitable environment. Or is that too much to ask too? We shall see who blinks first in this dingdong race.
It is jungle democracy when the Presidency says that they dispense governance dividends according to votes cast, and that appointment will be denied any group, or use appointments to humiliate any region. The Buhari presidency will come and go. Any government that aims to dehumanise, or is out for vendetta, and arrogates messianic power to itself will hit the rock. You can bet on that and I do not want Buhari to go that way. However, If he continues like this, I will defeat him even in Daura in 2019.
