Very few people have the authority to talk on this matter like small me. I understood the internal working of Amaechi’s mind on this issue, I am very familiar with the President’s personal view on this matter, I have worked with the heads of the current APC family (Tinubu and Buhari) at close quarters and I understand the pulse of both teams very well. So when I, who understands this in and out, say Amaechi was wrong, I know what I am saying and when I who has been there before say, “don’t go”, I know also what I am saying. Asking me to go there is like asking me to return to secondary school after leaving University many years later. A big mistake. It is the Governor’s supporters I feel sorry for. He has been Speaker for eight years and will be leaving as Governor after eight years, so he can’t complain. But thanks to his decision, his “inevitable mistake”, many councillors, LGA chairmen and other political office holders will have their political prospects cut short. It is them I pity. They are the real victims, alongside Rivers people. Amaechi will be fine.
People are wondering where you stand. Is it with PDP or PDM?
If I take you through the new APC arrangement, the story is different. Since political parties have refused to have a unique ideology of their own, despite some of us coming close to insulting them on the subject, you are better of pitching your tent with a team going somewhere and with your people’s interests at heart. I make bold to say that, for me in Rivers, that team is PDP. With respect to PDM, it is a party close to my heart and many good people uncomfortable with the aggressive style of politics played in PDP have sought refuge there. They are organised, respecters of internal democracy and a roof for those, who can’t see the difference between APC and PDP but want to get involved in party politics to make a difference. My dream is for PDP to make them allies. It will not be easy but it is possible. They have a bright future, if not now – in 2019.
My committment to the youths has made me keep one eye on PDM and its progress. I believe the youth can use it to take control of their future. Their website pdm.ng is proof that they are the first political party in Nigeria to effect online registration. At the rate they are going with manual registration kicking off next week, they are set to become a serious force in Nigerian politics. Their pedigree guarantees it. I tell people that my heart is with PDM but my head and my legs are firmly in PDP. PDM will make change tomorrow, PDP can make change today. They should work together.
How is your relationship with Amaechi now?
I saw my support as a stabilising force. The Riverine were agitating for a Governor after eight years of an Odili upland regime. People like me deciding to stand by Amaechi gave him credibility and soothed the Riverine / Upland divide that has dogged our state for so long. One day I sincerely hope that Amaechi looks at my role and realises that he lost a friend given to him by God. It might be too late for us, but let him not do this to others. Eventually it catches up with us. The same man he called corrupt aka Mr Consumables and not wanting to do politics with is now the interim Chairman of APC in my state, the same man he called an irritant and refused his calls is now his spokesman and the list goes on. He deliberately poached members of my team without the courtesy of my consent and did it only when he needed them. But I am not bitter. They are good men and deserve recognition. I am glad for the role I played in their lives. Good luck to them. I only wish he had recognised them sooner.
I will support the President for a continued four year term in office. Let me make that absolutely clear. As much as Atiku in my mind is a brilliant politician and a great Presidential material, I am afraid that his route to the Presidency is unclear to even a nuclear strategist like myself. He can’t get the PDP ticket and the APC ticket is not aimed in his direction either (thanks to the G7). He can’t keep jumping just to get a ticket, so I believe he should stay in PDP. Who knows, if he stays there anything can happen tomorrow. 2019 is there and his chances are still quite good. Jonathan can acknowledge his support, Nigerians can or maybe just maybe he wasn’t destined to be President. I don’t know. What I do know is I am not going to APC, Atiku should not allow himself to be used by those G7 Governors. I have no reason to do what would amount to impeaching the President by denying him a second term. What is his crime? Granted he has not done fantastic in many areas but I am not fooled by the finger pointing especially because of the grubby fingers that are doing that pointing.
They are no better, they have a selfish agenda and do not mean well for my country either. I’d rather have four more years of this certainty than eight more years of their own version of it. Politics should be about compromise. Honour amongst thieves. Help Jonathan to go again for the sake of the country and help him rule. He needs all the help he can get because many good people are fooled into abandoning him so the bad people around him are gaining relevance. The President is a good man. I’ve seen many acknowledge this. They complain about the people around him. So why not come around him too? If you are kept at a distance, maybe it is because of your actions and your body language. Open it up to dialogue and compromise. Do what Mandela would have done. Talk to your oppressors, dine with your enemies and seek a way forward knowing that the interest of the nation come first. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Jonathan didn’t get there by his might, so maybe God has a reason. Let us think about it. Everything I have said here, I have told Atiku in private. Without divulging his response, let me say that he acknowledged that Jonathan is the only President that has not attempted to destroy his business. All other succesive Presidents have. Does that not tell you something? Nigerians have heard the phrase, “It’s the thought that counts but let them remove “the” and use “It’s thought that counts.” We need to start thinking.
I rest my case. That is the kind of man you are dealing with. A GEJ/Atiku alliance would so gladden my heart. It would be a dream come true for my nation. If Mandela and de Klerk could work together, why not them? The answer is leadership and these elders God gave us. Ego and ambition cannot come before us the people. My comfort is that God knows best. Only one person can occupy that seat at any one time. For now it is Jonathan. I advised Amaechi not to support him in 2011, Amaechi ignored my advice. Now he wants me to help him clean up the mess? I won’t do it. You lie in the bed you made. Jonathan may not support me for Governor but I will support him for President especially seeing the forces that have mounted against him because it is right. I try not to put my interest first. It helps me sleep better at night.
Is the level of corruption in Nigeria today not an indictment on Jonathan?
It is an indictment on all of us especially him. Yes. But Nigerians need to move beyond complaining to actually doing. We complained about Obasanjo assigning National assets to himself and what happened? Jonathan’s hasn’t done that. Did corruption end? Did it go underground? So why do we keep doing the same thing and expect different results?
Complaining about GEJ is not the solution. He has done a couple of things that suggest he can do more. The PDP Chairman’s son has been remanded in custody. Haba! That was never possible in Obasanjo’s PDP. But it has happened. Tambuwal complained the other day that Jonathan’s body language encourages corruption; Amaechi complained that trillions are missing and Dino Melaye set up an anti-corruption NGO. Who are we kidding? Can we please stop the drama? The political class are all knee-deep in corruption so forgive me if I don’t fall for that particular game. They want Jonathan out and somebody else in. So they can control the key to the CBN vault. Sorry. Now we know. If good people surround Jonathan, bad people involved in corruption will be expendable. Now you ask him to chuck out the few who stood by him and he feels exposed. Let us understand them even if we don’t agree. Obama said of Mandela that he “sought to understand where his opponents were coming from.” We should learn from Mandela.
Nigerians should be wise. The truth is bitter. There are no saints in the political space anymore; just serial sinners. Let us find the ones who accept they need help and see if we can save them. Jonathan needs help. He has only four more years. He is a much better option than a full eight years of these other ones. The damage political drama does our nation is beyond belief. In the end, they all settle and resume casual affairs, while the people remain casualties. Never again. I don’t see 2015 as change; I see it as a preparation for change. I see that change in 2019.
I see it stabilising. The critical year for me like I said is 2019when Jonathan is on his way out. If the North do not support him now, they will lose the President’s support in 2019 and that may tilt things in favour of the South East politics. That would isolate the North and drive their political prospects deeper underground. Knowing the history of our country, that will open up many ugly possibilities. Containing that situation in 2019 is my concern not 2015. If the President does what he needs to do, 2015 will pass peacefully and there is nothing to suggest he won’t.
Nigeria can move forward in leaps and bounds if they are given the right leadership. Mandela was a fighter and a defender of democracy but he was willing to speak with even his oppressors to move his country forward. This is what is lacking here in Nigeria. Selflessness. If we can get a few of them to hold on to this philosophy, the future will be bright. Politicians have to learn to keep their words and be open about their deals behind closed doors so we can see who keeps their side of the bargain and who does not. Mandela and the ANC negotiated in open with de Klerk and his team. The interest of the country need not be a secret. We don’t all have to be the President or have one from our region to progress. Let God’s will survive. This brings me to the issue of a national conference. We need one and we need it now. Dialogue is the key to all our challenges and we have many of them. Those afraid of dialogue need not be unless they are happy with the status quo. The status quo cannot continue.