Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC in this interview reviews the government formed by his party at the federal level asserting that the change the party promised is on the way. Excerpts:
How do you assess your party’s performance in governance after two and half years?
Quite frankly, we have done very well all considered. One keeps saying it that the situation we took over was much worse than we expected. You had to deal with the unexpected event of the collapse of the crude oil market which made it very difficult to get the funding that was needed to reflate the economy. So, it posed Herculean challenges both for the government and the people of this nation.
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| National Chairman APC, Chief Odigie Oyegun briefing State House Correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja. |
Can you really say that your party has delivered the ‘change’ it promised to Nigerians during the electioneering campaigns?
(Sighs) I have to be careful in answering that question. Change is not a switch that you flick. Change is a process. Change is turning the society away to a new direction. Change means that people must learn new ways of doing things.
It did not necessarily mean that from Day One, if you had N100, today, you have N500 in your pocket which unfortunately is the simplistic way that virtually most of the society now seem to be interpreting it. Change means attitude. It means people internalising the fact that corruption had almost ruined our country and that fighting corruption, eliminating corruption to the extent possible is not something you just say that the president has made a statement and therefore, from today, there is no more corruption. It is not like that.
But many Nigerians are saying that the situation is much worse now than what it used to be before.
Food on the table in the past was food imported from Thailand and China, spaghetti, all the rest imported from Italy. Champagne imported from France or wherever. That was food on the table fuelled by corruption. Food on the table today means eating what we produce and getting Nigerian farmers to join the road to prosperity because what they produced is bought and consumed. They get fair prices for what they produced and the economy benefits. That is already evident.
You must feed yourself and not just that, you must try to export if not the food items at least, those agricultural products that are valued as raw materials in other countries. That’s the bedrock. You don’t build an economy on the import of rice from Thailand. We have to get these painful facts very clear because in the process of switching from the easy import of Thailand rice to the locally produced rice, there are painful adjustments to be made.
What’s important, yes, everybody says Oh, rice is still N20,000 or whatever. But the N20,000 is still in the pocket of fellow Nigerian farmers. The president himself even made an allusion to it which was very good and interesting but that’s just the first stage.
Today, there are more pilgrims wanting to go to Mecca, ditto the Christians.
Why because, the farmer is now getting so much return that is now able to afford the things he couldn’t before. That’s one evidence that things are getting better. Yes, change is a painful process. It doesn’t come easy. When somebody says look, you should change from wearing this clothe and start wearing babaringa, the process of handling is not going to be an easy one.
So, let’s understand what we need. That will put things in proper perspective. Yes, there’s quite a bit of suffering in the land but all you need to do is to look forward a bit.
Tomorrow, we are going to be an exporter of rice. Can you imagine the fundamental contribution that is going to make to our economy? We are on the way and everyday, things are getting better and the only way prices come down is when you produce more.
How do you react to the claim by former President Goodluck Jonathan that your government has not matched his achievements?
I think former President Goodluck Jonathan is not being well advised. The first thing for a man who God has elevated with little effort to the position he attained is to maintain some dignity and decorum after office.
That, he is not doing. Second, the facts of Boko Haram are there. The facts of his achievements are there. He was President for six years, the East-West road is still not completed. He was president for six years, Port Harcourt Airport was rated the worst international airport in the world.
That is the airport that he uses virtually on a weekly basis. Just those little fundamentals. He was God’s gift to the South-South. There was a massive movement in the south-south to have one of our sons as president. And God on a platter of gold gave him to us. Did he make us proud? The answer is no. That is one lost opportunity. We don’t know when that opportunity will come again for the south-south to produce a Nigerian president and the south -south has been significant throughout our history in maintaining the coherence of this nation through all its difficulties. Finally, we had that golden opportunity and we blew it.
He is honoured and respected today because of his singular act of conceding the defeat even though we now know that he tried to reverse himself. So, my advise to him is, let time heal wounds. Don’t answer every little query and question about your presidency because the facts are out there, very clearly.
But because of that singular act to save the nation saved a lot of lives because the country was so charged at that time. So, accept that respect the nation and the world gave you. He is young relatively. Tomorrow, he will get over this. But if he starts doing what he is doing now, then I am really sorry he may just end up losing everything.
You have opened up a new window here from what the public knows by saying he tried to reverse himself. How do you mean?
Oh, that’s part of history now but let’s leave it and hope he takes good advice.
Oh, that’s part of history now but let’s leave it and hope he takes good advice.
Some people believe that APC is seriously boiling having lost a bigwig in Atiku Abubakar especially given his contributions to the party. What really went wrong and how would his exit affect the party?
Did you say boiling up? All I can say is that I am totally amazed at the song and dance that the press is making of the departure of the former vice president, Atiku. We are not happy losing anybody, certainly not anybody of his status. But why are people surprised that he left? I can’t understand it. More than 12, 18 months ago, it was clear that he would leave. The only doubt was when and how? The issue is this: when a man is determined to be president and his history tells all of that, from his period as Vice President and then you perceive that the current president is serving 4 years, he may wish to serve another four years and I pray he does. For Vice President Atiku, at his age, it is either now or never because if President Buhari serves another, that will be 8 years. Convention will have it that the presidency may go south. That’s another 8 years. So, game over for Vice President Atiku. It is either now he makes this last throw of the dice or he will permanently forget the presidency. So, it is something we knew was coming. The Bini say a pebble you see coming towards you shouldn’t blind you. So, why are we surprised?
Let me remind you, sir, that the letter that announced his exist recalled a memo from Governor El-Rufai to President Buhari that all was not well with the government. Perhaps, Atiku needed some attention too. But was not given any. Was he shut out completely?
I am not aware of that. I am not president but everybody who has the ears of the president raises issues. Everybody offers advise, formally and informally. There is only one president. How he handles it or what he does with it is at his absolute discretion. You cannot say to yourself that the issues are so weighty that he must do A, B, C, D. Yes, it may be good if he does, but that is a decision given the totality of the facts available to him which is not available however knowledgeable any other person is. It is not available to them. It is his job to make a decision, consider, decide and we move on. So, you cannot say because somebody gave an advice and it was not accepted or acted on or because you gave advice and it was no accepted or acted on, therefore, no. Things don’t operate that way. Governance doesn’t operate that way.
You rode on the goodwill of Nigerians to get to power in 2015. Do you think you will win a presidential election if one is conducted today?
Everything points to the fact that we will win. Yes, there is hardship in the land. People are groaning. But the one I have learnt over time is that as Nigerians, I think we should start giving the so called ordinary Nigerian the credit for intelligence.
Yes, they are hurting and when you are hurting you strike at somebody and abuse government, abuse everyone. When things are going wrong in the party, everybody abuses me. I accept it because that’s the last bus-stop and I take responsibility just like the president and the government also take responsibility that things should be better. Everything takes times to mature and his plans for the country and the people are maturing but they will take time to get to the pockets of Nigerians and Nigerians recognize this.
Painful as the situation is, we all criticize and complain about everything but at the end of the day, he knows that things were bad. At the end of the day, he knows that under very tough circumstances, the president is trying to change those realities that are making life difficulty and he knows that at the end of the day, the future based on an economic foundation that is domesticated, not based on imports but on local production and increasing agricultural produce and by the time we solve the power problem, of course, the middle small scale enterprises that set up will start booming. They know this. And so, they gave us the victories that we have had starting from Kogi, Edo to Ondo States.
And whether anybody likes it or not, the substantial progress we made in Anambra State, before this last gubernatorial election, APC was virtually a pejorative party in that part of the country, but today, given, of course the local sentiment about APGA and the rest of it, we have emerged as the second largest party and that’s only the beginning. Anambra is the most difficult.
By the time the next elections come, we are going to do much, much better. So, what are the indications that we are losing grips on the population who put us there?
You said age is not on the side of Atiku. What about President Buhari? Do you think he is still strong enough to run again?
Yes, in terms of the numbers, well, Ok. But our president, Buhari, has some very unique historical role. When I say this, I mean it with all seriousness. God saved him through three former attempts to be president. And God made it possible for him to win at the most critical time of our history when the country was virtually on the precipice both economically and otherwise, we got President Buhari known for his rectitude, known for his total hatred for corruption. He is the kind of iconic figure that the man and woman on the street were looking for. It is the average Nigerian that put him there.
The kind of man they can look up to and said that is the kind of man we, Nigerians want to emulate and be like. So, that’s the unique role he has in the history of this country and because of that, he was able to keep this country together, both from the economic and political point of view. So the question is this: have we recovered enough from the damage inflicted on the economy to wave a man like that goodbye? Now, I am giving a very, very personal opinion. As the chairman of the ruling party, I intend to apply the constitution of the party and so, this is a very personal opinion. So, can we afford to do away with those virtues at this time before they have become internalised and grounded in the Nigerian ethics and polity?
Should Nigerians expect automatic ticket for president Buhari assuming he agrees to run for a second term?
I said I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of the party and our nation.
Atiku Abubakar said he will beat the President fair and square should two of them square up in 2019. How would you react?
What else do you expect him to say? Of course, that’s it. We told everybody we will win in Anambra but didn’t win but we are happy with our performance. So, yes, Atiku will say that but there is no chance of that happening anyway.
As a government fighting an anti-corruption war, are you embarrassed by assertions by Abdulrasheed Maina that the president agreed to his reinstatement?
But you can see that from the nature of things he says, I think he needs some attention. He doesn’t sound coherent. He doesn’t sound believable. He doesn’t sound responsible. He is a bit on the wild side, throwing stones virtually to every direction, gives the impression of a man who is drowning and clutching at every straw that is available. That having been said, it is one of the terrible shames that we as a party in government inherited.
Can you still vouch for the President’s integrity at the moment?
(Becomes attentive) Which President?
President Buhari?
(Excitedly) That’s one of the few things I will take an oath on any day.
So, his integrity is still intact? No compromises?
Very, very intact. In fact, he is not just even capable of being dishonest. Even if he tries, he can’t achieve it.
What’s your take on Nigerians dying in Libya on account of slavery in modern day Africa?
This is really what we have talking about from your very first question of this interview. What is the problem? The problem is our value system which also is part of the change that we are preaching. We have a value system that virtually the youth today think that it doesn’t matter how you make it, just make it.
A system that doesn’t encourage and reward handwork, entrepreneurship even at the lowest level. A lot of these young men you see on the TV at Libya and being deported back, if you stand and say, start up a car wash centre with water pipe and bucket in one hand, but they won’t do that here. But look at the humiliation, inhuman and beastly treatment meted out to them in Libya. Here, they will be too shy to sweep the streets. Here, they will be too shy to wash cars, too shy to be apprentices; this is the value system that has to change.
Source: Vanguard
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