Transcript By Bernard Ogbe
I think we should start this conversation from the very beginning which is the 1999-2007 governorship position you occupied, at 39, you were the governor of Abia state and I think a lot of persons would want to look back at those period, would want to know how you were able to go through the electoral process at that time, coming from the military rule to actually govern Abia state at the age of 39 ?
“It was a very interesting moment for me and for the people of Abia state. It was tough but real. Sometimes I felt like crying and sometimes I felt like oh, should I end this thing today! Because it was very difficult to govern Abia at that stage and we did our best and our best was good enough for Abia people.
“There were hard decisions that had to be taken and they were taken. First, our state was very united when I was governor. We brought every body together, fought a common course which was the development of Abia state and taking our state to a higher level, making sure that we brought education to be free, we brought the tertiary institutions to fund them very well, the college of education in Arochukwu, the school of health technology in Aba, the polytechnic in Aba and Abia state university were very cardinal points which I matched to make sure that a state with education can go anywhere.”
It’s sad that since after the 1999 era, we’ve not had a Governor below 40, and quit a number of the persons that would be going to the poll in 2023, where not born when you were governor and they’re used to the older persons occupying those kind of positions, what does that say about our political evolution?*
“There are younger once running now and it beholds the younger people to elect the younger people, so the people followed me, they believed my message and I was very aggressive and they know me. I came from the private sector to be able to be governor and I had all it takes to go through being governor.
“Younger people are busy abusing the elder once instead of them to work harder and put themselves in the line of succession. You go to internet, people abuse you, people are saying all kind of things, instead of them to learn. This is why my community in Igbere, is a different place all together. I don’t know if you’ve watched it, you could have seen our cultural festival we did on the 2nd of January, and it was very successful. You see the respect between the little, the big, the small and all the rest of them.
“Nigeria need to go back to respect, to the elders because we have derailed absolutely. There’s no mentorship between the younger once and the elderly people, right away. The younger once are just busy thinking the life is their life, it’s a like life of hard work. You need to come out to work harder to be able to do things that are spectacular and work towards been successful.
“I was very successful in the private sector before I came into politics and am still successful in the private sector, so, am not sure that since 1999, any Governor was as successful as I was, as a private sector driver.
But is the blame solely on the younger people because you talked about the need for them to learn. Some would say that the political system as it is now does not favor young people, I mean a lot of young people have put themselves forward for positions but they don’t emerge through the political primary’s, that was why I asked you, at the beginning, what processes helped you at 39, to achieve what you achieved?
“The processes is that I was ready for leadership. I was trained to be a leader and I followed up things and was ready to position myself. There were a lot of elderly people, 60 then, 62, they ran for the election, but the young people supported me because of the radical ideas I had and they believed in those ideas so we moved on. This is why everything we did in our state then, where for the people and not for anybody and that is why my popularity in the state is still intact, till tomorrow.”
When you look back at your time in office and the governors after you, do you beat your chest and say, you’re the best governor that Abia state has had and why ?
“No, I can not say that, because I always leave the judgement of my political track record to be judged by the people. In honesty, God provides leaders at every time for a purpose. I can not compare myself with any leader and no leader should compare himself with me. I leave those judgement to the people of Abia state.”
But on a few occasions you’ve come… you have also questioned the administration’s after you. I recall what you said about your successor, Theodore Orji, and then you questioned his governorship prowls as well, so, when you say that you leave it to the people it draws a question, are you not confident with some of the things he achieved, what are some of the projects you…
“I achieved a lot and we have a very good relationship. Theodore Orji, Myself, Ikpazu, Abaribe, we enjoy very robust relationships. I think it will be unethical, it would be very wrong for me to discuss them in public. All I know is, for any advice I have to give to any Governor, including the seating Governor now, I have the access to give him such advice and I’ve been giving him, without anything and he knows that I speak my mind.”
Senator Orji, you know that your party and the presidential candidate boast with what they called the template which Senator Bola Tinubu, put in place, which has taken Lagos to where it is today and you were governor at the same time, 1999 -2007. So clearly, you’re campaigning for home based on what he did in Lagos and what your party has done so far in the past eight years. Many would want to know as well, as governor of Abia state, we’re there templates or blueprints you put on ground that successive administrations had followed?
“There was a template, we only derailed they derailed.” which sector? “in all facets. Let me tell you, when I was governor, if president Obasanjo had given me a sovereign guarantee I requested for, for about 10 billion naira as at 1999, Abia could have been on it’s own today, because we were to go food throughout, go to our airlines, to our hotels with some Israeli, we had 49, 51 and this is the exact thing Dr Micheal Okpara did when he was there. But because I had no access to this finance and it could have finished because it was seven and half years. I showed him the blueprint, we needed a sovereign guarantee, but he refused. This is why the Nigeria we are running today is not what we should run. All states should be fairly independent to go to London to borrow, go to Singapore to borrow, go to anywhere. So, that derailed our state.
“You can imagine, what you see today as Abia House, the kind of investment I did, I had plans but there was no money to do it. I knew what I wanted to do with that state, there was a blueprint. Mind you, I had one of the best economist Onyekwere Ogba, I had one of the best team to work with, Prof. Awa Kalu, Prof. Ogboagu, Prof. Ankpa, I had one of the best commissioners in Nigeria, but lack of funds.
“First time when we came to government, the first allocation we had was sixty eight million (#68mn), you can check, the records are there. We got one billion (#1bn) for the first time in 2004, November, the records are there. I can’t work with my hands. I knew what to do as a private sector driven person.” and there was largely agriculture base? “Yes, we did a lot in agriculture. What I wanted to do was agriculture because the hope of this country still lies on agriculture.”
But you do realise that Aba, is described by many as small China because of the business acumen of the people and perhaps their manufacturing prows of the people. There are those who believe that if Abia state had got a good leaders or a visionary leader in place since 1999, that Abia state or perhaps Aba been the manufacturing capital of probably Africa…
“I did exactly that, what killed us was electricity. I can not afford electricity at one million dollar per megawatt cost and Aba alone needed about 89 megawatts to operate the city. Am not an idiot, am well grounded on what I wanted to do. At a time, people that lived in Port harcourt and Awka ibom were leaving there to live in Aba. House rents was going up in Aba, because there was conducive environment to do business. But there was no capital, to move from point A to point B, becomes the problem and I was not going to manufacture money, so we were giving investors confidence to come back to our state because security was there.
“When all south eastern states and some south south states and there was no security, when the kidnapping started, Aba and Umuahia were the safest place to live, ask anybody. People were coming from Warri, from Port harcourt and everywhere to live in Aba. We had Lebanese, the India , we had everybody moving to Ava.”
There are instances where government could probably step in to either subsidies electricity.. “which money would I use to subsidies it, where are my going to get the money?” Is that not where revenue generation comes in? “No, because the military mortgaged this revenue collection for 5-6 years and when I go to the court of competent jurisdiction, the court will rule that you must allow the contract to run. Some of them were mortgaged for eight (8) years, some were mortgaged for 10 years and I wasn’t going to brake a court order because am a believer of our court system. No matter how you criticise our court system, our court system remains one of the best.
“I will give you a good example, in Obohia, I was building a road to connect water from Ariaria market to Port harcourt road to Obohia road to Waterside, a court on record, gave an order that I should stop and I stopped and the project is still where I left it. So, am a believer of court. Am not an executive who will disobey the judiciary, God forbid, I’ll never do that because I believe that if am wrong at the first court, I’ll go to the second court and if am wrong at the second court, I’ll go to the final court.
“So, when you have the military has given contracts to people to collect revenue, immediately I came I wanted to disband them but they went to court and the court said, allow the contract to run. And some of the contract ran out since 2006-2007. When I’ve left. So I don’t know what I could have done. If you were in my shoes, would you respect the court judgement or not? The answer is that it’s better to respect court judgement.”
Does all this excuse apply to successive administrations because clearly, Aba isn’t where it should be till now and there are… “No, you have to give people what they need first before collecting money. With the way I was going when I was in Aba, providing roads and building everywhere up, if I had been there longer, yes, we would have gotten what we needed. Let me be honest with you, governance is not as easy as people see it and mind you, when people look at places like Calabar, Lagos, this places had been capital for God knows when, since they created Nigeria. Let me also tell you, when everybody departed from one party to the other, if it was the same PDP, that made me governor, if I was to still be in the same party with all the governors, we could have had… but every body went his way and you know, I have no moral authority to talk to these governors because I was ex governor, I wasn’t in their party, am in a different political party and it becomes a problem. Even now, I can not tell them what to do because we are still in parallel party. But I hope, one day God will give Abia state a Governor which I’ll have access to lay back my ideas and visions to, and God will bless them.”
So for the past eight years, under Governor Okezie Ikpazu, in what area do you fault him? “Am not going to fault him in the public” but you are not in the same party “No, but I can not fault him in the public. I was Governor of that state.” but do you believe that the state had been in good hands since he assumed office? “Am not going to answer that question to you because it would be inappropriate. From day one I’ve made my decision that I will never criticize T.A Orji, in public and I’ll never criticize Okezie, in public but I’ll always say my mind whenever am with them and our state people knows that I speak my mind.”
Lets talk about your representation, you’ve been in the Senate for almost four years now, but it would seem that your return in 2023, is been threatened. Members of your party in your state are accusing you of anti-party activities. They said you’re supporting your brother who’s in APP as against the APC governorship candidate in the state, how do you react to that?
“Those things are side talks, my brother is an adult. I don’t want to state to you, what happened before my brother left the party. My brother was a Beverly strong member of the APC and when he wanted to leave, I called the National Chairman, Senator Abdullah Adamu, who happened to be my colleague as governor and my colleague as Senator and now the National Chairman. I said , this young man wants to leave the party, is there anything we can do to remedy him? They did not do anything. He spoke to him and said please don’t go! I called the Deputy National Chairman North, Senator Abubakar Kyirijjj , who also was my colleague. He had been my banker and I’ve known him all my life, for more that 40 years. He had launch with my brother, they came to me, we tried to plead with him, nothing was done. I called the National Deputy Chairman for the entire South, Chief Emmanuel Enukwu, he spoke to my brother, my brother refused.
“I called the Governorship candidate, he’s alive, you can interview him, I invited him and said the greatest challenge you will have as a governorship candidate is that if my brother broke out of the party. If he gets away from the party, you will have problems.” Why ? “because he was Chief of staff to a particular governor at one time. He has his own spread, as I do.” So you wanted your Brother to be Governor….? “No, you don’t understand me, I asked Chief Ikechi Emenike, the governorship candidate of the APC, before even the primary, I called him and said, let me beg for the appointment, we will go and see President Buhari, so that he can do the talking and say we shave a problem and the problem is my brother. Let them find him Executive Director or something somewhere, either Executive or none Executive for four years, so that he can leave us to go and do our governorship in Abia. Chief Ikechi Emenike, told me after the primaries and after primaries he didn’t get back to me. After primaries in June, my brother found a new political party…” your old party that… “No, it’s not my old party. My old party was PPA and I don’t know the owners of this party. What people are talking are rubbish, go and check from INEC. PPA, was our former party. I don’t know who’s the owner of this party and I’ve never discussed this party with my brother, my brother is an adult and his competent of taking his own decisions.
“He’s not the first, in Kwara, the Saraki’s were in different parties, even with their father. This is just my brother, am not his father. He has his wife, he has his children and he has his family to make decisions and any decisions he made are his decisions, not mine. Am in APC, am in APC. Even the Senate President, I complained to him, they spoke to him, all of them. So, what do you expect me to do? I complained to the presidential candidate of our party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, so I don’t know what at my body would expect me to do.”
Are you saying that the APC in Abia state is likely to lose the governorship election because of your brother…? “I’ve not said so, am saying the he can cause us some headaches. I’ve never done anything to support my brother. I’ve never told anybody to vote for the APP. I’ve told them that they must vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and vote for me.” how about the governorship election of the state, who should they vote for? “it is their own decisions, it’s not my decision. Even when I tell you to vote for anybody, at the point of voting, you’ll make your decision. Am Campaigning for APC to win and I also tell them to vote for the governor.” for the APC governor? “Yes, for the APC governor, yes, it’s true. I use to tell them to vote for APC, all the way. But at the point of voting…
“They cause me that I opened Orji Uzor Kalu Movement, that it is because of my brother. Orji Uzor Kalu Movement has been their since I became Governor, The Reality Organization had been there before I became Governor. No body in Abia should take these two movements for granted. They are everywhere in the state.”
Senator Sir, how do you access your time in the Senate so far. I mean, when you came into the Senate for the first time, and you were made the Chief Whip of the Senate and many applauded you because that wasn’t a small feat to be able to be a principal officer for the first time. But beyond that, in terms of representation of your people, because we’re going into the elections, how do you assess your performance and the acceptability of your people?*
“First of all I want to thank my party the APC, because they gave me the position and I never asked for that position. I was in the house one day, the former Governor of Edo state, who was the National Chairman of the party, came and he asked me we have this position, we have this position, we have this position, the party and the presidency have asked you to choose one. I said m, do I have time to think about it? He said yes and I said give me 2 days or 3 days to think about it. So I went to my friend who was a leader of the Senate before. And I said this are the poisons, which one would you want me to take? And he said, I know you’re a very busy man and I know you fly like no other person. I know your time is very tight and he said don’t take this, take this. So I went back to Governor Oshimole and said, well, let me have the Chief Whip, so, the party nominated me. So, it was the benevolence of the party, and the National Chairman of the party and the President, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Mohammadu Buhari. They gave me that position, I never lobbied anybody nor asked for it. And this is why, in the floor of the Senate, which you work there also, you know that I defend everything about our party. The first interest about the senate is the people I represent and the entire Nigeria people and the second is the interest of the party. The interest of Nigeria is superior to any other interest.
“In terms of law making for our Nigeria people, that comes first in everything we do because they have given us the opportunity to come and serve, in terms of party caucus inside the Senate, my party comes first before the opposition party, so we are there defending the course of our party, no compromise.”
Would you like to be the Senate President?
“Well, it a very hard question because this is what I always ask people. You colleague had asked me before, ‘Would you like to be the Nigeria President?’ and I said yes, if it’s zoned to South East. My answer to you is yes, if the party zones it to South East, yes, why not? I’ll be very willing to serve my people.” the reason for this question is that, should your party wins the presidential election,in 2023, with the permutations that the South East is likely to produce the Senate president, do you think you’re the number one person for the position?
“No, I can ever say that, we have Governor Hope Uzodima, we have the party itself and we have the National Chairman of the party. Mind you also, the Deputy National Chairman South, comes from Enugu state. So, we have the NWC, we have this people, it’s only the collective job of these people, if they say, ‘yes, go and be’, if it’s given to that area. So they can put any body they like, if am qualified or not qualified. The most important thing is that we have two strong governors there. These governors are very strong, in our party, they’re very strong, very strong in their constituencies,they’re very strong in Nigeria. The National Chairman of the party is very strong in his own and the members of the NWC, are very strong. So, the decision is theirs.”
the interesting thing is that you’re open to the idea, you’re open to the position? “If am given, I’ll take but am not going to fight for it.”
You’re a strong defender of your party and you’re also a strong defender of Ahmed Lawan, should you become the President of the next Assembly, what would you do differently from him?
“Well, am not yet there, when I get to the river Niger, I’ll cross” I mean you should be prepared for something… “No, I can not get prepared for what I’ve not been given. But let me tell you Terry, that am always very prepared to do my job. I can not say what I will do but all I know, is that I would always do the job and do the best. With the good things he’ve done, I’ll follow. If there are any thing that in present or in your views that he has not done well, I’ll drop them and I’ll continue.”
Clearly, you will not openly question his time so far… “Who told you? If I have the opportunity, I’ll question! Am that radical.” but had he perform well? “let me tell you, am not saying it for anything, collectively, not Ahmed Lawan, the 9th SenTe is one of the best Senate we have had, since 1999. We’ve been able to make difficult Bills to become Acts without looking at anybody’s face. We’ve been able to hold strongly.
“When people say we’re rubber stamp, I laugh. We have always found unity with the Executive, we have rejected more things from President Buhari, than he gets. We have rejected a lot of papers from President Buhari. But quietly, not the way you’re expecting it. We have rejected more legislation they will bring and we will tell him, Mr President, this one will not work.”
Would you accept everything, if you become the Senate President, would you make the same statement that Senator Ahmed Lawan make, saying that he will accept everything that the president brings?
“If I am a Senate President, and everything that the president, like President Tinubu, because I know he’s very reasonable, brings, I’ll ask my colleagues to look at it. Anything that is not for the benefit of the people, we’ll go back and discuss it with him for amendments.”
What’s your take on the ways and means advance request of the President, you heard the arguments on the floor of the Senate, the other day, which prompted a closed door section and then, putting a hold on that document. What do you think about it because the argument is that there is something illegality about it.
“Yes, there were illegality, I can tell you that also but am not going to give you the pleasure of discussing it on here. Even Senator Lawan agreed there were illegalities.”
So is the Senate going to clean that up or is the Senate going to throw that away?
“Remember we set up a committee and am not prompt what the committee will do. This is the first time since I came to the Senate, that the Senate President is setting up a committee, led by the Senate leader. They set up a committee where other members of the committee are Chairman of works, the Chairman of banking and finance, Chairman if Loans and one other committees. They’re all members and the Senate leader and myself are members of the committee.”
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, let’s talk about 2023, let’s talk about the presidential election. You own business and you have hired the best hands and that’s why your business is thriving. So beyond been a party member, what makes you believe that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is the best man for the job?
“Let me be honest with you, I think when people complain, Asiwaju did this to them and did that, No, because his health is very stable. No man above 40, that is not sick. Yes it’s true, no Nigerian. It’s only how you manage yourself. Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu would be one of the greatest President we would have because he has power of delegation. Like you said now that I delegated my business to people to run. He has power of delegation. With the modern way of leading people is no longer holding everything to yourself. You must delegate the job. You must tell people to do it and have done it.
“You know, why Lagos government is growing, was consistently because the leadership was under one root and the leadership had been through one political party, since 1999. So, consistency matters a lot. This is why, when people were saying that president Buhari was not going to support Ahmed Tinubu, we went to the president and told the president, it’s about our party. It’s not about anybody can vote for anybody, and you see that the president has come out forcefully to say am going to campaign, on his own.
“You know the president is a very honest man and unassuming man, he has done a lot for Nigeria, but there’s no perfect leader. There’s nothing you can do for people to say this is the best leader. But when he gets away, they will say, we rather have him back. This is how the world is. So, I believe, that Tinubu will do a lot of things differently, for the benefits of business people. Lagos is a business Center and he knows he can not govern without business people. We have to enter into a strong partnership with business people.”
You have mentioned the issue of health and talked about how expectedly someone at the age 40, should have some sort of health challenges
“Remember, one of your colleagues fought me on camera, whe they said Buhari was… about I said Buhari will come back from London to here. Not only coming back m, but that he will run for the election and win the election.
“You see, am not going about with Bola Tinubu for the campaign, am behind the scene, doing the right job. The right job are better than those following him around.
“Let me tell you, it can only takes God’s intervention for us not to win the election because we’re the larger in number, we’re more practical, we are working, president Buhari has made best investment like the Niger bridge and we’re working very hard that Tinubu is working everywhere, day and night. The man goes to bed at 3am and you’ll tell me he’s not well? He’s travelling everywhere and every day and he’s first to wake up, anywhere they go.”
Why do you say you do not believe in those polls?
“No I don’t believe in those polls. The polls is not been realistic and if this polls want to be realistic, then, the Kwankwanso and Peter Obi, are working for us because nobody has touched our base. The strongest base of APC, no body has touched it, it’s untouched, the North West and the North east, they are our base. Come to South East, it’s divided, come to south south, it’s finished with Obidient.
“See, this polls are done in Lagos and Abuja, this polls are not done in Birina kebi. This polls are not done in Igbere. This polls are done among elites, they are not done it to my grandmothers, who will vote to where we want her to vote. They’ve not done that poll for her. This polls are just polls. I can just stay in my house and put a poll.
“Let me give you what I think will come, Tinubu will come distance first and Atiku will come distant second and others will follow.
“Let me tell you, politics is not about sentiments, people are putting a lot of sentiments about this. Am an Igbo man, where are my going to get the votes? I have four forms that people bought for me during the primaries, that people bought and dashed to me and I told them that I’ll not run. I can only run this election if all 18 political party, zoned the presidential candidate to southeast. Because we don’t have the numbers to follow it up. We need the support from the other zone.”
Why do you think the Igbo’s, does not have the support from the other zone?
“Well, let me tell you, the other zones had been with us. What was the major factor was that for the last seven years, the issues of IPOB and the Biafra agitations changed the scenario. This is the truth, but people don’t like saying the truth and you know, am not afraid of saying the truth. People tell you they don’t trust Igbo’s any more that they can divide the country but it’s not true.
“Am a Nigerian by heart, am an Igbo first by born, am Igbere man first, been a Bende man, coming from Abia and been a Nigerian. This is how I see myself.”
But there is an agitations in the Southwest, so how had it not affected the level of trust from the other regions?
“The agitations it Southwest is not like the one in Southeast, it’s not the same. The agitations in Southeast is very heavy.m because Nigeria and Nigeria people need to find a solution to Southeast.”
What then do you say, about the endorsement of Peter Obi, who’s from the Southeast, he’s getting endorsements from the Southwest?
“Who’s endorsing him?” Former President Obasanjo
“let me tell you, President Obasanjo is just been a hypocrite because, when he was President, Peter Odili, he stopped him. If he wanted Igbo to be president, he would have put in Peter Odili.”
But Peter Odili is from Rivers State
“He’s an Igbo man. What is his name ‘Odili’? Is it your name? He would have put in Peter Odili. Obasanjo killed that dream, because he’s Igbo. So he’s just coming today to make… the letter I wrote to him while he was president has no answers till today.
“Obasanjo is been a hypocrite and it’s not good. He never see anything good, just see, the letter he wrote to president Buhari. He wants to be on the news, with due respect, am not trying to insult him. With due respect to him, am saying that he would have given an Igbo man the ticket, in 2003 and in 2007. He’s not been realistic. He knows that Peter Obi has not gotten the force to be the president now, because you need other regions and Obasanjo is not the leader of the other regions. If Obasanjo is the major leader of the major region that will make this decisions, then I’ll say yes, the endorsement is good. So, I don’t take that endorsement to the bank.”
Considering the status of the APC, in Abia state, first your state has been construed under the PDP, in the National Assembly, out of the three Senator, only one us of the APC, which is you, of the eight members of the House of Representatives, only two are from the APC, what are the chances of the APC in the 2023 presidential election in Abia State?
“We will work very hard, our chances are very bright. We’ll do our best to get Asiwaju Bola Tinubu the number he requires.The possibilities are there that we win. It’s because, a lot of people have left the party. The last days of this month, I have to sit down and am going to be more busy, going round the state to foster unity among our party people. Those that have left, those that didn’t leave, to make sure that we would get back.
“In 2015, they didn’t even have 1%, in 2019, Presidential election, President Buhari got 29.8%, so he made the 25% bridge. In my Senatorial District, President Buhari made 68.6%, which was the highest in southeast and south south. We will work to get above 25%.”
In the buildup to the primaries, you said, ‘it’s overdue and I believe that we should produce the next President and it’s going to happen’ then you said, in 2022, just after the primaries that Igbo people will benefit more, if the candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu emerges as president in 2023. Would you clarify this?
“Yes, it’s politics, it’s not statistics. It’s not one plus one and it’s two. Once a party has chosen a candidate, every other thing is dropped. Even Tinubu’s supporters and none supporters will become one because it’s one party, we’re fighting for. People who have contested against him in the primaries will become one. People who never supported him will become one. So, whatever I said, is for the party to zone the presidency to southeast.
“Some people would say you’re shifting ground. Your Excelleency, in the build up to the 2019 election, you said that the Igbo’s would have to support Mr president, Mohammadu Buhari because it was a pathway to an Igbo presidency and now you say that the people will gain more, from Tinubu’s administration.
“Yes, it’s because we don’t own a party that will nominate a presidential candidate. It’s a party affair. You need other regions. It’s not something I can say, in my Igbere home and dictate and say Terry will become President. It’s not what Oshomole will stay in Edo state and say Terry, you’ll become the President.”
You’re a big advocate for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, and you believe that following the Appeal court judgement, that he should be released to political solution. If he’s not released after this administration, if Tinubu wins the election, and becomes president, are you hopeful that he will release Nnamdi Kanu?
“Well, I believe the court decision stands and am not even supposed to discuss this issue because it’s before the Supreme Court. I’ve told you before that am one of the Nigerians that have the greatest respect to the Judiciary.”
But are you hopeful, that if another court judgement comes out while Tinubu is in the office, if Tinubu, becomes president, that he would release Nnamdi Kanu ?
“I’ll not discuss that with you but I believe that the Federal government will respect the next order of court judgement.”
I think one of the questions is , if he can be trusted when released, would you stand surety for him, if need be?
“Yes, I’ll stand. The first time they released him, I was in the prison with him, I went to beg, I begged and they gave him bail. Which I don’t want to discuss because the matter is before the court. So I believe, if tomorrow, the federal government want to release him and ask me to give him surety.
“I gave his father the stole to traditional ruler, I made the father the traditional ruler of their place, when I was governor. Am close to them. But they didn’t listen to me. But that will not make me to abandon them. I will never abandon them. I’ll stand surety for him, if the federal government want to release him to me. And I can keep him in my compound here in Abuja or in Igbere and counsel him, I’ll do that.”
I’ll end up on this note, the elections are almost here, and there are concerns as to the level of success that this election would be, would you say something to just about everyone who will be involved in this election. What are your concerns, what are your advice?
“My concern is for INEC, to be straight forward to allow the people’s will to prevail and to allow the candidate voted by the people to be sworn in. This is what I would like to see INEC, doing. But to security agencies, I’ll want to ask them to continue keeping up and to be forthright in the fight of bandits and the fight of putting orderliness in our system. This country needs credible elections, this country needs straight forward elections, no matter who wins, at any levels, we’re Nigerians. so that we’ll have credible elections, we’ll have sincere elections. That does not mean that people should be caged or be flogged by the security agency. Am pleading on Nigeria people to please stop vote buying, because once you eat rice only, people come every four (4) years, give you rice, give you two thousand or three thousand and you vote for them and they go home, no development, we’re killing ourselves. It’s the plains we’re feeling now, for voting for the wrong people. People should start voting for credible people that will help than and help the economy, help the society, help everywhere to grow, this is what we need.”
Just before we go, are you one of those politicians, who are against the BEVAS and the electronic transmission of votes?
“No, I’ve never been against the BEVAS, I only asked the NCC and the federal government to expand the network. Even till now, when I was in my village, the phone network is not working. They should Expand it, they should put more things, in the next six weeks.”
