•SAYS, ACF NOT DIVIDED ON BUHARI, ATIKU
By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Senator Joseph Kennedy Waku is a former vice chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum. In this interview, he debunked the media reportthat the organization was divided on whom to support for the 2019 presidential election.
Looking at the current developments in the polity, where is the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a party headed?
Let me take you back to one of our past interviews after the Supreme Court made a decision in favour of the Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the subsequent none elective convention that was held in Abuja. I did say then that it was a danger signal to APC. I still maintain that position regardless of whether or not Atiku is still with the party or he has resigned. I do believe that the party has not worked hard enough to ensure effective coercion within its members. Atiku is a known figure in Nigerian politics. His resignation is like a double-edged sword. Depending on the way they manage the situation, it could be a blessing for the party or a loss to it. It may promote the fortune of the party or serve as a wake-up call. The management needs to go back to the drawing board and re-strategize on the future survival of the party and ensure that such loss does not occur again. However, if they take things for granted, things may not go well with the party. When I gave the warning about four months ago, they accused me of being more pro-PDP than APC. Now, I have been vindicated. APC is lacking in effective management. You don’t run an organization with an aura of arrogance. APC leadership has assumed the position of a monarch with its attitude of saying, ‘if you don’t like what we are doing, get out.’ For me, it is not the best for the party.
Again, the question is: Is he (Atiku) leaving because of his disagreement with the policies of the party or he is merely leaving for a party where he can be recognized. These are two different things. For instance, I disagree with APC, but I still remain within the fold and I will be there. If need be, I will work against it, especially when there is injustice of candidate imposition. That is what a mature person does. I read in the newspapers that he had been sidelined. That won’t make me to resign from my party anyway. Nobody is indispensible in any political organization. If he resigned because he wants to be president, and the other party offers him opportunity, we should leave the rest to Nigerians to judge. I ran to become governor of Benue State and I fulfilled the righteousness of becoming the governor. But I was not made one, not because I was defeated at the convention or at the primary. I even went to court to seek redress. And I had offers from other political parties. But I said, ‘no, it is not all about becoming a governor.’ So, I remained in the party and I am still there. That, for me, is how a decent human being behaves. That is the way I look at it. Some other people will look at it differently.
There is this media report that the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is divided on Atiku’s new political exploit. As a former vice chairman of the organization, what exactly is your position on this issue?
I want to thank you so much for raising this question. In fact, this interview would not have had any meaning to me, if you did not ask this question. Let me ask: When did Atiku take that decision? The decision was taken last Friday. The truth is that ACF has never met on any such issue. So, that is not correct and it cannot be correct. Two, ACF is not a political organization, it is a non-partisan body. During the last presidential election, some of our members were for Jonathan, while the majority supported Buhari. For the majority of us who supported Buhari, we supported him because we wanted a Northerner to become president. In the same vein, the few other members, who supported PDP, did so because Namadi Sambo is a Northerner. We said we did not want to play a second fiddle. So, we had a consensus that any political party that gave its ticket to a Northerner would have our support. Therefore, ACF is neither against Atiku nor Buhari. You wait until Atiku becomes a candidate. When eventually any other northerner becomes a candidate, ACF at that juncture will sit down and analyze the potentials of each individual and take a decision. For now, it is a mere paper publication. No member of ACF has agreed on candidature of any person. I am a senior member of the organization and there can never be a decision of the ACF that I will not be a part of. So, it has not come to that level.
There have also been speculations about an impending implosion within the APC. With the resignation of Atiku, will it be right to say that the party is on the fringe of implosion?
There will be no fictionalization of the party. Atiku didn’t create a faction within the APC, rather he resigned. So, APC remains intact. There is no doubt that we lost a very senior member with a reasonable followership. Let no body dismiss that. If Atiku had decided to open another secretariat, that is when you can talk of factionalisation. But he said, ‘no, I don’t even want to hear the name APC and he left. If APC had read my interview and did not dismiss my warning with a wave of hand, maybe it would not have happened.
Are you saying that there is fault line between the CPC, ACN or ANPP groupings based on the existing relationship before the merger?
There is no political party that does not have such inclination. All political parties have different group interests. When we formed the PDP, we had the progressive group, which belonged to the APP. We had the progressive group which was UPN. We had the PDM, which was Umar Yar’Adua’s group. So, let nobody deceive you. It is management that suppresses it down to make it less pronounced. I am of the ACN, I still have that allegiance. Our governor in Benue State came from PDP to join APC to become the governor. Today, if you go to Benue, 90 per cent of government’s appointees are from PDP because these are the people he worked closely with. It is a matter of management. Up till today, CPC in APC are still holding meetings.
Would you say that President Muhammadu Buhari is in firm control of the machinery of government while the security operatives like EFCC and DSS are working at cross purposes?
I have not studied these issues adequately enough for me to make a comment on them. I don’t like getting myself involved in any issue I have not investigated or pay enough attention to. So, I cannot comment because I don’t want to rock the boat. But I am going to take time to know what has happened particularly about Maina and all other sensitive issues that can bring disrepute and insincerity to governance. Then I can take a position on the matter.
Do you then agree to the comment in some quarters that some people are taking advantage of power delegation to the detriment of this government?
As President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Buhari has firm control of governance. If he doesn’t act in certain areas, it could be that he does not have sufficient information at his disposal. Look at the case of the former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal. If there is anybody in this government who is very close to Buhari that person is Lawal. Yet, he sacked him. I do know as a matter of principle that he does not compromise official conduct. When he has sufficient and convincing information, he disposes of anybody found to be wanting. Even as the head of the family, I wouldn’t rush into take decisions until I find out with convincing evidence as to who is right or wrong in a dispute. If a smooth talker comes to tell you something and you rush to take decision, then you become reactionary. By the time you go into the depth of it, you regret.
As a matter of personal opinion, would you say that Buhari is still popular enough in the North to win the votes of the electorate in that region as he did in 2015?
It depends on the Northern candidate you are comparing him with. Buhari still has the goodwill of Northerners. Whether it will still be 100 per cent, I don’t know because as soon as you get into governance, you step on toes. Still, he has the goodwill. I make bold to say that if the North becomes a Republic of its own today, Buhari will still become the president of that Republic. Like I said, his goodwill may not be 100 per cent, but he still enjoys support of the North. Unless miracle happens, no candidate will beat Buhari in the North. Of course, people are going through hardship. But they also know that the hardship is not created by Buhari. We are the people they come to ask. And we tell them, ‘yes, things are hard and we cannot give you all you want, but we have a government that is working to make things better. These are the reasons why things are a bit tough.’ The reasonable ones listen to us, and they know that to rebuild is not an easy task. As I did say in my previous interview, it was not the PDP that lost the 2015 election; it was Jonathan that lost election. In the same way, it was not the APC that won the election; it was Buhari who won. We must thank God for preserving Buhari for us. As I always say, when you fight corruption, corruption fights back. It was God who made it possible for the medical team to detect the poison in him early enough. Nigerians voted for him for something and he will accomplish that purpose. Of course, he is not going to be there forever. But when he leaves, Nigerians themselves will take arms against corruption. I believe also that God will provide for us somebody like him who will take over and take us to Promised Land.
Why has APC not held its National Convention?
You are asking a wrong person. I can tell you that as a senior politician in this country, I have not been to the national secretariat of the APC since this government came in. And nobody in that secretariat has deemed it fit to look for me to find out whether I am healthy and strong. There could be many of us like that. I said it in the early part of this interview that the management of APC is arrogant. We have the most corrupt and incompetent management at the national secretariat. Let me tell you, I am not APC; I am Buhari, full stop! And that is what is keeping me there. If Buhari says we should all move today, tomorrow I will move. There has never been a meeting of APC in the North Central where I belong and for which I was invited and I sent an apology. I was the deputy vice chairman, national convention of the party as well as co-chairman for political and election committee that brought everybody into that office. Yet, nobody except my zonal chairman has picked a phone to call me. Occasionally, my zonal chairman calls me to say, Daddy, how are you?’ Is that a party that wants to win election? I am 71-year-old and I started this game in my early age; I have never seen a party like this. You can’t believe me; I have no messenger in government of Benue State. I don’t know the councilor for my ward. And they think nothing is wrong. So, when Atiku took the decision he took, I didn’t blame him.