–Fabiyi, ex-vp’S CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR
Ahead of 2019 general elections, one name that continues to ring a bell is that of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Those who have been following the activities of the ‘Turaki Adamawa’ needs not ask why. That it is Atiku’s ambition to become the president of Nigeria in 2019 is no longer in the realm of speculations. In this interview with WILLY EYA, the National President, All Atiku Support Groups, Oladimeji Fabiyi told Saturday Sun that there’s no better time than 2019 for the former vice president to realise his dream.
Former Director of Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mohammed Bello was reported to have said that if President Muhammadu Buhari could beat Atiku Abubakar in 2015 when he had no money, in 2019, as an incumbent, he would floor your principal (Atiku) again. Do you agree with that position?
I think Buhari’s former Campaign Director is being economical with the truth. The entire Nigerians knew what went on at the primaries of the All Progressives Congress(APC ) in 2014. They knew about the conspiracy and gang-up against the candidacy of Turaki Adamawa. It is of public knowledge. The result of that is what we are seeing everywhere in Nigeria now. I would not want to speak further because Nigerians knew so much about what happened at that time. But I disagree with the young man who said that.
There has been this issue of corruption being hung on the neck of Atiku and it gains prominence each time he comes out for election; what is the real genesis of this negative image.
When former vice president Atiku was in power, everybody knew about his contributions to our democracy and the ascension to power of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Recall the role he played from day one. There was a three-member committee that was set up at that time to shop for a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Atiku was there, Gen Gusau was there and Prof Jerry Gana was there. Atiku was part of this process all along. He was instrumental to the victory of the PDP at that time at all levels; not only at the executive but the legislature levels. But when things turned around and the boss then started painting him as a corrupt person, we were all living witnesses to the white papers and the panel of enquiries produced but the courts nullified all those things. And up till this moment, Atiku has never been arrested or convicted by any court of law. You remember that he went to court on so many occasions and he won all the cases but my challenge here is that when all these things were happening, Atiku that we know was blindly loyal to his principal such that he refused to refute all the allegations. Unfortunately, when people hear the name, Atiku, they talk about corruption but this man had never been convicted either at home or abroad. Even on the Jefferson matter, he was never arrested; he was never tried and the person who was found culpable was sentenced to jail in the United States. Some would come around and say Atiku cannot travel to the United States. If he has nothing to do in the US, why would he go there? Besides, is America a paradise that everybody should be struggling to go there? What is so special about America? What has that to do with good governance that Nigerians want their leaders to bring to the table? I have not seen anybody that would tell me that travelling to America would bring good governance to Nigeria. How many times have the American governments celebrated their performances or anything about Nigeria? If the US wanted Atiku, they would have got him all these while. If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) wanted Atiku, they would have got him. all these while. This man is a credible Nigerian who has helped to create the EFCC and all the agencies that have been fighting corruption till today. So, I do not know what some people mean by being corrupt. What I am saying is that Nigerians should open their eyes and ask relevant questions. Those people who have termed him corrupt, go and look at their records. What was their financial position in 1999 when they came to power and what is their financial position today? Nigerians should begin to ask these questions. Atiku did not come to power as a pauper. After retirement, he has been a successful businessman. He has invested very well that he almost singlehandedly helped the PDP to come to power including his boss at that time. So, it is those who are afraid of him that if he comes to power today, he is going to outshine and outperform them that are afraid. In Nigeria, the fear of Atiku is the beginning of political wisdom. What some are saying about Atiku is just flaccid and out of emotion. It is an unhealthy rivalry.
Do you agree with some of Atiku’s supporters that 2019 provides the best opportunity for the former vice president’s ambition?
Of course! See, ever since he has been contesting elections in this country, there has never been any time that he does not have the best chances but the reason why he could not scale through was because the so-called elite are so uncomfortable and do not believe that he would protect them. Atiku is ready to fight for the masses. The problem of these people is just that they feel that Atiku may not be a willing tool in their hands. They may not be able to control him and for Atiku, it is not about that; his mindset is to protect the poor and to ensure that even the rich ones are also protected. They are so scared of him. They always want somebody whom they can control and we have seen the result. We could not move forward or do anything. During the Obasanjo/Atiku time, the best economic period was when Atiku was the chairman of the Economic Council. They assembled the best brains to make sure that the economy was viable. That was when we had the best economy in this country. With Atiku, we should be able to have an economy that is viable. So, these people are practically afraid of him that one, they would not be able to control him when he gets there; two is that he would outperform them because they know that this is the only man who is prepared; he has been preparing since 1993 to lead the country. In 2007, he ran under the AC. When you go through that policy document with that of 2010, you would see an upward shift that is in tandem with the reality of the time. If you come to 2014, you would see that it is dealing with the exigencies of this time. The man is not sleeping. He keeps working because he is so passionate about Nigeria and the future of this country but some people somewhere are not comfortable with that because they want the status quo to remain. That is why I appreciate the fact that he is the one championing the issue of restructuring in this country today. We need restructuring to be able to move forward and develop economically, politically and socially.
Some say your principal is so desperate to be president of Nigeria and that indeed, he started preparing for 2019 immediately the APC won the presidential election in 2015. How would you react to that allegation?
The question I ask people who say that is this: what is the desperation about somebody following his dream? When you are so passionate about something, what is the desperation there? If you can say Atiku is desperate, you would also tell me that President Buhari was desperate. After the 2011 election, President Buhari told the world that he was not going to run again. The rest is history but today, he is the president. What is the desperation if somebody is following his dream and passion for his country? For me, it is not out of desperation but patriotic zeal and dedication towards one’s fatherland. They can turn it to anything they like because they do not have what it takes to lead this country.
What do you think is Atiku’s Unique Selling Point in the 2019 election after several failed attempts in the past?
Everybody who has won election in Nigeria has one or two unique selling points. Atiku has more than one or two. One is that Atiku has taken up a policy drive of restructuring that every Nigerian would benefit from except those who are deceiving themselves and those who want the status quo to remain. Here is the only man who is prepared to lead this country. Nigeria is fond of bringing unprepared people to power. It is on record that he is the only one who is prepared to lead Nigeria. We need the four Cs of leadership attributes. They are competence, character, capacity and compassion. Forget the fact that he was a Customs officer, forget the fact that he is a politician; here is a family man who has succeeded in all his various endeavours. This is a man who was orphaned at 11. These are his selling points and Nigerians should begin to look at that now and not all these shenanigans that people indulge in. All these people do not have what it takes to lead the nation out of the woods.
There is all these talk about Atiku’s blueprint which he gave to Buhari after he won the 2015 presidential election. What is actually the true story behind it? Is it true that Buhari accepted it with joy but later abandoned it?
It is true because immediately after the primaries, President Buhari went to see him and said, ‘I know you are the only one who is prepared for this thing.’ Buhari was not prepared for this position, let truth be told and every Nigerian knows that it is not hidden. If he was prepared, things could not have been like this. He would have made use of the blueprint but people around him misled him. They told him that Atiku is a capitalist and so on and so forth. Will the development of this country be predicated on such sentiments? You see, these people are not for Nigerians but for themselves. They are not helping the man and that is why you see the government embarrassed left, right and centre. President Buhari is a man of integrity and they know that Atiku is a man of integrity too but they cannot say it. This country needs change and genuine people who really love this country so that we can move forward. People are just in government for themselves alone. Atiku is not coming to government to steal money. He has made his money and he invested everything in this country. In the North East today, outside the government, he is the highest employer of labour. In the South South today, he is the second highest employer of labour apart from the government. How many of them have done that upon all the money they stole. So, for me, it is not only about the issue of corruption, they just want to paint him black. When somebody comes to tell you that Atiku is corrupt, ask him where is the evidence of the corruption? When you ask them such a question, they say all of them are corrupt. These are the things you find in the social media; is it not funny.
Against Buhari’s candidacy particularly in the North where the president is literally a small god, do you think, Atiku has a chance?
People should wait till 2019 to know whether Atiku would or not beat Buhari in the North. What he is telling the North about restructuring for instance is very simple. How can anybody tell you that Atiku is not popular in the North? What Atiku is telling the North is that you think that you are better off but you are not better off with the present situation. Sometimes you can never know how close you are if you do not sit down and talk. If the economy of northern Nigeria was based on the agricultural prowess in the 60s and they used the proceeds to build institutions, schools and all the developments you see there today, that is your comparative advantage. Why are you so scared? Atiku is telling them, we are not better off now but we can be when we restructure. Let us not be lazy but look inwards and develop ourselves; that is what our leaders do not want. So, when the time comes, they would see. I know that Atiku is popular across Nigeria. He has relationships that cut across barrier, language, religion, gender sentiments and so on. So, by 2019, they would see.
By 2019, Atiku would be 73 years, are you sure Nigerians would be ready for another old man in power considering the ugly experience which Buhari’s age brings in the current administration?
President Buhari came on board at 73 and Nigeria did not die because of that. Atiku is very healthy and he can provide his health records for anyone to see. I have no problem with people coming for younger generations to take over power because I am a young person too. If you ask me, I want to be Nigeria’s president but Nigeria is a big country and we need a capable hand to lead the nation. You need experience and capacity. Look at President Obasanjo, mention any person in Nigeria and he would tell you who he knows there and that is the type of person Atiku is. Atiku fully understands Nigeria. I am not saying the younger generation cannot take over but let us quickly do this analysis. As a young man, call a meeting today of your people and if you are lucky, you would have 30 people in attendance. In the next meeting, you would be lucky to have 20 people and the next after it, you would be lucky to have 10. Subsequently, you may not even see anybody. These things are not deliberate. It is the economic situation and the political configuration of the country. It is not as if they do not want to be part of the process. The younger generation does not have that capacity. Some youths can do well in the right environment. So, the truth is that the younger generation must wake up. What they should do is to come together and think strategically. Let us look at someone who has shown capacity; someone who has shown so much friendliness and care for the youths. And for me, in Nigeria today, it is only Atiku Abubakar that has done that. When you look at his programme in 2007, youth development took centre stage. He is somebody who has identified with the youth. In one session, he said, I do not mind giving 30 to 40 per cent of my government to the youth. If we strategically support this man, we can demand this from him. If in 2019, we support him to be president and he gives us that, we can build on that in 2023. We can leverage on that in the government, National Assembly and so on. That is the way it should go. We do not have the resources to fight these people and our political configuration does not give us the chance to do that. So, we need someone who has identified with us. Atiku is passionate about three things. He is passionate about Nigeria, successive generation and good governance.