Former Deputy Director of Buhari Presidential Campaign Council, Engineer Mohammed Lawal, has taken former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to the cleaners.
Lawal, who is a director on the Board of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in an interview with VINCENT KALU, advised the former Vice President to shelve his 2019 presidential ambition because he was carrying a heavy and rotten baggage, adding, no amount of money or international connection would make him win the presidential election in Nigeria.
Atiku had during the week challenged anybody, who said he is corrupt to come forward with evidence or forever keep quiet. He also alleged President Muhammadu Buhari used and dumped him after the 2015 presidential election.
Lawal accused the Turaki Adamawa of plotting President Buhari’s failure because he lost the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in 2014.
As the race to 2019 builds up, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar seems to be challenging Present Muhammadu Buhari, how are you people going to handle this challenge?
We are in a democracy and we want to follow things according to democratic rules and games. The President is actually the leader of the party and the nation. Thus, he allows everybody to exercise their rights democratically.
With these parties, CPC, ACN, ANPP, a faction of APGA and also splinter group from PDP coming together to form All Progressives Congress (APC) and won the 2015 election, we are not unaware of the problems within the party, and there is no doubt about it tha some people have a different agenda.
You were the deputy director of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Council, considering the financial war chest of Atiku, can PMB match him in 2019?
You journalists are the mirror of the society. If Atiku will hoodwink students, voters and others it would be through you people. Money is not the issue.
The money he spent during the APC presidential primary, he can’t spend even close to that in 2019. This, I can assure you without contradictions.
Buhari didn’t have one tenth of that money, and he can’t spend that huge sum of money. What was the outcome? Buhari still floored him.
Atiku didn’t believe that Buhari would win the primary; he didn’t also believe that Buhari would win the election against the then incumbent President Jonathan.
He said it that Buhari was not going to defeat Jonathan. How can he claim that he spent money for Buhari whom he believed was not going to win the election? Atiku thought he would be made the leader of the campaign from the North. In fact, he didn’t invite anybody for the campaign, he ran away and left the country. The people he was supposed to invite, he didn’t invite them, instead, he ran away. He was aggrieved that Buhari won the primary, now he is saying he was not invited. He was supposed to invite people but he didn’t and now he is complaining that he was not invited, nor carried along.
What more can be done to Atiku? That Women Affairs Minister, Aisha Alhassan, we knew she had been with Atiku right from the beginning, and she didn’t hide it, We didn’t complain in spite of the fact that she was 100 percent loyal to Atiku. The president, in his magnanimity gave her ministerial appointment.
We are in this government and we;re aware of what is going on in this country.We’re aware of the meetings they are holding. We know what they are planning against this government.
Atiku is saying he is not being carried along, but that Alhassan is his political associate, and several others in the government. They knew that it was because of their association with Atiku that they were appointed. So, what is he telling Nigerians, who is fooling who?
For that minister to have made the comments that the government was not fair to her and to Taraba State revealed a high level of ingratitude and immaturity. People can be funny because Buhari has chosen to be a democrat.
The greatest project that this government is going into from now till 2019, even beyond is in her state, I mean…the multi billion naira Mambila Power Station that Buhari has signed the contract. This is a project that has been there for close to 50 years. No past leader thought it could be done, but Buhari came on board and said he would do it. It is a chain action, apart from Adamawa, a contiguous state to Taraba, it will also extend to other parts of the county.
You know power, with over 3,000 megawatts of electricity, Atiku and this lady are saying that Buhari has not done anything for them.We know what is happening, they are not being given a chance. Atiku has several businesses, he’s creating a monopoly by kicking out other players in those fields, leaving them disgruntled, and forcing them to close shops.
When the issue came up, we said no, we would never allow the idea of one person monopolising the business. We broke that monopoly and many Nigerians are operating those businesses.
Atiku has challenged those who said he is corrupt to prove it, is that not a challenge to the Federal Government?
First of all, he didn’t serve this government in an executive position. It is not our business to instigate anything. It is people who are instigating. It is not the government that is saying you he is corrupt, it’s the people saying that.
Whatever has been going on with people who were caught for corruption, it was not Buhari that instigated them – the money found with the NNPC former managing director, the NIA money at Ikoyi house, etc. It is not for you to say that you are not corrupt, people say it; whenever it is necessary some of us will come up. The government should investigate it. The monopoly he was enjoying was broken, and there are no regrets about that.
There are different sets of people, and some think they are cleverer than others. If corruption is evil, monopoly is the devil of corruption. In other climes, fine for monopoly is as heavy if not heavier than fine for corruption. Monopoly, which Atiku was involved is a sweeter corruption.
Is Atiku attacking to bring the president or the party down?
I consider Atiku as somebody who is not properly schooled because of his educational background, but he has got that exposure, which I give to him because of his service in the Nigerian Customs and Excise.
He is not properly schooled, if not, how can he say severally that there were no appreciable efforts in the fight against Boko Haram. Half of Adamawa, his state was made a no go area by Boko Haram. Is it in Borno, Gombe, Yobe, and this sect tried to attack Kano, they bombed United Nations Headquarters in Abuja. In those areas you can’t freely go to mosque to pray for fear of Boko Haram attack.
It was totally wrong for him to say there was no gain made in the fight against Boko Haram by Buhari.
Right from the word go, Atiku has not been fair to President Buhari, because he didn’t have it, let everybody lose. That is his position, if not, what warranted his attack on the President on the fight against Boko Haram, when it is very clear and the international community is applauding the efforts of Buhari in decimating the sect.
After the presidential election, he came to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari and left the country. He is complaining now that he was not contacted. I served as a Deputy Director at the Presidential Campaign Council. I knew all the intrigues. Atiku fought Buhari tooth and nail. He was extremely unhappy about the loss of the presidential primaries.
He did not campaign for Buhari during the election. He even refused to contribute any money. He promised to campaign and to contribute to the campaign. He did not contribute anything meaningful.
Let him say how much he spent. How much did he claim he spent? Is his money more important than his appearance at the campaign? He spent all the money he thinks he has to ensure that Buhari did not win.
People are not foolish. He told the BBC in 2015 that he was sure that Buhari was not going to win. So, will somebody who did not believe in the party’s candidate spend anything? He thinks he is very clever and spending his money.
With all his monies, Buhari still drowned him at the APC primary election. The same thing will happen to him. He has to be very careful, or they will even stone him even in his Adamawa State. They will start throwing stones at him if he doesn’t take time, you will see.
Nobody is afraid of him; he thinks he knows better than everybody and because he has the money. No, politics is not all a matter of money, your personality is also important. He had his time.
As the vice president of Nigeria, he went to give a speech sometimes ago in Arewa House, Kaduna, he said the greatest problem of Nigeria was bad leadership occasioned by people from this part of Nigeria, that is Northern leaders.
Senator Shehu Sani said Tinubu’s silence means that the president has sidelined him, and now, Atiku is attacking the president, does this suggest political conspiracy?
Tinubu is more exposed, more experienced than Senator Shehu Sani. Tinubu decided to keep silent for whatever reason I don’t know. Shehu cannot speak for Tinubu.
Some people are insinuating that he is being sidelined. How can somebody who has the vice president as his man say he is sidelined?
El-Rufai, other governors and ministers want Buhari to go for second term, is the president running for 2019?
As a Nigerian, as a politician and somebody who is conversant with how the system works, so as long as what it takes to run is there – he is alive, he is healthy and also, he satisfies the constitutional requirements. Secondly, I advise that it is safer if Buhari is running for 2019 to go with him.
The truth of the matter is that even if he is not running, he must have interest in who takes over from him.
If he is not running, don’t you think that there is no person that he will put forward that can defeat Atiku?
Let me be frank with you, Atiku is carrying a heavy baggage, bad and rotten. I told you earlier, from his primary constituency, which is the North, money is not everything.
No money, no influence and no international connection that would see Atiku become the president of this country. Atiku has a lot of baggage, rotten, and it is safer for him to play the kingmaker than him wanting to become the king.
Money alone doesn’t make the Nigerian president. We are all wise. Look at Shagari, was it money that made him become the president? What of Obasanjo, he was from the prison, was it his money?
He is saying others didn’t do well, and he is the only person who knows how to do it. Look at Buhari, was it money that put him there?
You keep saying that you have money, ok; lets see where the money will take you. He is the architect and hanging on to this restructuring clamour. He gave a speech, which he said Buhari was not sincere on restructuring.
Political evolution of a people or country is beyond restructuring. The president is saying we shall look at that and if there are issues that need change, we look at how we evolve as a political entity in this country.