From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former National Secretary and member, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Waziri Bulama, is a man with many enviable attributes as a politician and professional.
Speaking to Sunday Sun while carrying out a postmortem of the 2023 general election, Bulama claimed that the victory of President-elect, Bola AhmedTinubu, the defeat of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) did not come to him as a surprise.
He warned his party on the fatal consequences of mismanaging the controversies over the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
He also dismissed the negative tags against President-elect, just as he enumerated the landmark legacies recorded by the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari.
The 2023 general election has come and gone, complaints more than celebrations have trailed the outcome of the election, especially in the presidential elections. What are your impressions about the poll?
The presidential elections confirmed our predictions before the elections that Bola Ahmed Tinubu was set to win the elections. Our prediction for victory was based on several factors that include the size and spread of the APC across the nation; well planned and executed mobilisation strategy; issue-based messaging and finally unity of party behind the APC candidate. On the whole, the 2023 general elections had been adjudged by independent observers and civil society groups, to be largely peaceful, transparent and credible. We are very happy that the APC government conducted this election without deploying the power and resources of government to its advantage as witnessed under the PDP government. The complaints on the 2023 general elections are largely from the strategists of the PDP and Labour Party. The outcome of the elections appeared as shocking surprise because the techniques they deployed in the campaign and election day did not work. The opposition relied on ethnic, religious, regional sentiments and appeals in their strongholds. This, in addition to getting endorsements and sympathy of some powerful personalities and groups in and outside the corridors of power, all of which failed to bring votes.
Why has it become so difficult for the APC family to celebrate the 2023 presidential election victory?
The APC leadership discouraged “gloating” after the elections because of political maturity and statesmanship. The leadership of the party understands that victory in an election is a call to duty; a sobering moment; a genuine call by our beleaguered countrymen for hope and change in our country. The APC leadership understands the burden and responsibility this victory carries; the need to fix lingering insecurity concerns; address rising cost of foodstuff; resolve fuel and electricity shortages and so on. The celebration in APC was subdued largely because the leaders urged us on the need to be responsible, dissuade polarizing and toxic debates that accompanied the campaigns and work towards national unity and progress. Nonetheless, I guess muted celebrations may still be made on two upcoming occasions i.e. after winning the court cases and on inauguration day on May 29, 2023.
You did not give Labour Party (LP) any chance before the presidential elections, did the performance of LP surprise you?
The LP came a distant third. Its performances, did not come as a surprise, with its limited performance attained largely from votes from persons that fell to the identity based campaign. But on the other hand, the ultimate goal of all the 18 political parties registered by INEC was to win the presidential elections. In my previous interview, I stated that the LP could not possibly win the presidential elections. This was because LP had serious limitations in membership and structure; its campaign unfortunately tried to exploit religious and ethnic sentiments in some zones leading to deep frenzy and unrealistic results favouring them. Such campaign model that had failed to work severally in the past in Nigeria, was ill-fated because getting the required national spread covering 24 states as required by the Nigerian Constitution would be a challenge. We feel vindicated.
The zoning of the 10th National Assembly leadership is tearing apart your party and Nigerians, what is the way forward to resolve the controversies?
With all due respect, our great party, APC, will not be torn apart as a result of the rich and diverse opinions on the contest for the new leadership of the 10th Assembly. The APC has so far remained united since its formation in 2013 and has succeeded in managing many complex national challenges successfully and harmoniously. It is my strong view that the official position of the APC as the apex organization in the APC family is very important in building a consensus towards producing an acceptable leadership for the 10th Assembly. The leadership of the APC will avoid any situation that will polarize the party. Even though divergent opinions have been sounded, more consultations are expected to follow as already stated by the National Chairman. This is expected to result in a strong consensus to prevail on the flow of the 10th National Assembly for rancour free elections upon inauguration.
Despite winning the presidential election, why has leadership crisis continued to rock your party, especially among members of the NWC demanding the sack and/or resignation of the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, over sundry issues of accountability and high-handedness?
There is no leadership crisis in the APC at the moment. The critical opinion of one member of the NWC, Salihu Lukman is only a personal opinion. Many party members are not happy that minor observations on routine procedural intra-party issues are taken to the public square.
This is because all organisations, especially political parties, do encounter minor glitches that are addressed internally periodically. The fact that there are no caucuses or groups in the party joining the solo agitation shows that there is no serious leadership crisis in the APC. At the moment, the APC is fully focused on managing very important transition issues, having won a landmark and historic general elections.
Many Nigerians are relieved that Buhari is going out as President because to many of them he left the country as a debtor nation, he left economic woes, insecurity, disunity, nepotism, among others. How do you think Buhari will be remembered?
It’s too early for a proper take on the tenure of President Buhari. An objective assessment of President Buhari’s eight year reign will have to be placed within a certain context much later in the future, by comparing his tenure to the leadership that preceded and also that which succeeded him. However, on the most fundamental issues of national concern, President Buhari, as statesman and reluctant politician did some remarkable things for our great nation. Just as he pledged, he tackled security threat to the survival of the nation especially in the Northeast, improved quality of elections, invested massively in infrastructure, restored Nigeria’s global image and was able to minimise political persecutions, arson and politically motivated killings during his tenure.
Several legacy projects will remain testament of his tenure such as the second Niger Bridge, revival of railways, many new universities, polytechnics, colleges of education with improved funding through TETFUND.
Many negative connotations have been attributed to the President-elect, drug addict, certificate and nationality scandals, unfit health etc. What can he do to change such perception in the minds of many Nigerians?
All these negative taggings have been found to be false over and over again. This is because the multiple assessments and screenings Bola Ahmed Tinubu had gone through in his professional and political career of over 40 years has put paid to these allegations. It is only a man with stellar records that will qualify for employment in a finance company in USA or Mobil Nigeria. That also includes the rigorous processes passed to emerge as Senator in 1992, Governor in 1999 and President in 2023. Looking at such a successful pedigree, there is no iota of truth whatsoever in those claims. We in APC are very proud of him and are extremely optimistic that he will not be deterred by hate campaign.
Do you think Tinubu can escape the prayers he is facing in the court from his detractors, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, prosecuting him?
My short answer to this is that for us in the APC we have seen no personal or legal defects in Asiwaju’s candidature. We elected him overwhelmingly in our party as our candidate to present him to the nation. He was voted massively by Nigerians, as the next president in a credible, free and fair election. He won fair and square.
What are those things you want Tinubu to do to turn around the sinking ship of the country?
To the contrary, in spite of many challenges, the picture of Nigeria we see is that of promise and renewed hope. We are optimistic that Nigeria will sail smoothly into enduring peace, rapid progress and abundant prosperity. First, as a committed democrat, I will feel happy seeing Asiwaju continue engaging the political elite in the country collectively towards promoting democracy, rule of law, accountability and transparency – sure way for survival of nations that are diverse and heterogenous. Secondly, I will like to see more investments in economic infrastructure.
Third, I will like to see attention given to re-emergence of the middle class in Nigeria by promoting entreprenuership and small businesses – encouraging and facilitating Nigeria’s educated, but under-employed professionals would boost production, self-reliance, national dependence and productivity and ultimately enhanced GDP.