The Special Adviser to General Ibrahim Babangida on Media, Prince Kassim Afegbua, says that despite what happened to the former military president in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), he is already a candidate for the 2007 presidential election.
Prince Kassim Afegbua
According to Afegbua, who spoke in Abuja, Babangida is already the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP), adding that it was obvious that there would be a gang-up against the former head of state in the PDP.
"Whether you like it or not, few people determine your fate when it comes to party primaries," he said, adding, however: "Essentially, Babangida has not been a party man, as it were. But he has all it takes to win a general election, to defeat anybody."
Afegbua spoke on these and many other issues.
Babangida and PDP
No matter what happened, we are on top of the situation. The General, IBB remains a formidable force in Nigerian politics and we cannot take that away from him. He enjoys the popularity across board. We knew that party primaries are essentially controlled by the machinery of the party, which could be manipulated to suit certain interests. We have an alternative, which is a fallback option. However, what is clear is that President Olusegun Obasanjo is unfair to Babangida. Babangida played a role in his emergence as president. We cannot understand why he could be against him in PDP. If he would not support him, at least he would have allowed all the aspirants to go to the party’s national convention and test their popularity. That was what we wanted.
What, then is your fallback option?
As I have always told anybody who cares to listen, IBB has been an aspirant in PDP, but he is a candidate in the NDP. That means, he has a political party that has endorsed him. He would embrace the party that has endorsed him and team up with other political parties that share his aspirations, his concerns, his policies and his programmes to present him to Nigerians as a viable political material to champion the aspiration of this country in the next four years.
No matter how you describe it, Babangida’s desire in 2007 is to introduce broad-based governance, which will be all-inclusive in nature such that people from other political parties will be given opportunity to present themselves for elections and represent the political viewpoint of their respective constituencies. He is not going to run an exclusive government. He has to spread it, instead of having just one political party winning 28 states in the governorship race, giving room to one party nation, Babangida will like to see a situation where different political parties win different portfolios.
It will be a kind of cross-fertilization of ideas, both the radical viewpoint and the other viewpoint, to propel the engine of growth. His desire is to see how we can bring people from different backgrounds, different ethnic stocks, that represent the divergent views of the Nigerian polity, to participate in governance so that we can reduce tension. What we have now is a tense situation that is waiting to explode at the slightest prompting and Babangida does not want that. He believes so much in the unity of this country.
Gusau’s declaration and Babangida’s aspiration
Nobody can disqualify Babangida. If you disqualify him, there are provisions in other political parties that will naturally buy into an IBB presidency. Do not forget that he has been a president in this country, he is a law abiding citizen, and he has all it takes. He has met all the constitutional provisions enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. The idea of contemplating that General Gusau is a standby does not arise. The relationship between Gen Gusau and Babangida is cordial. No doubt about that. Babangida is magnanimous.
Babangida is large hearted. He is one man who can stomach all kinds of bestiality and you feel nothing is amiss. That one is God given. He has all the inherent traits that is only peculiar to him alone that one begins to wonder whether this man is actually a Nigerian. But beyond that, this is politics. It has to do with self, the individual. What have you got to showcase and all that? Gusau may be trying to test his own popularity, which is permissible under a democratic process. So he has the right as a Nigerian to participate in the process.
NDP and the coming general election
As I speak to you now, we are doing our primaries and congresses. On December 16, we will be doing our Senate and House of Representatives primaries and on 21 December, we will be doing our presidential convention and in which case since IBB is our sole presidential candidate, we will just ratify him at the convention in line with article 27 of our party constitution.
Babangida’s programmes
Among all the presidential candidates in PDP, IBB is the only one who acts differently. He says he was not going to be a copy cat and that he will be innovative, creative and productive. Other persons said they want to continue with the reforms. He is the only one that has said he is not going to be a copy cat. That also means that circumstances in the future are not predictable.
You should also have at the back of your mind that when such circumstances come, we should have the ability to design policies and programmes to fit into those circumstances. Any other person who is saying he will continue with the reform, what happens when time changes, when climate changes, what happens? IBB is going to look seriously at all sectors of the economy. The energy sector is the number one in his priority. The Niger Delta Region is one area that is attractive and dear to his heart.
He has said time without number that he is going to introduce marshal plan on the Niger Delta region, and that means re-claiming the creeks so that we can build on them. Port Harcourt was reclaimed from the creeks, Victoria Island was reclaimed and today, it is the hotbed of corporate Nigerian business practice. So nothing stops us from reclaiming the creeks in the Niger Delta so that you can build good roads, you can build hospitals, you can build good schools and all that because when you go and understudy the entire terrain of the Niger Delta, you need to drain certain areas, you need to provide artificial land where it doesn’t exist. You need to go to those areas to see how you can make them habitable for the people.
Babangida has all that in mind. In addition, in the energy sector, he is looking at how he can decentralize the energy sector. People are saying that they cannot be connected to the national grid, that concept is becoming too over laboured. Whether we like it or not, we should allow the zones to have different power stations with capability of producing steady power supply that will naturally propel investment and stimulate foreign investors into the country and also be able to sustain our industrial base. He is looking at that. Security of the nation is so paramount in his mind. He has said it time and time that if given the opportunity to serve this country again in 2007, he will declare that particular sector an endangered specie because the security situation in the country is appalling.
When you are talking about foreign investment, one area you have to look into is security and also, the judiciary. The man who is coming to do business in your country must look at the kind of justice to be meted out to him in the event that he is being shortchanged or is being circumvented by sharp practices. He will also have to be sure that as he goes to sleep, he is sure of having a sound sleep.
What we have today is a reversal of that role. We are in a serious dilemma. If you travel on the road, the roads are not safe, arm banditry everywhere. If you are sleeping in your house, you are afraid of being visited by burglars and what have you. It is becoming so worrisome and it is going to be a collective effort. However, the government has to set the pace to pursue that vigorously and try to cement it. That is an attraction to Babangida presidency in 2007.
Babangida has the Midas touch. His Midas touch can be seen in the way and manner he champions his policies and programmes. He re-engineered this country. He took us away from our traditional ways of doing certain things and deregulated the economy to the point that a level platform was created for people to pursue their individual and committed enterprise and today, those who are the big players in the Nigerian economy graduated from that Babangida school of deregulation and aggressive market-driven economy.
The select few, who do not like his face, have been too vocal presenting issues on the reverse side. We have taken time to do a critical analysis that in the history of this country you cannot obliterate his eight years in government and say he did not do anything. He created institutions to manage different sectors of the economy, which is how his mind works. He is a man who believes in initiative, innovations and creativity. That is why we are saying that Nigerians should give him the opportunity to represent them and they will see, in the post-millennium Nigeria, the magic this man can perform. They will see a new Babangida who will have the opportunity of saying thank you to a country that have nurtured and provided him the opportunity to serve them. ( hehehehehihihihi)
Voters’ registration and INEC
Well, it is becoming worrisome. We raised this fear in the past. We said that the process has been cumbersome and that many Nigerians, eligible voters may be disenfranchised. Having said that, we are aware that INEC has its own programmes, in terms of the innovations it is going to introduce. We are saying that whether the innovations are right or wrong, the timing is becoming worrisome.
It is raising a lot of apprehension on the polity. People are beginning to wonder whether the commission is actually not doing the bidding of somebody outside, whether it is not doing the bidding of the Presidency and what-have-you. If you go to the field to find out what is happening, you will confirm Nigerians’ fears that 2007 may be heading for the rocks.
However, we still have to have a level of confidence in the process because head or tail, we want this government to leave power in May 2007, in the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution. The government will be terminating its mandate with the people on that date. In view of that, an election must hold. These are the issues at stake.
We must not afford to play with them. We are looking towards a free and fair election. If INEC cannot finish with whatever they are doing now, they should introduce Option A4, queue behind your candidate and the result will be counted there. That process was used in 1993 and it was adjudged to be the most credible election we have ever had in this country. Why don’t we re-visit such a system if what we are having at hand now cannot sustain the process as it were?
Spate of impeachment of governors
We thank God that the Supreme Court has re-instated Ladoja. Whether we like it or not, the way and manner impeachments have been carried out leaves much to be desired. The processes were unbecoming of a nation that is just trying to nurture democracy and follow the rules and regulations. It is quite ridiculous but we have to move ahead. We should not allow those impeachments to bother us so much. They are avoidable, but they said it is part of our learning process. The problem of our learning process is simple. We learn what is right except that we are not learning it right, because when you say you are in a learning process, it means, you do not know it. We know what the law says, but people choose to interpret it upside down.
EFCC’s renewed action against politicians
For a long time, we have said that EFCC is selective in the way and manner it handles its anti-corruption activities. The reasons are simple. If you want to do anti-corruption as it is done in every other country that has gone through this kind of process, what you need to do is to build institutions that will provide checks and balances, to remove monopoly and discretionary powers of those who are sitting in offices performing one role or the other on behalf of the state. However, if you allow one man to be performing the role of 10 men, you make him so powerful and you are indirectly and directly breeding corruption. Corruption is monopoly, plus discretion, minus accountability. EFCC ought to build institutions, teach people what its activities are, in ministries and corporate organizations.
Nigeria- The Sun News On-line
By ONUOHA UKEH Thursday, December 14, 2006
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