Prince Tony Momoh, a former Minister of Information was the national chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) which later merged with some political parties to form the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI in Abuja, he speaks on President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration for reelection, former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter and latest developments in the ruling party.
Excerpts:
The president’s declaration generated mixed reactions from Nigerians with many saying he has not done enough to merit a second term. What is your take on this?
If they believe he has not done anything in his first term, then they have the option of voting him out. If they can muster the votes to vote him out, good luck to them. I was telling someone some few minutes ago that don’t look only at what Buhari has failed to do, also look at what could have happened if Buhari had not been there.
One major thing that could have happened if Buhari was not elected is that most of us enjoying Abuja and talking peace would never have been around because Boko Haram would have overrun Abuja.
That is the clearest danger that was prevented by Buhari’s coming. Whatever people say about whether Boko Haram has been degraded or not, the fact is, in the North East today, Boko Haram is not holding any territory. Lots of people have now returned to their farms. Another fact is that today, we are not using all our monies in importing food.
The fact that we have also gotten out of recession is another plus. Look at the South- East, in 16 years results of the presidential election were written up. 99 percent of the results were written up and there is no doubt about that. Though Buhari did not have more than 5 percent in most of the areas, I am sure that there is no way in the 2019 presidential election, Buhari will get a minimum of 25 percent that needs in the South East and South South.
That is one area that a lot of people don’t think about that he will make inroads in those areas. Buhari has done a lot for those regions in the last three years and I am confident that they will appreciate him with votes.
For instance, Onitsha- Enugu road, go there today and see what the Buhari government has done. What PDP failed to do in 16 years has been done. Enugu- Okigwe- Port Harcourt you can pass that road today.
Also, the erosion sites are being addressed. Also, look at the social security programmed of the federal government, the one meal per day. So, a lot of things are being done by the Buhari government.
Power is being generated from 3,000mw to 7,000mw. Things are happening. Look at the achievements in TSA and BVN. The blockages are there for everyone to see. The loss of the looters is the gain of the system. The economy is not full-time boom, unemployment is still there. But it is unfair for anyone to say things are not happening.
There were reports that he once said if he becomes president, he will only serve one term. Why do you think he is changing his mind now?
Buhari never said he will only contest for a single term. Buhari I know will never say so. In fact, he said he will not contest again after the 2011 election. I was the national chairman of CPC and I said ‘shut up! You are a member of CPC. It is the party that decides where you go to.
You are only an individual and so, he bowed to the wishes of the party. So, he never said he will do a single term but even if he said so can he not change his mind? But I am saying that he didn’t say so. He is constitutionally qualified to contest twice.
We have people who fought for the third term in this country. This man has not even contested for the second term and you are saying he should not contest. If you are a member of the party and you are telling people not to contest, it will be understandable. But you belong to other parties and you are telling someone in which party you are not a member, not to contests. People should respect themselves, otherwise, some people will take issues with them.
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has advised President Buhari not to seek reelection in 2019, citing his non-performance as an example. Do you think his call is justified?
I don’t want to say anything derogatory about Obasanjo. I respect him, he is highly cerebral and he is of high consequence in our polity. In 1979, he gave us Peugeot as official car and Volkswagen.
In 1999 when he came back, he ditched Peugeot as official car brought Jeep. It is as if he regretted the sacrifices he made up till 1979 and wanted to live a life of opulence after 1999.
Obasanjo was really very poor by the time he came out of prison in 1998 but by the time he left office, he wasn’t a poor man. Up to the time, he came back to the office in 1999, he was saying anything about whoever came. After 1999 and up till now, he has had a say in who is there. But the fact is that Obasanjo’s relevance in political calculation has limitations because it is the votes that will count at the end of the day.
I am happy with his guts because he knows that he cannot risk putting up a political party that will win an election. If he does and the party loses, he is finished politically. So, he won’t try it. If he says Buhari should not seek reelection, it is his own business to say so. There is freedom of expression but he does not have the forces to stop Buhari. He doesn’t have what it takes politically to stop Buhari.
Some people have claimed that once Obasanjo moves against any president, such a president cannot get a second term as witnessed in the last presidential election where the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan lost. Do you also share that view?
Obasanjo will not get involved in any coup and no coup in Nigeria that is resisted ever succeeded. So, how will he remove Buhari and put another person there? Will he call the Yorubas, Northerners, South Easterners and South-South to vote against Buhari?
You were alleged to have said Nigerians should stone APC leaders if the party failed to perform in two years. Do you think the party and President Buhari have performed to the expectations of Nigerians?
Yes, I said stone us if we didn’t perform but we have performed. Look at the economy, we came out of recession. Look at the revolution in agriculture; look at what we have also achieved in the area of fighting corruption. I make bold to say that there is no president since 1999 that has performed Buhari has done?
Are you saying in three years President Buhari surpassed Obasanjo’s achievements in eight years?
Yes, by far! From 1999 to 2003, there were parallel presidency, Obasanjo, and Atiku. Obasanjo spent one year travelling out of his first four years. He left governance to Atiku to such an extent that Atiku was calling the shots. I was working for Ekwueme and we were discussing with Atiku to run with Ekwueme. Unfortunately, Obasanjo went to meet Atiku, I don’t know what agreement they reached but the fact is that Atiku changed his mind. When Obasanjo and Atiku won the 2003 election, people from Adamawa sent a delegation to Obasanjo asking him to support Atiku for 2007. I was writing my column that time in Democracy Watch and I predicted that the first casualty of Obasanjo’s return in 2003 will be Atiku. Between 2003 and 2007, Obasanjo spent the most time trying to dislocate Atiku. In 2005, because the soul of PDP was PDM, Atiku’s party on whose platform Obasanjo got to power, the then PDP chairman, Ahmadu Ali announced that PDP had sacked everybody and they should go and re-register but the instruction was PDM members, Atiku’s people should not be registered and so they deregistered PDM. Atiku and Obasanjo were so much at loggerheads that Atiku as Vice – President had no work to do and he was funding his office with his own money. Obasanjo even wanted to remove him as his deputy but the courts refused. So in Obasanjo’s eight years, he spent the first three years trying to find his feet, he then spent the last year settling down. However, the next four years that he would have sat down to do his work, he was busy using it to destablise Atiku and therefore destabilising the polity. After the eight years has gone, he now wanted Third Term which Nigerians kicked against. Obasanjo’s coming from 1999 to 2007 was a time that he would have really built Nigeria just like Rwanda and other countries did but those eight years were the greatest disaster in our democracy project.
