Obong Victor Attah, 80, has always been passionate about politics. He was governor of Akwa Ibom State from May 1999 to May 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Afterwards, the architect-turned politician ran for the 2007 presidential nomination of the party, but later withdrew. Since then, he has been playing the role of an elder statesman, particularly in Akwa Ibom politics. Attah spoke to some reporters in Lagos about what the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari portends for Nigeria, the governorship election in Akwa Ibom State and other issues. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI was there.
What is the significance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory?
Throughout his first tenure, nobody can say that he was truly a party man in the conventional sense. Because of this, there were rumblings within his party. Some very big wigs were said to be considering leaving the party. In fact, some even thought that, by the time we get to the elections, the party would suffer an implosion. As it happened, that was averted. In his second coming, it is my conviction that he is going to pay even less attention to the party. With some serving governors being suspended from the party by the NWC for anti-party activities; with the earlier schisms that had gone to spawn new parties or swell the ranks of the PDP; with the evident shift in the support calculus, it is clear to me that, in the no–distant future, we will be singing its dirge. APC is going to be scattered – dead.
If Atiku had won, it is possible that he would have atikulated this country to the next level – to borrow from the slogan of both parties. But, I also had the fear that, if Atiku wins and the PDP gets back in the saddle, this country would be plunged into an orgy of intolerable excesses. With what has happened now, it is obvious that the fortunes of the PDP are also most likely going to change.
It took Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate, to provide that focus. Given his age and history of past attempts, this surely was for him a last ditch. With him off the scene, PDP is completely rudderless and with no anchor. It is safe to say therefore, that PDP too, which had also splintered in the past, will soon be scattered – dead.
There was yet a third group – the military bloc. They did not hide their support for Atiku and the PDP. They openly showed their hand and have been spanked. Their influence therefore, is bound to wane. It is my prediction that from now on, we are going to witness less and less of those pilgrimages to Abeokuta and Minna. With this loss of influence, it is also safe to say that the military oligarchy is dead. Buhari’s victory is the death knell to these power blocs.
It has started the process of dismembering these menacing Behemoths, pulling out their fangs, blunting their claws and neutralising their sting. Buhari’s victory has returned power to the common man. Positions negotiated in Abuja and Lagos over the heads of the people can no longer be guaranteed. His victory has therefore given Nigeria a long-delayed but much needed opportunity for a new life; an opportunity to chart a new course. That is why for me his victory represents not only the triumph of the common man, but indeed also a great blessing for Nigeria. An opportunity has now been created for fresh hands, an opportunity for a new leadership, to take over. Nigeria can now look forward to a new birth. The phoenix can now rise out of the ashes and attain its destined glory.
What should be the agenda of the administration in the second term?
First and foremost, Buhari must put a stop to all and every agitation to split up this country and there is only one way to achieve this. He must see to it that we re-enact and reinstate the terms and conditions of the agreement that caused all the various peoples of this country, at independence, to agree to come together and form one country – federalism. Anything short of this is to court a disaster of unimaginable magnitude. The popular word today that describes this is restructuring. My prediction is that unless this is done, by the end of his tenure in the next four years, there may not be a country called Nigeria as we know it today.
The second item on my agenda for the Buhari government is power. We must work relentlessly to see that in the shortest possible time every hamlet, every corner of this country enjoys twenty four hours constant supply of electric power. In today’s world, it is not a luxury but an absolute necessity.
Third on my agenda is the fight against corruption. The fact still remains that if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill us. This time the fight must be total and unsparing.
Next, President Buhari must put a stop to all the killings, whether by herdsmen, or Libyan mercenaries, marauders, cattle rustlers or whoever. Already human life has been degraded enough and if the killings continue and farmers stop going to their farms, all the gains made so far towards food security by this administration will come to naught and we will again be faced with a major disastrous phenomenon.
The final item on my agenda is the release of Leah Sharibu and the total annihilation of Boko Haram.
How can the above agenda be realised?
Given where we are now, there is a need for us to define the way forward. For me the way forward lies in a new beginning with a complete change of ethos and orientation. To achieve this I suggest the immediate formation of two national movements. The just concluded elections have done a lot to return power to the people and they have demonstrated that Nigerians want power to be held by people with integrity to which we should also add capability. Nigerians are completely fed up with people who seek power and positions just for the tyranny of controlling the treasury for themselves, their masters their investors and contractors rather than for the development of the real stakeholders – the people. I have no doubt that there abounds within our population of nearly two hundred million people, a sufficient number of quality people to whom the leadership of this nation can be trusted. So, the first movement, which I have suggested must be nationwide and not under the aegis of any political party, must be to search out the Moghalus of this nation. There must be quite a few of them. We must search for them, find them, groom them, assess them so that in less than the four years of this tenure, there will be no doubt in anybody’s mind as to who the people would want to be their next president. I should caution that this exercise, imperative as it is, would amount to an indulgence in extreme futility unless we also firmly re-establish the country. The next movement which must also be nationwide and not sponsored by any political party must therefore be the movement to restructure this country in a painless, equitably manner.
If Buhari fails to restructure, where do you see Nigeria?
Why do you call it pessimistic, because I don’t see a Nigeria without restructuring? I repeat, there can be no Nigeria without restructuring. What is going to happen is that the agitation for breaking up is going to get more violent, more virulent and the country will scatter. Certainly, Buhari would not allow that to happen. Even if his disposition today may not be one that says I am coming to restructure, when he knows that that’s what has to be done, so that there is a Nigeria for him to govern and handover to the next President, he will see the need to restructure.
Must restructuring happen in the next four years?
It doesn’t have to be in the next four years. But, it must begin now by laying the groundwork and he must show clear and sincere evident that we are moving towards restructuring. This is because the processes or the way to do restructuring equitably would entail a lot of negotiation to agree on how to do it. Do you know how long it took us to agree to form a federation at independence; some said we were ready, others said we were not ready. Restructuring is not going to be different. It is not going to be overnight, but we must agree that restructuring is what we must do, so that there can be a Nigeria.
Have you the elders ever thought of taking a letter to President Buhari, explaining your position?
Yes, an effort was made. I was interim chairman of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and we sent a 16-point agenda to President Buhari. Our focus was essentially the Niger Delta, but on national level restructuring. The larger focus of Ohanaeze, the Igbos, is restructuring; Afenifere also restructuring. So, we had this southern leaders forum, which was joined by the Middle Belt and at the end of the day by some personalities from the North, such as Ango Abdullahi and Junaid Mohammed. I don’t know if they represented groups such as the Arewa Consultative Forum or not. So, we wanted this country restructured, but sadly we committed a blunder; the same mistake that the military bloc made. We identified ourselves with a candidate. So, we were seen like a political party. For me, that was where we derailed. If had just said, Atiku if you win you must restructure, Buhari if you win you must restructure and so on. In other words, focusing only on restructuring, we would have been in a better position today. That is why I said there must be a new national movement dedicated to restructuring and not by any particular candidate. When the idea of a Christian governor came up in Lagos, the proponents of that idea did not ally themselves with any particular party or candidate. But at the end of the day, the two major parties chose Christian candidates.
How can this idea of a movement or third force be realised?
The first step is to accept the concept; once we accept the concept a way out would be found… Don’t forget the basic principle is to make sure that Nigeria remains together as a country. It is my conviction that unless we restructure, there would be no Nigeria.
During the campaign you did not speak on the politics of Akwa Ibom…
Maybe you weren’t paying attention. In October of last year, I addressed a press conference where I said I believed Nsima Ekere of the APC has 80 per cent chances of winning the 2019 governorship election. But with Akpabio jumping out of the PDP to go and join Nsima Ekere’s camp, I think he is going to destroy the chances of that young man winning the election. I was very graphic and I don’t want to repeat some of the things I said. Akpabio was an uncommon governor who has suffered an uncommon defeat and rejection by the common people of Akwa Ibom State. The unfortunate thing however was that the rejection affected Nsima Ekere and the APC. I’m trying to say that Udom won entirely by default, but at one time nobody really gave credit to Udom for anything. But, after Jonah jumped out of the boat and the boat was sailing smoothly, people started to appreciate what Udom has done , because they looked at Udom from a different light. Don’t mind what anybody would tell you about Mike Igini, Udom won the election cleanly. If I must say, I believe that Igini is one of the finest INEC commissioners in this country.
Did Udom win because of Akpabio?
Yes!
What is Akpabio’s baggage?
You are the problem – the press – because you like to make people into what they are not. If from the beginning you listened and you were thorough, you will not have encouraged Akpabio to continue the way he was going. But you turned him into something else, to the extent that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said it is not possible for Akpabio to lose. This is because he believed what you were writing about Akpabio.