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Tag: Balarabe Musa

  • Balarabe Musa calls for restructuring of Nigeria, bemoans marginalisation of Igbo

    Balarabe Musa calls for restructuring of Nigeria, bemoans marginalisation of Igbo

    FORMER Kaduna State governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has thrown his weight behind the clamour for the restructuring of Nigeria, with the six geo-political zones serving as the federating units. The former governor, in a message he sent to the 18th Annual Convention of the Igbo Youths Movement (IYM), held in Enugu, warned that the nation would remain in arrested development mode unless it is restructured to achieve true federalism.

    The theme of the convention is “How to� resolve the crisis of Nigeria as a nation”. The former governor’s message, which was read by the president of IYM, Evang. Elliot Uko, stated:“As presently constituted, the states are virtually all unviable entities which are incapable of continuing to exist as viable constituent �units of a true federal structure. Secondly, reverting to say, a six regional structure, would reduce the competitive pressure for power at the centre and redirect more attention to regional political competencies.”

    Musa sympathized with the Igbo ethnic nationality for accumulated marginalization and unfair treatment in the Nigeria federation, especially since after the civil war. “There can be little doubt that the Igbo ethnic nationality– like many other ethnic nationalities which today constitute the Nigerian state – have had a raw deal in the Nigerian project. This has been particularly so since the conclusion of the unfortunate Nigerian civil war and the failure of the state to continue to be faithful to the policy of ‘no victor, no vanquished.

    “At best, the policy of reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation have not been diligently pursued by successive federal �administrations. This raw deal for the Igbos has manifested in many facets of national life, and has been particularly obvious in their representation on the security apparatus and political structures of the state, where Igbo participation has, at best, been merely marginal and tokenish.”

    Other speakers at the event, including; Professor (Senator) Banji Akintoye; former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi; Prof. Felix �Oragwu, and Prof Obasi Igwe of the Political Science Department of the University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsukka, all spoke in support of restructuring of the country and empowering the youths to take greater responsibility in the nation’s governance. Akintoye said that overcentralization of power at the centre was the root of all evil in Nigeria. He said that since youths constitute 55 percent of the nation’s population, they should rise up and take over power through democratic means, advising that the youths of various ethnic groups stop attacking each other as they all face common problem in Nigeria.

    Former Governor Peter Obi said that he was appalled by the culture of waste of resources and misplacement of priority by some governors, saying that it was unbelievable that when people don’t have food to eat and light in their houses, some governors spend humongous amount of money decorating streets and providing street lights during Christmas celebrations.

  • Balarabe Musa: APC must insist on party supremacy

    Balarabe Musa: APC must insist on party supremacy

    Abdulgafar Alabelewe in Kaduna spoke with Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the former governor of old Kaduna State.

    Second Republic Governor of the old Kaduna State and prominent Northern voice, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, has told the All Progressives Congress (APC) to insist on party supremacy in the current crisis rocking the party in the National Assembly.

    Balarabe Musa however said, President Muhammadu Buhari must wade into the National Assembly crisis, should his party fail in doing so, arguing that, if the President fails to do so, the National Assembly will lead him into a worst situation than they led President Shehu Shagari in 1979.

    According to the septuagenarian politician, APC cannot afford to let go of the developments in the National Assembly because its existence as a party depends on the loyalty of its members.

    In his words, “No political party worth its name will sponsor a candidate and leave the candidate to do what he feels like, because at the end of the day, the party will be responsible for his conduct.

    “Even as we talk of democracy and internal democracy, we cannot exclude the power of a political party over the power of a candidate it has sponsored in an election to represent it because there, they are representing the party.

    “Under this circumstance, the APC should insist on the supremacy of the party without undermining democracy. It must insist on the loyalty of its members otherwise there will be no party and there will be no party government.

    “First, the party through  its National Chairman should try to convince the members of the party in the National Assembly of the need to listen to the party and take guidance from the party,” he said.

    The first Executive Governor of Kaduna however advised that if the National Assembly members refuse to listen to the party chairman, the President must intervene between the party and members of the National Assembly.

    “But this will be very difficult under the current circumstance because those he would be persuading are not members of his party, this is because it was PDP members who elected the Senate President and the Speaker, so there is a limit to how the party and President can prevail over these members. He will be trying to prevail over Senators and members of the House of Representatives who are not members of APC but PDP, the party he defeated just yesterday. So, it is not an easy task, it is a very difficult matter.

    “But all the same, President Muhammadu Buhari has been elected as the President of all Nigerians, like the Yoruba say, ‘Oga patapata or Kabiyesi’ and the north would say ‘Sarkin yanka’. So, the President has  enormous power irrespective of the party. If he is skillful, he can still prevail over the members of the Senate and House of Representatives to behave in the interest of the country,” he opined.

    While he likened the current development to the 1979 regime of President Shehu Shagari, Musa advised Buhari to turn to Nigerians for assistance if the National Assembly insist on dragging him into Shagari’s predicament.

    According to him, “at the end of the day, Nigerians will choose whether to support the president or the legislature and from the look of things, Nigerians will prefer to go with their president, rather than pitching their tent with the legislature.

    “One example the President should be reminded, because he knows about it is that during the Second Republic, when Shagari was the President of Nigeria and we were governors, a serious problem arose within three months of our swearing-in. Members  of the National Assembly attempted to fix their own remuneration. When Shagari realised that the economy of the country at that time could not support that, he called meeting of the National Economic Council and informed us that he called members of NPN in the Senate for a dinner and they refused to attend because he did not support the idea of National Assembly fixing its enumeration.

    “So, he sought  for our help irrespective of our party differences. Initially, we told him to handle it alone since it was an NPN internal matter, but after making us to understand that it will become a national issue, we agreed to form a 5-man committee, made up of a governor from each of the five parties. After the committee sat down and recommended remuneration for all public officers throughout the country, from local government to the Presidency.

    “After submitting our recommendations to the President, he went to the press to publish the recommendations of the National Economic Council and the National Assembly was up at arms, the Senate in particular, under the leadership of Senator Joseph Wayas. They even threatened to remove governors from members of the National Economic Council.

    “Again, the President on our advice decided to involve party leaders to prevail on their members in the National Assembly because they were all sponsored by parties. So, Awolowo, Zik, Aminu Kano, Waziri Ibrahim and Akinloye were all invited to a meeting of party leaders with governors. In spite of the animosity between Shagari and Awolowo, Awolowo did not prevent his party governors from attending the meeting to help Shagari because he saw it as a national matter, but to our surprise, Senate President came to the meeting laughing. We later discovered that the President had approved the money they wanted.

    “Now, that failure of the President to restrain the National Assembly members from fixing their own remuneration opened the gate of corruption, stealing and criminal waste of resources in this country, which we are still battling with. If Shagari had been able to stop them, we wouldn’t have been where we are today.  Immediately they got that, they began to give themselves all sort of allowances and harass ministers, asking for contracts and all that.

    “Now, APC’s President Muhammadu Buhari is now facing the same problem that Shagari faced and could not deal with it. Now, if the President fails to prevail on the members of the National Assembly and fails to call on Nigerians for support, they will lead him to the same situation as they led Shagari and his own will even be worse because the state of the nation as it is today is more negative, 100 times more negative than it was in 1979,” said Balarabe Musa.S

  • Balarabe Musa canvasses for Unity Govt

    Balarabe Musa canvasses for Unity Govt

    Former Governor of old Kaduna State Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa has canvassed for the formation of a Government of National Unity by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The former governor also advised Buhari, Senators Ahmed Lawan, Bukola Saraki, and other National Assembly members involved in the pursuit of leadership positions in the 8th National Assembly to be driven by national interest.

    Alhaji Musa told The Nation that President Buhari would need the support of credible Nigerians across all the political parties to enable him rebuild the country.

    He urged Nigerians to be patient with the President as he takes his time to settle down and assemble members of his cabinet. He urged President Buhari to choose among the pools of honest, credible and tested Nigerians who are prepared to make selfless service for the country as Ministers.

    He said the President should hit the ground running with a socio-economic development agenda that has zero tolerance for corruption and the culture of impunity, stressing that under the new dispensation the states should play pivotal roles in the development of the economy.

    According to the former government, President Buhari besides fighting corruption headlong should consider a leading role for states government in the development of the economy especially as enshrined in section 30 of the 1999 constitution.

    He said the government should reverse the idea of wholesale privatisation of Nigeria economic assets for the sake of posterity, justice, equity, fairness and rapid development of the country. “In privatisation of public assets, states should not be relegated to the background in favour of the private sector, in fact, the states should play a leading role in view f their closeness to the masses,” he submitted.

    He criticised the current system of privatisation of public assets where only the federal authority carried out the assignment without contribution from states and other stakeholders, saying the country cannot achieve the desired growth when public institutions are managed in such a way.

    On the choice of the leadership of the National Assemble, Alhaji Musa said: “The Senators have the right to choose who to lead them irrespective of the party position or the national leadership. The most important thing is for them to put the interest of the nation above personal interest.

    “There should be no need for acrimony among the contenders for the various positions. The independence of NASS would also depend on how their leaders emerge. I don’t think their quest to get leaders of their choice should hit up the politics. I don’t see how.”

     

  • Mass protest looms if election is shifted again -Balarabe Musa

    Mass protest looms if election is shifted again -Balarabe Musa

    Second Republic governor of the old Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, said Nigerians will massively protest any fresh attempt to shift this year’s elections.

    The insurgency in the Northeast, he said yesterday in Kaduna, is not sufficient to warrant further postponement of the polls.

    The Presidential/National Assembly  Elections originally scheduled for February 14 and the Governorship/State Assembly polls fixed for February 28 were shifted to March 28 and April 11 respectively following pressure from the military that its men would not be available this month in view of their engagement with the terror sect, Boko Haram.

    However, Alhaji Musa told reporters at the end of a meeting of his de-registered Peoples Redemption party (PRP) that government should not take Nigerians for a ride any longer  on the issue.

    “If election is shifted again, majority of Nigerians will oppose it, they will demonstrate against it,” he said.

    “Nigerians will come out massively to oppose it because another shift will not be in their interest. Another shift will mean that government wants to remain in power.

    “If ,therefore, a six-week delay is the sacrifice which Nigerians have to make to ensure that every registered voter is given an opportunity to exercise (or not to exercise) his constitutional right to vote, so be it. But Nigerians cannot tolerate another shift of election date.

    “We will not tolerate another shift because we are nobody’s slave; we are free people, and this country is free. This country belongs to all of us, it does not belong to a clique.”

    He added: “Continuation of Boko Haram activities is not an excuse to shift election again because Boko Haram is occupying less than 14 percent of Nigeria. We can tolerate this.

    “We should conduct election in spite of the insurgency. The moment we can have free, fair and transparent elections leading to eligible government in the country, even Boko Haram will respect such government, and they will go to the negotiation table.”

    He deplored the high cost of contesting elections in the country.

    According to him, anyone seeking to be president will require in the region of N50billion to make an impact.

    He also expressed disgust at the deteriorating standard of living in the country saying: “The situation in the country has continued to nosedive and the impact of this on the material well being and circumstances of the mass of our people continues to bite very hard.

    “All of this is happening in the midst of unmitigated profligacy, institutionalised stealing of public resources and the political unaccountability of the ruling classes.

    “When we turn to the security situation in the country, matters are not better. Again, things remain as bad if not worse: Boko Haram continues to wax stronger, in spite of all the exaggerated claims by President Jonathan and his security chiefs that they are on top of the situation.

    “For us in the PRP and other parties and organisations in the Credible Alternative Alliance (CAA) the postponement of the elections was necessary and inevitable, not for the security excuses proffered by INEC, but because of the poor handling of the distribution of Permanent Voter Card, (PVC) by INEC.

    “This is because the right to vote is an entitlement protected by the constitution of the country and so cannot simply be wished away, expunged or nullified by any measure whatsoever, administrative or otherwise, emanating from any government agency and certainly not INEC.”

  • 2015: PDP under pressure to name N21b cash donors

    2015: PDP under pressure to name N21b cash donors

    Balarabe Musa, others allege monetisation of politics

    Who are the moneybags who at the weekend donated N21.7billion to President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign fund?

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was under pressure yesterday to unveil the identities of the donors.

    There were sectoral and individual donors. Besides, governors, whose states are yet to pay two months’ salaries, donated huge cash at the Presidential Villa.

    Some prominent citizens condemned the frund raising as “monetisation” of politics.

    The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prevail on the PDP to name the faceless donors.

    The chairman of the occasion, Mr. Tunde Ayeni, donated N2 billion.

    He said N1bn was from him and his partner, and another N1bn from  their friends. He did not name them.

    Players in the Oil and Gas sector announced a donation of N5bn; those in Real Estate and Building donated N4bn; Transport and Aviation, N1bn; Food and Agriculture, N500m; Power, N500m; Construction, N310m; Road Construction, N250m; National Automative Association, N450m; and Shelter Development Limited, N250m.

    The Chairman of the fundraiser committee, Prof. Jerry Gana, said his friends and associates in the power sector were donating N5bn.

    The PDP Governors Forum shelled out N1.05billion.

    Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda, who spoke on behalf of the PDP governors, said each 21 of them would donate N50m.

    The SIFAX Group announced N100m. PDP stakeholders in Rivers State supported Jonathan’s bid with N50m.

    The 15 states on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission donated N15million.

    To Second Republic Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa, the fund-raising reflected the monetisation of politics by PDP leaders. It smacked of irresponsibility, he said.

    He added: “It is money stolen from the government. The money could not have been donated by someone who earned it legitimately. They are monies stolen from the public fund. Can they say the money is from their pocket? My advice is that those who stole public funds should not go away with it.”

    Legal luminary Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) lamented that political leaders had elevated next year’s elections over and above the collective survival of the country.

    In his view, it is disheartening that the ruling party could raise N21billion when many state governments cannot pay workers.

    Akintola stressed: “My own concern is the way we elevate politics over and above the economy and security. Nigerians are suffering in millions. People are not living well. The standard of living has fallen. Twenty-four states cannot pay salaries. They are begging workers to be patient. Yet, some people contributed N21 b. This amount can pay the salaries of workers in many states.

    “They should have human face. We are preparing for elections. We are not concerned about the existence of Nigerians.”

    Second Republic Lagos State Governor Lateef Jakande condemned what he called the PDP’s penchant for monetisation of electioneering, saying that it is a bad omen for democracy.

    Jakande added: “It is a dangerous sign for the future to monetise our politics to that extent. It is very bad. My advice is that other political parties should not emulate the PDP. They should do better. The masses are the most important people during elections. My appeal to the APC and other political parties is to mobilise the masses in a rational way without financial inducement.”

    Former Lagos State Deputy Governor Rafiu Jafojo said it was wrong for the PDP to intimidate other parties with its capacity to raise huge money for elections, instead of resolving the crisis confronting the country.

    He said: “The power of money will crumble in 2015. If they have the capacity to raise money, why don’t they have the capacity to also turn the economy around and end the Boko Haram insurgency? What do they need the money for? Where is the money coming from? Who are the donors? Nigerians need the full list of donors.”

    Afenifere Deputy Leader Senator Ayo Fasanmi, frowned at the fund-raising, saying that the N21 b is scandalous. He queried: “N21 billion for what? Do you want to purchase the votes of the people? The naira is in shambles. Boko Haram is on the rampage. What is the money for?”

    Fasanmi chided the PDP for wasting public funds on trivialities, adding that no amount of financial power can stop power shift in 2015.

    The elder statesman added:  “It is scandalous in a nation that cannot pay monthly salaries to workers. They have monetised the process. It is not good for democracy. It is undesirable. People are taking note. N21 billion for one person in a country where people can’t have three square meals? They are over-stretching people’s patience.

    “In 2015, their money cannot prevent progressives from taking power. Buhari and Osinbajo will rule this country. The next election is about the struggle for redemption, not about raining billions. No amount of billions can save the PDP from electoral catastrophe. People are ready. It will be one man, one vote.”

    Comrade Osita Obi, Anambra State Coordinator of Igbo Patriots and Chairman, Environment Watch said: “The money donated by the PDP members and contractors is a waste of resources. This is unacceptable to Nigerians. This is the reason why people will vote out Goodluck Jonathan and vote in Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to correct the anomalies in the system.

    According to him, the donors are contractors donating money meant for Nigerian roads. They are diverting people’s resources to mere campaign for Jonathan’s return in 2015. He said: “Jonathan must vacate the seat and people are going to vote him out to make way for somebody, who has the interest of the people at heart.”

    Comrade Obi Ochije, Anambra State Co-ordinator of Transform Nigeria Movement said: “The donation is a bad thing for democracy in the country. If people in power and their contractor friends could donate such amount for a sitting president, what example are they showing to the so-called leaders of tomorrow? These are people who are looking for contracts to execute and are wasting resources meant for you and I, and they want us to be clapping for them. We cannot clap for them. They say a good turn deserves another but Jonathan do not deserve the votes of the masses.

  • 2015: Only revolution can bring credible leaders, says Balarabe Musa

    2015: Only revolution can bring credible leaders, says Balarabe Musa

    A former governor of the old Kaduna State and National Chairman of the deregistered Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has said the masses should prepare for a peaceful revolution for the 2015 general elections to be fair, free and credible.

    The former governor said only such a revolution would bring the exemplary leaders the people deserve.

    He noted that since the country’s political system had been hijacked by moneybags, the hope of the people getting credible leaders through their votes would remain a mirage.

    Musa spoke in Kaduna at the weekend after meeting with members of the National Executive Committee of the party to find alternative political strategies, following its deregistration by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The former governor said PRP would continue to fight for the cause of the downtrodden.

    He said: “I know Nigeria’s situation; it is impossible to have free, fair, credible and transparent elections leading to a democratic mandate. We need a revolution; we need a peaceful democratic revolution …to bring about the condition that will bring about free, fair, credible and transparent elections that will lead to legitimate leadership.

    “Let us be objective. Elections today are decided by three factors: money power, incumbency and balance terror. That was how elections were decided in Ekiti and Osun states. The ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can do and undo with the people’s votes. So, a revolution is the answer, whether peaceful or otherwise.”

     

  • Subject confab outcome to referendum – Arewa, others

    The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) suggested on Thursday that the outcome of the National Conference should be subjected to a referendum.

    The National Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that Nigerians should be allowed to determine the decisions taken at the conference.

    “It is our hope that at the end of the conference the recommendation would be subjected to a referendum, so that at the end of the day Nigerians can say that we have participated in the decision that may culminate into a new constitution,” Ibrahim said.

    On his part, Alhaji Bala Yunusa, a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, said the decisions taken should be subjected to legislation.

    “In our constitution there are two ways to enforce a law, it is either through legislation of the National Assembly or through a referendum.

    “It should not be through a white paper where the executive can just pass it and say it has become an administrative law.

    “These are issues governing the whole country, the best way to do it is through amendment of the constitution.

    “So we have to follow the democratic procedure by going to the National Assembly to amend the constitution,” he added.

    However, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, a veteran politician, said the conference was unpopular as the delegates were not representing Nigerians, but “one man.”

    Musa said “there must be a truly national conference” in which delegates would be elected by all Nigerians to take decisions on their behalf.

     

     

  • ‘PDP will be defeated, if opposition unite’

    ‘PDP will be defeated, if opposition unite’

    Second Republic Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa spoke with Correspondent TONY AKOWE on the proposed national dialogue, 2015 elections and the chance of the opposition at the polls.

    The Advisory Committee on the National Dialogue is going round the country. What is your position on this?

    I have already stated my position and rejected the committee. However, I am presenting my critique to the National dialogue being organised by President Jonathan that will offer a credible alternative national conference. I will not submit my memo to the committee because I rejected them. I am calling for their rejection by Nigerians. In any case, they are already going against their terms of reference because they were established to discuss and recommend to the President the modalities for the conference. They are not supposed to receive memo because that is supposed to be received by the conference when it is established. This is just a committee and, if they can go this far and go beyond their terms of reference, what happens?

    Don’t you think that rejecting this conference will be counter-productive?

    Yes, and what will happen if, for some weak reasons, we accept this committee and the conference. what will follow? The consequences on Nigeria will even be worse because nobody will call for a democratic and popular national conference again. People will go for the alternative which is the Sovereign National Conference because we have a problem. The country is not working; Nigerians are fighting one another and they cannot sit, discuss and resolve the problem amicably. In spite of what anybody will say, Nigeria will not disintergrate, but will continue. Of course, it is possible for Nigeria to disintergrate but after a prolonged period of instability leading to the destruction of everything of value, including human being and property. That is when nothing is left for anybody to lay claim to, then Nigeria can disintegrate.

    But the instability within the regions will continue because the units Nigeria disintegrate into will continue to fight one another. They are neigbours and they will be hostile to each others because there has been a high level of integration politically and economically among these people. People will say that the Soviet Union disintegrated and nothing happens. In their case, the Soviet Union had reached a high level of development and because of that, the disintegrated units could go on. But that is not the same with Nigeria and I can say that the disintegration of Nigeria will take us back to the stone age or the pre-colonial status .

    Niger State governor has consistently said the North can survive without the rest of the country if it breaks up. What is your opinion about this?

    This is true of the north, this is true of the Southwest, this is true of the Southsouth. The only zone that may have problem is the Southeast. All these zones can survive, but at what cost? At the price of going back to pre-colonial status? If the north, the southwest and southsouth think they can survive because of oil and gas, they will not. We have been having a federal system of government in Nigeria for a very long time. We ought to have recorded high level of socio-economic development in those areas. But have we? In what way is the Southwest more developed than the north except in this 40 years of gap in educational development. But these 40 years gap in educational development, what has it done for the south west? Do you see a higher level of development in terms of industries? What type of industries are available in the Southwest, if you take away Lagos, that you don’t have in the North? So, the whole of Nigeria is grossly underdeveloped and it will be very painful and expensive before we can pick up. We should know that because of the strategic position of Nigeria and, with the resources of the country, once we are balkanised, imperialists will regard us as a hunting ground and will prevent our progress. As I said, if we had developed enough like Russia, Yugoslavia, among others, whose different parts have developed enough to carry on, things will be different.

    There is this controversy about whether Jonathan should contest the 2015 election or not…

    As far as I am concern, I don’t care if he runs. What I can tell Nigerians is that if they don’t want Jonathan to run, they should make sure that his party does not nominate him. And, if the party nominates him and you still don’t want him to run and succeed, all you need to do either to vote for him or against him. But don’t mess Nigerians up because it is a simple thing. We say we are in a democracy and in a democracy, it is the votes that decides.

    So, since your protest for or against Jonathan is causing insecurity and instability in the country; if you are really patriotic and you care, leave that issue until the date of voting. If you don’t want Jonathan to be President of Nigeria in the 2015 election, don’t vote for him, but organise against him. So, for now don’t heat the polity.

    Do you think that the opposition, as presently constituted, has what it takes to unseat the PDP in the 2015 elections?

    No, they don’t.

    Why do you think so?

    Take strategically the issue of inspiration. Is there a high level of inspiration at the moment in favour of the APC? No. Majority of Nigerians don’t see the difference between the APC and the PDP. In 1993, there was clear inspiration towards the SDP, which was a forced merger. People had confidence in Abiola. Do we have such high level of inspiration now? Secondly, let us talk about the power structure in the country. The APC controls 11 states, while the PDP controls 25. Then, let us go for resources for campaign because since there is no high inspiration in favour of APC, which can reduce the cost of campaign, it means that they will have to pay for the campaign, just like the PDP. How much resources do they have compared to the PDP. But APC has a tremendous chance and I hope they can use it.

    What is that chance?

    The PDP has been discredited and nobody wants them right now, even within the party and the evidence are quite open. The APC can capitalise on this and let Nigerians know the difference between what the APC stands for and what the PDP stands for at least, in terms of the programmes and objectives filed by the two with INEC when they were looking for registration. At the moment, nobody knows the aim and objectives of the APC apart from being an opposition to the discredited PDP. What about the programme and objectives which will show the distinction which has already been filed with INEC? Let us have it and use it to compare.

    Let us not make the mistake of the PPA in 1983 at a meeting in Benin. We had a meeting of the leadership of the parties under the leadership of Azikiwe, Awolowo, Waziri Ibrahim and a faction of the PRP, when we insisted on the programme and objectives of the PPA. Some of the governors then said we had eminent people in the group and so, we should elect them and allow them to continue with the work. That was not good enough and that was one of the things that made us failed in 1983 to choose between Zik and Awolowo.

    The APC may be making the same mistake by assuming that because PDP has been discredited so much, they can take things for granted. In addition to bringing out what they stand for, they should open up and show us that they can unite this country and accommodate others. At the moment, the APC is limited to the ACN, the CPC, the ANPP and the APGA. Is that enough? There are credible political parties even among those that don’t control a local government. In any case, where is Labour? Can’t the APC make the compromise and have Labour go with them?

    So, the APC should keep its doors open?

    But definitely, the APC has a chance; but it depends on how they utilise the opportunity. Let them not make the mistake the CPC made in 2011. According to our estimate, the CPC would have won at least 12 states in the north simply because of the bankruptcy of the PDP and they would also have been able to win one or two states in the South. Even, if they don’t, they would have been able to get the required one third for national spread to avoid a second ballot. If the second ballot became necessary, the CPC could have won by the require majority, but they ended up with one state because of the mismanagement of opportunity. They thought they could do it all alone because of the popularity and integrity of one man. So, the APC should learn from that. They should learn that they are not the first merger to contest the Presidency of the country. There has been three others in the past and the only one that succeeded was that of the SDP. Even then, because of the composition of the SDP, the same leaders of the party led by Chief Anthony Anenih sold the Presidency to the NRC. I know everything about it because I was part of the whole struggle and how it happened.

    What we know is that the Babangida government annulled the election.

    Do you think that the present INEC has what it takes to deliver quality elections in 2015?

    It hasn’t because it not independent. This has been shown clearly that it is not independent and some of us don’t expect the INEC to be independent. First, the INEC under Jega asked for the money they needed to conduct a free, fair and transparent election leading to a legitimate government and they were given that money without any deduction at all. Did they conduct a free and fair election? Since then, have they conducted free, fair and transparent election? In some places, the opposition defeated the PDP not because of the power of their votes, but because of what I can call balance of terror.

  • Jonathan undermining anti-corruption fight, says Balarabe Musa

    Former Kaduna state governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of undermining the nation’s anti-corruption crusade by protecting the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah accused of  involvement in the N255 million bullet proof car purchase.

    Musa who spoke at a brief ceremony marking his 77th birthday at his Kaduna residence said that Jonathan’s trip to the Israel in company of the minister and the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) was a clear indication that the President was not interested in unraveling the mystery behind the vehicles, even though he has set up a committee to investigate the matter.
    Visibly disappointed, the former governor said that despite the allegations against the minister, the President took her to Israel in company of the National Security Adviser who was asked to be part of those to investigate the involvement of the minister in the armoured vehicle purchase.
    He said “we believe that this was done to pave way for negotiations to take place so that she can be left off the hook. Why should the President travel with her and the NSA. Could he not have gone with another person? Tafawa Balewa and other past leaders would not have done that.
    “Why should the President of a country fighting corruption behave in such a way to suggest a cover-up in this case involving Stella Oduah? Whoever appears to cover up a corrupt person is himself corruptible. This is suggestive of the fact that the government has practically insinuated that the fight against corruption is a hoarse”.
    The second republic governor however said that for the nation to get out of its present predicament, leaders must learn to pursue public interest rather than personal interest that has become the order of public service in the country.
    He said that rather than the system and leaders being based on public interest, it is currently based on self-interest.
    According to him,  in today’s Nigeria ” we are led by thieves, except for a few who are still honest”.
    He noted that anybody who is a councillor or legislator, governor or President ends up serving self and becoming the richest person in the constituency that elected him.
    “What I am saying is that the current President has the potentials of becoming the richest person in Nigeria when he leaves office even if he is the son of a grasscutter hunter.”