From IHEANACHO NWOSU, Abuja Deputy National Chairman of Congress for
Progressive Change CPC), Alhaji Mustahpa Saliu, has
given an insight into the ongoing merger talks
between his political party and the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN). He also explained why former
Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, always contests for the Presidency. Saliu also shared his
thoughts on happenings in the country, especially
the budget implementation controversy involving
the House of Representatives and the Presidency. There are reservations over the ongoing merger
talks between the CPC and the ACN because of how
the last arrangement collapsed. What is the
assurance that this one will be different? Merger
and alliances are two different things. The parties
involved – CPC and CAN – are keeping what we are doing to our chest. There are other parties that
want to participate, but we want to be sure that we
have a proper structure. We want to firm up the
kind of alliances or merger we want. For this
reason, we have refused to go public regarding the
arrangements. It would be unwise for us now to start divulging strategies we hope to use to defeat
PDP in 2015. We do know that PDP will not go to
sleep. The party would want to do all it takes to ensure
that it either discredits the ongoing process or
plants a mole in our midst, just to ensure that the
project does not succeed. We are aware of all these
plans and we are being careful. That is why I told
you that we are keeping everything to our chest. What I can tell you is that, first and foremost, we are
looking at various things. We are looking at our
weaknesses and areas we will encounter problems.
We are doing that, so that we can address them.
The two parties will sit down and look at
everything from A-Z. We will make sure that there is no ambiguity in the arrangement. This will help the
implementation of strategies run smoothly. People
see the insistence of your party leader, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, to contest the presidential
election again, as he did in 2011, as risk to the
alliance talks. What do you think? Let me quickly put the record straight. Gen Buhari did not insist on
anything. From day one, he never insisted on contesting for
presidency. Nigerians, who believe in his
credentials, are the ones calling on him to contest
for the office. I believe that people appreciate the
quality of the man, the contributions he has made.
He has helped in great ways to improve our democratic space. For instance, if somebody like
him had not come into the political turf I am sure
people would not, till date, muster courage to go to
court to fight for their mandate. That is a big plus
for us as a nation. People, who contest elections but
are denied their victories, now go to court to challenge those who stole their mandate. They can
now cry out. We need to get this clear. Gen Buhari’s
participation in presidential elections has helped
the country immensely. And as I said, he has never
imposed himself on the party. People beg him to
contest because of his credibility. We in the party call him to fly our gay because we believe that those
in the political arena, who claim they want to rule,
are no match for his personality. If it is only about age I will tell you that there is no
problem. We do not have any problem with that.
The consideration is more about who has the
capacity to lead the country. Everywhere in the
world, when people are thinking about who to
choose as their leader, the first consideration is the credential of aspirants, how have they lived their
lives and what qualities they have that can assist
their societies. What we have been crying for in this
country is getting someone who can lead by
example; somebody who is not corrupt. Our main
problem since independence is corruption. Yes, he may not be corrupt, but are you saying that his
age, which has reduced his agility, does not matter?
No, no, you are getting it wrong, I think it is better
you focus on more serious issues, not age. And let
me put this record straight. In 2011, we did not
discuss any merger with ACN. The discussion was strictly about alliance for the 2011 elections. It was
not because of Buhari’s age that made the
discussion to collapse. What made it not to succeed was nothing but
internal issues from the political parties. We had our
issues that we could not straighten out before the
election. The major problem was that we had a little
time to wrap up the plans. It is a different thing
now. We have enough time now. If we in CPC are demanding one, two or three things and ACN is
demanding the same, we have enough time now
for both parties to sit down and look at the
demands. We will then agree on what will suit both
parties. We had no luxury of time last year before
the election. Remember, at the time CPC was new. It was just barely a year old and we were going into
national elections. We had our own internal
challenges, our congresses and primaries. We
didn’t have enough time to prepare for the talks. So, it was not because of Buhari’s age, as some
people claimed. In fact, why the ACN is calling for
either the alliance or merger is because of the man,
Buhari. It is because of his integrity. It is because
they believe in his capacity and ability to lead the
nation. Remember, even when Olusegun Obasanjo was in power, the South West, where he comes
from, was saying that Buhari was a better
candidate, a better person to lead the nation. The
zone at a point came out to tell the whole world
that they never voted for Obasanjo, that it was the
North and other parts of the country that voted for him. So, Buhari’s age has nothing to do with the
collapse ACN-CPC alliance last year. Now if you are
talking about age, what would you say about
somebody like Bamanga Tukur, who is the
chairman of PDP? The main issue is what a person
can offer, not his or her age. When people talk about age I laugh. I do that because I have seen
young men, like myself who have been given
opportunities and they abused them. They blew it. Some of them have put their states or
even the entire country into a difficult situation.
They have even forced people to ask why we the
younger generation should be given an exalted
office. I don’t believe in all these sentiments. Let
people be given responsibility based on their capacity or credentials. Where do you stand in the
fear that the House of Representatives may initiate
impeachment proceeding against President
Goodluck Jonathan if the budget is not
implemented fully in September? I have been
watching the drama. I have heard the response the executive has given. Unfortunately, the House is on
recess and I am not holding brief for the
lawmakers. But from my understanding of what
is going on, the House has only asked for
implementation of the budget to the letter. If the
executive is having some challenges, it behoves it to come out and explain that. The right response
from the executive shouldn’t have been to shout
that there was nowhere in the world where budget
is implemented 100 per cent. I was disappointed
hearing that from the minister of finance. I don’t like the idea of our leaders comparing us to
other countries when it suits them. In these other
countries, things are working, but our people don’t
compare that. The truth is that in those countries,
which they are citing examples with, even if they
implement their budget 30 or 50 per cent, they will be better than us because they would do it
transparently. We go to other countries and we
know what happens there. We know countries, like
Malaysia are not talking about budget
implementation; they are thinking ahead. If by
what we have seen so far is 56 budget implementation, as the finance minister claimed,
then imagine what the situation will be in those
other countries. No Nigerian, except those partaking in the looting,
will accept that the budget has been implemented
to 20 per cent. There are speculations and
insinuations that the opposition is propelling the
House to move against the President? This is
laughable. We all know that in the House today is controlled by PDP. The speaker is a member of the
PDP, so also is the deputy speaker. Most committees
are chaired by PDP lawmakers. All the opposition
lawmakers are not up to half of the population of
PDP caucus in the Hose. So, the claim is what the
executive wants to use to divert attention. The truth is that it pays as a country to approach
what the House is saying with sincerity, in good
fate. The lawmakers should not be seen as
enemies. If the country is good everybody will
benefit from that. For some of us, we speak with
good intention. I feel bad that any time anybody brings lofty ideas to the table, those in the corridors
of power will not look at these things on their merit.
We are all Nigerians; we all have a stake in this
country. Whatever happens to the country, we all
will feel the impact, irrespective of party, religion.
When it comes to moving the country forward, nobody should be declared an enemy of state,
especially when objective criticism of government’s
policies is concerned. It should be taken in good
fate. If that is the case, why has your party never
seen anything positive about the Jonathan
government? The truth is that if there is anything positive to be
said, we will do that. If, for instance, the House is
doing anything good, we will say it, if it is going the
wrong way, we will voice our opposition to that.
Ditto for the presidency. When the issue of the
probe started, we were all happy. Then when, all of a sudden, the drama started we cried foul
immediately. Even at that, we advised the
government to take the report of the probe on its
merit and deal with lawmakers who burnt their
fingers. On that, you can agree with me that we
were objective. We backed the probe because we all watched when it was going on and we saw the
effort the committee made. Prior to the ruling by the
Supreme Court, declaring that Jonathan won the
2011 election, we were not recognising the
government, but changed after the judgment. Yes, deep down in us we didn’t agree with
everything the Supreme Court said, but we were
bound to accept the verdict because it is a court
vested with power to interpret our laws. It was
based on that that our leader, Buhari, spoke at the
Supreme Court that with the verdict of the apex court, all hands must be on deck to move Nigeria
forward. We know what we want as a party; we
know our vision for Nigeria; so we don’t shy away
from issues. We believe we must always say it the
way it is. What do you make of the recent
explanation by the President that Boko Haram is causing his government a huge distraction? His
explanation is not enough. Why we in the CPC say
that it is not enough is that, as the commander-in-
chief, he should be able to trace this thing to its
root. And he should be able to look at the cause of
insecurity, which is poverty. The truth is that you
cannot separate all these bombings from lack of
means of livelihood facing millions of Nigerians.
They work together. A government should be
concerned about high poverty index. I have said it times without number that government cannot be
announcing billions or trillions of Naira budgets,
while people are suffering. Poverty is increasing.
The only thing people hear on a daily basis is
stealing, and stealing. Today, if it is not few
individuals carting away money belonging to pensioners, it is people stealing petroleum
products, etc. Yet, many cannot pay school fees of
their wards, etc. The President must stamp his feet on the ground
and work for the country. Right now, he is not
taking the bull by the horns. Security must be
tackled, but to succeed in doing that there must be
conscious effort to address poverty. All the money
a few people steal must be saved and channelled to address the economic challenges of Nigerians.
[url]From IHEANACHO NWOSU, Abuja Deputy National Chairman of Congress for
Progressive Change CPC), Alhaji Mustahpa Saliu, has
given an insight into the ongoing merger talks
between his political party and the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN). He also explained why former
Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, always contests for the Presidency. Saliu also shared his
thoughts on happenings in the country, especially
the budget implementation controversy involving
the House of Representatives and the Presidency. There are reservations over the ongoing merger
talks between the CPC and the ACN because of how
the last arrangement collapsed. What is the
assurance that this one will be different? Merger
and alliances are two different things. The parties
involved – CPC and CAN – are keeping what we are doing to our chest. There are other parties that
want to participate, but we want to be sure that we
have a proper structure. We want to firm up the
kind of alliances or merger we want. For this
reason, we have refused to go public regarding the
arrangements. It would be unwise for us now to start divulging strategies we hope to use to defeat
PDP in 2015. We do know that PDP will not go to
sleep. The party would want to do all it takes to ensure
that it either discredits the ongoing process or
plants a mole in our midst, just to ensure that the
project does not succeed. We are aware of all these
plans and we are being careful. That is why I told
you that we are keeping everything to our chest. What I can tell you is that, first and foremost, we are
looking at various things. We are looking at our
weaknesses and areas we will encounter problems.
We are doing that, so that we can address them.
The two parties will sit down and look at
everything from A-Z. We will make sure that there is no ambiguity in the arrangement. This will help the
implementation of strategies run smoothly. People
see the insistence of your party leader, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, to contest the presidential
election again, as he did in 2011, as risk to the
alliance talks. What do you think? Let me quickly put the record straight. Gen Buhari did not insist on
anything. From day one, he never insisted on contesting for
presidency. Nigerians, who believe in his
credentials, are the ones calling on him to contest
for the office. I believe that people appreciate the
quality of the man, the contributions he has made.
He has helped in great ways to improve our democratic space. For instance, if somebody like
him had not come into the political turf I am sure
people would not, till date, muster courage to go to
court to fight for their mandate. That is a big plus
for us as a nation. People, who contest elections but
are denied their victories, now go to court to challenge those who stole their mandate. They can
now cry out. We need to get this clear. Gen Buhari’s
participation in presidential elections has helped
the country immensely. And as I said, he has never
imposed himself on the party. People beg him to
contest because of his credibility. We in the party call him to fly our gay because we believe that those
in the political arena, who claim they want to rule,
are no match for his personality. If it is only about age I will tell you that there is no
problem. We do not have any problem with that.
The consideration is more about who has the
capacity to lead the country. Everywhere in the
world, when people are thinking about who to
choose as their leader, the first consideration is the credential of aspirants, how have they lived their
lives and what qualities they have that can assist
their societies. What we have been crying for in this
country is getting someone who can lead by
example; somebody who is not corrupt. Our main
problem since independence is corruption. Yes, he may not be corrupt, but are you saying that his
age, which has reduced his agility, does not matter?
No, no, you are getting it wrong, I think it is better
you focus on more serious issues, not age. And let
me put this record straight. In 2011, we did not
discuss any merger with ACN. The discussion was strictly about alliance for the 2011 elections. It was
not because of Buhari’s age that made the
discussion to collapse. What made it not to succeed was nothing but
internal issues from the political parties. We had our
issues that we could not straighten out before the
election. The major problem was that we had a little
time to wrap up the plans. It is a different thing
now. We have enough time now. If we in CPC are demanding one, two or three things and ACN is
demanding the same, we have enough time now
for both parties to sit down and look at the
demands. We will then agree on what will suit both
parties. We had no luxury of time last year before
the election. Remember, at the time CPC was new. It was just barely a year old and we were going into
national elections. We had our own internal
challenges, our congresses and primaries. We
didn’t have enough time to prepare for the talks. So, it was not because of Buhari’s age, as some
people claimed. In fact, why the ACN is calling for
either the alliance or merger is because of the man,
Buhari. It is because of his integrity. It is because
they believe in his capacity and ability to lead the
nation. Remember, even when Olusegun Obasanjo was in power, the South West, where he comes
from, was saying that Buhari was a better
candidate, a better person to lead the nation. The
zone at a point came out to tell the whole world
that they never voted for Obasanjo, that it was the
North and other parts of the country that voted for him. So, Buhari’s age has nothing to do with the
collapse ACN-CPC alliance last year. Now if you are
talking about age, what would you say about
somebody like Bamanga Tukur, who is the
chairman of PDP? The main issue is what a person
can offer, not his or her age. When people talk about age I laugh. I do that because I have seen
young men, like myself who have been given
opportunities and they abused them. They blew it. Some of them have put their states or
even the entire country into a difficult situation.
They have even forced people to ask why we the
younger generation should be given an exalted
office. I don’t believe in all these sentiments. Let
people be given responsibility based on their capacity or credentials. Where do you stand in the
fear that the House of Representatives may initiate
impeachment proceeding against President
Goodluck Jonathan if the budget is not
implemented fully in September? I have been
watching the drama. I have heard the response the executive has given. Unfortunately, the House is on
recess and I am not holding brief for the
lawmakers. But from my understanding of what
is going on, the House has only asked for
implementation of the budget to the letter. If the
executive is having some challenges, it behoves it to come out and explain that. The right response
from the executive shouldn’t have been to shout
that there was nowhere in the world where budget
is implemented 100 per cent. I was disappointed
hearing that from the minister of finance. I don’t like the idea of our leaders comparing us to
other countries when it suits them. In these other
countries, things are working, but our people don’t
compare that. The truth is that in those countries,
which they are citing examples with, even if they
implement their budget 30 or 50 per cent, they will be better than us because they would do it
transparently. We go to other countries and we
know what happens there. We know countries, like
Malaysia are not talking about budget
implementation; they are thinking ahead. If by
what we have seen so far is 56 budget implementation, as the finance minister claimed,
then imagine what the situation will be in those
other countries. No Nigerian, except those partaking in the looting,
will accept that the budget has been implemented
to 20 per cent. There are speculations and
insinuations that the opposition is propelling the
House to move against the President? This is
laughable. We all know that in the House today is controlled by PDP. The speaker is a member of the
PDP, so also is the deputy speaker. Most committees
are chaired by PDP lawmakers. All the opposition
lawmakers are not up to half of the population of
PDP caucus in the Hose. So, the claim is what the
executive wants to use to divert attention. The truth is that it pays as a country to approach
what the House is saying with sincerity, in good
fate. The lawmakers should not be seen as
enemies. If the country is good everybody will
benefit from that. For some of us, we speak with
good intention. I feel bad that any time anybody brings lofty ideas to the table, those in the corridors
of power will not look at these things on their merit.
We are all Nigerians; we all have a stake in this
country. Whatever happens to the country, we all
will feel the impact, irrespective of party, religion.
When it comes to moving the country forward, nobody should be declared an enemy of state,
especially when objective criticism of government’s
policies is concerned. It should be taken in good
fate. If that is the case, why has your party never
seen anything positive about the Jonathan
government? The truth is that if there is anything positive to be
said, we will do that. If, for instance, the House is
doing anything good, we will say it, if it is going the
wrong way, we will voice our opposition to that.
Ditto for the presidency. When the issue of the
probe started, we were all happy. Then when, all of a sudden, the drama started we cried foul
immediately. Even at that, we advised the
government to take the report of the probe on its
merit and deal with lawmakers who burnt their
fingers. On that, you can agree with me that we
were objective. We backed the probe because we all watched when it was going on and we saw the
effort the committee made. Prior to the ruling by the
Supreme Court, declaring that Jonathan won the
2011 election, we were not recognising the
government, but changed after the judgment. Yes, deep down in us we didn’t agree with
everything the Supreme Court said, but we were
bound to accept the verdict because it is a court
vested with power to interpret our laws. It was
based on that that our leader, Buhari, spoke at the
Supreme Court that with the verdict of the apex court, all hands must be on deck to move Nigeria
forward. We know what we want as a party; we
know our vision for Nigeria; so we don’t shy away
from issues. We believe we must always say it the
way it is. What do you make of the recent
explanation by the President that Boko Haram is causing his government a huge distraction? His
explanation is not enough. Why we in the CPC say
that it is not enough is that, as the commander-in-
chief, he should be able to trace this thing to its
root. And he should be able to look at the cause of
insecurity, which is poverty. The truth is that you
cannot separate all these bombings from lack of
means of livelihood facing millions of Nigerians.
They work together. A government should be
concerned about high poverty index. I have said it times without number that government cannot be
announcing billions or trillions of Naira budgets,
while people are suffering. Poverty is increasing.
The only thing people hear on a daily basis is
stealing, and stealing. Today, if it is not few
individuals carting away money belonging to pensioners, it is people stealing petroleum
products, etc. Yet, many cannot pay school fees of
their wards, etc. The President must stamp his feet on the ground
and work for the country. Right now, he is not
taking the bull by the horns. Security must be
tackled, but to succeed in doing that there must be
conscious effort to address poverty. All the money
a few people steal must be saved and channelled to address the economic challenges of Nigerians.
[/url]From IHEANACHO NWOSU, Abuja Deputy National Chairman of Congress for
Progressive Change CPC), Alhaji Mustahpa Saliu, has
given an insight into the ongoing merger talks
between his political party and the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN). He also explained why former
Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, always contests for the Presidency. Saliu also shared his
thoughts on happenings in the country, especially
the budget implementation controversy involving
the House of Representatives and the Presidency. There are reservations over the ongoing merger
talks between the CPC and the ACN because of how
the last arrangement collapsed. What is the
assurance that this one will be different? Merger
and alliances are two different things. The parties
involved – CPC and CAN – are keeping what we are doing to our chest. There are other parties that
want to participate, but we want to be sure that we
have a proper structure. We want to firm up the
kind of alliances or merger we want. For this
reason, we have refused to go public regarding the
arrangements. It would be unwise for us now to start divulging strategies we hope to use to defeat
PDP in 2015. We do know that PDP will not go to
sleep. The party would want to do all it takes to ensure
that it either discredits the ongoing process or
plants a mole in our midst, just to ensure that the
project does not succeed. We are aware of all these
plans and we are being careful. That is why I told
you that we are keeping everything to our chest. What I can tell you is that, first and foremost, we are
looking at various things. We are looking at our
weaknesses and areas we will encounter problems.
We are doing that, so that we can address them.
The two parties will sit down and look at
everything from A-Z. We will make sure that there is no ambiguity in the arrangement. This will help the
implementation of strategies run smoothly. People
see the insistence of your party leader, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, to contest the presidential
election again, as he did in 2011, as risk to the
alliance talks. What do you think? Let me quickly put the record straight. Gen Buhari did not insist on
anything. From day one, he never insisted on contesting for
presidency. Nigerians, who believe in his
credentials, are the ones calling on him to contest
for the office. I believe that people appreciate the
quality of the man, the contributions he has made.
He has helped in great ways to improve our democratic space. For instance, if somebody like
him had not come into the political turf I am sure
people would not, till date, muster courage to go to
court to fight for their mandate. That is a big plus
for us as a nation. People, who contest elections but
are denied their victories, now go to court to challenge those who stole their mandate. They can
now cry out. We need to get this clear. Gen Buhari’s
participation in presidential elections has helped
the country immensely. And as I said, he has never
imposed himself on the party. People beg him to
contest because of his credibility. We in the party call him to fly our gay because we believe that those
in the political arena, who claim they want to rule,
are no match for his personality. If it is only about age I will tell you that there is no
problem. We do not have any problem with that.
The consideration is more about who has the
capacity to lead the country. Everywhere in the
world, when people are thinking about who to
choose as their leader, the first consideration is the credential of aspirants, how have they lived their
lives and what qualities they have that can assist
their societies. What we have been crying for in this
country is getting someone who can lead by
example; somebody who is not corrupt. Our main
problem since independence is corruption. Yes, he may not be corrupt, but are you saying that his
age, which has reduced his agility, does not matter?
No, no, you are getting it wrong, I think it is better
you focus on more serious issues, not age. And let
me put this record straight. In 2011, we did not
discuss any merger with ACN. The discussion was strictly about alliance for the 2011 elections. It was
not because of Buhari’s age that made the
discussion to collapse. What made it not to succeed was nothing but
internal issues from the political parties. We had our
issues that we could not straighten out before the
election. The major problem was that we had a little
time to wrap up the plans. It is a different thing
now. We have enough time now. If we in CPC are demanding one, two or three things and ACN is
demanding the same, we have enough time now
for both parties to sit down and look at the
demands. We will then agree on what will suit both
parties. We had no luxury of time last year before
the election. Remember, at the time CPC was new. It was just barely a year old and we were going into
national elections. We had our own internal
challenges, our congresses and primaries. We
didn’t have enough time to prepare for the talks. So, it was not because of Buhari’s age, as some
people claimed. In fact, why the ACN is calling for
either the alliance or merger is because of the man,
Buhari. It is because of his integrity. It is because
they believe in his capacity and ability to lead the
nation. Remember, even when Olusegun Obasanjo was in power, the South West, where he comes
from, was saying that Buhari was a better
candidate, a better person to lead the nation. The
zone at a point came out to tell the whole world
that they never voted for Obasanjo, that it was the
North and other parts of the country that voted for him. So, Buhari’s age has nothing to do with the
collapse ACN-CPC alliance last year. Now if you are
talking about age, what would you say about
somebody like Bamanga Tukur, who is the
chairman of PDP? The main issue is what a person
can offer, not his or her age. When people talk about age I laugh. I do that because I have seen
young men, like myself who have been given
opportunities and they abused them. They blew it. Some of them have put their states or
even the entire country into a difficult situation.
They have even forced people to ask why we the
younger generation should be given an exalted
office. I don’t believe in all these sentiments. Let
people be given responsibility based on their capacity or credentials. Where do you stand in the
fear that the House of Representatives may initiate
impeachment proceeding against President
Goodluck Jonathan if the budget is not
implemented fully in September? I have been
watching the drama. I have heard the response the executive has given. Unfortunately, the House is on
recess and I am not holding brief for the
lawmakers. But from my understanding of what
is going on, the House has only asked for
implementation of the budget to the letter. If the
executive is having some challenges, it behoves it to come out and explain that. The right response
from the executive shouldn’t have been to shout
that there was nowhere in the world where budget
is implemented 100 per cent. I was disappointed
hearing that from the minister of finance. I don’t like the idea of our leaders comparing us to
other countries when it suits them. In these other
countries, things are working, but our people don’t
compare that. The truth is that in those countries,
which they are citing examples with, even if they
implement their budget 30 or 50 per cent, they will be better than us because they would do it
transparently. We go to other countries and we
know what happens there. We know countries, like
Malaysia are not talking about budget
implementation; they are thinking ahead. If by
what we have seen so far is 56 budget implementation, as the finance minister claimed,
then imagine what the situation will be in those
other countries. No Nigerian, except those partaking in the looting,
will accept that the budget has been implemented
to 20 per cent. There are speculations and
insinuations that the opposition is propelling the
House to move against the President? This is
laughable. We all know that in the House today is controlled by PDP. The speaker is a member of the
PDP, so also is the deputy speaker. Most committees
are chaired by PDP lawmakers. All the opposition
lawmakers are not up to half of the population of
PDP caucus in the Hose. So, the claim is what the
executive wants to use to divert attention. The truth is that it pays as a country to approach
what the House is saying with sincerity, in good
fate. The lawmakers should not be seen as
enemies. If the country is good everybody will
benefit from that. For some of us, we speak with
good intention. I feel bad that any time anybody brings lofty ideas to the table, those in the corridors
of power will not look at these things on their merit.
We are all Nigerians; we all have a stake in this
country. Whatever happens to the country, we all
will feel the impact, irrespective of party, religion.
When it comes to moving the country forward, nobody should be declared an enemy of state,
especially when objective criticism of government’s
policies is concerned. It should be taken in good
fate. If that is the case, why has your party never
seen anything positive about the Jonathan
government? The truth is that if there is anything positive to be
said, we will do that. If, for instance, the House is
doing anything good, we will say it, if it is going the
wrong way, we will voice our opposition to that.
Ditto for the presidency. When the issue of the
probe started, we were all happy. Then when, all of a sudden, the drama started we cried foul
immediately. Even at that, we advised the
government to take the report of the probe on its
merit and deal with lawmakers who burnt their
fingers. On that, you can agree with me that we
were objective. We backed the probe because we all watched when it was going on and we saw the
effort the committee made. Prior to the ruling by the
Supreme Court, declaring that Jonathan won the
2011 election, we were not recognising the
government, but changed after the judgment. Yes, deep down in us we didn’t agree with
everything the Supreme Court said, but we were
bound to accept the verdict because it is a court
vested with power to interpret our laws. It was
based on that that our leader, Buhari, spoke at the
Supreme Court that with the verdict of the apex court, all hands must be on deck to move Nigeria
forward. We know what we want as a party; we
know our vision for Nigeria; so we don’t shy away
from issues. We believe we must always say it the
way it is. What do you make of the recent
explanation by the President that Boko Haram is causing his government a huge distraction? His
explanation is not enough. Why we in the CPC say
that it is not enough is that, as the commander-in-
chief, he should be able to trace this thing to its
root. And he should be able to look at the cause of
insecurity, which is poverty. The truth is that you
cannot separate all these bombings from lack of
means of livelihood facing millions of Nigerians.
They work together. A government should be
concerned about high poverty index. I have said it times without number that government cannot be
announcing billions or trillions of Naira budgets,
while people are suffering. Poverty is increasing.
The only thing people hear on a daily basis is
stealing, and stealing. Today, if it is not few
individuals carting away money belonging to pensioners, it is people stealing petroleum
products, etc. Yet, many cannot pay school fees of
their wards, etc. The President must stamp his feet on the ground
and work for the country. Right now, he is not
taking the bull by the horns. Security must be
tackled, but to succeed in doing that there must be
conscious effort to address poverty. All the money
a few people steal must be saved and channelled to address the economic challenges of Nigerians.

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