Former Minister of State for Works, Engr. Chris
Osa Ogiemwonyi, in this interview with SPECIAL
CORRESPONDENT,ISAAC OLAMIKAN, on challenges
for president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, and other
issues. Excerpts…


Muhammadu Buhari has emerged Nigeria’s
president-elect, do you think he will meet
people’s expectations?

I have 99 percent confidence that the man
elected president by Nigerians will perform. In a
simple language I see him as the messiah that
we have all been waiting for. I see hope and a
new dawn in Nigeria. I see the locust days gone
forever in Nigeria. It is definitely the Lord’s
doing that this man emerged to take Nigerians
to the Promised Land. It’s something that we
must celebrate.

There is so much corruption in Nigeria.
You must have seen some of it while in the
public service. How will you advice
General Buhari to tackle corruption?

We have laws in Nigeria. We have institutions to
check corruption. But the truth is that these
institutions were not allowed to work. First, I am
going to say we must strengthen these
institutions – ICPC (Independent Corrupt
Practices and other related offences
Commission); EFCC (Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission); the Police Force etc. So,
by the time we strengthen these institutions
such that there will be no sacred cow, the rule
of law will prevail, if you’re guilty… I see the
President-elect as a man who believes purely in
the rule of law. It is for Nigerians to support
him because in the process we might get to
some areas where people will want to be spared
but we’ll encourage Mr. President-elect that
there should be no sacred cow. Whoever is
corrupt should face the music because this
country is blessed but it got to a point where
about three percent of Nigerians were sucking
this country dry like mosquitoes. So the time
has come for reckoning and whoever is found
corrupt should not be spared. I will explain to
you in due course why I said that the institutions
to check corruption should be strengthened.

Personalities all over the world have been
giving kudos to President Goodluck
Jonathan for conceding defeat in the
presidential polls ahead of the
announcement of the final results. What is
your opinion on this?

What was his option? What option had he? It
was so obvious that he had lost the election. I
think by the time he called the President-elect
we had probably heard 90 percent of the poll
result so there was no option for him than to
concede defeat. People said he conceded defeat
in magnanimity but what was his option? He
had no option than to throw in the towel.

The results of the presidential and
national assembly elections held in Edo
state on March 28 contrary to expectations
swung in favour of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP). But the situation was reversed
in the house of assembly polls held two
weeks later. What was the reason for this
ding-dong affair?

First and foremost, you asked why the results of
the election held on March 28 went the way it
did. You see, many Nigerians were not too sure
that Jonathan could be defeated. They were so
concerned about the incumbency factor. But I
tell you that what happened was that Nigerians
were fed up in view of the various ills that
bedevilled the country – corruption (the highest
we have seen so far), insecurity, poor economy,
bad power situation etc. Everything was going
downwards. So, Nigerians voted for a change.
That is the truth. Then for the April 11 elections
why a reversal? Many of us came out to speak
publicly. You’ll recall that we held a press
conference on the 6th of April telling people the
need to align properly. That Edo State will never
again be in opposition. The Edo people listened
and many other groups came out with that same
slogan “we’ll never be in opposition” and people
realised the benefit of having a government at
the centre in their states. Edo people wanted to
be in the scheme of things. Definitely, once we
are properly now aligned with the centre the
benefits are enormous. I am very happy that Edo
State did. The Middle Belt did; the Yoruba with
their high level of literacy saw the need. I am
happy that the Edo people did too.

Buhari and the National Chairman of the
APC, John Odigie-Oyegun have both said
that they will not welcome defectors to the
party. What is your opinion on this?

Again, the issue of the defectors – people are
probably looking at the area of integrity. People
should be firm, people should be principled.
Having said that I should say we should open
our doors to those who are coming. We should
welcome them. But they should realize that they
are coming after the rain has fallen. Like the
Binis would say, “if you want to fetch water you
should fetch it when the rain is falling.” You
should not fetch water when the rain has
stopped falling. The time people could have
joined the party was when the struggle was on
with high level of uncertainty.

Which of the serving ministers would you
recommend to be retained by the in-
coming administration?

They say that when the head is bad then
everything would be bad. The government of
President Jonathan was sick so probably only...

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