The first civilian governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji
Balarabe Musa has criticised President Muhammadu
Buhari over his handling of affairs in Nigeria since he
took over the reins of power.
He spoke to National Daily in an interview recently
baring his mind on various national issues. Read the
interview below:
The general elections have come and gone, what is your
perception of the current state of the nation?[/b]
Well, first and foremost, it has been mixed feelings since
after the elections. Yes, it was good we had the elections
otherwise the story would have been different. Nigeria
would have been in a terrible situation if the elections did
not hold. What saved us was President Goodluck
Jonathan who conceded defeat and congratulated
Buhari, the winner. But then, the rest of the issues which
is the state of the nation are still negative in all respects.
Nothing has changed; things still remained the same in
this country. The 2015 election does not have any
promise to Nigerians. If you are one of those Nigerians
that rely on wishful thinking, you can say the election
has some promises for you but I don’t think so. Take for
example the inaugural statement of President
Muhammadu Buhari, he said he has not promised to do
anything.
His speech was too ritualistic, the same words we have
been hearing from past leaders, be it civilian or military.
His statement was not qualitative enough to convince
Nigerians that something different has come. He said in
his speech “I will improve on education,” So what? Past
leaders have told us that before but did they improve the
education in the country? The question is how are you
going to improve on education? Nigerians need specific
road map and targets; I mean qualitative targets like
declaring that education from primary to tertiary level is
now free not a blanket speech that holds nothing for
anybody. I very much doubt it.

Your wish for this country has always been free, fair and
credible elections, how will you describe the 2015
general elections?
This is the ridiculous thing that happened and that is why
I remain critical. The 2015 elections were actually
peaceful if you compare it with other elections yet we
recorded deaths and other social disorders. Nigerians
expected worst things than what happened in the 2011
general elections but it didn’t happen because nobody
cared about the elections. Only very few Nigerians cared
and participated.
Out of 70 million registered voters, only 28 million cared
to go and vote; and out of the 28 million only 15 million
voted for the President; 55 million never cared to go and
vote. The level of apathy was very high. It shows that the
people did not even care for the elections. Informed
Nigerians, especially the media, didn’t take that into
account in assessing the real situation but that was what
happened.
How do you claim free, fair and transparent elections in a
situation when out of 70 million registered voters only 15
million actually voted for the President, yet, you claim
this is free, fair and transparent election? There was also
the deciding role of money power that took place during
the elections. It was money power that decided who won
the elections.

If you said money played a major role, one would have
expected the incumbent to be at an advantage as a
sitting President. How did it happen?
Both parties displayed money power during the elections.
Both PDP and APC used unimaginable sum of money
during the elections. I stand to be corrected; it may
interest you that APC used more money than PDP. It was
their money that decided the winner. The only thing, I
believe and I know it has been proven to be so, is that
PDP for strategic reasons decided to withdraw from
power and let APC take over and grapple with the
problems in the country because PDP has failed woefully
to tackle the problems.
One of the reasons they decided to let go power was
because they know that if PDP had won the elections,
Nigeria’s situation today would have been different. That
was why instead of venturing into the looming danger,
PDP preferred to wait and fight another day. They are
already talking of returning in 2019.
When taken into account, the fundamental reality, APC
did not really defeat PDP in the 2015 elections. PDP
tactically withdrew and merely allowed APC to take over.
PDP knows that if they had returned, there would have
been massive violence in all the northern states.
Remember what happened in the North during the
campaign for 2011 elections. The media is not really
educating the people on the true situation of things.
Remember the incidents after the 2011 Presidential
elections, particularly, in the North West, North East and
some parts of North Central, PDP leaders were attacked
openly and their property destroyed in large scale.
There was an inquiry by the Federal Government and at
the end, PDP leaders throughout the North were
compensated heavily by the Federal Government after
those who were involved in the anarchy were arrested
and investigated. The Federal Government knew who
were responsible in organizing that 2011 post-
Presidential election violence but nothing happened to
those that were arrested, instead they were paid heavy
compensation by the PDP government.
PDP government couldn’t take any action against the
organizers of that violence because they were preparing
to hand over power in 2015. They knew that and some of
us knew it too.

Before the 2015 elections, it was reported that the group
you led split over who to support, Jonathan or Buhari,
how did you manage that?
No, there was no split. We had National Executive
Committee meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and decided
through voting. 26 states voted in favour of the PDP at
the Presidency while other voted for APC for the
presidency. We also agreed that states’ leaders should
decide on whom they will support in their respective
states.
Now that Buhari is in charge, do you think he can solve
the problems of this country?
No! I don’t think so. No single person can do it in Nigeria
without a revolution. It is not just Buhari but anybody.
Even I cannot handle the situation without a revolution.
When I say a revolution I mean fundamental change. For
instance, you have to change the social, economic and
political systems controlling all developments in this
country and the leadership produced by the system.
From one base to another, self-interest first; to one base
on public interest first. You have to bring about that
change. You have to change the economic system. In the
system now, public interest has been relegated to third.
To change it effectively, we have to bring the leadership
of the state in the economy to ensure peace, equality,
justice and dignity of the human person and progressing
even development in the whole country. Is Buhari
prepared for that? Can you effect such change without a
revolution? We have a situation where the rich and
powerful that are so mindless, selfish and so entrenched
that they will oppose everything to bring about this
leadership of the state in the economy.
Take for instance, the present controversy at the National
Assembly where members are demanding wardrobe
allowance amounting to N9 billion. Wardrobe allowance
means clothing allowance for each senator will have
over N21 million while House of Representatives will
have over N17 million. When you have leaders like this,
produced by a system based on self-interest, how can
you change the reality without a revolution because
those who are enriching themselves will resist any
change and it can be violent. The change we want must
be revolutionary in nature. So, the way it is now, Buhari
has no answer to Nigeria’s problems.

APC promised Nigerians that they have come to fight and eradicate corruption. Do you think APC can achieve this?
How can you fight corruption with corrupt leadership? It
is not possible. You cannot do it because you are also
corrupt. They are not free from being corrupt. About 80
per cent of APC and PDP leaders are all before the three
anti-corruption agencies, ICPC, EFCC and Code of
Conduct. So, you can see that they cannot fight
corruption because they are corrupt.
Are you saying that the present APC leadership is corrupt?
Was PDP leadership corrupt? The answer is yes, it was;
and 70 to 80 per cent of the APC leadership now came
from the PDP. Invariably, what we have today is not APC
but PDP one (1) and PDP two (2). Now, APC has the
majority in the Senate yet they couldn’t elect APC Senate
President without the support of PDP. So, it is clear that
they have now started working together.
The APC which defeated PDP yesterday is today working
with the PDP and rely on PDP to perform, what do you
expect. Nothing will change without a fundamental
change and a fundamental change in this case means
revolution, I hope when it comes, it will be peaceful.
With this outrageous demand of wardrobe allowance,
Nigerians can organise themselves in such a way that
National Assembly after they have passed the law or at
the process of passing the law, Nigerians can act within
their constitutional right to remove such bad government.
Many people don’t know how this mindless corrupt
system came to be in Nigeria. After the election in 1979,
that is the Second Republic, members of the National
Assembly led by Joseph Wayas, who was the Senate
President then, demanded the right to fix their own
remunerations. Shehu Shagari, who was the President
then, saw the danger in it and he told them that he was
against it but the senators insisted.
So, when we had the National Economic Council meeting
which was made up of state governors, vice president
etc., after the meeting, President Shagari came to us and
said he needed our help. He told us that he called for a
dinner and the senators refused to attend because they
were angry with him because he refused to allow them to
fix their remuneration. So, that is why he needed our help
and we told him that we have no alternative but to help
him because if he allows them at the federal level,
members of the state House of Assembly will do same to
us.
In spite of the sharp difference between the parties,
especially the NPN and the UPN, we came together for
our own common interest to support the President. A
committee of governors was formed to advise the
President. At the end, we recommended maximum
remuneration for all public officers both politicians and
civil servants. We submitted our recommendations to the
President which he presented at a press conference but
that did not go down well with the National Assembly
members as they came up with war against the President
and the governors. They threatened to remove the
President.
They were callous and vicious. At the end, President
Shagari allowed them to decide their own remuneration
and that was what opened the floodgate of corruption in
Nigeria today.
I don’t know whether Buhari was aware of this history
because he was not a politician but he needs to be aware
of this as a leader. Now, is he going to allow himself to
suffer the consequences Shagari suffered as a result of
failure to contain the greed of the members of the
National Assembly? We are not just talking the holistic of
their remuneration which is up to 10 items but we are
only talking about one item.
Now, should Buhari allow it after knowing that the root of
the NPN problem where he could not perform was
because he could not restrain the National Assembly
from demanding and getting what they wanted?

Barely one month now, President Buhari has not been
able to form the Federal Executive Council, what do you
think is responsible to this?

Nobody can be comfortable with the level of arrangement
so far, particularly, when I can see the kind of
coordination in a negative sense between the center and
the state, just as the president could not constitute his
federal executive council, so also the states have not.
That means there is a conspiracy otherwise it will not
happen like this. It is disappointing, particularly, at the
federal level. Buhari is not new in this position.
He was military Head of State. Before even being sworn
in, he should have known who to appoint as ministers
and also announced them within two days after
inauguration but this has not happened. Why it has not
happened I don’t know but I pray it is not the beginning
of incompetence.

What is the implication of the delay in executive
appointments?

The danger in this is that foreign countries will not do
business with him, knowing that he has no team. Then,
those that decide to deal with him will be taking risk and
they know it. Secondly, the country will be doubting its
direction because even in Nigeria, businessmen will be
interested in the ministers they are going to be dealing
with but they don’t know. The delay has shown that
something is wrong with the leadership.
The revered politician had earlier predicted that the mass
defection of members of the PDP to the APC may end up
turning Nigeria into a one party state.

let dem kip running theor mouth

Talk is free

32 year old grudge still fresh in the old timer's heart. You told us negetive things too about el-Rufai but we ignored you and voted for him. Maintain your hard-earned respect lest you throw it away at the twilight of your illustrious life. Simply face the reality that PMB is Nigeria's President.

Shoro niyen

Some people are just too expectant.... Judging a 4-yr administration under. 4 weeks

Who iz balabare. Is he one of the boko haram sponsorers

Source www.naij.com/472137-balarabe-musa-blasts-buhari.html
Watching everything in 3D