Ambassador Aminu Wali, Nigeria’s Immediate past Foreign Affairs Minister, was a senior cabinet member in the Jonathan’s administration. In what could be described as his first major conversation with the media since they lost power, Alhaji Wali who was Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations for four and half years and a former Ambassador to China for the same period, reflects on why the PDP lost in the 2015 polls.

He also spoke on how the politics of ethnicity and religion undermined the 2015 polls, the near global conspiracy against their administration’s efforts to procure arms to execute the war on Boko Haram, the N950 million charge against his person by the EFCC and Nigeria’s present economic mess, among other issues. He spoke to Desmond Mgboh in his Kano home.

Excerpts:

How has it been for you and your supporters in the Northwest since your party, the PDP, lost out, in 2015?

It is a known fact that the PDP suffered serious defeat in the last general elections in this country, particularly in my zone and we know exactly the causes of that defeat. We had seen it coming over a period of time and of course, from the way it happened, it surpassed our estimation. It was really devastating. But that is politics. Not only in Kano but nationally, there has been a change of baton. And this is to be expected. For me as somebody who has been in this business for close to 40 years, it is a normal thing. In a properly organized democratic setup, where there is a free and fair election, the party in power does not last for 16 years. The electorate would always want to look the other side to find out whether they would get a better deal from the opposition. And this is what is happening in Europe, in America, all over the world. Therefore, that it happened to us in Nigeria is nothing different. It is our match through democracy, it is our match to establish democratic rules in our nation and I believe that we should be gallant losers and then form a robust opposition, a responsible opposition to now highlight areas of the failure of the administration so that they can correct- because after all, we all belong to Nigeria and whether you are in power or out of power, what is important is to see that Nigerians get a better deal from whoever happens to be in power. You need to pinpoint those areas that the administration is going wrong so that they can correct them, for Nigerians to get a better deal. Not because you are out of power, you want the party and the government in power to fall. No! That is bad politics So for me, it is a lesson that all politicians, perhaps those within the PDP and the other parties must learn; we must learn to accept defeat and then now get up and move forward and try to regain the lost grounds.

Why do you think the PDP failed in the 2015 elections? What were the dynamics that led to the fall of your party?

Well, it has been there for a long time. Like I said earlier in my comment, in any free democracy, you don’t expect a party to continue ruling for ever or for two, three, four, five terms! The party has been in power for 16 years and along the line, there were lots of mistakes that were made and the opposition took advantage of some of the lapses that we had and linked up with the voters – they were able to convince the voters that the PDP has failed. But the major issues, as far as this part of the country was concerned was the belief by the electorate that we failed to contain the security situation in the North-east. That, we as a party, and as a government, did nothing to contain the situation, because that was the propaganda that was going on in the media through the opposition. Rather than being responsible opposition, advice us on what we should do more to contain the situation. Like what is happening today, I will be very disposed to offer my advice on how best to contain the situation.

We accept that they have tried (in respect of the fight against Boko Haram) since they came to power but that is not to say that the previous administration had not done anything to contain the Boko Haram menace. They used it to blackmail the PDP. And this is one of the main issues that the electorate bought and they went against the PDP. And of course as we go, a lot of things are being unraveled and I think that by the time all the trials in the courts are concluded, a lot of the truth would come out.

As a Foreign Minister of Nigeria, constitutionally, I happened to be a member of the National Security Council, so I knew what we had done and I know what actions the government too, both internally and externally to see how we can contain Boko Haram. I was a member of the National Security Council and I led a lot of delegations and teams of this country and other countries, the Joint Security team of the countries in the region and these security outfits were still in place even after we had left office. So to say that we have not done anything to contain the Bok Haram insurgency was a fallacy. We had done the best we could under those circumstances.
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BABA BUHARI, 2019 LOADING....

That would've been noble.

So you mean our Iron fisted Baba doesn't have the Courage to sack an SGF? Now I believe Aisha Buhari told us the truth....


Sai Baba SAI Baba

Buhari's Body Language

Sai Baba till 2045, Change Dole


More Grass Soup?

What is Wali saying? Our APC isn't like the "corrupt" PDP! We are Saints and PMB spent 6 months to appoint godlike characters Into positons in government! Of course the dividend is clear... For the first time since 1960, an official is yet to be accused of any wrong doing