2015: Buhari, Atiku, Tinubu should be ready to make sacrifices – Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
What are the implications of the All Progressives Congress (APC) saying that the party’s presidential ticket is open to all?The APC is more committed to democratic principles than the PDP. It is a good thing for the party that many of its members will be given an opportunity to offer services to the party and […]
What are the implications of the All Progressives Congress (APC) saying that the party’s presidential ticket is open to all?
The APC is more committed to democratic principles than the PDP. It is a good thing for the party that many of its members will be given an opportunity to offer services to the party and the nation. It will allow the party to choose from the best that are available, and it will allow the rank and file of the party to exercise real influence in terms of who emerges.
The implications are positive, they are good. I hope we will understand them in that context and keep the competition within the contestants as healthy competition that must be engendered by the democratic process and not the process that will lead to the destruction of the party.
What are the chances of the aspirants like General Buhari, former Vice President Atiku, Governor Kwankwaso and others across the geopolitical zones of the country?
Ultimately, it will depend on the party and members of the party. I hope that we will devise a system that will ensure that we do justice to the popularity of the party and that of the candidate while doing justice to the kind of leadership we believe the nation needs. I don’t think we should treat this issue as a Southern or Northern issue.
APC is a national party and we have many people who have said they would lead it. I know that we have very serious people among those aspiring to lead it, I am one of them. I have expressed my views before but I think that ultimately, whoever emerges the presidential flagbearer of the party will be only a member of a team, a bigger team.
We need a team of people who will contest the governorship, senatorial and good people who will contest the House of Representatives elections. We should not just place it only on the chances of Buhari, Atiku or Kwankwaso. But if it is anyone of them who emerges I hope the rest of them will rally round him. If it is not anyone of the three, I hope they will rally around whoever emerges. My hope as I said earlier is that the party will produce the best candidate who will do justice to the needs of Nigeria as at today.
What is your view on the call that Buhari should not contest?
I think they are only expressing their individual opinions and they are entitled to that. But a more productive way to go forward is to say if Buhari will not run will he leave the ground for Kwankwaso? Those people who believe in this have a duty to convince the rank and file of the party on why they think that one, Buhari should not run, and two, why it is Kwankwaso that should be anointed by Buhari?
The issue is not just between Buhari and Kwankwaso. It involves the whole party and the whole nation. The APC needs to define the kind of leaders it wants in the context of what Nigeria is today. And it won’t do justice if you are asking Buhari not to run. He needs to be convinced if it is in the interest of the country that he doesn’t run. We need to be convinced that Kwankwaso whose name is being mentioned needs to be nominated by Buhari and we need to understand why Atiku should not be a candidate of APC.
It is a lot more than the issue of Buhari giving in to Kwankwaso. It involves serious issues about people that want to lead us from 2015 to 2019. I have made my views known regarding why I think the nation needs a new lease of life. I have said before that most of the people angling to lead the nation, from President Jonathan to General Buhari, Vice President Atiku and Governor Kwankwaso, should not run. Not because they are unfit to run, but I genuinely feel that the nation needs to give a new set of people opportunity to offer their leadership services.
There are Nigerians with fantastic records of leadership qualities, services and competence in APC. They should look for them, urge them to come forward and encourage them to run. I think they should not think that because Buhari is in the ring, Atiku is there and Kwankwaso is also in the ring they wouldn’t even put up their hands. That is wrong! The party needs to encourage them because it has excellent Nigerians with leadership qualities so they should be given the chance to move the party and the country forward. That is my view.
Do you think the APC can garner 25 per cent of the votes from the South-East, South-South, and North-Central?
The PDP has completely failed Nigerians. The people in the South-South, South-East and the North-Central are Nigerians like every one of us and they know where the shoe pinches. The PDP has done nothing other than to leave them with legacy of poverty. APC has to show Nigerians that president Jonathan has done nothing for them. If anyone thinks the PDP has done anything for the people even in the South-South, they should go and ask them. Development is focused only in few communities in the zones.
With the huge sum of money that states in the South-South are getting no genuine development is going on there. That is one strategy that our party should use. Secondly, it should go out and find excellent candidates for all the positions – for the governorship, in particular. Then, people who are going to the Senate and who will be nominated for the House of Representatives. We must do better than the PDP to replace its governors. To replace its senators we must allow people with impeccable characters in the interest of the people.
Finally, I think the APC needs to explore the means to give all Nigerians the feeling that the party is ready to give them the leadership that represents a complete break from the past. Agreed it is challenging, but it can be done. I don’t think it is impossible. We must do our own thinking and go to the places where those people think the party is at a disadvantage. No part of the country is a disadvantage to the APC.
Do you think a presidential candidate from the South-West can boost the party’s chances of winning the presidency?
Any presidential candidate of the APC from any part of Nigeria can win the presidency. Anybody the party fields from any part of the country will defeat President Jonathan if there is a free and fair election. He is the most beatable candidate.
I am praying the PDP should make the mistake of fielding him. We should not just rest on the idea that Jonathan can be defeated, we must look for a better candidate wherever he comes from in this country. We must make sure that he or she can stand up for the party, people of Nigeria and not one who represents a section of the country. APC must be bold and courageous to look around and pick a candidate that Nigerians can look at and identify with him as the kind of person who will build the future they want. It doesn’t matter where he comes from, but whose integrity is beyond doubt and who can do better than the present PDP leadership in the country.
What are your hopes and fears for the APC in the next election?
My hope is that we will completely remove the PDP from the control of Nigeria’s political processes. It has run its course; it has nothing to offer Nigerians. You can see what they are doing now – intensifying corruption and insecurity. My hope is that we will realize this objective to remove President Jonathan from office constitutionally and as well remove all the appendages of PDP from the political process.
That is my hope. My fear is that our party might not recognize the significance or implications of allowing the PDP to continue in office between 2015 and 2019. It is absolutely essential for our national survival. For the process of rebuilding this country, PDP should be removed from office in 2015. Not in 2019 but 2015. We must replace President Jonathan with another president from the APC.
We must replace all the state governors with governors from the APC. We must have a strong majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The only way we can do that is to recognize the fact that nobody’s interest should be bigger than that of Nigeria. Whoever you are your interest cannot be bigger than that of Nigeria and that of APC. My fear is that we may not be able to do this. If we get it right we will realize the objective of rebuilding this country. But if we don’t I am not sure the nation will survive another four years under the leadership of the PDP.
How do you think the APC can overcome this hurdle?
We need a lot of commitment. This people that are putting themselves forward as flag bearers should show commitment to the party and commitment to Nigerians. No sacrifice should be too much if we really love this country. They should not put their personal interest over and above that of the APC and Nigeria.
Any politician who thinks he is greater than the party and this country should be rejected by the people. The survival of Nigeria is greater than that of any of us. We will all die but hopefully this country will survive. If you go through a process that confirms that the other candidate is preferred to you, I think you should accept that. We must work with and support the candidate that wins to make sure that we defeat the PDP.
This is the only way out. Those willing to contest now should prove they have respect for the party and the Nigerian people, and that they will not put their interest over and above that of the party and the nation.