Babangida didn’t draft Obasanjo to run for president – Ibrahim Dan Musa
Why have you been quiet over recent political happenings in the country? There is an adage which says that every advancement in the war front is not the sign of bravery and every retreat is not evidence of cowardice. One may want to re-plan, re-strategize and the enemies are coming. If one decides to continue, […]
Why have you been quiet over recent political happenings in the country?
There is an adage which says that every advancement in the war front is not the sign of bravery and every retreat is not evidence of cowardice. One may want to re-plan, re-strategize and the enemies are coming. If one decides to continue, they will just kill you and one will not have another day to plan. My silence has to do with my campaign for General Olusegun Obasanjo. I was one of the people nominated from the North who went to convince and draft Gen. Obasanjo to contest the presidency of this country after he left prison. When he left prison, he just went to his village to retire. Then, Gen.Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), who went to see him before he left prison in Yola, decided to go to Abeokuta instead of going to Yola prison to see his boss. IBB went to him innocently to brief him having been released from the prison. But, you know, you press men, all of you started telling the world that IBB went to see Obasanjo to draft him to run for presidency. And we had a meeting in Kaduna on that day under the Turaki committee. I represented Kwara State on the committee then. IBB did not draft Obasanjo to run for presidency. He only went there to see his former boss. But during our meeting, Umaru Dikko was there, late Sunday Awoniyi was there as well as Lawal Kaita and a few other Northern leaders were also there. I told them that what the press was speculating about Obasanjo to become the next President needed to be given serious consideration. Obasanjo is from the same place as the late M.K.O Abiola and the Yoruba accused the northerners of killing Abiola. And Abiola and Obasanjo are like twins. We therefore concluded to make Obasanjo president in order to make the Yoruba people happy. Then, Awoniyi of blessed memory, added that during Obasanjo’s regime as military Head of State, Shagari, Awolowo,Azikwe and Aminu contested the presidency and Obasanjo went ahead to give the mandate to Alhaji Shehu Shagari, instead of giving it to Awolowo, his Yoruba kinsman. He said in Yoruba language, ‘Eje ko sanjo fun’ that is: let us pay him back in his own coin. I told them not only that, Obasanjo was a senior military officer and Head of State and if we want our democracy to grow, we should allow Obasanjo to become a civilian president so that he could deal with the military boys and there would be no coup to truncate democracy in Nigeria. So, it was agreed at that meeting that seven of us should go and meet Obasanjo to run for the presidency of this country in 1999. Alhaji Aliko Dangote was among us then. Thank God he agreed after serious persuasion. After he became the president and we saw the zoning arrangement in the country, some of us decided to keep quiet. But at the same time, I was the Special Adviser to him on Ecology and Environment. So, I was doing my bit behind the scene.
You were among the 23 aspirants who were banned in 1992 by Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s administration from contesting presidential elections in 1993. Now, the general has declared his intention to run for the 2011 election. How would you react to his ambition?
I happen to be very close to IBB. The house I’m staying in Minna was given to me by IBB. So, we are very close. After the cancellation of our primary election in 1992, I was the chairman of the Joint Presidential candidates that time. We were 11 in the NRC and 12 in the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) including Bamanga Tukur, Olusola Saraki, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Emmanuel Iwanyanwu, Alhaji Saidu Jabo and others like that. IBB had no reason to ban us because we had run in our various primaries. The first time the late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’adua emerged from SDP followed by Olu Falae and in NRC, Adamu Ciroma and Alhaji Shinkafi tied and they were to go for a re-run. But unfortunately, IBB decided to cancel the election because we held a meting in Bamanga Tukur’s house where I suggested to my colleagues, as the chairman of the presidential committee, that if we had to go for primaries again, we should select two each from NRC and SDP that will run for president and others should withdraw and we should support them. And at the end of the day, I suggested that we should form a unified government whereby the highest position should go to NRC and the second position of Vice President should come from SDP. The third position should be Senate President. Meanwhile, I told them that we should share the ministerial positions among ourselves. From the meeting, we said two each of NRC and SDP should go out to contest and the rest of us should support them. Unfortunately, all what I was telling my colleagues in the meeting, Nzeribe was in contact with IBB informing him about all our plans. He told IBB that I was going to put him in trouble. From that point, IBB decided to cancel the primaries because he said there was ‘mago-mago (rigging) in our election. And immediately he cancelled it, I protested, I registered my complaint to him. He later invited me and Nwosu to Abuja and I told him I would not come. IBB is still alive, you can confirm from him. You see, that time, the presidential election had torn the North apart. Because, in either NRC or SDP, a northerner would have emerged as the president at that time. But the cancellation by IBB robbed the north of the golden opportunity. Having said this, if I were Gen. IBB, there are so many odds against him. The Dele Giwa issue has not been resolved; there is the problem of Air-India carrying drugs which was allegedly linked to him. There is the annulment of June 12 polls, there is this N12.4 billion oil windfall, there is still institutionalization of corruption which Nigerians will use against him, the beginning of 419. There is still Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). When IBB was the military president at that time, the naira was N22 to an American dollar but before he “stepped aside”, it was N60 to a dollar. What is the value today? I think there have been many economic dislocations in the system. As a sociologist, I find out that the dislocation in the economic system has affected the perception and attitude of Nigerians towards the nation. No citizen wants to die again for Nigeria today. When I was campaigning for presidency in Germany, I preached to Nigerians, I gathered then that they should be patriotic. One of them told me that he could not be sacrificed for the nation. That our leaders have asked us to do what they thought will guarantee us employment, but at the end of the day, no job. That they were ready to take their pound of flesh from the nation that failed them. That is the sociological aspect of it. Our youths are not ready to sacrifice again because we have failed them. So, my advice to him, because there are many odds against him, IBB should stay away and remain as a former president of this country. Because, let me tell you my experience when IBB disqualified us: he brought Option A4 which produced Abiola and Tofa. When he brought this system, Gen. Yakubu Gowon tried to contest election in Kaduna. He could not emerge as a candidate of his party at his ward. Senator Dalhatu Tafida defeated him at the ward level. Who was Tafida then? He was just like a mosquito to an elephant. That was how he was to Gowon then. Since then, Gen. Gowon has not tried to contest any election. The people ple of this country will write so many things against him [IBB] and I don’t want him to end up being disgraced. He is my friend and I am giving him my honest advice.
Still on IBB. You stated earlier that he cited ‘wuru-wuru’ as the main reason for banning the 23 presidential aspirants. Based on your closeness to him, what would you say was responsible for his annulment of the June 12 election?
I think there was insincerity of purpose. It will be difficult for me to blame IBB because he was the Head of State then. I think from my private discussions with him here and there, as the head of the junta at that time, his hands were tied. Some of the guys who stopped him then are now in the Senate and are participating in the current dispensation. Because when he cancelled our election, some of my colleagues were annoyed and thought of bringing war mercenaries to the country to face IBB. But as the youngest man among them, I told them to forget about that. When he heard about that, IBB threatened us on television that he would arrest us. When I realized the implication, I advised my colleagues to keep quiet. Thereafter, we ordered Bamanga Tukur to address the press and tell them our position. I think IBB boys were not comfortable with our silence. They were saying, ‘how could these people spend billions of naira on elections and keep quiet? I think that silence became dangerous to them and they suggested to IBB that he must step aside and observe what is happening from outside with the aim of returning one day. That was the reason for his using the word ‘step aside’. Unfortunately, I was the Political Adviser to Chief Shonekan during his Interim Government and he knew well that IBB was not friendly.
Do you think we should be done about 2011?
No, now listen. We have what we call political dynamism and this enables us to make some arrangements so that we will not rock the boat of political arrangement of this nation. Those of us in the North started the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. I was among those who laid the foundations of the PDP. Few of us started it because we were formerly in All People Party, APP with late Chief Bola Ige. We wrote the constitution of APP but because of differences, we left the APP to form the PDP. We had rotational arrangement called political convenience between the North and South. Unfortunately, the North-Central geo-political zone has not been given the opportunity. The North-West has done it twice; Alhaji Shehu Shagari from Sokoto in the North-West. Umaru Yar’Adua has done it and that is also North-West from Katsina. During the |First Republic, Tafawa Balewa did it from Bauchi from North-East. The North-Central has not benefited from having a civilian president and we are asking for it now. We want it now and we are rooting for a complete civilian president in the person of Dr. Bukola Saraki. He has merit and all the qualifications to become the nation’s president in the next dispensation. So, we should allow the north to finish its term and it should come to the North-Central to Dr. Bukola Saraki who does not have any blemish.
It is believed in some quarters that the former EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu will return to government and that perhaps he may be the PDP presidential flag bearer to complete the North’s tenure in 2011. What is your reaction to this?
No, this will not happen. PDP will not bring somebody who is neither a politician nor experienced. Nowadays, we don’t cherish just being a politician; we want a political technocrat, not 100 percent technocrat. A candidate must combine the two. If you did well in the EFCC, it doesn’t mean that person will do well in politics. Prof. Dora Akunyili performed better when she was in NAFDAC. She was able to do well in the agency than in her political appointment because she was a technocrat in that aspect. I don’t think PDP will ever bring Ribadu to become a presidential candidate in Nigeria, No. Nigeria is so complex than bringing Ribadu on board.
There have been many ethno-religious crises, especially in Jos, Plateau State. What do you think would be the permanent solution to the incessant ethno-religious crisis in the nation?
I think the basic problems that cause religious crises is intolerance and the low level of education. I was born in a missionary quarters in Igbaja, Ifelodun Local Government of Kwara State. My father worked with a missionary church as a gardener. My mother was also a cook in the same place. My father was the Chief Imam of my town. Despite the fact that he was the leader of Muslims in my community, he sent me to a Christian school and I grew up in a missionary mansion. From there, I went to the University of Ibadan. So, I read the Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelation six times. Therefore, I understand it very well. When I finished my degree, I became a Muslim again and I learnt the Holy Qu’ran. Even when I was running for the presidency, I was the first person to put it in my manifestoes that if I win the election, I will be the first person to worship in a Mosque on Fridays and go to Church on Sundays. I also sold the idea to Jakande of Lagos. Both Muslims and Christians are worshiping the same God. The only difference is the mode of worship. Most of these Boko Harram members in the North are not educated. They did not have opportunity to learn about other religions because if they did, they would be exposed to the outside world.
By 2011, Kwara Central Senatorial zone would have been governing the state for 12 years. In view of the rotational arrangement, do you think it will be fair to the other zones if Gbemisola Saraki contests?
You see, politics is dynamic, only political rotation is a mathematical arrangement. During the political dynamism of Kwara State, as far as I am concerned, I agree that Kwara Central would have spent 12 years at the helms of power at the expiration of Bukola Saraki’s tenure. I also agree that it should be the turn of other zones. In this state, we have a leader and we have stakeholders. And if it is the decision of stakeholders to balance it considering fairness and justice, we would also consider what will bring development and progress to the state. If you are from Kwara South and I am from Kwara South and we are living in Ilorin, the state capital, it is our responsibility to ensure that this city is developed and it will be a pride to us. If we discover that it is you from the South who can do that, so be it. The fact remains that; there must be even development in the state where everybody will be secure and happy.
The opposition parties in Kwara State are in alliance to wrestle power from the PDP in 2011 general elections. Do you see them actualizing this mission?
Well, there is no crime in trying, but looking at the array of the supposed opposition in Kwara State, I don’t see any individual or group who can match the formidable force of the PDP in this state. It is so strong that it will be difficult to penetrate. Many people have tried to oppose in the past and they fell apart. Along the line, they joined us. If it is the turn of the PDP to develop the state, it will continue to rule but not forever. If oppositions are very strong enough, fine, because it is good to have people who will be challenging us and that will put us on our toes. But as far as I am concerned, as for today, I have not seen any opposition that can stop the PDP.
As a participant in the panel that wrote the 1995 constitution under the late Gen. Sani Abacha, do you subscribe to calls for the review of the present constitution?
As far as I am concerned, I don’t think the presidential system of government is good for Nigeria. I feel more comfortable with the parliamentary system of government. Presidential system is very expensive and it allows for so many loopholes that could lead to corruption. The present constitution was given to us by the military though we civilians sat to put it together. Though we wrote the constitution for the military, but we were under the watchful eyes of soldiers. Though, we were not told what to write or what to do, that constitution was doctored at the end of the day. There must be a total review of the constitution if we are still going to continue with this system of government. I think Nigerians, by nature, are more active to conform to parliamentary system of government.
You have been in politics since the Second Republic. How would you compare the previous republics with the present? Are we really making progress?
We have more dynamic people in politics now, more development in 774 local governments’ areas in the country because of the 36 states created including Abuja. Because of the zoning arrangement among the political zones in the federation, it is seen that we are having direct development at the grassroots. And when one looks at it, Nigeria is more politically conscious than before. We have realized that accumulation of wealth is unnecessary. So, the era of ‘grab and grab’ of wealth has gone. Recently Gen. Theophilus Danjuma told the whole world that he had acquired 500 million US dollars and he is afraid he did not know what to do with the money. Imagine, at the age of 74. He said he got the money through oil blocks allocated to him by Gen. Sani Abacha. He could not keep the money in his house because of his children. It can tear the family apart. He could not keep it in the bank, because if he dies, the children will kill themselves over the money. At last, he used 100 million dollars to invest in orphanage homes. It will get to a stage in man’s life that money will not have meaning to you again and I think, Nigeria is getting to that point now.