My ordeal at SSS over alleged plot to poison Jonathan -Bibi Farouk

Why were you linked to the alleged attempt to poison President Goodluck Jonathan? The SSS has not made it clear why they came after me. I go to them when they want me but I don’t know exactly where I come into the allegation of any plan to poison Goodluck Jonathan. As I have said […]

Why were you linked to the alleged attempt to poison President Goodluck Jonathan?

The SSS has not made it clear why they came after me. I go to them when they want me but I don’t know exactly where I come into the allegation of any plan to poison Goodluck Jonathan.

As I have said a number of times since my arrest and release, I know nothing about any plan to harm the president. Also, and as I have said on occasions, including my written reaction to my arrest by the SSS, I find Jonathan likeable and I do not hold any personal animosity towards him. I feel that even in respect of his decision to disregard PDP’s zoning arrangement and run for the Presidency in April, he is really responding to the urging of the people around him who want to continue to benefit from his presidency. They could be doing what they are doing to us as a form of pressure on the NPLF to back down from opposing Jonathan’s candidature.

You were questioned by the SSS. You say they were not forthcoming on the specific reason for linking you to the said plan to hurt Jonathan. But you would at least have an impression. What is it?

We are in the heat of a political season, less than a month to the April general elections; so, perhaps, many things can happen. It could be overzealousness of security agents and some other persons or group of persons who want to achieve certain ends. All this is what I think, and I am saying it because you ask for the possible reasons for our arrest. I am not accusing anyone of anything.

Your arrest came less than two days to a meeting called to discuss Jonathan’s overtures to the NPLF. What does the new development say of the possibility of NPLF working out something worthwhile in respect of Jonathan’s aspirations and the stand by the NPLF?

The dialogue is in jeopardy. Could be that some people don’t want the dialogue. Maybe such people feel their interest is better served without the talks leading to anything concrete. Lines of negotiations are still open between the NPLF and the Presidency, but the attitude of certain elements put the negotiations in jeopardy.

Come to think of it, what could the talks achieve? Jonathan has long obtained the PDP presidential ticket, which he obviously intends to keep. On the part of the NPLF, zoning which ‘disqualifies’ Jonathan is non-negotiable, so what are you people negotiating?

You can’t know what a negotiating table would produce until the negotiation is over. Two opposing sides agreeing to come to the negotiating table is in itself an achievement. Yes, we are opposed to how an agreed zoning arrangement is being overturned. We are concerned that something some people came together to establish 11 years ago and which has ensured stability in the polity for that long, is being jettisoned the way it is being done. The NPLF has not said anything other than that zoning remains, but voices outside the Forum hint at the possibility of a mellowing down against Jonathan if he would commit himself in a definite way to just one term of four years so that the North could reclaim the Presidency in 2015; but get me right, this is not an NPLF idea. If the NPLF would ever buy the idea, it hasn’t. But we are open to dialogue because, after all, we are in the PDP.  There are many who believe that the dialogue is in the best interest of the party and you cannot entirely dismiss the sense in that. So, it is not really entirely about zoning and the need to remain truthful to it. Dialogue anywhere it is applied over any issue, is expected to open windows of engagement that could engender mutual respect instead of suspicion; even if the two sides find it inevitable to maintain their respective grounds. In the case of the talks between the NPLF and the Presidency, it is still a PDP family affair and we have not come to the time, if we would come to it, when we could say that there is nothing more to discuss.

What is the fate of the NPLF-Jonathan rapprochement right now against the background of your arrest and the anger it generated in the NPLF?

We are inclined to further talks, more so because the period of anger is over now. Negotiations would continue because it is not about what people do or not do to us as members of the NPLF. We are working for the stability of this country. We are working for the stability of governance. We are doing it because we have a stake in the PDP and we want it to be the coherent party that it was before this attempt to break its constitution and set the country up for possible instability. We do not want instability.

The NPLF succeeded in uniting northern aspirants by bringing out one from among the four seeking the presidential ticket of the PDP. Now, three northerners are seeking to be president with tickets of different parties. Why is the NPLF not seeking to narrow the number to one so that the North would not be divided at the presidential poll?

They were approached quit early in the day, soon after General Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Shekarau became candidates of their respective parties. This was before Nuhu Ribadu got the ticket of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The NPLF was snubbed by General Muhammadu Buhari (candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC). The Forum was also snubbed by Ibrahim Shekarau (candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP). If they prefer to go their separate ways, they can. We could not force cooperation. There has to be the willingness among the different individuals and their supporters.

How well do you see the PDP performing in the presidential election come April 9, especially with Jonathan flying the presidential flag?

For the first time since 1999, there is formidable opposition from stout followership of opposing presidential candidates. And people are more enlightened now than ever before and are more prepared against being taken for a ride by anyone. Jonathan has made it worse by surrounding himself with people who have been part of the electoral mess that has been visited on the nation in 2003 and 2007. They are the same people with credibility problems that are today running Jonathan’s campaign and defending his highly controversial presidential project. These people are ready to cause harm to anybody for the sake of their personal interests. When the conspiracy to draft Goodluck Jonathan into the 2011 presidential election started, I noticed hesitation in him. But I also noticed pressure from people who can push you to the devil if the process would suit their personal purposes.

You have said something about not having any personal hatred for Jonathan. How did you become his public critic?

I see selfishness and political opportunism in the manner the PDP zoning formula is being jettisoned. They go about it with no consideration for the sensibilities of people, like those of us in the NPLF, who believe that an agreement is an agreement and should be honoured. I see the goal post being shifted while the game is on and I choose to reject such dangerous inconsistency.

Many who do not hold this view feel that even if zoning damns Jonathan’s chances in the North, he would have the bulk vote of the South. Do you not see the South as his stronghold able to place him above his competitors, especially as these competitors may share northern votes thinly among themselves?

It would have been much easier for Jonathan had he been able to get the North solidly behind him. The North is a huge deciding factor. As for his chances in the South, let us consider the South South: He would be sure of Bayelsa State, some 500,000 votes. You could add Rivers State, let’s say two-point-something million votes, but, what about Edo State? The ACN has Edo. As for the South East, the votes can go anyhow. Prominent individuals abound in different parties who can wreck havoc on PDP’s bid to make impact there, so, you can’t put much to the South East. You won’t know exactly where you stand with them till the votes are counted. The South West looks likely to go the way of the ACN. To talk about the North, North West has had a long political affinity with the South South but it has now been poisoned.

So, you do not see the PDP doing well in the presidential election?

As a party man, I am concerned that we are not going into the general elections at our best because of what we have already touched in much detail here. If the PDP survives the presidential election, it won’t come out of it a strong PDP. Nigerians are highly enlightened now and are interested not only in who wins but how the winning was achieved.

As I have said, Jonathan is surrounded by characters who have always ruined the county’s efforts at credible electoral processes and created credibility problems for those who emerge from such processes. These are people who would always serve people in government not because they mean Nigeria well but because they expect personal gains.

The party is going into the elections without a substantive national chairman. What does it also say of its readiness for the elections?

‘Substantive’ national chairman is not such a big deal. The party provides for an acting national chairman to run the party if the national chairman is unavailable for certain reasons and there is an acting national chairmen now heading the party and getting the job done, besides, the party probably thinks that since the general elections are almost here, it is better to leave the leadership the way it is till the elections are over.

Do you not bother that the failure of the northern presidential candidates to present a formidable front could split the North during the polls and give Jonathan the electoral strength you believe he lacks now?

The North has the quality of being able to rally quickly to vote en masse for a candidate seen to deserve such electoral support. It can happen all so suddenly to change a long-running calculation. So, never mind what you see now. As a Kano man, I have seen that you can change the course of voting in an election and its outcome starting less than 24 hours to it. It may require no more than a text message to alter the equation if something makes it necessary. Remember too that if we are talking of the presidential election, there are elections before it, the results of which can determine how voters would cast their vote in the presidential election. So, do not think that what you see now would be exactly what you would see when the elections come.

Still on the elections in April, what are your fears for security, particularly in the light of threats supposedly by MEND to bomb parts of the country?

Considering their antecedents, they should be taken seriously. But, what do they want? They are taking militancyto unreasonable proportions. They have been accommodated a lot. They should be celebrating success rather than acting like terrorists. The amnesty programme initiated by late President Umaru Yar’adua has done and is doing much for them. Hundreds of them are in universities and thousand others are learning trades and skills or engaged in productive activities thanks to amnesty.

They have the ministry of the Niger Delta. 40% of national income go to the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is there. Some of their leaders in their various states are doing well for them. Besides, the Niger Delta is not the only part of the country that has suffered neglect. There is poverty all across the country. There is injustice everywhere. Nobody is even doing anything for most of such places which need attention; so, what is MEND’s idea? Most importantly, they should know that the bombing and threats of more bombing could rob them of the goodwill they enjoy from people in other parts of the country who have always felt that leaders and activists of the Niger Delta have reason to complain. The reckless violence and threats of more violence could become self-destructive. It’s important for them to realize it.

Besides the question of security, what are your fears for the conduct of the approaching elections?

It would not be Professor Attahiru Jega alone as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that would make the coming elections work. He is capable of proving that he is as good as many Nigerians believe he is, but he would need other officials of INEC and other Nigerians to make things right. It takes enormous pressure from desperate office seeking politicians to put the spanner in the works. I believe Jega has the capacity to withstand such pressures, but Nigerians will do the elections and Nigeria well by leaving Jega to do his work.

What is in the elections for you? Why are you not contesting for any post?

I have no interest in vocational politicking. I want to build my career on the academic spectrum. I am all right with my job as a lecturer (in the University of Abuja). It suits me well.

One would think that with your involvement in politics, including four years as PDP’s youth leader, you would wish to continue in politics, don’t politics impress you?

You need not be a career politician to be political. I could at least function as a political consultant. I have gathered much experience, and there is so much ignorance even among many of our active politicians.