Obasanjo got what he deserved in the PDP – Kawu

There are rumours in the National Assembly that the presidency has begun lobbying lawmakers to extend the tenure of current political office holders, how true is this?I think the election will surely take place because the reasons they advanced for the postponement cannot be repeated.The concern was on non-distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), now […]

There are rumours in the National Assembly that the presidency has begun lobbying lawmakers to extend the tenure of current political office holders, how true is this?
I think the election will surely take place because the reasons they advanced for the postponement cannot be repeated.
The concern was on non-distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), now within this period everybody will get their card. On the issue of security, I am also confident that it can be solved within the time frame even though the insurgency affects only few local government areas.
Also, our laws both the constitution and the Electoral Act stipulates that elections must be conducted 30 days before the expiration of tenure of the current office holders on May 29th. Therefore, any further extension will violate the constitution.
The 1999 constitution does not give room for Interim government just as the international community will also not entertain such in the 21st century. The constitution does not also allow for military intervention or coups. So, there is no other way out than to hold the elections for peace to reign in this country.
Were you contacted?
On the alleged lobbying of MPs to extend the president’s tenure, nobody contacted me on that. And I doubt if that will scale through. Nigerians are agitated and are ready for this change. The Senate has just okayed the use of card readers for the election and people are happy with that while the motion to probe that was overwhelmingly defeated in the House.
I don’t know the grounds National Assembly could use to elongate the tenure. They are mentioning section 135 of the constitution which says if the nation is at war, elections can be postponed and tenure extended by six months. But section 5 also sets out the condition precedent for the declaration of Nigeria to be in a state of war. The question is? Is Nigeria truly in a state of war? How many local governments are affected by the violence? Civil unrest and other forms of internal violence can occur anytime and anywhere and the law allows the president to deploy troops to bring down insurrection in any part of the country. Therefore, I don’t think the National Assembly can rely on any of these issues to shift the polls, except if there is anything hidden which we don’t know of, and until it is revealed, we will be waiting.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has just dumped the ruling party PDP, what do you think was responsible for his exit?
Even though I am in APC, but as somebody who follows political developments, I don’t think chief Obasanjo had got any respect in the PDP before his departure. Remember the hot exchanges between him and the president, the role being played by his loyalists. His exit is not something new.
Whenever you want to dig hole for your enemy to fall into, make it shallow so that in case you fall into it, you can easily get out unharmed. Obasanjo plotted so much wickedness when he was in power and today he has fallen into it.
He started the destruction of democracy by making governors too powerful.  Remember what he did to Chief Audu Ogbeh, Chief Barnabas Gemade and Chief Sunday Awoniyi when they run for PDP chairmanship. At that time, Obasanjo introduced a new dimension to it that people’s numbers be written behind the ballot papers.
Again, Obasanjo also tried to dismiss his deputy Atiku Abubakar from office by withdrawing his security details, official vehicles, etc just like this government did to our Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
Obasanjo also attempted to elongate his tenure with the infamous third-term, denials by him then notwithstanding, all of us in Nigeria then knew that he had a hand in it. They shared money in the National Assembly bribing members just to pass it, but we defeated it.
You are so hard on Obasanjo, why?
Whatever happened to democracy now under Goodluck Jonathan, Obasanjo can’t be exonerated. Remember what he did to people like Alhaji Abubakar Rimi who were the ones who conceived the party-PDP, Chief Solomon Lar and others who brought him to PDP and he ended up sending them out of the party. I think, it is same thing that happened to him whether they did it rightly or wrongly.
General Obasanjo also orchestrated the removal of five governors using the EFCC. He was also the one who introduced religious and regional politics which led to where we are now. I think the current government is only completing what he started.
Whatever one is doing,  one should be careful because of tomorrow but Obasanjo has eaten his tomorrow and now these things are happening to him.
This is a big lesson to all of us politicians that whatever we are doing, we should be mindful of tomorrow. It is also applicable to governors who ruled like emperors but when they leave power, their stooges have sent them to political purgatory permanently in Abuja as they can’t even go back to their states. All these started during Obasanjo.
I think there are two things remaining for him to do after tearing his PDP membership card. First he should apologise to Nigerians for all harm he inflicted on them and democracy. Nigerians should also, because of God, forgive him as an elder-statesman so that we can together build this country.
If you could remember also, in 2007, an oil tanker was discovered in the premises of INEC in a desperate attempt to scuttle that election. It all happened under his watch.  But Nigerians are both forgiving and forgetful. They look more to the future than the past. That is why people like Obasanjo still have a say in the running of our democracy.
But I thump up for him for tearing his membership card.
But Nigerians will be surprised that you are criticizing him despite the fact that his stance now is positively affecting your party the APC…
Yes, he tried by leaving the PDP but it is not enough for us to close our eyes to the truth simply because Obasanjo seems to be supporting the APC. Even APC itself, if it does what Obasanjo did in the past, history will not forgive it as people will talk about it. I am only saying that he should apologise to Nigerians for what he did to them. Most of the people in APC today, it was Obasanjo that started chasing them out of the PDP.  He should know that by the time he raised his fingers accusing others of doing wrong, the same fingers are also pointing at him reminding him of all he did. Nigerians should not be quick to forget these things.
Our party members should not entertain these things and think they will also do same. Most of the people in APC were with him when he did all he did. We fought them seriously that time on some of the actions they took including but not limited to his refusal to release Lagos local governments funds. If you could remember what happened at one polling unit in Abia state during his time when our party then the ANPP won election there. Simply because Nigerians have been oppressed and suppressed too much, is not enough reason for us to forget or close our eyes to these things. History will not forget this. He should apologise to Nigerians. This is necessary so as to avoid similar mistakes in the future and to serve as a lesson to present leaders.
Remember, Obasanjo brought Goodluck Jonathan. Even in 2011, he insisted that Jonathan must contest contrary to PDP power sharing arrangement. In the same 2011, we elected our speaker and leaders in the House as provided by the constitution but the same Obasanjo was the first person to oppose it and he kept on with the opposition for a long time but we have been vindicated. He became a sectional leader by insisting that the speakership must revert back to his zone.