‘APC, INEC will not interfere in conduct of 2019 elections’

The presidential election is coming up in February, what is your view of the election?

The election will definitely be free and fair, and I know and expect that people will vote for the candidate of their own choice. And as far as this government is concerned, I have implicit confidence in the leadership of the government, and through INEC, it deliver good and credible election to the people of Nigeria.

Why are you so sure about this?

I am so sure because of the credentials of the president, because of the credentials of the vice president, because of the credentials of the ministers and because of the credentials of the people in INEC. From what we have seen so far, INEC has conducted elections in about four or five states and they were good and credible elections.

And also, I can tell you that President Muhammadu Buhari is going to win massively because the government has performed creditably. In any case, those who misruled the country for 16 years don’t have any reason to come back under any guise. I can hear during a rally when the president said that his administration will change the economy and that the opposition party does not have any reason to come back now.

It has been said that the president shields some of his lieutenants who are said to be corrupt too?

I have never seen any upright leader like President Buhari who can tolerate such nonsense. The president does not condone corruption and if you are corrupt you cannot fight corruption and Buhari is known not to be corrupt.

One of the issues that is of utmost concern to the opposition parties and Nigerians generally is the fact that Amina Zakari shouldn’t have been placed in a strategic position where she is today, what’s your view about this?

My view is that INEC has declared that  she  has no blood  relationship with Mr president and that should have put paid to the issue. I will also say that as far this government is concerned; it needs not border itself with trivial issues like the Amina issue when there are campaigns and the need to focus on good governance to the people.

But some Nigerians said that the man should go and retire that he is too old?

Not a lot of Nigerians said so, but then age is no barrier and also, what is the age of the major opposition’s age too? Is he younger than president Buhari?

• Don’t vote people that have no respect for traditional institution ― Alao-Akala

They do not know what they are going to say again and that is why they are saying things that are irrelevant. Here is a president that is fighting corruption and they are afraid of what he’s going to do if he wins second term hence they are jittery.

Some people are saying that the economy is very bad now and that the president hardly knows the economy is very bad?

The economy is very bad, it is something that is back to 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party’s misadventure in government and you wouldn’t expect the president to fix the economy in just four years and that is why he must continue in office in order to fix the economy and other areas that had been destroyed.

Many can see that the president and his team are working round the clock to fix many sectors of the country and these are visible things to all. Another four years will only fast-track the process of development for the country.

You suddenly abandoned your senatorial ambition, what was responsible for this?

Yes, I had to do that because there were some hindrances that I won’t want to mention here, but then, I felt that after all, the time might not just be ripe enough and that was the reason I had to defer it till 2023.