You played a major role in the struggle for the actualization of June 12. Now that President Muhammadu Buhari has recognized it, are you fulfilled, sir?
As I said at other fora, this action is long overdue and it is not a favour being done to anybody. It is disheartening that they hurt the Abiola family and those who fought for democracy and restoration of good governance in this country. It is long overdue and we thank General Buhari and his government for doing this but that is not the end of the road. The end of the road will come when we see that the tenets of democracy are upheld to the end; that democratic principles are enshrined in our governance; and every day there is strict observance of democratic norms in this country. If those things are done and there is progress in governance, we will be happy. So, what he has done is a welcome development and it is long overdue.
President Buhari was your colleague in the military, did you discuss June 12 issues with him during the struggle and the need for his intervention to get it actualized, given his closeness to the late General Sani Abacha?
Yes, he was my colleague but we were both bloody civilians then when Abacha was in power. We were both retired. We met over it (June 12) when I was in the United Kingdom (UK) and I was the Chairman of NADECO abroad. Buhari advised me to come back to Nigeria; that I should not stay abroad and be fighting for democracy, but I refused. I said ‘look, my fight has not finished and until it is concluded, I will not come to Nigeria.’ But this question (about whether he intervened by advising Abacha to actualise June 12) should be directed at him (Buhari). Even though he was not in the military then, but he was close to Abacha because he was the Chairman of Abacha’s Petroleum Special Task Force (PTF). Did he advise Abacha then? That is what you and I want to know now. It is a good question which he should answer.
Was there a time during the struggle that you felt like abandoning it?
No! There was no time we felt like abandoning it. There was a time we felt that things were not going well; there was despondency among some members but we encouraged ourselves to move on because we knew that we shall succeed. We were confident that success would come at the end of the day, so we continued even in the face of an attempt to eliminate us abroad. We were warned by British security agents that two French mercenaries were hired (by Abacha) to eliminate us at the cost of $2 million per person. But that did not deter us. We went on. We knew the end would come and it surely came.
How did you manage to escape the attacks from Abacha in those dangerous days?
(Laughs) Of course, it was God. First of all, I was one of the prime targets of Abacha because only three of us were charged to court for treason out of 53 of us that signed the NADECO Declaration; only three of us were taken to court. I was the only one whose house was attacked at night, burnt down. My cars were burnt down. I survived that and then we decided that this battle was a strong hand policy of Abacha, we believed that that was the only way he could harm NADECO and that was why we went abroad and I was the Chairman of NADECO abroad and we continued to fight throughout Europe, America and so on. It was not easy; it nearly cost me my life because I fell sick about three times. I had heart attack and stroke but to God be the glory, we survived all that and today we have a (good) story to tell.
Generals Buhari and Olusegun Obasanjo appear to be on a war path at present. Where do you belong in this crisis?
Where do I belong in the battle front? I am from the Middle Belt; you can say that the Middle Belt is in the battle front because all the killings are done in the Middle Belt, so I am in the battle front since the battle today, the killings are happening today in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau and Nasarawa, where I come from. I was governor of Plateau and Nasarawa, so all these areas are where battle is happening. People are being killed on a daily basis, so that is where I am. I am in the battle front.
Are you satisfied with the way President Buhari has handled the killings by herdsmen in the Middle Belt?
How can I be satisfied when the killings are still continuing daily? When he even said he could not send his Inspector General of Police (IGP) to go and take action. How can I be satisfied? I can only be satisfied when the killings stop. As long as killing continues something is drastically wrong and Buhari has to do more to prove that he means well for the people of Middle Belt in particular and Nigeria in general.
If you meet President Buhari today, what advice would you give him on the way he is handling the affairs of the nation?
The advice I will give is to, first of all, let him fulfill his electoral promise of bringing peace and stability to Nigeria. All the killings must stop. When that is done, all the other programmes can then be fulfilled. You can now have economic progress, even you cannot fight corruption when there is killing, so the issue of security is paramount; he must bring safety to Nigeria.
The 2019 elections will soon be here. Where would you want Nigerians to put their votes?
To the man who will take us out of this current scenario we are currently. Nigeria is at the brink of collapse. There is so much division, so much insecurity, people are not happy, the whole country is in a morass; so we need somebody who can take us out of this situation and bring us back to the state of progress, happiness, fairness, justice and peace. Peace is very paramount, Nigeria had seen that in the past and we can return to peace because we have eminent Nigerians who can do that. Let us look for them.
What message do you have for Nigerians, especially eligible voters?
Please, use your Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) well. Don’t allow anybody to buy your votes. Don’t allow anybody to push you into rigging, particularly the youths. Don’t allow yourselves to be used as political thugs to subvert the electoral process. We should allow free and fair process so that the result of 2019 elections will be the best for Nigeria just like June 12 was the best for Nigeria.
and then