Nigeria needs a focused and determined leader in 2019 — Hagher

Ambassador Iyorwuese Hagher is a well-known academic and dramatist taught Drama at the Ahmadu Bello University and University of Jos, rising to the peak of academic pursuits before emerging Nigeria’s Ambassador to Canada and Mexico. He has also been a major voice in the leadership of the Middle Belt Forum and one of the consciences of the nation. He recently declared his intention to run for the office of president of Nigeria in 2019, reeling off his agenda tagged “To make Nigeria great.” In this interview with Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA, he provides insights into his preparedness for the 2019 race, insisting that Nigeria needs a man of vision to lead it out of the woods. Excerpts:

YOU are one of the presidential hopefuls from the Middle-Belt region ahead of 2019; this is the first time we are seeing a forceful Middle Belt launching out for the presidency, how serious is this challenge?

Very serious! Nigerians have woken to the unpalatable fact that no Middle-Belter has been democratically elected as president of Nigeria. This has cast a gloomy shadow on the prospect of justice and equality in power sharing. All three elected presidents of Nigeria from the North came from the North-West zone of Nigeria: Shehu Shagari, Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari.

The notion that the next president of Nigeria should come from the MiddleBelt of Nigeria is widely shared by Nigerians who believe injustice, peace and equality. The MiddleBelt has paid the price with its toil, sweat and blood for national unity. It is reprehensible to field any other candidate from the North when the Middle Belt has many credible presidential candidates for the position. I am also a contender for the presidency 2019. I believe that President Buhari’s government has failed by creating more hardship, disunity, poverty and ignorance in the North than any other Nigerian leader of the past. I plan to correct this… I seek to unite the people of Nigeria and give them a common world view as Nigerians to give peace, justice and prosperity and make Nigeria great as our founding fathers wanted.

 

The Middle Belt shortlisted some names as presidential hopefuls for 2019. How did they come about that and how far do you think that will go?

I remember being invited by elders of the forum to talk about my plans to seek for the presidential election. Several other aspirants were also invited. We belong to different parties and have different view points about the country we desire to lead. I personally feel very strongly about the genocide going on in the Middle Belt and it has to be rolled back at once. The trans-border Fulani from Libya, Sudan, Niger and other palaces, we are told are behind it. They should be fished out and stopped. I do not seek to be a MiddleBelt president but the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who is destined to take Nigeria to greatness, because of who I am by training, experience and character. I see a united prosperous Nigeria where our loyalty is to the nation rather than ethnicity or linguistic affiliation. I see a country rescued from a failed state status to one set on higher ideals of law and order, greater investment in education, agriculture and infrastructure. Nigeria has failed the world due to poor and mediocre leadership that made Nigeria the laughing stock of the world. Nigeria can become a honour and justice and become great at last.

 

With a vision like yours, do you expect to be endorsed by the Middle Belt Forum, which is seeking a common candidate?

Definitely, they should. So, also do I expect to be endorsed by the Northern Elders Forum, Arewa Consultative Forum, as well as the Ohaneze, the South-South Forum, the Afenifere and the coalition of parties. I expect the intellectual community, the traditional rulers and spiritual fathers as well. I expect to be endorsed, nominated and elected by all Nigerians. In all nations there comes a time when a leader is destined to lift that nation to greatness. I have a strong sense of destiny to unite Nigeria, grow the economy, enhance education, employment and productivity to harness our young manpower as Nigeria’s advantage and exceptionalism. All Nigerians who are sick and tired of the old, worn out, corrupt and decaying Nigeria should join the revolution of hope movement and support myascent to the presidency as the next elected president 2019.

 

So do you think that the Middle Belt will shake off this toga of lesser North as opposed to core North this time?

There is no lesser or greater North! There is no core and no periphery. People who call themselves core Northerners are arrogating to themselves a conscious and subconscious segregation. There are no core or peripheral citizens in the Nigerian Republic. There are no superior zones or inferior or as you call it lesser zones. The Middle Belt through the ages has borne unsurpassed resilience, through victimisation and brutalisation, since the slave trade on both the Saharan and Atlantic routes. They have suffered both foreign and domestic colonisation and today it is the zone where the Nigerian citizens are mired in poverty, internecine and asymmetric wars and have multiple genocide sites. It is truly a festering wound on the conscience of this nation. It needs to be strengthened to continue tobe the binding glue between the different cleavages of Nigeria and toprovide food security. Nigeria should be a place where we are all free,united and equal Nigeria.

 

In 2015, the APC walked through the Middle Belt and won practically everything on sight, how fulfilled are the people about the government they helped put in place afterwards?

The Middle Belt just like the rest of the country was hoaxed. It was the nearest thing to a perfect political scam, 419. In his manifesto, President Buhari promised to entrench true federalism and the federal spirit. He has instead promoted nepotism and exclusion. He promised to amend the constitution to remove immunity for elected officers in criminal cases and to establish special courts forcorruption, terrorism and so on. He has not done this. He promised unity, he has given us cleavages. He promised restructuring but all we see restructured are the herdsmen restructuring demography and geography with genocide, killing people and taking their lands. But the most embarrassing failures are in education where he promised 20 per cent of the annual budget, for education but never exceeding 7 per cent. Nigeria is one of the least countries in terms of funding education in Africa and the worstin having more out-of-school children in the world with 13 million not enrolled in school; that is equivalent to the population of Lagos State. But the area where the Buhari regime has totally failed is in promoting permanent peace and solution to insurgency in North-East, Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Kaduna as he promised in his manifesto. He instead surrendered and does not know what to dobut call for prayers. He deserves pity; he promised what he could not deliver. His best is not good enough.

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In other words the region is not satisfied with the performance of incumbent President Buhari?

No, in simple words, the Buhari administration is a major catastrophe for the country.

 

What really is driving your presidential aspiration, can we say it is the need to redress the perceived ethnic cleansing or zeal to serve?

My main reason to run for president is to provide Nigeria the kind of servant leadership it needs to catch up with the rest of the developed world. Our democracy is not working, our educational system is comatose, our health system is in shambles and everything else is witnessing decay at an alarming rate. Nigeria needs a thinker and activist; a leader to make it great. Iyorwuese Hagher is that leader. To support the status quo is to accelerate to darkness and disaster.

 

Since 2015, there has been an upsurge in herdsmen/farmers clashes around Benue/Plateau axes, with some people here alleging ethnic cleansing. Is there any truth in that?

Yes. It is pure and simply ethnic cleansing; the killing of people and taking over their lands in the most brutal and heinous manner.

 

Money plays a huge role in politics. How do you figure your chances against the incumbent when it comes to Naira for Naira?

I don’t figure in Naira for Naira; I figure in winning despite Buhari’s heavy money chest. I will defeat him because he is a failure and a disaster for Nigerians. His government is bribing Nigerians now with Abacha money. They are dangling a massive bribe of N10 billion to the survivors and victims of genocide. But this money will fail this wicked administration. They have not printed enough money to pay for one soul killed and the bloodshed that has been sacrificed for Buhari to reign. I will defeat Buhari the same way he defeated Goodluck Jonathan. But can’t you see that President Buhari has defeated himself already? His policies of preferring cows to human beings have made him a small-minded, putative president, an anachronism of modernity. Iwill make Nigeria great! His cronies and money-bags can’t help him…His money will fail him! His propaganda machinery can’t bamboozle anybody anymore.

 

The public knows you as an academic, an erudite scholar,not a money bag that can mobilise the sort of money one sees on display in politics. You obviously have a serious challenge to your aspiration there…

I intend to beat the challenge of money-bags by creating an alternative reality. I will give us the opportunity to rise against the agenda of bought votes, rigging and violence. I have given Nigerians the opportunity to say no to special interests and venture capitalists who look for presidents to remotely control as their puppets. I expect to hand my presidency to the Nigerian people and stand on justiceand equity. What happened in Ekiti State foreshadows the extent of the perfidy the Buhari administration is prepared to go to steal the popular mandate. We will stop him!

 

Do you also have the confidence that your party, the SDP,will not be swayed by the moneybags who can easily bankroll the campaign?

The SDP organised itself to be an ideological party, which is clearly left of centre. It is the new hope for Nigeria after ensuing decay and collapse of the two leading parties. The direct primaries or option A4 will spring a surprise. So far, all our presidential candidates offer the country a new great Nigeria of our dreams. I have no problem becoming the SDP standard-bearer.

 

Restructuring is becoming a key campaign point ahead of the 2019 presidential election. How hopeful are you of Nigeria being restructured?

Nigeria needs restructuring. I will restructure Nigeria for greatness. Most of the people who talk about restructuring have little understanding what this means. They focus only on one aspect the fiscal and political restructuring. The Hagher presidency in 2019 will embark on a holistic restructuring of Nigeria. We will set in a revolutionary impetus to restructure the Nigerian mind and national consciousness, unity and proceed to empower the federating units by diverting controls of several institutions to give the states more power and the Federal Government less. I will restructure and deepen democracy by taking away democracy from the big people and hand it to the masses. I will restructure education by making it the highest quality by global standards and making it available for all. I will restructure the old, tired, worn out, sick and dying elephant, Nigeria to become a roaring lion king of Africa!

 

We have heard of seven point agenda and different agenda in recent times, how many point agenda are you launching?

I have a one point agenda to make Nigeria rise to greatness. I will do this through a holistic development since all development is interlinked. I will set out to look at multi-sectional needs and empower institutions, headed by credible leaders to make Nigeria great. I will embark on the most expansive and comprehensive vision: the Hagher vision 2050 is for Nigeria to be the world’s third most important economy.

 

Generally speaking, how do you see the chances of the SDP and its allied parties against Buhari?

They stand a very good chance if they remain united and if they can come together to support the best candidate. For instance, if the SDP candidate like me is chosen on the basis of cognate experience, vision and integrity, another party in the coalition could produce a vice-president. But we must not underestimate President Buhari’s desperation to hang on to power despite his poor performance and growing unpopularity.

 

You keep referring to your one point agenda to make Nigeria great. Are you borrowing the slogan from America’s President, Donald Trump?

No. Donald Trump wanted to make America great again. But I want to take Nigeria for the first time to the destination of greatness. And I am in a hurry to do it since the rest world is not waiting for us.

 

So how do you want Nigerians to see your presidency, a reformer, a transformer or what? What message do you have for the Nigerian citizens?

Please do not lose hope. Nigeria will be a great country and will soon begin its march to peace and equality from the revolution of hope. Join the team on Hagher presidency 2019 and together we shall make Nigeria the great nation we have dreamed about. God bless Nigeria.