Senator Babafemi Ojudu, a renowned journalist, was a member of the Seventh Senate in the National Assembly and now the Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Muhammadu Buhari. In an interview with some journalists including SULAIMON OLANREWAJU, he speaks on the acting EFCC chairman, Customs Director-General issues and they way the Senate handled them. Excerpts:
HOW do you see the handling of the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the invitation of the Customs Comptroller General, Colonel Hameed Ali (Rtd) by the Senate?
I hate to criticize an institution in which I served and where I still have many friends and colleagues. How I wish these issues had been handled more carefully and in a manner in which the image of the institution won’t be tarnished. The reactions I have read both on the social media and the traditional media to the conduct and
handling of these matters have been unsavory and not complimentary to the image of this noble institution.
The likes of Governors Fayose, Wike and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode have been critical of President Muhammadu Buhari, raising political dust about his administration. Some people are of the opinion that you as the Special Political Adviser to the President should have taken up these people who are perceived as trying to rubbish the achievements of the APC government. What is your take?
We are in a democracy. The people, whether high or low, are entitled to their opinions about government and its activities. The people too, who are consuming these opinions and criticisms, are enlightened and equipped enough with the antecedents of these individuals to know what to make of what they say.
I think it was Churchill who said you do not stop to throw stones at every dog that barks at you. If you do, you won’t get to your destination.
Our concern is to work assiduously to solve the problems confronting Nigerians and as you can see we are beginning to get results.
So let those who want to bark continue to bark until they lose their vocal chords.
It is said that Senator Bukola Saraki has become so powerful that nobody in the current APC dispensation can check him. How true is that?
Senator Saraki is the President of Nigerian Senate and he is a member and leader in my party, APC. If I have anything to say about how he conducts himself either as President of the Senate or leader in our party, I will walk up to him and say so. That is what decency and decorum demands when you belong to the same party and hold positions of responsibility in a government run by your party.
By May the Buhari administration will be two years in office. At mid-term, would you say the government is on good standing considering its performance? If yes, why then do people complain about being gentle with corrupt people who are the most vocal and who manipulate the economy to make life difficult even before recession was declared?
I can confidently say that when it comes to fighting corruption this government has done its bit. It is left for the other arms of government, the judiciary and the legislature to do theirs.
In all ways President Buhari has demonstrated his readiness and preparedness coupled with determination to fight corruption. In doing so the executive cannot do it alone. You need the legislature to come up with the enabling laws, the security apparatus to carry out its investigation and the judiciary to carry out the trial expeditiously.
If President Buhari begins to fight the war against corruption without carrying along these other arms of government we know what the noise will be. It is you people who will start shouting that he has come again, he is a dictator, he has jettisoned the rule of law.
The government has even gone further to come up with the whistleblower initiative in providing information on the activities of looters. I think within the limits of what we have now the President has acquitted himself very well in the fight against corruption.
As political adviser to the President, why is President Buhari not taking charge as Leader of the party to save the party and government from collapse?
I can assure you the President is taking charge. What you have seen is a man, who as he once said, has transformed from the command and control ethos of the military to a consensus builder. In the military an order is instant and must be obeyed by all subordinates while in a democracy you have to employ persuasion and lobby.