Why Atiku is Nigeria’s hope —Afegbua

What informed your recent statement where you accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the presidency of “hawking” the 2023 presidency?

It’s all about what the issues are in the build up to the 2019 elections. We now have a presidency that is manifestly insincere about its dealings with Nigerians. The president is promising the South East while the Vice President is promising South West the same position at the same time. I understand that Adams Oshiomhole of the APC is also promising that power will return to the South South in 2023 if the zone votes for President Buhari. So, in one government and party, you have several promises that are not likely to happen but just for the sake of election, they can make all the empty promises. That alone has exposed the Buhari presidency as being deceitful, unserious and unreliable. Such a government of double-speak cannot be taken seriously by the electorate. You cannot be hawking the 2023 presidency when you are not God who sees tomorrow.

Our responsibility is to alert Nigerians so they can fully see the deceit in such promise.

 

But is there anything wrong in making promises, since we all know politicians do make promises that they can’t fulfill?

We must move away from telling lies to the people for cheap votes. This government came on board on the strength of certain policies and programs enunciated in its manifesto. But it has failed woefully to implement those policies and programs. The government has been hijacked by powerful old men according to the wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari. She understands the workings and happenings in the villa more than any of us; and for her to raise the alarm over such hijack is something that should worry us. The cabal is just using the president as their cannon fodder to execute their own selfish ends and interests. This is one of the reasons why the president hasn’t been able to meet up with the expectations of the people. So the issue is not about politicians not telling the truth,  it is about the fact that this government hasn’t kept its promises with the people. We are worse off today as a result of such under-performance and monumental failure to deliver the dividends of democracy.

 

Does your party and candidate have confidence in the electoral process against the background of your condemnation of the president not assenting to the Electoral Act (amendment) bill?

It shouldn’t be about my party and candidate; it should be about Nigerians and what we desire to see in our democratic process that would give birth to credible elections. The amendments in the Act were not done for the president; they were done to strengthen our institutions and electoral process so that we could all subscribe to credible elections that reflect the wishes and aspirations of the people. But here is the contradiction. The president who promised free, fair and credible elections refused to assent to a document that will guarantee that. That’s sheer contradiction and double standard. On the one hand, you are preaching about credible election, on the other hand, you are refusing to sign a law proposal that would lead to that credibility. What are you afraid of as a president? No law is made at the convenience of anyone. Laws are made for the overall good of the people. Having seen some of the lapses in the 2015 election, it was necessary to use the instrumentality of the law to correct some of them. The incident form was part of the problems envisaged in the voting process. About 13.5 million people voted without the use of card readers. This law is saying such abuses and infractions should not be encouraged in the 2019 general election, and the president is saying no. Whose interest does he intend to protect?

• Buhari has history of bringing in looted funds, Atiku says

 

What will be your next step in the event that the electoral act amendment bill is not assented or vetoed?

We are still expecting the president to do the needful in the interest of democracy. Nigerians must continue to demand for accountability in governance. The president must be told in unmistakable terms that it is in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians for him to assent to the bill than throwing away the baby with the bath water. We are for credible electoral process. We are for free and fair election. And the only way to guarantee that is through a process that is defined within the provisions of our laws.

 

You sound so confident about the 2019 elections? Aren’t you worried about rigging and manipulation of the process by the ruling party?

If we use the outcome of the Ekiti and Osun elections as our basis, we may just say bye bye to democracy but we believe we can still get things right. The APC rigging mentality has gotten to a ridiculous level, almost sickening and hypocritically so. They preach free and fair election on the one hand and dish out bile and rigged election on the other hand insofar it fulfills the selfish aspirations of a few individuals who are marooned around the president. We are worried about vote buying, vote selling and all other forms of monetised electoral process and conduct. But we are not going to give up on that. We are also putting in place measures that would respond to APC rigging mentality so that our people’s votes could actually count.

 

The government has been sharing money to traders under the tradermoni scheme. Your party has criticised this consistently. What is your grouse with the traderMoni?

That is APC house of fraud and huge scam whose accountability is subjectively skewed around some few individuals. What is the meaning of Tradermoni when there are no structures and designs in place to ensure proper monitoring? If you recovered $323 million Abacha loot, what you need to do is to reflate the economy through programs that are sustainable. As a government, what you should do is to work out modalities for financial inclusion so that you could attract people in the informal sector to the formal sector and set up machinery to monitor the loans and grants you give them. That way also you can improve on your tax strength by getting more people involved in the tax net. This one being done is sheer tokenism, and unsustainable initiative that is haphazard just to serve the purpose of elections.

The question you should ask yourself is why is it that it is only when elections are in the corner that we see increased activities of sharing money in the name of tradermoni? Under Atiku Abubakar,  we will promote and sustain entrepreneurial initiatives that will make it possible for the informal sector to be integrated into financial inclusion of the formal sector. Monitor the activities of the people and give them credit facilities with minimal collateral to strengthen their activities. This tradermoni is a huge fraud ditto the school feeding program that has been variously abused.

 

What are we to expect in an Atiku Abubakar presidency come 2019 that will be different from what we have presently?

First, you need to understand the world view of these two Nigerians. Atiku is a creator of wealth, manager of men and resources while President Buhari does not have a history of running any successful business. Therefore, Atiku stands poles higher than someone whose business initiative does not promote and encourage prosperity. Atiku is a unifier and a strong networker. He connects with people from all shades of opinion, sociopolitical and ethnic backgrounds. His workers and employees are drawn from across the country. So, in terms of the right person for the country at this period of heavy divisions across the land, we need Atiku Abubakar. He will create jobs, build infrastructure and motivate the private sector to invest heavily in the local economy. In the area of insecurity, Atiku Abubakar has promised to overhaul our security architecture both in terms of personnel and technology to drive modern dynamics in security operations. The killings have become unbearable. The rivers of blood flowing in the country are too many to contend with. We have become a country in perpetual mourning and grief. We have become a country of condolences. Deaths, assassinations and mindless killings have reduced the country to a bloody one. We need a change of guard. We need new paradigms. We need new approaches. And all these Atiku is sure to bring on board.