Farouk Aliyu is a former Minority Leader in the House of Representatives and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he speaks on the party’s plans to retain power in 2027, and opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU writes

You have warned that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will continue to destabilise the opposition and make sure they don’t come together. Why did you make that statement?

I made the statement because if the other group will destabilise us by poaching Rotimi Amaechi and Nasir El-Rufai as well as those other big guys that teamed with us to form APC in its bid to destabilise us, we should also try to destabilise them. We used to be one family, one party, one people. Recall that we all came together to bring down President Goodluck Jonathan.

Now, some people are acting a script to make sure APC does not see the light of day or President Bola Tinubu is not re-elected but we will not allow that to happen. That’s politics. You see, I was leader of the minority in the House of Representatives at a time. I was in the opposition and we opposed the government. But we opposed constructively. We made sure we put them on their toes.

So, there is no democracy without opposition. We have no problem in anybody trying to oppose us. In fact, we don’t want to be left like that because the country does not belong to APC. This country belongs to all of us and those in the opposition are respected Nigerians. We respect their opinion, but politically speaking, we shall do everything possible to make sure they don’t raise their heads and I mean it because that’s politics.

However, in the course of this politicking, we don’t want insults, abuses and so on because the elites are one and the same but the masses still have not understood that at the level of elites, where there is no Muslim or Christian.

At the level of elites, we are not enemies. It is the same group of people that came together to form the APC in order to wrestle power from the then ruling party. Now, the same group, just because of certain personal interests, are saying they don’t want to work again.

Don’t you think that they pulled out because of national interests?

No, it’s all about personal interest but I am not somebody who does things because of personal interest. The late Muhammadu Buhari, my leader, I was with him from day one. I fought with him. We went to over 600 local government areas in this country together. I am certainly one of the closest people to him. We did everything, he came to government.

I didn’t get any position, but I never stopped defending his government because APC is my party. So, I will never stop defending the government of President Tinubu because it’s our party and it’s our government. That does not mean that anybody who does not agree with us, or with Tinubu, is an enemy.

We are not saying we own this country. If Nigerians, in their wisdom, in 2027, feel they don’t want APC, so be it. We will not be enemies because we also defeated somebody to come to power

Please criticize Tinubu, criticize the government, say whatever you want to say, we will also state our own side. However, at the end of the day, the people will decide whether they will go with us or they will go with the opposition. There is no harm in that. This country does not belong to APC and we are not saying we own this country.

If Nigerians, in their wisdom, in 2027, feel they don’t want APC, so be it. We will not be enemies because we also defeated somebody to come to power.

Are the elites passing this information down to their supporters because they are fighting and killing themselves?

Even if we don’t pass the information, the masses should understand. I keep giving examples with Edo State, and I will still say that back in the days in Edo State, Godwin Obaseki was our candidate and won election as a governor. That time, Osagie Ize-Iyamu was the candidate of PDP, but somewhere along the line, we did not agree as a party, so rules were reversed.

Ize-Iyamu, whom we called all sorts of names, when he was the candidate of the PDP, joined us and contested on the platform of the APC but Obaseki defected to PDP and defeated us. So, the masses should understand that at the level of elites, we are one and the same.

A former Minister of Police Affairs said APC government lacks national direction. He declared Tinubu’s government worse than that of Buhari, saying it is a total disaster. What’s your response to that?

One of the best things to be is an opposition person. So, it’s rhetoric of the opposition and we welcome this kind of criticism. Let him say whatever he wants to say.

It is true there are challenges. Buhari had challenges. Goodluck Jonathan had challenges. Every government has its own challenges, and Nigeria is not an island. Yes, there are challenges in this country.

Yes, there are economic difficulties. Yes, there is some insecurity but will any government do anything deliberately to hurt its people? The answer is no. So, the government of the day is trying its best. Whether our best is good enough for the Nigerian people, it is still left for them to decide.

The opposition is welcome to call us all sorts of names. So, if they say Tinubu is the worst president, that’s their opinion but we think as of today, Tinubu is the best president. Then, in APC, he’s our leader and the leader of the country. So, if they try to oppose Tinubu constructively based on probably our programmes, we will respond. But if you don’t like Tinubu’s face, that’s your business.

When some people talk about challenges and economic hardship, it’s true. You remember in 2023, all the presidential candidates promised to remove fuel subsidy and Tinubu had the guts to do that. I was made to understand, because it is the belief of all the candidates, or in fact, it was a general consensus of the country that this subsidy is a fraud.

But the way it was done is the issue with some of the other parties…

I can tell you some of the things that are working very well. Back in the days, you will carry your briefcase and if you are favoured, you will go and get money from the Central Bank at the detriment of the other people.

So, the reality of the Nigerian currency is N1,500. That’s the reality; there’s a difference between truth and reality. If you are only exporting oil, then there’s a problem.

Some have said that in African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nigerians have a viable opposition given the calibre of people in the party. Do you see ADC giving APC a real run for its money and probably do what APC did to PDP in 2015?

Whether they are a viable opposition; I think they are. I agree they are, because I must confess, there are some of them who make sense when they talk. I’m not going to mention them.

They try to make sense about, not insults, they talk about figures, which is all right. That’s the kind of opposition I’m talking about. But whether they will give us a run for our money, I don’t think so because it’s a conglomeration of presidential candidates.

Virtually all the leaders of that group want to be president. Unfortunately for them, only one person can be president. And I pray and hope, in fact, for the viability of this country.

We want robust opposition. We are not scared of them. We were in the same movement. We know each other. We know how they perform their tricks.

They know how we do our own. So, in the long run, Nigerians will decide. But it is all elitist. Some of them are looking for tickets and they know they will not get APC tickets, so they left.

Some of them were looking for a ministerial appointment, they didn’t get, they left. There is nothing wrong for you to aspire to become somebody or something; politics is a matter of interest. Unfortunately, theirs’ is personal, while ours is national.

We have seen branded rice bags, billboards, buses flooding major cities and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised the red flag. Why is that happening, even within your party?

Unfortunately, I’m disappointed in INEC because I want them to wield the big stick even against the APC. They should try to be seen to be independent. The funds do not belong to the government.

It’s our resources. I agree that the money does not belong to the president; he is superintending over the funds on behalf of all of us. So, the president cannot own the money. The money belongs to all of us and the president has never told INEC not to do its work.

So, I’m telling you as a member of APC that INEC should wield the big stick against all of us. The president is willing to allow everybody to do their work, and I dare INEC because there are pictures of persons sponsoring these things. INEC should go after them even if it’s APC.

But look, we as a government cannot just sit by and allow the opposition to take the streets or take over people. If they decide to play politics today, we will play politics.

Then, if the arbiter comes and wields the big stick against all of us, we will all retract. But as of now, they should please allow us to govern. If they don’t, we’ll continue to be talking, but at the same time be running the country.

Peter Obi’s comment that he can turn around Nigeria in one term or four years generated so much reaction, both positive and negative. What’s your response to that?

You see, sometimes when you’re out of office, or if you’re not in the place, you will not know. To me, it’s just rhetoric. He’s just trying to convince people, that look, just give me four years, I’ll do the work. Let me give you a classical example.

When we were in the opposition, myself, late president, the present president and so many leaders were on the streets of Abuja and all over this country, demonstrating against fuel hike in this country. Now, some of that thing we did, we were naive about them because we’re not in the office.

When President Buhari took over, he increased the pump price about three or four times. When Tinubu came, he removed fuel subsidy completely. When we got in office as a government, we realized that look, some of the things Jonathan wanted to do about subsidy were right. So, Obi is talking out of ignorance.

What makes you believe that someone who was governor of a state for eight years is talking out of ignorance?

A state is different from Nigeria, so the horizon of a state governor is not as wide as the horizon of a president. As far as I’m concerned, Ob is looking for where he will get a ticket but we are watching to see how it plays out.

Tinubu got 36 per cent of votes cast in the 2023 presidential election to win. Now, you have an Obi and Atiku Abubakar in one umbrella. Both of them got about 13 million votes plus. Don’t you see that as a huge threat to APC?

I told you that we respect and admire them as Nigerian leaders. But honestly, they don’t threaten us and we’re not scared. Just like I told you; the way they’re trying to destabilize us, not allowing us to run our government, we also need to spread our tentacles to make sure we pour sand into their Garri.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems to be getting a grip on its challenges with its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting settling the issue of secretaryship and convention to be held in Ibadan. Do you see the party unseating APC?

We are happy that PDP is coming together because if nothing, you are probably taking half of the members of the ADC, because half of the members of the ADC are from PDP. So, for us, the more opposition parties we have, the better for APC. So, we clap for them and may they put their house in order and come and confront us, the more the merrier.

A PDP chieftain said any party that fields Obi will have an advantage because he’s honest and gives Nigerians hope. What do you think?

I just pray they will invite him and give him the ticket. We in APC are not afraid of any Nigerian politician to come to the ring. We will try in a civil way because we are brothers.

You see, just like what I told you, these guys that have gone out of APC, we are brothers, family. A lot of them are extremely close to my family. In fact, Rotimi Amaechi is godfather to my children. He is so close to me.

Politically, he’s in ADC but we’re not enemies. We just don’t agree politically. So, I want Nigerians to understand, just like I told you that Amaechi and I can never quarrel. To quarrel, no but to disagree, yes. We are all friends and a family