RT. Hon. Dr. Justin Okonoboh is a former Speaker Edo State House of Assembly, first local government chairman of Igueben Local Government Council, one of the founding fathers of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State. In this interview with OJIEVA EHIOSUN, he spoke on the political configuration of Nigeria, the 2027 general elections, why there is no opposition for Tinubu, the problem of ADC, Governor Monday Okpebholo’s performance so far among other issues. Excerpts:
Sir, APC now controls 30 states out of 36 with their governors; is that an assurance for Tinubu in 2027?
It’s not total assurance, but once you have the governors, you almost have all the states, because the governors are the leaders of the party in the states. I think it’s a major assurance that the election might just be a walkover for the APC. ADC is putting things together to- wards 2027 General elections, they seem to be a major threat to APC.
Do you see them as a threat to Tinubu’s second term ambition?
I don’t even believe what you are saying; these things are handled by the governors. Almost all the Northern gov- ernors are with Tinubu.
These things are basically controlled by state governors. There is no person that has access to the grassroots more than the governor.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself has a strong support base in the North; it’s not about talking, we are talking about those who have access to the grassroots.
He has a lot of friends in the North that can make things happen for him. You see how they fought him in the last elections.
Even the Presidency was against him. But inspire of all that happened, he won. So for 2027, for me it is going to be the easiest election for him. For ADC, they are not strong enough with those who are leading the party.
There are three major leaders in the ADC: (Abubakar) Atiku, Nasir el-Rufai and Peter Obi. They are still not together to fight one cause, because you have two strong presidential candidates there.
Let me ask you this question: between Obi and Atiku who will step down for each other? So they are divided. And more crisis will come. They are not strong enough to challenge APC. Why? because those who are suppose to be leaders of the party are not speaking with one voice. So for Tinubu and APC, it’s as carry-go thing.
A majority of Nigerians are not comfortable with the Muslim-muslim ticket;what is your take on this?
I don’t want to use a wrong language; so far in the Muslim, Muslim ticket, have you heard where the Christians are being oppressed? What Donald Trump was talking about is a thing of the past.
Trump is now working with Tinubu. It was opposition party that went to lie to Trump that Christians were being killed, that there was genocide in Nigeria; they were all lies to discredit President Tinubu’s government.
In fact Muslim, Muslim ticket means nothing. During President (Muhammadu) Buhari’s administration, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was the Vice President and a core Christian. When they killed Deborah in the North what did Osinbajo do? Tinubu is not a Christian, but for him to allow his wife to be a pastor means that there is nothing attached to it.
That was the reason Christians wanted to fight against him during the election, but he still won. So whether Christian or Muslim, it is immaterial when it comes to gover- nance. I think Nigerians should rise above that.
Tinubu is performing very well. The World Bank has hailed him, IMF has hailed him, a lot of economic experts have hailed him so we should support him so he can fix Nigeria. Businessmen are very happy with his economic policies; when the economy is stable, things will fall in place.
Will you say that investors are coming into Nigeria now?
Yes they are. We have population; investors all over the world are coming in, they know that investing here will yield profit, so the economy is bouncing back.
Sir, there is security problem in the country, how would investors come in when their safety is not guaranteed?
Yes I agree with you that we still have security problem in the country; I think the Federal Government is doing everything possible to put an end to it.
We feel those things are being sponsored by political enemies because of the elections. I think we would come out of it soon. So, in Nigeria now, there is no opposition.
How would you rate Senator Monday Okpebholo’s performance as governor of Edo State so far?
One thing Edo people should know is that Governor Monday Okpebholo was fully elected by them, he is a governor of all Edo people, therefore he needs their total support and backing to deliver on his electioneering campaign promises.
Back to your question on performance, I think it’s too early to start judging him, he is just one year plus in office, and what he has done within this one year, the past governor did not do it. It terms of reaching out to people on his election campaign promises, he is doing very very well.
You can count a lot of projects and other things he is doing that other people did not do in four years. He is doing very well. So, Edo people must support him to enable him to take dividends of democracy to them.
