Ahead of the 2027 General Election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been receiving a lot of defectors from the opposition camp, a move the ruling party thinks will guarantee its victory at the polls. But in this chat, a former DirectorGeneral of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Alhaji Idi Farouk, tells ONWUKA NZESHI that the development might spell doom for the ruling party
Nigeria recently lost a former president, Muhammadu Buhari. What does his exit mean for Northern Nigeria and the entire country?
First and foremost, may his soul rest in peace and may Almighty Allah forgive his sins, the ones he did knowingly and even the ones that he didn’t know he was doing. May Almighty Allah forgive him and give him a place in paradise. But his demise is bound to change quite a number of things in the equation of politics in Nigeria because he was president. His strongest base was the North and you know the North is part of Nigeria.
Therefore, his exit has already created a vacuum even in leadership here in the North. When he staged the coup of December 31,1983, you know he was largely disliked by politicians because you remember it was during that period that politicians were being jailed for 100 years or 200 years as the case may be.
Many politicians, especially the governors of that time were accused of corruption, tried and in most cases, jailed. But in later years, there was a dramatic turnaround in his acceptability particularly in the North to the extent that he even had a cult-like followership. He had many admirers who were always prepared to do whatever he wanted them to do. They will vote for him at any given time. So, his exit is not too pleasant for the polity, particularly for the party in which he belonged. But then, God is the decider. He giveth as he taketh anytime he wants.
How would you describe the kind of politics he played?
Some people say he was a man who cared for the talakawas or commoners. Do you think that is true? Well, the talakawas, which is the masses, loved him. If they see him, they are always happy because for them, he was the kind of leader they wanted. You can’t take that away from him.
Will the talakawas miss him?
No. The truth about it is that in my own estimation before his demise, he lost quite a handful of his followership because of performance issues in the area of governance.
Do you think he left Nigeria better than he met it in 2015?
You know, I’ve said this in other interviews that Buhari’s strength is also his weakness. What was his strength? His strength is that when he appoints you into a position, he doesn’t breathe down your neck. His weakness is that he is not supervising you and therefore people do certain things that they ought not to have done and they are forgiven, so to speak. He overlooks many things and this has a heavy stain on his assessment in governance.
In 2015, he was presented to the electorate as an anti-corruption czar who has come to chase away a corrupt government. Do you think the fight against corruption really had priority in this administration
To the best of my knowledge, no, because a lot of things were done which ought not to have been done and they went unpunished. So, in the fight against corruption, like I said earlier, that his strength was to give you appointment and his weakness is not to supervise you. So, like I said earlier on, a lot of things were done behind him or maybe to his knowledge and nothing was done about it. These things we are talking about, go into the realm of corruption.
What about insecurity?
Do you think security improved under his watch? No, but I don’t think our conversation now should be about the dead. Let us go to the living.
Governance is key to acceptability and in the area of governance I think the APC is not doing well… the party has not delivered on the mandate given to it by the people of Nigeria
It might be difficult except of course the right people do the right things. In the first place, things must be done for the North like it’s also done for the other regions, and if it is not done in other regions, the same difficulty will apply. Governance is key to acceptability and in the area of governance I think the APC is not doing well.
You mean APC is not doing well at this time or all along?
Yes, right from the era of Buhari to now. I mean they have not fared well.
In what area do you think they’ve not fared well?
In the economy, security, infrastructure, the party has not delivered on the mandate given to it by the people of Nigeria. There is still insecurity now and we are not seeing success on the side of the fight against the insurgents, terrorists and kidnappers. We’re not seeing success. It beats my imagination that 300 people or even 30 people will go into a village, sack the inhabitants and kill as many as they want but not one dead on the side of the invaders.
They kill and then they disappear into thin air. These things don’t happen in other climes. Look at what happened in Benue. Look at what happened in Plateau.
Look at what happened in Zamfara. Look at what happened even in the South-East and the South-West. Although these things happened in varying degrees, it is happening all over Nigeria and we have all our security forces. I’ve always said that we have a very formidable military force, but they are overstretched. They are in Zamfara, they are in Sokoto, they are in Kaduna and they are all over the country.
What’s your advice on this challenge of insecurity?
My advice is that we need more boots on the ground, meaning that we need more recruitment into the entire military formations at this period to help fight the insurgents. If we can’t get all from within, there are also soldiers of fortune – people who you can hire to do this job.
Do you mean mercenaries?
I don’t know what they call them, but then, just bring them to help fight this thing, pay them and let us put an end to this insecurity. I think this mater has been lingering not because our soldiers cannot deal with it but maybe they are not properly remunerated and equipped. It looks like the insurgents have better equipment than our military. So, basically, we need people who will help us fight this battle and we need to fight it and end it quickly if we must survive as a nation.
Some politicians in the North are getting restive over the policies and programmes of the current administration and they have formed a coalition to challenge it. What do you think about the coalition?
When you say politicians of the North, you’re missing the point. You seem to be focusing on Atiku Abubakar and Nasir El-Rufai alone. Are you not also counting Rotimi Amaechi, Peter Obi and the others? It’s not only politicians from the North who are in the coalition. They may be more in number but it cuts across all regions of the country.
Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State, who is part of the coalition is not from the North; he’s from the SouthWest. So, all over Nigeria, there are people who are aggrieved, there are people who are unhappy with the present situation. There are people who believe they have been marginalized after having performed and helped to install the government. So, the anger is due to a potpourri of reasons.
How far can this coalition go? Do you think they have the strength to sack this government?
Let me tell you; every coalition, every opposition has the capacity and capability of unseating any government if the incumbent government is not doing well or has lost the confidence of the people. You’ll recall that President Goodluck Jonathan himself had all that is available to President Bola Tinubu today, including the number of governors he had, yet the APC coalition removed him. So, if anybody wants to wish the coalition away by saying that they are noise makers, they should have a rethink, and if I was the APC, I would be disturbed.
Don’t you think that Tinubu and the APC can triumph over the coalition going by the verbal war raging between the two groups?
You know, the problem is that those altercations are not necessary. Just do what the coalition says you are not doing; prove them wrong. Those utterances and all the altercations only escalate the problem on the government’s side. You are responding to somebody who said you haven’t done the road to Kaduna and truly, you haven’t done the road to Kaduna. So, what are you responding? What are you saying? You just insult him.
If I say that the Enugu/Port Harcourt Highway has not been done, that might be a statement of fact. Then, you now respond with insults. You are not helping the government that you’re serving. It is not a matter of saying PDP was there yesterday and did not do the road. You came on the understanding that you are going to right so many wrongs. So, I think that action, not verbal war is what the incumbent needs. You can’t win that verbal war because the person on opposition who wants to take over from you is saying you haven’t performed in a particular direction and really you haven’t done the road.
The people who ply the roads are hearing you, people are seeing you, and then you are saying it’s not true or you, PDP was there before. Why didn’t you do it? We have gone beyond that level. You said you are going to right every wrong. What you must do is to wake up and do the road the people are complaining about and not to insult their sensibility.
Some prominent members of the PDP have left the party to join a relatively unknown party in the name of building a coalition. What do you make of this?
There are also prominent members of the APC that have left their party; there are prominent members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who have left their party for another platform. So, it’s not a matter of the PDP alone.
Is it not strange that the PDP, which is regarded as the main opposition because it was in government appears to be suffering more in terms of defection?
It is still the main opposition. If you do not look at the PDP as the main position, then you are making a mistake. I’ve heard so many commentaries that say the PDP is dead. How can it be dead? Some say it’s an empty shell now. How can it ever be so? You know, one of the biggest mistakes that you will make playing a football match is to underrate the opposition.
If you go into a game with that mentality, before you know it, the opponent would have stung you. I’ve told you that the PDP is not dead. It’s not true Do you mean that PDP is still relevant even with the leadership crisis that has been plaguing that party? All the parties have crisis and crisis is part of the business of politics.
Didn’t you see their meeting the other day? Even if they had crisis, does it not look like they have patched it up to an extent?
So, every party has its own crisis, including the APC. Why you see the APC not as turbulent as other parties is because they are in power and have the president. It is because the president holds sway, so to speak. But if you go down the line, you’ll hear the disgruntlement and the unhappiness, which exists in all the parties.
Some Nigerians believe that it is the ruling party that has been sponsoring this crisis in the opposition parties and coercing governors from other parties to join APC. Do you share this view? No, but again, what do you expect?
I mean, it’s not a matter of sponsoring. In a game of football, if you want to score a goal, would you not do all you want and can to your opponent? You dribble all the dribbles you want to do to score a goal. Make your opponent make mistakes. If the opponent is looking at your mistakes and you are also looking at their underbelly, then nothing is wrong with that. It is in the manner of politics. As a political party, if you allow the opposition to come and destabilize you, then you are to blame. But then, you too are trying to destabilize the ruling party. So, it is just normal.
What are the implications of these defections?
I would advise the APC to be wary, look, and shine their eyes. There is the song of Fela Anikulapo Kuti that says ‘Trouble dey sleep, yanga go wake am, wetin e dey find? Na palaver e go get.’ These governors, who are moving into the APC; what is their rating in the place they are governing? Those that are in their first term, and I think most of them are in their first term, are expecting to get the second term. What happens to the people they met in the APC?
There are people who have been in APC all their lives so to speak. Don’t forget the person you contested against in the last election because you are going back to meet him in the new party, and you call yourself the leader of his party. I think there will be implosion and in fact explosion.
Many of the defectors are governors and members of the National Assembly who believe that they will have automatic tickets. How can you get automatic ticket when there will be primaries
Many of the defectors are governors and members of the National Assembly who believe that they will have automatic tickets. How can you get automatic ticket when there will be primaries where people will contest against you?
How do you expect to get an automatic ticket? Now, when you are beaten you will still remain in that party. So, this is just the way I look at it. If I was APC, I will not celebrate these defections because of the potential dangers ahead.
The way APC is gloating about these defections reminds one of the days of National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the ruling party during the Second Republic, which wanted to capture as many states as possible. What do you think?
No, no. In the NPN period, none of the governors of other parties defected to the NPN, neither did any NPN governor defect to New Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) or the rest. The NPN sponsored it’s own candidates in states controlled by the opposition and used federal might to snatch those states, So, basically, it’s not the same scenario that we’re seeing today.
Please, you need to also understand that these defections we are witnessing today are illegal. So, if they are really gloating, why are they gloating over an illegal thing? It is illegal to take the mandate of PDP, then you move with it to another party. It doesn’t sound right. It is not morally right, and it’s not legally right. It is illegal and I also heard that the PDP has directed that those defectors should be taken to court for the party to reclaim those mandates. If the courts are working according to the law, everybody involved in illegal change of party will lose their seats.
I know that these defections have been happening without consequences but we can put a stop to it. In democracy, there has to be the rule of law otherwise there will come a time that this whole system will collapse on our heads and I pray that it never happens. But we cannot continue in illegality and think that it will continue forever. It doesn’t work like that.
The next general election is far away but it appears the party in power is now more preoccupied with re-election campaigns than with governance. Is this healthy?
It is a mistake. Governance is key to electoral victory. I know you’re talking about the posters all over the streets but I will not blame Tinubu because it might not be him doing all that campaign. The truth is that I do not think that President Tinubu will now say, go and make my posters, go and begin to distribute my posters. It must be some people who want to gain certain favours that may be responsible for some of those posters.
If you look at the posters closely, they have sponsors and contact numbers. I don’t think, it is him doing it. But it is also not correct. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hasn’t lifted the embargo on political campaign for the 2027 elections. So, even those people who are doing that, are flouting the rules. But this rule is flouted by nearly every other party because even some even still hold rallies.
What we should do as Nigerians is to always abide by the law. We are in this quagmire because we do not stick to the rules and unfortunately there is no enforcer. Enforcing these rules as they concern the political parties is the responsibility of INEC but they are not doing it. The sponsors of those posters should have been arrested and prosecuted by now.
What is your view on the threat Governor Monday Okpebholo recently issued against Peter Obi for visiting Edo State without permission?
It is a very unfortunate statement made by a governor who is supposed to protect lives and property, including the lives of the residents and visitors.
Ideally, if Peter Obi goes to Benin or wherever in Edo State, it is Okpebholo’s responsibility to ensure that nothing happens to him. How can Okpebholo make such a statement? it doesn’t sound right. The truth is that our governors are suddenly beginning to think like emperors.
Peter Obi or whoever has the right of movement in Nigeria and if you claim that he held a previous empowerment and people fought it was not Obi that asked the people to fight.
It is wrong to fight, so those people who are fighting, please challenge them because Obi couldn’t have directed them to fight. And if you think he did, please go through the process of law. You are not the law and you must realize that in all that you do.
A similar thing happened about two months ago, when Obi was heading to Benue State, to visit an IDP Camp. Why arethese things happening? Like I said, none of them ig right. Both the governor of Edo State and governor of Benue State are wrong.
You cannot say that someone who was once a governor like you is no longer free to visit your state unless with your permission. You’re not the law. You’re just the governor today; you will leave at the end of your tenure and you will one day want to go to another state and there will be another governor there to say don’t come unless with my permission. How would you feel at that time?
Don’t you think that what they are doing could just be tied to the fear of the opposition ahead of 2027?
I don’t care. I don’t want to know what they are doing, whether they are fears or no fears. It’s just that they have no right to do the rubbish that they are doing.
My advice to them is: Please govern your state correctly. You can’t be threatening citizens coming into or getting out of your state. How can you say so? You’re only governing the state.
It doesn’t belong to you. There have been governors before you and there will be governors after you. Please, give good governance. That’s what the people want from you as their governor.
