WE DON’T NEED TO BRING OBASANJO TO APC TO WIN - BORISHADE 10 November 2014. Prof. Babalola Borishade Former minister of aviation, Prof. Babalola Borishade, is now the director general of the Atiku Campaign Organisation. He explains the challenges of managing the former vice president against the backdrop of the relationship between Atiku and Obasanjo. Excerpts: Do you enjoy politics so much that you couldn’t resist this offer to head the Atiku Campaign Organisation? Myself and Atiku have been friends and have been together in the same political family for a long time. When he decided he was going to run this time around, we just thought that we could put it together as members of the same political family and since I’ve had the experience of running a campaign before, he thought I should come and assist him and I obliged him. There was a service for me to render to him, since we share the same vision and objective - to provide good leadership to the nation which is a project that I believe in, if he wants me to come and assist and direct the affairs I thought that was the least I could do for him. Does it then follow that you were part of those that advised him to move to the APC? Our efforts are not limited to this dispensation. The primary concern is that there must be alternative political platforms where Nigerians can express their ambitions. From experience, the danger of having one political party has shown that it is the easiest way to dictatorship and to deepen democracy here, there is the need to challenge the PDP. This is consistent with our fundamental objectives of ensuring that alternatives are provided for Nigeria. As you have noticed, Atiku left PDP to be a co-founder of AC and then from there, ACN closed into a small enclave and pretended it was going to be a national party and when that wasn’t happening, we still didn’t achieve the objective of having strong alternative. We thought we could internally restructure PDP to respect internal democracy and democratic principles but it was becoming difficult. When APC came out, it was a bit more representative of every part of this country so it was easy to associate with it as we saw it as a platform that can be developed into that alternative that we have been looking for over the years. But given what is playing out now, where Atiku would be facing many powerful aspirants for the APC presidential ticket, would you say you took the right step? When you tie all I have been telling you to a presidential ambition, you will be understating the fact. Let me restate that our objective is to create a platform that is strong enough to prevent the emergence of a dictator in this country and that has been what has been informing the coming together of members of the PDM. Initially, the party was the military and when it left, PDP came in. PDP became strong and began drifting into dictatorship which was what informed the idea that APC should be born. That single alternative platform we were looking for did not exist until APC came , so it was easier to associate with APC because it was consistent with that fundamental and not because somebody wants to run or not. But your primary goal is now to win the election for Atiku… Yes. This would be a different task for you given that in the past you have worked from the position of strength but now you are the underdog… Incidentally I prefer to work as an underdog, because it gives you room to organise yourself without being harassed and the tendency is that people may underrate you. If we could confront the military and create the kind of atmosphere which made the military concede to go, I don’t think there could be a greater challenge. But the danger that incumbency has is that those working for it would only be complying. There is a difference between commitment and compliance. People who are with the incumbent are there because they are complying. If you are a member of a board, you wouldn’t want that to change or if you are aspiring to be a local government chairman and expecting to be handpicked, you wouldn’t want to be changed so you would comply. Deep down, your commitment may be somewhere else and that commitment is not going to play out until we go to the ballot boxes where people would be free to take decisions. For us, most of the people we have are committed people because they don’t gain anything, whereas those who are with the PDP now are the people who are complying because they are either gaining or are hoping to gain something. When you put commitment against compliance you know which one is stronger. So I really don’t know who is even the underdog in this matter unless we get to the ballot boxes. At the tail end of the Obasanjo administration, Atiku was treated as a pariah as most of you avoided him. What must have changed that you are now at the forefront of his campaign? Even at that time, some of us were not put in any pigeon hole and there was no line saying this is pro Obasanjo and this is pro Atiku, nothing like that ever came except in the press. Some of us were with both of them. Don’t forget that Soludo was part of that government, and immediately after that he was identified with Atiku. Then Ben Obi who became his running mate was in Obasanjo’s government. There was no division within the government because these people are friends who have been together dealing with the same common pool of friends so there was no way they could divide them. Some people wanted to create that impression for their own purpose but some us refused to be defined as such and we got on well with them because we told them the truth and they knew we were not in a position to be taken hold of. The belief was that your joining the Atiku Campaign comes as a sort of endorsement from Obasanjo, but recent reports had it that Obasanjo told the APC not to pick Atiku as its candidate, what is your reaction? Obasanjo never said APC should not field Atiku as its presidential candidate. There was never a time that Obsanjo said that. If you read the headline of that report and the content, you will know that something was amiss. But you will also recall that after that, a statement was issued that Obasanjo did not make that comment. But I can assure you that the relationship between the two of them is cordial and there is mutual respect. Obasanjo is now in PDP while Atiku is in APC but their relationship is quite cordial. They did not take themselves to the village square to fight. Everything was happening in the press. I will want to take advantage of every good intention that this connotes from the stable of Obasanjo, if that is interpreted to mean endorsement of Atiku, we value it. Obasanjo is an asset in any party; why have you not taken advantage of his grievances with the PDP to bring him over to the APC? Obasanjo does not need to join any political party to be relevant in this country. He doesn’t need to be a card carrying member of any party to have influence in it. So it’s like asking why Shagari is not a member of a political party, he doesn’t have that to be relevant. Those people have gone beyond being card carrying members to have influence. Obasanjo is a strong institution that needs to be courted by Nigerians, not by putting him in a political slot and I believe there is no way you can ignore him in any situation because even if you do, the international community will not as they seek his opinion about individuals and the polity. The APC has now settled for the indirect primary, is that acceptable to you? We would have preferred the direct primaries, but on a second thought after it was put on the table, the task of holding the direct primary within the time that is available would make it chaotic as it would involve millions of people as even those that join the party that very day would be entitled to vote. So the compilation of the register would have been a big challenge. It takes even INEC weeks to compile register but luckily we have officials of the party at each level and these are the people that are coming to vote. But left to me, we would have preferred the indirect because that is when you know what everybody wants. If Atiku loses the race for the presidential ticket, will you stay in the APC or would you consider it that you have done your job and leave? I won’t call it quits with the APC and neither would Atiku. The fundamental objective is to create a solid alternative platform and that is why we believe that politics of the future would be about what a candidate can do. That is why the campaign has focussed on the processes of developing a new deal for Nigeria by getting to communities and asking them their needs and wants and putting them in a document. That document belongs to the party and whoever emerges from the party would be advised to look at and adopt the programme which derives from the principle of the manifesto of the party. So we will continue to build APC as a robust political party where visionary leaders may emerge. It is not a one-off assignment. Atiku has been in the race for president in the past, what is the unique selling point this time? Atiku is like a good red wine, maturing with age, he had been in government before, he has the experience. Among the aspirants, he has the largest network of friends across the nation, he is perceived as a bridge builder and has interacted with a lot of people across political divides so we believe that the country at this stage needs somebody who can bring everybody together to form a consensus on issues relevant to the development of the country and can pull it through because people know he can do it. He stands out as a dogged fighter and is principled, he stands for internal democracy in political parties. He has said Nigeria has offered him a lot and so long as nobody is fixing Nigeria he will continue to come out.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 14:35:52 +0000
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