Buhari’s claim to nationalism is suspect — Osuntokun Mr Akin Osuntokun is not new on the nation’s political terrain. He operated at the highest level of government when he was Political Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Before then, he was the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). In this interview, Osuntokun diagnoses the polity, fielding questions on the forthcoming elections and the contenders. Excerpts: The N21b donated to the PDP presidential campaign has generated interest among a section of the public with some people saying those who donated the money committed illegality. Some people in fact called it obscene while a group of lawyers were reported as calling for the prosecution of the PDP and some of the donors. Should mere donation to a campaign generate hues and hues? With due respect, Nigerians tend to be sensational even at the risk of sounding hypocritical, most of the time. I was a director of a presidential campaign like this in 2002. I can tell you that just paying like N1000 or N2000 per agent in all the polling booths all over the country amounted to about N10b. That is just paying them, all over the country. When people hear that it is N21b, may be it is generating reaction because it is PDP. Everything the party does, they think it must be discredited but, more importantly, I think I have mentioned this fact once which is that there is a lack of rigor and seriousness about the way commentators and observers respond to issues. They are given to cheap and careless talk. I would have expected that there are relevant facts that should be taken into consideration. One of such is, what does the law permit? And within the context of what we are talking about, is that law even reasonable? Because I was reading a while ago that the presidential campaign donation should not exceed N1b. How can that be possible when paying your agents is a lot more than N1b? You are going to travel around the country, charter planes and hire buses, hotel expenses are there. The logistics of going round the country for a presidential campaign are enormous. May be political editors should, through their writings, speak to the minds of those who crafted the law, it is an unrealistic law. It is not logical given what is on ground. But, campaign finances, like in the advanced democracies, you saw what happened in the last presidential election in the U.S., the money spent was well over 1b dollars and their own Supreme Court was the one that actually gave judgment and removed any ceiling on the money spent on election. The money spent during the last congressional election in the US was well over 400m dollars. Yes, it is good to limit the impact of money so that it can be regularized in such a way that, having taken into account what you need to spend on logistics, you can now use that to factor what the law should consider excessive spending. I think Nigerians need to be educated and counselled not to get carried away by figures easily. I think the source of the funds is also important and that is what the critics are querying. You find Jerry Gana and friends donating N5b, Tunde Ayeni, an operator in the power sector, donating N2b, and people are saying when these people contribute this much to the campaign, the chances are that they will have some influence on government when the party wins the election at the end of the day. Was the government of America taken over by those who contributed money especially the Republicans? There is no logical correspondence between the two. The fact that you put down money does not mean you exert needless influence over government activities. Obasanjo said so in 1999 that ‘consider the money you have donated as a wise investment but nothing further’. Jerry Gana was able to mobilize N5b, all well and good. If you want to investigate it as an issue, go ahead and do it, but why should you bother yourself if some people among themselves decided to raise a certain amount? In any case, don’t let us overreach ourselves. The problems of elections in Nigeria, if we were to give them priority, donations made would not rank high. I think we should be more concerned about credibility of voting on the day of election so that every vote would count, establishing a conducive atmosphere. Whatever the peg you put on donation is ultimately irrelevant if you cannot attain the standard of credibility that was achieved in Ekiti and Osun states. I hope you know that it is on record that the single most expensive application form in the history of Nigeria was paid by General Buhari. This is where the hypocrisy of some people like Buhari begins to come in. How can you say you stand for probity and you find it in yourself to pay N27m? it would have been credible of him to say, ‘look, if this is what I need to pay to get this, I am not going to do it’. If you want to live by example and image his supporters are projecting him to be, then he has no business paying N27m to get application form. He went head telling stories that he got it from bank a manager and so on, tell that to the marines. If they say the N27m application form was intended to weed out unserious candidates, to the best of my knowledge, none of the five applicants stepped down on account of the application fee. But I am saying here is a man who says he has only one house, I don’t know whether it is true or not, you are this and that. If he refuses to pay the money, will APC disqualify him? I assumed and it was proven at the primary that he was their most formidable candidate, and I thought he would have used that platform to insist that the right thing must be done. He didn’t choose that path What does that tell you about Nigerian politicians generally? Where this is significant is the gap between deed and precept. He projects himself and he is being projected as a cut apart. The man that has come to fight indiscipline, corruption and so on and he had not even started the race before exhibiting contrary tendencies. This is my personal problem with people like Buhari, they will say something and not want to be judged by it regarding the kind of statements made all over the place. I must have mentioned it somewhere in my writings. He championed the destabilization and subversion of Obasanjo government, because Obasanjo probed PTF and he was invited to clarify issues that did not bear out the reputation of integrity. And he then exploited the issue of Sharia to instigate division and incite regional rebellion against Obasanjo. And here lies my fundamental objection against his aspiration-that anybody who uses the instrumentality of division and polarizing the people of this country should not be rewarded with the presidency of Nigeria. He attained to political popularity by pandering to the base sentiment of religious persecution. Until a year ago, what was he saying about Boko Haram? He said when the Niger- Delta militants did their own, they rehabilitated them, sent them to schools abroad, this and that, but when it came to Boko Haram in the North, they are burning their houses and killing them (Boko Haram sect), and for that, it is an injustice to the North. This was what this man said, just barely a year ago. And Nigerians tend to have short attention span and are given to wilful ignorance. Choose that which they want to remember and choose which to forget. The impression I have gathered in some of my write ups on him is that some people don’t want to know the truth; they care less about putting their own candidate under scrutiny. And, I say that is unfair. If Jonathan is being put under 1000 megawatts light, his language, body movements, everything is scrutinized, every second of the day, it is only fair for the opponent to be subjected to a measure of scrutiny too. In essence, Buhari is not under adequate scrutiny Most certainly he has not. Look at his antecedence. He has the dubious distinction of heading a government that was the most unbalanced and parochial in the history of Nigeria. He was a Muslim from the North, the late Idiagbon, his deputy at that time, was a Muslim from the North also. You can see the trend of his instinct. When he was the Chairman of PTF, almost 70% of the expenditure of the PTF was expended in one section of the country. He was Chairman for five years. During those five years, no single staff of PTF was tried for corruption, is it realistic to assume that for those five years no corrupt act was perpetrated at the agency? PTF was perhaps the only agency on record that handed over its mandate to just one consultant-the Afri-projects Some people may argue that as the boss who set the rules and lived by example, people under him were able to key into that? Well they didn’t key into it and it was his duty that he ensured they did. When you say they did not, then you must have a contrary view. I am telling you that they didn’t key into and it is unrealistic for you to assume that nobody was corrupt in PTF. In any case, there are papers that established sundry acts of corruption. The buck stopped on his table which is what they are saying about Jonathan. If your wife is unable to deliver safely today, they will find a way of attributing it to Jonathan; that is an exaggerated way of saying he takes responsibility for everything. You as the executive Chairman of PTF, the buck stopped on your table on everything done there. I think Nigerians need to think more and beyond the superficial. I thought that was in the past and the past should be in the past Oh I see! They belong to the past. Okay, what Jonathan did yesterday should belong to the past too, right? He is an incumbent president, his case is different. So the standard of judging an incumbent president should be different from somebody who says he is better than him? Buhari has record. It is the height of hypocrisy to say that you don’t want to hold him to that record.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 21:02:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015