“Another four years of President Buhari would be a monumental disaster for our fatherland. Their ‘next level’ slogan will take us to next level of poverty.”
Iheanacho Nwosu, Abuja
AS the electioneering for next year’s elections hots up, one of the spokesmen for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign and also the spokesman for former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, Prince Kassim Afegbua, has asked Nigerians to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari as, according to him, another four years under the All Progressives Congress (APC) would be a disaster for the country.
2019: With good candidate PDP’ll easily defeat Buhari – Afegbua
In this interview, Afegbua says the nation has gone through avoidable difficulties under the APC-led Federal Government and wants Nigerians to take their destiny in their hands and vote in Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
Congratulations on your appointment. With the campaigns in full swing, what are your fears in these 2019 campaigns?
There are too many issues begging for attention as we prepare for the 2019 elections. Primary of these issues is the failure or refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amended Electoral Law to strengthen the credibility, transparency and fairness of the 2019 elections. I have never seen a scenario where a President will exercise such morbid fear to sign a bill to law, especially a law that would help the process of birthing a free, fair and transparent election, a law that would help to checkmate areas and aspects that are prone to abuses and infraction; a President that is truly committed to free and fair elections would jump at such a bill to make it law for the well-being of the people.
It guarantees a greater commitment to credible elections. It will address a number of issues that would ordinarily not attract any visible attention.
But the President and APC are scared stiff about anything credible, hence their recourse to such ridiculous conclusion and outright rejection, citing very laughable reasons for the refusal to sign. It is ludicrous and quite benumbing to ever contemplate that a party that preached change could toe such undemocratic path.
Does the President’s refusal mean the end of the road for the opposition?
It is not about the opposition. It is about what we desire to see as a country trying to firm up our democratic processes, and make the conduct of elections more credible by ensuring that the votes actually count. A law does not expire with regime change. A law outlives regime change and endures the test of time, to strengthen our institutions and democratic infrastructure in order to enhance confidence-building. What the President has done was just to tactfully shy away from his responsibility and postponing the evil day, sort of. I should think that the members of the National Assembly are studying the verdict and would respond adequately in the best interest of the country. The reasons given by the President are simply not altruistic and patriotic, if truly he desires to see credible elections in 2019. The amendments are the necessary solutions we require to address some of the electoral problems and loopholes.
The argument of the President is that the timing appears too close to elections. Don’t you think the President has a point?
It is not about having a point; it is about taking action in the overall interest of the country and not in his personal interest or for personal aggrandizement. Timing has nothing to do with this. In 2015, former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the amended Electoral Bill into law to strengthen the process of elections. That is what impacted positively on the 2015 elections that also produced President Buhari. So, it is in our own interest as a nation to have laws that will continue to help address a few concerns here and there in the process of fine-tuning our electoral engagements. We cannot be detained by our own selfish interest when confronted with national interest.
President Buhari is seeking re-election against the backdrop of his performance in office, trying to clean up the system and build the economy. What do you say to that?
The argument for re-election by those who are presently exploiting this system is understandably for selfish interest. In the real sense of governance, this government has been a monumental failure in all ramifications. It has brought untold hunger, poverty, malnutrition, deprivations and squalor to bear on the citizenry. Our expectation when some of us supported the President in 2015 was that he would launch us on the superhighway of growth and development. Three and a half years later, we have since discovered that we were totally wrong. On account of age, the President no longer possesses the energy to cope with the daunting challenges of governance.
On account of ill health, the President does not enjoy the capacity to live to his billing in terms of showing the roadmap out of our economic quagmire. He devotes more attention to his health than the health and well-being of the nation. There is poverty and hunger in the land. The suffering has gotten to an alarming proportion. Businesses are closing up. Quality of life has dropped and cost of living has shot beyond the rooftop. There are decayed infrastructure everywhere, our health sector is nothing to write home about, our economy is in bad shape, as confirmed by the President himself. We need a new thinking in our shared commitment to rejuvenate the system and make life more attractive for our people. Insecurity is in terrible shape; high-profile assassinations are on the increase. There is certainly nothing tangible to celebrate in this government to warrant seeking re-election. It has not shown enough reason to deserve re-election.
But some of the problems you identified above did not happen overnight. The APC would say the opposition PDP caused them when it presided over the nation for 16 unbroken years. How do you react to that?
That is a defeatist claim, especially when you have exhausted your logic and sentiments; you decide to play politics of blame. The reason Nigerians voted for APC was because, in their estimation in 2015, they needed a change and thought APC and President Buhari would be able to energise the system and solve some of our problems. Three years down the line, they can see that things have gone worse. Blame game is not a resource for those who have the competence and capacity to address critical issues of governance. Blame game, which has become APC’s pastime, is a convenient escape route for their inability to live up to expectations. Just like President Olusegun Obasanjo said, you cannot reinforce failure and commend mediocrity, especially in a country of over 180 million people.
The amount of lies and distortions that this government relishes on is quite mind-boggling. For every incompetence, there is a lie generated to justify it. The number of people escaping from the shores of Nigeria tells you the real story of under-performance and incompetence. It tells you that life is increasingly becoming difficult for an average Nigerian. Killings are rampant. Insecurity is worse, ritual killings and kidnappings have become everyday affair. If a former Chief of Defence Staff could be killed in cold blood without qualms, what else do you require to alert the nation that we are in serious trouble? Another four years of President Buhari would be a monumental disaster for our fatherland. Their “next level” slogan will take us to next level of poverty, from extreme poverty that we are now to absolute poverty, super-extreme poverty that will lead to malnutrition and squalor.
We urgently need to rescue our country from the grip of those who have killed our initiatives. We need to wake up. We need to vote out the APC, we need to vote out President Buhari. These failures are becoming too heavy for us to bear. Failure as a result of incompetence and lack of capacity.
How optimistic are you that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar can spring any surprise in the 2019 election?
I am very optimistic that Nigerians will give Alhaji Atiku the opportunity to preside over the nation and our collective prosperity. As a wealth creator for over 30 years, Atiku Abubakar comes to mind as one individual whose personal effort and creativity has made life better for a lot of people. For a man who has consistently been in business for years, creating employment for Nigerians and building platforms to take the youths away from the streets, it will be a great icing on the cake to have him manage our collective patrimony. President Buhari has failed woefully in creating that cutting edge to manage our disparities. We are more divided now along ethnic and religious lines more than ever before. And a country that really wants to move forward must not be run by nepotism, cronyism, favouritism, selective amnesia and vainglorious sentiments. Enough is enough of these ugly realities.
Let’s rejuvenate our country with equal opportunities for all. Come 2019, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will trounced the APC and President Buhari silly. You can see the APC are afraid to start their own campaign because they are waiting for rigging but they will be disappointed on that election day.