From Desmond Mgboh/Kano

Austin Braimoh has  been a frontline journalist all the way, until very recently when he functioned as a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Media and Publicity Campaign team in 2015. Today, he heads the Buhari Media Support Group, a volunteer team of experienced media men, working in concert with the appointed officers of the president to ensure that the APC is not only successful, but the President’s programs are visible to all Nigerians.  He spoke to Desmond Mgboh during a chance meeting in Kano.

You just launched a political book on the Buhari administration a few weeks back. Briefly what is the book all about and what does it stand to offer Nigerians?

Yes … after the first one year of the administration, a lot of complaints were pouring in that the President had done nothing. Well, we looked at it and felt that okay, the promises made by the President were far reaching in the sense that things were really bad when the President assumed power. A lot of things went down as soon as the government came on board. Things like the oil revenue that tumbled, the naira was down. And as a result, the promises made by this government were in the tinder box. So the government had to think out of the box to get things going for Nigerians. And one year of managing the economy, we were seeing good things coming and by the second year, the country came out of recession. Some Nigerians were, however, still saying that they were not seeing much. So, we decided to find out if actually nothing was on ground. What my team did was to go from ministries to agencies and all the MDAs and ask them to provide their two year score cards.  In some of the ministries, we had to force them to give us data and statistics and pictures of their activities for the past two years. That was how we came about the compendium that we called “Making Steady Progress for Nigeria’s Peace and Prosperity”

There has been a cross- fire of views that the president should or should not go for a second term in the light of his unstable health conditions. What is your take on this?

President Muhammad Buhari is a man of an era. A lot of people know the state of the nation when he came in as a military Head of State in 1983 /84. The same state and situation eventually played out again in 2014/15. When things are down, the Lord Almighty always has a way of raising kings to restore their countrymen. If you are a Christian or a Bible student, if you had read the history of  the Israelites, specific persons were always raised by God to redeem the nation when things became bad. And some of us see Buhari as one of such persons and we believe that even if he was a hundred years, his age would not matter. And if he was dying which he is not, that too would not matter. So long as he can breathe, that is enough for Nigerians. His image, his aura, his pedigree are what this nation need to move things forward. It is not that he, Buhari should be visible in every occasion, what is needed is for him to be there and things would get themselves fixed in the right order. We need his integrity, we need his touch and let me tell you, Nigerians believe in him.

But when he was abroad on account of his health, some things became bad. Do you think the country can stand another sudden lapse in health like it did in previous experiences?  Wouldn’t that be an imperative for  him to take a bow and leave after one tenure?

Anybody’s health can be challenged. That is a point of fact. You know Nigerians, if you want to reform; you are bound to step on several toes. There is hardly a reformist government in the world that is popular. Every reformist government or leader has always been unpopular. Before you reform a country, or reform a group, you must step on people’s toes. So as a result, immediately he fell ill some people saw that as an opportunity to hype his challenge. You will recall that there was a particular governor who cannot attend functions where the President is today because of shame. He said Buhari was on a wheel chair, he said he was on a live support machine; he said he has a thousand pictures to show that this man was dead. He was publishing all these and there were so many people like that who wanted this man dead and they were out to create fears in the minds of Nigerians that President Buhari was incapacitated and was not capable of ruling Nigeria. When you just said that things went bad, the truth is that things never went bad .It was just that there were a lot of wrong information that were being dished out to Nigerians. Anybody can be challenged. A lot of Presidents had faced serious challenges and they came out of it. Look at President Buhari today, I can assure you that he is fit enough to withstand another four years.

One of the slogans of the Buhari Presidential campaign was stopping Boko Haram attacks on Nigerians. But two and half years after, the fact is that Nigerians are being killed every other week by Boko Haram . Does this represent the messiah status that you had just painted of Buhari?

If you would recall that we just experienced an attack in the US, then you will know that terrorism is not something that you can stop instantaneously or overnight. In Britain, we also had an attack in the last two weeks. France just experienced their own not up to a month ago. One thing with terror is that you cannot completely conquer terror; you can only degrade terror.

We are passing through the killing of Nigerians almost on a weekly basis…

No! That is not true. If you say that there are occasional attacks here and there, yes that may be it.  But I put it to you that they (Boko Haram) are not an organized force now. You know what happened during the Irish Republic onslaught against the British Army. It is similar. If you dislodge a main terrorist group, , they resort to attacking civilians or military soft targets.

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Based on your confirmation that these attacks are still going in different parts of Nigeria, can one still say that Buhari has succeeded in delivering his cardinal campaign promise to Nigeria?

Before his government came to power,  do you remember how Nigerian territories were occupied? In Borno State, we had only seven Local Governments under government control. They occupied about 17 local governments with their flags hoisted under the last administration. So, the local government chairmen were flushed out. They even appointed their own traditional rulers to take charge in Borno and Adamawa States. But from 2015 till today, no Nigerian territory is being held by them, not even a town! You cannot say today that this town is being occupied by Boko Haram.  So, what I am saying is that you can dismantle terrorists in their base, but you cannot completely defeat them in 10 years time…. I am saying that terrorism in Nigeria has been degraded. They no longer hold any Nigerian territory and that is a huge credit to this administration.

Some Nigerians believe that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar- who is from the North East -as Nigeria’s next president would completely douse the issue of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Do you see any merit in this assumption?

Why would the issue of Atiku become a matter for public debate? He was a Vice President for eight years. But as a Vice President, how much contribution did he make for the people of the North East or towards the success of his party? I want you to recall that even when he left the PDP, did he win his state? So, why would he become an issue? Yes, let us agree he is a very rich man., he is a good politician, but does he control his base? Did he not lose the last election?  He has consistently lost elections in his base. If he leaves for the PDP as speculated, I assure you that he would not win election in his local Government area. Mark my word, Buhari will beat Aiku in his local government. If you are performing, you are performing. North-east is going to APC, 99 per cent.

Are you therefore suggesting that his resignation from the APC is a non issue?

I tell you it is not an issue. It has no consequence what so ever under President Muhammadu Buhari. Except President Buharai decides today that he is not contesting the next election, then we say well who is he going to put forward – because he has not said he is going to contest or not. Take note that it is the fear that Buhari will contest that is scaring Atiku Abubakar. He has seen that the man’s health has improved tremendously and he believes that there is no way this man will not contest. And he has seen that anything after 2019, it would be too late for him.  That is why  he is running.

In his resignation letter, Atiku raised a number of fundamental issues  such as the absence of internal democracy in the APC and  lack of consultation by President Buhari. Are there merits to his allegations?

Whether there are merits to these allegations or not is not material at the level of which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is. You don’t leave if things are wrong in your house. That is why people say that he has been jumping from one party to the other. If your house is in disarray, do you abandon your house and move to another house? Can’t you reach a certain level in your life where you have to play a role to reshape your house? He left PDP and gave the same reasons- lack of democracy, and he even admitted that he gave these reasons when he was leaving PDP. And now he is going back to the same party.

My question is simple. Those allegations, do they have merit? Are they really happening in your party that claims to be a bastion of democracy?

It depends on your point of view. I do not debate people’s opinion. If the former Vice President is to see things from my own perceptive, all these accusations are non -existent. But because of where he is, he sees these things as issues, as existing.

One last question. You have spoken so well about your principal, President Buhari but if I may ask: How has this administration contributed to the unity of Nigerians in the last two and half years? What mark does it deserve?

You see, national unity is a continuous process. It is a process. It is not something you achieve over night. If you are building, you build gradually. Two and half years is meaningful. From what happened when he was away- the agitation from the South, the issue of restructuring, secession and all that-Before leaving, he set a template:  Make sure the Vice President move from region to the other, not just to pacify aggrieved people but to let them know that the government is committed to meeting the needs of every Nigerian. By the time he came back, he followed up and today, you can see that there is less agitations.