TINUBU, OTHERS never funded Buhari’s election
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources and President Buhari’s associate, Prof Tam David-West, has said that all the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders claiming they funded President Muhammadu Buhari’s election in 2015, were liars.
In an interview with VINCENT KALU, the elder statesman scolded those who wishedthe President dead, and described them as callous people, while he challenged those who said they funded Buhari’s campaign in 2015 to show evidence.
What is your assessment of President Buhari’s two years in office?
Everybody knows where I stand with Buhari, and I have said a lot about him. While other people can assess him the way they like, the truth can never be defaced.
What has been Buhari’s greatest challenge?
Corruption is the greatest problem of this government. The greatest challenge is not security, because we have very effective security agencies, but the greatest challenge of this government is corruption and he is fighting it very well, and expectedly, corruption is fighting back. If Nigeria doesn’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria, because it has a lot of money to fight back.
Corruption is two sides, why should somebody give you money to corrupt your conscience? The corrupt people know that most Nigerians are buyable. Corruption can never be fought from one side, and it has always been the problem of successive governments. Former Military President Ibrahim Babangida sent me to jail, because he said I drank a cup of tea with a white man and received a gift of wristwatch. I have challenged him to make a public declaration of his assets as I have done mine three times.
I’m not trying to be self righteous, if you have personal or self worth, there is no need for you to be corrupt; how much money would be given to kill your conscience, most of the corrupt people are victims of inferiority complex, that is why they loot to please their egos.
Buhari is fighting corruption very well, because if you are corrupt, you can’t fight corruption.
Buhari has brought out the best characters of Nigerians and the worst aspect of Nigerians.
The best aspect of Nigerians he has brought out is that he has shown that most Nigerians don’t like corruption.
He has also brought out that Nigerians are callous. How can somebody be sick instead of wishing him to get well in time, you are praying that he dies in time. Some people are asking Buhari to tell them about his health status. What is their business with his health? One stupid lawyer said that the President is a public property. It is a lie, Buhari is not a public property, that you are a president doesn’t mean that you are a public property.
Late American President Franklin Roosevelt had polio at the age of 19 and was crippled, and throughout his tenure he was on wheelchair, and America made no hue and cry about it. He was one of the greatest presidents in American history.
But in Nigeria, those ignorant people keep asking, Buhari, how is your health, what are you suffering from? Are they healthy themselves? Anyone telling Buhari to make public his health status, have they made theirs public? Some of them have sicknesses they are hiding.
God has helped this country a lot, but we refused to be helped. Corruption is another name for Nigeria; are we not embarrassed when the leader of black nations is addressed as being, “fantastically corrupt?”
Given the history of elections in Nigeria, as an incumbent, his supporters are eager to know whether he will re-contest or not, they are confused, so, what are you telling them against the background that some other aspirants like Atiku, Kwakwanso are doing some underground works?
I’m not a politician and I have never joined any political party before. Politicians know their style; I have never joined any political party before. What politicians do and don’t do has nothing to do with me. I have never joined any political party before, and I have not contested any election before, so what politicians do is none of my business.
When they come in, if they do something that I like, I commend, but when they do something that I don’t like, I also condemn. They cannot silence me. or buy me; I don’t need anything from them. My views have been on principle.
Let those people do ground work. Nigerians are very wise, if they like let them do air work, if Nigerians don’t like you they will not vote for you. Some of them should know that. They shared a lot of money, even dollars during the party primary, but they didn’t make any impact. You can do ground work, do the sky work, and you will not win election in Nigeria, if they don’t like you.
Let them go on. They are fighting themselves and also imaginary enemy; they are afraid of him, and they don’t know whether he will run again or not. Let them do ground work, let them do any work; Nigerians will not vote for you, if they don’t like you. Most of them are alleged to be corrupt.
If Buhari is going to re-contest, where would the funds come from, because his associates and men who are supposed to fund grassroots politicking may not have the money as they might not have been empowered. More so, those who funded his campaigns last time may not be eager to do so this time, if he decides to re-contest, so where would the funding come from?
It is stupid of them to talk of Buhari’s campaign. Did they know how the campaign was funded last time? Did they contribute money for Buhari to campaign? They lied, and that is why I said they were stupid to have said that Tinubu supported and gave him money to run.
All those claiming they funded the campaign didn’t fund anything. It will surprise you how he got the money. There was a lousy governor from the South who said he gave billions for the Buhari campaign, it is absolute lie. They didn’t fund Buhari’s campaigns.
How then did he get money to fight the election, since we were told that he wasn’t rich?
You will be surprised how he got the money. I don’t care who they are, those who say they funded Buahri’s campaigns are stupid. If they had evidence they financed the election they would have brought it up by now.
I know this as a fact; these people never funded his election. These people who are shouting never financed his election, even this loud-mouthed governor, I was reliably informed, used to borrow money from the campaign fund, and he would shout that he funded it. Time will come when I would open my mouth and Nigeria will burn.