From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
THE Buhari Support Organisations (BSO) is the umbrella body of all political support groups championing the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Coordinator of the BSO in Delta State, retired AVM Terry Omatsola Okorodudu, said that the group will collaborate with the people of the state to make sure that Buhari wins the state fair and square .
You vied for Delta south senatorial ticket, are you done with it?
I did vie for it, the matter is still unresolved, and it is in the public domain. I know that the party has put forward a name and the long and short of it is that it is still being discussed, it is unresolved but I am sure it will be resolved.
You are taking up a new assignment to deliver the president in Delta, how will you achieve that?
For me, it is the most important thing right now because as I have said often, we need the president to be at the helm of affairs in our country to give a proper direction on how the country will be governed in the next several years, towards a transition from Buhari in 2023 to a new person. These are all part of it, it is a long term vision that we have set for ourselves. Very specifically in Delta, we want to bring real and meaningful change, not just change for the sake of it but real change to our state, and we have always indicated our intention to make Delta State the most progressive state in our country. From where we are right now, it is the most decadent state; we want to make it progressive so that we can help lead Nigeria to greater glory.
What is the line between BSO and APC?
As you would probably imagine, the BSO is the president’s personal organisation, and the president himself is the APC’s candidate. Therefore, there is a synergy; there is a line between APC and BSO. But BSO is specifically an agenda driven organisation where we try to ensure that society start to regulate itself in a more progressive manner, in a kind of way that Buhari will think. How does he think about corruption? How does he think about indiscipline in the society? Those are the kind of ideas that must resonate from the grassroots going forward, so that Nigerians can start to think in the line, in the kind of direction that Buhari will think. Ultimately, what happens to society is what is in their head, what is their mind. How society thinks is more important. Now if society thinks it can be governed properly, then they will insist that the right thing be done within that society, they will not tolerate indiscipline, they will not tolerate ridiculous level of corruption, they will not tolerate people stealing our common wealth. We want to ensure that the people insist that their common wealth is properly accounted for. So those are the kind of ideologically-based agenda we want to drive.
In 2015, the president scored just about 40,000 votes in Delta State, what is your target this time?
Let me go back to that 40,000 or 42,000 votes, that was a ridiculous number, it was more than that, there was a lot of stealing of votes, these are the kinds of things we will not tolerate anymore, we will not allow the government of the state, INEC, whoever they are to sell the votes belonging to the president or to the APC. Now, we want to ensure that President Buhari comes first in order of merit in the state, in other words we want to have at least 51 percent of the votes, that he should win the state fair and square. And the way to ensure this is that we do not give room for people to steal votes that will be prevented at all costs. So let the warning go out that it will not be tolerated, the people of Delta will not tolerate stealing of votes. The people must resist any attempt to cheat and steal APC votes or the president’s votes.
How do you intend to do that?
By getting the people, for you to be able to rig an election, that atmosphere must be conducive for rigging. And the conduciveness of the rigging is that the people themselves must be willing to be rigged out or must be willing to be cheated. What we are saying is that the people must be made and encouraged to resist rigging. The important thing is to protect the votes of the people.
APC is having a checkered relationship here in Delta, what can BSO do, to return it to winning ways?
We will encourage APC to borrow some of the tenets if not all the tenets of the president which is accountability, fairness, lack of chicanery, lack of impunity, if they can just believe in the Buhari ideologies by minimising corruption, fight against indiscipline and be fair in the way you do things, that will go a long way. Again, I will say, go back to the people, the people must be engaged to resist. That is one of fundamental areas, the people must decide, must insist, we want to give power to the people. We want to encourage the people to say no when they mean no, and say yes when they mean yes. And that no force, no government, no senator, no Commissioner of Police should force the people against their will and wish.