Ebenezer Babatope is one of the foot soldiers of President Goodluck
Jonathan working to ensure the victory of PDP in the February 14,
presidential election, especially in the Southwest part of the country.
In this interview, he warned former President Olusegun Obasanjo to
desist from making statements that are capable of discrediting the
Jonathan administration.
Excerpts:
What do you think President Goodluck Jonathan is coming to do
differently from what he has been doing in the last four years of the
life of this present administration?
The first question you should ask yourself is this: Is the man
qualified to go for a second term? The answer is yes, the man is fully
qualified to go for a second term. Nigeria’s constitution guarantees
that a president can stay for eight years. So, he is not doing anything
that is criminal, he is not doing anything that is illegal. Some people
have been claiming that President Goodluck Jonathan signed an agreement
not to go for a second term and it amazes me. I keep asking them: With
whom did he sign the undertaken and where is the undertaken? When you
have a gentleman’s agreement, even in law, you must conclusively prove
that that gentleman agreement existed or still existing. Nobody among
all these people making noise has been able to come up to say this is
the paper signed by Jonathan. Even if he said that, is it legal? Is it
constitutional? Absolutely not! So, Jonathan is free to run for his
second term and by the grace of God and the grace of the Nigerian
people, as a candidate for the second term, he will win the election.
It appears that the issue of making agreement and breaking it has become a regular pastime of PDP.
There is nothing like breaking of agreement by President Jonathan.
And the constitution of our party is so clear and subjected to the
workability of the Nigerian constitution. How then will the party come
around to say that it is accepting such an agreement? There can only be
an agreement when that agreement reconciles with constitution of the
party and the constitution of the country.
More than ever before, your party feels really challenged
with the emergence of Gen Muhammadu Buhari as the Presidential
candidate of the APC. Isn’t it?
Some of them who don’t have background history of this country may
think so. I have background history of this country. Buhar’s
candidature can only affect those who passed through his tyranny. How
can his candidature affect the fortune of PDP? The man has done a lot of
things to this country when he was head of state to make Nigerians
know that if they vote him to power, they are voting tyranny back into
power. They are voting back into power a man who doesn’t believe in
democracy. Apart from the fact that he sent many of us in the Second
Republic to jail when he seized power on December 31, 1983, he came on a
vengeance mission. Laws were backdated to punish innocent Nigerians.
This was particularly the case of three young men-Batholomew Owo, Barab
Ogedegbe and Ojulope, who were arrested at the airport for travelling
with cocaine. In order to punish the boys, Buhari’s regime backdated a
law to the very day the boys were arrested and got them executed. Even
advanced countries of the world don’t execute people on frivolous things
like that. Even examination malpractices were made to carry death
penalty. Not only that, he pounced on two Guardian journalists, Nduka
Irabor and Tunde Thompson, and sent them to jail on frivolous charges
that they were going to publish something in the foreign pages of the
Guardian. Many politicians were sent to jail and died there. He sent one
of the commissioners under Bola Ige, Alarape Jolaoso, to prison and he
became blind when he left the prison. Till today, Jolaoso is a blind
man. What about Shagari? Shagari appealed to them to take him to prison,
but they locked him up somewhere in Ikoyi. By the time Shagari left
detention, he himself wrote that he nearly went blind. Buhari was
talking then as if there will never be a return of democracy in Nigeria.
Yet, it is this same man that is saying he wants to rule Nigeria. It
could have been a different ballgame if APC had picked either Rabiu
Kwankwaso or Atiku. Then, we will know we have a challenge. But with
Buhari, we are not in any way challenged.
Beyond Buhari, is it also not true that your party is facing a most formidable opposition in recent time?
Formidable because they are able to come together? You mean a
formidable party that has appointed a man whose record in office is such
that nobody will want to associate with? APC has not lived by the
history of this country by bringing a candidate whose past will haunt
him until he leaves this world. The right of Nigerians to elect who they
want is a right that cannot be trampled upon. So, whether APC is
formidable or not will be determined by the Nigerian people. I am
experienced enough to know that every political party in the world that
wants to win an election is always careful in electing credible people
who are going to be their candidates. No matter how tough it is, by the
grace of God and the grace of the people, PDP will win the election. APC
has made a wrong choice. You will see the verdict of the Nigerian
people. Nigerian people will not permit someone of Buhari’s character to
rule this country. You know what he did to Chief Awolowo? Three or four
days after he became Head of state, he sent soldiers to ransack Baba
Awolowo’s house. The soldiers went there, ransacked Baba’s house and
then went on to make an announcement from Dodan Baracks where Buhari was
presiding that they met Lagos Master Plan in Baba Awolowo’s house. Not
only that, he asked Baba Awolowo to report to the police station. When
Baba Awolowo got to Ikeja police station, he made a pronouncement and
said ‘the omens are still bad.’ I was not in any government, I was just
an officer of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) as Director of Publicity,
Buhari pounced on me and moved me to three prisons in Nigeria. When my
father died, everybody in Nigeria appealed to him to allow me bury my
father, he did not. You wait, by the time we have the election, you will
see what will happen.
We are already hearing that plans are being made by some people in
his party to murder some individuals. Somebody phoned me in Britain
about two weeks ago and said my name had been put down for those to be
assassinated.
Both APC and PDP have said it time and again that campaign
for this election is going to be issue-based. What is PDP as a
political party bringing to the table to make Nigerians vote for its
candidates?
The past of Buhari is one of the issues. We have written our
manifesto. You wait until we release our manifesto. All we know is that
Nigeria must remain one Nigeria. Nigeria must not be broken into pieces.
Nigerians must ensure that they collectively end the Boko Haram
insurgency. Nigerians must be able to afford three square meals per day.
When we release our manifesto, Nigerians will be able to see all the
issues I have raised.
How much electoral promise President Jonathan made in the last
election has he fulfilled? You are to tell me the promises he made that
he did not fulfill. He promised stable power, Nigerians have not had
stable power. Is that not an issue?
When have we had power problem in Nigeria?
Governance is about problem solving.
(Cuts in)… Was Obasanjo not involved in power project? There is
conscious effort on the part of Jonathan to ensure that power problem is
solved. Whether we like it or not, by the grace of God, Nigeria will
have power.
Could you mention one specific thing Jonathan has done that has impacted positively on the lives of the ordinary Nigerian?
You are talking as a partisan journalist. That is why you are asking that question.
No, I am only presenting you an opportunity to showcase what you have for the Nigerian people.
To answer your question anyway; Ministry of Agriculture where Adesina
is the Minister is there. We are now in the process of exporting our
agricultural products. Not only that, go to the rail system. I was
Minister of Transportation in this country. We now have a new rail
running from Kaduna to Abuja. We are moving away from the narrow gauge
system to the standard gauge system. This is a regime that has invested
massively in individual’s freedom. No Nigerian can name one person who
has been murdered through state sponsored assassination since the
beginning of this administration. Other regimes from military to the
civilians have had their names battered by executive brutality and
murder of innocent Nigerians. No Nigerian can mention one individual who
has been murdered during Jonathan’s regime. And, of course, investment
in human being is the greatest asset to stablise democracy in this
country.
How would you react to Obasanjo’s statement on foreign reserve depletion by the Jonathan administration?
Obasanjo is free to talk on any issue. It is true that when Obasanjo
was in government, Okonjo Iweala did a lot of things to ensure that our
creditors wrote off our debts. Jonathan is using the same person
Obasanjo used as Minister for Finance. The fluctuations we have in our
foreign reserve has come as a result of the fall in the international
market price of oil. What can he do about it? He can’t do anything.
America stopped buying our oil and so we have a glut in the
international market.
This is why Jonathan is now spending a lot on our agricultural sector
to ensure that we have another means by which we can boost the
economy. So, Obasanjo has made no point. As I said, he is free to talk
on any issue, but it is now becoming clear that Obasanjo has some
grouses against President Jonathan.
To that extent, do you still see Obasanjo as a member of PDP?
He keeps saying he is a member of the PDP National Exco. If those
agents of the party still agree that he is a member, what can I do? So,
he is a member. All I can say is that he should stop making statements
that are capable of influencing the people to vote against our party.
And I can tell you; this is the last time he will make such a statement.
If he makes such statement again, I will take him up.
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