The APC State Caucus Chairman, in this interview with Global Patriot Staff in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital also said, President Buhari means well for the country, deserves the support of Nigerians for a second term and would win overwhelmingly. Excerpts:
Q:
Recently, Governor Nasiru el-Rufai led Committee on Restructuring submitted its report to the Federal Government. Akwa Ibom PDP leaders have lampooned the All Progressives Congress led government for contemplating the re-introduction of the outlawed Onshore/Offshore oil dichotomy in the country. What’s your comment?
A:
No! I don’t think that is what the committee meant. The problem of On-Shore Off-Shore Oil Dichotomy has been settled and it is settled that the litoral states, where offshore production occurs within 240 nautical miles belongs to the litoral states. So, I believe what the committee meant may be oil discovered or produced outside that isobar boundary, not within.
And if you look at the committee report, they didn’t mention anything about the area within the 240 isobar. So, let nobody be deceived or let nobody be confused that, the report meant production within the 240 isobars. That has been settled and you can quote me on that very seriously.
If anything is done to get near that area, we shall oppose it vehemently.
Q:
Sir, 2019 general elections is almost around the corner and some politicians of PDP extraction are campaigning seriously against the return of President Muhammadu Buhari, citing the fact that, the nation has not made any meaningful progress since his coming to power. What is your opinion on this?
A:
Such a statement from such people is very unfortunate because, I have been playing politics and I know about politics since I returned to this country. In fact since independence. I left this country before the civil war and I came back since 1978, I have been involved very seriously in politics; from the formation of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and the National Republican Convention (NRC), in which I held many serious positions. Till now, quote me, I have never seen an administration or a President that has done as much as Buhari has done to reposition this country to be a country or a nation of productivity. A nation that can stand on its own, a nation that can attain economic worth as other countries.
You will remember that, this country in the 50s was in a better economic footing than countries like Malaysia and South Korea. We had more tarred roads, more asphalted roads in this country in the 50s than South Korea and Malaysia itself. I have personally gone to Malaysia; the progress that this country has recorded, is as good as India’s. Most of the achievements of those countries is because of good leadership.
From independence we have never had good leadership. In fact, the only time that we had good leadership was in 1983/84 when this same Buhari had a coup and toppled Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s government and brought about some level of sanity, some level of lawfulness. This country has been confronted with lawlessness, impunity, with indiscipline and with serious corruption. Even the crude oil that we depend on, it was when Buhari came into office in 1984 as Head of State that, he identified the source of corruption in the oil industry as illegal bunkering.
Many governments in the past, even up till the last government have been supporting illegal bunkering. Please, you can quote me, I am a former Minister of Petroleum and I know the details. They have been supporting illegal bunkering.
All these oil spills in the South-South Zone, in the Niger Delta area that have become a national and international problem now, are caused by illegal bunkering. They are not caused by the oil producers. The oil producers don’t go and lay pipes to transport crude oil or products and then go by themselves to go and cut those pipes and spill the oil; they don’t do that.
They produce in other countries which I know and they are all over the world and, there is international standards, means and ways of producing oil and if you destroy the environment, you are by law liable to clean up that environment.
For instance, when Mobil Rig exploded and the oil leaked in North America, they were held responsible to clean it up. They cleaned it up because it was their responsibility.
When British Petroleum (BP) was drilling in the Mexican Gulf and the thing exploded underneath and a lot of oil went out and polluted the area, they were held liable to clean it up. They were fined and they accepted liability because it was due to their own activity but in Nigeria, the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have been refusing to clean up the spills because they say it is not caused by them, its caused by oil bunkerers, who break the pipes in order to steal the products and illegally export, and that is what has been happening from the beginning.
So, as someone who comes from the Niger Delta, who also belongs to the PANDEF and I have been saying this over and over again that, our problem is caused by us because of corruption and illegal bunkering until the United Nations (UN) has come in. And every time you take the IOCs to court, they will plead that they are not responsible and Nigeria has never proven that they are responsible for breaking the pipes and allowing the crude oil to spill and we are witnesses to all the illegal attempts or the illegal activities of siphoning either crude oil or refined products to sell illegally and that is the cause of all these things in the Niger Delta.
So, when you talk about Mr. President not doing enough, it is only the present government that has taken enough steps to prevent bunkering and Mr. President, I know him, when he was Head of State in 1984 the first statement he made was that, he was going to take steps to stop illegal bunkering by sinking any ship that was found to carry illegal crude oil. He made that statement and today, he is also standing by it because that is the source of our great worry, because we produce more oil than we declare. So, where do the other ones go to?
Two, if you can tell me that, there is ever a government in this country that has done enough to stop corruption or defective electoral process since independence, you let me know. Even former President Obasanjo went to the United States of America and made a statement that elections is a ‘‘Do or Die’’ affair and that we are allergic to rigging. He also said that, even America rigged elections. That is the beginning of corruption.
When you have faulty elections, when you have elections where people ‘‘Carry – Go’’, where people kidnapped the electoral officers or point guns at them and sometimes, influence them with huge sums of money and later they will go and declare the result of such elections.
And then when the leaders so elected take over, having known that they did not get into the office through the votes by the electorate, they will only pay attention to their god-fathers. That has been the main source of our problems in this country and because of that we never had good governance.
This is the first time we have a government that has taken all the necessary steps to bring about good government. That is not to say that, the people are okay. You cannot stop this endemic corruption which has come from independence till today overnight, and you cannot also kill all the people who are corrupt overnight or get all of them out of office overnight. They are still there even in the civil service. The people who were there yesterday are still there till today.
But he has created an atmosphere of fear and, I am sure you will believe me that this government has created an atmosphere of fear for people not to be as corrupt as before.
Look at what is happening in the case of the Treasury Single Account (TSA). All of those trillions of Naira that are in the bank now through the TSA, where were they before? It is the civil servants, public servants and the DGs etc that were taking all the money and nothing was saved. That is why the country is even able to come out of recession because, President Buhari has been able to get these monies that would have gone.
The Minister of Finance the other day went to New York and said that, the former Nigerian government left an empty treasury and they have not come out to say they didn’t up till now. And you have also heard about all the monies that was lost in the Ministry of Petroleum; that quantum of money. You have heard about all the monies that got lost in the Ministry of Defense which was meant for the fighting of Boko-Haram insurgency but, they didn’t use it.
The Bible says, ‘‘seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all other things shall be added unto you’’.
The kingdom of God to reposition Nigeria for economic growth is to bring corruption to zero. It may not be fully to zero level but, to reduce it to a level that can allow development.
Corruption is not only bribery, giving money to people, but corruption of the mind.
In this country, we talk about development. All the research institutions the colonialists set up in this country at least the nearest one for you in Akwa Ibom State was NIFOR. Where is NIFOR today? NIFOR was to research into the application of palm produce from Benin. That is what Malaysia which took the seed of palm tree from here to go and grow in their country did. Look at the foreign exchange that they are earning from it today and so, what is wrong with Nigeria? All the research institutions have failed because the people who are managing them when they take the money they will say they have done research but they don’t do anything. They will put the money in their pockets.
So, a lot of things have to be reprogrammed, restructured and repositioned for the country to move forward and you cannot achieve that overnight.
But President Buhari has laid the foundation for achieving that and that is why I am supporting him. Whether people like it or not, I am supporting him and certainly, whether they say he is not going to rule or the people would not want him to win election, let me tell you; since 2003 when President Muhammadu Buhari first entered into the presidential race, he has had a base of support that you cannot dismantle. Whosoever comes from anywhere in this country cannot match Buhari with that base. They will be starting anew. Mr. President today has a base of 12 Million votes whether you like it or not, whatever people would say cannot dismantle that 12 Million votes.
In 2003, go and check the records 12 Million votes, 2006 12 Million, 2014 12 Million, 2015 12 Million plus the top up from other places like the South –West that didn’t vote for him before, like Kano which was PDP before didn’t vote him, and Jigawa that was PDP before.
So, he already has this base which no other person from any other party can match.
Secondly, in the Southern Zones, in 2003, in the whole of the three Southern Zones of Nigeria former President Obasanjo election time declared only Eight Hundred and Eighty thousand votes for Buhari and declared over 12 million votes for himself.
Go and check the records, I was there and I stopped the announcement of the results because I said it was not proper and correct.
So, with that base that he already has which you cannot toy with, there is nothing you can say and there is no candidate from the North that can go to Borno State and get one vote, go the Sokoto and get one vote, go to Kano and get one vote.
In the North, whosoever they are, I am telling you they won’t when the vote comes. That base is there and whosoever are those voters are there and you can’t dismantle them over night.
Now, he is coming to the South – East which knows they have a problem for not supporting him before. Mr. President has said, ‘‘you gave me 198,000 votes and, I am giving you four strong first class ministries’’ and they now said, we are now turning over to you in 2019.
Former Governor Chime of Enugu, who gave him only 50,000 votes is now in APC and all other persons are now in APC.
In Akwa Ibom State, we gave him hundreds of thousands of votes but, there was no election and we fought that in the court.
So, you will see that he is going to win overwhelmingly, but one thing is that, President Buhari as a person is sincere to build a new Nigeria and if for 57 years of independence, Nigeria is where it is today who do you blame?
You blame the leaders and, this is the only leader that has started to lay foundation for a better economic growth.
Q:
There is insinuation that, APC is divided in Akwa Ibom. Is there any faction?
A:
What faction? There is no faction in Akwa Ibom APC. Even in your house you can disagree with your children may be because, the food you shared was not of equal quantity. There is absolutely no faction in the party in the state.
Q:
Sir, you must have seen Chief Obasanjo and Babangida’s letters to President Buhari in recent times. Do you see them as any threat?
A:
No threat at all. They are only “bad belle” letters. Everybody knows that they are “bad belle” letters because they always want to be relevant.
Q:
What is your expectation of APC in Akwa Ibom come 2019?
A:
We will win the election and take over the Hill – Top Mansion overwhelmingly, decisively and massively. Quote me, APC is going to win this state massively because we are going to do election. PDP has never won election in this state without rigging. Not even ordinary rigging, “Carry – Go.” The only election that was conducted in this state was the one I conducted in 1999 for Obong Victor Attah to win. In that election Obong Attah scored over 700,000 votes go and check the records. Obong Akpan Isemin scored 400,000 votes. So, there was voting that time.
Since then, tell me where has any opponent of the governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom scored 1/3 of what the winner scored because, they locked up the Returning Officers in some houses and pointed guns on their heads and forced them to sign the forms, and after signing the forms for them and announcing the results, they would say “let’s go to court.”
That is what they have been doing before but, to God be the Glory, they are not going to be able to do that now. Even the Master of all that rigging; Mr. Godswill Akpabio has said it with his mouth that, Governor Udom Emmanuel should be very careful that now, there is not going to be “Carry – Go.” That the electorate are going to vote and that votes shall be counted. And you are asking me if APC will win. We are going to win 100 percent and overwhelmingly.
Q:
As a former Petroleum Minister, could you proffer solutions to the current fuel crisis in the country?
A:
Who are still controlling the petroleum distribution in Nigeria? It is still the original PDP marketers. Now what is happening? election time is coming and they are doing all kinds of things for petrol not to be available and what do they want?
They want increase in petrol price so that they can use that against APC.
