ASIWAJU TINUBU IS A TEAM LEADER … MALLAM MOYO JAJI

Mallam Moyo Jaji, is a political analyst and a recognized member of the All Progressive Congress, APC party. Jaji is the former Executive Secretary of Ojodu Local Council Development Area, LCDA, Lagos State. In this interview wiyth Great Achievers’ World Magazine, he spoke with Inemesit Ebu and Emmanuel Ukpong, on a number of issues affecting the key contenders for the 2023 presidential election. Also, he commended President Mohammadu Buhari for his achievements in revamping infrastructures in Nigeria and lots more. Excerpts …

As an active member of APC, how has your journey been in the affairs of the party?

There is a popular saying that many are called but few are chosen. One would have thought that with my diverse activities as a politician and as an intellectual in politics, I should have been given more recognition as it were in terms of appointments because we don’t have to shy away from the fact that active participation in politics is about yourself and the society. Yourself, in terms of appointments you get; and society in the sense that when you are given a chance to serve, you serve the society well. I was appointed Electoral Officer in Kosofe and Alimosho Local Government Areas on behalf of Alliance for Democracy, AD and the party that produced Members of the House of Representatives. These are verifiable facts, but one way or the other, the case of ‘many are called, but few are chosen’ comes to play, because there are many people who are as interested as I am, but there are limited spaces to accommodate all.

As 2023 election draws near, what will you expect the in-coming President to do differently after swearing-in, in 2023?

You see, the popular believe out there is that President Mohammadu Buhari has not done well. Some of us are contending that going by the statement of the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Dr. Oby Ezekwesili who said any government that will take over from President Goodluck Jonathan will not find it easy. At that time, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala told Nigerians that the government then was borrowing money to even pay salary of workers. Also, Dr. Ezekwesili collaborated with Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in this assertion. Fortunately or unfortunately, when Buhari took over, it was when we had recession and the price of oil, our only source of income as a nation globated from 100 dollars to about 40 dollars. Nobody expected recession that took over before the COVID-19 Pandemic that is still a global affliction. All these happenings put together can make the performance of a government to be poor, especially like ours that we don’t produce anything internally; everything we need is imported. When you are importing, you convert your own local currency to a foreign currency before making your purchase. The recession or the Covid-19 Pandemic did not deter this administration from making their marks. What I do tell people is that those that are managing the information of this particular government are not up to the task of their duty because they need to be highlighting the achievements of the government of the day. It behooves those who are saddled with this duty to highlight the achievements of the Buhari administration properly. I’m not saying President Buhari has done fantastically well but when compared to the other governments, he is better, at least, evidences are all over the place; infrastructural facilities are seen all over the country. He promised to fight corruption too but could not because the elites which are referred to as the ‘deep state’ ganged up together to make sure he does not succeed and when I say that, I’m talking about the judiciary, that is the Bar and the Bench. Somebody with clear-cut evidence that he/she must have been found culpable of one time financial crime or the other will be taken to court and behold, the court will free him/her because of what is called technicality. It was a replica of what happened during the military. All of a sudden the judiciary just came with a legal jagon called lucus standi. Anything you do, they say you don’t have lucus standi and that will be the end of the matter. The same thing is still happening in Nigeria where the government will arraign people in the court but one way or the other, they’ll find a way of freeing the person and that is defeating effort of the government. Look at one man that was accused of embezzling pension fund to the tune of N25billion; he was taken to court and funny enough, the court found him guilty and gave him a fine of about N625,000 fine. The man went to his car boot, paid the money and became a free man. These are issues you can verify which tend to slow down the activities of the government because when people see things like this, it doesn’t discourage them from indulging in crimes. I was on television as a guest some months ago and I said Nigerians will miss President Buhari when he leaves office after his tenure. The kind of reactions and comments I received was very discouraging. I won’t blame the people because they are ignorant of what Buhari’s administration has done so far. Their reaction is based on what they know. For instance, second Niger Bridge had been there for a very long time but about to be completed during this administration. Also, the railway had been revamped allowing workers, for instance, to live in Ibadan and work in Abuja as a result of the train system. I urge those whose duties are to showcase the achievements of the Mohammadu Buhari-led administration to the public, to let the electorates to know that this administration has done so much positively. When APC says it wants to continue come 2023, it is on the basis of what is on the ground.

Talking about insecurity, would you say that President Buhari has done well?

I will blame that on the president, because he has not been decisive enough on the issue. There is a rumor that those who call themselves bandits are his kinsmen. What we are saying is that insecurity is not limited to the North alone; it has now come to the South. Let’s take a look at China. If you are a Public officer in China, you cannot steal and go scot-free with it. It is death penalty. In Nigeria, we don’t have anything to deter anyone from corruption. For instance, a lawyer will tell you that he has challenged EFCC staff a number of times in the court and has warned them. He knows how they are winning because money is changing hands between the prosecutors, the judges and others and at the end of the day it’s the society that loses. As far as insecurity is concerned, the President has not done as expected of him. The bulk stops on his table. If not for recent clamp down on bandits and Boko Haram, the President would have scored zero on insecurity. The essence of government is protection of lives and property. I’ll not completely condemn the President because of the Nigeria Army, Nigerian Air Force and The Nigeria Police Force who are doing extremely well to clamp down on insecurity recently.

So many negative comments had made against the APC Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Some say he is not capable of ruling the country for health reason, while some are concerned about his age. What are your thoughts on this?

That is a very funny assumption. Recently, I was with some young men who asked me to address them on issues, in a particular club. When I brought out some facts about Asiwaju Tinubu I told them to google it to be sure. We had wanted to use it for campaign but I don’t mind spilling it here. There was this President in the United State of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR. Roosevelt ruled America on a wheel chair. It was during his time that we had a new deal after the World War that gave America a new lease of life. So, those concentrating on Tinubu’s physical appearance are wasting their time. What we need is the brain. Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu has done so much in Lagos State, I don’t mean Lagos Island, but Lagos State. He left so many legacies in Lagos State when he was governor. During his time he made certain amount of revenue, about Six billion naira. Due to his financial wizardry, Lagos State is boasting of over Fifty Billion Naira every month as its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, presently. If he could do this as a governor, he can also do more as a president if elected. The citizenry are not ready to listen to that because of the tools our leaders are using; they use religion, ethnicity, etc. I am not concerned about Tinubu’s physical appearance, I know he will perform. Roosevelt is a shining example. He ruled America on wheel chair. Also, Tinubu has the knack to attract the best and brightest. He is not a magician but the team he had around him made him to be somebody out of the blues. If he can replicate that style he’ll make a good leader in Nigeria.

Aside from the health challenge, people also say that any responsible leader who has claimed to have groomed others should be able to allow them to take the lead. What is your take on this?

I used to believe in that school of thought but with recent happenings, I don’t think like that anymore. We in the party have known that Asiwaju Tinubu is fund of hand-picking people who don’t come around during campaigns but come around after the party has won the election. He doesn’t use politicians. He uses technocrats like Babatunde Fashola, Wale Edu, Yemi Osinbajo, etc. they don’t practice politics with us at the grassroots but we cannot shy away from the fact that they are very good at what they do. When you are talking about a team, Tinubu is a team leader. People are also talking about his age. How old is Joe Biden, the US President? How old was Reagan Ronald the 46th US President? This is not about age; it’s about what you can do at a particular point in time in the life of a nation.

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is having serious crisis now. As a political analyst, what can you say about this?

PDP is a house of commotion and a divided house is a collapsing house. You won’t hear Wike saying anything positive about PDP at least for now. Peter Obi was Alhaji Atiku’s running mate in the previous election. Why is he not there today? Wike thought he could use funds at his disposal to dictate what goes on at the PDP but when he found out that he couldn’t do that, he started playing the role of a spoiler. This is a party standing for an election in 2023. So because of this fact, we see PDP as a joker. PDP is scattered all over the country. On moral issues, PDP was in government for sixteen years we all knew what happened when they were there. Buhari had been in government for only eight years and he has done so much, show us what PDP had done in sixteen years? The sixteen years of PDP government was laced with looting everywhere and you expect Nigerians to vote for PDP again?

What is your advice for the winner of the 2023 presidential election to chart a new direction?

The die is cast already. You need to study the demographic spread of registered voters and you should not loose sight of the fact that our elections are based on ethnicity and religion consideration. So, who becomes what is predetermined already. When the North-West, South West, etc have so much in their position, it’s difficult to determine who gets what. I’m even sometimes skeptical on Asiwaju Tinubu getting block votes from the North. It is a disturbing issue. Down here in the South West, Afenifere colluded with former President Olusegun Obasanjo Obasanjo before 2003 elections. Obasanjo complained to them that he was being referred to a general without an army, because during the 1999 elections, the South West did not vote for him but he won from other parts of Nigeria through the machinations of those who put him there. It was due to this fact that he appealed to the Afenifere to make the South West accessible to him that they normally refer to him as a general without an army. That was how he got the overall South West not knowing that he was not honest with the Afenifere. The day of election he was busy in Abeokuta playing Eyo with former Governor Segun Osoba who was defeated in town. After that, Tinubu rallied the forces and all the five states that were lost by Action Congress, AC, except Lagos were regained. The Afenifere with Adebanjo are not relevant. The way Tinubu is handling things he will not lose in South West. The only place we are having doubt now is in the North because the body language of most of the elites in the North is that since they have lost the presidency, the Northern APC governors collectively decided to shift power to the South in tandem with their unwritten gentleman agreement. It’s very obvious that some people are not happy with the outcome. They might even decide to toss everything to Atiku so that power will remain in the North. It’s a speculation but let them proof me wrong. From what is on ground, it’s not going to be a close score; whoever will win, will win with a wide margin.

Tongues had been wagging among Nigerians on the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket presidential and Vice presidential candidates. Do you see it as a bad combination?

That one is dead already. We have discovered that there have been many states in Nigeria with same faith combination. Nobody talks about religion when it comes to leadership. The people brought this up to cause mischief. APC should go out and enlighten people that it’s not about religion or ethnicity but about who will take us out of this problem. As far as I’m concerned, the issue is a very clear cut one but that doesn’t mean that they should go and sleep on their oars, they should keep on working and everything will work out fine.

Peter Obi came out as a movement under Labour Party. Any comment?

Peter Obi’s movement is valid because he has the right to aspire as a citizen of Nigeria but his modus operandi, the way he goes about it is wrong and most of what he claims he is, are punctured. He has a moral issue hanging on his head. If a politician relies on youth as he is doing, my experience will tell him that the youth are mere noise makers. For instance, I was born and I grew up in Ghana. When the military wanted to hand over power to the civilian, we had Dr. Kofi Busia and Mr. Gbedemah. Gbedemah’s people were acting like Obi’s people are doing today; very visible and noisy but at the end of the day, Dr. Kofi Busia won the election. Like the Yoruba adage says it’s not the amount of noise you hear in the market place that determines who sells and who is not selling. Most of these youths will not be there for Peter Obi. On the day of election, they’ll go to play football. Most of them don’t even have PVC. If you don’t involve yourself, you cannot effect the change that is desired. Some of us that are experienced politically know that they are making empty threats but that doesn’t mean that you should take them for granted. They will detangle when necessary. I am not speaking on behalf of APC. I’m talking as Mallam Jaji.

Highlights:
One would have thought that with my diverse activities as a politician and as an intellectual in politics, I should have been given more recognition as it were in terms of appointments
those that are managing the information of this particular government are not up to the task of their duty because they need to be highlighting the achievements of the government of the day
Nigerians will miss President Buhari when he leaves office after his tenure As far as insecurity is concerned, the President has not done as expected of him
When APC says it wants to continue come 2023, it is on the basis of what is on the ground
As far as insecurity is concerned, the President has not done as expected of him
those concentrating on Tinubu’s physical appearance are wasting their time. What we need is the brain.
The sixteen years of PDP government was laced with looting everywhere and you expect Nigerians to vote for PDP again?
APC should go out and enlighten people that it’s not about religion or ethnicity but about who will take us out of this problem.
Most of these youths will not be there for Peter Obi. On the day of election, they’ll go to play football. Most of them don’t have PVC.