‘Free and fair election will guarantee acceptable result to all candidates’

What is the mood like abroad over the 2015  elections, especially on the Presidential election? The mood outside Nigeria, that means covering United Kingdom, USA, Canada and all over the world about this presidential election; is electric; people are very happy that Nigeria has another opportunity to take this democracy forward by electing a president of their choice and critically, the moment we are, we have two strong political parties, the present government which the PDP represents and a very strong opposition unlike past elections where opposition parties weren’t strong or weren’t together. But in this case, we have a very strong opposition. So, that gives people in the Diaspora the very feelings that this election will be a very determinant factor weather Nigeria will go forward or we are not serious at all about de- mocracy.

So, the mood generally is very high, people are just expecting this to happen come February 14, 2015. In addition to that, the fears towards the election is actually based on what some people are say-ing or what they are threatening about the fourth coming election if it doesn’t favour them, especially people from the ruling party and especially my brothers from the Niger-Delta.

I don’t want to really mention anybody’s name but I’m someone who is constantly on Facebook and other social media platforms and I have read so many terrible comments by a section of the country especially from the Niger-Delta people, threatening fire and brimstone if Jonathan loses the election they will declare war, and recently a gubernatorial can- didate also made a threat, saying if Jonathan doesn’t win the election, the Niger-Delta will collapse the economy.

I don’t think that’s what people need at this moment. We are all Nigerians and we pray for a free and fair election and in so doing, whoever comes victorious in a free and fair poll should be supported, whether PDP or the APC.

So, there is no need at this moment for people to be threat- ening because if we are talking of democracy someone must win and the other part will have to lose and accept as long as the election is free and fair.

People should stop threatening others. Democracy doesn’t work that way. If you lose, you must accept and if you win, you must be magnanimous about it and we move forward and do what we have to do as a nation.

Ni-gerians in the Diaspora are happy as I said earlier but I think they are disappointed because President Goodluck Jonathan promised when he was campaigning in 2011 that Diaspora will have a say in electing their representatives; that they will have power to vote, but the President up till now has not kept this promise.

So, I think there is disappointment that they won’t be able to vote except for people like us who are back home to exercise our civic duties. So, there is that disappointment also apart from being happy that we are going to have election and we will elect our true leaders this time around.

So, what do you consider to be the political temperature of the country since you came back? I have been around almost a week now. I am a politician by my involvement and passion; so I have been around and talking about politics with anybody and everybody I come across.

People are very happy that this time around, we will elect our true leaders and I could see that most people have made up their minds who they want to vote for. So, you will have political faithful, those belonging to the PDP, those within the APC and some other parties.

People are re- ally excited and they are energised and you could see campaigns going on all over the country, and you could see mammoth crowd coming out to welcome their candidate. The mood is really high in Nigeria and like I said, most people I have talked to, almost 90 percent have made up their minds who they want to vote for.

It is not a matter of whether they are thinking about it or not. Yes, we still have people who have not made up their minds, the undecided but I am sure before the weeks run out, few weeks to election people will definitely decide where they want to be.

I have been reading and I have been hearing people saying ‘yes, this is the candidate I am going to vote for’ with reasons given peculiar to themselves which is fine and I still believe we still have few neutral people that they are neither here nor there, people that I can term as fence sitters. They are still sitting on the fence.

I hope they are not going to sit so long before February 14, everybody will have to make up his or her own mind, but generally the country is energised. I could see that on political rallies, on com- ments and debates here and there both on televisions, newspapers because we are all ready for this election because it is going to make Nigeria and I pray it is not going to break Nigeria.

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There are fears that because of the seeming popularity of both Jonathan and Buhari, the outcome of the February 14 poll may bring Nigeria to a state of anarchy; what are your fears? Let me be honest with you, whichever way it goes, Buhari or Jonathan, my prayer is and my support is for Buhari.

I will con- tinue to campaign for him and if it is Jonathan, the fear is there, we may come up with some little or minor chaos here and there. Like I said earlier on people in Jonathan’s camp, especially his Ijaw people,
have been threatening and threat is not part of the democracy. De- mocracy is for people to stand up, campaign and support a particular candidate of your choice and if that person wins, that is good and if that person loses the election, there is nothing you can do about it.

You just have to accept the result as long as the election is fair and free and I want to believe Professor Attahiru Jega is working so hard to give us a free and fair election and with the introduction of the PVC, it means it will be difficult for any political party to rig the election. But I’m not saying that it is still not possible.

At least, if we can minimise election rigging, trouble, then we have the chance of having a free and fair election that will be acceptable to both candidates. So, once we are able to have an election that is fairly free and fair, it cannot be absolutely free and I don’t think there is any absolutely free and fair election anywhere in the world.

But at least, if we can increase the percentage or if we can step up from where we left in 2011 then, it will be clear to the losers that they have to accept and the winners will have to be humble in victory.

So, the fears are there, the Niger- Delta will want to cause trouble and people are also saying that if Buhari doesn’t win the election, there might be protests across the North. I have not heard from the candidate.

I have not heard him talk about violence if he doesn’t win the election. What the APC people are saying is that give us free and fair election, if its free and fair, it will be accepted, but if it is not free and fair, if the PDP tries to rig the election, that could be a problem and that would be a genuine reason to have problem in Nigeria but nobody is praying for that.

But as long as we can get the election through and try without any problem, then who- ever wins will accept and the loser will also have to accept the result. Look at what happened in Osun last year with the re-election of Aregbesola.

They made several attempts before, during and im- mediately after the election before the results were announced and Aregbesola declared. You could see the happiness on the faces of the people and the mass acceptance because the people of Osun knew it was their choice that was declared eventually.

Having been in the politics of the party in UK for years, do you think APC really has what it takes to deliver good governance? APC is a new political party, the merger of parties- CPC, ACN, APGA and ANPP.

So, APC is a combination of Nigerian political parties. I did some research on that and I have come out with the fact that APC is the first political party merger in the history of Nigeria. We have been having alliances with parties but this is the first political party merger and we are now talking of the strong viable opposition.

If you look at the formation of APC, you are talking of people in the North, CPC, the ACN in the South West, ANPP in the North East. It is a party that cuts across the length and breadth of this country. So, it comes out to be a very strong opposition.

From the statement released by PDP people, you could see that desperation and fear that for the first time, they are having a strong contest with the strong opposition. So, APC has a very high chance in winning this election, not only the presidential but in most cases because for the first time we are having an opposition party that cuts across all the 36 states of Nigeria.

I’m not sure it has ever happened in the history of Nige- ria. We will give PDP a good run for their money and that means taking the Presidency away from them, winning most of the states and National Assembly and that is my prediction.

It is not only my prediction; it is the political reality in Nigeria. All you have to do is to go to town and speak to people. When you speak to people, take sample, speak to 10 people, out of the 10 people, I can assure you that seven to eight are speaking in favour of APC, even though some of them are not members but they have made up their minds that for the first time, they have the candidate that everybody can rally round.

We have a candidate that can confidently say that I have never stolen a penny of public fund and I don’t think we have had any past president that could come out and say such a statement. So, the people see in Buhari and by extension, APC, a transparent, credible and strong party that they can rely on. The people have been looking for this kind of opposition for many years but for the first time. So, our chances are really high.

You have just completed a book on Buhari and planning a presentation; what motivated you to write the book and can we have an insight into the book? As much as I don’t want to talk too much about the book, I have written a book on Buhari, and I want to keep it safe until the public presentation which is going to be few days or some weeks’ time.

Actually, it is going to come out before the election because that is the essence of the book. I’m motivated because like I said as politician and a politician who is not contesting this time around, I believe I have obligation to contribute to the de- bate and the way I believe I could contribute to the debate is to pre- sent it in a formal way by writing a book about Buhari and Nigeria generally for which a Foreword was written by the Governor of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola.

So, the book covers not only Buhari but the economy of Nigeria, the prom- ises given by President Goodluck Jonathan. It is a political book and it is into three parts. The first part covers the economy, the security threats in Nigeria and many other things that people need to know about the current government of Jonathan, even though PDP has been in power for sixteen years but they keep telling us about only six years of Jonathan and Jonathan happens to be a candidate and representative of PDP government and they have been in power for 16 years.

So, I was able to let people realise that Jonathan is not just coming from the sky. He has been part and parcel of this political system for 16 years including his party.