Former Director of Election Planning for President Muhammadu Buhuri Presidential Campaign Council in 2015 and former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Imo State, Dr. Theodore Ekechi has advised former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded election in the country, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to withdraw his suit challenging the result of the presidential election. According the convener of a coalition group in Imo State that fought Governor Rochas Okorocha to a standstill, if Atiku opens one can of worm against President Buhari, he would have opened over 10 other cans of worm against himself, saying that there is no perfect election anywhere in the world.
Ekechi said that Buhari won because he is more popular than Atiku and advised the president to probe past administrations, especially the N16 billion power contract. He also spoke on other issues. Excerpts:
Eventually, President Muhammadu Buhari retained the presidency just as you predicted, what do you think made Nigerians to re-elect him president?
Most people who made predictions through the media did so from the perception of their environment. They don’t have knowledge of the vast majority of the other vast land of Nigeria. Nigeria is not Lagos, Owerri, Port Harcourt or Ogun State alone, Nigeria includes Sokoto, Borno, Kano, Katsina states and other parts of the North which is hugely populated.
As far as the country is presently constituted, to become President of Nigeria you need the support of people from all parts of the country. You need the support of all states of the country because in a democracy the mantra is one man, one vote and every vote must count. So, the elite who predicted that President Buhari would not be re-elected failed to realize that there are also people in the Northern part of the country who have different mindset on who to support or who not to support.
The reason I seemed to be in a better position to predict rightly that Buhari was going to come out victorious was because I was fortunate to have worked in a Situation Room where I had access to all parts of the country and I was able to approximate the opinions of different tribes, ethnic and religious groups and people from different backgrounds to know what they are thinking about Nigeria. Every discerning politician knew that President Buhari was going to retain power. So, many people made predictions without going beyond their thought and immediate surroundings.
It is easy to say that Buhari cannot win, but most people in Southeast who said so for whatever reason may have not travelled to the Northern part of the country and the result of the last presidential election was an indicator to this fact. For instance, the votes of the entire Southeast was 1.6million in the last election while Katsina State alone had a total vote cast put at 1.4 million. Therefore, the vote of only one state in North cancelled all the votes of the entire Southeastern region, yet those who predicted that Buhari will not win never knew that Katsina State alone can clean whatever vote cast in the whole of Southeast.
What are some of President Buhari’s achievements that earned him this victory?
First of all, Buhari changed the psychic and attitude of an average Nigerian politician towards power as a means of making wealth. We must accept that Buhari created an environment that made politicians now realize that the fact you have won an election or because you are instrumental to winning an election will make you become what ordinarily you cannot be. Surprisingly, Buhari is a man of very few words. He does not dissipate his energy doing invaluable things by not necessarily talking. There is no state in the country today where there is no project going on. Secondly, President Buhari touched at the very heart of issues that were very dear to the people. For instance, our brothers from the Southwest wanted the late M.K.O Abiola to be honoured and it is not a co-incidence that Buhari recognized June 12 as Democracy Day which was dear to the Yoruba. In the Southeast, he recognized our policemen and women and soldiers who fought on the side of Biafra during the Nigerian civil war and offered them their pension.
The Second Niger Bridge became a political tool for canvassing and winning votes in the Southeast, but Buhari had the courage to make it real. In the National Assembly, past leaders bargain with legislators and gave them what they want and in return they gave the executive arm what they want, but Buhari did not play such game.
The administration of President Buhari has been stable and consistent and the foundation that has been laid is such that will sustain this economy in the next 30 or 40 years from the way and manner this government is going. At the beginning of this administration we saw the naira fall sharply, but after sometime we have seen stability. We are beginning to produce certain goods that we import, especially rice. We no longer import rice and other agricultural produce as we now save enough foreign exchange. But more importantly, it is not because Buhari is the best person, more intelligent or stronger, but because during the election Nigerians were faced with two options, Buhari or Atiku. It was a choice between Buhari and Atiku, which one on the long run will benefit Nigerians more? Which one on the long run will keep us on the path of prosperity and sustain the fight against corruption?
Which one on the long run will give us confidence to remain with the international community without our president being tried aside the shore of this country for corruption. Those were the issues. The choice is between Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubarka who was vice president for eight years, a former Customs officer and these are the only places we know Atiku has worked all his life and we are asking the same question we are asking in Owerri today, all these wealth Atiku is flaunting around that made him one of the richest people in Africa today, when and how did he make them? Now, Atiku is counted among the richest Africans today, but he never did a private business before and his first business was Customs Comptroller. He retired to become Vice President of Nigeria. So, how did Atiku become suddenly rich? What is the guarantee that if he becomes president for four or eight years, he won’t become richer than Bill Gate of the United States of America and those are the fears of Nigerians.
Atiku has gone to court to challenge the result of the election, claiming that he won Buhari, are you not worried that the former VP may defeat the president at the tribunal?
If you look at the result, the margin is very overwhelming and with the money and personal contact that Atiku has, it would be difficult for Atiku to be rigged out even in his own polling unit where he lost. If it was rigging, I don’t think APC will be brave in the presence of international observers to rig in former President Obasanjo’s polling unit where he lost. The answer is simple; Buhari is more popular than Atiku. You will agree with me that no election is perfect because in every election process you must find faults, but how serious is those faults that is what we should be concerned about. Let me say this, for every can of worm Atiku opens against Buhari, I’m very confident that he will open over five cans of worm against himself. Therefore, if the Appeal Court does its job I assure you that the margin with which Buhari defeated will increase.
President Buhari before the election vowed to probe the N16billion meant for power by the administration of former President Obasanjo, don’t you think it will end like other probes?
I don’t really think the president said that rather, what President Buhari meant was that we could not see the power that Obasanjo’s government spent N16 billion on, but if that is interpreted to be probing, I think it is fine. We are a growing nation and we should grow in a way or manner that nobody covers anybody’s back unnecessarily when it has to do with the law. And I have always said, if it will take Buhari probing all those who criticized him destructively, let him go ahead and probe them. If anybody said it is selective he should not mind them and the thing about it is that one day Buhari will cease to be president and let all those who will come after him probe him too. If they like let them probe those who criticize them destructively and by the time everyone knows that if you criticize government destructively there will be a consequence, everybody will sit up. So, fighting corruption selectively is better than not fighting corruption at all. If all Buhari can achieve is to probe all who have committed fraud under PDP, let him go ahead and do so. It only needs that when PDP takes over power if they do or any other party takes over power they should retaliate by probing all that where in APC, including myself. The bottom line is this, if everybody in government knows that he or she will be probed after leaving office, we all will sit up and do the right thing when we are in office.
Do you see the president hit the ground running by appointing his cabinet early this time unlike in 2015 when it took him seven months to appoint his ministers?
In my opinion, the president has done that already, he is only waiting for May 29, when he takes the oath of office to unveil his cabinet. Buhari is not a new president hence he will continue with his government policies which is already enshrined and operational. The structures, procedures and patterns of government are already in place. There is no time to do the kind of planning he did in 2015 because the president has hit the ground running already. He said he was going to be harder than he was before. To me, that wasn’t an announcement, but a directive to the security agencies and to those who are found wanting.
In politics, it is the winner takes all and this time around the Southeast did not vote for Buhari, don’t you think the zone will be further marginalized in terms of appointment by President Buhari?
I don’t believe in that. Let me explain this to you, to a very great extent appointments are made based on those you can trust or whom you have tested. So, the more you have people around you who you have tested and trusted, the more you are tempted to give responsibilities to such people. I think that is what happens most of the time. Let me give you an example, as much as I criticize Governor Rochas Okorocha constructively, in 2011 from a small community in Emekuku alone a lot of prominent people played major roles in that administration in 2011. They include, Chief Martin Agbaso and the leader of APGA then, who gave his junior brother, Jude as a running mate to Okorocha, Chief Pascal Dozie who was the largest donor to Okorocha’s campaign project, Nick Oparandudu who was the head of administration in Rochas campaign, Chief Jude Ejiogu, one of his directors of campaign and a couple of other people. These are powerful individuals who worked very hard for Okorocha’s emergence as governor of Imo State in 2011. It was natural that when Rochas became governor, the leader of the party, Martin Agbaso’s junior brother, Jude was made the Deputy Governor, the Special Adviser on Revenue Collection was Jude Ejiogu, Special Adviser and later Commissioner was Nick Opara, the Commissioner for Women Affairs, was one Mrs. Ann Dozie. All these people are from Emekuku. People did not understand that it was a reflection of the roles these individuals played in the government that brought Okorocha into power in 2011. So, I’m not expecting that President Buhari would naturally marginalize those from the Southeast in the political appointment. There are a lot of prominent Igbo people who ordinarily will be find qualified and trusted to handle sensitive positions, unfortunately such men may not win the heart of President Buhari. However, among those from the Southeast who played key roles in the re-election of the President, Buhari will be constrained to appoint such men and women into sensitive positions. In the same vein, if Atiku had won, it won’t have been surprising to see many prominent people from the zone being appointed into juicy positions because of the level familiarity they have with Atiku.
From the look of things, is president of Igbo extraction realizable in 2023?
Let me say that in all the presidencies we have experienced since we attained democracy, none of them came to be on the basis of ethnic efforts or demand. None of them came to be on the basis of religious position rather, individuals raised their heads and declared their ambition. They fought for the position and then started getting the support and sentiments of other individuals. So, it is in the hands of the Igbo people to determine whether an Igbo presidency can be actualized in 2023 or not. Any Igbo man or woman who thinks that by mere declaration by Ohanaeze will attract the Afenifere, Arewa or Ijaw states to make a Igbo person president is making a great mistake. But if we have that personality whose name resonates across the River Niger, River Benue or the Mambilla Plateau and beyond; that is the kind of person that can become the president of Igbo extraction. More importantly, provided we don’t decimate ourselves before going for the presidential race. The Igbo have a way of dissipating energy against ourselves which has worked against our collective interest. No party will say a particular person from a particular tribe has the right to contest for the presidency in 2023 and if they do, it will not stand. So, I can see people from different tribes, ethnic groups and background chasing the presidency in 2023.
Which areas will you advise Buhari to improve on?
The area I will like the president to improve upon which is one of basic principles I learnt in marketing is engaging the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from time to time on the workings of his administration and marching them with action. In marketing, if you don’t say I’m here nobody will know that you are here, if you don’t say this is who I’ am nobody will know who you are. There was a time we use to say good product requires no push, but now even the best products require a push. So, one area I will like the president to improve upon is the area of citizen engagement. President Buhari should spare time and engage the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from time to time on the workings of his mind marching them with action. Not essentially in the way of media briefing, but beyond that. The president should make himself available at meetings and seminars. The Presidential Media Chat that the president had with the vice president should have come up continually. Why did he wait until during the general elections? Such would have been going on before the election. Nobody is going to judge the president by his grammatical fluency after all was it not Shina Peters who song that English is not his mother tongue and it has been proven that the knowledge of a second language is not a basis to assess intelligence. So, I will like the president to communicate as often as possible with the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
