Posted by By KENNY ASHAKA, Kaduna on
A former lawmaker and chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, Senator Abubakar Girei has made a passionate call to leaders of the PDP to quickly relieve former President Olusegun Obasanjo of his Board of Trustees (BoT) chairmanship, saying the former president is the biggest threat to democracy in the country.
A former lawmaker and chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, Senator Abubakar Girei has made a passionate call to leaders of the PDP to quickly relieve former President Olusegun Obasanjo of his Board of Trustees (BoT) chairmanship, saying the former president is the biggest threat to democracy in the country.
Speaking to Daily Sun in an exclusive interview in Kaduna, Girei said Nigeria's democracy and the PDP were under threat because of the activities of former President Obasanjo and those he described as anti-democratic forces still lurking around.
Girei said the former president was the worst leader Nigeria had ever had and that contrary to claims by a former labour leader, Pascal Bafyau, the Action Congress Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar's political credentials tower above those of Obasanjo and any other PDP Board of Trustees chairman.
The former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Bafyau had in an interview with Daily Sun recently declared former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as unfit for the PDP Board of Trustees chairmanship, arguing that the AC presidential candidate and former PDP chieftain lacked the required credentials for the office.
Girei, a former PDP governorship aspirant in Adamawa State, however, lashed out at the former labour leader, describing him as the least credible to assess the political profile of former vice president Atiku Abubakar.
'Atiku will surely make a better PDP BOT Chairman than Obasanjo, Anenih and all other previous PDP BOT chairmen. I think Bafyau is either being economical with the truth or taking his fight against Atiku too personal,' he asserted.
Excerpts of the interview.
Pascal Bafyau believes Atiku lacks the credentials to be the PDP BOT chairman. Do you agree with this claim?
I am certainly not in support of his views. I believe it is a lie for anybody, talkless of Pascal Bafyau to say Atiku is unfit to be the PDP BOT chairman. I am not holding brief for Atiku. I am sure you know I am one of those, even as of now, who are not the best of friends with Atiku. But let the truth be told. Atiku will surely make a better PDP BOT chairman than Obasanjo, Anenih and all other previous PDP BOT chairmen. I think Pascal Bafyau is either being economical with the truth or taking his fight against Atiku too personal. I also believe that Atiku has proved to be a better politician than most of these characters who we all know now are nothing but deceitful persons and who have continued to pose serious threat to our democracy, if not the existence of the nation itself.
Any leader that is only interested in looting the resources of the country, like Obasanjo and his cohorts did will definitely not be interested in the existence of this country. So, I am calling on all patriotic citizens of this country, especially PDP leaders to do all that is necessary to flush out all these unpatriotic, selfish and power drunk individuals like Obasanjo and others from the party; especially at leadership levels in order to save the party and our nascent democracy from imminent collapse.
I believe people like Atiku who have learnt from their mistakes and served under such an undemocratic leader like Obasanjo for eight years and came out of it stronger is much more well-equipped for enormous national challenges facing PDP. Atiku will certainly continue to be a great asset to PDP and the nation. I support our new party leaders' effort in trying to get them back to build a refocused PDP under the able leadership of our amiable President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
From all you have said, it would be correct to deduce that you will support the call for a probe of former President Obasanjo
One doesn't need to support the probing of Obasanjo. He (Obasanjo) is already under probe by the public opinion in this country. Judgement has already been passed that he is the worst leader we ever had in this country.
Is it not proper to go through past records and really find him guilty before passing such a judgement?
Is it not looking at the past that people have passed the verdict of guilty on him? If you are saying he must be prosecuted, convicted and so on and so forth, I have no objection to that because I stand by the rule of law. But all these are secondary as far as I am concerned. The fact is he was head of State, president and ended up being the worst leader in the history of this country. Is that not enough?
You believe Obasanjo is the worst president we ever had?
I have no doubt that in my mind. I said in 2001 that looking at the way Obasanjo was going, he is most likely to be the greatest threat to our democracy and the nation. That was in 2001. I have been vindicated.
But Pascal Bafyau just showered praises on him last week?
Well. That is Pascal for you. He is entitled to his opinion; but Nigerians have passed their verdict. He (Pascal) cannot be better than Nigerians. This is democracy and everybody is entitled to his opinion. There is freedom of speech, expression and liberty. Everybody is entitled to say what he wants and Pascal has said what he wants. But the fact is: Nigerians know what the truth is.
Some of your fellow Northerners are also blaming the Northern governors for the woes in the North. Do you share the same view with them?
Unfortunately, our governors especially in the North have not lived up to expectation. There is no doubt about it. There is a lot they should have done which they have not done. There is a lot they should have done like developing agriculture which would have launched us into economic stability more than the state we are today where we are being labeled as parasites. We have never been parasites in our lives. We have always been self-sufficient and in charge of our destiny.
By inference, you are saying the North is parasitic? Would that be correct?
Not exactly because this is an expression of someone's opinion. They are entitled to their opinion. But the reason why they have the temerity to say this is because of the failure of our leaders. If our leaders had led us well, and have positioned this part of the country appropriately by developing agriculture, they wouldn't have had the guts to say that. But it is true we have failed to develop our economic mainstay, which is supposed to be the ingredient of our economic development. This failure has exposed us to all forms of ridicule and criticisms that are coming from our friends.