Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Affairs and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Kingsley Kuku, in this interview with Senior Correspondent, JULIUS ALABI, in Akure, talks on PDP chances at the polls, dismissing APC as a collection of frustrated political parties and politicians.
LG autonomy
Yes, I strongly believe in it. I think local government areas should be granted autonomy; let the right people be elected and let them develop their terrain. Footbridges and culverts should be local government projects; state governments have nothing to do with them. It is important that we all do what is right in our communities. It is right for LGs to have autonomy. It is rather unfortunate that in the last 20 years or thereabout, LGAs don’t do anything tangible in our communities anymore.
Incidentally, that should have been the closest government to the people. If we cannot get it right here, people will not feel the impact of governance. I believe that I will never get myself out, no matter any appointment. I will not close my mouth against Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC). You cannot hijack other people’s money. Take your own and let others spend their own money too. I will not stop, and I am party to that advocacy. Yes, we may not succeed today, for the fact that it got to the National Assembly and governors made strong efforts to stop it. I know that in no distant time, it will succeed.
Curbing corruption in the country
When President Goodluck Jonathan is addressing the issue of corruption in a campaign, he says that so many people are corrupt. Whether you are taking N1 million or N1, it is corruption. How many are we going to send to prison? But what the federal government is doing now is to curb it right from the root. Under Jonathan’s administration, the ghost worker syndrome is almost over. That is corruption tackled. Again, the president is not Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). These bodies have Acts that support their operations, and the president has given them free hands to operate. Under this administration, EFCC has prosecuted more persons than all the years before this period put together. By constitution, EFCC and ICPC are different from the courts. Imagine someone who stole N2 billion pension funds and a judge saying that the kind of ruling or verdict he could give was that the accused person could only be imprisoned for just 30 days or given an option of N500 fine. However, someone stole a goat and he was jailed for seven years. Is Jonathan the judge? You can see that, sometimes, the courts frustrate what EFCC and ICPC are doing. Mr. President cannot give independence to EFCC or ICPC and at the same time be the judge. Mr. President is not willing to do political witch-hunt. I know Mr. President would not be appreciated today, but later.
When General Muhammadu Buhari came to power, as a young boy, from the speech we heard, we jubilated; but when he read out his decrees, we discovered that we were in trouble. War Against Indiscipline (WAI) almost consumed us. Corruption during his regime was higher than the trend now. Nigerians have all attested to Jonathan that he is a true Nigerian and he has demonstrated it. He represents ordinary Nigerians and has refused to take his children outside this shores of this country. His children are all schooling in this country, and that is why he takes the issue of education seriously in Nigeria, unlike other leaders who have their children outside this country. That is the difference between Jonathan and Buhari. Was Buhari tackling corruption when he arrested all the governors then and put them into prison while he put former President Shehu Shagari, who is from his place, under house arrest to enjoy himself? He also put Dr. Alex Ekwueme (former Vice President), an Igbo man, into detention for several years?
He put people like Adekunle Ajasin, Ambrose Alli, and others into detention, even when the courts found nothing against them. Buhari used his military power to incarcerate many Nigerians. Is he the same person that we will allow to rule us in Nigeria? Buhari should account for the fund realised through the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) when he headed it.
Presidential debate before February 14
I think there should be presidential debate. Nigeria must demand for it; it is their constitutional right. Artisans, businessmen and women, students, farmers and Labour leaders must demand for the presidential debate. I subscribe to it too. Nigerians must ask question about the economy. We need to know what whoever wants to be our president has in the kitty for us. I hear Buhari said that when he becomes president, he will stabilise oil price. We are going to ask question on that. We will not vote for someone as president who will disgrace Nigeria. How do you want to fix oil price? His people should have told him that it is not possible to stabilise oil price.
In any case, Nigeria does not have the kind of oil like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq or Kuwait. How do you want to peg oil price in Nigeria? We really want to hear all these on debate. Therefore, there must be presidential debate. President Jonathan must be ready for debate and that debate must be made accessible to Nigerians, for them to ask questions on economy, politics, commerce and industry. Buhari must attend the presidential debate with Jonathan where several questions would be asked.
Insecurity in Nigeria
Boko Haram should be condemned totally as we did to Niger Delta militancy. The people in the North East must agree to stamp them out of that region. When the Niger Delta militancy started, some of us were happy, and were saying that our boys were hitting the military. Some people in their ignorance were happy about it. But a day came when one animal came out and started to rob people of their belongings. He would lead his gang from Delta to Ondo State to rob. Some of the Niger Delta leaders then, including Mr. President, met and said this thing had to stop. We went to our people and begged them to stop the mess.
The people in that region (North East), I mean the retired and serving Generals as well as political leaders must come out. They must come together and salvage their environment. If they don’t work with government, soldiers cannot solve their problem. They must solve their problem the way we did in the Niger Delta. We brought peace to our environment. For three years, soldiers and our boys were fighting, nothing was achieved. We decided to solve our problem. They should do so. The leaders in the North should speak up and denounce Boko Haram.
PDP’s preparation for presidential election
We are in a political war. Political war of the past and present, between darkness and light, between progress and retardation. Some people are determined to take us back to the Dark Age. You can see now that Buhari and his members have been engaging in campaigns of calumny. We in PDP are preparing. I don’t know how Buhari will survive the election. We know how to get our votes and we are working very hard. That is why PDP is a national party; it is not a South West party. APC is just a collection of frustrated political parties. Nigeria will vote for Jonathan and PDP. Look at the issue of rail, it is working perfectly now; you can transport petroleum from Lagos to Kano. It has never happened for many years now. Honestly, Nigerians have enjoyed dividends of democracy under Jonathan’s administration.
