Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and chieftain of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), NASIR EL-RUFAI, vows that his party will resist the current moves to get many of its governors out of offices through impeachments. He also warns in this interview with Assistant Editor (North), CHUKS EHIRIM, in Abuja, that the country’s democracy will crash if “Jonathanian impunity” is allowed to continue…
There has been chain of events within your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), lately, including the defection of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); impeachment of Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako; and the ongoing plot against Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, and other governors. What are your reactions to the developments?
Nasir el-Rufai
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is a Nigerian and he is free to make his political choices. I don’t think that is an issue. Each and every one of us can change his or her political persuasion at any time. If he chooses to leave APC for the PDP, it is his decision. I don’t have any comment on that. I made the decision some years ago, to leave the PDP and join the APC.
It was a personal choice; so Sheriff can make his own choice. But at the end of the day, it is the people of Borno State who will make the decision on where they want their state to go, whether it is in the direction of the impunity of the PDP or the integrity of the APC, with the state governor – that is Kashim Shettima – there. That is all.
On the alleged impeachment of Nyako in Adamawa, it is going to be resolved by the court at the end of the day because we believe that it is another manifestation of the Jonathanian impunity, in which legislators were given huge amounts of money to remove an elected governor. They violated every rule of procedure, every constitutional provision and the law. That will be challenged vigorously in the court.
We are taking steps necessary to ensure that there is no breach of the peace in Nasarawa State because the governor is very popular. I am afraid the step being taken by the House of Assembly is driven by selfishness and corruption. It is going to be resisted by the people of Nasarawa. I can only say, let’s wait and see how things will play out.
There is this insinuation that this gale of impeachments has to do with PDP’s resolve to take back the five states it lost last year when its governors defected to the APC.
Yes, the PDP lost five states and the plan that Jonathan has is to ensure that within the next three months, five APC governors are impeached. He is endangering the country; he is endangering our democracy. If he thinks that we are going to sit back and allow impunity to reign in the country, to the point that our elected governors are going to be removed, he is making a mistake.
We are going to resist and we are going to show him, in a very short while, what we are going to do to resist that. He is engaging in tyranny and impunity, and we are not going to accept it.
In clear terms, what form will the resistance take?
You will have to wait for that, but I want to assure you that APC will not accept this impunity. We will resist.
How do you see the entire thing affecting democracy in the country?
Definitely, it is affecting our democracy. This democracy will crash if this Jonathanian impunity continues. We are not going to lie down and be slaves in this country because somebody is abusing his power. We are going to fight it with everything we have, with every drop of our blood. If we die in this process, it will be worth it.
What is your ambition going to be like in 2015?
I don’t have ambition.
