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Monday 29 December 2014

How APC Will Win 2015 Presidency –Timi Frank, Party Deputy Spokesman


Jonathan and Buhari

Comrade Timi Frank is the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progres­sives Congress (APC). In this interview, the Bayelsa State- born politician gave an insight into why the party settled for Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Muhammad Buhari’s running mate and the chances of APC in the South-south, among other issues.

Do you believe people that say Prof Osinbajo was wrong choice as Vice Presidential candidate of the APC?
As a party, I believe that the APC has shown a proper democratic process that even the ac­claimed largest party in Africa, the PDP, never had. I don’t know who is complaining about the choice of our Vice Presidential candi­date. But I believe that our Vice Presidential candidate was chosen by God because the time of change is now. When people ask why we took time in choosing our Vice President, I want to say that the delay was because we wanted to give the best candidate to Nigerians; it was because we wanted to follow a proper democratic process and never wanted an im­posed Vice Presidential candidate or one that will be hand picked by any individual. So, we consulted widely even outside the party. We consulted with people and Osinbajo emerged. You know that it was not just Osibanjo being considered.
What was the selling point in pick­ing Osinbajo at the expense of other people whose names were mentioned and who were believed to have politi­cal structures?
The issue of the Vice President is not all about structure. You can even be a presidential candidate who does not have structure. When Jonathan became the President of Nigeria, he had no structures. When Yar’adua became the President, he had no structures. Osinbajo today may not have structures. It is even better and because of his Christian background, he has a structure whether you like it or not. Redeemed is one of the biggest churches you can think of. It has one of the largest followers in Nigeria today. That alone is a structure. It must not be a political structure but that alone can sell him. As far as we are concerned all other persons that was considered to be the running mate are fantastic individuals you cannot compare to the PDP Vice Presidential candidate.
So, I can tell you that we did not choose Osinbajo, it is God that chose him for us as Vice Presidential candidate at this point in time.
Don’t you think that the perception that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as a religious bigot would not affect his chances at the poll?
It will not affect the chances of my party. As I said earlier, the problem of the issue of north and south, the problem of Christian and Muslim became stronger under the Jonathan government. Since they have no ideas of how to handle issues, they have no knowledge of governance before coming into government, the only way they can defend their failure is to bring issues of north and south or Buhari saying this or that. Has Buhari said what Jonathan has not said? Has Buhari said what people from the Niger Delta where I come from ahave not said? To me, that is not the issue. During the time of the Niger Delta crisis we were also complaining that this is a fight against the south-south. So, if Buhari said that the case of Boko Haram in the north today is a fight against the north, what is wrong because we also did that during our time. We said then that what is happening in the Niger Delta is a fight against the Ijaw people. Yes we cannot compare what is happening in the north and what happened in the south-south or the Niger Delta. Our ideologies were different because we knew what we wanted we knew what we were looking for. The issue is that there is a crisis in the north and every northerner will think that the government of the day has failed to carry out their responsibility by protecting them and they can say that out of frustra­tion. So, if you see Buhari saying that what is happening in the north is a fight against the north, he could be frustrated because we have a government with the resources and all the machinery in place to end this crisis. And that government of the day cannot do that means that government has failed to end the crisis. And if Buhari said that, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
It is also the belief of many people that the Niger Delta is well secured for Jonathan. What is your take on this?
For God sake, how can anyone say that the Niger Delta is well secured for Jonathan? The first thing they should ask is whether Bayelsa is secured for Jonathan. When people say it is well secured, it is the normal process of rigging where they sit in their government houses and write results for the President. That is what they normally do in the Niger Delta. They don’t vote in the Niger Delta. In 2011, there was no vote in the Niger Delta. Everybody allocated votes for the President in the Niger Delta and I believe that is the mentality. Even right now, they are planning to allocate votes. Is it possible that you get up in a state and everybody vote for one man, including even his enemies? Even in Bayelsa, there are people who do not like the President. I can tell you that 60 per cent of Bayelsans if not more will vote out Jonathan in a free and fair election. The problem we have is that it is not everybody that has the guts or the mind like Timi Frank to come out and speak his views. It is not everybody that has the mind like Timipriye Silva to come and speak his mind. It is not everybody that has the mind like Rotimi Amarchi to come out and speak out. There are people that are more aggrieved than me and more eager to vote out Jonathan than me. These people are waiting to see if they will be given the opportunity for fair voting, if they will even see the box to vote. Some of them are waiting for that to exercise their anger. That place where they felt that they will have 100 percent is where he will have the biggest shocker because people at the locality have not felt the impact of the Presidency. They have not felt the impact of having their son as the President of Nigeria. Under the government of Jonathan, the Ijaws became more impov­erished and became more undermined than when we have a northern President.
I can tell you how we got the amnesty pro­gramme. Some of the things that were agreed upon as part of that amnesty programme had not been implemented. It is not just sending people abroad for training that is the amnesty agreement. If you don’t know, I can tell you this because I was involved and I know every­thing. If you have the time and want me to say it, I will say it because some of these things are what they are hiding and don’t want the public to know. I am not scared of anything. I must speak the truth.
Some people see Buhari as a man with double standard behaviour because he promised Nigerians that he was not going to contest elections again after the 2011 election and the PDP is already bringing up these is­sues. Don’t you think this will count against him?
Well, I will support Buhari. If he said before that he would not run for elective offices again and today, he said he will contest. Let me tell you that General Buhari made that statement. But before he made that statement, President Jonathan said he would do one term. So, I don’t see why the PDP will use that to campaign against the APC. Who first said I am not going to run? President Jonathan said it from the beginning that he will do one term. If you go to the internet, you will see those clips of his one term playing out. Former President Obasanjo said it clearly that Jonathan will do one term; their campaign manager said Jona­than will do one term. There are many leaders of the PDP who said that Jonathan will do one term. If Buhari said he will not run again since Jonathan promised to run for one term and he now sees that the President of Nigeria who said clearly to his people that he will only do one term has come out. Whose word should be stronger? It should be the president of Nigeria because he is the person that everybody fol­lows. When You are a father, verybody will want to follow your footsteps. So, I believe that Buhari is trying to follow the footsteps of Jonathan, saying if Jonathan can come back after saying he would not run, I have every right to come out and run because after all that Jonathan has done he is coming out to say he want to be president again.
But APC says the man has integrity…
Of course, the man has integrity. The integrity of Buhari and that of Jonathan is not comparable. There is no way you can compare these two persons. For the little time Jonathan held power as governor in Bayelsa State, as Vice President and today, as President and you put Buhari as former Head of State and Chairman of PTF and a presidential candidate, you cannot compare who has more pedi­gree. I laugh because there is something that Nigerians have not thought about. In 2011, Buhari cried at the campaign ground when he was speaking. He was not crying because of the election or because the election was going to be rigged. He cried because what possible four years of Nigeria under Jonathan would be like. He foresaw Nigerians crying after him. Today, are we not crying as Nigerians? He cried because he knew that the leadership does not have the capacity to lead Nigeria, fight corruption, sustain the economy, but coming to deceive Nigerians. Today, every Nigerian is crying.
The general elections are just two months away. What selling points will the APC be rolling out?
Our selling point is very clear. It is clear that the evil of corruption is pervading the land. It is not getting better, but getting worse. All sec­tors of the Jonathan administration are totally corrupt. Our health Centres are not working and they claim it is working, majority of our roads are bad. They claim that these roads are good, but Nigerians are seeing these roads because they are using these roads. Today, our economy is crashing because we could not manage the economy. Ask them, what hap­pened to our foreign reserve. All these point to corruption. If you have a president who believes in corruption, if you have a president who loves corruption, romances corruption instead of fighting it, what you are going to see is what we are facing today. Insecurity in our country today is caused by corruption. With the billions of naira they call every year going to security, our security agents would have been more equipped, if possible, more than the American security because we put more money into security than any other sector. But we lack the equipment. We have the men to do the job, but lack the equipment to do the job. We have the manpower to do the job, but they are not being encouraged to do the job. It is very sad that whether you like it or not, no matter what anybody will say the blame still goes to the President of Nigeria and that is why Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has come forward to ensure that everything we are going to promise Nigerians will be fulfilled. It is not going to be the usual promises. I am an anti corruption crusader. If this APC which I belong to comes to power in 2015 by the grace of God, I am sure that we are going to kick against any form of crime or impunity. If we win the election, I will be part of the system and you can hold me to my word. If corruption is not being reduced, under our administration; I am not saying that we will eliminate corrup­tion because stopping corruption will not be a one term thing and there might still be corrup­tion In an APC government. What I am saying is that an APC government will try to reduce the endemic corruption in the system today. But with Muhammadu Buhari and his running mate, we can reduce it to about 40 percent.
Do you think that INEC has the capacity to conduct a credible elections in 2015 i. View of the complain trailing the distribution of the permanent voters cards across the country.
My view as Timi Frank, with the election processes I have seen conducted by INEC under Jega, the 2011 election is the most flawed elections I have seen and joined with the other elections he has conducted, I have no confidence on free election under Jega. Jega may be a credible person and wants to stop the process of rigging. But the machineries under Jega, they might not allow him to do his job. The job is bigger than Jega as a person. But he will not be in Bayelsa state when election is taking place nor will he be in Kano state dur­ing the election. He will only sit in Abuja and wait for results and report. His own duty will be to announce the Presidential results.
Via - IHEANACHO NWOSU,The Sun

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