‘BUHARI IS CAGED’

Col Tony Nyiam offers fresh insight on Boko Haram insurgency
… Proposes models on civilian force and intelligence
Colonel Tony Nyiam (retd) , respect¬ed military strategist offers novel approaches and methods that will ultimately put out the fire of the Boko Ha¬ram insurgency for good. He x-rays the Nigerian military, the executive orders, precedents, amnesty to insurgents and more in this interview.
Nyiam also looks at the Muhammadu Bu¬hari presidency and how it has been caged by irredentists, the frenetic struggle for power by different power blocs within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, the North’s disposition to power and attempts to neutralize the influence of party leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the power equilibrium, which he insists is targeted against the South. He says the core North is insensitive to the sensibilities that bounded the country together over the years. He also gives an account of how the “cabal” schemed to kill ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, but he was saved by Tinubu and others. He speaks more on other national issues.
Excerpts:

NIGERIANS EXPECTATIONS FROM BUHARI ARE LIKE JESUS RAISING LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD— DELE MOMODU

…..Says Nigerians expectations from Buhari are like Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead
Mr Dele Momodu, the publisher of the Qvation magazine, was the presidential candidate of the National Commission Party (NCP) in the 2011 general elections. In this interview, Momodu speaks on the Buhari administration, the elections of the leaders of the two chambers of the National Assembly and his relationship with the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as the late politician, Chief MKO Abiola, among other issues.
You were, before the general elections, one of the unofficial spokespersons for President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then the APC presidential candidate. But of recent, your thoughts about the president appears to be changing?

JONATHAN CAUSED PDP’S DEFEAT —OGUNLEWE, EX MINISTER OF WORKS

Former Minister of works and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Sen Adeseye Ogunlewe has described the composition of the principal officers at the National Assembly as the best that has happened to the country. In an interview Sen Ogunlewe stated that whether people like it or not, the development would benefit the President and the country more. Excerpts:

BUHARI’S TRANSITION COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN EXPLODES: WE FOUND CORRUPTION EVERYWHERE – JODA

• Buhari must be decisive on fuel subsidy
• The state nearly collapsed under Jonathan
• The last regime left behind a deficit of N7 trillion
• New president must be careful in choosing his ministers
Malam Ahmed Joda chaired President Muhammadu Buhari’s Transition Committee, which interfaced with former President Goodluck Jonathan’s team. In an exclusive interview, the ‘super permsec’ of the 1970s and 1980s, would not reveal any of the recommendations his committee made to President Buhari. But he was forthcoming on the state of the nation and the challenges the new government will face in the next four years. Malam Joda was frank and witty in this explosive interaction.
Can you recall your experience when you were appointed to head the APC transition committee and your feelings over the appointment?

I MADE BABANGIDA, BUHARI TO BECOME FRIENDS AGAIN

• I Bought My First Mercedes Benz Car for N6, 000 from Saraki
• Why I battled Babangida over June 12
• Why I Made Bola Tinubu the Jagaban
• The Day I Ran Into a Lion
Deep in the sockets, his eyes are glistening mists that keep his pupils illuminating. Regal, resplendent and retrospective, he sits on the throne of his ancestors. His dress flows gracefully, filling where he sits. He takes retrospective glances once that harbours all bygone stories he will soon share. He sighs. He heaves a sign of relief of a gloomy past. He motions respectfully, royally. His lips for the first time begin to part. His story is a very long one…but the episodes of it keep the heart racing. A palatial childhood did not shield him from the pains and persecutions that lay in wait. A die-hard man of integrity, he came, he saw and he conquered. In this pulsating narrative, the Emir of Borgu Dr Halliru Dantoro shares what seems like a larger-than-life story . A man with 37 children, and a heart large enough to care for all, tells of his personal relationship with Buhari, Babangida, Tinubu and the late Saraki

NASS ELECTION: SARAKI’S AMBITION HAS RESURRECTED PDP — SEN KWANKWASO

Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso immediate past governor of Kano State in this interview with newsmen in Abuja gives his views on the crisis arising from the National Assembly leadership contest. Excerpts:
You were one of the senators at the ICC when the leadership contest started in the National Assembly?
Honestly speaking, it was on the morning of that day that I saw a text message that we should go to the ICC, unfortunately for me I had so many people who came from Kano, so I was trying to receive them when I got a call that members and senators were waiting at the ICC. As I was moving out of Hilton Hotel, somebody called again that they were at the National Assembly and were just about to start election. So I diverted the driver, instead of going to the ICC I thought now that election was taking place, I said instead of going to ICC, it was more important for me to go the National Assembly and in any case I was sure that those who were at the ICC will not want to stay there when election was taking place. So I drove straight to the National Assembly, moved straight to the chamber. It was when I entered that I saw Bukola being sworn in as Senate President. So I wasn’t at the ICC, I was at the National Assembly but I arrived after the election and I was there calling them to come unfortunately they didn’t come so I had to follow them to ICC and other places. That was what happened that day.

THE MEDIA ALMOST DESTROYED MY MARRIAGE —RAMSEY NOUAH

Ramsey Nouah is one of the most-sought-after and handsome actors in Nollywood who has been consistent in his career. Nouah who is known as ‘loverboy’ for his many roles in romantic movies, in this interview, the 2010 Africa Movie Academy Award winner for Best Actor in a leading Role shares the pathetic story of his journey into acting, the industry and why he stopped attending public functions with his family.

How did you begin your journey into the movie industry?

My journey into the movie industry actually started when I was trying to sit for my GCE examination. I didn’t have money to purchase my GCE form, and there were no jobs then. It was hard to secure menial jobs and I couldn’t bring myself to do such jobs. Later, a friend of mine advised me to try my hand at acting. But I didn’t welcome the advice because I prefer to act in Hollywood. It was funny.

ALISON-MADUEKE: LET NO ONE SAY I STOLE $20BN BECAUSE I DID NOT

Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke needs no introduction. She has the unique distinction of holding a ministerial post for eight unbroken years under two successive administrations. But it was her tenure as the Minister of Petroleum Resources from 2010 to 2015 for which she would be most remembered. In her position as minister and Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, her tenure was riddled with controversies, allegations of corruption, mismanagement and opacity that would take years to live down. She was deemed aloof, inaccessible and an absentee minister who was hardly at her desk. She was reviled and blamed for much of the ills – real and imagined – of the oil and gas sector.

But in this rare, unrestrained and unsparingly brutal two-hour interview with Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, she finally addressed several of the questions that had been begging for answers. Among other issues, she spoke on her accomplishments and the structural problems of the petroleum sector, Emir Mohammad Sanusi II and the $20 billion question, the PwC forensic audit, her attempts to turn around NNPC and its exploration and production subsidiary NPDC, the efforts to end the fuel subsidy regime and privatise the refineries, the contending forces and personalities whom she came up against as minister, her stand off with the National Assembly, her current absence from the country, and the general perception and rumours that swirled around her stewardship. Excerpts:

HOW NORTH SENT JONATHAN BACK TO OTUOKE – COOMASIE

Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmad Coomasie, a former Inspector General of Police, is also the Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).
In this interview, he narrates the story of the return of power to the North and the role his group, among others, played in stopping President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid, thereby sending him from the Presidential Villa back to his Bayelsa village, Otuoke.
Coomasie faults the sacking of the immediate past IGP, Suleiman Abba. He also speaks on how former President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed a ‘terminally ill’ Umaru Yar’Adua as president against advice.

JONATHAN BETRAYED ME, NIGER-DELTA — EX-GOV SYLVA

A former Governor of Bayelsa State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Timipre Sylva, in this interview in Abuja, talks about his relationship with the Peoples Democratic Party, among other issues
What is your relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha like?
I would say it’s neither here nor there. Sometimes, you think you are very good friends or brothers with some people, but it turns out that you are not really brothers or friends. That’s the way it has always been. I sometimes feel like the biblical Joseph that was sold by his brothers. That’s actually the way I feel sometimes, when I think about the way I was treated by my own people — the people I call my brothers.
You sound betrayed.
Yes, I feel betrayed by them; by President Jonathan especially.
You were removed as a governor. What was your offence and how did it feel?
Till today, I am still trying to know what my offence was. At that time, the party chairman, Abubakar Baraje, now a member of the All Progressives Party like me, said I knew the offence I committed and he apparently didn’t know. It seemed it was only I that knew the offence I committed. I don’t know the offence I committed up till today. In truth, there was no offence — somebody just wanted me out of the way because he was afraid of my rising profile and he decided to move against me. That’s all.

JONATHAN IS A DISAPPOINTMENT – EX-MILITANT LEADER, BOYLOAF

A former militant leader in the Niger Delta, Ebikabowei Victor Ben, a.k.a General Boyloaf, speaks to Premium Times about the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, and the incoming Muhammadu Buhari government. Boyloaf says the oil rich Niger Delta did not benefit from the Jonathan Presidency. He pledges to work with Mr. Buhari, and explains why former militants in the region did not carry out their threats to go to war if Mr. Jonathan lost the March 28 presidential election.
Excerpts:
PT: Do you think the South West and the Northern part of Nigeria were marginalized under the leadership of Goodluck Jonathan?
Boyloaf: Did people from the South-South benefit? If you come to Bayelsa State, can you count how many people benefited? That is the president’s state. When the APC was going for campaigns, they made a statement that there is a town that they didn’t have light, and people said Otuoke. Then (Gov. Chibuike) Amaechi said “I didn’t mention name”. But can you imagine that in that place there is no road? You see, what Jonathan did was that he favoured the North and West. Go to the Niger Delta and see. He favoured the North. He did Almajiri. Then go to the West you will see the railway, you will see all what he’s doing there. What is happening in Niger Delta? Nothing! It is better to go there and see things for yourself. Jonathan did not do anything for his people, for his region.

THE PRESIDENCY PERSECUTED ME BECAUSE OF IBORI — UDUAGHAN

He listens more than he speaks and when he manages to open up, his words, like a seasoned diplomat, are measured and bear no added meanings as such. On a normal day, it could be actually tasking extracting exciting details from outgoing Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan. Often, he prefers being correct to being controversial or even courageous. But last Sunday, and for two hours, he was a shade outside his character as he takes on The Guardian’s team. From why the PDP failed to fly in 2015 to the albatross of James Ibori’s conviction and the near diabolic politics of Delta State, Dr. Uduaghan was literally on rampage, saying it as it is. Sampler: “I will not be blackmailed into not expressing my mind on what I believe led us to where we are as a party.”

Eight years ago, you came with a very innovative formula called Three-Point Agenda, which collapsed public administration in Delta into three things namely Peace and Security, Infrastructural Development and Human Capital Development. How would you review your performance so far on all three counts? 

TINUBU’LL DESTROY HIMSELF – BABATOPE

In this interview with Punch, a member, Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, commented on the recently concluded general elections
What’s your view of the 2015 general elections?
All I can say is to wish Nigerians well. But I am not an enthusiast of the elections because I believe that they were mismanaged, especially the presidential election. It was computed by some diabolical forces to reenact a Hausa/Fulani oligarchy in Nigeria. I am not going to talk much about this now. I am going to talk about it in about one or two months’ time because I don’t want to be seen as disrupting what has been done so far in terms of ensuring peace and smooth transfer of power from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

TINUBU HAS BEGGED ME FOR FORGIVENESS — BODE GEORGE

In this interview with Punch, the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Chief Bode George, speaks about the just concluded elections and other national issues
In your clear assessment, what do you think led to the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last elections?
The PDP was not defeated. We were manipulated out and history will judge what I am saying. When (Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission) Prof. Attahiru Jega came up with the use of card readers and Permanent Voter Cards, technically, you would have thought: ‘Thank God, we are in the 21st century, we have arrived.’ Take my state, Lagos, for example, 5.9 million people were registered to vote but until the week before the election which was fortunately postponed, we had 3.8 million PVCs delivered to Lagos. That means 2.1 million people were cut off. In areas where there was insurgency, there was between 80 and 90 per cent distribution rate. Most of Jega’s areas had no problems. Thank God Jega is a professor. Let’s assume that he is teaching a 400-level class in a university. He teaches Classes A, B and C. In Class A, he has completed the syllabus but in Class B, he completed 60 per cent while in class C, he only completed 30 per cent of the syllabus and they are all going to write the same examination. Is that justifiable? Is that equitable? Thus, just looking at that, would he in his own mind, be satisfied that he did a good job?

MU’AZU RESPONSIBLE FOR PDP’S DEFEAT — GULAK

Former Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, said those defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress lack focus, sincerity and loyalty

What are your thoughts on the mass exodus of members from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress?

Those people defecting from the PDP to the APC are not politicians but opportunists. It is unbecoming for anybody, just after elections, to defect to any political party. The political atmosphere in Nigeria is such that there is no ideology; people should remain in their parties. In the PDP, there are people who have defected to the APC and I wish them a safe trip. But we of the PDP stock who are loyal and committed will stay back and rebuild our party to recapture power in the nearest future.

WHY I’M NOT PROUD TO CALL BUHARI MY PRESIDENT — ARIBISALA

Dr. Femi Aribisala, a pastor and Vanguard columnist, in this interaction with Vanguard editors, ventilates his passion for President Goodluck Jonathan and explains his position on the person and politics of the president-elect, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari. Excerpts:
What is your perspective on the just concluded presidential election?
This has been the most important political campaign I have witnessed in Nigeria. And the campaign will, to some extent, define the presidency. There were things that needed to be said, emphasized and brought to Buhari’s attention because we needed to remind him that some things would not be acceptable if he becomes the president. Buhari was made to go through a lot of phases. There were some things like the Muslim-Muslim ticket which some of us made so much noise about and they just had to drop it at some point. There were other things that Buhari did which he would not normally do because we made so much noise about his antecedents. Sometimes people simplistically define the process by the result. No! The whole debate is to make him understand that it is not what he had before. It was to make him realize that this is a democratic framework. It was also to sensitize him that certain things would not be acceptable.

MBU: ONLY CRIMINALS SHOULD BE AFRAID OF ME

Is it true you were deployed to Lagos for a special project?
THE press has seriously misquoted me, to the extent that they said that if one policeman were killed, my men would kill 20 civilians. That is not rue. It is not correct. When I assumed office as the AIG in charge of the zone, I went on tours and talked with my officers and men, I told them how to conduct themselves. I advised them on what to do, especially during and after the elections. How do we plan for the election, we must sit down and plan. I said as police officers we must learn to be impartial, we must be neutral. And there must be no unnecessary exchange of pleasantries.
Policemen at the various poling booths are not supposed to carry arms. I said we have adopted men of Mobile Force for quick response. This quick response squad will be located within a particular radius. So that where there is crisis, because it is not unusual that thugs know that police men on duty in the poling stations are unarmed and would go and attack them and carry away electoral materials. They may also attack those coming to cast their votes. This quick response squad will be properly armed with teargas canisters and guns. The squad will quickly be drafted to the poling booths any time there is an attack.

I WANT TO SUCCEED JONATHAN IN 2019 – GOV ALIYU

■ Says he’ll mark time in Senate till then
The Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu was a mem¬ber of the group of seven governors (G7), who stormed out of Eagles square during the PDP national convention in August 2013, to register their displeasure against the party for what they perceived as injustice. At the heat of the cri¬sis, five of his colleagues defected to the APC but he refused to move. Why? From all indications, the governor appears to be hanging out with the party with the hope that he will get the ticket to succeed President Goodluck Jonathan in 2019 if the president wins the March 28 presidential election. He actually confirmed this in this interview.
Apart from speaking to a select group of journalists on why he stayed put even when his colleagues defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), the governor also spoke on his fears and suggestions as regards the use of the Per¬manent Voters Card in the coming elections, his relationship with his embattled deputy, Ahmed Ibeto, how Buhari’s presidency will short change the North, his confidence on why the PDP will win the 2015 elections and his readiness to run for the 2019 presidential elections if his people as usual call on him to contest. 

Excerpts:

TINUBU SUPERIOR TO AFENIFERE LEADERS —OPADOKUN

Former Secretary-General of the Afenifere and ex-General Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition, Chief Ayo Opadokun, speaks on the crisis in Afenifere and the controversial endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by leaders of the pan-Yoruba organisation, in this interview:

There are different stories on what led the lingering crisis among the Yoruba leaders under the umbrella of Afenifere. What is your take of the state of the organisation today?
First, I want to remind you that I was the General Secretary of Afenifere for 15 years. We came to irreconcilable relationship in 2001 and since then, I have been out of that body. I have resisted every effort to make me to comment on Afenifere. Mr. Wale Oshun (President of Afenifere Renewal Group, a breakaway faction of the Afenifere) wrote about ‘Afenifere and the Kiss of Death.’ Sometimes in 2000 after we had won (governorship) election in six states in Yorubaland, two sets of middle class of Yoruba people came knocking on my door for almost five months. The two organisations were called ‘The New Generation’ and ‘Idile.’ They used to come to me, massaging the ego of Afenifere and its exploits – that if it was not for its leadership, the Yoruba people could have been totally subverted irretrievably; that they were grateful that we had succeeded in the battle to keep the honour and integrity of the Yoruba race high. They just wanted to come and assist. They also went to other leaders of Afenifere.It was a hard sell for me to convince Senator (Abraham) Adesanya, who had become the leader after the death of Pa (Adekunle) Ajasin. The steering committee of Afenifere, therefore, permitted me to invite five members from each of the two groups to start attending Afenifere meetings. That was when they got to know what Afenifere is – all of them.

2015: WITH ME AS GOVERNOR, JONATHAN CAN’T LOSE IN BAUCHI – YUGUDA

Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, a close ally of President Goodluck Jonathan, is one of the outgoing Peoples Democratic Party governors, whose political sagacity is being tasked in the bid to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan come March 28 this year.
Although he has won many political battles in the past, the forthcoming election remains a test case that may push his political wizardry to the limit given the challenge being thrown at him from within and without his party. But in this interview, the two-time governor boasts that he is equal to the challenge, insisting that Jonathan cannot lose in Bauchi with him presiding over as the governor of the state.
Excerpts: