My problems with Tambuwal, Sule Lamido –Ameh Ebute
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■ Ex-Senate President replies Jigawa governor
Former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, has said that politicians who openly made pronouncements that they would make the nation ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan, are those sponsoring insurgency in the country.The Pro-Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), said the insurgency occasioned by Boko Haram, is on the rise because the perpetrators want President Jonathan to lose the 2015 election, even as he said that the financiers know how to end the violence.
The Third Republic Senate President, in this interview with Saturday Sun in Abuja, also explained why he recently descended on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in a memo he wrote to the federal lawmaker. He, however, went down memory lane to counter Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State’s recent interview that he (Ebute) is Nigeria’s biggest traitor.
According to him: “All the allegations that Lamido made, are not supported by actual facts because the military government that he said I assisted to truncate democracy, was the one that ousted me as Senate President. And after the coming of the military government, I reconvened the Senate in June 1994 because the military kicked us out of the National Assembly immediately they came. So, how could I have assisted the military government that ousted me and put me in detention for 50 days at Alagbon Close?”
Ebute spoke further on these and many other issues in this interview with AIDOGHIE PAULINUS. Excerpts:
What is your view on the current state of insecurity in the nation?
It is unfortunate that it has gone to the extent that it is not even expected by those who induced it. I have always held the view that the insurgency is instigated, or is politically induced by those who feel that no other tribe other than them should occupy the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But unfortunately, when God did His work by putting somebody who is not from a preferred zone, some people openly came out to say that the country would be made ungovernable for Jonathan. And through to fact, that is exactly what they are doing. It is unfortunate that they did not even expect the extent to which the insurgency has gone to; the destruction they have brought upon their own people in their own areas.
So, those who started it and those who are still financing the insurgency in Nigeria, also have stake in the welfare and in the well-being of this country. If it is their intention to stop it, they know what to do by stopping to finance the insurgency. It is not non-Nigerians that go outside the country, go to Niger, go to Cameroun, go to Burkina Faso, go to other neighbouring African countries to hire mercenaries. It is not anybody from outside. They are people, politicians from inside Nigeria who have embarked on that and security report have it that people you do not even expect to be involved, are secretly involved in financing the insurgency. And the sole purpose of doing that, is that they will make the situation to go to such an extent as to make President Goodluck Jonathan to lose the election. That is the main intention.
So, the government knows them?
Well, I am not sure if government knows them. Government knows some of them, but the main reason behind the Boko Haram, is to create a situation that will make it difficult for President Goodluck Jonathan to win a second term. This is why we are saying that come rain, come shine, President Jonathan should contest the election because it does not portend anything good for this country that when somebody that you do not like becomes president, you create a situation of insurgency. It has never happened in this country and it suddenly came up because of President Jonathan being in office as president. And we, the minorities especially, are looking at it as a slap on our face and we will do all we can to make sure that the President wins the election. And thank God that with his performance as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is not going to be equalled by any former president. So, we thank God for that.
Why is the President delaying in bringing the perpetrators to book?
I am not saying that he knows all of them. No. He is being diplomatic in handling those people that are behind the insurgency. He may know them, but this is allegation that is being peddled around.
You talked about the preferred region. Where in particular are you referring to?
I don’t want to mention any place. But all Nigerians know the region that has imposed it on themselves that it is their birthright to produce the president all the time. You know it yourself, it is not from me. I have mentioned it quite a number of times. I don’t want to repeat it.
How about the financiers?
The financiers? Yes, the financiers come from this particular region and from other parts of the country. The financiers of Boko Haram are from this particular region and from other parts of the country.
Do you know them?
I don’t know them. But I have an idea about them. Those who made those pronouncements at that time, are the people behind the Boko Haram. Those people who make the pronouncements that they will make country ungovernable. The country is being made ungovernable for Jonathan because he won the election. And he was not expected to be the president. The president is expected to inherit the office, just as some people believe. Not winning. Just to inherit from a particular place.
Are you not afraid that the current security situation could derail the nation’s democracy?
That is their intention. If it does, we will all have to pay for it. But it is our prayer that it will not, that the military or the security agencies will effectively handle the situation before the time of the election comes. But if it truncates the democracy, then everybody will pay for it.
Do you see any external influence on the insurgency?
The external influence is that our enemies, our political enemies are fuelling the situation. They are assisting the internal insurgency by hiring mercenaries. Not directly involved themselves, but they are contributing in hiring mercenaries to come and kill people in Nigeria. That is the part they are playing in the insurgency so far.
You recently descended on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, by writing a memo to him, calling him all manner of names, including being a traitor. Is Tambuwal really a traitor?
You have been watching the performance of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It is completely unconventional, completely undemocratic for a Speaker who came to office on the platform of a political party, to sabotage the government of a party which sponsored him into office. He has been doing that right from the world go when he failed to cooperate, to abide by the zoning principle of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and went secretly and connived with members of other political parties to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives. And true to type, having been made the Speaker by members of other political parties, he has to pay his dues to them. And paying his dues to them, he is sabotaging the government of his own party. How can you sabotage the government of your own party?
You said in view of his 2015 presidential ambition, Tambuwal has been visiting places where he is not wanted, attending obituaries and birthday parties where he is not even invited. Is there anything wrong with him aspiring to be president?
No. Nothing is wrong with him. But why not become a presidential candidate on your own political platform? Why campaigning against your own party in order to become a presidential candidate?
Has he openly done that?
Oh! But action speaks louder than words. Action speaks louder than words. So, by his action, you will know that he is not with the PDP. By his action, the way he holds meetings with governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the way he attends their meetings, the way they praise him and portray him as a likely presidential candidate, will tell you that yes, his mind is not with the PDP.
Why did you decide to pick on him?
Is he not a Speaker? Is he not a leader of the House of Representatives? Is the conduct of affairs of the House of Representatives not within his own purview?
Is it in your capacity as a former Senate President that you decided to advise him?
I just wrote to him as a staunch member of the PDP, to point it out to him that what he is doing is unconventional, what he is doing is undemocratic, what he is doing is known to us and that will not make him President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If people have no confidence in him that he is a pure, committed party man that will not disappoint Nigerians, it becomes pertinent on the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
You can’t play hide-and-seek to become the leader of the nation. So, this is why I advised him that this is not the way to become President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You become president by playing the rules of democracy strictly, by supporting your party and your party supports you. And not that you are in one political party and you are trying to become presidential candidate on the platform of another political party by sabotaging my own government, a government in which you are the number four citizen.
How do you view the statement of Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state who said rather than accusing Tambuwal of being a traitor, that you are Nigeria’s biggest traitor?
I am not surprised about the accusation of Governor Lamido because his allegations belie the facts on the ground; his is accusations in the case that he is not completely aware of the political happenings around him. He is completely ignorant of the political happenings around him. How can I truncate a democracy in which I was the Senate President? Since I truncated democracy by asking Abacha to take over; Abacha took over from me as Senate President. It is only a mad man who would have encouraged that. So, that shows you the quality of his reasoning. It is very, very illogical because I was in government and I couldn’t have truncated any democracy in which I was the Senate President.
All the allegations that Lamido made are not supported by actual facts because the military government that he said I assisted to truncate democracy, was the one that ousted me as Senate President. And after the coming of the military government, I reconvened the Senate in June 1994 because the military kicked us out of the National Assembly immediately they came. So, two months or thereafter, I reconvened the Senate and asked Abacha to hand over to Abiola who won the election. As a result of that, on the 4th of June, 1994, I was the first person to be picked as the President of the Senate and then later, they managed to arrest six more. So, how could I have assisted the military government that ousted me and put me in detention for 50 days at Alagbon Close? And we were only granted bail after we had been charged for treasonable felony, for trying to overthrow the government. The court presided over by Justice Gambari, as he was then, who is now the Emir of Ilorin, granted us bail.
Sulu-Gambari?
It was Sulu-Gambari, the presiding judge that granted us bail. He is now the Emir of Ilorin. He was an upright judge while he was at the bench. When he was granting us bail, before he could start reading the ruling, telephone calls were coming to Lagos from Abuja, but he refused to go and pick the calls. So, we have a few upright judges in the country. It is not all the judges that are bad. The telephone calls came from the head of state. He refused to go and take it until he granted us bail. That was how we came out and that was the end of the trial. Myself, Bola Tinubu and co. So, you can see that all the allegations he made, were made in the figment of his imagination. They are not backed by facts. He is just reacting without merit.
He said you betrayed Iyorchia Ayu, your kinsman?
I didn’t betray anybody. We are from the same state and if by his performance, he was impeached, I think it is my right to accept. Even the other senators said I should take over his office.
So, the issue of becoming a willing tool in the hands of the military does not arise?
It doesn’t hold any water at all because the military took over from me as a Senate President. So, it is only a mad man who could have encouraged the military in taking over from him no matter how unprofitable the office would have been. I couldn’t have done that because I have never been to any psychiatric hospital.
You wrote a letter to Tambuwal and it was Governor Sule Lamido who responded. Do you have personal scores to settle with him?
That shows the intimacy in which our oppressors are working.
Really?
That shows the intimacy in which the oppressors of the minorities are working. They are always meeting, they are always together, with a view to bringing down the minority from holding any office.
So, they are fighting the same cause?
They are fighting the same cause. They are in the same camp. Lamido is neither fully in the PDP, nor in the APC. They are playing safe. He is trying to see where the pendulum swings to. If it swings towards the end of the day that APC is likely to win, he will throw in the trowel of the PDP and enter into APC. So, they are people who are sitting on the fence to see which side would win.
But we read in the papers that Lamido may end up becoming President Jonathan’s deputy.
Sule Lamido?
Yes.
I wish him goodluck. I don’t think he is likely to become Jonathan’s deputy.
If such idea crops up, would you support him?
I would not support him because he will be a traitor again in government just as he is a traitor now. Jonathan would not like to take somebody who will betray him as a vice president.
You don’t become a vice president by fighting the president. For the president to take you as vice president, he must have full confidence in you that you would support his administration.
Lamido said that being somebody from the same constituency with Tambuwal, you were not supposed to criticize him openly like the executive arm of government usually do. Don’t you think Lamido is right?
I am in a better position, having come from the same constituency with Tambuwal. I am in a better position to write a letter to him, pointing out that what he is doing is not proper because having come from the same constituency, I resigned as senator in 1983 when I cross-carpeted from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), to the Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NPP) in order to contest election on the platform of NPP.
And I cannot imagine that a Speaker who knows the game of democracy, would allow people who have defected from one party to the other, continue to allow them to sit. This is why I wrote a letter to him, that he is not conducting the affairs of the House in a manner in which the House should be.
Another issue Lamido raised is that he is not sure if you are a member of the PDP, saying that you cannot speak for the party?
He is not in my constituency. I was a foundation member of the PDP in 1998. He was not in my constituency. He wouldn’t have known whether I am a foundation member or not. I have been a foundation member of the PDP. But they have been in and out of PDP, sometimes being in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and at other times, being in the PDP. So, they are the people who should accuse themselves of not being proper PDP members. I am a foundation member of the PDP in my constituency, in my ward and in my senatorial district. If you go and examine the register of the PDP, you will find my name there.
In writing that memo, Lamido said you were doing the bidding of some persons in government. Is that true?
I have always come out clearly that I support President Goodluck Jonathan. I have always come out. I don’t hide my support for President Goodluck Jonathan. I am not doing the bidding of anybody. But it is clear to all Nigerians that I support President Goodluck Jonathan if that means doing the bidding of anybody. I am not doing the bidding of anybody. I am pointing out that what is going on in the House of Representatives is wrong, that those 37 members of the House should have lost their seats long ago. Immediately after the pronouncement of the court, he should have declared their seats vacant. If that means doing the bidding of anybody, yes, I am not ashamed of doing the bidding of President Goodluck Jonathan because I support his government.
How would you describe Sule Lamido as a person?
Sule Lamido as a person is a character that is sometimes laughable. Sometimes, he speaks sensibly, sometimes he speaks as if he is completely senile. But he has never been a star in the House of Representatives in which he served when I was in the Senate. He wasn’t a star. I never knew of any day that Sule Lamido sponsored any bill throughout the whole four years that we were in the National Assembly in the Second Republic.
How much of Sule Lamido do you know?
I don’t know too much of him. I know that he was sponsored by Obasanjo to become the governor of Jigawa State. He was supported by Obasanjo and in order to justify his choice of Lamido, Obasanjo went there and praised him that he did well. But I have never watched him in any public debate on the television to convince either his own constituency, or the entire Nigerians that he is a star politician.
In all this, do you see your party, the PDP, winning the 2015 presidency?
Oh my good God! That is a foreclosed matter. It is a foregone conclusion because already, these people have started with a great deal of confusion. We want to know their presidential candidate. Who is going to be their presidential candidate? Is their presidential candidate going to be better than President Goodluck Jonathan? Is he going to perform better than President Goodluck Jonathan? Be that as it may, election is like a pregnant woman. You don’t know whether it is going to give birth to a male or female child. So, we give room to that.
The Third Republic Senate President, in this interview with Saturday Sun in Abuja, also explained why he recently descended on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in a memo he wrote to the federal lawmaker. He, however, went down memory lane to counter Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State’s recent interview that he (Ebute) is Nigeria’s biggest traitor.
According to him: “All the allegations that Lamido made, are not supported by actual facts because the military government that he said I assisted to truncate democracy, was the one that ousted me as Senate President. And after the coming of the military government, I reconvened the Senate in June 1994 because the military kicked us out of the National Assembly immediately they came. So, how could I have assisted the military government that ousted me and put me in detention for 50 days at Alagbon Close?”
Ebute spoke further on these and many other issues in this interview with AIDOGHIE PAULINUS. Excerpts:
What is your view on the current state of insecurity in the nation?
It is unfortunate that it has gone to the extent that it is not even expected by those who induced it. I have always held the view that the insurgency is instigated, or is politically induced by those who feel that no other tribe other than them should occupy the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But unfortunately, when God did His work by putting somebody who is not from a preferred zone, some people openly came out to say that the country would be made ungovernable for Jonathan. And through to fact, that is exactly what they are doing. It is unfortunate that they did not even expect the extent to which the insurgency has gone to; the destruction they have brought upon their own people in their own areas.
So, those who started it and those who are still financing the insurgency in Nigeria, also have stake in the welfare and in the well-being of this country. If it is their intention to stop it, they know what to do by stopping to finance the insurgency. It is not non-Nigerians that go outside the country, go to Niger, go to Cameroun, go to Burkina Faso, go to other neighbouring African countries to hire mercenaries. It is not anybody from outside. They are people, politicians from inside Nigeria who have embarked on that and security report have it that people you do not even expect to be involved, are secretly involved in financing the insurgency. And the sole purpose of doing that, is that they will make the situation to go to such an extent as to make President Goodluck Jonathan to lose the election. That is the main intention.
So, the government knows them?
Well, I am not sure if government knows them. Government knows some of them, but the main reason behind the Boko Haram, is to create a situation that will make it difficult for President Goodluck Jonathan to win a second term. This is why we are saying that come rain, come shine, President Jonathan should contest the election because it does not portend anything good for this country that when somebody that you do not like becomes president, you create a situation of insurgency. It has never happened in this country and it suddenly came up because of President Jonathan being in office as president. And we, the minorities especially, are looking at it as a slap on our face and we will do all we can to make sure that the President wins the election. And thank God that with his performance as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is not going to be equalled by any former president. So, we thank God for that.
Why is the President delaying in bringing the perpetrators to book?
I am not saying that he knows all of them. No. He is being diplomatic in handling those people that are behind the insurgency. He may know them, but this is allegation that is being peddled around.
You talked about the preferred region. Where in particular are you referring to?
I don’t want to mention any place. But all Nigerians know the region that has imposed it on themselves that it is their birthright to produce the president all the time. You know it yourself, it is not from me. I have mentioned it quite a number of times. I don’t want to repeat it.
How about the financiers?
The financiers? Yes, the financiers come from this particular region and from other parts of the country. The financiers of Boko Haram are from this particular region and from other parts of the country.
Do you know them?
I don’t know them. But I have an idea about them. Those who made those pronouncements at that time, are the people behind the Boko Haram. Those people who make the pronouncements that they will make country ungovernable. The country is being made ungovernable for Jonathan because he won the election. And he was not expected to be the president. The president is expected to inherit the office, just as some people believe. Not winning. Just to inherit from a particular place.
Are you not afraid that the current security situation could derail the nation’s democracy?
That is their intention. If it does, we will all have to pay for it. But it is our prayer that it will not, that the military or the security agencies will effectively handle the situation before the time of the election comes. But if it truncates the democracy, then everybody will pay for it.
Do you see any external influence on the insurgency?
The external influence is that our enemies, our political enemies are fuelling the situation. They are assisting the internal insurgency by hiring mercenaries. Not directly involved themselves, but they are contributing in hiring mercenaries to come and kill people in Nigeria. That is the part they are playing in the insurgency so far.
You recently descended on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, by writing a memo to him, calling him all manner of names, including being a traitor. Is Tambuwal really a traitor?
You have been watching the performance of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It is completely unconventional, completely undemocratic for a Speaker who came to office on the platform of a political party, to sabotage the government of a party which sponsored him into office. He has been doing that right from the world go when he failed to cooperate, to abide by the zoning principle of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and went secretly and connived with members of other political parties to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives. And true to type, having been made the Speaker by members of other political parties, he has to pay his dues to them. And paying his dues to them, he is sabotaging the government of his own party. How can you sabotage the government of your own party?
You said in view of his 2015 presidential ambition, Tambuwal has been visiting places where he is not wanted, attending obituaries and birthday parties where he is not even invited. Is there anything wrong with him aspiring to be president?
No. Nothing is wrong with him. But why not become a presidential candidate on your own political platform? Why campaigning against your own party in order to become a presidential candidate?
Has he openly done that?
Oh! But action speaks louder than words. Action speaks louder than words. So, by his action, you will know that he is not with the PDP. By his action, the way he holds meetings with governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the way he attends their meetings, the way they praise him and portray him as a likely presidential candidate, will tell you that yes, his mind is not with the PDP.
Why did you decide to pick on him?
Is he not a Speaker? Is he not a leader of the House of Representatives? Is the conduct of affairs of the House of Representatives not within his own purview?
Is it in your capacity as a former Senate President that you decided to advise him?
I just wrote to him as a staunch member of the PDP, to point it out to him that what he is doing is unconventional, what he is doing is undemocratic, what he is doing is known to us and that will not make him President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If people have no confidence in him that he is a pure, committed party man that will not disappoint Nigerians, it becomes pertinent on the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
You can’t play hide-and-seek to become the leader of the nation. So, this is why I advised him that this is not the way to become President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You become president by playing the rules of democracy strictly, by supporting your party and your party supports you. And not that you are in one political party and you are trying to become presidential candidate on the platform of another political party by sabotaging my own government, a government in which you are the number four citizen.
How do you view the statement of Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state who said rather than accusing Tambuwal of being a traitor, that you are Nigeria’s biggest traitor?
I am not surprised about the accusation of Governor Lamido because his allegations belie the facts on the ground; his is accusations in the case that he is not completely aware of the political happenings around him. He is completely ignorant of the political happenings around him. How can I truncate a democracy in which I was the Senate President? Since I truncated democracy by asking Abacha to take over; Abacha took over from me as Senate President. It is only a mad man who would have encouraged that. So, that shows you the quality of his reasoning. It is very, very illogical because I was in government and I couldn’t have truncated any democracy in which I was the Senate President.
All the allegations that Lamido made are not supported by actual facts because the military government that he said I assisted to truncate democracy, was the one that ousted me as Senate President. And after the coming of the military government, I reconvened the Senate in June 1994 because the military kicked us out of the National Assembly immediately they came. So, two months or thereafter, I reconvened the Senate and asked Abacha to hand over to Abiola who won the election. As a result of that, on the 4th of June, 1994, I was the first person to be picked as the President of the Senate and then later, they managed to arrest six more. So, how could I have assisted the military government that ousted me and put me in detention for 50 days at Alagbon Close? And we were only granted bail after we had been charged for treasonable felony, for trying to overthrow the government. The court presided over by Justice Gambari, as he was then, who is now the Emir of Ilorin, granted us bail.
Sulu-Gambari?
It was Sulu-Gambari, the presiding judge that granted us bail. He is now the Emir of Ilorin. He was an upright judge while he was at the bench. When he was granting us bail, before he could start reading the ruling, telephone calls were coming to Lagos from Abuja, but he refused to go and pick the calls. So, we have a few upright judges in the country. It is not all the judges that are bad. The telephone calls came from the head of state. He refused to go and take it until he granted us bail. That was how we came out and that was the end of the trial. Myself, Bola Tinubu and co. So, you can see that all the allegations he made, were made in the figment of his imagination. They are not backed by facts. He is just reacting without merit.
He said you betrayed Iyorchia Ayu, your kinsman?
I didn’t betray anybody. We are from the same state and if by his performance, he was impeached, I think it is my right to accept. Even the other senators said I should take over his office.
So, the issue of becoming a willing tool in the hands of the military does not arise?
It doesn’t hold any water at all because the military took over from me as a Senate President. So, it is only a mad man who could have encouraged the military in taking over from him no matter how unprofitable the office would have been. I couldn’t have done that because I have never been to any psychiatric hospital.
You wrote a letter to Tambuwal and it was Governor Sule Lamido who responded. Do you have personal scores to settle with him?
That shows the intimacy in which our oppressors are working.
Really?
That shows the intimacy in which the oppressors of the minorities are working. They are always meeting, they are always together, with a view to bringing down the minority from holding any office.
So, they are fighting the same cause?
They are fighting the same cause. They are in the same camp. Lamido is neither fully in the PDP, nor in the APC. They are playing safe. He is trying to see where the pendulum swings to. If it swings towards the end of the day that APC is likely to win, he will throw in the trowel of the PDP and enter into APC. So, they are people who are sitting on the fence to see which side would win.
But we read in the papers that Lamido may end up becoming President Jonathan’s deputy.
Sule Lamido?
Yes.
I wish him goodluck. I don’t think he is likely to become Jonathan’s deputy.
If such idea crops up, would you support him?
I would not support him because he will be a traitor again in government just as he is a traitor now. Jonathan would not like to take somebody who will betray him as a vice president.
You don’t become a vice president by fighting the president. For the president to take you as vice president, he must have full confidence in you that you would support his administration.
Lamido said that being somebody from the same constituency with Tambuwal, you were not supposed to criticize him openly like the executive arm of government usually do. Don’t you think Lamido is right?
I am in a better position, having come from the same constituency with Tambuwal. I am in a better position to write a letter to him, pointing out that what he is doing is not proper because having come from the same constituency, I resigned as senator in 1983 when I cross-carpeted from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), to the Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NPP) in order to contest election on the platform of NPP.
And I cannot imagine that a Speaker who knows the game of democracy, would allow people who have defected from one party to the other, continue to allow them to sit. This is why I wrote a letter to him, that he is not conducting the affairs of the House in a manner in which the House should be.
Another issue Lamido raised is that he is not sure if you are a member of the PDP, saying that you cannot speak for the party?
He is not in my constituency. I was a foundation member of the PDP in 1998. He was not in my constituency. He wouldn’t have known whether I am a foundation member or not. I have been a foundation member of the PDP. But they have been in and out of PDP, sometimes being in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and at other times, being in the PDP. So, they are the people who should accuse themselves of not being proper PDP members. I am a foundation member of the PDP in my constituency, in my ward and in my senatorial district. If you go and examine the register of the PDP, you will find my name there.
In writing that memo, Lamido said you were doing the bidding of some persons in government. Is that true?
I have always come out clearly that I support President Goodluck Jonathan. I have always come out. I don’t hide my support for President Goodluck Jonathan. I am not doing the bidding of anybody. But it is clear to all Nigerians that I support President Goodluck Jonathan if that means doing the bidding of anybody. I am not doing the bidding of anybody. I am pointing out that what is going on in the House of Representatives is wrong, that those 37 members of the House should have lost their seats long ago. Immediately after the pronouncement of the court, he should have declared their seats vacant. If that means doing the bidding of anybody, yes, I am not ashamed of doing the bidding of President Goodluck Jonathan because I support his government.
How would you describe Sule Lamido as a person?
Sule Lamido as a person is a character that is sometimes laughable. Sometimes, he speaks sensibly, sometimes he speaks as if he is completely senile. But he has never been a star in the House of Representatives in which he served when I was in the Senate. He wasn’t a star. I never knew of any day that Sule Lamido sponsored any bill throughout the whole four years that we were in the National Assembly in the Second Republic.
How much of Sule Lamido do you know?
I don’t know too much of him. I know that he was sponsored by Obasanjo to become the governor of Jigawa State. He was supported by Obasanjo and in order to justify his choice of Lamido, Obasanjo went there and praised him that he did well. But I have never watched him in any public debate on the television to convince either his own constituency, or the entire Nigerians that he is a star politician.
In all this, do you see your party, the PDP, winning the 2015 presidency?
Oh my good God! That is a foreclosed matter. It is a foregone conclusion because already, these people have started with a great deal of confusion. We want to know their presidential candidate. Who is going to be their presidential candidate? Is their presidential candidate going to be better than President Goodluck Jonathan? Is he going to perform better than President Goodluck Jonathan? Be that as it may, election is like a pregnant woman. You don’t know whether it is going to give birth to a male or female child. So, we give room to that.
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