Powerful forces are fighting Jonathan —Okupe

Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President, Dr Doyin Okupe, fielded questions on BBC Hard Talk programme recently, explaining government’s position on the ongoing security challenges in the country. LEON USIGBE brings the excerpts.
Just few weeks ago, an official testified before the US congress. He said: “We are looking at a Military force in Nigeria that is afraid to engage and most of the fund of the military is skimmed off the top which is why the resources are not adequate to tackle the challenge...”
I don’t know where she got the information from. We have one of the best Militaries in this continent. We have outstanding records...
But soldiers were not paid, they were not given the right kind of food. A soldier in Borno recently said that Boko Haram are much more equipped than the Military.
I don’t take some of this information as credible. It was Reuters that broke the news that Mr. President was going to Chibok and it was not true.
But it was revealed by official sources?
Official sources? What does that mean? I didn’t say so. Reuben Abati (Presidential spokesman) did not.
Ok, why is the President not prepared to go to Chibok?
Who said he wasn’t prepared to go to Chibok? I said Reuters broke the news that is untrue and therefore I will not rely on some of the information.
Let’s get this straight. The girls were taken on the eve of April 14 and the President has not even visited the town where the girls were abducted from. When is he going to go?
I am not going to announce that but President Jonathan is going to go Chibok. Believe me, he is going to go. 270 students have been abducted, they’ve been stopped from schooling, the parents are in pain, the whole country is in very bad mood even the President but then we still have the Boko Haram problem to battle with. So, we are looking at a more holistic approach to this thing.
On the issue of the girls’ kidnap, is the government not prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram about the principle of the prisoners’ swap for freedom of the girls?
The President has announced and said that we are not going to negotiate but the problem is, you see the options available to Nigeria are not just either military or negotiation. There are other options available to Nigeria. It is a Nigerian problem, we are going to find a Nigerian solution to this matter. It does not have to fit into the jacket...
Which of the options are you talking?
For instance the President has now offered something that looks like, “let’s have the girls, surrender your arms, you would be fully forgiven, you would be integrated, reintegrated and rehabilitated into the society.” We also have the information that some of these guys are getting tired, they are getting really frustrated. So they want to come out and we are ready to receive them. So it is not just A or B. There are so many options. Also we have in Nigeria very highly credible people, stakeholders who even the Boko Haram tends to respect. We are ready to now mobilize every of these people to ensure that some form of discussions take place. But it is a Nigerian problem. We will get a Nigerian solution to it. It may not conform to what the world thinks but it is still a Nigerian problem. We are Nigerians; we have always gotten it right even when people give up on us. We have always got it right.
But Human Rights activists, Amnesty International and your media report that your armed forces are responsible for not just dozens but hundreds of extra-judicial killings that they routinely detain and beat suspects believed to be Boko Haram.Is that part of getting it right?
These are the same people who published about Baga saga, that the Nigerian military burnt over 7000 houses but it was not so, it did not happen and evidence today has shown that, that was not correct.
President Jonathan has committed an offence. He has won an election and some people in Nigeria, very strong and powerful, feel that he ought not to have won and power ought not to be where it is presently and they want to take back the power by all means possible with all sorts of gimmicks, antics and they have a lot of money and influence both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.
The north east part of Nigeria is suffering from the most desperate poverty that 72 per cent of the people live in absolute poverty.
If you ask any average Nigerian, they will tell you this is as a result of long-standing neglect by various governments.
Including your own?
No. This government is only three years old and you can’t produce this level of poverty in three years. Poverty in the north is high, it is much, these are statistics, and these are facts. Poverty anywhere endangers prosperity everywhere.
Don’t you think to address poverty; you have to address the endemic systematic corruption particularly in your oil business. What in three years has your boss done to root out systematic corruption in the oil business?
The oil business is one area that there is a lot of challenges and government has taken a lot of steps.
What about the missing $20 billion oil money as raised by Mr Sanusi, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor?
You see, I do not expect you to comment on things that are not real. Do you know that that same Mr. Sanusi did not start with $20 billion. He started with $50 billion. He changed it to $12 billion. He came back to $10 billion and when he knows he has problem in government, he now raised it to $20 billion. And that is a major joke, it is not true. There is no way you can withdraw $20 billion from Nigerian economy and the economy is not going to sink. It is absolute fallacy.
It is not a joke to most Nigerians. The Governor of the Central Bank alleges endemic corruption in the petroleum company and within weeks, he is detained and suspended. His passport was confiscated.
He’s not detained. Are you Sanusi’s lawyer? The case is actually in court but what I am telling you is that Mr. Sanusi’s allegations are backed by Shell Company. Are you aware that there is a pending audit that is going on presently in the oil sector and this President has vowed publicly that once that auditing is concluded, whatever is recommended will be implemented to the letter no matter whose ox is gored.
Do you agree with your most successful businessman in Africa, Mr Dangote who said if we do not address the root cause of this insurgency, it threatens the future of Nigerian state, do you agree?
I agree. This is the greatest challenge of this generation of Nigeria but I told you it is a Nigerian problem. We are going to give it a Nigerian solution. We are going to get it right.
Why will the people, Nigerians believe you now after three years of failure?
There is no failure in Nigeria. Railways were dead for 20 years, we revitalized it. It is not by chance that we became the largest economy in Africa because we created an enabling environment, we got people who are smart like Okonjo Iweala to run the economy.