A former Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams
Oshiomhole, has said Nigeria would have been in danger if ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan had continued in office as President.
The former governor, who stated that Jonathan
was incompetent.
Recalling the 2014 recruitment into the
Nigeria Immigration Service, which claimed 20 lives, Oshiomhole stated, “Those
people didn’t just kill poor applicants, they extorted and defrauded them, and
as far as I know, no step was taken to deal with those involved in it.
“So, I was convinced that Nigeria was in
danger if Jonathan continued in office.
“Once I concluded that Nigeria was not in
good hands, I also had to do everything possible to ensure that he (Jonathan)
was not re-elected and I played my part in the formation of the APC (All
Progressives Congress).”
Oshiomhole, a former President of the Nigeria
Labour Congress, recalled that when ex-President Umaru Yar’Adua died in 2010,
he played a key role in ensuring that Jonathan succeeded him.
Explaining what happened at a meeting he
attended before the 2011 elections, Oshiomhole said he was not in support of
Jonathan contesting the 2011 presidential poll.
He stated that the meeting, which was
convened by Jonathan’s Chief of Staff, Mike Oghiadomhe, was also attended
by a former Governor of Gombe State, Dajuma Goje, and an-ex Federal Capital
Territory Minister, Bala Mohammed.
According to him, Oghiadomhe said the purpose
of inviting them was to seek advice on whether or not Jonathan should contest
the 2011 election.
He stated, “I think Goje was the first to
speak that night. He said it would be a problem for Jonathan to contest because
the North would feel short-changed.
“After eight years of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,
power rotated to the North based on the PDP principle of zoning and Yar’Adua
didn’t even enjoy it for two years before he took ill and eventually died.”.
Oshiomhole said, “They asked me and I said
they knew I was not in the PDP; so, I was not in a position to offer advice as
a PDP member. I said based on Nigeria’s geopolitical reality and sentiment,
Jonathan could make huge political capital which he could reinvest later in the
future by saying to the country that ‘I have become the president by
accident.’’
He said that he advised that Jonathan should
complete Yar’Adua’s tenure and hand over to a northerner.”
Dismissing Jonathan’s administration, he said
under the former President, basic things were not properly done.
He stated, “It was clear that even the most
basic things were not properly done, competence that was expected was not
there. The level of fairness was not there. And even if you were to talk about
the sentiment of servicing the geopolitical zones, the South-South had nothing
to boast of. Even the road to Yenagoa didn’t show that a President came from
that area.”
Oshiomhole added that when he complained
about massive oil theft, he was made a member of a six-man committee of
governors.
He stated that he was shocked that for about
two consecutive weeks the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s records
showed that over 400,000 barrels of crude were stolen every day.
Oshiomhole stated, “I remember very well I
met President Jonathan a week after the incident and he said, ‘Adams, why are
you comrades like this? Just killing people?’ I replied, ‘Comrade, how?’ Jonathan
said, ‘Look at what Comrade Abba Moro did, look at the number of deaths’. I
said, ‘No, Mr. President, if it is that one, I am also shocked that the man is
still in your cabinet and that nobody is in court as we speak because that is
state murder.’
The former Edo State governor recalled that
after publishing an advert, which showed how the applicants were duped,
Jonathan expressed his reservation about it.
Oshiomhole stated, “In the advert, I said,
‘Vote for Change, vote for Buhari all over Nigeria.’ I used my voice and
portrait for the concluding part of the political advert. Jonathan called me
and said, ‘What have I done? Why would you do an advert like that even when
other APC governors will not put their faces, saying they should vote me out?
Haba Adams! You are supposed to be my brother.’ I said, ‘Sir, with all due
respect, there is nothing personal. This is purely a partisan thing. I have to
campaign for my party the way you are campaigning for your party and I didn’t
mention your name. The only name I mentioned in the advert is my own
candidate’s name; I did not mention your name’.”
Oshiomhole said President Muhammadu Buhari
was fulfilling his promises on security and the anti-corruption agenda.
Economy had gone through a lot of bashing
before Buhari – Oshiomhole
He added, “On the economy, I know for a fact
that the economy had been ruined and battered with huge debts. By the time the
PDP left power, the cost of servicing Nigeria’s debt was in excess of N1trn.
“Check the budget of 2015: the cost of
servicing our foreign and local debts was already in excess of N1trn. Even at a
time when the price of crude was $108 per barrel, the federal budget was 85 per
cent recurrent and 15 per cent capital.”
“If you review the comments by Senate and
House of Representatives they always complained that the budget did not perform
up to 40 per cent even when our oil revenue was $108 per barrel.
“Now, imagine the reality that the price of
crude has dropped to $44/$45 per barrel. This year’s budget is $42 or $45;
that’s almost 60 per cent or 55 per cent, compounded by loss of volume of
crude, this time, not arising from theft but from renewed militancy in the
Niger Delta region, which everybody is talking about. But no one is talking
about crude oil theft now like it was celebrated two years ago. I think those
are huge improvements.
“The economy has gone through much bashing,
abuses, looting – with all the revelations that are coming out now, and
compounded by low price of crude. If people are thinking there is a miracle to
be done, it is to the extent that Buhari attracts much trust and huge
expectation from the people.”
He explained that his relationship with a
National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was not based on financial
benefit.
Oshiomhole stated, “My relationship with our
party leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is not defined by money; that’s not it.
Incidentally in 2007, I think he fought the battle of his life. The PDP was
determined to claim Lagos and Asiwaju was transiting, working to get BRF
(Fashola) elected. You will not forget that battle.
“What I found very inspiring about Tinubu is
his courage to fight and damn the consequences. I already built a lot of that
in NLC. But I was new in terms of partisanship because the political system I met
was a bit different from the organised labour. I had always maintained a
good relationship with Asiwaju even as an NLC leader, because of his radical
and progressive views.”
Meanwhile, the PDP, however, asked Nigerians
to ignore the former governor of Edo State.
It said the ex-governor talked without
reservation, adding that the former labour leader had spoken on issues that it
claimed were false in the past.
He said, “Oshiomhole is known for making
unguarded statements and therefore, not worthy of our response.
“But it is better to ask him, why is the APC,
which he is praising now, dominated by more than 75 per cent of our members?
“They have won and taken over. But is that
why they took the economy into recession? Would Jonathan have done that? The
answer is no.
“For more than two years after they assumed
the leadership of the country, they have no plan and have no direction. Is that
a government?
“Oshiomhole is not a person to be taken seriously.
He talks with the two sides of his mouth. So, Nigerians must ignore him.”
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