2015: Northern leaders’ opposition to Jonathan, a huge joke – Gulak

By SONI DANIEL
Alhaji Ahmad Gulak, a lawyer and politician is the Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Goodluck Jonathan. He can be described as a sharp shooter because he does not mince words on issues bothering on the administration and Nigeria.

His depth of knowledge of contemporary Nigerian issues, eloquence, fearlessness and outspokenness, especially on matters that seem to touch on his boss, have singled him out as one of the most visible aides of President Jonathan.

In this interview Gulak takes the opponents of the President to task and warned them to desist from distracting Mr. President from concentrating on the job Nigerians elected him to do.

He particularly warns former President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop stirring the political waters ahead of the 2015 poll and describes northern leaders’ opposition to Jonathan’s 2015 ambition as the greatest joke of the century. The interview is explosive and irresistible. Excerpts:

WHAT do you make of former President Obasanjo’s alleged endorsement of Governors Sule Lamido and Rotimi Amaechi for President and Vice President in 2015?

As politician, that does not surprise me because everyone is entitled to their one’s opinions. Everybody has constitutional rights to aspire and to assume leadership of certain positions to anoint or be anointed.

But the President’s position is that we need to use the time at our disposal to work for the overall benefit of the country and desist from dissipating energy on what does not bring any benefit to Nigerians.

Gulak…President needs time to focus on issues

And anybody who is deeply involved in 2015 talks now, I think, is not being fair to this country. If it is true that Obasanjo is fronting Lamido and Amaechi for 2015, I assume it is not true, I would say that he has his own right. But the question is in what capacity would he do that?  Is it as the father of the nation or the President of Nigeria or what?

First, Obasanjo is not the president of Nigeria and secondly, although he is one of our leaders, nobody has arrogated the monopoly of anointing candidates to him. But the fact as I have always said, is that Mr. President’s position is that it is too early to begin to dissipate energy on 2015.

We need to gear ourselves towards working for Nigeria. Anyone who is so involved in 2015 talks now is not fair to this country.

Having said that, if it is true that Obasanjo has done what has been credited to him, then it is safe to say that he is not fair to this country and I believe that what this country needs to do is to deliver on the promises made to the electorate in 2011. When we reach the bridge we shall cross it. But we are only in 2012, just one year after the last election.

Are we therefore telling Nigerians that everything is just about election? Why are we relegating to the background our promises to the nation? Obasanjo was part of the system from 1976 to 1979 and then from 1999 to 2007. Obasanjo should play the role of a father-figure, to advise and not to keep on poke-nosing into the affairs of the nation, to choose people who should run and who should not.

He had played his role, everybody gave him their support. One good turn deserves another. It is therefore incumbent on him to support President Jonathan to deliver on his electoral promises to the people and not to distract the system by stirring the political waters unnecessarily.

But don’t you think that it is the President’s apparent indecision about 2015 that has given the impetus to Obasanjo to make the political move?

You see it must be understood from the context of that particular fact. We say that we should focus on how to move this country forward first before we begin to do politics. Our infrastructure is in comatose: our railway system is not working, our educational system needs turnaround, our power generation is very low. Why don’t we focus attention on these critical areas?

Electricity generation

Why do we have to distract the administration at every turn?  As far as I am concerned everything is not all about election.

When the time for election comes, it will be addressed. But for now, let our leaders for God sake, support this administration to focus on electricity generation, distribution and transmission, support the turnaround of the educational system, let  us focus on making our railway system functional once more. Everything is not about election.

It is not only Obasanjo who has taken steps towards 2015. Some well-placed northerners have also warned the President not to collect form for the 2015 election because doing so would have kept the region out of power for too long.

That is the greatest joker of the century. For anybody to warn President Goodluck not to pick form or to aspire to lead the nation again is the greatest joke of the century. President Jonathan has that constitutional right and nobody can abridge it; it is left for him to decide whether to contest or not.

But no individual, group or institution can take away that right if we agree we are running a constitutional government, if we agree we are running a democratic government, if we agree it is the constitution that leads us. It is his right to run or not. No individual or group has the right to warn President Jonathan not to aspire to lead the nation as provided by the law of the land.

You can’t ask him not to pick the party’s nomination form. Nobody can intimidate President Jonathan, absolutely nobody because by the grace of God, he is the president of Nigeria. The fact that the man is simple, humble and does not abuse executive powers like some of our past leaders does not mean that he is weak.

Talking about constitutional provision, are you aware of the provision in the law that prohibits a person from being sworn in more than two times? A PDP member has already gone to court to stop the president from contesting in 2015, arguing that he would have been sworn in for the third time, if he wins.

That issue came up in 2003 when Obasanjo was taken to court by Buhari. They said Obasanjo had been sworn in several times and should not have contested the election in 2003. Although the present situation is not the same with that of Obasanjo, it must be made clear that President Jonathan contested election in 2011 for the first time and won. He was given the mandate to run this country for four years, which will terminate in 2015. Do you mean to tell me that if the constitution allows somebody to go for a second and last leg of his office, somebody has any right to attempt to reduce his eight-year mandate to six years?

The argument of his opponents is that he completed Yar’Adua’s remaining tenure.

That argument has no place in law at all. The constitution says eight years. Why should they abridge it to five or six years? If we want our democratic culture to improve, there are certain things we must put in place.

In America for instance, incumbent presidents are not allowed to contest primaries with any other candidate within the party. So, if PDP must put its house in order, they should adopt that system-that an incumbent should be challenged by any other party candidate. The reason is that internal contest in the party, especially when incumbent is involved is so dirty that the opposition party would exploit it at the general election and hammer the party seriously. That is what we want to avoid. My position is that unless a sitting president or governor is incurably bad and non-performing, he should be given the opportunity to go for a second term without any primary election.

But Dr. Junaid Mohammed and Malam Nasir El-Rufai, two prominent northern leaders, recently asked Mr. President to step aside for being unable to provide solutions to the country’s problems. What do you think about the advice?

Let me start with El-Rufai. I will classify El-Rufai as the most disappointing young man in this country. He is so disappointing that a lot of people have lost their respect for him.

The most annoying thing about this country is that once somebody is out of the government, he now becomes an incorruptible person, they become watchdogs of the community, the spokesmen of  the society and the people begin to see them as their defenders.

Appointment on return from exile

Nigerians have not forgotten the activities of the Dino Melayes, the el-Rufais. These things are on record. So, if they say this administration has failed, I would not be surprised because of their posture. El-Rufai’s anger is that he is out of government. If Goodluck had given him appointment as minister when he returned from exile, he would not have been saying all these things about the government. During Yar’Adua’s time he was in exile.

El-Rufai returned to this country through the benevolence of President Jonathan with high hopes, he would be made a minister. And when he was not made minister, he now began to criticize the government and the President. It is a shame. It is a very big shame the rate at which people who fail to get what they want from government, try to pull it down. That attitude cannot take this country to anywhere. It is a sordid situation indeed.

So, what do you think Junaid Mohammed wants from the government if not performance to move the country forward?

Junaid Mohammed has what I would call ‘diarrhoea of the mouth’. He enjoys sitting in his comfort zone and criticizing. There is insecurity in this country. We cannot deny it. Everybody believes there are people behind it and all Nigerians should rally round the administration to confront it because it is a national problem.

It is no more politics. Let us put politics out of it and face the reality at hand for the benefit of this country. Lives are being lost and property are being destroyed on a daily basis and if you are a true patriotic Nigerian, you must be concerned and begin to do whatever is possible to find answers to the problems and stop sitting down to criticize president Jonathan. Yes, he is the President but he needs everybody’s support when this type of matter comes up.

As someone who advises Mr. President politically, were you surprised when he said he did not give a damn to making his assets public during a recent media chat? Do you believe Mr. President is serious about checking corruption?

Jonathan is somebody who says what he means and means what he says. There is no law in Nigeria that mandates the President to declare his asset publicly.

Freedom of Information Act

There is none. Therefore, if there is no law that mandates him to declare his asset publicly and if he has done what the constitution warrants him to do, why should people prevail on him to do what the law does not say? With the Freedom of Information Act in place, Nigerians are free to approach the Code of Conduct Bureau and get information on the asset.

But the CCB says the law has to be amended by the National Assembly before they can even make the asset declarations of public officers  public. But I insist that we should always work by the law and leave sentiments alone. Whether you like President  Jonathan’s face or not, he remains the president and he derives his powers and responsibilities from the constitution of the land.

So,if they want the constitution to be amended, they should go to the National Assembly and the State Assembly to amend the law to give them access to whatever they want in this country. It is not in the president’s powers to amend the constitution to give them what they want. You see, what I hate in this scenario is that Obasanjo was on the saddle for eight years. In spite of his limitations, he did his best and left the scene. He was from the Yoruba extraction of the South-West and a Christian.

People supported him and nobody asked him to declare his assets publicly. Now, Jonathan is on the seat. He did not give that seat to himself: Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for him. In first place, when Yar’Adua passed on,the constitution states that his vice should step in as the President. But you know what we passed through for him to take over as provided for in the law.

There was political upheaval before we could get the now famous ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ to allow Jonathan to take over. Why Jonathan? Is he not a Nigerian?

Doesn’t he have the constitutional right to aspire to the highest office in this country?

People should leave out sentiments in governance. Today it is Goodluck Jonathan, tomorrow it may be Hassan Adamu and all that we want is for all Nigerians to support the President to move this country forward. The support is not about him as a person but about Nigeria and its people. Whether you like Goodluck Jonathan’s face or not he is the President and there is nothing any of those opposed to him can do about it.

Nigerians are still unhappy that the Presidency has not done enough to punish those who squandered the subsidy funds. What is your reaction to that?

Here they come again. We are not running a military regime. You cannot just go and bundle people to the prison because of mere allegations that he has stolen some money or has committed a crime. No, it does not work like that.

If you are alleging that somebody has committed a crime, the first step is to subject the suspect to proper investigation by the operatives of the law or experts. This, the administration has done-the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the police are on the matter.

But as far as some Nigerians are concerned, they would want Mr. President to pack the suspects straight to the prison. No, that will not happen because the court would release them when the cases go on trial. We are doing is to subject the suspect to thorough investigation, amass sufficient evidence to guarantee conviction, then you take them to court.

Do you believe what you are saying will still happen when the sons and close associates of top PDP chieftains are involved in the subsidy fraud?

Let me assure you that President Goodluck Jonathan is not going to spare or support anybody. He has no sacred cows; whether you are the son of Bamanga Tukur or Ahmadu Ali or the son of Gulak. If the current investigation confirms that anyone had committed fraud, they will face the music. That is Goodluck Jonathan for you.

The Christian Association of Nigeria in the North last week lamented that President Jonathan had failed them for not deploying force to deal with Boko Haram. Do you believe the government has done enough to protect Nigerians from Boko Haram?

I have taken time to reflect on that development. It was a misguided statement from the CAN. The insecurity in the country affects everybody-the Muslims, Christians, the Yorbuba, the Igbo, Hausa, Fulani etc. Every Nigerian is a victim. You have heard that there was a bomb blast at the Central Mosque in Maiduguri and the Shehu of Borno escaped by the whisker.

The same thing happened in Damaturu; you have heard that some people planned to go and bomb Kano during the Eid. These are all Muslim communities. So, what is happening is that the President cannot just deploy the tanks to go and kill suspected persons anywhere there is a threat. You have to use intelligence to swoop on those who are actually causing mayhem in this country.