The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, in this interview with ADELEKE ADESANYA, expresses total dissatisfaction with the All Progressives Congress’ performance with Nigeria, in the last three years. He particularly dismisses the current National Assembly, especially the eighth Senate, describing it as “Nigeria’s major problem”. Abdulsalam, who disproves claims that the Labour Party is in coalition talks with former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Coalition for Nigeria Movement, says the LP is fostering a separate coalition group. Excerpts:
The Labour Party seems to have been struggling with leadership tussle for some time. What is the situation now?
I wouldn’t like to say much on that matter again because it was already clarified by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Anyone who has other opinions should see them. I am still the authentic national chairman of Labour Party in Nigeria.
The Coalition for Nigeria Movement, championed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is said to have been working with your party, alongside others, in respect of 2019. What is the progress report like?
Well, as I speak with you, we are not in any coalition with the CNM. We are on our own, and we believe that single-handedly, without forming an alliance, we can make the true change the Nigerian citizens want. Meanwhile, I and my party belong to a group which is called Coalition for New Nigeria. This group has been in existence for more than two years, and its essence is to team up with parties of like mind, to bring about the true democracy the country wants, once we win in the elections. We are not in Obasanjo’s coalition currently.
All of us in this group have been doing a lot in the interim, and we have already gone far. But we do not make noise. When the time comes, Nigerians will all see what I am talking about. We don’t make noise unnecessarily, but certainly, we are doing the best we can, to be relevant when an election comes.
We are not in any coalition with the CNM. We are on our own, and we believe that single-handedly, without forming an alliance, we can make the true change the Nigerian citizens want
Who should Nigerians be expecting as the presidential candidate from your own coalition?
When we get to that level, people will know. People should expect someone who is up to the task and who is young and sound in mind, who is better than what we have been having in this country. Our alliance is committed to bringing a better change to Nigeria, not a change of deceit that we have witnessed in the past three years. Not that you will say you are fighting corruption when corruption lives with you in your house. Nigeria truly needs a better change; we are already positioned to give it to Nigerians.
There are speculations that a former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, is on his way to re-joining your party. How true is this?
Well, he has not formally contacted us, but I too have been hearing the rumour. People have been saying he is on his way that he is coming back to the party; but I’m yet to see and receive him.
But if he defects to you tomorrow, will the party leadership receive him back?
There is nothing bad in that. He was our man before he moved to the PDP. So if he decides to come back home, what is wrong with that? He is always our man with our blood running through his veins. And since in Nigeria, the Constitution welcomes such development, he is always welcome, coming home. But like I told you, this issue is still on speculation; until he comes to us we cannot say much.
Mimiko has also been rumored to be the Labour Party’s proposed nominee for the vice presidential candidate in the impending coalition. How true is this?
Let him come first; by then we will know his intention. It is not the best to live in the world of speculations. If Mimiko is truly interested in all these, it will not happen in a vacuum. Let him return to us and then further moves will be known.
Reports have had it that President Muhammadu Buhari may soon probe former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the sum of $16 billion spent on some power projects while in office. How do you see this?
It is very simple. This is politics of retaliation. Buhari is trying to probe Obasanjo because of his recent statements and comments about his government, that it has not done the citizenry any good. Must he fight back because Obasanjo had earlier condemned his government? Is he not a leader? A President is a leader of all kinds of people in his country; and by this, I believe a leader should be accommodating, tolerating, and listening. Despite that you are not in the same party, you must be able to accommodate other parties who are in the opposition. All that is important is a forward movement of the country. Anyway, let him go ahead if he has the weight to carry doing the probe.
What is your assessment of the eighth Senate?
Let me tell you, this eight Senate is the most unserious and unfortunate Senate Nigeria has ever had in the history of our democracy. This Senate has wasted three years already and I am not convinced they will not waste the last one year of this dispensation. Honestly, if I am to score them, I will find it difficult to give them 10 percent. When you look at them, you will see that there is nothing good they have achieved for this country. All they do is to make noise on the floor of the House and also interfere with what does not concern them. They even distract the governance a lot. They are one of the problems of this government. I don’t see anything good in them since they have emerged. They are either with one problem today and another, tomorrow. It is quite rare that you will not see them making news in newspapers every week, and for the wrong reason. They are a bunch of unserious people taking the country backwards. They play politics with our lives over there and at the end of every month, they go home with a lot of money. In my opinion, they are never of any value to this country.
The people in the Senate and the House of Representatives are the most unserious set of people we ever had Nigeria’s National Assembly. If the budget could take this long before it was passed, imagine what would have happened to other issues of importance?
Some people having commended some of the senators, believing they should return in 2019. Yet you condemn them wholesale…
(Cuts in) For me, not even one of them has merited the coming back to that chamber. If Nigerians are serious, they should take their destiny by their hands and chase away these people in 2019. Nigeria should not continue like this. They have held us to ransom too much. All of them should be showed way out by the electorates; they don’t deserve to come back.
What is your view on the 2018 that the National Assembly that was being passed recently?
The people in the Senate and the House of Representatives are the most unserious set of people we ever had Nigeria’s National Assembly. If the budget could take this long before it was passed, imagine what would have happened to other issues of importance? They are just a set of enemies of progress to this country. I wonder why we are so unfortunate to have this set people. If you are close to them and know their activities, you will realise that they are Nigeria’s problems.
So, what do you think is the way forward if you think the NASS is Nigerians’ problem?
The only way forward is to sweep APC out of government. This party has duped Nigerians a lot. And they must not last beyond 2019. They must be wept out in totality, if Nigeria must go forward.
But don’t you think taking APC out of government in 2019 will be hard for any party?
That is a pedestrian view. See, all the opposition parties are coming together this time round, to sweep them away. We will give it what it will take to ensure that APC does not continue ruling Nigeria. We cannot fold our arms and see our lives being ruined by some set of mediocre elements.
Looking at the CNM and other parties coming together, don’t you think they may return to this status quo once they win in 2019?
Their ideology will determine. If they are of good ideologies that will help them, fine! But if not, they will end up like the APC. Look at APC; when they were coming into power, they didn’t have any ideology. What was on their mind was how to take PDP out of government. They didn’t prepare for how to govern the country and that was the reason it could take Buhari six months to appoint ministers.
A party with poor ideologies will definitely end up like the APC’s. Look at how disaster had befallen them in less than four years that they took over government. They are with problems on daily basis and this shows they have nothing to offer this country. If your life is full of problems, how will you help other people to solve their own problems? It is a simple logic. If their (OBJ’s CNM) ideology is like that of the APC, Nigeria should not expect any good from them. And besides, I don’t see them winning.
In the last three years, how will you rate the anti-corruption crusade being championed by this government?
This Buhari government didn’t fight corruption. It has totally done poorly. When you look at the cry on the fight so far, you will see that all are just deceit.
But the President has been commended by people on this fight…
(Cuts in) He is being commended on what? How many people can we say he has successfully prosecuted since he started the so-called fight? How many people have his regime jailed for corruption? All you see and hear are drama by this government. All the cases filed are still in court without anyone concluded yet, and I don’t see anyone being concluded before his term expires. He is not simply serious about the fight.
