‘By 2023, APC leaders will need to come together’

Jackson Lekan Ojo is the National Coordinator of the Yoruba Youth Alliance (YYA) and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State. In this interview with Gbenga Aderanti, he bares his mind on the internal wrangling in both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Party (APC), the race for leadership of the 9th National Assembly and the last elections, among other topical issues. Excerpts

RECENTLY, Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) visited President Muhammadu Buhari, many people were shocked at the visit, considering their stance before the 2019 General Election. How would you react to this sudden U-turn?

They have behaved maturely. They have behaved like Christians. Who are the people called Christians? They are the people that believe in the principle and policies of Jesus Christ; those who do not begrudge anybody. That is exactly what the Christians Association of Nigeria has done. At the pre-elections period, they might have their stance against him but immediately somebody emerged as a leader, I think all those agitations, all those grudges, all those antagonism, all those criticism, I think it should end as Christians. This is a man God has anointed and appointed as leader of Nigeria for the next four years and we should support him to move the nation forward. I think their visit was okay.

The party, APC, has taken a stance on who should become the Senate President and Speaker of House of Representatives, but there are some dissenting voices. Do you see 2015 repeating itself at the National Assembly?

Yes. You see, in every democracy, supremacy of the party is very important, but I think the supremacy of the party was killed and buried in Nigeria during the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. That was when the president became the leader of the party and governors became the leader of the party in the states. But now, the APC is trying to resurrect it, but I think they are doing it in the wrong way because the issue of the leadership of the National Assembly; I don’t think it is a party matter since people have voted and mature people have emerged to enact laws for us in the National Assembly. I think we should leave them, the lawmakers alone to choose their leaders. After all, who is a Speaker? Who is a Senate President?  They are first among equals. All of them are equal. It has happened before, it could still happen again if care is not taken. I want to advise the National Chairman of APC to talk less. He is releasing the strategies of the party carelessly. He should keep the strategy of the party secretly. I expect our party to be very careful. The national leaders should wade into this matter.

The present political arrangement does not favour the South- east, would it be morally right to leave them out?

There is no principle of zoning in the National Assembly; let the best emerge as the leaders. Must the South-east get the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House of Representatives? No! It is not necessary. It is not important. There are lots of federal appointments that could be zoned within the party to the south-east. Most of them that came in through APC are new comers; the rule of the House does not permit them. Let the South-east put their acts together and plan well, you don’t go to reap where you did not sow.

Some weeks back, some northern groups within the APC said, come 2023; a northern candidate would emerge as the presidential candidate of the APC. And with the present arrangement, PDP is likely to present northern presidential candidate in 2023…

You see, there is one thing that is lacking in the entire southern Nigeria. When I say the entire Southern Nigeria, this includes the South-west, South-east and the South-south. We have 17 states, in the Northern Nigeria has 19 states, if you add Abuja, it would be 20 states. I want to tell you clearly, when you go to the North, you see Northern Governors’ Forum, you see Northern Senators’ Forum, you see Northern Local Government Chairmen Forum, you see Northern Councilors Forum, you see Northern Reps Forum; that is to tell you that they are one united body. But when you come to the South, the South-south governors will not relate well with the South-west governors. The South-west governors see their counterparts in the South-east as enemies because they are not Yoruba, they are not Igbo. There is nothing like the Southern Governors’ Forum. That is to say that there is no unity in the Southern Nigeria. If a Southerner emerges a party candidate and a northerner emerges as party candidate, let the entire south vote for their candidate from the south and let the northerner vote for their own, the northern man will always win the election because they have political popularity and political population.

When people say northerners are powerful in politics, what is that power? It is power in unity, these people are highly united.

Talking about the last elections, I want you to compare 2015 with 2019. Would you say 2019 was an improvement on 2015?

My opinion may be wrong to so many Nigerians. I want to give kudos to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). They prepared and organised the best election so far in the political history of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But who are those people that want to tarnish the image of INEC? They are the politicians. Are you telling me that it was the INEC people that organised the snatching of ballot boxes? Are you telling me that it was INEC that organised the military and the para-military to harass the electorate and disrupt the election? Are you telling me it was INEC that created fear in the hearts of so many Nigerians that refused to come out and vote in state where 6 million registered and less than a million people came to vote? Are you telling me it is the fault of INEC? No it was not the fault of INEC, it was the political handlers; it was the political operators. Our politicians are not yet democrats. INEC tried their best as the umpire but the operators, the political handlers use their political immaturity to disrupt it. INEC did very, very well. Some of the political operators, in saner climes, are supposed to be in jail.

Looking at the internal wrangling in APC and PDP, do you still see these two parties intact after 2023?

I’m neither a fan nor member of PDP but I want to tell you clearly and it is a signal to the operators of APC, PDP will be intact and they will do well in 2023 but by 2023 APC leaders will need to come together. The only unifying factor that makes APC to remain alive is Mr. President himself. There is no unity among the rank and file of APC.

See what happened to us in Rivers State, see what is happening in Ogun State, see what has happened in Oyo State, see what happened in Ekiti State, see what happened in Edo State, see what is going to happen in Kogi State, you see what has happened to us in Zamfara State, see what happened to us in Bauchi State, see narrow escape in Kano State, it is not a good sign. If a student that is supposed to score 90 percent managed to be promoted in score because he scored 40 percent; that is promotion by failure. Our leaders in APC are not together.

Atiku has decided to explore legal option to prove that he won 2019 Presidential Election; if you were to advise Atiku, what would you be telling him now?

Atiku can go ahead if he wants to waste his money at the tribunal. Some people may encourage him to go to the tribunal because of their selfish interests but Atiku should forget the idea of winning at the tribunal. I’m not a judge, I don’t see that happening. He has the right to fight his case but to me, I would have expected Atiku to withdraw his case and congratulate Mr. President and retire to his business or possibly support younger generations in 2023. That is my advise to the former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. By 2023, Atiku should be 78 or thereabout and what is he doing in politics again? He can be the National Chairman of PDP, with political sagacity and experience, he is going to build powerful PDP but presidency, let him forget it.

As a security expert, I want you to look at the security situation in the country; how would you describe it?

The security situation in this country is tattered and bad; I think we are living in a lawless territory now. Why did I call it a lawless territory? Anybody can just take up arms and do whatever he likes. There seems to be the need to call a conference or whatever you may want to call it and involve security experts across the country; involve traditional rulers, involve local community youth leaders and let us debate. There are lots of strategies people have that we can give the government.