…says Tinubu has capacity to reposition Nigeria

Rt.Hon.Dr. Justin Okonoboh is the former Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, erstwhile Chairman of Igueben Local Government Area in Edo State, chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and a member of the Presidential Campaign Council of APC. In this interview with OJIEVA EHIOSUN, he spoke on a number of national issues, particularly the 2023 General Elections. Excerpts:

You were in the campaign rally of the APC when Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential standard bearer of the APC, came to Edo State; did you see the rally as a huge success?

Yes it was a huge success no doubt; though a lot of people that came did not come out of the canopy because of the sun, the crowd we saw on ground showed that the rally was one of the best ever held in Edo State.

Over 50% of Nigerian electorate particularly youths seem not to be in support of Tinubu becoming the next President of Nigeria due to many failures of Muhammadu Buhari’s government for the past eight years. Now what are the chances of APC?

When you look at the person we are presenting, he has everything, the capacity to rule this country. Then again 22 APC governors are behind him, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President of the Senate, Speaker House of Representatives, All serving APC senators, wives of the APC governors, are all behind him, so tell me what will stop him, nothing. We are waiting for swearing -in come May 2023.

PDP and Labour Party are jittery that government may rig the election in favour of his party following the president’s comment on his support for APC candidate. What is your take on this?

All over the world, sitting presidents work for their parties, so that does not amount to rigging the election. If you followed him during the campaign, he said it several times that the election would be free and fair. Our presidential candidate, Tinubu, has all takes to win a free, fair and credible election. If he is somebody who wants to rig election he will not leave the comfort zone of his presidential seat and start going from state to state campaigning for his part. So, a president that wants to rig will not campaign, because he has everything within his power to do what he wants to do. In fact the President has said consistently that he would conduct credible polls and handover peacefully.

As we count days to the crucial election, everybody is talking about Peter Obi. Are Obi and Atiku Abubakar serious threats to APC candidate?

Basically no! Obi does not have the capacity and the political will power to rule this country. Nigeria problems are bigger than Obi. The thing about human being is that when a party brings a candidate and the candidate does not perform to level of what the party wants, they bring in another candidate. So that is why APC is bringing in another person who knows what governance is all about, someone who has the capacity, wisdom knowledge, understanding of the problems of Nigeria, a man who has the economic knowledge and knows how to go about solving them. Look Tinubu is already President of Nigeria.

He is going to surround himself with intelligent men and women to help him tackle the various problems that have kept this country in this present situation. Those talking about Obi are youths. They talk with anger on social media. Governance is a different thing, Nigeria has been in mess even before the coming of APC government; a lot of things have gone wrong before 2015, corruption has become breakfast for our leaders.

It will actually take some time to deal with such an epidemic problem. Social media does not win elections in Nigeria, and again most of these stories you read on social media are not true. Nigeria needs to be objective and look beyond ethnicity. Now our youths are saying that be they don’t want APC, they don’t want PDP that is an old party with old people, but they have forgetting that Labour Party is older than APC in the political history of Nigeria. They say they don’t want Tinubu, they don’t want Atiku, that these persons are of the old order. Peter Obi was Governor in Anambra State, he was running mate to Atiku in the last election, he contested for the ticket of PDP in 2022 convention until he saw bigger powers and he withdrew to join the Labour Party. Now tell me, is Obi not an old brigade? They just think that when a new president comes in everything will change automatically, it does not work like that.

Insecurity has been a major issue in Nigeria, how does Tinubu intend to tackle this if he eventually becomes president?

If you have time to go through his manifesto, everything is clearly stated there. That manifesto is so rich that when you read it you will know that Tinubu has a big and better plan for this country.

We have seen richer manifestos than that of Tinubu, they make promises upon promises that are never kept, so will Tinubu be different?

Yes this takes back us to capacity, looking at the situation in Nigeria presently, it calls for solution. There is what we call individual differences, Tinubu is a man of his words, he is a human capacity builder, he brings something out of nothing. When he was Governor of Lagos State, he fulfilled all his electioneering promises to the people of the state. When he was leaving office as Governor, he brought in someone who completed his vision and mission for Lagos. Tinubu has made a lot of persons politically in Nigeria. We all know the reason the present administration has not been able to checkmate the activities of the Fulani herdsman and others, just because of ethnicity, Tinubu, he will not be part of that. You heard what he said during his acceptance speech after the APC Presidential primaries. He warned those who think that they have the power to take lives to have a rethink. His running mate is a core Muslim, is he happy with the situation in Nigeria? The answer is capital No. Is anybody happy with what is going on in the North East, Nigeria needs a man like Tinubu who is not a tribal person to deal decisively with the problems of Nigeria.

The G-5 Governors seem to be working for Tinubu, is that a plus for APC in the coming election?

Oh yes, a very big plus for APC. They know where the pendulum will swing. They know that the APC candidate is a man with capacity, nobody wants to be in opposition. Those governors are wise men because having issues with PDP, they know that if they don’t make the right move they will be in deep mess. So they have to secure their political future. They know that Tinubu will take over from Buhari. Intelligent and wise persons that want political relevance would want to associate with APC because they have seen the hand writing on the wall. In politics you don’t give power to an enemy else you regret your action.

In all this, are you saying that Abubakar Atiku the Presidential candidate of the PDP is not a threat to APC?

We don’t even know whether Atiku is in the race; we heard he travelled last week, how can a presidential candidate be traveling at will when election is just few weeks? For me, he is not a match for Tinubu at all; he is a serial contestant, maybe he will contest again in 2026 who knows. The reason Obi is even making waves is because of youths and the church, it is not even his handiwork. The youths are just angry that they want to vote against APC that is why Obi is taking advantage. But you and I know that the capacity to rule a country like Nigeria is beyond Obi.

People are skeptical about Tinubu’s health situation following his gaffes at campaign grounds. Voters are of the view that Northerners are just playing along by accepting his candidacy… What’s your take on this?

Anybody that says Tinubu is not well that person is not well too. I have met Tinubu a number of times, he doesn’t look like a sick person. He is going round campaigning from state to state, is that one a sick man, he works round the clock on a daily basis, holding meetings upon meetings, now tell me is that one sick. I’m a medical doctor, anybody above 40 years is faced with one health issue or the other. What people complain about is his way of speaking, Tinubu has always spoken like that, he is slow in speech may because of the way he was brought up. You know he lived abroad for years so that has nothing to do with his performance if he becomes the president. I have always told people who care to listen what they should be looking out for is capacity of the candidates, Tinubu has all its takes to reposition Nigeria and settle all issues being raised by various agitating groups in Nigeria. We need a non-tribal man like Tinubu to put things in proper shape in Nigeria. Nigerians are just looking for a way to talk him down, that is why they saying all kinds of things they say on social media about him. One of the best Presidents America has ever produced is Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Second World War, he ruled America from the wheel chair. It doesn’t matter whether you are tall or short, the most important thing is capacity.

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