ERSTWHILE Vice-President Atiku Abubakar now a leading presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week had an interactive session with some of the country’s senior media executives. He used the opportunity to ventilate on matters pertaining to the 2011 presidential contest, the heavy load of government overhead on public finances and perception of corruption around him. Excerpts:
What is your reaction to the recent endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by 21 PDP Governors?
I will like to concede to them whoever they want to endorse in their individual capacities. The only thing I will argue here is that I don’t object you having the right to vote for whoever you want, but I will object if you will dictate to some other persons to vote people who it is not their conscience or their choice to vote for. So, if a Governor as an individual has decided to vote for Jonathan, fine, but do not carry it more than that because this is a democracy. Allow also other delegates to elect whosoever they want to elect, make sure we have a credible process, do not use your position to intimidate other people to vote for people who they do not want to vote for.
As far as I am concerned, that is not a big deal.
What then are your chances?
My chances are extremely very good because me, I talk to the delegates, one on one, he (Jonathan) believes in using the Governors to secure the delegates, so at the end of the day we will see whose strategy is better.
Me, I believe in talking one on one with the delegates, he believes in using the Governors to make sure the delegates conform.
But I think that he has realized that the Governors alone cannot give him those delegates, so he is now beginning to go from one place to the other meeting delegates and also giving them ____.
The issue of a minimum wage has become a major challenge for the States. What is your view on this?
My view is that it is not in tune with true federalism for you to have standard or common projects across the country because if some of you were old enough to remember when this country had three regions, North, West and East, their salary structures were completely detached. Everything of theirs were in tune with true federalism. Today, Akwa Ibom earns the largest share in revenue allocation, they take about N29 billion per month and this N29 billion is almost what all the 19 northern states take per month. So, how would you expect any one of these States to pay the same wage with Akwa Ibom. It is totally unfair, totally unfederalism, it is not in tune with true federalism, this is the way I will like to pursue it.
I will be realistic about it and people will have to understand that the various States are not the same.
Your determination and pursuit of the ticket shows some elements of desperation. Are you desperate?
I am not desperate about 2011. I have never been desperate about anything at all because if you follow my career you will not find any desperation. If I had been desperate, I would have been President long time ago. I wouldn’t have stepped down for Abiola in 1992, I wouldn’t have given Obasanjo a chance in 1998, I had the PDP in my hands (like this), I would have taken the nomination in my pocket and I wouldn’t have given him the chance in 2003 when everybody said come and take it over. So, I am not desperate about it, I will wait for the right time, whenever God says is the right time and Nigerians say is the right time. I am not desperate about it. What am I looking for? I have money to eat till I die!
A number of Nigerians are really worried about the level of overhead expenditure by the various governments. How would you approach it if you are elected President?
Almost 80 percent of government income is spent on recurrent. This is what is used in paying salaries, allowances and all that. I want to reverse it.
I want to propose to Nigerians that every money that is earned from petroleum resources we should use it to develop our country’s infrastructure and every money we make from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, from taxation to VAT and so on and so forth we should use it as recurrent. Unless you implement this shock therapy you will not develop this great country, we all have to make sacrifices.
80 per cent of your income is going into recurrent, so I was thinking one day, why cant we reverse it? All the money we earn from oil let us dedicate it to develop infrastructure, education, power and jobs and so on and so forth.
And every money we get from Inland Revenue Service for recurrent.
That will even make the FIRS even more efficient.
Can your plan scale through the National Assembly?
I will dialogue with the National Assembly and I want to believe that they will put the interest of this country before their own selfish interest.
There is this persisting insinuation especially in the last two months that you are a corrupt person. Are you really corrupt?
I will agree with you that in the last two months when most people in PDP didn’t give me a chance to first of all return to the party, secondly they didn’t give me a chance of getting the waiver and thirdly, they didn’t give me a chance of running for the presidency. I proved them wrong in all ways, but we must remember that this corruption perception started when I was in office since the year 2000. It started from the presidency, it was a grand design to put the garb of corruption around me so that I would be ineligible to either contest or threaten anybody.
Every government machinery both at home and abroad was used to execute this grand design and I made sure that I insulated myself from that because if I did not insulate myself…
I believe you would agree with me that nobody has been so investigated in office as I was.
As chairman of COJA which the President gave me and I executed faithfully. He set up three different investigations one after the other to make sure that they found me with something, but unfortunately, I knew where he was heading.
There was no single COJA contract that I made sure that he (Obasanjo) did not approve even though I had the power to approve it, even if it is ten naira, I took it to him and he approved it. So, how can you get me?
I was discussing with a top US government official (and he told me) that it was written about me that I was corrupt, that I am a thief, I am this and that. The comment of the US authorities was very uncomplimentary that this is unbecoming of a President to write about his vice like this.
In the course of my travels I have met many Heads of State in Africa and outside who have told me “but your President said you are corrupt but we don’t find you like that.”
So, this corruption toga was deliberate to make sure that I am totally eliminated from the political process in this country because somebody felt I am a threat or I would be unstoppable and so on and so forth. But if I am that corrupt, haba all these years why is it that..up till now, if you said that as Vice-President I had immunity, I no longer have immunity, no agency in Nigeria, no Police Station has invited me to question. No agency and like it is popularly being said that I cannot go to America and so on and so forth.
America is not the kind of country that if you break their laws that they will let you go, wherever you may be they will pick you up! Anywhere!
Yes, America investigated my transactions and I provided all information that they needed but they never found where public money went into my business account. And it is everything I gave them to go through and all they could come up with was, suspect funds!
What is the definition of suspect funds?
I don’t even have to tell my wife where I earn my money, I don’t know how many of you tell your wives how you earn your money.
It is not only in Nigeria that I have business, I have business in Angola, I have business in Gabon, Congo Brazaville. I have been in these businesses for the past twenty seven years.
So, please if you have any evidence go and help the authorities so that they can call me for questioning and ask me.
What is even more painful to me is that they write all these things and I have children, I have wives, they read, they go through pain and they know that I am not what these people are writing about or what they are saying. I come back home and they look at me, sometimes my children send me e_mails what nonsense is this?
From PF (Peoples Front in the late eighties) I was a multimillionaire even then. When we declared our assets in SDP, I was one of the few people who was then a multimillionaire. Haba!
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