Joseph Waku is a former senator in the National Assembly between 1999 and 2003. In this interview with LEADERSHIP’s Bureau Chief in the United States, ABIODUN OLUWAROTIMI, he speaks on the controversial single term tenure and other national issues. He also has unkind views about President Goodluck Jonathan, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senate President David Mark and the last Senate. Excerpts.
You once said that Nigerians should not trust President Goodluck Jonathan if he emerged president. Do you still share this opinion?
My comment about Jonathan still stands because he has not done any good thing to allay the fears that I raised before. For instance, when he was campaigning, he told everybody that he was going to rule for just four years but they are now talking of increasing it to six years. How will you trust that kind of person? He said he would not run for a second term then. He has just confirmed my fears that he is a man that can never be trusted. Now, you will agree with me that his action is now sufficient for my fears about him. Let me advise him to concentrate on security, infrastructure and bring the nation into focus, not to start talking about tenure elongation.
Will you call this a fraud?
Yes, it is absolutely fraudulent.It is a fraud. Let me tell you how dangerous it is. They want to rule for a six-term tenure so they won’t seek re-election and this means they can do whatever they like. The joy of the electorate is for? the political officeholders to come to run for a second term so they can ask them about their stewardship.? One day, these people will wake up and privatise the Aso Rock and the whole country, and there will be nothing for Nigerians again. It is dangerous to allow a six-year single term because it will allow the president to bribe the National Assembly, pocket them, and whatever agitation that you and I make will not be heard. This idea of a single term is just to breed corruption at all levels. This will bring division in the country because any Nigerian president remains on his own the moment he takes over and he will become unquestionable.
How will you rate the performance of the president?
What will I say about a president who spent 90 days looking for ministers? He needed not waste that kind of time. He was supposed to have got his cabinet members ready right from the time he began his election campaigns. As an incumbent president, he had some added advantages to touch this area because he had worked with some of these ministers before; so, he would have used that advantage to quickly decide on their credibility instead of wasting all that time looking for ministers. About performance, I think it is too early to judge him because nothing has really taken off. You cannot judge in a vaccum.
Do you think he will deliver?
You are taking me back. I have never trusted him.
You were one of those who backed Farida Waziri for the EFCC job. Will you say that the anti-graft agency has done well under her leadership?
During her tenure, there were high profile cases that were not there before.There are more prosecutions now. There are more recoveries of property acquired fraudlently. I am saying this because that is what I read in the newspapers. With this, I think she has not failed.
Do You think that the National Assembly where you once served is really effective in its oversight functions?
I can only talk of the current Senate. The previous Senate was a bunch of contractors. They were not interested in legislating for the nation and the reason was that they were not democratically elected. With the strong opposition in the Senate today, I know they will do better. I trust them.
What did you achieve in the country as a senator?
We had a difficult and undisciplined president during our tenure. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is a difficult, reckless and undisciplined person. He a was very irresponsible president. During that period, he rejected what the Senate appriopriated for the execution of? projects in Nigeria. Obasanjo would breach the constitution, he would not bother to implement but he would rather bring in some contractors without any reference. You know Nigerians were just coming out of the military rule and, unfortunately, we had Obasanjo, who was a very crude Army General with no experience, to take over the mantle of leadership. Obasanjo misled this country.
He ensured that all the efforts in the Senate then were not recognised. We were being seen as the enemies of the executive arm of the then government. But with the help of friends, I was able to personally put up projects worth N10 million in each of the local governments I represented in the Senate then. I also did many other laudable things in the areas and, because of this, no man born by man and woman can defeat me if I run for any election.
In your speech at the Mutual Union of the Tiv in America (MUTA) convention, you spoke ill of the Senate President, David Mark. What do you have against him?
Mark is a tribalist and I have said it to his face many times that he is tribalistic. I blame the Senate President for supporting the marginalisation of the Tiv community by the present administration of Goodluck Jonathan. I know he can go to any extent to see that the Tiv area is not developed and I do not know what the Tiv people had done against him that made him not to support their progress. Imagine that, out of the 13 federal appointments that Benue State originally got, Mark gave 10 to Idoma, which is a micro-minute community and gave just three to the Tiv people, which is even the largest zone in the state.
Don’t you think that MUTA is becoming too partisan?
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I have advised the association not to take a collective stand in the ongoing political tussle in Benue State. I have told them that they should play the role of a moderator, which they are. Taking side as a body would reduce the integrity of the association. They are not supposed to be partisan. This is not a political organisation. An individual within the association can go and become a politician.
What can you say about the presidential election that produced Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as the president of the country?
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The presidential election that brought Jonathan to power was not free and fair. It was full of malpractices, and Jonathan himself knew it. I have said it to him many times that the presidential election was not credible. The presidential election was to bring unity but it was made to be an element of disunity in the country. Jonathan got votes across the entire nation but General Muhammadu Buhari only got votes in his domain. Are they saying that Buhari has no friends in Bayelsa, River or Cross River states? There was a discriminatory voting pattern during the presidential election and the president was aware of that. If we do not change from that pattern, then Nigeria has a long way to go to exonerate itself from political fraud. Those celeberating Attahiru Jega (electoral boss) over the presidential election are fools.
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What will you say about Obasanjo’s call that the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his Deputy should resign because they did not emerge under the zoning arrangment of the PDP?
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You cannot have your cake at the same time and eat it. It was this same Obasanjo that came to the United States of America to deny zoning. Today, he is talking about zoning. He forgot that when you are digging hole for another man’s child to fall into, it is your child that falls into it if care is not taken. He has fallen into the hole now and he should bury himself in the shame. Obasanjo is the most dishonest person in the country. He has no business talking about the issue of Speakership in the House of Representatives. He can go and hang himself if he hates the arrangements on ground now. Whether he likes it or not, the House leaders will not resign.
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