A former Deputy Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Honourable Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula, was a close political associate of President Muhammadu Buhari in the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). In this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, he talks about the Buhari administration, the race for the president’s successor and chances of the leading contenders for the office.
You used to an ardent supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari dating back to era of the defunct ANPP and you worked with others in his quest to be elected president. To what extent do you think that your actions were indeed not misplaced?
As a one-time ardent supporter of President Buhari, and a strong promoter of true democratic values for our country, I will say that I am extremely disappointed in the two-term reign of All Progressives congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The party and the president have been monumental failures in eight years, worse than the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Like most Nigerians, who supported APC and Buhari to be elected president, we expected to see a time of broad discipline and anti-corruption in all facets of our society; not the most corrupt, most insecure, extremely polarised and the toughest time in the history of Nigeria that it has turned out to be. I would not want to say more than that for now. The time is not auspicious.
More than a dozen candidates are in the race to succeed the president this year. In fact, three of them are generally described as the frontrunners. You are bound to have a preferred candidate among them: Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP; Senator Bola Tinubu of the APC and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP). Who do you think will make a difference if elected president and why?
It’s a no brainer. I can tell without any reservation that Peter Obi is far better for the redirection of our country than any other presidential candidate. His antecedents, vision, integrity, the energy and passion to succeed speak to this fact that he is the undisputable and right person for the job. The selfless and weighted achievements of Obi in Anambra State when compared to those of Tinubu’s in Lagos State clearly show that Obi has unimpeachable integrity, the right physiological, mental, ideological, and unrelenting drive needed to redirect Nigeria from the current extremely precarious state. Voting anyone else apart from Obi will simply make one an accomplice to perpetuating the undeserved suffering of Nigerians with even more catastrophic consequences to our individual and collective existence as nation.
There appears to be a correlation between your choice and the endorsement of Obi by former President Olusegun Obasanjo…
Well, I strongly believe that the endorsement is not only befitting, but the sane choice to make in this situation. That is my response to that question. Obasanjo has all that it takes to selflessly and conscientiously make that choice for the overall good of Nigeria
But the endorsement has triggered varied objections in certain political circles, with some claiming that the ex-president lacks the morality, especially because of his alleged role in the third-term saga towards the expiration of his two-term of four years in office, the maximum provided for in the Nigerian constitution?
Without mincing words, no Nigerian living or dead has made more known sacrifices to promote and uphold the collective unity of our Nigeria state than Obasanjo. I am also not aware of any that is more befitting to speak on the needed values of who should be hired by Nigerians to get us out of the treacherous hole that the Tinubu-led APC and Buhari’s administrations have submerged us. There is no doubt that a lot of far-sighted Nigerians saw great leadership qualities in Obasanjo and that may have spurred their desire to give him a third-term for the short-term gain of our country. However, entertaining the thought and proponents of the third-term was his only slight blemish not a damage or erosion of his insurmountable achievements and proven love for the prosperity and unity of our great country.
This is a man, who put his life on the line to fight in the civil war. He offered to be retired to have someone else succeed the late Head of State, General MurtalaMuhammed instead of himself, but was urged on by others to succeed him. He stands out as the first of only two Nigerian military Heads of State to handover to a true democratic government. He then stayed completely out of politics, until after the dubious nullification of the Chief MKO Abiola’s well-deserved victory of June 12, 1993. Unlike many others, he stayed in Nigeria to speak out against the ills of the GeneralSaniAbacha government, which cost him his freedom and almost his life. He served Nigeria for eight mostly peaceful and prosperous years, despite the shortcomings of the PDP. Lest anyone forget, Obasanjo did not form PDP nor did he assemble the characters that led PDP. Yet, the success achieved under such an assembly of ideologically incompatible people is highly laudable. Most of those attacking Obasanjo are only doing so to defend their paymasters and their sources of bread and butter. Apart from God, if only one person were to be chosen to impartially qualify a Nigerian to govern Nigeria, it should be no one, but Obasanjo.
Many people will find your disposition towards Obasanjo curious, because you were among those who vehemently opposed the third-term agenda. So, you must be full of regrets now for opposing the agenda.
I do not have any regret regarding my decisions to vehemently oppose his third-term. I consciously before God took an oath of office, which demanded that I uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy contained in it. I did as I swore to do, and my conscience is clear and without regrets. If Obasanjo’s third-term desire met the constitutional provisions, events afterwards to date, especially under my party APC, are definitely cause for regrets.
A lot people say Obi does not have the necessary political structure to thrust him to office of president via the forthcoming general election.
I strongly disagree. The collective card-carrying members of all political parties in Nigeria as a ratio of the population of voters are very small. The structure that they are alluding to is the organised criminal oppression of our society through vote-buying, violent harassment of voters and systemic manipulation of results. They have promoted poverty as a tool to perpetuate their fraud for generations, but their cup is now full. In private discussions, they are aware of the determination of Nigerians using Peter Obi to take back our country from years of reckless hostage by those leading PDP and APC, who have with impunity appropriated the collective wealth of Nigeria to themselves, their families, cronies and cohorts. In the words of King Sunny Okosun, “Nigerians is now or never….” The dubious political elites are jittery and indeed very scared that this is a mission impossible for them. The common man in Nigeria will all vote Peter Obi no matter who returns some of their stolen money to them. The commitment of Nigerians to save Nigeria now has made the Obidient movement the best structure everywhere in Nigeria.
With what is on ground in Edo, your home state, does your preferred candidate have any chance of winning in the state and how?
Edo State is the most Obidient state in Nigeria. I have no doubt that Peter Obi will be elected the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to succeed Buhari, to the glory of God.
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