Few weeks to elections, there has been upsurge in the attacks by insurgents on our military. Are you not worried that we may have returned to the pre-2015 era where the elections were postponed by six weeks owing to raging insecurity especially in the North- East?
How can we return to pre-2015 era in terms of insecurity? Before 2015, Boko Haram was controlling more than 20 Local Government Areas with their flags flying in those places and they were also collecting taxes from the residents. According to the information we have now, there is no part of Nigerian soil today where Boko Haram has the audacity to fly a flag or start collecting taxes from citizens of Nigeria. So, we are definitely not in pre-2015 era. But one thing nobody can deny is that it is impossible to predict the flow of unconventional warfare. These insurgents watch your movements and attack when you least expect. Look at ISIS West Africa now. It is not only Nigeria that is suffering the war against insurgency, it is happening in most of Africa and other parts of the world. But that is no reason why there shouldn’t be peace in Nigeria. We should bear responsibility for the state of security in Nigeria. Security is not only the duty of the Federal Government or the military; it is the responsibility of everyone. So, while one accepts that in recent times, there have been unfortunate killings of our soldiers by insurgents, we cannot say because of that, the security situations is unmanageable or compare it to how it was before this government came in.
Some Nigerians are calling for the sack of the Service Chiefs by the President. Are you in support of this?
Those saying so are entitled to their personal opinions. But security matter is not a marketplace issue for discussion. Whoever is in charge of assessing the security situation will know what lapses exist and how to address them. The last option available may be changing the guards but if it is not necessary to do that, then they won’t be changed. Nobody should be rushed into taking decisions that will not be advised by the situation we have on ground.
The 2019 campaign has started. Do you think APC crisis which arose as a result of its primaries especially in Imo and Ogun will affect your party’s chances?
Every issue arising from disagreement has their positive or negative effects. One thing running through is that there is no state that has issues with President Buhari. All issues are internal but starting from the issue of the presidential campaign, there is no area where Buhari is going to lose as a result of the issues which are basically local. That is my assessment of the situation. I still believe that Buhari has done enough to win massively in the 2019 elections.
Do you see Atiku as a threat to President Buhari in 2019?
No! The fact is that Atiku is entitled to contest just like other presidential candidates. All the other presidential candidates believe they will win the election. I have seen people who ordinarily believe they cannot win their wards saying they want to be President. But I think that the critical challenge will be the PDP because it is a national party and it’s been on ground. Also, Atiku is a very experienced politician and he has been around since the 90s. He was Vice- President for 8 years and this is the second time he will be contesting for presidency at the national level, the first time being 2007 under Action Congress (AC). So, he has enough materials to be judged on and of course, I saw his Policy Documentation and I think his plans are good enough.
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