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From Idu Jude Abuja
Dr. Garus Gololo is a former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and former ally of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In the past two years of the Tinubu administration, he has become increasingly disenchanted with the APC government. Gololo joined several notable political personalities to adopt the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as a unified opposition platform against APC, as the country looks forward to the 2027 election.
In this interview, he carpets APC for deceiving and disappointing Nigerians by delivering agony to them instead of the benefits of good governance.
As a former ally of President Bola Tinubu, what made you turn against him, to join the coalition?
My reason is not far from that of millions of other Nigerians. First of all, as a Nigerian, can you say that we are practising true democracy? All that Tinubu promised Nigerians during his campaigns, have they been put in place? Right now the masses only pray for food. No one prays for new clothes or making new investments. No one can afford to buy new shoes. What most people think of now is what goes into the stomach – for sustenance. People now go for second-hand clothing which they can easily afford. You see people beg for daily bread as you go down the streets. It is that bad. There is no hope in the renewed hope agenda. What this means is that the economy is getting worse as against what he promised us.
The coalition is here to assert the presence of true democracy because Tinubu has perfected this move to hand over to his cronies whenever he finishes from office. That is why he began this journey of stage-managing defections. Having destabilized and destroyed the main opposition party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party, he feels that he should be coasting without anyone challenging him in 2027, but that will not happen. So the coming of the coalition is to democratize the system and make the forthcoming election participatory. Is it not the same Tinubu who ran through Lagos streets protesting against Goodluck Jonathan’s government? Why is he now afraid of opposition? Why would he want everyone to be under APC and to form a one-party system? But that won’t happen.
Before the coalition, there was an attempt to form ADA as a party. What went wrong?
Tinubu is out to destroy every move from opposition parties just to secure his reelection in 2027. The registration of a new party, ADA, was rejected because they saw the calibre of strong people behind the registration. So his desperation is already telling on the economy because he has abandoned his constitutional duties of governing the nation and concentrated on luring politicians to defect to APC within just two years of his first tenure.
There are so many things that have made things look awkward and uncertain. It became more disturbing when it was discovered that the President does not have a good history in the line of education. Recently, one American appeared that he was Tinubu’s classmate but it was also found out that the man was just 13 years old as at the time Tinubu graduated from the university. So which university in America graduates a 13-year-old?
Furthermore, it will not be long and we will see every mosque and church filled with Tinubu’s message of hopeless agenda. And I think that would be unfortunate because many of us were deceived with Muslim-Muslim ticket. After the elections, he is not seen any more in the mosques during prayers.
Can you highlight the perception that his policies are anti-masses?
For example, Tinubu brought about the review of the tax law. And the question is, do we need such laws? Again, do we need a new national anthem? This is a recitation that not everyone knows the words. I as a person I can’t recite it and I am sure that Tinubu doesn’t seem to know how to recite the new national anthem he signed into law. As far as I am concerned, this is Tinubu’s and Akpabio’s National Anthem. When we take over in 2027, we will bring back the normal national anthem that virtually all children know how to recite. Now let me tell you, historically, why Tinubu brought back this old national anthem. It was because of his arch-enemy, Olusegun Obasanjo, who introduced former anthem, “Arise O’Compatriots, Nigeria’s call Obey” when he was military Head of State. So as insensitive as he is, Tinubu restored the first national anthem just to take a pound of flesh from Obasanjo. That is a clear case of vendetta.
Let me also explain the rationale behind the renovation of the International Conference Centre with the humongous amount of N39 billion and renaming it after Tinubu. Consider this: how much will a new conference centre cost if such amount goes down just for the renovation of an existing one? Do they think we are all fools? It doesn’t make sense. When I ponder on all these I become nostalgic for the forthcoming elections because a change must be introduced.
People seem not to be comfortable with another coalition after that of Buhari and Tinubu fell short of expectations?
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The coalition of 2014/15 happened exactly after the time I got retired from the military. Tinubu was part of it having come from Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) while some of us came from Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) with Muhammadu Buhari. When we were declared winner of the election, Buhari then called Tinubu to forward names of his candidates for appointments based on agreement. And it could be recalled that during the registration of APC, it was a smooth sail because it was done under former President Goodluck Jonathan and the then INEC chairman, Atahiru Jega. Everything was perfected under a good leader with good intentions. But when we brought ADA, Yakubu refused to register it because the INEC already is a unit in the Presidency. Same thing goes is true of the Office of the Senate President which ridiculously has become another unit in the Presidency. Today, no one queries some certain things. No one looks into the constitutional provisions before approving anything. At the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Mr. Tajudeen Abass is doing the same thing. And let me ask, have you recently seen any dissenting voices in both houses? No, and this is because Tinubu has pocketed all of them. All of them are there drinking tea without playing opposition to challenge the ruling APC. There is no government across the world without an opposition.
It is well known now that Tinubu wants to use Nyesom Wike to cripple PDP which is the supposed main opposition party, if not, why would Wike build mansions for Judges and Justices? Why would he want to build the INEC office? Another question is: who gets the contracts? It would always be his cronies. I can tell you that everything around Tinubu is wrong. Barrister Wike has become a tool to attack the opposition and grab lands in the FCT. Wike has virtually insulated those that brought him to political limelight. First it was Dr. Peter Odili, then Chibuike Amaechi. During his time as governor, he betrayed Patience Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan who made him governor. And what we are witnessing in the FCT is like what we witnessed in Port Harcourt during his time as governor.
Till today there are questions about Tinubu’s academic records. Nobody can be spotted as his classmate among all Nigerian schools even when he claims he finished at Government College, Ibadan. We noticed that the year of graduation contradicts with the year the school was established. What a mess! How can one process the fact over N15 trillion will be spent on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal road under the Ministry of Works? This was done without official procurement procedures. I can tell you that this is the first time in history that such huge amount could be approved without passing through procurement procedures. Do you know how many people are suffering? People no longer eat well because people eat whatever they see, not focusing on nutritional value. Examples have shown that a plate of food at a canteen is currently sold at N3000 but it used to be N500.
Is this not the same Tinubu who during the 2023 presidential campaign promised that he would give Nigerians steady electricity in under one year or should not be voted in again? Now where is the steady light? Has he taken care of insecurity? Are people of Benue, Zamfara, Kaduna, Enugu and other places not suffering from insurgency with loss of lives and properties worth millions? Has Boko Haram been conquered? Is Borno State not still under attack till today? We know that Tinubu’s desperation is borne out of his failure to live up to expectations. So he thinks that using politicians with nuisance value is the best option.
His only achievement is to travel to France for medical treatment as well as the appointment of the two most powerful ministers, Wike and David Umahi, who do whatever they like. Another big achievement is the suspension of the democratically-elected Governor of Rivers State. Let me ask: is it not the same Tinubu that ran on the street in defence of democracy? Was he not a member of NADECO that fought Babangida and Abacha regimes? Did anyone tell him that true democrats apply military tactics? We had former President Muhammadu Buhari, who was a military man, but he didn’t implement state of emergency in any state despite insurgency. It is obvious that anyone who goes contrary to Wike must be dropped out of government. From what we are witnessing, all governors in the opposition who refuse to defect to APC need to be suspended and military rule applied in their various states to enable APC take over. What a shame of a nation!
There is this fear that those who formed the coalition are the same individuals who had failed Nigerians previously?
The point is this: there is no way you can form a coalition without people coming in to join from different parties, more especially when their former party platforms have become moribund. For example, when I saw that the APC had derailed from what we agreed upon, I had to go for a coalition. We cannot continue to push a vehicle that has no shock absorber. Remember, in the past, Wike himself had said that the APC is a cancer but today he is working for the cancerous party. Mr. Bwala formerly said that he could not work for APC because of little minds that formed the party but today he is a spokesperson working for the same party. Many of them who rejected appointment because of Muslim-Muslim tickets are now picking the appointments because Tinubu introduced hunger and starvation.
On my part, I am hook, line and sinker with the coalition and as a military officer, I don’t fear death and I don’t care what threat he brings. What I am after is how to care about the masses and how they survive. As a pensioner I can be feeding comfortably but what about those who are not at this category? So, the coalition is the next rescue operation. It is like rescuing people in the aircraft and ensuring that they don’t sustain injuries despite lack of parachutes.
Tinubu promised the removal of fuel subsidy but the question is, where is the money saved from the fuel subsidy? Why are we still borrowing even when the price of petrol per litre remains high? So many people no longer use their cars because of high cost of fuel. There is high cost of everything in the country, including staple foods. And you still want me to go back to the same party that met price of a bag of rice at N7000 and took it to N100,000. The coalition is the only weapon to push out APC and Tinubu because he is not qualified to be the president.
Let me also tell you that he has established another military training depot in Osun State, different from that of Zaria. We think that is not necessary because it is all about waste of money. And all the contractors are just his cronies.
There is internal wrangling over leadership in ADC, do you know about that?
No, there is none yet. The National Chairman officially handed over to Senator David Mark and on that day, he said that he would like Nigeria to be rescued from the present predicament. He said the journey and campaign to save Nigeria started from Nyanya Abuja where they had their office before and are now at Wuse 2, Abuja. So the man who is protesting, Dumebi Kachikwu, was a former party presidential candidate in 2023 presidential election but got just four votes. How can such person stop the party moving forward? He has threatened to go to court but let’s see how it pans out. It is just like Mr. Adebayo of SDP who got 80 votes during presidential election but runs his mouth daily on the television. He is like another television man called Sowore who has added to his CV and earned himself the title of one time presidential candidate. But the question is, with which number of votes? When we talk about those who contested, we talk about Atiku, Peter Obi, not those jokers.
Whoever joins Tinubu’s campaign team and for the position of vice president is bound to lose credibility. I can tell you that this is the beginning of Kwankwaso’s political journey into the wilderness. Let Kwankwaso come, he will go down just like 2023, when he won only Kano State. Come to talk of it, what would be their campaign strategy? Is it that people will continue to live in penury, with hunger and starvation? That is why I keep advising all of them to buy helmets to cover their heads because Nigerians are going to stone them. I bet you that presidential campaign will be so hard for them because it will also be difficult for anyone to travel to any Nigerian village with Tinubu. I pity Kwankwaso for the ambition to come to APC because it is going to be the end of his career. He should learn from Ganduje, who before now thought that the world ended at his doorstep. He did not even know when he was removed from office as the APC chairman.
Let me tell you, Tinubu’s government is a government of propaganda that has nothing to offer. As we recently saw, the American government left Nigeria out of the invitation of all African countries because our President has alleged corrupt charges against him in United States of America. Even during the United Nations congress, he had to send Vice-President Kashim Shettima. Ask yourself why didn’t he go there to be among other world leaders? Like I said, let’s not deceive ourselves, we are done for in this country should Tinubu remain the President. But the ADC coalition is just the answer because the battle line is drawn already.
