From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
President Bola Tinubu few days ago stepped up the process of appointing people into critical positions, to enable his nascent administration be on strong footing to deliver governance. With the appointments made so far, the President appears determined to run an inclusive government. This is expected to show when over 2000 board membership appointments are announced by the government. Against this background, a chieftain of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Convener of Arewa Think- Tank, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, has said that Northerners have no moral justification to accuse President Tinubu of nepotism because when such was prevalent under former President Muhammadu Buhari, majority of them kept quiet, without criticising the former president.
Yakubu said he was not comfortable with some Northerners saying that replacing the erstwhile CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, with a Yoruba man in acting capacity amounted to nepotism.
He said from appointments made so far by Tinubu, there was no element of nepotism, adding that he will even encourage Tinubu to do nepotism because, “No individual, group or region should hold him hostage since his coming to power is divine and by dint of hard work. “
He also spoke on other national issues, adding that Tinubu may spring surprises as “Mandela of our time “
Former media aide to former President Buhari, Mallam Shehu Garba, said that Tinubu wouldn’t have won the election if Buhari had not allowed it. What is your view on this?
Well, we have passed that stage. Tinubu won the election by the grace of God and dint of hard work. Most of them in Buhari’s cabinet didn’t want Tinubu to emerge president. If they had wanted him to win they wouldn’t have put most of the stumbling blocks they put in his way; like the coming out of Ahmed Lawan to run for the presidency, coming out of Godwin Emefiele too to contest, the naira redesign, fuel scarcity and so on. These were the stumbling blocks that were put in the way of Tinubu. So how can someone say Tinubu emerged with the support of Buhari. Tinubu emerged by the dint of hard work and the grace of Almighty Allah. So nobody should take credit for Tinubu’s emergence. It was based on hard work and the grace of Almighty God.
How would you assess Tinubu’s government in the past few weeks?
I must confess that Tinubu has surpassed my expectations in the last three weeks, especially the stamina at which he has been exhibiting in carrying out his functions. In the last three weeks virtually everyday including weekends there were actions by President Tinubu. If you go to the Villa now it is like a market; that is how democracy should be, compared to what it used to be in the last eight years. His actions in the last three weeks had surpassed the actions of the last eight years. And that is why alot of Nigerians are excited. He is winning more converts faster than expected, and his level of humility in governance is exceptional. Look at the way he was able to manage the leadership crisis of the National Assembly. He came down from the high horse and spoke one on one to the members; the Senators and members of the House of Representatives. On two occasions that two former Nigerians leaders visited him he came down to receive them. Look at the way he received Abdulsalami Abubakar, look at the way he received Goodluck Jonathan. And in the last one week or so you could see some personal touch in decisions he took for the betterment of our nation. He went to the NSA office to see what is happening. That is how a leader should lead. If Tinubu continues this way, by the time he will be leaving office, he would have been leaving with exceptional local and global goodwill, which he didn’t come with.
Some Northerners are already accusing Tinubu of nepotism because he replaced CBN governor Godwin Emefiele with a Yoruba person even in acting capacity. What is your reaction to this?
No Northerner should bring up this unjustified sentiment now because some of us spoke against Buhari when he was doing the nepotism of a thing. And he didn’t listen. So it is just three weeks into President Tinubu’s regime. And he is doing exceptionally well. We will not allow anybody to bring that kind of sentiment against Tinubu. Most Northerners are now going to support Tinubu to bring this country out of the woods because alot of damages have been done to this country in the past. So, we don’t want this kind of stupid sentiments. It is a distraction. President Tinubu has started very well and we are going to continue to support him. All the former military Heads of State, Abdulsalami, Gowon and IBB said this government needs support. We can only have one president at a given time. And Bisi Akande said there is no advice yet, and like some of us too, no advice yet. When we see Tinubu derailing we will talk. When Buhari came in 2015, six months after he constituted his cabinet, I was one of the first persons that granted an interview to Channels Television, telling Buhari that we will not watch misbehave coming into office after Jonathan. And we will not watch him do the wrong things and we will keep quiet. We will be the first people to take you to the cleaners. And am proud to say that the North did not fail in criticising Buhari up till the day he left office. So the same thing with Tinubu if we see him going wrong we will not keep quiet. But we will not exhibit stupid sentiments. And I don’t see Tinubu committing nepotism like Buhari did. Tinubu looks like a leader who is going to be very objective. I have heard some snippets which I cannot say publicly where Tinubu stamped his feet on ground that he will not take such mess. This is one of the qualities that is required of a leader. He is a leader who is going to be firm to stamp his feet.
How do you see the composition of the leadership of the National Assembly?
Well, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. I will like to wait and see how they will conduct themselves. What I will advise them not to do is to be rubber stamps. And the Senate President and the Speaker have pledged that they will not be rubber stamps. The leadership composition is in order for the unity of the country. If you remember during Buhari’s first term, the president was from the North, the Senate President from the North, the Speaker from the North, and the Chief Judge was from the North. So nobody should raise this stupid sentiment now against Tinubu. What Nigeria requires now is to be fixed. And we have seen in President Tinubu that he is prepared to fix this country. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubts.
Recently Tinubu inaugurated National Economic Council (NEC). What do you have to say about this?
My reaction to this is the statement he made at the inauguration. He said to the governors, ‘Look, we applied for this job, there is no excuse for failure.” This has shown that his government is prepared to be accountable, for criticism. This is what democracy is all about, these are ingredients that oil democracy. This is not monarchial system of government where you cannot criticise. He is showing and leading by example, telling the governors that they are in office to serve the people. And we must not fail. And all of them must be prepared to be accountable and to work. So this was what was lacking in the last eight years.
There were several allegations against some of Buhari’s ministers. What is your advice to President Tinubu over these allegations?
My advice to President Tinubu on these allegations is that the President should allow the strengthening government institutions and allow them to work without interferance. Whoever is due for prosecution in court should be taken to court, no one is above the law. Everybody should be prosecuted for the consequences of his or her actions. And from the way Tinubu has started now, I can see that there is going to be serious supervision of all those that are going to work under him. In the last eight years when some of us were criticising Buhari’s government, that he was not supervising those working under him enough, they didn’t listen to us. Some of his aides called us wailers, they called our elders ‘Generals without troops.’ I don’t think from the way President Tinubu has started things will be different and better. He has shown serioness and he is prepared to govern, not to be a monarchial leader or an emperor.
Some immediate past governors are lobbying for appointment under Tinubu government. What is your reaction?
My reaction here is that this is time for sacrifice. It is enough for these governors that have served for eight years. They should take the back seat now. If President Tinubu doesn’t want to incur the wrath of Nigerians he should forget about these former governors. Nigerians want to see new and younger faces in his cabinet, people who are prepared to work. The president has said that his consideration for who will work with him will be based on competence. Most of these governors are dead woods, they have not performed well at all in their states. Most of them left behind backlog of unpaid salaries. What value are they going to add to Tinubu’s government. They will only bring baggages to his government. So he shouldn’t allow them to bring those baggages to his government. In fact, my advice to these governors is that they should follow the example of former governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State by retiring from politics. Masari has retired himself, he said he is no longer going to play partisan politics. They should go and take a cue from him. President Tinubu shouldn’t bring them to hide in government because they will be liability to him and he will incur the wrath of Nigerians. Nigerians want to see new, younger and competent faces that can get the job done.
Looking back at issues of corruption under the former administrations of Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, how will you rate them?
My assessment of this two administration is that severally we have criticised and advised Buhari that he must show enough supervision of those working under him. And he should show that there are consequences for ineptitude or incompetency. This is what resulted to this monumental alleged corruption under his government. And I will suggest to Tinubu that there should be no cover up because when Buhari came in 2015 there was no cover up. Some of Jonathan’s minister, Dezieani, Stella Oduah and others still have EFCC till now. So, whoever is caught should face the consequences so that it will serve as deterrent to others. Already, Emefiele and former EFCC chairman, Bawa, former Aviation minister, Hadid Sirika are being investigated. The investigation should be thorough without vindictiveness. So that Nigerians will know that we have a government in place, that is serious and that there are consequences for ineptitude and corrupt practices. If you make Nigerians sit up it will add value, locally and globally, to the government.
Social media influencer, Reno Omokri, alleged that the suspension of Emefiele amounted to vindictiveness. What can you say about this?
These are some of the comments that I wouldn’t want President Tinubu to take seriously. I have alot of respect for Omokri, but I don’t think he should be this sentimental. One of the things that I will advise President Tinubu and one of the things that I have seen in him, because by the time he finishes, I see a Mandela in him. The world respected Mandela for the four years he spent in government not because he wiped out corruption completely or he tarred all the roads or he built all the schools or he had fantastic health centres across South Africa, no, but the spirit of forgiveness was what gave Mandela global recognition. This is what I want President Tinubu to exhibit. There is one consensus among Nigerians about Tinubu: everybody agreed that he is a leader with a very large heart. So let him carry on like that. Nigerians also agreed that he is a leader that goes for the best, who has the capacity to mobilise best brains around him. He himself said it that he wants the best brains around him, even those who are better than him so that he can learn from them. So I advise him not to be distracted, he should be focused and he should continue with his large heartedness. This will go a great way in helping him lead this country.
The EFCC boss was recently suspended from office weighty allegations that border on his conduct in office. What can you make out of this suspension?
In this case, I can say that what goes around comes around. Those in authority yesterday should be careful. This is a warning too to those who are coming to power now. They should know that power is transient, they shouldn’t think that tomorrow will not come. So in whatever they do, they should be extremely careful. That is why I took time to listen to all speeches made by Tinubu since he was inaugurated. Virtually all his speeches are inspiring. If he continues that way those who are going to work under him will learn alot from him. You can see that the governors that have been inaugurated across the country have taken a cue from the federal government. Some governors have appointed their commissioners. Compared to 2015 when it took some of them seven months to constitute their cabinets. So when we put pressure on the centre it is not out of place. If the centre is okay it will trickle down. Alot of the state governors are copying what Tinubu is doing now. I want to advise Tinubu that this EFCC case should be thoroughly dealt with. Thoroughly and transparently dealt with. Nobody should come and tell us about nepotism, because in the last eight years president Buhari took certain actions and we were against him because we felt it was going to have a backlash.
Apart from CBN and EFCC, what other sections of the public sectors should be looked into by Tinubu?
Oh! security, security, security is paramount. In fact, security should be number one now. This is where I want President Tinubu to focus now. He should give security chiefs timeline and target. If they are not able to meet the timeline and target, they should be fired. Tinubu made a pledge with Nigerians, he promised Nigerians to end insecurity, so they are looking unto him. Security chiefs are not answerable Nigerians, it is the president that is answerable to Nigerians. So he should be firm and decisive against anybody working under him, irrespective of where he comes from and so on. Nigeria is beyond religion and ethnicity now. From the feelers am getting in the last few weeks, nobody cares where the president comes from, nobody cares about his religion. What they care about is good governance and serving the people.