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By Sunday Ani
Stanley Usifo is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and he believes that Nigerians should limit their belief in popular candidates and vote for people with integrity and character to move the nation forward.
In this interview, he speaks on what differentiates him from others.
Why do you want to contest for the position of the Nigerian president under the APC despite such heavyweights in the party as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Rochas Okorocha, and Governor Yahaya Bello among others, who are eyeing the same office?
The consideration to lead Nigeria is not based on the aspirations of anybody. They are all Nigerians and whoever emerges as the President would lead them too and they will be part of those that will make their contributions to the development of the country. A lot of people would say they are popular or known, every human being has his or her own advantage. I strongly believe that I have a much more defined capacity and I am better focused in my decision to be president. I have plans and programmes that I have lined up and I strongly believe that if they are implemented, they will bring positive changes within the Nigerian nation.
What is your pedigree and the things that prepared you for this big position?
This is not my first time of vying for the position of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I did it four years ago in 2019. This is coupled with my activities over the years, and my involvement in national activities. I have done my researches and findings enough to realise that Nigeria needs someone that is different, and someone that is a nationalist. We need someone that is a unifier, who wants to use his service as a peace advocate. We need someone that understands all the social, political, economic and religious fabrics of the country. We need someone that would put these together to get a nation, where there is peace and harmony; a nation where the poor are uplifted from their status. We need a person that would take Nigeria out of dungeons. We want someone that understands the issues affecting the country, especially insecurity. I realised that many things have been abandoned by those that have been saddled with the issues affecting the country. Even the Central Bank that ought to drive the nation’s economic policies is not focused. We need someone that would head the CBN and put it in the right position. We need a Nigerian devoid of mediocrity; a Nigerian that is different, one who would give instructions to the subordinates and they will obey it. Your lifestyle should show that you are someone that is doing the right thing. We need a country, where people can move from one part to the other without any form of hindrance; a Nigeria where peace and respect for one another prevail. That is why I came out. We have many plans and programmes and I am looking at how we can reduce our dependence on foreign goods and promote made in Nigeria goods. Apart from that, we are looking at the issue of inflation and ways of reducing it. We discovered that Nigerians cannot afford so many things. I want a situation where you give instructions to the army and the Nigerian police and they act accordingly. If anyone does not act accordingly, I want to see a system that disciplines such a person based on the existing laws.
There are so many things that I want to bring on board in Nigeria to make it a nation that is respected globally. When that is done, I quite know that there will be peace and prosperity. The fundamental purpose of government is to provide peace, security and welfare for the people. When all these are done, we will not have the kind of crises that we have right now. Most importantly, the agitations around the country have not been properly looked into; the government has not done much on them. We will holistically look into all the agitations that have led to killings everywhere, so that there would be peace and everybody would have a sense of belonging. We shall look at what they want and try to solve them so that everybody would be happy.
You will buy the nomination form of N100 million. You will also go round the 36 states of the federation for mobilisation apart from other things that would cost huge amount of money; how financially prepared are you?
Right now, we are just starting. The task of becoming president is not a child’s play and I want to tell you that we are prepared. We have representations and we have presence in the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. We have coordinators all over the states down to the local government levels. I strongly believe that these are the things we need. We need to reach out to the people and the grassroots. But before you become the party’s presidential candidate, you have to go through primaries, where up to 50 aspirants will have to battle to get the only ticket. It is when the person is chosen that the real business of campaigning will start. At that stage, the finance would come from members of the party. Right now, the finance that we need comes from friends and other sources, including our own as aspirant. We are on ground. Whenever we have anything to do, we have been doing it. I have been there before, this is not the first time that I am doing this. I did it in the last election and I am doing it again. In terms of readiness and experience, I have been there before. Everything that we are doing, we take them as they come.
How do you hope to break the ranks of the leaders of the party; who are your backbone?
When it comes to presidential election, there is no rank. You are looking at people being in different levels. You should know that immediately after the primaries, everybody will come together, and the candidate remains. As it is now, everybody has opportunities. I have opportunities because I am someone that has no baggage. I am a young man with good records. I strongly believe that I have great advantages as a young man. When it comes to governance, you look at capacity. The fact that you are popular does not mean that you have the capacity to govern. Many of the popular people fumble and they will not perform when they are given the opportunity to serve. We have seen that giving popular candidates positions have not worked. We have seen that in some states such as Akwa Ibom, Governor Udom Emmanuel was not popular; he got there as someone that was not known by Nigerians, but if you go to Akwa Ibom today, you will see what he is doing. Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, was not known. Nobody knew him before he became governor; he was not a senator or anything before, but see the way he has performed. Now, nobody wants to contest against him; all the political parties in the state want him to continue. He came from nowhere.
If Nigerians want things to work, they don’t need people that are popular; Nigerians need people that are determined and ready to work, and not those that have been there but couldn’t do anything. What is in their ranking; the ranking that is causing insecurity? I want to tell Nigerians that wealth is based on your character, which is the greatest wealth any human being can possess. Material wealth is useless. You may have material wealth but if you don’t have character, then everything is zero as far as I am concerned. The greatest wealth any man can have and which you can give to humanity is the wealth of integrity, the wealth of having the desire for the welfare and security of the people. These are what I call wealth, not wealth of money, or wealth of materialism. I know God has blessed me, but that does not make me a wealthy man. The wealth I want to bring on board is the wealth of experience that I have, the wealth of capacity that I have, the wealth of activities to be able to transform Nigeria and to ensure that we do not have things that we complain about and to improve on those that we complain about. We are going to look at those areas that are not so good and make them okay. I am not a kind of person that talks much. You will discover that those who talk much don’t achieve much. I want to really work; let my work speak for me. I don’t believe in going round to tell people this or that. Let me get into this position. Try me just for four years and see what I can do for Nigeria. Let the President hear me today. I am 46 years old, I want to be given a chance. Let them give me four years and let us see how Nigeria can be transformed in four years with me as the president of the country. I want the members of the party to look at me very well. I am young and vibrant. I have not mingled with all sorts of people. I have not mingled with corruption. I have not mingled with lack of integrity. I have everything intact for me. Let everyone of them look at me and let them all make me the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and we will never regret my emergence as president. I am telling President Muhammadu Buhari and the National chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, members of the National Working Committee (NWC), and all the members that I am capable. Money is good, but I want to tell them that the wealth I have is the wealth of character, integrity, good understanding, good background to handle issues, courage, good management ability, good leadership, and being a peace advocate. What I have done in the past prepared me to lead Nigeria. Just give me one term of four years, let me transform Nigeria after which power can go back to the North. I want to assure Nigerians that if I am given one term, Nigeria will be transformed, I assure you.
