You are on the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the public affairs directorate of the APC. Now, having been in power for over seven years now, what is the ruling party bringing to the table?
This question keeps coming up and is a very interesting one but like I would always say, in the presidential system, the executive power resides more on the person of the president because it is not a parliamentary system where everything has to be cleared. The Prime Minister is not even picked. But here, we are looking at a progressive nature of leadership. Eight years was done by a president, who, I believe with every sense of responsibility, has done his best for the country. Now, APC is moving into another era, a new leadership, a new team. The point I’m making here is that the party is not static but progressive so we are going to work to make what has happened in eight years better, to bring it to the best that we can do. We will look at the policies that work, and the policies that need to be modified, we will modify it. Don’t forget that in eight years, there were a lot of things that bedeviled the world, including this country that were not there before. Nobody can rightfully predict what will happen in another eight years, but definitely, we are progressive and we are going to look at the policies and modify them and implement them. Surely we are moving forward as we have done these years we have been in power.
Nigeria has a larger population of youths and it seems that youths are becoming restive as they now want to be part of the government. So, what package is APC selling to them?
If you study our manifesto or what we have done so far, the fact is that majority of APC members are youths because APC took time to get the youth, women and people living with disabilities to come into the party. It was a special project created like two years ago strictly for the youths, the women and people living with disabilities.
It is the governor of Kogi state, Alh Yahaya Bello, who the party entrusted to do that mobilisation, knowing he is one of the youthful leaders, in fact the youngest governor and he really did a good job of that.
Even this week, they are going to have a youth rally which the governor, Yahaya Bello is coordinating. This is the only campaign organisation which has a whole directorate of youth, and directorate of women.
In fact, I don’t think it has ever happened before as i look back to history.
What is the essence of having this directorate?
One, it is not just to mobilise the youths. The directorate, like I said, is headed by a governor. His team has sat down to look at the manifesto of the APC and drawn up programms for the youths. Now let’s leave the party aside. What is Tinubu promising the youths? One, he is promising them more employment. Everywhere he has gone, if you follow everything he has said, all he keeps saying is that vote me to power, I will open up industries. Even yesterday he said that in Kaduna. He said vote me to power I will open up industries. He has talked about one thing I particularly like. He spoke about the reward system. If people have no hope, then there is a problem. When people don’t have hope there is a problem. The party and Jagaban have kept reassuring the youths that we are giving you hope, we are going to open up space for more work, we are going to open up space for employment, we are going to make sure schools don’t go on strike because that is the basis. When they’re not educated and they are unskilled, they become a problem to the system. Recently, in the UK, he spoke about what is bedeviling the Nigerian youths which is “Japa” syndrome which is causing brain drain. He addressed it earlier that in his administration, we are going to have what we call, brain gain. We are going to gain back these brains, not just keeping the ones that are here but we are going to make sure that the ones that are even gone are coming back. So the youths are happy.
The rally is coming up on Saturday and I’m sure with what happens there, Nigeria will know the youths are for us.
But APC promised to give unemployed youths N5k and create 3 million jobs annually, but they didn’t do that. Why would the youths now believe APC?
It is still tied to my first question. I will not like to dwell on what has happened in almost eight years now because the truth is, there is a change. You see, in respect to the media, it would have been better if we asked the same guy who has been there for the first four years, running the next four years, to say, okay, you promised this, why should we bring you up? But you see, the difference here is, we are going into a total turn.
The names from APC, the names on the ballot boxes are now different people and all we have which our presidential candidate has emphasised in his slogan is, Renewed Hope. We are trying to renew this hope for the people, for the youths. We are not saying people should not ask about the last eight years. Of course, like I said initially, with every sense of responsibility and respect, President Muhammadu Buhari within his own personal and executive leadership, I believe has done his best.
One thing I would like to put on record because I’m a leadership coach, we forget that leadership is not rehearsed. I could make a million promises and get there and turn everything down but the fact is that you know the man you are choosing because in this case he is Jagaban. We know he has promised these things, he has run most of those things in Lagos, so I would like the people to believe that we are going to work on the policies that have existed especially for the youths, the women, and people living with disabilities. In fact, let’s say the national policies. When a new government comes, you sit down, you look at the policies all over again, you look at the ones that have been working, you look at the ones that need to be modified or the ones that might even need to be removed and then you give back new policies. So, that is where we are. I hope Nigerians will trust not just the party but now the man.
Women too have not been well represented as it falls short of the 35 % affirmative action. How are you going to address this?
For women, that makes me particularly sad because most women have tried to do the best they can. I’m a Ph.D holder and as you know, I have done so many things for this country and we have millions of my type out there. Even in the media, in banking, women have taking over the world. It is just in politics that we are still having that issue probably because of the way politics has been presented in the past but it is changing and APC has been able to, in a way, change that and that is why I’m linking it not with the past but with the present.
That this is the first time a party will have a directorate of women for the campaign and I’m sure after the campaign, they would be brought into governance. This is the first time we are seeing a team saying women are capable, and Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised not once or twice, even now in the PCC, of which I belong, I know how many of us are women. So, that’s the starting point. It means they believe in us. Now, we are sitting at the table, we are looking at policy, we are looking at the document, we are looking at the campaign strategies and we are participating. It is a good day and I’m sure this will continue.
What is your selling point, what are you telling the populace that you are going to do?
Campaign is already midway so we are not thinking. We are already there.
As an administration he has been part of, what did Tinubu say about all these insecurity issues?
When people said an administration he has been part of, I don’t think by my records Tinubu has held any executive position in the last eight or four years and certainly not at the national level. Yes, he is a father of the party, he is a nationalist. He has been part of those I would say advise the president. He has been part of those that the party looks upon, but it is a different ball game when we are talking about policies. At that position, what he could have done, like most leaders, including past presidents of this country, the moment they leave their role, they become more of an elder statesman and advisory. He is not running the policies, he can only be advising. But he knows there is a challenge. If he did not know there is a challenge, he wouldn’t drive 8 hours to go to Birnin Kebbi to see people. This is a man that feels for the people, this is a man that is empathetic, he is a man that feels, he understands where the people are coming from. He goes everywhere. Don’t forget that he is a man of the people. He is a man who is talented and blessed. In fact I don’t think it has ever happened because I look back to history, but because APC is different,we deliberately did this.
How do you see the chances of APC winning?
The chances of APC are wonderful because we look at the other people running and I think we know ourselves, we know their weaknesses and strengths.
How are you finding it supporting the Muslim-Muslim ticket as a prominent northern Christian?
I’m a northern Christian and thank God I love my religion and I will just ask this question. If one needed surgery, do you go into the theatre and stop the surgeon and ask him or her, are you a Muslim or Christian or pagan or traditionalist? The fact is, the world is no longer about religion, it’s no longer about tribe or even about gender. Now, the president of any country is a serious business. It is a job and when you are head hunting for a job, a job that really needs to be secured, believe you me, religion is personal as far as I’m concerned. Let me be quoted as saying, we are not being taken for granted, and we are not insulting the intelligence of the other religions. Luckily, I’m a Christian so it is not like I’m saying it doesn’t matter. The party and even the candidates appreciate that Nigeria is a multicultural and multi religious country so I’m not in any way saying we can do without each other. No. My point as a professional is that we are head hunting for a job and when a job needs to be done, just think of your surgeon. The bottom line is that surgery needs to be done and you trust in that person’s ability as a leader not as an Imam or Pastor, that is a different ball game. We are searching for a leader so let’s search for a leader.
Are you not afraid that your candidate may not be able to score even 25 per cent in the northern Christian regions?
Definitely he will score more than that because when you say north, you seem to forget that, well there is something called the core north and then the other northerners and in some of our places there are predominantly Christians, I know that a lot of people are going to vote for Jagaban because we are seeking a leader. We are seeking a leader who is just, who can be fair. Don’t forget the core problem we have is, why should we replace our darling baba Buhari after 8 years with another Fulani man? So a lot of people will vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu because we believe the man is the leader we are searching for.
Does Tinubu need to alienate himself from the media talking about his rift with Thisday and Arise chairman?
Well definitely no. Coincidentally, I started my career in the media so for some of the media, we owe most of our successes to them. Before being a leadership expert and administrator, I was first and foremost, a broadcast. So the media for us is the foundation of what we are. So, definitely, as far as I’m concerned, in politics people are tense, so there is a lot of energy out there. There are a lot of people in Arise and Thisday and my last interview was at Thisday and if I get any personal invitation from Arise, I will go there. Don’t forget that most people on Arise were my seniors in school. These are my career mentors. So, the relationship is deeper than politics. But when you are marketing your own candidate, pressure is up, everywhere is tensed, things happen. But I’m sure we are not fighting. These are just banters being thrown. It might be a bit harsh. The television stations want our candidate to come to their station and the candidate has the right to say no, I’m choosing the debate I’m going to.
It is not everywhere you are invited that you go. Even as ordinary citizens, it’s not everywhere they say come and speak you go. So he has his own right but I can bet that it’s nothing serious. So let me put it on record that after now, you will see Arise and Thisday shaking hands with us. We will invite them to our victory party. We are all colleagues. I started from broadcast media, and we don’t fight with the Media. We respect each other. We might disagree because we are standing on two opposite sides and don’t forget that the pressure is on us rather than the Media houses as we need to deliver a candidate who must win.
Yes, Nigerians are of the opinion that it is not good for another Fulani to be president after eight ears in power. But people are also talking about age that they don’t want to move from an old man to another. How do you respond to that?
The very exciting thing to me about this question is, if we are going to be below 60 or below 70, if we are going by what you are saying now, they are eliminating two. So I’m happy because our candidate is not the only one in his 70s.
But if the question is for my lovely obedient people who want a younger person, you see, one thing I like to say is, it’s still not about age. Let me say this, when it comes to issues of health, life and death, it is God. There are healthy people in the morning; they are dead in the evening. So we are not insulting the intelligence of Nigerians by saying you cannot ask, of course you have the right to, who will lead you. But the fact is, experience also has its own place in leadership, especially for a country that is going through so much. So you need somebody who is experienced and experience most times only comes with age. The good thing that Tinubu has promised is that most of his team are going to be young Nigerians, the youths. So the good thing is when he mixes these oldies with the young ones, the young ones can start to learn and get ready to take over power. But experience means a lot. We need to grow into it and we just start it by getting it right. We can’t just say he is 50,or bring the 40 into power, he might be inexperienced.
How would you analyse the Chathan house performance of your candidate?
Let me start with something that might be funny. I think why it generated that reaction and why it is still generating reactions is because people, our opponents really were looking for a bigger advantage, something they would say oh the microphone fell down, oh he couldn’t even remember to pronounce his name. So we thank God that didn’t happen since there is nothing for them to hold unto. What I will say as a highly trained publicist, you have the right to strategize your presentation. There’s nothing in presentation globally that is static again. Don’t forget, he first read the speech. This is the stand, this is what he used to do, this is what he brings to the table. He did not outsource that, he did that on his own. When it comes to some questions, it depends, it is a matter of style. A leader might think the people he brought are novices let me answer them myself before they embarrass me, that is the style. Another style might be, wow I have a good team and now let’s analyse the team people. For security, he called Kaduna State governor, Mal Nasiru el- Rufai. Don’t forget that right now, Kaduna is the state with most security challenge. When we talk about health, the women leader he called to answer it, is a medical doctor, trained from one of the best schools. But let’s not forget that at the end of each question he delegated or sourced out, he recapped his own thoughts which is the part of leadership. It is not like he said no I cannot answer, he recapped. So for me, nothing was wrong with that but as I said, because they had no video to edit and say he collapsed, they now looked for something else to hang onto.
The Tinubu that I know, the Tinubu that God willing will soon be president of Nigeria, does he look like a push over? Definitely not. As a leadership expert, I see that guy every indication of a strong and experienced leader. He will take charge. People have fear and I’m going to point you back, if there are no fears which is natural because this is a transition, because like I said before, it is not transiting from may be the same candidate, now it is a total transition and so the people are suspicious and for such people, we understand but what I would advice is, let’s keep the hope renewed, not just in the candidate but in the country because first and foremost, you must believe in the country before you can believe in the leaders. So it’s high time we started seeing Nigeria as our country and whoever leads, we intend to support him.
