Why I have refrained from speaking on the Buhari administration —Labaran Maku
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Former Minister of Information and candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the last governorship election in Nasarawa State, Labaran Maku, in this interview, speaks of his battle to have his alleged stolen mandate restored and other national issues. CHRISTIAN OKEKE brings excerpts.
You have stood your ground against the outcome of the last governorship election in your state, Nasarawa, in which you
were a candidate. What is your grouse against that election and how is your legal journey to have the outcome upturned?
I want to sincerely thank the media for standing with us in upturning the robbery of the seat of the governor of Nasarawa State. The robbery was committed on the 12th of April, 2015. It was after the election of the 11th, when the results were coming in on the 12th that some people sat down and insisted that they would not see me rule Nasarawa State and they went ahead and wrote a different result and announced to the public. Like I have always said, the result of the election in Nasarawa has never been announced. What was announced was a fake result that was composed and written by a gang of people who parade themselves as democrats.
I have promised to pursue the case of this stolen mandate from station to station until they dropped our mandate. I am a democrat; I believe in the due process. I believe that as a leader, I cannot pursue my interest outside the law. No matter how bad the judicial process might be, I have no way of fighting for anything outside the judicial process, outside the due process.
Our democracy must be such that nobody, no Nigerian, should be prevented from assuming any leadership position in this country when the people have given him or her confidence. What happened in Nasarawa State between April 11 and April 13 was worse than June 12.
I have been fighting for civil rights since my university days. When I was in the university, I was one of the student leaders in this country that stuck out their necks and took risks under the military regime to fight for this democracy. We put our lives on the line to fight for this democracy. We were one of those that were being haunted by the military juntas during that time. So, it is sad for me to say that having fought for this democracy at the risk of my life, having escaped jail by a whisker, having lost my job in Champion newspaper as political editor because of my stance on June 12 and my writings at that time, that in my little Nasarawa State, I will now suffer at the hands of a clique that vowed that in this state, some people will rule, some people will not rule, purely on ethno-religious reasons.
I am a patriot. I believe in the unity of Nigeria. I believe that this country is the greatest gift that God has given Africa. I believe that since ancient Egypt, black Africans don't have yet another political entity like Nigeria that can project the interest of Africa all over the world. Anybody that studies my life from my university days through journalism and my writings, right down to where I have been in different political positions in this country knows that I am a stickler for national unity. I come from a mixed family. My family head is a Muslim. We are mixed. We have no problem with each other. Every campaign I go, he is the one that sits by me. And I know that in Nasarawa State, the masses rejected religious division because contrary to the expectations of this clique, I won election in most unlikely places where they instigated ethnic problems.
I do not believe in Nigeria divided along religious and ethnic lines but there are forces which are still taking Nigeria back. That is why we continue going forward and moving backwards. We can't run a country like that. This is a huge heterogeneous country. We must be moving forward. That is what we want. So, in this dispensation, what I am asking for is justice in Nasarawa State.
What is the situation regarding your electoral petition? At what stage are you now?
I am still struggling. I have now headed to the Supreme Court which is the last court of jurisdiction. I have gone there with my case, with my appeal, praying and hoping that this time around, justice will be done. The Supreme Court is the last hope of the common man. It is the only place now where the hope of voters in Nasarawa State rests.
What prayers are you saying before the Supreme Court?
We are asking for justice. APGA is asking for justice in Nasarawa State. I am asking for justice. The voters in Nasarawa State are asking for justice. The women and youths of Nasarawa State are asking for justice. The elders, the people are asking for justice because what happened there is unacceptable in any country. It is unacceptable in every civilised society. It is unacceptable in any part of the world. Our country cannot be different. We must run a society that brings people together, not where a few people will just sit down and suppress due process and the rights of the people. This is exactly the situation. So, I have headed to the Supreme Court. Our notices of appeal have been filed by my lawyers and I am praying that in the coming weeks that, after the Supreme Court of Nigeria must have received all the records of the proceedings from the Appeal Court in Makurdi, we will be able to go through this process and that finally, our mandate will be recovered so that we can sit down with our people and plan the future of our state.
The courts have thrown away your case on two occasions, what are you going to present differently before the Supreme Court?
We are bewildered. I have been very careful about outlandish condemnations since this process is still on but what I will say is that we are not happy with what has happened so far and our lack of happiness is not with our legal team, it is with the judicial process itself. It is with the courts, the tribunal and the appeal court because our brief at the tribunal was given out to very senior people, including judges, in addition to my legal team, and I know the comments they made and even on the subsequent judgements. So, something is funny. Something is wrong somewhere, certainly not with my legal team but something is definitely wrong somewhere, but the process is still on. We saw in the past where people lost at lower tribunals and got it at the apex court, so, I am worried about the process, at least concerning this case because it is one case that has exceptional history and everybody knows what has happened.
Your state is on the verge of getting an airport, what is your thought on this project?
We heard that Governor Almakura announced an airport project of about N17 billion, which is to be constructed in his village, Kwandere, in Lafia Local Government Area. Nobody is saying that Nasarawa does not deserve an airport, but under the present economic circumstances, you ask yourself, as a matter of priority, what should come first? What we are hearing today is that, maybe, because Almakura now finds it difficult to travel round Nasarawa State, he feels that if he has an airport in his village, any time he is coming or going out, he doesn't need to follow any part of Nasarawa State again. We don't want to use N17 billion to do an airport at this time because there are higher needs on the ground that have not been met. Go to Makurdi airport, how many commercial flights are operating there now? Benue is a more established state with better infrastructure than Nasarawa but if you go there today, make an inquiry even here with the Nigerian aviation management agencies, you will find that Makurdi airport is virtually not commercially viable. Hardly does any commercial flight go to Makurdi. Even Jos is limping; if you have one or two flights in a week, you are lucky. Same thing with Bauchi. Even established cities with functional economic activities that can make people move, and with elites that have some capacity to travel by air, their airports are not viable at the moment.
I believe this is just an opportunity to loot the state. This airport project is a huge crime against our people. Everybody has cried out against it. Why will you at this time when people can barely survive use N17 billion to build an airport in your village when all parts of the state are cut off from civilisation?
The people of Benue have an airport. They won't come to an airport in Lafia. The people of Plateau have an airport; they will not come to our state to go to anywhere. So, what is the commercial value of the airport and what airport are we building that will cost N17 billion? What airport? Is it Heathrow? It is to mortgage our future. This is a crime and we are calling on the Federal Government and the aviation authorities to stop the project.
Are you saying your state doesn't qualify for an airport at all?
Our people do not have any urgency or air traffic that is so huge that we need a N17 billion airport, neither do we have any huge cargo now in Nasarawa State because cargo has not been developed. There is no industry there where chief executives will want to travel to in Nasarawa State. So, if you really reason that you need anything like air travel in Nasarawa State, what you do now is an airstrip, where you have light planes that may come in to the state capital maybe in times of urgency. But to come and build a huge airport of N17 billion is gross insensitivity to the needs, aspirations and conditions of our people.
You were Minister of Information in the last government, what is your take on this current administration vis-a-vis the anti-corruption war?
I don't want to comment on this administration now. I was in government as Minister of Information for nearly five years. My voice was all over the nation. Decency requires that I keep quiet and watch events and let Nigerians hear other voices. That doesn't mean I will not say anything but it is virtually too early for me, as a former Minister of Information, to begin to talk about what is going on at the moment. If you have spoken for so long and people have heard your voice, you also withdraw and hear others. I have my views about everything that is going on now. At least I have heard from other Nigerians, when the time is due, when I believe I have respected public decency, when I have waited, I will make my views known. But for now, it is too early for me to say anything. The processes that are going on in the full glare of the people of Nigeria and what I will say is that the media should be very careful. That is all I will advise. I will not say anything now on that one.
What would you say were those things that made the PDP, your former party, lose power in 2015 despite having ruled for 16 years?
I don't want to comment on that now. I have left the PDP. The party is now an opposition party. Since I can't speak on a ruling party, there is no reason I should on a party that has lost power. In the end, you still need opposition for democracy to survive.
As the national secretary of APGA, can you let us into your plans for the party?
Our programmes are already captured in our manifesto, which is known to Nigerians. What I can say is that APGA is sad about some of the rulings so far, particularly in Nasarawa State. Everybody knows that APGA won election in Abia State. There is no doubt about it. Every Nigerian is aware of that. Everybody also knows that APGA won election in Nasarawa State. These two states were won by APGA. If we muzzle opposition by stealing their mandate, then this country will not move forward. I was in government when President [Goodluck] Jonathan initiated electoral reform programme. Only Jonathan could have conducted the election you saw in 2015. Only Jonathan could have reformed this democratic process and allowed an opposition party to grow so strong as to be in a position to win election. Only President Jonathan could have done it. If you look at all the state elections that were held since Jonathan took over and concluded, there was something to be said because I was part of the reform. Only Jonathan could have appointed [Professor Attahiru] Jega he didn't know as INEC chairman just because he needed somebody who would do justice to everybody. So, having been part of those who witnessed it, because I can remember when President Jonathan would say that, 'look, I am ashamed; everywhere we go, they say that they are rigging elections in Nigeria, I want to change this country. I want to make a change.' He made that statement clearly and he stayed by it and said, 'look, my ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.'
There is a lot to be said but having been part of the process of inaugurating change in the electoral system and I go to Nasarawa State and see what has happened, I cannot keep quiet. It is unacceptable because in a democracy, the electoral system is the only hope that can change government or fight bad governance. There is no other way. Ultimately, what we have seen in Nasarawa State has made me feel like maybe the former administration's dream of free and fair election is too tall an order for the people that are in charge of the process now. For APGA, we cannot accept the situation we have seen in Nasarawa State and I think that for this new era of change to show any modicum of movement forward, the brazen robberies in Abia and Nasarawa states should be checkmated and the mandates restored to those who won those elections. Then we will know may be there is hope in this dispensation
The motto of our party, 'be your brother's keeper,' is something that is germane for this country. We must really be our brother's keeper, given what is happening in this country today. And that is why we thought that if APGA won two states, in addition to Anambra, there would be competition in the polity. People can look at what APC is doing, what PDP is doing and what APGA is doing and Nigerians will come to conclusion because the idea is to open yet another opportunity for competition in the system. I do not believe that another party is not possible. And I believe that if APGA has those two states, there will be three parties and Nigerians will have a clear choice. If you don't like those two parties, come to APGA. If you don't like those parties because they are not doing well in your state, then you vote for APGA. It must not be either PDP, APC or you die. No. We are offering another hope, which is APGA. And we hope that before long when we get these two states back, Nigerians will have yet another alternative and compare us with what other people are doing.
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Quote 2: Only Jonathan could have conducted the election you saw in 2015. Only Jonathan could have reformed this democratic process and allowed an opposition party to grow so strong as to be in a position to win election. Only President Jonathan could have done it. If you look at all the state elections that were held since Jonathan took over and concluded, there was something to be said because I was part of the reform.
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Nigerian Tribune
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22:28:00
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