The Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, in
this interview with TUNDE ODESOLA, speaks on the Ekiti governorship election
and efforts made by the Federal Government towards rescuing the schoolgirls
abducted from Chibok, Borno State
What’s your view on the forthcoming Osun State governorship
election?
I see the Peoples Democratic Party winning this election and
I’ll tell you why. Despite the propaganda going on, you can see that in real
terms these guys have not done anything and people are not stupid. Look at the
accumulation of debt. The debt profile of Osun State is frightening. For a
state without an industrial base; for an agrarian state like Osun to pile up
the kind of debt the present governor has accumulated is mortgaging the future
of the state. Sometimes we underestimate people; we think people are not
learned enough to understand and appreciate what is happening around them. They
do. This is one of the reasons why Aregbesola would be kicked out of office.
Some people have criticised you over your involvement in the
Ekiti State governorship election, saying you should visit Chibok, Borno State,
instead of going about politicking and capturing South-West states for the PDP.
We did not capture anywhere. We won the hearts of the voters
in Ekiti State and they voted for the PDP. We are trying to replicate the same
thing here in Osun. We are not here to capture. The era of slavery is gone. We
are urging people to come out and express themselves without fear of
intimidation. The noise; the hullabaloo you are hearing borders on the fact
that we know them too well and their capacity to rig elections. They are not
interested in one man, one vote. They are interested in multiple voting,
fraudulent manipulations of election results. We have seen that if Yoruba
people are allowed, they would vote against the All Progressives Congress and
that is what we have seen in Ekiti. Ekiti election was the voice of the people.
There is no way the election would have been manipulated without an uproar
after the election. That people were rejoicing is to say the least that the
people had expressed themselves. If you look at the development they are
ascribing to themselves, you’ll see that these are cosmetic developments that
will not stand the test of time. People are clamouring for change; change that
they believe will add value to them, not somebody trying to impose something
alien on the society. That is what they are trying to do across South-West
states. Ekiti has fallen; I don’t have any doubt in our mind that Osun will
also fall.
The APC has said the PDP hierarchy stopped its leaders from
taking part in the Ekiti election process by refusing them entry into the state
to campaign for their candidate.
As I speak to you, these people are bringing people in buses
to come and influence the election in Osun State. That is what they attempted
in Ekiti. They wanted to introduce violence, so that they can have the
opportunity to rig the election. Not a single gunshot was heard in Ekiti during
the election. The turnout for that election was extremely high and yet there
was no incidence of gunshot; no incidence of moderate or extreme violence. That
is what election is all about. Now they are bringing in people in droves into
Osun to influence the outcome of the election. It’s unacceptable to me.
The APC said you should visit Chibok and fashion out ways to
rescue the kidnapped girls.
They say I should have been in Chibok, but I tell you that
it is extreme religious sentiments that brought us where we are in Chibok. Are we
going to close our eyes and allow these characters bring the same thing to
Yorubaland? Extreme religious sentiments bring about intolerance and when there
is intolerance; people begin to exhibit tendencies that could wreak havoc on
the society. All of us must stand up against that. Whether I’m in Chibok or
not, all hands are on deck to ensure that we bring the insurgency to an end.
Terrorism is not easy to fight. We have a history of terrorism across the
world. Even the almighty America has not been able to overcome the terrorism in
Afghanistan. Even in the United States, there was bombing about two years ago
during the Boston marathon. That is to tell you that to end terrorism is not a
100 metre dash. It is a marathon. Let’s not be deceived, we did not create it,
it is their associate that created it. All we are doing is to clean up the mess
they created. To now turn it into politics and try to get political mileage out
of it is not fair to the people of this country; it’s not fair to the people of
Borno State. All hands must be on deck to eliminate this problem, which did not
happen overnight. It’s an accumulation of neglect and insensitivity on their
part. Don’t forget that this was a domestic issue that was left unattended to
that grew into national significance. If a responsible chairman of a local
government in conjunction with a responsible governor had attacked this from
the outset; it would not be a national issue that it is today. When I was a
local government chairman, if any crime occurred in my local government area, I
could tell you the characters behind it. Whenever I called the police area
commander, I was always specific on the areas they should look at. This thing
should have been sorted out at that level. It escalated to the state level and
it was not addressed, now it has become a national issue. They are just
shameless. Their associate presided over this crisis without resolving it and
yet they have the mouth to say Obanikoro has not gone to Chibok to do the
needful. When the West African Examination Council wrote a letter to these
characters that the students taking the examination should be transferred to
Maiduguri, where were they? We are working but we are not going to discuss
security matters on the pages of newspapers. That is what they can’t understand
but we do. We are going to shame them. We are on top of the game and we are
going to win the battle.
Why haven’t you been to Chibok at least to assess the
situation?
It’s not being in Chibok physically that matters. What
matters is what we are doing to bring our children back. It is what we are
doing to ensure that the Boko Haram menace is completely checked that matters.
The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently said
the Chibok issue was not handled properly by the Federal Government in terms of
communication.
It was not handled properly because the governor of the
state didn’t listen to the advice given to him. If he had listened to the
advice, there probably would have been no abduction in the first place. The
issue is already out there, I don’t want to start casting blame on anybody. The
issue is that we have a job to do and we are doing it and we are going to get
it done.
Do you think the Chibok girls will be brought back alive?
All I can tell you authoritatively is that at some point we
will bring this issue to finality.
Has the foreign intervention been effective?
The collaboration is ongoing. As I told you, fighting
terrorism is not easy. It will take some time before this whole issue is
resolved. We appeal to Nigerians to be patient with government and extremely
vigilant. Intelligence gathering is very crucial and there is no better way to
effectively gather intelligence than for all of us to be our brothers’ keeper.
If something strange is happening in my neighbourhood, it is my responsibility
to call the attention of security agencies to it. If we all take up that
challenge responsibly, I’m sure this wave of bombings will reduce.
Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa,
said the involvement of foreign security agents in the Chibok issue was
unpatriotic, insisting that the Federal Government has the capacity to handle
the abduction of the schoolgirls alone.
I totally disagree with him. People can criticise when they
are outside government but when you are in government and all the issues are
before you, you are in a better position to determine the best action to take
at any given time. The world has become a global village; someone who sits in
Nigeria and thinks that what affects Nigeria does not affect other countries
must be joking. Look at the picture of a Nigerian with a bomb diaper going to
bomb a passenger plane in America. Is that a local or international issue? It
goes to show that if a Nigerian could be recruited to bomb the US, then this
issue of terrorism cannot be localised. We cannot rule out the infiltration of
al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups from what is the happening in Nigeria. With
all due respect to Mallam Balarabe Musa, he is wrong in this instance. It makes
a lot of sense to have an interface with countries that have experience in
fighting terrorism. America, Israel and some Arab countries have gone through
it and are still going through it. There is no better way to deal with situations
than ensuring that people with requisite capacities are brought in to be of
assistance.
Based on the amount of work done in rescuing the Chibok
girls, how long would it take to bring them back?
On the issue of terrorism, I can’t put a timeframe to it because
I don’t want to be wrong. All I can say is that we will not rest until we
overcome this challenge. This is a challenge to our generation. To every
generation there is a challenge. For the generation of Chief Obafemi Awolowo
and co it was the struggle for independence and they were able to overcome it.
The next generation was faced with the challenge of military rule and they
overcame it. We will overcome our own challenges.
How is your party handling the crisis in Ogun State
involving Buruji Kashamu and former President Olusegun Obasanjo?
We will resolve everything and we will win Ogun State.
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