Nigerians Find Excuses When They Lose Election

…Kosoko

Former House of Representatives member, representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency, Honourable Oladele Kosoko in this chat with Uzo Chikere, talks about the elections, his expectations and condemnation of plot to move against Chief Ajomale, Lagos APC party Chairman among other issues Excerpts:    Now that the elections are over, what is your assessment? Let me join millions of Nigerians to give kudos to Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Attahiru Jega and Out-going President Goodluck Jonathan. Both have played a very good role. They doused the tension of this election.  For the incoming administration, they must have known the problem of the country. Major General Muhammadu Buhari is not new to the system. So I expect him to take off urgently and do the right thing. Although we don’t expect miracle within two/three monhs, the priority of Nigerians should nonetheless be tackled immediately. What is the priority you want the incoming administration to urgently look at? Security is very important. In an atmosphere of insecurity, people are not safe, you won’t expect any development because people will be scared and won’t invest.  Unemployment is another disease which he (Buhari) must address. The third is the aspect of Power. Electricity complements employment.  If you establish a business and you don’t have stable power, it will affect your work force.  Corruption is another disease. And it can be solved by quality leadership. Let us start with Buhari himself. He said all ministers that will work with him must declare their assets. I have no doubt in my mind that he has genuine intention for this country. I recall in 2011, he wept. The reason for him was, why Nigeria should be in this position? If you are not corrupt, you are doing the right thing, people around you will try to emulate you. And they will get scared. Corruption does not emanate by a spirit. It is by mind. When you establish corruption, you bring in your friends, relations and give contracts; that is how corruption starts. And those around you will want to partake in it. You cannot control them because you are doing it as a leader. That is why I said that fighting corruption must start by example of leadership to demonstrate their commitment. For instance, late Yar’Adua, when he declared his own asset, it was less than N1billion. All his total asset, including that of his wife, was less than N1billion.  I am sure Buhari, from reliable source, apart from his house in Daura (his home town) and one in Kaduna that is all. These are the people that have shown commitment to the nation. Fighting corruption must start from the leadership. Somebody said they should introduce death penalty for corrupt crimes. Well, all over the world they are trying to abolish capital punishment. But in a situation whereby you jail and prevent politicians from contesting elections in at least ten years, for me, that punishment is enough. I will not support death penalty. I will support punishment that will deter people to say ‘I will not do it again.’ The PDP is accusing the APC of technically rigging the election in league with Jega using the card readers, the PVC. What is your reaction? That is Nigeria for you. We always find excuses when we lose election. If we are talking about election, PDP should not say anything about rigging. For instance in Kano, there is no way anybody can take Kano from Kwankwaso because he is very much on ground. Now go to Bauchi, look at the in-fighting in the PDP there. Go to Benue State where the governor imposed a small boy, an inexperienced person to be the governor. What about Plateau State where Jang also brought his relation. Let us look at Jigawa whose voting pattern has always gone the same line with Kano. Will you now tell me again that they rigged Lamido? Then Niger State. Talk about Katsina, the home state of Buhari.  I can give you example of eight states where PDP lost because they did not present the right candidate. That is PDP’s problem.  They are crying wolf when there is none. Recently, Chief Ayo Akande asked for the resignation of Henry Ajomale, the APC chairman in Lagos State. How do you react to this? I think the man is under illusion. In the first place, Otunba Henry Ajomale has in put his best. He is not somebody to be pushed aside. In the formation of APC, he played an active part. Even where we (ACN) were only controlling one state, he always coordinated the activities of other states.  It is not our constitution that if you lose your ward, you resign. Again, in what capacity is Chief Ayo calling for the resignation of Ajomale. Is he a chairman of a local government? Is he a member of state working committee? He deserves to be sanctioned for such statement because for you to say the man should resign, at what meeting was that decision taken. He must be sanctioned for that statement because I think somebody is trying to use the man to bring crisis to the APC. That statement should not be taken lightly because section 21 of our party constitution specifically mentioned the procedure of party discipline. And then before you can call for the resignation of the state chairman of the party, you too must hold a position either as a national officer. For instance, a ward leader cannot ask LG chairman to resign because of non-performance. There is hierarchy. There is procedure. If the man is eyeing that position, let him wait after four years. But the man is a stranger. I don’t know him politically. Do you think the promises of your party is realizable like free education, free meal, power, against the drop in oil revenue? Let me tell you, one of the fundamental issues that we need to address is the issue ofs constitution. Take for instance; the recurrent has taken about 75 percent of our budget. When you now look at it, what is our business having 42 ministers? If the constitution says one per state, we agree. But what about that regional representation, that is having ministers of state. It is absurd. If we block all leaking holes there will be enough to do the job. There is a lot of duplication. So much money is spent where they should not. Look at the money we spend at the National Assembly. That is why we were talking about part time legislators. But they argued that because of oversight and so on. But that gives room for non-performance. Because hardly you see them (lawmakers) on seat. They just mark register and go away claiming that they are going on oversight functions. Let us start from cutting allocation of funds budget for unnecessary things. I am sure with all these; APC will execute its programmes. If the recurrent will be reduced to 50, capital 50, I can assure you this country will come back alive. Where do you want to see Nigeria in the next four years? I want to see Nigerians in comfort, comfort in the area of security, power, and employment, in the area of basic amenities and in our education system too among others. Don’t you think the action of South Africa is condemnable? It is condemnable and Nigeria should pay them back immediately.  We have every right to go anywhere and establish ourselves. If the citizens of South Africa are not qualified to get what foreigners are getting, their government should address the issue. Killing our people doesn’t make sense. We too should retaliate. Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form     Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form  Previous Next