Buhari’s anti-corruption fight can’t be compromised –Segun Oni

The Deputy National Chairman ( South ) of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Segun Oni, in this interview with TUNDE AJAJA , says the incumbent government is on course and that asking for President Muhammadu Buhari ’ s resignation is taking liberty too far
Most Nigerians say that the APC overpromised Nigerians and has under-delivered . How would you react to that as a Deputy National Chairman of APC ?
No , we didn’ t overpromise and we didn ’t under-deliver. The difference between where we are and where the expectations of the electorate are is because our people have quickly forgotten the circumstances that led us to where we are . We didn ’t say we were coming with a magic wand that would wake the economy up and say, ‘ economy, wake up and it will wake up . ’ We knew that much damage had been done to the economy . If only one person had a property worth over $ 30 m and millions of dollars found their way into private pockets , why would you think the economy would not collapse ? It was an economy where people were just taking dollars out . It was in bad shape before we came in. We were very lucky that President Muhammadu Buhari came in when he did . Many of us would have been refugees abroad by now if those guys were still in charge . And I always joke that after competing with Nigeria to sell stolen oil to the Middle East , if they think what they were selling wasn ’ t enough, the people in government then could go and sell the reserves of the country. They were aggressive ; I had never seen anything like that. You were put in charge of Nigeria ’s crude oil and you were stealing it. So, we are grateful to God that God removed them in the nick of time. Nigerians should also understand what the country has gone through.
But you haven’ t addressed the criticisms from Nigerians that the APC has under-delivered as against the promises made before it came to power .
No , we didn ’t under-deliver. Let me explain. We promised security. If you look at the situations in Aleppo , Syria and some other places where terrorists controlled territories , you will know what we were able to avert in Nigeria . Some of such territories have yet to be liberated completely in some countries because the terrorists have access to resources , which they use to procure military hardware so that they can continue to hold the territories . They don’t care about education or anything. And Boko Haram had occupied a vast expanse of Nigeria ’ s land before President Buhari came into government. Today , no part of Nigeria uses any other flag other than the green -white-green flag . Nigerians should be proud and happy that what we promised has been done.
But …
I have not finished. We also promised to wage a war against corruption. Corruption was moving about , gallivanting with impunity before now . For example, some people acquired properties worth billions of naira from corruption. Ordinarily, you will ask yourself : what will an individual do with so much wealth ? Does he want to live forever ? Does he want to prepare for hundreds of coming generations ? Corruption was really gallivanting; impunity was the order of the day. All those things have now been cut off. We are not saying there are no corrupt people but they can’ t flaunt their ill-got gains . And if there is anything that President Buhari has shown us, it is that he cannot be bribed because if a leader is susceptible to enticements , nothing will get done. So , the leadership is focused . If there are corrupt people , once they are found to be corrupt , they will be investigated and tried. On that, we have also got a pass mark .
What about the economy? It appears that the APC -led government took the economy into recession . Isn ’ t that what your party has done?
We have put the economy back on a firm footing and we know that the only way the economy will go now is up , but it needs all of us. When we talk of unemployment; for example, one question I ask is : what percentage of employed persons in the US , the United Kingdom , and Germany, among others , comes directly from the government? The percentage may not be higher than that of Nigeria . But what percentage of employment is generated by small and medium-sized enterprises in these countries? The percentage will be so high when compared to that of Nigeria . Many of us have the wherewithal to establish small poultry farms in our backyards and get some people to run them for us while we do our day jobs but we won ’t do that because the people we will put there are going to ruin the business . So, we must also appeal to ourselves as Nigerians. Let’s find a way of defeating corruption. If we don’ t defeat corruption, we are not going to see the rapid growth that we should see . We need to appeal to the Nigeria Labour Congress. The NLC should let us talk about what can be done to defeat that in Nigeria . If we don’t defeat it , we won ’t be able to convince people outside Nigeria that wish to invest in the country to come . Before, the only thing Nigerians outside the country wanted to invest in were properties because they knew the chances were high for anyone managing any other business for them to ruin it . Then , people were investing in properties through their uncles, cousins and so on , and those people would send them pictures to show the progress of the construction works . But after some of them were scammed , they warned others and the number of Nigerians abroad carrying out building projects in the country started to shrink. If there was integrity , the number of people engaged in developing projects for people outside the country would have risen . The population of Nigerians outside the country is a formidable economic force that could turn things around in the labour market. So, let us appeal to ourselves . If you say we have not met the expectations, part of the reasons why we have not been able to do so effectively is because there is no meeting of minds yet between the leadership and the led . We all need to be truthful to one another and to Nigeria .
If truly you have delivered , how do you explain the calls by some sections of the country that the President should resign ?
I will just say that the calls for the President to resign are not only unnecessary , they are unreasonable .
Do you really mean that ?
Yes , I will say it is unreasonable . You see , Nigerians take these liberty and latitude too far. When somebody has health challenges , people should put themselves in their shoes. Can you and I guarantee that when we wake up tomorrow and try to stretch our hands and legs , they would stretch? Nobody has control over this . And if anybody has challenges , it should be the responsibility of all of us to ensure that we support that person to go through it in a way that will quicken their recovery . I don’ t think it is reasonable for people to do what they are doing and I believe that it is carrying the latitude too far.
It has been argued that APC –led Federal Government’ s style of leadership is responsible for the recent unrest and agitations by groups like the Indigenous People of Biafra and the quit notices by various groups in the country . Isn ’ t that worrisome ?
When people are idle , they will be angry. I believe that when people are frustrated, they will do anything. However, that does not mean we should excuse some of the things that people do. I feel for the youth and I am always appealing to them that all these will come to an end . That is why we are trying to foster a new social and economic order in Ekiti State. The world , as it is now , is going through a period that unless and until we realise that there must be a plan for the future of young people , the world will never be at peace . The revolution by jihadists that we are experiencing now globally is branded terrorism . But what is the basis of that terrorism ? It is as a result of anger among the young ones . Until we are able to develop an agenda to rescue the youth from the scourge of poverty , we are grooming a large percentage of the population into youth poverty . We believe that there must be a new social and economic order that creates more opportunities because we cannot continue to manage the world through the models that were developed over 40 or 50 years ago . So , we need to have a society that will be more responsive to the requirements of young people to have a decent life . That is a new social and economic order . We are very determined to do it and we know that it can be done. When a migrant ship sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, who are the people sinking ? They are young people . You hardly will find people of my age there . These young people are sinking because there are limited opportunities here . They know that the probability of dying is very high, but because they are frustrated, they don’ t mind . So , what is the alternative? We must be conscious of the fact that it is getting late , the clock is ticking and we must do something .
But have you considered the argument by your party rivals in the Ekiti State governorship race that you are coming from the Peoples Democratic Party to reap from where you did not sow ? Is it fair that the party’ s ticket should be given to a defector ?
Who is not a defector in this APC business ? Who has not come from another party to join the APC? I think it is just a matter of people trying to find something to say. I am very happy that people are reacting and I am very happy that their reaction lacks substance . It is about things that a normal inquisitive mind will ask if it makes sense or not . We are all from different backgrounds and we are here to contribute our quota . Some of the people who are saying this know that they have not made more contributions to the APC than I . I didn ’t join the APC after Buhari became the President; that will make me clearly a defector . If I had joined after the President was inaugurated, I would then be a defector . If you remember , I joined when those of us in the new PDP disagreed with the order in the party and our representatives walked out of the convention of the PDP. And we came together and concluded that we would team up with others and form a new party that could take power from the PDP. We worked assiduously ; we actually took power from an incumbent government. It is not exactly very easy to take power from an incumbent government and the role of everybody must be recognised for what it is. It was a team work and we all worked collectively ; all of us worked together to achieve it . When people want to demean the contribution of others , they are not helping us to create the kind of synergy that we want to create . So, I will say that people can say that out of frustration because many of them don’ t know what they can do about my being in the race. I have no apologies to give for appearing on the scene the way I have appeared but I can say that the future for us can be rosy together .
As the national deputy chairman of the ruling party and a former governor of the state, some people are saying that you have become an elder statesman and should be grooming youths rather than be jostling for positions with them.
Fortunately , there is no age stratification for political office and if I contest and win, I am not likely to be the oldest governor then . So , age has nothing to do with it. Yes , I am a deputy national chairman of the party. A party is guided by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its constitution . In both , nothing makes it impossible and untenable or uncharitable for me to contest. So , again , these are what people will say because of frustrations. What can we say to take this man out of the field? I can see it; I can understand it but there are limitations to this argument .
About 40 people are gearing up for the APC primary election in Ekiti State , is there anything the party is doing to reduce the number ?
If people are interested in being governors, you cannot persuade them to forget about the ambition but we know that realities will persuade some people to leave . It doesn ’t come completely free ; they will spend money on mobilisation and so on . They will spend money also on the form , which is over N5 m . I don’t think many people will be willing to throw N5 m out of the window. We believe that as time goes on , when people get to the checkpoint where they access their likelihood of success , some people would realistically opt out . Even if I were not running , I wouldn’ t be a leader that would persuade anyone not to run . And being one of the contestants even makes it impossible for me to try to persuade anybody to leave . Ultimately , even if 40 people contest, what we should be looking for is a free , fair, and transparent process .