Chief Friday Nwosu is a political activist and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State. In an interview with OKEY SAMPSON in Aba, he spoke about the proposed national confab as well as how President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term in office would serve Ndigbo’s interest better.
Excerpts:
The inauguration of an advisory committee on national conference by President Goodluck Jonathan has been greeted with mixed reactions. Some people have condemned the timing while others want it to be sovereign. What is your view?
President Goodluck Jonathan should be commended on the inauguration of that committee. I don’t think there is anything wrong with somebody, saying ‘let’s sit down and talk’. Opposition to the national conference is unfounded and highly misplaced. If you analyse the flank from where the opposition has been coming, you
will discover that it is from the same people and groups, who have been clamouring for a national conference even before the advent of Jonathan’s administration. Is it not the same Bola Tinubu, who has been shouting himself hoarse on the issue of convening a national conference? Does it not show double standards? Even though we didn’t agree to come together, we have a lot of things going for us for coming together. Any conference that could foster our unity is welcome. Let there be a discussion. Let us agree to ratify some things that may have been done with mischievous intentions by the British colonialists.
Having come so far, let us say, even though the British people did this thing for so, so and so reason; let us harmonize it for the interest of every Nigerian. So, there is no crime in sitting down to discuss issues. For those who insist the timing is too close to the general election, it is mischievous for them to express such opinion. The president’s action is for the interest of the nation. It is unfair for them to infer that Jonathan will stand to gain advantage in the next election in 2015 through the national conference. The president is entitled to contest elections in 2015. If the people of Nigeria want him, the few disenchanted minority cannot stop him.
Can we look at the clamour for the conference to be sovereign?
We have to look at issues squarely. One, there is a sovereign authority as today in Nigeria. There is the National Assembly; there is the presidency, the courts at all levels. Nigeria’s sovereignty is invested in the people through their elected representatives in the National Assembly and the elected president and governors as well as other organs of government. For those who want a sovereign conference, are they telling us that if the type of conference they are calling for sits and asks the president and other elected officials to resign, will such people resign? Or that the state governors should resign or that the courts should be disbanded. How can that be done when the people have elected these representatives, governors and the president. What I am trying to emphasize here is that you can’t have two sovereignties at the same time. There is already a sovereign authority in the country with constitutional backing to preside over our affairs. So, those calling for a sovereign national conference should know that it is not possible. The whole issue is that if people can be sincere and have the interest of this country at heart, we can achieve a lot of our desires with this national conference.
What is your take on the allegation by Governor Babangida Aliyu that President Jonathan signed a one term pact that would lapse in 2015?
Has he produced what he claimed the President signed? Could the president have signed such an agreement? Is he on appointment to the office? We are talking about being the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria elected by an overwhelming majority of Nigerians. I have been wondering what Babangida Aliyu is talking about? Is he Nigeria? The office of the president is not a thing between Governor Aliyu and Goodluck Jonathan, it is a Nigerian thing. The president could not have signed off the choice of Nigerians. The president is constitutionally entitled to two terms in office; you can’t stop him from enjoying his right. It will be a different thing, if he tries to re-contest and Nigerians say ‘no we don’t want’. Or if Jonathan says I don’t want to re-contest in 2015, then we will begin to talk of where his successor would come from. It is unconstitutional to say the president will do only a term. Those saying so should go and read the Nigerian Constitution well. Even If Governor Aliyu is agitating for a president of Northern extraction, let him wait till 2019 when Jonathan completes his term. I am in agreement that in 2019, power can shift to the North.
Is the adoption of President Jonathan for 2015 by a section of leaders of the South East zone not too hasty going by the fact the zone supposed to have bargained with him?
For me, that is freedom of choice. I have also adopted Jonathan for 2015. He should go ahead to complete his constitutionally guaranteed two terms. The Igbo man should leave the race to Jonathan in 2015. It is not right for us to first present a list of demands to him before declaring support. I don’t see such kind of support as being genuine. I think what can be done is to say Mr. President, we supported you above every other group in 2011 and we are again supporting you in 2015 because we believe you have done well; you have done A, B and C projects and appointments for us. Please our people still need D, E and F projects or appointments to be done for them. So, if when you assume office in 2015, we want you to look into X, Y and Z projects for our zone. Jonathan has done well for the South East zone. He has given us a befitting international airport at Enugu. And I am sure his second erm in office will serve our interest better.
He has appointed our people to positions that remained ‘No go areas’ to Igbo people to occupy in the past. Other things he has not been able to do for us may wait. He still has up to one year for his first tenure to end, we must be patient because he will do more. He has done very well. Many sectors of the Nigerian economy have started to take shape. Look at the Aviation, Power, Agriculture and transportation. He has improved them from what he met on ground.
