Chief Ebenezer Babatope, former Minister of Transport and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was a chieftain of the Presidential Campaign Committee of the party during the recently concluded presidential election. He speaks with Abiodun Awolaja on the presidential election, the violence in the North, and allied issues. Excerpts:SIR, just like you rightly predicted, President Goodluck Jonathan won the presidential election by a landslide. What does his victory portend for the electoral process and the future of democracy in NigeriaIt is good for Nigeria and, honestly speaking, democracy will have a very meaningful effect in the country. President Jonathan campaigned very hard and the Nigerian people assessed him based on his own merits. I want to tell you that the people who voted in Lagos voted for Jonathan based on their perception of who they think he is. They believe that he can do the job and they voted for him and not based on any sentiment by any political party.Its good for Nigeria and, honestly, some things should be said. It is quite a pity that the Ijaw people, having produced Jonathan, are now being hounded by some sections of the North, whereas the Ijaw people had always supported the North. So, why the section of the North should do that, I dont know. But if they are not careful, they will not only burn themselves; they will destroy themselves.General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), during one of his campaigns in the North, asked his supporters to kill whoever rigged their votes... He said so. ApparentlyI mean, I dont want to comment on him because I read his statement published in the papers that he was not in support of the violence. Well, I hope that is true because what he said before the election amounted to incitement and he needs to do more to convince everybody in Nigeria and the outside world that he is not involved in the attempt to burn down the country that he had wanted to govern.Can we say that the security agencies were not up and doingThere is nothing the security agencies could have done which they did not do. For example, it is inconceivable that some people would rise up to start killing people because of an election which their people participated in willingly and in which they voted for candidates of their choice. Jonathan won seven states in the North and had 25 per cent in another seven, making 14 states out of 19. What is the hullabaloo, what is the problem thereHonestly, the killing of innocent people appalls people like me. It had happened before: in 1985, Ahmadu Ahidjo tried the same thing they are doing now in Cameroon and he ended up disastrously; he went down to his grave, having blotted out his own good records in Cameroon.Sir, how can we prevent things like this from recurringWell, if some people believe that Nigeria must forever remain an extension of their private family compound, we wish them the best of luck.The spirit, which Nigerians displayed in 1990 when Major Gideon Orkar staged a coup and announced that he was excising some states from Nigeria, should guide Nigeria now, because Nigerians rose up as one body to condemn that declaration and prayed that that coup should fail. Then the same Nigerians went and voted for the late Chief MKO Abiola in 1993 and Obasanjo in 1999. They should allow this trend to continue. I believe that very few people are masterminding this violence and if they are not careful, they will not only blot themselves out from the good books of the Nigerian people, they will, in fact, write a sad page for themselves that they will never forget.Sadly, some commentators say that this is taking us back to a kind of North/South dichotomyThis is not about North/South. The Yoruba people are politically sophisticated and they voted for Jonathan because they believe that Jonathan represents the kind of a progressive individual they should vote for, so if it is true that many of the Southern states, except Osun, voted overwhelmingly for Jonathan, the truth remains that when this next election comes, they would still vote for people of their choice. Jonathan had 25 per cent in 14 northern states, so those who are saying that Nigeria is going back to South/North dichotomy are not right.And the same Jonathan has said that he is not going to contest in 2015. For goodness sake, you can be sure that when 2015 comes, if the North produces a candidate, you will see the number of votes that the southerners will give. That is what is important. Any matter that is decided by violence never ends well, so those who are perpetrating it are going to regret what they are doing.Chief Obafemi Awolowos prophecy has come true, and he was not supposed to be a prophet...He was merely a visionary. The day Baba made that pronouncement was in Bonny when the late Brigadier General George Kurubo was declaring for the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).Papa was addressing a rally of the Bonny people in their main market. Even at that time, you would remember, the Ijaw people never ever voted for Papa Awolowo, despite the fact that he was the person who started the Ogoja/Rivers movement. Papa just told them,You are not supporting me now, but mark what Im going to say too you; one day, an Ijaw man will become president and a Berom man will be his vice-president, or it could be the other way round. When that happens, you will remember that an Awolowo came here and told you so.Lets go to Osun PDP. It has been alleged that the reason why Osun State could not be delivered to the president had to do with a rally organised prior to the election, where certain PDP leaders had vowed to wrest power from Governor Rauf Aregbesola, and also that the leaders did not do enough; they merely collected money and pocketed it.That is not correct; that is false, absolutely false. Well, there was a rally, but God is the decider of events. We re not happy with what happened to us when our case was decided in Ibadan (at the Court of Appeal), but that does not mean we would now have to go to a rally and start talking of some other things.What happened simply was that the PDP in Osun State is now trying to put its house in order and to move together as one. We were able to achieve better result during the Jonathan election than during the National Assembly election. So, I want to say that our 36 per cent represents a better result for the PDP and everyone that participated in it. The ACN had been involved in vicious campaigns; and not only that, they have been cutting and macheting our people. Many of our members have been killed and dumped in the bush, but if it had been them, they would have embarked on propaganda.Would you say the media presence of the PDP is inadequateYou see, talking about the media presence of the PDP, you cannot blame us for that. I tell you, Bola Tinubu and the ACN have been able to get media in the South-West to align with them.However, nobody can say anywhere that the PDP did not excel in media propaganda during the presidential election because Jonathan and Sambo had the best publicity ever in the history of presidential campaign in Nigeria. But I agree with those who say that the ACN boys are largely in control of the media; they have been able to gain control of the South-West media. I want to say this: Lai Mohammed, Ive always commended him. He has been very, very active and has achieved a lot for the ACN. But we are going to change everything now.Still on the presidential election, we have had international observers from all angles commending the election. But the CPC has come out to say that it is rejecting the result of the election because it was rigged. What would be your comment on thisWell, I dont know what the CPC people have as their facts. All I know is that it is difficult for the CPC to have expected good results from the South. Very difficult, even though I must confess that Pastor Tunde Bakare is a very brilliant person. I personally love Tunde Bakare and Ive said so in my column in the Tribune.But Buhari cannot win election in the South because at one particular time in the history of this country, he perpetrated oppression. He oppressed the leaders of the people here. For example, only one NPN man was jailed after the Second Republic but all the other people from the South were jailed.
Click here to read full news..
