ERstwhile speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, former deputy minority leader of the Senate, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora was the deputy director general of the successful All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential Campaign Organisation. In this interview, Senator Mamora bares his mind on the person of the president-elect, the challenges of the campaign and developments emanating from the victory of the APC among other issues. Excerpts:
HOW was the campaign?
Expectedly it was tough in the sense that we were trying to displace a sitting government which in its self is a herculean task in Africa and in fact in anywhere in the world. Never has it been done in Nigeria, so this is the first time that you would have an opposition party come in to defeat the ruling party, the incumbent president.
So we knew what to expect, we knew what to face, but we were undaunted because we were determined, we wanted it, we worked for it and God did it at the end of the day. So I wouldn’t go too far without saying it is the Lord’s doing, as we say and to God be the glory.
But I will also give credit to the leaders of the party and in saying this, you would want to consider the background to the merger, the parties that came together and then of course the defecting governors particularly from the PDP that also joined.
Emergence of the merger
So everybody had a role to play, but I must specifically give kudos as it were to the leaders of all the parties that were involved in ensuring that the merger became a reality against all odds.
You don’t have to start recounting all that happened, attempt to scuttle the merger even when the merger eventually came to be and of course setting up the structures of the party, ward congresses, local government congresses, state congresses, and the national convention. People thought the thing would collapse; it is not possible, strange bed fellows and all sorts of things like that.
And then you would not forget so soon when some people also came claiming that APC is their own brand.
For me, I would tell you that all along I believed the hand of God was in the whole project. And I just had it within me that the hand of God was in the whole project, and we finally got the right candidate.
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| Senator Olorunimbe Mamora |
Seriously, for me and with all due respect to all the other presidential aspirants, for this point in time the best man that could have won that election with of course God in the project could not have been no other person than Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, seriously. It became an idea whose time has come, and nobody just could stop it.
Of course I acknowledge all the other presidential aspirants; Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwanso, Sam Nda Isaiah and Rochas Okorocha, all of them.
When you look at even the history of nations, you will discover that at some point in time, at a particular point in time, God would just give the people, that is, the man for this point in time.
If you talk of America, you will talk of Abraham Lincoln, if you talk of Britain, you would talk of Winston Churchill, if you talk of South Africa, you would talk of Nelson Mandela, if you talk of Singapore, you would talk of Lee Kuan Yew, if you talk of France, you will talk of Charles de Gualle; so all these individuals came at a time or God just presented them at a time and everybody would just key into it.
Campaign period
So it was against this background that we faced all the odds and like I said, I had that conviction within me that God is in this project. And look at the electioneering campaign period, look at all the campaign of calumny against the person of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, hate, propaganda and all that, viciously attacking his person and in spite of all that, in fact it got to a point that all these attacks, they became positive in the sense that people were beginning to look beyond whatever.
All these attacks became a source of sympathy towards the presidential candidate then as he was. Then of course the certificate saga which was a non-issue to start with. And one thing I always and still tell people up till now is that the greatest thing going for Gen. Mohammadu Buhari is moral authority, it is the greatest asset. His integrity is there, but moral authority is the main character that can stand up and say yes and nobody would query that and none of his peers has that kind of quality.
As the Deputy Director- General of the campaign, did you at any time entertain fear of defeat before the election?
Not really the issue of fear, but there were concerns and there were even some anxious moments, but the peace of God was with me personally and I had the cause to express my own inner thoughts to Gen. Buhari himself, that God was with us in the project taking into cognisance the problems created for us by those who wanted to scuttle the merger.
I also remember an attempt even on the General’s life when there was a bomb attack on his convoy and he escaped.
I felt that for me, that itself was a good omen that God has a purpose for this man’s life for this country, that he could miraculously escape or he could be miraculously delivered in that situation, that itself was enough to convince me that God has a purpose for this man in Nigeria.
Again, I said it earlier on, wanting to displace a sitting government at the federal level in Africa and in Nigeria where it has never happened before, so it was historic, and of course knowing the amount of money thrown out, seen and unseen, the amount of the vicious campaign, so if it was money, we would be nowhere to be found because we could not match the PDP money for money, no.
They also had all the state apparatus at their disposal, and all these convinced me that it was the Lord’s doing.
Given what happened to the PDP, what are you putting in place to ensure that you manage your success?
My prayer is that our own lot would not be like that of the PDP, but at the same time, I would also warn that we are not immune to what happened to PDP.
For me, three things happened to PDP. The first was complacency, the second was arrogance of power and the third was enthronement of impunity. And it was like, no, we are the ones there, nothing will happen, we can do whatever we like. So those were the three things that destroyed the party and brought the party, PDP, to her kneels completely. So, we should also be mindful.
In fact, I even said it somewhere before now, that PDP is even lucky for the Nigerian people to have tolerated the party for 16 years, I pray that we would also be lucky enough. You see, the expectations are more than before, very high now.
What do you make of the change?
I am not unmindful of what the challenges ahead are and what it means is that we must always remind ourselves of these challenges. We must always keep our eyes on the ball so that we don’t miss the goal.
We must keep our promises particularly the three major areas; insecurity which we must tackle, the second is corruption, the third is the economy; those are the three major areas and they are interwoven. What the president- elect has been saying, in essence, is that it may take time to achieve certain things.
Turnaround in stock market
But I have gone further to say that certain things even with his election, without being inaugurated, with his election certain, things happened, there was a turnaround in the stock market, the price of dollar relating to naira fell, those are some positive signals and which are just based on the man, Gen. Buhari, the president elect of Nigeria, everything is just falling in place and that is the kind of thing that you need because with his election already, some level of stability is already being experienced in the system which we now need to build upon. Even the investors both within and outside, there is already some kind of confidence coming into the system.
To complement this, the people he would work with, must think along the same line with him.
I can assure you that the bit I know of the president elect, he is ever mindful of who are around him because he cannot do it alone and that is why the constitution has given him that latitude to assemble a team who would work with him either as members of the cabinet or as special advisers or in various other positions.
I could remember on several occasions during the campaign, you would see the masses that virtually mobbed him and you would be wondering these people they have expectations.
So he is very conscious of what is at stake and I know that he would bring on board those who would be in the best position to assist him in achieving the set goals, objectives and the vision which he has for this country.
Don’t you think that the continuing failure of your party to resolve the zoning of offices could tear your party apart?
The party will not tear apart, that is the first thing to say. For a party that is as vibrant as APC, it is nothing unusual. What is important is that at the end of the day, the party would uphold the principle of justice, equity and fair play.
Whatever that is going on now, at best they are just consultations. No decision has been taken, they are just consultations and it is good to consult wide and put heads together, give and take, work out consensus and what have you to achieve what is best.
Crash programme
It is not about an individual, tribe, geo-political zones, it is about Nigeria. And once we keep Nigeria as our focus and we all collectively agree to work for what I call the best interest of this country, then we will get to that Promised Land.
What advice would you give to the PDP to survive as an opposition party?
First, I would probably just borrow from one of the recent press releases of my dear brother, irrepressible Lai Mohammed where he said that the PDP would be willing, I think he gave the advice to Olisa Metuh, the PDP National Publicity Secretary that he would be willing to give him a crash programme on how to be an opposition spokes man.
So I think I would just advice Olisa Metuh to take the advantage of that free crash programme offered by Lai Mohammed on how to be an opposition spokes man, which is on a lighter note.
But on a very serious note, PDP should adopt the approach of APC in terms of not engaging in destructive criticism. I just mentioned earlier on that we would not be perfect, we are very conscious of that because perfection belongs to God. What PDP should look out for is to give constructive criticism and be up and doing.
You know that was what our party was doing and I cannot over say it. Lai Mohammed, the opposition spokesman till May 29, did a wonderful job in that capacity because he would comment on everything and anything in a very positive manner. So that should be the kind of rule.
On those dumping the PDP for the APC?
I am not too comfortable by this influx of a lot of people particularly even the big wigs in PDP now moving into APC in droves. Yes, people are welcome, but what we want is value addition, we don’t want fair weather birds, no because that may be dangerous.
Some of these people with all due sense of responsibility, some of them may just be political virus that would end up infecting and invading and then go on to destabilize and destroy, that is the way I look at it.
Some of them, I am not saying all of them, some of them may just be what I have just said political virus which would infect, invade, destabilize and destroy their host and in this instance the APC.
People must learn to be consistent in what they do and we cannot have a balanced democracy in an atmosphere devoid of robust opposition. It is important for me to say this. We need that robust opposition to keep constantly the ruling party as it were or the government at that point the incumbent government on its toes. Because when a government or the ruling party is kept on its toes, then you will always know that there is another party waiting in the wings to take over.
This is the way it should be. It should just be a situation of if I don’t get what I want here, let me jump. It doesn’t help the system. We must help the system to grow to what we want it to be.
Political evolution
For me, happily enough, through a process of political evolution, we seem to have established a two party system in the country, which I have always considered the best option for us because it is the kind of situation that provides the best advantage to abort the things that tend to divide us; the primordial sentiments, the north south dichotomy, the east west dichotomy, religious, tribal, ethnic sentiments and all that. It is a two party system that provides the best option to abort these divisive tendencies in the land.
So that is my advice for the opposition, the PDP, let them also feel it this time around, now that the table has turned. It is good to know how it feels to be on the other side.
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