How Saraki Rescued Buhari from Tinubu’s Trap- Naja’atu Mohammed
… Rejected Muslim-Muslim Ticket in APC
Unknown to many Nigerians, Bukola Saraki, the Senate President was one of the strongest forces that rescued President Muhammadu Buhari from a political trap set for him in 2014 by National Leader of All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In this explosive interview Hajia Najaatu Mohammed, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano, a firebrand, die-hard Buhari’s loyalist gave graphic details and vivid accounts of how Saraki’s intervention broke the logjam that would have prevented Buhari from becoming the APC Presidential Candidate in 2014 and President of Nigeria in 2015.
This is an excerpt of the Hausa Radio interview monitored and translated by the PRNigeria.
What do you make of the ongoing political face-up between the Senate President and the President Muhammadu Buhari?
There is not face-up between the two. I think people need to know that Bukola Saraki had been one of the loyalists of President Buhari. The face-up is between Tinubu and Bukola. Let me make it clear now that, from the onset, Bukola played a major role in securing Buhari’s victory. How did he do that? He ensured they won the elections. During the primary elections, one of the people in the forefront of Buhari’s campaign was Bukola. Tinubu too tried as much for Buhari to win the elections, but there was an agreement. It was agreed that he (Tinubu) would be the vice president in order to avoid the reoccurrence of what he did to his party in 2007-2011. When Buhari won the primary election, we had a meeting in Lagos and decided that the vice president be chosen among the Yorubas. Since Tinubu was an elder of the party, we asked him to nominate three persons and he said ‘there were no other three persons other than me as it was already agreed on.’ We stayed for a long time begging him to nominate someone, but he insisted it must be him and if otherwise, the Yorubas would withdraw from the alliance.
How Saraki Rejected Muslim-Muslim Ticket in APC
It was Bukola that stood up and explained to him (Tinubu) that if they should have a Muslim-Muslim ticket, they would not win the elections because the PDP was already more powerful than the APC and they were already spreading a propaganda and campaign of calumny everywhere that the APC was a party for all Muslims. Saraki pointed out that we have many Northern states like Kano, Plateau, Benue, Kogi states and the likes that are non-Muslims and they were likely not going to vote for the APC. Even in the North Central, we have a lot of Christians and they would not vote in our favour. In the end, Tinubu said he had a pastor and that was how he gave Osibanjo’s name with a condition that he (Tinubu) should be allowed to choose the Secretary-General of the Federation, Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. As at then, Bukola was already aspiring to become the Senate President and Tinubu was against him. This triggered another hot debate. But because God was on our side, during the swearing-in ceremony of the senators, they went to have a meeting with the president. The APC senators went, but Bukola even slept at the Senate because they learnt that the then IG of Police had ordered that the chambers be sealed in order to stop Bukola from entering. The candidate Tinubu wanted was never a part of team Buhari since 2003 and if he has anything to say to the contrary, then I am waiting. Why then would we accept him as the Senate President? Is it simply because he is with Tinibu?
But because Bukola knows politics way better than them, he slept in the chamber with his people. That was how he emerged as the Senate President and the deputy was from the PDP. The APC party Chairman Odigie-Oyegun, was also a Tinubu stooge so he insisted on impeaching Bukola. The party chairman even insisted on his impeachment again recently and we made him realise that the PDP would take over and he said to hell. What he didn’t know was that if PDP should take over power in the National Assembly, mark my words, Buhari will not last long as the President.
Bukola Saraki Advises Buhari on lopsided Budget
Bukola had been one of the Buhari loyalists but people kept instigating Buhari against him without any tangible pieces of evidence to the contrary. Recall that when Buhari brought the 2018 budget to the NASS, Bukola discovered a lot of irregularities and he pointed them out to the president. Was that a crime? Out of 100 per cent, 63 per cent of the entire projects were given to the Yorubas, the South West States. In the budget, seven Northern states put together were given 10 per cent and some others were given 12 per cent. Remember that budget preparation is done under close supervision of the VP Osibanjo, not the Senate. Osibanjo as the VP is the head of the economic team and Buhari always allows him to do his work. That was the bone of contention between the two arms of the government. The fight was not single-handedly fought by the Senate president, but by the entire legislature. But people are always pointing an accusing finger on Bukola, why?
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Saraki Court Case with CCT
Talking about Bukola Saraki’s case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), can anyone tell me the offence he committed? The only thing is that the law provides that you have to declare your assets before being sworn-in, but whether he did or he did not do it accurately, the point is that he was not the only one that had committed such offence. I know of governors who lied in their declarations because they had envisaged how much they wanted to loot when they assume the office. Aside from that, why I always pick holes in the entire case is that the court in which Bukola was being tried is under a Tinubu’s boy, the Secretary to the Federal Government Babachir Lawal who openly expressed his gratitude to Tinubu for helping him secure his job as the SGF. Now the thing is that even if Bukola had wronged Tinubu, is it in any way proper to fight him through the instruments of the government to the detriment of the nation? So, by implication, are they now fighting with Bukola or Buhari?
Why is the president silent on this issue?
You know, Buhari hardly talks but we talk for him. And you have to understand that it was Bukola’s victory that ensured Dogara’s because they are births of the same feather. If Tinubu succeeds and get Bukola impeached as the Senate president, Speaker Dogara would definitely follow suit. This tragedy would have been a very big problem for the president because, remember, it is the NASS that endorses humungous expenditure of the government, especially those that are not captured in the budget. If PDP forms the majority at the NASS, they would make sure they suffocate the president by going against him, no matter the national interest. If the president decides to do it without their consent, they would impeach him because his action is by law considered impeachable. So, why am I doing all these? It is because I align with the Buhari’s ideologies. I will continue to fight for him until I get somebody better than him. Remember I started this 34 years ago, since 1981. I was nominated for the position of a minister four times and I rejected all because I didn’t believe in these leaders. Today, I am part of the history of this government and even if I don’t get anything, I am satisfied because it is our government. Buhari is not interested in the people’s money, he is not promiscuous, he doesn’t do anything against the law. I don’t have anyone like him and I will never stop campaigning for him until I get someone better than him, but as of now, I have not seen any.
Having realised this, why won’t you draw his attention to this issue and its consequences?
I am sure he knows. He just doesn’t like talking much that is why he is quiet about it. We are already talking about it. After all, the biggest problem is not knowing what the real issue is, it is how to go about solving it without ruffling the nestle. For example, some people were reportedly paid to stop the Senate President from entering the chamber. You see, that raises a question too. Besides, this is a democratic ruling. There is freedom of association. So a lot of things are begging for attention and I think the president needs to up his game.
Don’t you think the buck goes to the president by refusing to do something about it?
Oh yes, you can say that. But, Buhari is not God. I want people to understand this and accept him with his flaws. If we think otherwise then we are going against the teachings of our religion and I Naja’atu Muhammad will never do that. I will surely die a Muslim. Buhari is a normal person, but with some certain qualities that God did not give other people. Whatever good he does we will continue saying it and anything wrong we will still say it because the masses believe in us and we’ll never lie to them. We don’t want to become like the Niger Delta avengers. They say we either keep quiet or they bomb us all or we would prefer the Boko Haram to them and the former President thought they were doing it in his favour and where are they now?
The masses are complaining bitterly, especially with the rise in the inflation rate, shady deals in the petroleum sector and all that. Don’t you think Buhari needs to double up in that regard?
On the issue of petrol, we had a meeting with him when things got sour but he told us that people forget that he was once a petroleum minister and he knows what is happening. He said the oil producers inflate the price so much and share the loot within them. The distributors also do the same. He worked closely with his state minister for petroleum and gave him an offered hand to operate. Unfortunately, it was allegedly said that the minister had a hand in it or was in the know of these deals. Now, this is where I can say the president has lapsed because if I were him, I would have sacked the state minister. If I were him, anyone that had anything to do with PDP will not be in my government. I say this without fear of contradiction that 60 per cent of his government is from the PDP. They have always been there so they know how to go about corruption.
Do you think he could just throw them away like that, some of them are bureaucrats; don’t you think their expertise is needed?
Everybody knows most of them are corrupt. They all have one offence or the other. He has sent some away, but a lot is still there. I understand him and his patience because even God is patient. Even his Prophet Muhammad S.A.W was patient, but he fought wars because there are limits. He is really trying his best, but there are some that don’t deserve to be in his government. This is the reason why everything is so slow. He created the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which stopped them from looting even though it doesn’t stop them completely.
But People are hungry…
You said people are hungry in this administration. I want these people to know that the prices of food items were not increased by this administration, it was done by the individual marketers and sellers. When there is panic buying what do you expect of a seller, to inflate the price of his goods so that he gets good proceeds? If you complain, these sellers would now ascribe the increase to the rise in the dollar. Do we buy anything we need with the dollar? Our sufferings are mostly self-inflicted. However, I believe there is the natural law of demand and supply which states that if the need for a commodity increases its price is likely to increase, but not as much as it is happening now in Nigeria. It is the people that are doing this based on their own selfish interests. Lastly, I want to remind the people that whoever is not grateful to God will surely suffer. We should be grateful that the era of Boko Haram insurgency is now history.
Translation and transcript by PRNigeria
