Alhaji Balarabe Musa was the Governor of Kaduna State in the Second Republic. He is at present the National Chairman of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). In this interview with Daily Independent Special Correspondent, Gabriel John, he bares his mind on burning national issues, and insists that PDP and APC are rooted in the same parent since almost 70 percent of the membership of APC is from PDP. He argues that the APC may be worse than the PDP if elected into power. Excerpts…
There are fears that the election which was earlier postponed to March 28 and April 11 may not hold after all, that the ruling party, PDP, may come out with a six-month postponement request based on section 135 of the Constitution. What’s your view on this?
First of all, PDP is not capable of postponing the election. According to the law, it is only INEC and the president who can postpone or extend the date for the election. INEC can do it at any time according to the law. However, the president can do the same if he feels it is necessary in the interest of peace and security. He can ask the National Assembly to expedite the extension of the date of the election. So, only the INEC and the president can do so, not PDP.
Prior to the February date, APC was optimistic of winning the election, are you not afraid that the postponement may affect its success in the March 28 election?
I think APC is not taking important matters into consideration. Even though they were hopeful of winning the election if the election had held on February 14, they ought to also have realized that there was no preparation by INEC for the election. No preparation at all at that time. So, the election could not go anywhere. The important issues were the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
Were they sure that their members were issued voter cards more than other party members?
They couldn’t be sure. Or other party members were issued Permanent Voter Cards than other party members? APC was not sure of that. Therefore, there were no parameters to measure their chances if elections had taken place on February 14. All that gave them hopes were the fact that according to evidence, from INEC sources, more permanent voter cards were issued in the Northern part of the country than in the Southern part. That didn’t automatically mean that those permanent voter cards went to APC members more than PDP members in the Northern part of the country. APC can still be hopeful, but let us hope that we are not relying on unreliable sources.
What will you say will be the impact of poll shift on the polity?
In the first place, there will be no excuse for shifting the date of the election again. The six weeks which INEC gave itself was sufficient for them to prepare for the election, particularly when INEC said it had enough money to do so. Any extension by INEC can be regarded as treason. There will be no excuse for further extension of the election and if INEC attempts it, INEC will be tried for treason. Nigerians should stand up and make sure that the election is held on March 28 as earlier scheduled.
The opposition party, APC, claimed that PDP’s government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan has not achieved anything. How do you react to that statement?
PDP government has not achieved what is expected of it. Of course, it is wrong to say that it has not achieved anything. It has achieved something but very marginal compared with the resources made available to it. It has achieved less than 30 percent. But remember, most decampees to APC are from PDP who felt they cannot find their way in terms of getting rich through corrupt means.
If APC is voted into power today, it can even be worse than the government of PDP under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan. APC is composed of PDP aggrieved members who could not get a breakthrough in terms of massive wealth while in PDP.
Most Nigerians hope that March 28 and April 14 elections will be free, fair and credible. Do you think the situation on the ground will provide for that to happen?
Under the conditions existing in Nigeria, it is not possible to have free, fair and transparent elections leading to a legitimate government. And that is the nation’s objective. It is not practicable because of the condition that exists. We will have election which we hoped will be tolerable, but definitely not free, fair, and transparent election because the condition for that does not exist in Nigeria, particularly the deciding rule of money factor in politics and election. If money is the deciding factor, then there can’t be free, fair, and transparent election.
What is your reaction to the rumoured plot to sack the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega?
In the first place, those who want to sack him are those who don’t want the elections to take place on March 28. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, should be allowed to conduct the 2015 election so that he can be properly judged and assessed accordingly. If he is not allowed to conduct the election, it would even be more difficult for the new chairman to conduct the election because the new chairman will not have the free hand to do the right thing. He can only say, he came under certain circumstances or give any flimsy excuse. He will have excuses for not performing. Jega himself will have reason to say he is not perform because he was not allowed to complete his work for which he had made preparation. The best thing is, let Prof. Jega complete the 2015 elections so that he can be properly judged. Any attempt to do otherwise is definitely unpardonable. If on his own part, he is unable to conduct the 2015 elections, the call is not even his removal, or his resignation whatever, but he should be treated for treason.
The APC hangs its message of ‘change’ on two things: the government’s failure to curb corruption and insecurity. Do you think this government has done enough on these two areas?
First of all, let me tell you, it’s our party, the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and the progressives in this country who about 30 years ago introduced the slogan “change” in the politics of Nigeria. So, APC just continued with what we started 30 years before them. We started using the slogan30 years before they were established. With regard to your question on corruption and insecurity, this government has failed to do anything with regard to that. I don’t think the APC government will be capable of doing it either. Therefore, what we ask for now is Credible Alternative Alliance. What it means is that, since PDP and APC cannot cope with the problem, there should be a government of National Unity involving all the political parties, either before the 2015 elections or after. Here all political parties will be involved. Therefore, opposition will be limited to political issues and everybody will cooperate to ensure the success of the polity because everybody is involved.
So, APC stole your slogan “change”?
Of course. We only laugh at them because they are trying to copy our foot step, but they can’t be like us.
Now that your party, Peoples Redemption Party, has been deregistered by INEC and there is likely no hope (even though the case is before the Federal High Court Abuja) of court verdict before March 28 and April 14 election, what is the hope of its presidential candidate and the members?
In so far as the Presidential contest is concerned, the options before us are three. First, as a member of the Credible Alternative Alliance candidate (CAA), the PRP has a moral as well as a political obligation to support the candidate of the Alliance, so long as a credible one is sponsored by the Alliance. Unfortunately, however, the CAA has so far not been able to put forward such a credible candidate that can be unanimously supported by members. Under the present circumstance, therefore, a CCA candidate option is for all practical purposes a mere theoretical option.
The second option is to support the Presidential candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. That is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. In this respect, members will have to examine President Jonathan and the PDP’s track-record of undeniable and monumental ineptitude, corrupt and administration and poltical visionlessness against the context of what is in the national interest and the PRP’s interest in self-preservation.
The third option would be to support the candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari. Here, members would have to weigh these facts. APC is constituted by at least 70 percent of decampees from the ruling PDP, raising questions as to how much different it is from the PDP. Buhari has a track record of human rights abuses, a tendency towards fascist intolerance and an arrogant self-righteousness. All these is a mixture that negates the fostering of a democratic ethos: APC (unlike PDP) has arrogantly refused to make any overtures towards other political formations not linked with PDP, the class composition and agenda of both the APC and the PDP are not different (a commitment to ‘free market’ policies and the erosion of the role of the State in the key sectors of national life). (Daily Independent).