Two rebel governors back to PDP —Gulak

 

Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak

Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, in this interview with OLALEKAN ADETAYO, insists that President Goodluck Jonathan did not sign any one-term agreement with PDP governors

Despite the President’s statement that he did not sign a one-term pact with anybody, members of the New PDP are insisting that he signed the agreement and that at the appropriate time, they will release a copy. What is your position on this?

Eight months ago, when the Governor of Niger State came up with the claim on the one- term agreement, I particularly challenged him to come up with a copy of the agreement. This is because as a political adviser to the President, I know there are only three organs of the party at where such decision can be taken. They are the national caucus, the Board of Trustees and the National Executive Council and there was no time that such as issue came up at the level of any of these organs.

I challenged him to come up with the agreement, but up till now, the so-called agreement is nowhere to be found. I have repeatedly said it that Mr. President has never signed any agreement with anybody not to run for second term. The President himself said it at the last presidential media chat that he did not sign such an agreement with anybody.

Their plan is to tell Nigerians lies in order to intimidate the President or abridge his constitutional right to offer himself for second term if he so chooses. They should leave Nigerians to decide who they will vote for. It is not a group of five or six people that will tell the President what to do. I am happy to say that from G7 governors, they have reduced to G5. Two governors have backed out because they know it is not true. So there was no agreement signed by the President.

What then could have informed this insistence by the governors that there was an agreement?

I have said it that it is part of their plan to issue out tissue of lies in order to abridge Mr. President’s constitutional right. It is power. Certain people want to be President or vice president. It is part of their strategy. We have debunked this claim. We challenged them eight months ago and we still challenge them to present this agreement.

If the President decides to run, can these aggrieved governors and other members of the New PDP stop him?

Nobody can stop him. Are we not governed by constitution in this country? The constitution allows the President to contest for the second term. Nobody can stop him from contesting, if he chooses to contest. It is only Mr. President himself that will say, “Look, I will not contest in 2015.” That prerogative belongs to him to decide whether or not to contest. So let us wait for the man. He has said he will only declare his intention to contest or not in 2014. So why are they pressurising him and heating up the polity? They are trying to drag the President into the ring before the time. They should go and prepare if they want to contest the Presidency of this country. They should not wait to know whether the President will contest or not. If you want to be President, go and prepare yourself and present yourself to Nigerians.

You have just claimed that two governors have backed out of the G7 whereas the group claimed five more governors would be declaring for them next week. Which one should Nigerians believe?

Their claim was mere propaganda. I am telling you authoritatively that two governors have backed out. They are now G5. Only that I won’t mention names but go and find out. Even the statements that some of them have been making are also indicating that what I just told you is right. Two governors have backed out. It is authoritative, go and cross-check.

The Baraje group also issued a statement asking the President to postpone the peace talk earlier billed for October 7 because some of their members would be on Hajj. What is the Presidency’s position?

I don’t believe they are sincere from the beginning. If you have followed the trend of events, you will see that the President has been bending backward to accommodate everybody. He is ready to go to any length to achieve peace. But it just appears that they are not ready for peace. Immediately after the last meeting was adjourned to October 7, they went to the National Assembly and you know there was no need for that. It was a fundamental breach of the agreement reached at the meeting, that all parties should refrain from further actions until October 7. Nigerians now know that they are not sincere.  So whenever they are ready, I believe Mr. President will be ready to listen to them once more.

You said the President could go to any length to achieve peace. Will he forego second term if that will bring peace?

There can never be agreement to abridge constitutional provision. It is for the President to decide if he wants to contest or not, that is his constitutional right. You cannot intimidate Mr. President out of contest, who are you and who do you think you are? When the constitution gives a man the opportunity to offer himself, who are you to say he will not? Unless you go and amend the constitution and that does not lie within the powers of the governors.

There are reports that a copy of the agreement is with a South-South governor who is a loyalist of the President and he will not make the copy available. What is your position on this?

Is that what they are saying again? That is just propaganda. If there is an agreement, they will have more than one copy. There will be duplicate copies. But I am telling you again that there was no such agreement between the President and any other persons. Agreements must be between two or more parties, except the agreement was entered into in the absence of the President.

With the way the New PDP has been issuing statements criticising the President and government policies, do you think genuine reconciliation can still be achieved?

I am telling you from my own experience in politics that there is no sincerity in everything these people are doing. They can go on to criticise the government and we will go on to tell Nigerians that what they are saying are tissues of lies. Nigerians are watching everybody. Ninety per cent of Nigerians have come to realise that these people are just out for their selfish ambitions. They should go about fighting poverty in their states, not fighting President Goodluck Jonathan. Thank God two of them have backed out, having realised that their move is not in tandem with the constitution of the country. Mr. President has the constitutional right to contest and it is left for Nigerians to decide whether to vote for him or not.

What then is all this noise about?

It is about power, it is about their last term in office, it is about what next in their political career.  It is not unexpected.

Apart from this agreement that you said is not in existence, are there no genuine conditions among the ones put forward by these men?

There are no genuine grievances. One, the President is entitled to offer himself for second term if he so desires and it is left for Nigerians to decide. Two, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should stop probing them: it is not within Mr. President’s power to stop EFCC from probing them. EFCC is doing its statutory job and whoever is involved, EFCC must investigate that administration. The commission is also probing the Federal Government. Haven’t you seen the fuel subsidy probe and people being prosecuted? It is a nonsense thing for a governor to say EFCC should stop probing his administration. In fact, I expect them to invite EFCC themselves to look into their books if they are genuine and sincere.

The third is about the national chairman. I have always maintained that the national chairman is a product of an election at the national convention and his election was observed to be correct by the supervisory body, which is the Independent National Electoral Commission. As there was process of emergence, there is process in our constitution for his removal. No governor or group of persons can just stand up and say you must sack the chairman.