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Chief\nCharles Idahosa is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in\nEdo state. He was a former Political Adviser to ex-governor of the state and\ncurrent National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. In this\ninterview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI in Benin City, he spoke on recent developments\nin the nation as well as the political crisis in his home state. Excerpts:
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\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari recently signed the Deep Offshore Act in London,\nUnited Kingdom (UK). While some Nigerians condemned the action saying the Vice-\nPresident, Yemi Osinbajo could have signed it here, others said the President\ncan rule from anywhere. What is your reaction to that?
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\nI think the president has the prerogative of asking his aides to bring\ndocuments to him in the UK to sign. That doesn\u2019t imply that he is ruling from\nanywhere. I don\u2019t subscribe to the idea that the president can rule from\nanywhere. Any person saying that is a sycophant who is seeking cheap publicity.\nThe president has not disclosed to us why he has taken two-weeks leave. But\nwhatever he is doing there and there is a pressing state matter that needs his\nattention; his aides can take documents to him there for him to append his\nsignature. It has happened many times. I remembered the same thing happened\nwhen Yar\u2019Adua was abroad because he was very ill. But i think President Buhari\njust wanted to take a break because I saw him with the Archbishop of\nCanterbury. So, I believe President Buhari can sign important documents that\nare urgent to our well-being anywhere he is without anybody interpreting that\nhe can rule from anywhere. I remember when we were in the government in this\nstate and we were in South Africa; something urgent needed to be done. The\ndocument was brought to the governor there but he wasn\u2019t ruling from there. So,\nthere is nothing wrong in taking urgent document to the president wherever he\nis; what is wrong to me, is saying that he can rule from anywhere. But I am\nglad that the President has returned to the country and has assured us that he\nis more energized and ready for work.
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\nSome aides of Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo\u2019s were recently sacked and some\nNigerians who believe there are attempts to whittle down his powers are asking\nhim to either fight back or resign. What advice will you give in this\nsituation?
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\nNigerians are very funny people who like blowing things out of proportion. The\nPresident employs the aides of the Vice-President. If for any reason the\nPresident wants to downsize, why should anybody read any meaning to it? The\nnumber of staff of the Vice-President was more than that of the President and\ntherefore they felt there is a need to reduce it. I don\u2019t think anybody should\nread any meaning to it. I don\u2019t see anything Osinbajo has done that will bring\nconfrontation between him and the cabals. I think what is confusing Nigerians\nis what happened during Obasanjo and Atiku\u2019s presidency. Obasanjo started\nsacking Atiku\u2019s staff and that culminated in the open confrontation which led\nto Atiku going to court and even contested for presidency under another\npolitical platform while still in office as Vice-President. Buhari is not as\ncomplicated as people think he is. But as far as I am concerned, I don\u2019t think\nthere is any problem. I am not close to the presidency but as an observer from\na distance, if the President says the number of staff of the Vice- President is\ntoo much and decided to reduce it, I don\u2019t see anything wrong in that. People\nare just trying to make a mountain of a molehill. Don\u2019t forget that the\nopposition will always take advantage of everything to fight back but I don\u2019t\nsee any issue here. It is just politics.
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\nSome people are alleging that President Buhari is scheming to get a Third term\nin office. Do you think that is realistic?
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\nBuhari is not that kind of person. I have also read it and I believe that it is\nthe handiwork of fifth columnists. The president is a democrat who will not do\nanything to subvert the constitution.
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\nSome associates of Atiku are asking him to contest again in 2023. What is your\nreaction to that?
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\nWe have not gotten to 2023 yet. This is still 2019 and besides, I am not a\nmember of the PDP but I see a situation where the North will not let go of\npower. They will still go for the presidency in 2023 after President Buhari\u2019s\ntenure. If that happens, I am going to support a northern president.
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\nDo you mean you will support a northerner as President after Buhari must have\ncompleted his eight years?
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\nYes, I will support a northern president because we southerners, there is\nsomething funny about us. We think we know more than the northerners but the\nnortherners are more politically sophisticated and aware more than us. I think\nthe leaders who by 1998 agreed to a clean slate after so many years of military\ncoup and after the MKO Abiola debacle agreed that the South and North will rule\nfor eight years and it will continue like that on a rotational basis. We were\nall very happy with that arrangement. I believe that anybody saying that the\nnortherners have dominated us is talking bunkum. The northern heads of state\nwere getting to power by coups. For all the coups that failed, those involved\nwere tied to the stakes and shot and they were 90 percent northerners. The\nsoutherners were scared of doing a coup. I remembered the case of Olusegun\nObasanjo. He was so scared to be Head of State after Murtala Mohammed was\nassassinated. If Theophilus Danjuma wanted to be Head of State that year, it\nwould have been so easy for him. I remembered Danjuma was quoted to have told\nObasanjo \u2018How can you be alive as second-in-command and you said you don\u2019t want\nto be Head of State? Let me take over and we tell Nigerians that we eliminated\nyou\u2019; that was when Obasanjo panicked and accepted to become Head of State. By\n1999, most of the people who were in power came in through military coup and\nthat cannot be used to judge a democratic government. In order to appease the\nsoutherners, especially the South- West over what happened to MKO Abiola, they\nbrought Obasanjo out of prison, cleaned him up, gave him money and he became\nPresident of Nigeria. Obasanjo became president with northern votes because he\nlost his polling unit, his ward, local government, his state and his zone.\nAlliance for Democracy (AD) took all the states in the South-West.
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\nWhen Obasanjo became president, he consolidated by plotting against the North.\nAfter doing his eight years, he wanted a Third term but it failed. He then\ndecided to pick a sick northerner in the person of late Umaru Yar\u2019Adua knowing\nfull well that he cannot last eight years as President. He also picked a\nclueless and weakling politician in the person of Goodluck Jonathan as\nVice-President, leaving people like Odili and Donald Duke who were very\neffective. Obasanjo\u2019s plan was that if Yar\u2019Adua dies, Jonathan who does not\nknow his left from his right will take over as President so that he can\ncontinue his Third term agenda through him. He however forgot to put into\nconsideration that Jonathan had people like Chief E. K. Clark and other Ijaw\nleaders. So, immediately Jonathan succeeded Yar\u2019Adua as president, they took\ncontrol of him and Obasanjo got stranded. He became so angry and started\nfighting Jonathan and brought Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari also pushed him aside\nand he also became angry and endorsed Atiku, thinking that whoever he supports\nwill win the election. For the first time, Buhari now won election without his\nsupport. What I am trying to say in essence is that the northerners did not\nfinish their tenure from 2007 to 2015 and it was a deliberate and selfish act\nby Obasanjo. So, the period of six years that Jonathan ruled after Yar\u2019Adua\ndied, we must make sure the North completes it so that the equation will be\nbalanced. That is why I will support a northern candidate if the north decides\nto contest in 2023. I will not support a southern candidate because we must\nrespect our northern brothers. That is my position as regards the 2023\npresidential election.
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\nWhat about the agitation for Igbo Presidency in 2023?
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\nForget the Igbos! They have shot themselves in the leg. It is a very funny\ndemand. Why will anyone want to give Igbos presidency when there is no APC in\nthe zone at all? The only party that could have given Igbos presidency is the\nAPC. Buhari told them but they decided to vote PDP. Now, from all indications,\nthey will rather support Atiku for presidency again because the Vice- President\nposition will still go the South-East. I see Atiku running again because the\n2019 presidential election is the nearest Atiku has come. So, I don\u2019t think the\nIgbos deserve presidency because if they do, they ought to have planned\nproperly. The late Emeka Ojukwu gave them APGA but they threw it away. So,\nunder which party will they get presidency?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chief Charles Idahosa is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo state. He was a former Political Adviser to ex-governor of the state and current National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. In this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI in Benin City, he spoke on recent developments in the nation as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[14,10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n