2015 Recently a social reform activist from Adamawa state,
Daniel Richard, a man those that consider themselves
kingmakers in the North love to hate because of his fearless
disposition, entertained questions from newsmen on the
state of the nation. In this piece Assistant Editor, MIKE
ODIAKOSE, writes on the new
Culture of presidential bashing and Richards’s response,
including fears the country will disintegrate over 2015
general election.
It has become fashionable for
politicians that are seeking relevance
to focus on President Goodluck
Jonathan and abuse him in the media
with or without reason. Even those
that were in the Peoples Democratic
Party for over a decade became instant
‘progressives’ the moment they
jumped ship and started attacking
the President. In spite of the fact
that President Jonathan is Nigeria’s
13th Head of Government and fifth
democratically elected President,
his critics, including some former
rulers and those that were formerly
within the corridors of power like
former President Olusegun Obasanjo,
General Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam
Nasir El-Rufai, Atiku Abubakar, some
former PDP governors that defected
to opposition party, and their cronies,
heap all the problems in the country
on a single individual.
It appears the strategy of these
individuals who have fallen out of
favour is to demonise the President
in the eyes of Nigerians ahead of
the crucial February 14 presidential
election.
However, as far as Daniel Richard
is concerned the root cause of most
of the problems bedevilling the
country had their foundation decades
before President Jonathan came into
office and only gullible Nigerians
will swallow hook, line and sinker
the utterances of the critics of the
President. He perceived these latter
day ‘progressives’ as a handful of
opportunists, who are driven by
greed and ambition and completely
unrestrained by conscience or morality.
His words: “I was telling somebody
that, look this country has deteriorated
more than we thought. The parameter
that is being used to measure how
things have gone wrong doesn’t exist.
If Nigeria were to be in a developed
country we would have known that it
has collapsed since about 20 -30 years
ago. It is just like the economy. Some
people will tell you that the economy
is good or bad. So if you tell an
average Nigerian about the collapse
of the Naira, he will not know because
he does not know how the economy
operates. So the only thing that he will
understand is increase in the prices of
essential commodities which he uses
every day.
“So in a country where we don’t have
a parameter to know where we are at
a particular time we will not know our
status. If you talk about insecurity and
now everybody is blaming Jonathan this Jonathan is about 57
years old which means he is
less than seven years when
Nigeria got its independence.
He just came at the wrong
time. Finally, he arrived when
the problem has manifested.
This is the systematic decay
of every aspect of public life.
The system has been decaying
systematically over time. Then
now a 57 years old president
is being blamed. By his age
it shows that he has not
participated in the affairs of the
country until lately. But today,
the insecurity is President
Jonathan. The fall of the Naira
is President Jonathan. Falling
oil price is President Jonathan.
What kind of society are we
really that we cannot take
responsibility.
“The people blaming
President Jonathan are the same
people in the system. They are
there right from inception. In
fact they have a clear mandate
to lay a proper foundation so
that Jonathan will not inherit
problem. Unfortunately he
came at a time when he is not
wanted or needed. I am not
holding forte for anybody, but
I still can’t understand why we
will not take responsibility to
say, Ok, young man you were
not around when the problem
started. Who has sat Jonathan
down and say, Ok we that have
fought the civil war, we know
the reason why the war was
fought but there is no argument
on how we sort out ourselves
and everybody went about his
business.
“How will you blame a 57
year president on a problem
that started when he was a
young man with no hand in
the affairs of the country at the
time? The country existed for
54 years; I am not talking about
the time before independence.
But the man that is the
president today was may be
Five, Six years when we got
independence and now he is
being blamed for everything”,
Richard emphasised.
He further stressed that
those who are carrying out
campaign of calumny against
the President with the hope it
will diminish the possibility
of the ruling PDP winning the
2015 election should go back
to 1999 and analyse how the
alliance between the defunct
All Nigerian Peoples Party and
Alliance for Democracy failed
to upstage the PDP. Richard
argued that the present All
Progressives Congress, APC,
is a mere return of the failed
alliance of 1999.
“You see, I have said it before.
Let me remind you, in 1999,
they actually then worked
together although they didn’t
work for the PDP anyway,
more than 85 percent of the so
called core North were all in
ANPP; they had ten states, the
South West were all in AD in
the six or seven states and they
voted for their presidential
candidate anyway, yet the PDP
won the election. So all this
idea of merger, relationship or
marriage between one group
and another, I think the myth
has been broken in 1999.
“So even if you say, Ok,
Buhari will get all the Yoruba
votes and the Hausa-Fulani
votes, he will still not make
it because it happened in
1999. We are all witnesses
to what happened in 1999
unless if things have changed.
And again I have to see the
end result, this Kangaroo
arrangement has been going
on over and over and again this
thing is bordered on certain
personal interests. It is not that
all the Hausa-Fulani or the
South West are all interested.
“These few people in politics,
where 10 or 15 people will sit
in a room and decide the fate of
their people without consulting
them, when these things are
done, the chieftains don’t
consult the larger population,
it is their decision that they
decided to do. They will only
go back and say, this is what we
have decided and no question
is asked. So I am yet to see the
delivery.
“Merging is one thing,
delivery on promise is another.
Unless I see the delivery, Ok
Buhari has won all the South
West states and of course the
core North states because you
have the core north now. It
has never existed, when I was
growing up and I am now
above 50 years, I only started
hearing about it from about
five -10 years ago. Nothing like
that existed before; I have never
known there is something
called the core north. We
say we are all Northerners
and they recently coined the
Northern minority and other
divisive tags we have that now
apparently. I used to know the
Middle Belt and other things.
May be it is the core north
and another that will vote for
Buhari.”
The Adamawa state-born
activist equally disagreed
with those who are peddling
speculations that the country
will disintegrate after the
general election. He was of the
firm believe that two things, oil
and corruption, are binding the
country together and so long
as these two attractions are still
rooted in the country, issue of
balkanization of the country
will not arise.
“When people are saying that
they are afraid, that the country
will disintegrate or there
will be fighting I don’t agree.
From experience, we all know
what is binding us together
as a people, is corruption and
the so called oil. If these two
things don’t exist, we will all
walk away. The corruption
that is binding us together
will still go on because in the
corruption cycle, there is no
tribe or religion; it is practiced
by all of us. There is no core
North, South or anything. So,
corruption has been the key
factor that has at least kept us
together as a country and this
so called oil.
“I have been praying
everyday single day. Let this
oil finish so that everybody will
find his level. Corruption will
be reduced. That is the only
thing that is keeping me and
you together as it is now. We
have no other relationship than
to share the money we stole.
So we are all together in this.
So when these things finished,
corruption will go. I am not
afraid of the election. Nigeria
will not disintegrate. This I can
guarantee you it will not be just
because one person is declared
winner, the other person will
fight.
“First and foremost, who is
going to fight for who? Who
in this country is going to fight
for Nigeria? Everybody will
fight for his village, for his
region or tribe. Who will fight
for Nigeria? Ok what are you
fighting for anyway? What
people are telling you that there
will be fighting. Fighting for
what and for whom? Who stood
for you as a young man while
growing up? This is a country
that has no mentors. So who
are the people that are going to
fight for? As a young man, you
finished University, you went
for NYSC, and you have no job.
So who is the Nigerian that you
will say fine, now that I am so
disenfranchised, let me fight
for you. Who are you fighting
for? You must fight for your
cause. And when people tell
you Nigeria will split, I kept
asking them questions, who
are you fighting for, and what
is the reason for your fight?
Who has stood for you that
you are now angry that he is
being disenfranchised that you
wanted to fight for him?
“You see what is happening
in the North today. They are
only interested in getting
offices; they don’t want to hear
the Boko Haram story again.
They are only interested in
running around and looking
for offices. Today Northerners
are talking about elections
into public office. Let me save
the people first. This is what is
paramount now.
“In fact for the past one
year and a half or so my
preoccupation is how do I deal
with the Boko Haram situation?
Today they displaced this
village, tomorrow it may be my
own. These are my concerns.
I believe that if all of us the
Northerners will collectively,
if we still believe in our zone, I
want to believe that this period
that we are not in power , I
think we will sit down and say
let’s sit down and solve our
internal problem. Forget who
the President is. And again you
keep blaming.
“You see, this blame game
is the biggest issue in Nigeria
everybody is blaming the other
person. I am blaming you, you
are blaming me. Unless we take
our future in our hands, how
long should we be blaming
each other, the US or any
other thing? It is us that have
the problem. The problem is
right at our doorsteps. You are
telling your neighbour that see
my problem, face it first. Let
your neighbour say Ok, now
that you have decided to solve
your problem let me help. So,
me I understand clearly that
the fighting that everybody is
talking about will not happen.
Who will fight in Nigeria if this
oil money cannot be shared?
In fact one week if they did
not share this oil wealth that
is when everybody will carry
gun.
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