Northern govs conspire against the North – Sen. Bello

Senator Kanti Bello, four-term senator representing Katsina
North has described the emergence of Gen. Muhammudu
Buhari as presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) as a quit notice to the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP).
He lauded the conduct of the primaries, which threw up Buhari
saying it was a victory for Nigerians.
Excerpts:
How has it been politically?
So far, so good. Though sometimes, I feel disappointed.
As an advocate of Buhari presidency, how do you feel now
that he will fly the APC flag?
It is a good choice. What is left now is for him and APC to
work hard so that he can win. Nigerians have longed for
Buhari to lead them but some people who would never do
things right are against Buhari presidency. It is time for him
and the party to accommodate other interests. I’m happy APC
has shown the ruling party that we are transparent by
conducting what is believed to be the most transparent, freest
and fairest presidential primaries in the history of Nigeria. You
could see that the other aspirants congratulated and
embraced Buhari contrary to the wish of PDP that former Vice
President, Atiku Abubakar and others who failed to win the
ticket would decamp or won’t accept the result if they didn’t
win. It is not in the law of APC that the winner must take all.
Rather, positions would be evenly distributed.
The country has been held captive by the Jonathan
administration. The recent happenings attest to this fact. As I
talk to you, Nigerians don’t know how many barrels of oil are
sold daily. Jonathan encourages his brothers, the ex-militants
to continue to steal our oil. Late last year, this government
approved over N50 billion to purchase stove and our military
is under-funded, hence, the reason they have not been able to
crush Boko Haram. The latest is that Nigerians should be
ready for more hardship, according to the gospel of the
Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the
Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala. Jonathan is set to
introduce austerity measures. This bad governance cannot
continue. Corruption is legalised by the present; if not, tell me
why nobody has been arrested for oil theft?
Today, Nigeria is in debt after Obasanjo secured debt relief for
the country and some states are no longer stable. The
sovereignty of this nation is being challenged because part of
this country is no longer in Nigeria. Some people have taken
over those places in the Northeast. The nation is in a state of
war and to my surprise, this does not bother the President as
he goes about his re-election bid as if all is well. Jonathan
never deemed it necessary to address the nation on how he
intends to solve this problem. He has forgotten the Chibok
schoolgirls who have been in the Boko Haram den for eight
months now. And his followers never see anything wrong
about this hence they have adopted him unopposed as their
presidential candidate. What a shame. People are dying like
flies and he goes about dancing and campaigning. He wants
to continue to suffer us but that won’t be possible because
come February, Nigerians will vote out PDP. If it were to be in
other countries, their president would declare state of
mourning and the flag flown at half-mast. This shows that
our moral value is gone; the present leaders are not patriotic.
What Nigeria needs now are people that can bring about
change.
Northern governors recently asked Mr. President to declare
total war on Boko Haram in the Northeast, what is your take?
We are already at war. Part of this country is not in Nigeria
any more. Is it not the duty of Jonathan to secure the country
as Commander-in-Chief? Does he need to be told to declare
war against Boko Haram? Already part of Yobe, Adamawa and
Borno states are gone. Before you know it, God forbid, these
insurgents may enter other states. Right now, Jonathan is
President of Nigeria and Commander-in Chief minus eight
local government areas in the Northeast.
When Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu declared war in 1966,
the area in which we fought the Biafra/Nigeria civil war was
not as big as the areas being controlled by Boko Haram. And
the Federal Government then mobilised the armed forces and
crushed Biafra. So, what we expect from Jonathan is to
mobiliise the army, recruit more youths into the military and
equip them fully so that we deal with insurgency once and for
all instead of playing politics with the security of the nation.
Only newspapers are counting how many days the Chibok
girls have been in captivity, taken away from their parents.
Jonathan and PDP kept promising us that the girls will soon
be back. Any president who cannot keep or fulfill his promises
to Nigerians is not worth re-electing to govern us for another
four years. If we must save Nigeria from total collapse, we
must kick out PDP in 2015. He has no business seeking re-
election because he has reduced the office of the president to
mockery. Since he declared state of emergency in the
Northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, what has hap­
pened? I have respect for some of my colleagues in the Senate
but they have not done enough to keep the President on his
toes. Thank God that some are bold enough to call for
Jonathan’s impeachment. It is long overdue. He has
committed a lot of impeachable offences. The Senate
President, my leader, I also have respect for him but, having
fought the war to keep this country together, I expected more
from him as the leader of the National Assembly to save this
nation. There is a conspiracy against the North by the
Northern governors because if Jonathan can’t declare war in
the affected states, why can’t they come together to protect
their states.
The court says Tambuwal cannot vacate his seat as Speaker
for defecting to the APC, what is your reaction?
The Constitution of Nigeria encourages free association
including political association in line with the article under the
fundamental principle of state policy. This particular section
because of its importance, says you cannot pull Tambuwal out
unless you amend it with three quarter majority. And if you are
to amend it, you need three quarters. So, the people who
drafted the constitution see the importance of freedom to as­
sociate. The constitution also made it clear that if there is a
problem in the party, which everybody knows that there was a
problem in PDP, a member can leave the party for another. So
the court ruling in favour of Tambuwal is victory for
democracy.
Was PDP in crisis?
Yes, there was and it is still in crisis and would remain in
crisis as long as this set of people remains in the party. If
PDP is not in crisis, where are governors Rabiu Kankwaso of
Kano, Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers, Wamakko, Sokoto, Ahmed
of Kwara, Al-Makura of Nasarawa states. Where is Prince
Olagunsoye Oyinlola, National Secretary of PDP just to
mention, but a few. If there was no crisis, they would have
been there. So, you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that
PDP is in crisis. The bottom line is that the constitution
allows any member to leave his party if