“I Am Suspicious Of President Jonathan” – Tinubu Reveals
Posted by: Okorie Confidence on October 14, 2013
All
Progressives Congress (APC) leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday
justified his opposition to the national conference proposed by
President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that the President’s motives are
suspect.
He
said although he is an unrepentant supporter of a Sovereign National
Conference, he was wary of a “rushed embrace”, owing to President
Jonathan’s antecedent as an antagonist of the idea.
The former Lagos State governor opposed the proposed conference when
he returned from a medical trip abroad. His comment drew criticisms from
some proponents of the conference.
Tinubu faulted the proposal, based on its timing, stressing that government’s sincerity is questionable.
He said:
“Though I remain an unrepentant supporter of a
genuine Sovereign National Conference, I am suspicious of this present
concoction because it is half-baked and fully deceptive. Government’s
sincerity is questionable; the timing is also suspect. Now that this
government is sinking in a pool of political and economic hot water of
its own making, it seizes hold of the national conference idea as if it
were a life jacket.”
In a statement in Lagos, the APC leader urged Nigerians to beam the
searchlight on the proposed conference, insisting that it is a ‘Greek’
gift and public deception.
He stressed:
“President Jonathan’s epiphany–if epiphany
it is and not an expedient calculated to enhance his 2015 re-election
bid – should be subjected to searching questions.
“It is difficult to lay aside the suspicion that his sudden
conversion is all about 2015. Otherwise, why the sudden endorsement of a
national conference, not merely in principle, but with a rush toward
some form of implementation? What has happened that was not already in
play in all those years during which the authorities rejected demands
for a national conference?”
Justifying his opposition to the conference, despite its seeming
popularity, Tinubu maintained that the Federal Government should address
“the fundamental questions about the timing, sincerity and, most
importantly, the capability and credibility of the President to deliver a
genuine national conference”.
He went on:
“How credible, reliable and capable is the current President to be able to midwife a critical conference, such as this? Will
this President be sincere enough to let all the issues that are on the
agenda be exhaustively discussed at the conference? Will this President
have the guts to implement fully all final resolutions of the
conference, without fear or favour or any pandering”?
The former governor alluded to the events that heralded the
announcement of a conference by the President, recalling that despite
the previous opposition to it by the legislative and executive arms, the
President suddenly made the announcement, following its endorsement by
Senate President David Mark, who had also criticised the agitation,
barely three months earlier.
Noting the change of heart by the President and the Senate President, he said:
“I, like other well-meaning Nigerians, must welcome this shift. It
is an admission, at last, that the wide cracks in the national fabric
can no longer be papered over, and that the time has come for fresh
thinking on fundamental problems, the existence of which has for too
long been denied.”
Tinubu’s opposition was informed, according to him, by historical
experience and the government’s shortfalls in sincerity and capability.
He said:
“This is an administration that has been known to have
flip- flopped on so many critical issues of national importance.
President Jonathan was part of two issues of national importance in the
recent past; amnesty and the Uwais Panel on electoral reform. We all
know what has happened to these two issues.
“The amnesty conceived from inception has been corrupted and
hijacked by the President’s clique. It is one of Nigeria’s drain pipes. A
slush fund for political expeditions and a conduit to siphon money to
the boys. The Uwais Panel report gathers dust and suffers from constant
cherry picking. What about the much-publicized SURE-P initiative of this
administration? “Another ill-conceived and fraudulently implemented
programme of this administration. Billions of naira
have so far disappeared into private pockets and the treasury still
bleeds. I can go on and on. Is this the leader we want to trust with
organising a national dialogue or is it conference they call it? Where
is the capability? Where is the sincerity? Where is the presence of
mind?”
Stressing that sincerity is fundamental, the APC leader added:
“It
is difficult to lay aside the suspicion that his sudden conversion is
all about 2015. Otherwise, why the sudden endorsement of a National
Conference, not merely in principle, but with a rush toward some form of
implementation? What has happened that was not already in play in all
those years during which the authorities rejected demands for a National
Conference? This government cannot hold a National Conference anymore
than a comatose man can stand and hold up a candle that the rest of us
might see our way to a better Nigeria.”
Tinubu also raised some posers for the organisers of the conference
at a time the polity is preparing for the next elections. He asked:
“Would
staging a National Conference in such a setting not overheat the
polity? Would it not be better to defer the Conference until after the
general elections? There is still so much to do to ensure that
the election is free and fair, conforms to best practices, and
represents the will of the people.”
Tinubu suggested some conditions for the convocation of the
conference to prevent it from becoming another public relations ploy to
whitewash government’s tarnished record.
He said:
“If the conference must be held now, we must return to
the spade work already done by the Obasanjo government in the aspect of
constitutional review. Let the Jonathan government bring it out,
remove the third term toxic component and set up a technical review
committee to examine the 118 recommendations therein. The
process came up with 118 recommendations, most of which were far
reaching and dealt with critical and the contentious issues of
nationhood. We must continue from where we disagreed. Nation building is
a progressive work and to totally jettison the considerable spade work
already done will set back the hands of the clock.”
Secondly, Tinubu advised that the Uwais recommendations on electoral reforms be implemented.
“That
report was the work of eminent Nigerians and it was done after
widespread consultations with constituencies far and wide. We all know
that our electoral system is broken and unfair. If the President has
done nothing to fully implement this corrective report that would fix a
system so blatantly broken, why would he implement recommendations of
national conference if those recommendations do not suit his narrow
purposes?
“The government should first implement this important work in
order to demonstrate to Nigerians that it can hold and honor the outcome
of a National dialogue. This government should do so to show that it
has nothing to hide and is willing to engage in the upcoming electoral
contest on a level playing field.”
Tinubu said while he agreed that
“Nigerians need to talk, the midwife must be trustworthy”, adding that “
if we get this wrong, the future will be fraught with dangers”.
He also said that
“Nigeria is adrift and unless we start a
discourse aimed at updating and improving our political economy and its
structures, we might wake up one day from a night devoid of dreams
because we have turned into a nation devoid of hope”.
