We need to focus on issues rather than personalities in our politics –Alkali

Special Adviser to the Presi­dent on Political Affairs, Prof. Rufai Alkali, has described as utter falsehood allegations that his principal, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan masterminded the impeachment of Adamawa governor and the botched at­tempt to sack that of Nasarawa. He said they were mere smear campaign against the president who he said described as democracy torchbearer. He speaks on the chances of of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party, PDP, 2015 polls and other issues. Excerpt:










There is this issue of some of the Pro-Jonathan campaign organisers throw­ing funds about. They have already exceeded the campaign limit set by INEC and people are wondering where the funds are coming from. What do you have to say?

I do not really call them campaign groups. What we have are support groups. These are groups that are formed by individuals freely on their own volition; they have found President Goodluck Jonathan a leader they can trust; a leader they can follow; a leader they want to support. Therefore, they are exercising their right of association under the Nigeria Constitution and their right to support or sponsor any group or individual. Cer­tainly, supporting the president is a plus because it is obviously a clear evidence that both the people inside and outside the party in this country have seen that the president is recognised as doing very well. So, for this reason obviously, there is nothing to envy about our opponents. Now you see them running around trying to garner support unlike the PDP, which is very organised.

But who is funding these people?

As far as I’m concerned, these are support groups who mobilise themselves, mobilise their funds, as they are more or less voluntary associations. Therefore, I do not think there should be any contro­versy at all.

Talking about controversy, various groups are calling on President Jonathan to come out and contest, promoting and projecting his 2015 presidential aspira­tion. Is this not a violation of the electoral law?

What is violation? In what way?

Indirect campaign because INEC has not declared the campaigns open. INEC does not have any sectoral law against any group coming together to drum up support for an individual of their choice. Even in marriages, even at birthday ceremonies, etc there is politics. So, INEC does not go about prescribing laws against coming together of groups.

Do you think President Jonathan has performed enough to deserve a second tenure?

Nigerians are the people to pass the verdict. I believe you’re not a foreigner in this country. He has done well in transforming this country. It’s not a one-day affair, it’s a continuous affair. The principle, the objectives of transformation are what matters. Some of the things we take for granted now did not exist in the past. Even, you are a major beneficiary of this. Only a few years ago in the media, there was clamour for the passage of the information bill. You may have forgotten that it was this government that for­malised and signed it into law. That credit should go to him. And on the election platform, things are improving by the day. Only recently, our party, the PDP, won decisively in Ekiti State. Our opponent could not proffer a tangible reason for losing the election except to complain that the president mobilised the military to frighten the electorate. I think what the president has done so far shows the fundamentals of democracy.

Even former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said the President is not fit for re-election. Well, I don’t know who else is fit for election. I don’t know from what part he’s talking about. I don’t know his feelings because I have not dealt with that angle as yet. But I do I know that he himself is not very much in gov­ernment now but was once in government and he knows what is right and not right in government. Well, what do you expect from someone who is after your office?

Looking at the state of insecurity, do you think the 2015 elections would hold? There was a dinner in the villa during the last days of Ramadan and Mr. President took his time to address the dignitaries who attended the dinner. Incidentally, most of them were ambas­sadors from various parts of the world. And he told them categorically that there was going to be elections in 2015, which is going to be free and fair, and devoid of violence. So unless someone is agitat­ing for violence or planning for it, there would be no reason for violence.

In one of the recent dailies, the gov­ernor of Kano State called the President an ethnic bigot. As a northerner do you see Mr. President as someone who will support ethnicity in any form? I think this is one of the troubling aspects of Nigerian politics. I have been constrained to engage people on what words to use because we have really reached the stage where we should address issues rather than personalities. I have always used ev­ery opportunity when addressing the press to harp on the need for us to respect our leaders. As much as possible, we should be able to separate issues of leadership and issues of politics. After all, one day we would be looking for people to sup­port us in one way or the other.

Chief Bisi Akande, immediate past national chairman of APC called Mr. President a dictator, what is your take on this?

I really responded to this when it was brought to my attention and I said that I was terribly disappointed. One, because he has served this country over the years in various capacities. I also said that at his age Nigerians expect from him to be a beacon of hope and a fountain of knowl­edge. He should not have used certain language in communicating his ideas. It is expected that someone of his age, our father who has served this country would be mindful of what he says about the lead­ership of this country. Like I said earlier, everybody is expected to play a role in the management of the affairs of this country, because there must be a country and there must be workers before you start ruling the country.

There is this allegation that the President spearheaded the impeach­ment of the Adamawa State governor in order for the PDP to take back the state through the backdoor. Is the President a member of the Adamawa State House of Assembly?

What were the charges against the former governor of Adamawa State? However, the charges against him were not new. Let’s not underrate the intel­ligence of most members of Adamawa State House of Assembly because all of them came from different constituencies. And for all of them to come and say they don’t appreciate or do not believe in what the governor was doing is enough, it is not helpful for anybody to heap allega­tions on the President.

Some people also are equally of the opinion that Jonathan was behind the recent impeachment moves in Nasara­wa State?

We can’t be going in circles. What applies to Adamawa also applies to Nasarawa. We should give them their due, impeachment is not a simple thing. So for an impeachment to take place or for some people to embark on impeachment moves, it means that somehow something must have gone wrong in the system. So people should leave the President alone; let them face their problems.

They say that there is no smoke with­out fire. If the President is the gentle­man you have described him to be, why are all these people pointing fingers at him?

I think that accusation is the simplest thing to do in this country. Everybody can accuse anybody at any time. In fact, it’s a very popular thing, especially amongst politicians. If for instance, someone jumps into a swimming pool, he may turn round and accuse his opponent of pushing him into the swimming pool.

What did you come into this office with?

First of all, I assist Mr. President; I as­sist our party and so long as Mr. President invited me, the best I can do is to work for him diligently and ensure that he suc­ceeds.

What is your greatest headache?

None. None that I know of. Mr. Presi­dent is doing his best to tackle them all. That’s why nothing is giving me head­ache.