My support was for Osinbajo, not for Tinubu – Naja’atu Mohammed

Naja’atu Mohammed, a politician and renowned activist, recently resigned as director of the presidential campaign council of the All Progressives Congress. She speaks with DIRISU YAKUBU about the dumping of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and why the Tinubu/Shettima ticket is a disaster waiting to happen, among others

Bee at what point did it occur to you to step down from the APC presidential campaign council, where you oversaw community organizations?

Let me tell you what really happened. First of all, I did not support Tinubu as a presidential candidate; my support was for Professor Yemi Osinbajo from day one. I had even sent emissaries to Osinbajo to dispute that he is relatively young, educated, proactive and brilliant. We noticed that every time Buhari leaves the country; we regain some semblance of common sense, including the value of the Naira.

When Tinubu emerged, he emerged in the most corrupt way. I knew how delegates got money to vote, but it wasn’t just to vote; each ballot had the name Asiwaju on it. They were only paid to drop it in the box. For that reason alone, I had no interest in those primaries. Yes, I was in the APC, but I couldn’t even free myself at that point. I waited, but I never attended any of the meetings and I was not interested in anything.

One day Hon Faleke called me. I didn’t know Faleke from Adam. I was on a flight when he called to introduce himself. And then he said, “Please, Ma, we want you on the campaign council; we want you to be a director. I said no, why? I don’t want to be the director of your campaign. He started saying, “Please, mom,” and I said no. “You embarrass me”, because it is no good for anyone to beg you; it’s very embarrassing and if you don’t accept it, you come across as arrogant. He asked why I didn’t want the appointment. I said because I didn’t hang out with Tinubu, I didn’t see him, he didn’t tell us what he had for us up north, and at this point and at my age I can’t be a zombie. He kept begging me and we agreed half way.

So he said, “Okay, Ma, by the time you see Asiwaju, if you are not satisfied with what he has to say to you, then you can unsubscribe. We agreed on that. After that, I saw a phone call several times, which I didn’t answer, and then they texted me that Asiwaju wanted to talk to me, and I said I would wait.

What did Tinubu say to you on the phone?

He said, “Hajiya, please forgive me, but I respect your position on not accepting my nomination. However, I want you to listen to me. Can you come to London?” I said yes. That night I bought my ticket and took a Lufthansa flight the next day to arrive in London the next day. That same evening I was taken to Asiwaju by one Ibrahim Masari and we sat down.

Did you finally meet him in London?

Exactly, I said, “Sir, what do you have for us up north? What is your blueprint for our situation? He said he didn’t have a blueprint. I said, “Sir, how can you rule without a blueprint? He said the reason is he’d step on too many toes and they might kill him. I thought that was silly. I said, sir, if you don’t blueprint, how do you rule? By the time you get power, there will be many distractions. So, he said, if I have something I want to include in his manifesto, I have to do it.

What did you do after that?

I sat with my elders; you know we’ve been networking for a while for the salvation of the country. We sat down and came up with a brochure about the Almajiri, agriculture, economy and out-of-school children. But I was not allowed to see Asiwaju anymore. I was still in London, so I called Ibrahim Masari, and he said, “Sorry, your proposal can’t be put forward because Governor Nasir El-Rufai has already told them that all the North needs is the state police.”

I came back to Nigeria and it took forever for the campaign council to be inaugurated. The person who helped the campaign council is the secretary, Senator Mohammed Hassan. Meetings are held in his house. He sponsors the meetings, buys the refreshments and gives everything, but no one has received anything.

After a while, Faleke and Senator Hassan asked us to come up with a budget. We set up a technical committee and got to work. We came up with a document and handed it to Faleke, but nothing happened.

Asiwaju could not be reached. It is easier to see the Prophet Muhammad, because if he does not see you during his time, he will look for you. Buhari was accessible to the lowest of the low when he was fighting. I had never seen anything like it. To see Tinubu you have to lobby, but I can’t stoop to that level. However, in all this I persisted, so what did I do? I said, ‘Okay, let me find the who’s who of our northern leaders in the APC. For about three months I commuted to have us sit and give Asiwaju the position of Northern Nigeria, but they refused to sit.

Why did you insist on making demands of the North?

Before the Southwest decided to support Buhari in 2015, they gave him a blueprint of demands. Thus, Babatunde Fashola received three or four “jumbo” ministries. Go look; the highest amount Buhari donated to the Northwest, his own region, is 12 percent of his total budget. The biggest beneficiary of Buhari’s government because of their deal with him is the South West.

Meanwhile, I received overtures from Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, and kept rejecting them because I didn’t want to appear hypocritical. Obi and I wanted to meet, but we were both very busy, and I flatly refused to meet Atiku. I am quite close to Kwankwaso, and this goes even beyond politics. I knew what he was doing as governor of Kano State. He prioritized education, provided a conducive environment for businesses to thrive, and rehabilitated drug addicts.

What prevented you from joining the camps of Obi or Kwankwaso when you decided to leave Asiwaju?

I have a lot of respect for Obi. He has been the rallying point for the youth of this country. However, both Obi and Kwankwaso are now disabled. They started their parties shortly before the elections and they have no structures. So no matter how hard you try, it’s hard to make it.

Our experience is similar to Buhari’s. No one has ever been as popular as Buhari in Northern Nigeria, but why does he keep losing? He consistently got his 15 million votes, but he didn’t make it until he got a bridge to cross over to the other side. Unless and until Obi and Kwankwaso cross that bridge, things are going to be tough. The Obi and Kwankwaso movements, if managed properly, can survive them.

You had a personal meeting with Tinubu in London. What is your assessment of him in terms of preparedness and readiness for the job?

I saw him firsthand in London. He slept most of the time. He can’t stay ten minutes without falling asleep. Pa Bisi Akande sometimes supported him like that (takes her right shoulder off her shoulders). It’s so frustrating! He didn’t even understand what I said. The man is not mentally alert. I asked some people around him, as well as some of our clerics, who claimed that having a Muslim-Muslim ticket is a Jihad. I asked them, “Can you allow Tinubu to lead you in prayer? Can you allow Tinubu to be your Imam? If you say yes, I’m in. But they said no so I asked why? They said because he is sick.

APC has an indecipherable candidate, a man who helped the party chairman hold the party’s flag. Let’s not crucify Tinubu for his ill health, but neither should we sacrifice the lives and property of more than 200 million people because we want to sympathize with a sick person.

You once described the APC candidate as an emperor. Why do you see him in that light?

He claims he made Lagos what it is today. He claimed that Lagos and the entire southwest revolve around him. How else would I qualify him if not as Emperor? Who gives him that right? How did he manage that? More than 20 years after he left the governorship, why? Why was Akinwunmi Ambode removed? Ambode did great. He was removed because of the emperor.

The campaign council rejected your claims that Tinubu has no plans for the north and stated that there are specific programs of action for the region in its manifesto.

These people don’t even know the difference between a manifesto and a blueprint. I can tell you that I have a menu at home. I want rice and I want beans; that’s the menu. How do I cook the rice and beans? That’s the blueprint, and Tinubu doesn’t have it for the North. He’s too superficial because he told me he wouldn’t make a blueprint until after the election. Is that impossible?

Until you were fired, you were a part of everything in the APC. What is the general acceptance level of Tinubu in the north?

I have tried to help these people, including Tinubu, because they don’t understand the North. The north is not like the south. If you recall, before 2015, Buhari had only one state in all of the 19 northern states. Buhari didn’t even win his own state, even though he got his 15 million votes. Although PDP was in power, he still got his 15 million votes.

In the North, the farmers have the trump card, they control the votes. In the South, the governors are in charge. They determine who gets the votes. The entire southwest did not give Buhari the differential votes that only Zamfara State gave him.

In 2015, we were able to fire a sitting president. We mobilized and succeeded. We guarded the votes and sacrificed our lives, but Tinubu thinks this silly Muslim Muslim ticket will help him. He thinks that if you say ‘Muslim’ in the north, everyone in the north will be shocked. It’s not like that.

All they depend on is that you pay the elites and the governors to give Tinubu his 25 percent. His calculation is that he will get block votes because he believes all Yorubas on Earth are his slaves. He believes they must obey him no matter what.