*‘My problem with the late head of state’s self-succession bid’
*On Boko Haram: Jonathan, military don’t understand the phenomenon
In this concluding part of the interview with the former legal adviser to the late head of state, General Sani Abacha, Prof. Awwal Yadudu, he says the late Chief MKO Abiola won the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election but defends his incarceration by Abacha on the grounds of his self-declaration as president. Yadudu also speaks on other issues in the polity.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter generated controversy. What is your take on the letter, President Jonathan’s reply and the one from Iyabo Obasanjo to her father?
I don’t know what propelled Obasanjo’s letter. Clearly he was addressing the fact of what the president was doing to the PDP, the fact that the president signed an undertaking to do one term, the fact that some money was not remitted to the Federation Account. But my worry is that a former president felt so worried to state such allegation that an incumbent president is part of a conspiracy to train snipers to be used as political agents. A former president has total understanding of the security of this country, he would not likely make such an allegation for nothing. So my understanding of it is therefore is that it is in Obasanjo’s character. He has not done this to Jonathan alone, he did it to Babangida, he did it to Shagari, he did it to the late Abacha also. He is someone you can call basket mouth. If he feels strongly about something, he says it. Even in the letter, he clearly stated that he had been compelled to choose the medium of public broadcast because the other attempts to reach out to Jonathan had been completely ignored or disrespected or spurned.
So Obasanjo’s letter levelled serious allegations that anybody in authority ought to address. And my understanding of Jonathan’s response is that he was neither addressing the facts nor attempting to dispel the allegations and therefore it is very worrisome. It portends great danger for the polity, for the Presidency and for the nation. We are not talking about a military regime, we are talking about a person elected under the law, the constitution being abused and all he does is to play the ostrich. God help us.
Late MKO Abiola and Late Gen Sani Abacha
On Iyabo’s letter, I don’t know what to make of it. There is no way you can deny that what she said are personal issues. Though some people said some of the allegations Obasanjo is making against Jonathan were allegations made during his tenure. So it was either he was able to address those problems or it may be that the people were not courageous enough to come in the open and make the allegations as he has done now. There were open letters also like the kind Obasanjo has written that were written against him, may be he was a bit more clever as president that he knew how he could handle it. Remember the late Sunday Awoniyi’s letter was very scaring. He was addressing the same issues Obasanjo is now addressing. In Obasanjo’s case, he didn’t reply Awoniyi in an open letter but he probably took decisions which ameliorated some of the allegations that were made . May be I can link this issue now to the previous ones discussed.
If a president signed an undertaking that he was going to do one term and he now reneges and suddenly there are allegations, accusations clearly being hurled at him by his predecessor in office, then he ignores it, it further compounds the views and perception and analysis of his personality that the rest of the world is making. It is no longer a local issue.
Internationally, he is completely diminished. This letter and his response have not enhanced his standing but has further diminished his standing and his respectability. As a gentleman, as someone who will command respect, not only in Nigeria but when he meets with comity of others, you can not tell other heads of state with a straight face what kind of things you are doing here.
What does the emergence of the APC portend for the PDP?
Having a true and vibrant opposition to any ruling party, not necessarily the PDP, can only be helpful in shaping policies and also assisting government to have direction. This is regardless of electoral fortunes. If you have an opposition, the dictatorial tendency of the majority will be checked and you and I the common people will benefit from it in that we will have policies that are better shaped, we will have less intrusion from the dictatorial tendencies such that the issue of somebody going to the National Assembly to throw something at them and get away with it will not happen. In a way also, it has called the PDP to order that you will rule this country for 100 years is hollow. In terms of electoral fortunes, there is no doubt about it that if elections are conducted fairly and squarely, if votes count, it is not rocket science to imagine what would happen to the fortunes of the PDP. Already they have lost potentially the control of the National Assembly.
If you look at the profile of the states controlled by the APC, demographically, they are the most important electorally. You are talking of Lagos, and the whole of South-west, Kano in the North-west, Rivers , you have almost the whole of North-east, where does the PDP get its votes and that is why I said looking at the profile and composition of realignment of forces, it does not require rocket science to predict the electoral fortunes of the PDP. They are very very dim in future. Jonathan must be the most embarrassed president who failed to show his face at the National Assembly to present his budget. It is the most embarrassing statement to make. Even in Nigeria, that action didn’t ring any bell and the presidency too didn’t make any issue of it but, internationally, our partners, they understand what is happening. The fact that he was unable to appear before the National Assembly is indicative of his grave apprehension of the fact that he has no control of the assembly. Forget the issue that they have not reached a consensus on the bench mark, the fact is that he has no control of the assembly. Having said that, the APC too would have its own internal problems because it is bringing all sorts of people together, not necessarily based on ideology or manifestoes except that some people are aggrieved, they left and joined you. I think that can be a problem for the APC and it can also be a good challenge if they are able to address it, then we can truly have genuine democratic parties emerging that are based on a platform and that can now canvass for votes from the people. If the APC behaves like the PDP in terms of democratic culture, they will not go far. At the moment, on the face of it, officially they are what are.
With benefit of hindsight, what kind of person was Abacha beyond the demonic picture the public has made of him?
First of all, and this is the point I always underline, I served the government in a professional capacity as special adviser on legal matters. As a professional, what advice I gave or did not give were not matters known to the public and so therefore are not matters as I do tell people that I will now come to broadcast. This is something that those with whom I worked can vouch or not vouch. I was not politically active other than just being professional in what I was doing. So regarding my assessment of the late General Abacha. he was a leader who had come to the stage under very difficult circumstances and circumstances I unfortunately was unable to verify because there are many claims as to how he came about. There are those who claimed there was an understanding that he would hand over after some time. I cannot verify that claim because I came into office some four, five months after he assumed office. It is not within my province to begin to do that but, whatever it was, it was very difficult circumstances that he came to govern the nation. There was a man who had contested an election and, from all indications, won the election and someone had annulled the election for whatever reason and then you now found yourself, whether through your own scheming or by happenstance, you happen to find your self in power. It was a situation, domestically it had a lot of social conflicts and there were those who felt that, even if you won’t install the winner, you didn’t have to incarcerate him. Here was a head of state finding himself in an inconclusive election that was trying to be actualised outside constitutional means under which the election was conducted but, whether you like it or not, at the time General Abacha came into office, there was no way he could actualise legally the election that had been inconclusive. Chief MKO Abiola had not been declared the winner although there were result sheets that would lead inexcusably to him being declared as the winner…
Read the rest of Yadudu’s response and the full interview in edition of Sunday Vanguard.