Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Reuben Abati is one presidential spokesman who hardly reacts at every criticism against his principal. But last week, in this exclusive interview with GEORGE AGBA, he defended the actions of the president in the face of the growing insecurity and economic challenges in the country. Excerpts:
As a key player in this administration aren’t you worried that leaders of thought in the country have inscribed that under the present dispensation, the nation is a failed state?
Nigeria is not a failed state. Nigeria is a country that is working. Nigeria is a state that is functional. Nigeria has a leader that is responsive and responsible. The gentlemen who used the expression failed state, I think, they are mistaken. I think one of them even said that Nigeria is under fire. Nigeria is not under fire. Nigeria which we all live in is a Nigeria that is still attracting new Foreign Direct Investment. It is a Nigeria that is still highly respected for its leadership role, not just in the West African sub region or in the African continent, but also in the entire world.
I was at that event where some speakers described Nigeria as a failed state or said that Nigeria has become another Somalia, in my view they were only making political statements. Nigeria today is not Somalia. For a reasonable comparison to be made, one needs to take a trip to Somalia. You only need to take Somalia and place it side by side Nigeria.
A country that has become a failed state is in a complete state of anarchy, where the rule of law has virtually collapsed and the country has slipped into the hands of bandits. That is not the case with Nigeria. Yes, there are problems in certain parts of the country. These problems are security challenges no doubt, but they are isolated to a part of the country and the government of the day continues to show its preparedness, determination, capacity and the ability to deal with the situation.
What makes the challenge seemingly difficult is the fact that it is a peculiar kind of challenge. We did not have in this country- the phenomenon of people engaging in suicide bombing. It is a new development. We did not have a situation in this country of terrorism on this scale. It is a new phenomenon. So it presented a special challenge to the security agencies who needed to learn new things, who needed to acquire fresh knowledge and who needed to be psychologically re orientated to be able to deal with this challenge and I tell people that despite the issues that keep coming up, anyone who wants to be objective will give due credit to the security agencies that their learning curve has been a very fast one. Almost on a daily basis now, we hear of the efforts being made by various security agencies to uncover bomb factories, to detain and prosecute many of the key leaders of the insurgence. I think what the President and the entire administration deserve is commendation: it is encouragement and it is support. That is what President Jonathan is asking for, but for a group of people to go and begin to say that Nigeria is a failed state is unfortunate
?
Despite all the efforts you mentioned, yet, people see President Jonathan as a weak and clueless president who cannot tackle insecurity in the country. What is your response?
Well, my response to this is that, it is a wrong assertion. Because many of this people who describe the President in that manner do not know the person they are talking about and if you investigate further, you will see that the same people who made such statements are politicians. They are people with partisan interests. They are the same people who, if they were to be in the shoes of Mr. President, would not want to be described in the same manner. I have course to issue a statement to state clearly that people have a right to differ.
The President who signed the freedom of information bill into law is the President who respects the right of every Nigerian to hold an opinion. But the right to hold an opinion does not amount to rewrite, to insult or to denigrate or to impugn the integrity of the office of the President. We have made this very clear, but people like to argue and say that you are trying to gag them. No. President Jonathan respects the rights to free speech, the right of the press and the right to the freedom of expression. You said that this has been repeated so often and people are beginning to believe it. Well, I urge people not to believe it, because it is not true.
And I think that President Jonathan himself has tried to respond to this on one occasion to say that there are people who keep saying that the kind of leader Nigeria needs is a dictator and that the kind of leader Nigeria needs is a tyrant. There are people who are saying look, President Jonathan should go back and arrest people, give a shoot at sight order, kill people and inflict pains so that he can whip people into line. But the President made it very clear that we are in a democracy. Under a democratic system of governance, certain things cannot be done. Democracy may be slow but it is a kind of system of governance that we have chose to have and if it is so, then we must respect it. And it was in that context that he said that he is not a General in the army or a tyrant, but people again twisted it to say that if he is commander-in-chief then he is already a general and all that. And I think that you know when these statements are made, part of the responsibility of the media is to help to reflect the true situation and to indicate very clearly to the reader and to the public that the people who are making these statements are playing politics. To say that the president is clueless is a mark of ignorance.
The president campaigned on the platform of a specific contract with the Nigerian people. You cannot say that a man who came forward to Nigerians with a plan of action does not have a clue. He campaigned on the platform of transformation agenda. That transformation agenda is not a phrase; it is a programme, it is a plan of action, it is a road map. And what does it lays emphasis on? It lays emphasis on good governance; it lays emphasis on human development- growing the human development index. It lays emphasis on development of infrastructure and these are measurable objectives. So, how do you say that a man who has campaigned on that platform has no clue?
Consistently, the objective of this administration has been to pursue that transformation agenda and there have been many deliverables in this direction. But the opposition, with its shrilled voice, continues to deny the truth.
?
What exactly do you think the president has achieved in addressing the Boko Haram insurgency and what are his next moves?
What is very clear is that the administration has been able to contain the spread of insecurity. The administration has been able to show that the space and the field are not left open to those perpetuating these attacks. The administration has made it very clear that it is resolved in its determination to put an end to the insecurity. The administration has done a lot in attracting international support in its efforts at checking the current insecurity.
Now, people say when every incidence occurs, the president comes out with a statement. As the leader of the Nigerian people, President Jonathan’s primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of lives and property of Nigerians. Also, he continues to reassure the people of his resolve to protect them and his administration’s preparedness to defend their interests. I do not see anything wrong in the president continually reassuring people because, as the president said on many occasions, he does not want Nigerians to submit to despair or cynicism and he will not preside over a country that will be at the brink of disintegration.
?
In recent times, there have been different probes by the national assembly on the activities of government agencies and their personnel. There have been so many revealing allegations. Does this not bother Mr. President?
Well, there is a lot of confusion out there and it seems that the confusion is arising from some kind of discordance about the position of government. I think that the Attorney General of the Federation, Bello Adoke issued a statement and had tried to clarify this. But let me reiterate that the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is that any effort to unmask corruption, misdeeds, and to unmask impunity, deserves the support of all and sundry and in this respect what the house of representatives is doing has the support of President Jonathan. He is prepared in this matter and we have said so and I say it again to act in the best interest of all Nigerians and acting in the best interest of all Nigerians means that the President will not allow the situation whereby anybody that sabotaged the collective interests of Nigerians is allowed to go free. Indeed, let it be noted that as far back as 2010, it was this same President Jonathan who directed the then Minister of Finance, Segun Aganga to audit the accounts of the NNPC. The idea of this was to unmask and double check if there were issues of the lack of integrity and accountability in that sector. It will be most unfair for anybody out of mischief or partisan interest to now seek to create the impression that the same president does not support the probe and that there was an attempt to shot transparency and accountability. The third leg of my submission is that, you will recall that when the President addressed the nation on the question of fuel subsidy removal as Nigerians call it or deregulation of the downstream sector as we call it, he made it clear that the overall ground objective was to check corruption in that sector and it is a clear paragraph in his address. And he stands by that statement to the extent that what the House of Reps is trying to do is consistent with the position of Mr. President on issues of transparency and accountability.
?