18th January, 2015
A former Nigerian minister of finance and agriculture, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma said President Goodluck Jonathan ought to have resigned as the leader of Nigeria in the aftermath of the arrest by South Africa of a plane carrying loads of dollars to buy arms.
“From the day that the plane-load carrying dollars landed in South Africa and was detained there, I really felt Jonathan had lost the right to be president of this country. How can a president send a plane-load of dollars to buy arms? What kind of people are these?
“I know that the president defended this scandal. The people around him say it happens in government. But It doesn’t happen. A president must know how things are done worldwide and in his own country. Nobody is going to do things differently. From that day, to me, he lost the moral right to be the president of this country,” Ciroma said.
Ciroma now 80 years old was a founding member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party. The Potiskum, Yobe born former Central Bank Governor and newspaper editor, is generally reputed for his unequivocal views on national issues. He spoke in an interview published today by the Sunday Trust.
“Normally, in this world, military equipment – guns, aircraft, etc – are transacted always with the government of the producing countries. It’s the governments who sell the materials to other countries. But in this country, we go through Pastor Oritsejafor. He said he has nothing to do with it, that he had already leased the aircraft to some other party. If the aircraft had been caught carrying Quran and other Islamic books, would Oritsejafor have said he didn’t care? People are just doing the wrong things in this country!,” Ciroma added.
Ciroma explained that his decision to quit partisan politics was triggered by the decision of the PDP to allow PDP replace Yar’Adua in 2011, instead of allowing a northerner to complete the slot given to northern Nigeria.
“In 2011, when Yar’adua died, I was one of the people who believed that we should operate the process of zoning and power rotation in the PDP because PDP formally agreed to a policy of zoning and rotation during the Obasanjo period. That is the policy that allowed Chief Obasanjo to do two terms. He tried to extend it, but we all refused. So rotation and zoning based on two terms for North and South were the basis of the PDP policy. In 2011, PDP leaders, including Obasanjo, argued that the Vice-President should replace Yar’adua. I was one of those who said PDP must learn to stand by its words, and that somebody from the North should continue and complete the period allocated to the North.
“The PDP, in its operation and convention, decided that the current president should replace Yar’adua and I didn’t I agree with them. From that time, I stopped participating in party politics because if we formed a party with people you think you can trust and in the end they did something different, then there is no basis for thinking that that party could organize collective policies that are intended for the good of the electorate or for the good of the country.”
On the February election, Ciroma told his interviewers that he would vote for an anti-corruption candidate who could stand by his words.
“What I want to see is someone who does the job of governing effectively, who cares about the interest of the ordinary people, who would ensure that government is not ridden by corruption. I would like to see that happen again so that everybody would feel that the government cares about and promotes his interest,” he said.
Ciroma also revealed how President Jonathan dismissed the suggestions made by 50 North east leaders on how to end the six-year old Boko Haram insurgency.
“There were about 50 of us who went to see the president. Our recommendations were based on the collective recommendation of these people. I made the presentation on their behalf. After making the presentation, the president rose to make a speech and said, yes, there were so many recommendations but he did not see any of them as being capable of dealing with the problem.
“At that time, the president didn’t believe that the Chibok girls had been abducted. We knew his view before we went to see him. We told him what we believed were honest views. And he maintained he had not seen among all the recommendations what would be useful in solving the problems. In a dismissive manner, he said, ‘maybe, Mr Ciroma and SGF, you can go and look at them and advise.’ It meant he was not serious about what he was saying.
“Believe me, all of us were highly disappointed. After the meeting with the president, we held another meeting and everybody was really upset. We then on our own decided to create an organization to assist the people who are suffering most from the effects of Boko Haram. We decided to raise funds to help them.”