Dr Jackson Lekan Ojo
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
Ahead of 2027 election, a former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Jackson Lekan Ojo, has advised opponents of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar not to underrate him as he will likely inherit the 12 million Northen block votes from late President Muhammadu.
In an interview, Dr Ojo declared that the votes from the South will be split among about 10 presidential candidates from the South among the candidates from that zone while the Northern votes will remain intact for the leading candidate from that zone.
According to him, the people in the North have suffered untold hardship under President Bola Tinubu and nobody should expect them to queue behind him during the election.
“I am boldly telling you today that I am a nationalist – don’t forget about Buhari’s 12 million traditional block votes in the North who do you think will inherit it? Atiku will inherit it.”
He declared that the running mate of Peter Obi and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is not a threat to Atiku in the North as the former governor has lost political relevance in his former stronghold.
“Now, look at Kwankwaso he is formidable in Kano only and maybe little fraction in Jigsaw State but right now today Kwankwaso is nowhere to be found in Kano State.
“He has lost the governor of Kano State, he has lost the senators from Kano State, he has lost the State House of Assembly. Kwankwaso has no serious political base today. It is only just the Kwankwasiya movement that is scattered everywhere.
“When you want to talk about block votes I want to tell you in the last election Bola Tinubu lost Lagos State. How many states of the South West did he win and hardship was not as high as this as at that time.
“There was nothing like bandits kidnapping people I. South West but today in South West over 46 children, toddlers and their teachers have been kidnapped for over 30 something days. Bola Tinubu has nothing to do with all the security apparatus under his control.
“Can Bola Tinubu defeat Governor Seyi Makinde in Oyo State, can he win Osun State with Aregbesola as National Secretary of ADC?
“The southern votes will be divided. How many Presidential candidates do we have from the South? There are about 10 and the southern votes will be divided into 10 places. But that Northern votes is still largely intact. Kwankwaso is not a threat to Atiku in Northern Nigeria.
“Moreso, the Northern people has never suffered before like the way they are suffering now in the political history of Nigeria. With that high level of suffering you think they (Northerners) are going to mobilize to support Tinubu?”
He also warned President Tinubu to expect betrayals from his party among the Northern elements in the party.
“I want to tell you clearly – there is going to be a lot of betrayals, even among the rank and file of the APC. Tinubu is going to see a lot of betrayals from the Northern angle. I make bold to say that.”
Responding to a question on the issue of zoning since the South is expected to retain the presidency till 2031, Dr Ojo stressed that zoning is not only unconstitutional but has also not do Nigeria any good.
“As far as I am concerned I don’t believe in zoning and zoning has not been working in this country. When you go to the civil service you have what they call Federal character. Is federal character working?
Ministerial appointments under late President Muhammadu Buhari, that is APC administration, did federal character work?
“In this present administration of Bola Tinubu how many Ministers, how many Special Advisers from the South and from the North. Go to parastatals how many are there as a result of federal character? Federal character is just not working.
“So, zoning is unconstitutional, it is just by mutual agreement. And mutual agreement means just because we have not seen anybody that actually performed creditably well. When you look at Olusegun Obasanjo, when he contested for second term ticket Abubakar Rimi from PDP contested for the party’s ticket. He is from Northern Nigeria, from Kano, nobody disturbed him. Madam Sarah Jubril from the North Central contested for the ticket, nobody disturbed her. Even when they said they zoned it to the North during late Musa Yar’adua’s era Peter Odili and a lot of other persons from the South contested for the party ticket.
“So, invariably, zoning has not worked and we should stop deceiving ourselves. I believe in one word – I call it ‘contractocrasy’.
“With what we are facing in this country today if they are bringing a Ghanaian to be President so long as he is going to perform, I am going to support him. I am not going to look at him that he is not from Nigeria afterall Barak Obama is from Africa but he became president in America and he performed creditably well and Americans are proud of him. Look at America, George Bush was president and his son later became president. When Bill Clinton left White House his wife later contested for president. And we say we are borrowing from the American system!
“When you look at zoning in Nigeria it has never worked before so what are we talking about now?
Is it zoning that will reduce the high cost of fuel, is it zoning that will reduce high cost of materials, high cost of transportation, food and other things. Is it zoning that will reduce the abnormal insecurity we are facing today in this country?
“Zoning is rubbish, I don’t believe in zoning, I believe in the best material. If I am to quote the former President Obasanjo, he said ‘at this point in time Atiku is the person that we need that can really bring about the change that we are yearning for now’ and that is my stand.
Giving reasons in why he is supporting Atiku, Dr Ojo said he shares the same view with former President Olusegun Obasanjo that Nigeria needs Atiku now to pull it out of the woods with his record as former chairman of the National Economic Council.
“Among those people that are contesting now he is the only one that has the experience and pedigree. He was vice president to Obasanjo and was the head of the economic team.
“It was his economic team that brought telecom revolution, brought MTN, Glo, Airtel that we are enjoying today in this country and a lot of other things. It was during his time as chairman of the National Economic Council that instead of us to borrow we did not borrow.
“The Paris Club and other international financial organizations even wrote off our debts because they saw that our economy was booming.
“During his period he did not bring looters into this country, he brought people like Nuhu Ribadu who is now the National Security Adviser, he brought Mallam Nasir El-rufai as Director General of Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), he brought Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, he brought Oby Ezekwesili. He invited a lot of people that time – people like Chukwuma Soludo who was the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. He brought a lot of people into government.
“But look at what we have been facing after that period – economic comatose in gradual scale but now it is on the pinnacle. If you look at his achievement as vice president and chairman of the economic team a lot of things can be said about this man.”
