Tinubu, Soyinka
The National Leader of the All
Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Nobel laureate, Prof.
Wole Soyinka, on Thursday in Lagos said the 2013 Nigeria Governors’
Forum crisis paved the way for the end of the 16-year rule of the
Peoples Democratic Party.
They made the observation during the public presentation of ‘Dynamics of Change: The Amaechi Years,’ a book edited by a former Managing Director of Daily Times, Yemi Ogunbiyi, and author, Chidi Amuta.
They explained that the crisis provided
the spark that led to a common sense revolution as witnessed in the
defeat of the PDP by the All Progressives Congress.
The NGF crisis erupted from an election
organised by the 36 governors of the federation. Governor Rotimi Amaechi
of Rivers State garnered 19 votes while his Plateau State counterpart,
Jonah Jang, had 16 votes.
However, the Presidency chose to
recognise Jang as the chairman, thereby causing a split in the forum
and the defection of five governors from the PDP to the APC.
Tinubu, in comments at the event, said when the split happened, he quickly wooed Amaechi.
He described the Rivers State governor
as the general that the APC used to secure victory during the just
concluded general elections.
Tinubu said the APC played on President Goodluck Jonathan’s lack of understanding of Arithmetic to defeat him.
He said, “Governor Amaechi and most of
the governors thought of a different arithmetic algebra without
derivative. Thirty six minus 16 is equal to X and if X is greater than
16, suggest the answer and if you can’t, you have failed democratic
arithmetic.
“Amaechi resisted it and we joined him
in the resistance. Of course, how can a leader educate and be
responsible for the future of our citizens if he cannot do a division of
sum total of a number, 36? We are glad today that we decided and we got
rid of that leadership through ‘General’ Amaechi.”
Tinubu stated that his message of a common sense revolution gripped Nigeria and opened their eyes.
He said for instance, the Civic Centre
on Victoria Island used to be a dumpsite but the state government sold
it to the Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, who turned it into a
revenue-spinning machine that now pays tax to the state.
The APC leader said it was the same method that the APC would use in redefining the history of Nigeria.
He said, “We are in this hall because of
its good construction. The hall is part of a common sense revolution.
It used to be a dumpsite but we asked our friend, Jim Ovia, to
excavate it and pay whatever price to the government. He took the
risk and it is paying off. It is part of the common sense revolution.’’
The former governor also enjoined all APC stakeholders and other Nigerians to brace for the post-election challenges.
He said, “Elections are over and both
the leaders and citizens must brace themselves to meet the challenges
required to build a better, more prosperous nation. Indeed, even as we
subscribe to the tenets of common sense revolution, we must retool
ourselves; the new leadership must embark on policies that will improve
the general well-being of our people.
“This revolution is not a violent one to
tear things down; it is a revolution to rescue us from violence,
injustice and poverty. It is a positive one to rescue, repair and
restructure the nation and its institutions in ways that further
collective prosperity and well-being. The only violence that is to be
done is to violence, injustice and poverty.”
Tinubu said Amaechi, who was the
director-general of the APC Campaign Organisation, would be given a key
position in the incoming Buhari administration for his role in the
party’s victory.
He said what Amaechi and his colleagues in the NGF wanted was a better management of the Federation Account .
The former governor said, “Governor
Amaechi and most of the governors want a properly defined federalist
relationship with the government at the centre. The President would have
none of that as in the notable example of the management of the
federation account. This is, therefore, another great opportunity to
salute Amaechi’s rare courage of conviction and sense of purpose.
“The APC change agenda is anchored on
the three Rs – Reform, Relief, and Recovery. It is the tripod upon which
Nigeria must operate in order to unleash her potential.
“Rotimi will go on from here to continue
to serve Nigeria in key positions. He will not be alone. He will share
the company of many change agents and professionals who have cast their
lots with the new political order under the leadership of the
President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.”
Like Tinubu, Soyinka pointed out that the NGF crisis marked the beginning of the end of the Jonathan administration.
Soyinka said one of his close friends in
Aso Rock had urged him to talk to Amaechi to stop attacking the
Presidency as his party(APC) would not succeed in defeating Jonathan.
The playwright, who is a notable critic of Jonathan, said the two architects of the APC victory were Tinubu and Amaechi.
He said, “In the political atmosphere
today, whatever you call it, change or hope or cautious hope and or
careless hope, I recognise two personalities in particular who led the
chant of change. One of them, I call him the architect of the process,
the architect in fact, that houses the essence of hope Bola Tinubu.
“The other person (Amaechi) was
unconsciously, perhaps, the arrowhead of that charge that led to the
change and that is the man that we gather here to celebrate.
“He was the one who said no, we cannot
turn the clock backwards. Nothing about the philosophy of the clock runs
against what we were hoping for. It was a very unpopular and risky
decision to take. But it exposed to us the basic arithmetic fallacy of
governance in demonstrating that when 16 is said to be higher than 19,
something is fundamentally wrong and the same kind of arithmetic leads
to the cooking of figures in governance.
“And it was within that nexus that he
stood up and challenged even his own colleagues, and said let’s change
the mentality of the stock, let us re-orientate it towards the people
and towards the nation and the electorate.”
In his remarks, Amaechi said he and
Tinubu had disagreements during the electioneering but were able to
put their differences aside in the interest of the party.
He said Jonathan destroyed the governors’ forum but expressed joy that with the APC victory, things would return to normal.
He said, “I was determined that there
should be a change because if there’s no change, things will not move.
Even before our convention, I got Asiwaju Tinubu angry. I went to him
and implored that we should not fight or disagree over issues.
“I told him that the important thing was
for us to win first and after which, we can disagree. I believe that we
must win and make a change. I am ready to make a sacrifice.
“I am proud to be a part of the change
process. I am not stubborn but principled. I speak the truth and abide
by the rules. In the governors’ forum, we set up a mechanism where we go
from state to state to see how the governors were faring,
unfortunately, the President scattered the forum.”
