In an interview with Daily
Trust, the former minister of Niger Delta also revealed the role he played
during the wave of attacks by militants during the administration of Umaru
Muasa Yar’Adua.
Godsday Orubebe has
revealed that he had a very good relationship with Muhammadu Buhari before he
emerged as president.
He revealed that it was
because of Buhari he visited some states in the north when he was the then
chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party.
“In fact, it was because of
Buhari that I visited Dutse for the first time. It was in 2003 and we were
campaigning. The day we received Buhari in Kano was a great day. We got to
Dutse at about 2:00am and we received Buhari at 5:00pm. It was also because of
Buhari that I went to Kebbi and Sokoto.
“We were told about his
discipline and character, and I didn’t have any reason to doubt it throughout
the period I worked with him. I left the ANPP because of prevailing
circumstances. I wanted to be in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to change
certain things that I never liked and, of course, at that time, the ANPP didn’t
have the capacity to change the government.”
When asked about how he feel
about the president now, Orubebe said: “Generally, the reason Nigerians voted
for him is because they believed in those principles I once believed in. A few
things he has done showed that he is still the same person I worked for.
“Many Nigerians would be
surprised that you have once worked for the president, considering what
happened during collation of the presidential election results…
“There is no Nigerian who,
given the situation I was in, would not react the way I did and at the
appropriate time, when my book is written, people will know exactly what
happened. I was one of the closest people to Goodluck Jonathan. I was working
with security agents, so, I knew many things. Apart from that, the PDP wrote a
petition and we took it to the INEC office but there was nobody to receive it.
We then took the petition to the INEC chairman at that time, Attahiru Jega. He
gave the petition to his personal assistant in the morning only for one small
girl, in the evening around 8:00pm, to throw the petition at us, saying Jega
said he was not going to take our petition. I said Jega should please give me
an explanation and he said he would not give me an explanation. So, I said ‘if
you don’t give me an explanation, this thing will not move forward.”
Orubebe also spoke about
the hostilities in the Niger Delta region and his appointment as minister.
“I came into governance at
a time when there was real crisis in the Niger Delta. I was appointed by
President Yar’adua and when I came on board in 2007, a lot of things were
happening, government had engaged many people, and things were not working. I
told Yar’adua that the real militants will not ask for money. They were
fighting for development in the region, so I told him that the best thing is for
us to go to the creeks.”
“Yar’adua made me the
chairman of a committee and I asked him, (the president) to give me a message
for the people. He said I should tell them, ‘if you give me peace, I will
develop the Niger Delta.’ I went to the creeks and met with the militants and
they gave me conditions for moving forward. That time, Ereka was in prison, so
they demanded for Ereka to be released, the vice president to visit the creeks
to address them and development.
Goodluck Jonathan and other government functionaries
went to the creeks and addressed 2,000 militants. Ereka was released and
throughout the period of discussions, the Niger Delta militants didn’t take one
naira from the federal government. They paid their own hotel bills and that was
how discussions went on till we had amnesty.
“Today, we are back to
square one again. I see a lot of mercenaries, I see a lot of commercial people
who are not determined to resolve the problems of the Niger Delta, and they are
only interested in bringing bogus proposals to the government. I have not seen
the real plan of the federal government that is geared towards resolving the
problems. Let me tell you, the so-called militants are human beings, they are
not spirits, if you talk to the right people, the problems would be solved.”
Orubebe said he was unaware
the government was negotiating with militants.
“I am not aware. That is
what I am talking about when Yar’adua started. We had uncountable number of
groups that said they had the key. Let me tell you one thing, a real
stakeholder will not come and tell you that this is what we are doing for the
militants. You will see the sacrifice in his eyes, in his action and approach
to things. A real stakeholder will not tell you that he is the only one that
can solve the problem, when we get to the creeks, we will come back with an
answer. If somebody says he is going to the creeks to talk to the militants,
and goes there with soldiers, policemen, which people are they going to
meet? If you are going to the creeks to
discuss with the militants, you have to go like one of them. You go to the
creeks like their brother, like somebody who is also concerned about the
development of the Niger Delta and they will listen to you.”
On the issue of corruption,
he said: “Some institutions of the government took me to court, and I cried
from the beginning that I am not a corrupt man. I was never corrupt. I am one
of those people that have been saying that we should fight corruption in this
country because we need to fight corruption to move Nigeria to the next level.
But in fighting corruption, the institutions of government should not be
sycophantic about it, we should be real. Nigerians want the president to fight
all corrupt people, even if they belong to the APC, PDP or any other party.”
Daily Trust
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