A former presidential candidate under the National Conscience Party, Chief Martins Onovo, in this interview, lives up to his billing as a vociferous social analyst. His NCP last week joined 38 other political parties to form a grand alliance under the Coalition of United Political Parties. He tells ADELEKE ADESANYA that he strongly believes that the Coalition will stop President Muhammadu Buhari from securing a second term next year. Onovo also speaks on the expected qualities of a sole candidate for the CUPP and the nature of grand alliance being formed to oust President Muhammadu Buhari who has already thrown his hat into the ring. Excerpts:
The NCP and other political parties have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding, under the Coalition for United Political Parties. Why this development?
The first thing is that it is democracy; this is not a dictatorship or plutocracy. What does Nigeria need? What Nigeria needs is good governance. Good governance can only be provided only through the Constitution and the Constitution is all about democracy. So, in party politics, it’s only if a party wins the election that it can run the government. How do you win an election? It is by majority votes. How do you get the majority? It is by including people. Now, if you want to know how it happened, we were part of the 35 party coalition since last year. The Coalition for Nigeria Movement, formed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo this year, came and joined us in the 35-party coalition. After the CNM joined us, then other parties came to us and we are not going to exclude them. The right thing is to include them. If we exclude them, it means we are not being democratic.
But the question you will ask me is, are we going to allow their political ideology of corruption and rigging? The answer is no. It is our coalition, if APC wants to join us, they must renounce dictatorship, false propaganda, deceit, divisiveness and all. Nobody is coming to join us to bring any deviant standard. We will not allow it.
Some persons believe that the Peoples Democratic Party still has integrity issues hanging around the name. Also, some chieftains of the party are answering to corruption charges. Does that mean you have a different crop of PDP members in your midst?
The coalition has its own standard; we did not join PDP, they joined us. You have to understand it correctly. We were on our own; they were all following Chief Obasanjo. We were on our own, they did not come; it was when Obasanjo came that they started coming to us and we will not exclude anyone. We want more people to join us. Morally, locally, what we have done is right.
How does the coalition intend to manage ‘big people’ having influence among the coalition?
The first thing is that they should bring in their capacity to bear, so that Buhari can go. Let me tell you, Buhari must go at all costs. Do not forget that the Coalition for Nigeria Movement is with us. SDP is there. Reformed APC is with us. I told you the other time that we are heading to a grand coalition. This is the grand coalition; everybody is here and Buhari must go.
Don’t you intend to share offices without friction?
We are not like Buhari that is dictatorial; we will balance things following, first, the constitutional standard, then where the Constitution is not clear, we follow the highest level of moral integrity. In other words, there are six zones in Nigeria and positions will be shared along that line, so that no one feels cheated. Do not forget that one of our agenda is to unite Nigeria, which Buhari has divided.
Does that mean we are going to witness restructuring by the CUPP?
Restructuring is important and I cannot dictate the position of the Coalition; but I can tell you that most members of the Coalition believe in restructuring. I believe there will be restructuring because I believe in it. By the grace of God, I will be the (presidential) candidate of the Coalition.
I am aware that there will be a sole candidate for the Coalition; there have been speculations on who the presidential candidate is. Do you have an idea of who the candidate will be in the long run?
I just told you that it will be me. Now, I am aspiring to be the candidate of the coalition and I expect to emerge as the candidate of the coalition. I am a democrat. If the coalition selects its candidate and it is not me, we will support whoever it selects. But it is very clear that I should emerge as the candidate of this election.
Don’t you envisage tough disagreements when a candidate finally emerges, since you are from different political backgrounds?
Let me tell you; when I emerged as the NCP candidate in 2015, my opponent congratulated me. The truth is that, we have standards and if it is not me, we will support whosoever emerges. But I have told you that it will be me because the standards of the coalition favour me. It favours a younger person. The standard of the coalition favours a younger person, someone with a good class of professional exposure; it favours someone who does not have a baggage of corruption and cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission or the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission. So, that is the standard of the Coalition and that standard favours me more than any other aspirant.
If this dream comes true, how will the Coalition deal with burning insecurity issues?
It is very simple; the herdsmen, in my term, will be declared a terrorist group, if I emerge. They are terrorists. Even the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who is a top member of the ruling party, has said that the issue of herdsmen is a failure of leadership and he was right, because we have been saying it for three years.
When we get there, this nonsense will stop. The herdsmen cannot be superior to the Nigeria Police Force. So it is clear that the government, in the words of Prof. Wole Soyinka, is complicit in the matter of the herdsmen and I agree with him. There is no way these people will go about killing and you will say the government does not know about it. Buhari is the Commander-in-chief and he is incompetent; he must go at all costs.
Speculations have it that Tinubu may join the coalition; how true is this?
I do not have any information about that, but I know that if Tinubu does not join the coalition he will be isolated politically. You can quote me on this. Let me tell you, we want Tinubu and he should come and join us. We have room for him. We will accommodate everyone to chase Buhari out.
There will be an election in Osun State. Is the Coalition working together to make sure APC is out in the state as well?
No. This Coalition is at MoU level. For now, what we are doing is to let Buhari go; we will join forces at the federal level and push Buhari out because he has fallen really, really below expectation. In fact, he has destroyed Nigeria. The country is divided, there is no peace in the country; terrorism is prevailing, corruption, unimaginable things. Nobody wants Buhari; so that is the common factor as of today. Going forward, we may agree to go to the state level and chase out APC. Today, we agree that we will have a common presidential candidate and drive Buhari away. We cannot just have him again in this country.
