Absence of Buhari on ballot box in 2023 might affect APC — Lar

“He [Senator Ali Modu Sheriff] has impeccable credentials; he is a two-time former governor; won elections to the Senate three times and once served as Senate minority leader. He was also at one time chairman of a political party and now an aspirant. Most of these governors that are aspirants are junior to him.”

Senator Victor Lar is one of the stalwarts of All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, he speaks on the state of the nation, especially insecurity and economic hardship, the quest of the APC to elect a national chairman, among other issues.

You are one of those rooting for the former Borno State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, to become national chairman of your party. What informed your choice?

He [Senator Ali Modu Sheriff] has impeccable credentials; he is a two-time former governor; won elections to the Senate three times and once served as Senate minority leader. He was also at one time chairman of a political party and now an aspirant. Most of these governors that are aspirants are junior to him. His age and experience stand him in a better position to command respect and provide direction for the party. If you pitch him against another aspirant, he towers above all of them. The reason I chose to follow him is that, by 2023, APC will have a particular challenge and that is, President Muhammadu Buhari, who has consistently garnered 12 million votes from the days of the ANPP, will not be on the ballot. This will create a vacuum in the leadership and direction of the party. Therefore, we need a chairman with character and with requisite experience that can command respect among all the power pillars: the first being the presidency; the second, governors and the third, the National Assembly.

Ali Modu Sheriff has had dealings with all these power points and he understands the intrigues and politics of winning elections. The essence of aggregating as a political party is to win the elections. He is a person with the pedigree to direct affairs of the party and to ensure that APC retains the presidency and its winning streak. If you compare him with other aspirants, he is over and above all of them.

Though APC is yet to zone positions, but the feeler is that the chairmanship position might be zoned to the North-Central (cuts in)

The North-Central since 1999 has continued to provide leadership for political parties in the persons of the late Chief Salomon Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Ahmadu Ali, Audu Ogbeh and Iyorcha Ayu. You may argue that these people are PDP, but the North-West has produced two President, Buhari and Yar’Adua, the North-East has produced Atiku Abubakar as vice-president for eight years. It is now the turn of the North-Central to occupy the highest executive position. So the chairmanship position should go to the North-East. The party is looking at the possibility of zoning; it is written in the constitution of APC that the zone that produces the chairman cannot produce the president at the same time, which means by understanding and by the constitution, APC has ceded the presidency to the South. If the presidency has been ceded to the South, we need somebody who will join the goodwill of the South as well as that of the North to enjoy the goodwill of both the Christians and the Muslims across the geopolitical zones to win. And how do we do that?  Sheriff has both the national and international connections and network that can make this possible? So I am with Sheriff and the presidency is considering the issue of North-Central producing the chairmanship since 1999 to zone it to the North-East. In terms of how we are proceeding, the [sharing] formulas to the zones that would be released would favour the North-East.

With all the political intrigues and power play in APC over the convention slated for 26th February, do you see the convention holding as scheduled?

Perfectly, it will hold.

What are the indices on the ground to prove that it would hold?

Well, the activities lined up for the convention as released by the convention committee tended to put the purchase of forms for all aspirants before zoning of offices. To me, that is putting the cart before the horse because if the positions are going to be grouped and zoned based on  geopolitical zones, then every person from each zone should know the office that is zoned to them and also the cost of forms are not the same. So zoning arrangements must be released to enable aspirants to know the positions they want to vie for; that must be corrected before we go on.

With the prevailing economic hardship and insecurity in Nigeria, do you think APC can have a smooth sail in the 2023 elections?

There is a particular challenge; the challenge is that Buhari will not be on the ballot. So it is possible those 12 million votes will not be there, but at the same time it depends on the leadership and approach the party adopted for the presidential campaign in 2023. But I can confidently tell you that APC will still win.

What is your assessment of APC, especially towards insecurity?

Nigeria is part of the global village and nothing happens in Nigeria in isolation. We have to look at it from the perspective of the economic challenges facing the world. Let me tell you, the fact that we have security challenges does not mean that APC is not working. Go and stand at the military or police checkpoint for five hours you will understand what it means to fight insurgency or to provide security. The APC government is doing its best. Nigeria is a country that is under siege. Foreign bandits have invaded this country; we don’t know their number and spread. It is like the government is fighting bandits and insurgents from various fronts and nobody wins a battle in a different frontal at the same time. This has nothing to do with the colour of APC; it has everything to do with the inherited security structure in the country. In Nigeria, we are over 200 million. The total number of security personnel put together is not up to one million. How can they conveniently handle the security for over 200 million people? The federal government is doing its best. The government is purchasing necessary equipment that the armed forces needed but the nature of the insurgency is making it difficult for the military to address the issue once and for all. It is not like all these elements are in Sambisa forest alone; many are living within the communities. But when they get to the outskirts of the town, they become bandits. How do you isolate these people and flush them out? Also, it would be wrong for anyone to say this administration has not performed. In terms of infrastructural development, the APC-led administration is doing its best. The global economic challenges are there; the fluctuating price of crude oil has further worsened the situation. Even during the time of the former President Goodluck Jonathan these challenges showed up. It is not that President Buhari created all these challenges; he inherited most of the problems.

What would the party tell Nigerians in 2023 about its change mantra that brought it to power in 2015 and 2019 respectively?

The APC led administration still has more than a year to go. So the best is still possible. On insecurity, truth has only one name, which is truth. The Bible says you shall know the truth and it shall set you free. And this is my personal opinion; it doesn’t have anything to do with Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. The number of bandits and insurgents has not been determined; their areas of operation have not been determined. The equipment of our armed forces is yet to be updated and yet to be deployed to every sector in charge of the crusade against insurgency. It is my candid opinion that the way out for the federal government is to use crude oil swap. That is, you bring mercenaries from outside; they fight and we pay them with crude oil. That is the only way we can get out of this.

Source: Tribune