Chief Jackson Lekan Ojo is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a security expert and National Coordinator of the Yoruba Youth Alliance (YYA). In this interview, he speaks on the developments in the Senate, PDP and the APC.

By Saawua Terzungwe

Excerpts:

What do you make of Senate’s refusal to confirm RECs over Ibrahim Magu’s continuous stay in office as acting EFCC chairman?

Whatever is the reason for the war against Magu by the senators, it is not enough for the Senate to suspend the screening and confirmation of Resident Electoral Commissioners as requested by President Muhammadu Buhari. Failure to do the screening and confirmation of these RECs by the Senate just because Magu is still in office as EFCC boss is an indication that the Senate has a hidden agenda. The Senate should know the importance and sensitiveness of the role of RECs in achieving successful elections, especially as the 2018 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun as well as the 2019 general elections are fast approaching. Their action is a threat to democracy. So Mr President should not sack Magu just because some elements in the Senate rejected him for selfish and trivial reasons? He must study the situation and act accordingly.

What would you say is the major cause of the rift between the Senate and the Presidency?

Well, the presidency under Buhari is not ready to do the bidding of the 8th Senate; as was the case during the past administration of the PDP. The presidency has refused to swim in corruption; that is the problem.

Don’t you think lobbying will solve the problem?

Lobbying is part of politics but the kind of lobbying the present Senate actually wants is pecuniary lobbying. The Senate wants the executive to slow down on the anti-graft war. In my own opinion, therefore, this 8th Senate and the Executive can hardly work together with better understanding because their approach to governance is different. The executive wants to fight corruption while the Senate wants to be swimming in corruption. This has made them to be two parallel lines that can never meet.

What should be the role of the APC national leadership in the crisis?

The APC national leadership under the present national chairman is purely directionless and its attempt to intervene in the face-off cannot yield any fruitful result. There is a principle in the 48 laws of power that states ‘Strike the Shepherd and the sheep will scatter.’ Let all of us rise against the Senate leadership and force them to resign and or compel them to be impeached and you will see a new Senate that will move our country forward; we are getting there.

Your former party, the PDP, is in a dilemma on how to end its leadership crisis and bounce back in 2019. What is your impression about this?

Well, PDP is in the political morgue; it cannot resurrect to become a viable party, at least, not in Nigeria. The setting up of committees and the court cases here and there will not make any impact. Let one of the factions pull out and register a new political party or grab any of the mushroom political parties and pump their 16 years ill-gotten wealth into it and begin a massive political evangelism to see if they can get some political converts.

How do you think the 2019 general elections will look like?

As a matter of fact, I have seen a very cloudy weather as regards the 2019 general elections. But, I am optimistic it shall be peacefully conducted by INEC. There will be winners and losers; all the noise around is as a result of over-ambitious politicians that are trying to reposition themselves for relevance, getting a good political platform for contest; trying to get rid of some better personalities by means of blackmailing and trying to steal our wealth to get them wealthy in preparation for the elections. Little do they know that a lot of political watchers are busy monitoring all their activities now with keen interest.

But, everything will be revealed in due course and these disgruntled politicians would be exposed and disgraced. Inasmuch as anti-corruption war continues and the cases are going to court, I foresee a massive prosecution and most of them will be languishing in different prisons before 2019.

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