Civil Rights Crusader and President of One Love Foundation, Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor(aka Ultimate Equal), has dragged the government, PDP presidential flagbearer in next year’s elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his APC counterpart, Bola Ahmed Tinubu among many others in this exclusive chat with Popular News.
Excerpts:
On the recent Kuje Custodial Centre jailbreak
The whole land security has failed us. The Ministry of Defence has failed us. We were very few people that fought the then service chiefs when we said that they have failed us because the Boko Haram have taken over the North East and South East. We forced them into retirement and after all that, as usual, President Muhammadu Buhari rewarded them with ambassadorial appointment. People who failed became ambassadors. It is no longer news that Nigeria is the only country that rewards failure. Favouritism, nepotism are our problem. Those fulanis who are in the helm of affairs are not qualified to be there, with all respect. When we have people who are not qualified who will shut down a federal institution to go and pray what do you expect. You cannot show respect your fellow man. You need to be your brother’s keeper. You need to do what is right then God will answer your prayer.
I am, like every other Nigerian, disappointed. The saddest part of it is that 24 hours before this attack, the military who are the people guardian there were transferred suddenly and they’re coming out with different flimsy excuses. I think we should rescue this country. It is now or never otherwise this country is going to go down and Somalia would probably be like heaven while Nigeria will be like hell, God forbid, because we are not doing things in the right way. We are doing things with sentiments. Nigeria belongs to all of us. It doesn’t belong to one ethnic group. The same Fulani people are trying to take every part of Nigeria, controlling every sector of Nigeria most of them are not even Nigerians, they’re foreigners. We, Nigerians, are just folding our hands. Are we scared of death? We should do the right thing. When we do the right thing things will change. Imagine, in a Correctional Centre with high profile criminals we don’t even have a CCTV. The government is saying “yes, we budget for it.” We cannot have one CCTV to attest to this heinous crime to review, and see the faces of the criminals to see how we can trace them, capture them and deal with them decisively. It is a shame.
On Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi’s Presidential running mate
Peter Obi couldn’t have chosen anybody better. I think he is a God sent. The narrative of Nigeria is going to change. I hope that we will follow this wind of change. You have an economist from the north, somebody who is very vast, educated, pairing with a stingy man. It is good to be stingy. If you’re not stingy nothing is going to work in this country. The choice of (Rabiu) Kwankwaso would have been suicidal. Kwankwaso is a man who is known to give asoebi to almajiris and terrorists. He is not politically grounded. What he does is plays with the intelligence of the poor, give them asoebi, give them tuwo in the morning and in the evening. That’s all he does. My prayer was that he will never be the choice of Vice President in Labour Party. It would have been a disservice and a disgrace to this country. I am very happy that we have a right choice. For those who think they are going to use sentiments, ethnicity, religion to vote for Atiku Abubakar (PDP’s presidential candidate) they will be voting for continuation of almajiris, terrorism, illiteracy, starvation, insecurity etc. This is what Tinubu and Atiku combined represent. Don’t forget that Tinubu is part of the people who brought Buhari, and Atiku, the former Vice President, have been in this game for a very long time(since inception of democracy). What does PDP have to campaign with? For those who are blindly following these people what are they going to campaign with? That we don’t have electricity. After spending over $16billion we still don’t have electricity. We are a nation in darkness and Atiku Abubakar is the Chairman of Mikano Generators. What’s APC going to campaign with? A party that imposed President Buhari on us. A party that failed abysmally. Everyone knows Peter Obi and his running mate is the real choice, is a change and a movement. There is nothing like Peter Obi. There is no power on the earth that can stop an idea that is here to stay. This idea is here to stay. I am not just a labour man. I am a social crusader. I am somebody who believes in good governance, who recognises what’s right. I don’t play regional or money politics. I have lived in Canada for 33 years of my life. So, I know what I am doing. I urge everybody to support this candidate. To vote for the real change. To vote for Peter Obi because he is going to change the narrative.
On British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s resignation
This is where democracy comes to play. About 50 or more people resigned from his cabinet because of corruption. Who resigns in Nigeria? This is why I respect them(British). These are people who taught us about democracy. When you fail in England they ask you to repeat your class. What they practice in England and America is democracy. What we practice in Nigeria, according to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, is demonstration of craziness; demonstration of madness. If it was not madness what is the likes of Lawan(Senator Ahmad), who is the Senate President, who failed abysmally to be gunning for President, Senate and Governorship. It doesn’t happen anywhere. That’s corruption. What’s the likes of Buhari still doing with power when you cannot control your state, when you have been attacked more than twice in your constituency. It has never happened in Nigerian history for our President to be attacked. So, I think something is wrong. I applaud the Conservative Party in England and Boris Johnson for having the strength to respect democracy and resign. I urge Nigerians that when you’re failing, you cannot truly respresent us or yourself you should quit when the ovation is loudest. Don’t sit down there and humiliate yourself and your family. The citizens too cannot also be so myopic and sit on the fence and let these people to stay in office when they’re no longer useful to themselves and the society at large.
