No government gives deadline to solve all problems

Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation Magazine and also ran for the office of the President under the platform of the National Conscience Party in 2011. in this interview with SEGUN ADIO, bared his mind on a number of topical issues ranging from his meeting with former petroleum Minister in London to the state of the Nigerian nation.   There was this story about you meeting with former Minister of petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke in London and the picture of hers that went viral where she emaciated unbelievably. A lot of people seem to doubt if she was actually the one in that picture. Can you shed more light on this? I don’t know why many Nigerians are doubting Thomas. When I heard that Alison-Madueke was arrested in London, I was in England at that time. That is why I am a great fan of foreign journalists like the CNN reporters. They go behind the news; they are not rumour mongers, and I don’t want to be a rumour monger too. So, I was about to established a contact with Alison-Madueke while she was still in the police custody in London. I could remember writing in my story when she was told that Dele wanted to interview her, the first thing she was told was that Dele was her enemy. But some people told her that Dele is a man of honour. That is to say that I am objective in my work and will report things exactly the way they are. Even the pictures that I took are on my phone. Some people came out to say that those pictures were not real; that they were manipulated. That they were something I created using a software. That was an insult to me. Even Sahara Reporters came out to say that she was fighting me because I reported the story. But I can confirm to you that I did stories on Alison-Madueke there in London. What you saw me publish were the things she said I should publish. Those things she said I should not publish, that were off record, were not published. That is what a responsible journalist should do. And that the pictures I took were not manipulated, that I believe she was sick, and suffering from cancer, and was undergoing treatment in London. I was convinced and I had all the evidence before me to convince me that she is ill. As a human begin, I don not wish someone dead and I pray that God will grant her full recovery. Talking about the situation in Nigeria at the moment, the federal Government has been saying that they never promised Nigerians that they were going to solve their problems in one day and that they never knew how messy things were especially the economy, and that is why they are pleading with Nigerians to give them more time. Do you buy this kind of excuses? No government can ever give you deadline to solve all problems. The best thing they can say is ‘within say six months, we hope to achieve the followings’ and they list their projected achievements within the period. I just finished talking with the Minister of Transport where I was trying to let him know what people are saying concerning this present administration. He has the opportunity to talk to me to convince me about certain steps the administration is taking on some issues, but he does not have the freedom to address the entire Nigerian public same way. And whatever I hear from the public, I have to also make them know because people do not always say the truth when they are in power. The President has been travelling round the world in the name of seeking foreign assistance in the fight against terrorism and corruption, but a lot of Nigerians are beginning to criticise him for the frequent travels.What is your own opinion on this? I do not share the same sentiments as those criticising the President’s frequent travels. A leader of a government must travel for a number of reasons, but against such travels must be balanced by doing so much at home. No matter what you do outside, if your home is not properly organised, even the people outside will not be happy with you; they will not respect you. That is why they say that “charity begins at home”. I have no doubt that the President must travel and must reach out to those countries that can help Nigeria. Having said that, he should not lose focus of what needed to be done back here at home. Nigerians will always complain. They complained under the past administration of Chief Obasanjo and Jonathan over their frequent trips to other countries. And now they have started complaining about President Buhari too. The truth of the matter is that there must be a balance. An adequate information needs to be passed to the people because people will like to know the end result of these trips. On a more personal note now, at a time you wanted to venture into politics which you once did having once aspired to be President of the country. With your experience in politics, would you say the President is on the right track in his campaign for due process and his fight against corruption? There was never a time that I wanted to venture. I was already in politics. I have been in politics since 1982. Nigerians have this mindset that you have to contest for you to be a politician. No. It is not every politicians that must contest. I have been in politics since 1982 and I have known and met with the movers and shakers of the Nigerians nation present and in the past; people like Chief Adisa Akinloye, Omololu Olunloyo, the late Bola Ige and so forth in those days. Also, I have participated in different elections that I did not contest in. I was one a private secretaries to a one time deputy governor at the age of 23 years. For me, leadership is not about politics; leadership is all about managing people and their resources. Politics is just a platform for those that want to be leaders because you have to first contest into an elective position. There are other positions that do not require politics because they are based on selection. Maybe what you are trying to say now was that there was a time I contested. I contested based on my belief that I could make a difference. I wanted to be the president of Nigeria because I believe that I am one of those who could change Nigeria. I had a clear vision of what I was doing and I wanted to build a workers’ platform through the Labour Party. But I failed because I did not realise that I was labour myself. Due to many issues as at that time, I had to resign from the Labour Party and move to another party. The party also lack the capacity to change things and to make me their national president. That is the National Conscience Party founded by the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. What I am saying is that I love my country Nigeria and I am passionate about her progress like many countries in the world. That was why I offered myself for that office then. On whether I believe in the present government’s fight against corruption, all I can say is that any right thinking person would want to see the end of corruption. By that I am in support of anything that will rid the country of corruption. Again, this fight must be fought in totality; there must be no sacred cow; no untouchable. Once that is done, I have no problem with fight against corruption at all. On the rule of law and due process, all I can say is that if a new government comes, they should be able to stabilise and improve in what they met on ground. But the way things are now, it is like they have not been able to stabilise what they met. So, my advice to the federal Government is that they need to wake up and treat these issues with urgency. Whatever is the cause of the fall in dollar, scarcity of petroleum products must all be arrested with utmost urgency. As a Nigerian, do you believe that this present government will lead us to the Promised Land? 1If I didn’t believe that they will take us to the promise land, I wouldn’t have voted for them. Most people believe that this present government is not competent, but I strongly believe that they are equal to the task. Maybe we need to be a little more patient with them but they cannot get the whole time in the world to begin to fix things. Are you deeply dissatisfied with the way things are going now, because with the look of things especially in the economy? Well, I am not really dissatisfied with the way things are going, since I believe that the President meant well for the country. But I am a bit worried because people seem to think that this is not the change that they voted for. Although everywhere I go, I see people complaining. I try to tell them to exercise patience.