Dele Momodu: APC is Totally Irredeemable

A noted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential hopeful, Bashorun Dele Momodu, is neither new to presidential run nor is he a political neophyte by all standards. He once gave the presidency a good shot, and despite the result posted, has not been stifled by the unpleasant experience produced by that electoral adventure. He is back again on the turf, and this time – tougher, stronger and better – than he was some eleven years ago. A journalist, publisher of Ovation Magazine and socialite, Momodu is well-informed about the challenges of Nigeria and believes in his capacity to turn the tide in the overall interest of the country. From security to economy to the fight against graft, he seems to know where things went wrong and is ready to hit the ground running if given the opportunity to serve. These and more he shared with THISDAY in this presidential series interview. Excerpts:

In 2011, you ran for the presidency under the National Conscience Party (NCP), and you based your decision then on the fact that the NCP was the party for the masses and also because of the respect you had for the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi. Today, you are in the Peoples Democratic Party. These are two political parties with completely different ideologies and visions. How can you reconcile that?

Let me tell you the reality of elections, not just politics. I tell people that to be a good politician and win elections, you must be a good mathematician. The lesson I took away in 2011 was that it is practically impossible to win a national election on the platform of a local political party. It’s the reality. Go to America, Donald Trump could have run, with all his money, as an independent candidate. He didn’t do that. He realised that he needed the structure of a big political party, and that was why he joined the Republican Party. So, what I’ve done is to practicalise my experience by joining a national party and since I have already given up on the All Progressives Congress (APC), the only other place to go would be the PDP. If I still believed the APC was redeemable, I would have gone there. But the (APC) is irredeemable, so that is why I went to the PDP.

So, why do you want to be Nigeria’s president at this time?
The same reason I wanted to be in 2011. I was tired of complaining and lamenting like the biblical Jeremiah. If you were in Akure with us yesterday (last Wednesday), Chief Olu Falae said a lot of things about me, which he had never spoken about in public. I have always believed that I could join forces with other Nigerians to bring about good governance in Nigeria. I started the struggle from the University of Ife. In 1993, I supported the late Chief MKO Abiola; 1998/99, I supported Chief Olu Falae.

I’ve always been the rebel and I’ve always been an opposition man. A lot of people who know me think because of my relationship with people in the corridors of power, I will always be with them, no. I’ve always searched for good governance in Nigeria. Unfortunately, I never got one. So, on the eve of my 50th birthday in 2010, I decided that, enough of waiting, that if I think I am better than those who are doing it, then, I must go in and do it. I’ve never been even a councilor, so I’m not tainted in any way. All the people who have done it, we’ve seen their maximum capacity and their maximum capacity has come to nothing.

How serious are you about this presidential ambition, because some people believe some of the people who are vying now, including you, are doing so just to be remembered as former presidential candidates or former presidential aspirants?
Well, any time people say that, I feel insulted personally. If I was looking for being remembered as a former presidential candidate, I’m already one. I was a presidential candidate in 2011. So, what difference will it make? No matter what you say, even if I get to contest now, I had already become a former presidential candidate. That’s number one. Number two, those who are running, what do they have, apart from access to our money? As journalists, I tell you, we belittle ourselves. We don’t respect ourselves, and that is why nobody respects us.

People treat some of us as dregs of society. I am a serious aspirant; I’ve always been serious about any project I go into.
As  I said before this interview, Nduka Obaigbena would not have called me in 1992 to tell me he was starting Leaders & Company and he wants me to be the founding editor if I wasn’t a serious person; he would not have taken me on several trips globally if I wasn’t a serious person. Chief MKO Abiola would not have been taking me, travelling with him on important assignments if I wasn’t a serious person. Can you imagine how important I was to MKO Abiola in 1993 and I didn’t have Ovation then. So, I’ve been in the system. I started politics at the age of 22 but the only thing is that I never contested.

When people say it’s just for me to be remembered as a former presidential candidate or a former presidential aspirant, I laugh. So, you mean I will pay N40 million for nothing? Do you think I make that kind of easy money? I know how I sweated to pay that money. I was the only aspirant, who complained publicly about the N40 million, all of the other people paid it without a whimper, because they had access to government resources. No matter how clean all other aspirants are, at least, they have all passed through government , apart from me and maybe Sam Ohuabunwa, that have not passed through any government.

There are others who also believe that, because you have not held any political or public office before, that it might count against you in this race. Don’t you think so?
How can it count against me? Did Chief MKO Abiola have political office before he contested? Did Donald Trump have any political office before? How much political office did Obama have? The present president of Ukraine, what political office did he ever hold? The 36-year-old in Chile, which political office did he hold? Nigeria is the only place where we make a fetish of experience in politics before power. That is why we are in this mess. Leadership is by managing people and resources. It’s not about how many public portfolios you have held. For as long as we refuse to disabuse our minds about that, Nigeria is going nowhere. You can see now that governance has frozen in Nigeria, nothing is happening, and they are all spending the resources of the state just because they want to grab power at the centre.

It’s unfortunate that Nigerians are watching. That was why a lot of people were excited yesterday (last Wednesday) when President Muhammadu said ‘no, enough of this nonsense, if you want to run for elective office, don’t be a minister and pay N100 million. Where did you get the money from?’ If I ask you to name 18 out of the 36 governors in Nigeria today, you will struggle. If I ask you what the 18 people did before becoming governors, you will not remember. If you and I were lawyers, by now, we would be at the level of the Senior Advocate. So, it’s an insult for anybody to tell you that Dele Momodu is not serious, when all our founding fathers namely,  Awolowo, Azikiwe, Ernest Okoli, the Enahoros had a journalism background. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana had a journalism background. Many of them were writers, so many of them.

Nigeria is the only place we disrespect ourselves. The best people to run a country are the conscience of the nation. We (journalists) are the conscience of the nation. In the last 30 years, nobody has written more about Nigeria and provided solutions about Nigeria than Dele Momodu. So, it’s an insult and it’s unfortunate that anybody will say that Dele Momodu is not serious. At my age? I will be 62 in the coming days and we have seen people in their 30’s running countries that are bigger than Nigeria.

The people, whose only exposure is the security votes, who are not even able to pay salaries are the same people that want to be your president and that’s not an insult to you? We should feel insulted that those who have failed are being promoted by the media to go to higher office because they have money. Is that how to run a country? Those who mismanaged businesses, those who failed in business, are qualified to be anything in Nigeria except those of us, who are working very hard for every kobo. We have to try and get serious about this business of politics, it’s very important.

If you were to outline Nigeria’s challenges, what would you say are the major problems you will tackle, when you become president?
The very first one is the issue of the lack of unity – the division. Buhari has taken us back virtually to the era of the civil war. But for the prayers and determination of Nigerians, Nigeria would have collapsed. He drove us to the brink. I was one of those who supported him voluntarily. I wasn’t a member of APC, I’ve never been a member of APC, because I felt PDP was fumbling after 16 years. So, I was one of those who supported him and when I realised that he was derailing, I was also very swift in drawing his attention to it. I started writing open letters and on one occasion, he invited me.

He said Dele, what’s the problem? And I told him my mind. I took to him a compilation of my work. I told him I had been a special adviser to presidents but that they were not listening to me. I was a voluntary special adviser, and he was happy that I spoke to him. He even asked me to autograph my book. I gave it to him. I’m a patriotic Nigerian; I don’t care if I disagree with you. I will render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar. So, talking about what to tackle when I become president, the first is, you cannot give what you don’t have. If you say, when I get there, I’m going to unite Nigeria, so give us the specifics of what you have done in the past to unite Nigeria, and I will give you mine. There is no part of Nigeria that I don’t have friends in, whether you are in PDP, APC or any other political party.

There are parties that were founded in this Nigeria and I was one of those who funded the creation of those political parties and I’ve never joined those parties. I believe in the unity of Nigeria. Let me give you one example. When KOWA Party was founded, Mr. Fola Adeola, former MD of Guaranty Trust Bank, invited me and said they were starting a party and asked if I would like to be a contributor? I issued a cheque. He couldn’t believe it. I’ve never gone to KOWA to say, please, let me use this platform to promote myself. I’m not that kind of person. Two years ago, during COVID-19, I realised that a lot of Nigerians were suffering, especially the poor. I started giving N5000 to them. Government promised to give N5000 to poor people. Till today, we don’t know what they did, but they said they did something. We saw cash on the table. But I’ve not seen anywhere in this modern time where you put cash on the table and ask people to line up. I have poor people in my family, I didn’t see any of them that got the cash government promised.

So, I started my own. I’m not a Nigerian, who will complain and do nothing. Most Nigerians complain and do nothing.  I set up my own palliative and I have an app through which people applied and we reached out to them seamlessly. People from every part of this country are benefiting from my palliative. I have 66,693 applications from every part of Nigeria comprising 21,000 females and 45,000 males with 39 as the applicants’ average age. Apart from that, I’m a child of diversity. My father came from Edo State and my mother is from Osun State. Today, I’m the only solid aspirant, who comes from both South-south and South-west. So, if you want to unite Nigeria, I already have two regions. My grandparents were Muslims, my parents were Christians, and I’m a Christian.

My father was Jacob, I am Joseph. I retained the name of my grandparents, Momodu, which translates to Prophet Mohammed’s name. So, religion is not an issue in my family. We have Muslims and we have Christians.  If you say you want to unite Nigeria, it’s not going to be on account of ethnicity, it’s not going to be on account of religion. Then the South-east, I’ve been one of the greatest promoters of the Igbo nation. Look, the Igbo people, I liken them to a combination of the Japanese, the Chinese, the Indians, the Koreans – that’s the brain of an average Igbo man. And I said if I were the president of Nigeria, I would turn the region into the technology hub of Africa. I will bring our own Silicon Valley to somewhere in the South-east, and that is why to date, I’m the only person ever publicly endorsed by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in February last year, before his arrest. He said Dele Momodu was the only person making sense to him. He didn’t mention any Igbo man. He said even Igbo people cannot say what I’m saying.

Some people would say, so why are you opposing Igbo presidency, because I know we are going to get to that question. I can tell you in advance that it does not take a fellow Igbo man to develop the Igbo land. It takes someone who believes in the Igbo abilities, who believes in their capacity to do it. When people say, restructuring, the Igbo had dominated the National Assembly either as Senate President, Deputy Speaker, Deputy Senate President. So, what did they do with all that power? Evans Enwerem, Chuba Okadigbo, Ken Nnamani, Adolphus Wabara, Pius Anyim. Pius Anyim had been Senate president, he had been Secretary to the Government, even Emeka Ihedioha was Deputy Speaker and you have Ike Ekweremmadu as former Deputy Senate President.  Why couldn’t they change the laws and restructure the system? They had influence. Saraki had been Senate President, he had been governor for eight years, he had been chairman of governors’ forum, he had been special adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo. They don’t lack experience. But what does that experience cumulatively account for?

But the South-east lawmakers, who headed the leadership of the National Assembly then said they didn’t have the votes required to push for restructuring.
Which votes?  Let me tell you, it’s not the job of the president or the executive to do restructuring. It’s the job of the National Assembly. So, if you don’t have the will, the courage, the confidence and the wisdom to do it as Senate President, you cannot do it as president.  These are issues that we have to tackle. The problem is that you need a president who believes in what he says and acts on it. It’s about action. Faith alone does not move mountains today, it’s your action. If you want to move a mountain, America will bring a rocket and blast the rock. Those days of believing in faith are gone. So a good leader must, one, have his onions, must have the knowledge, must have the confidence, must have the courage and be ready. You go through stages in life, viz. preparation, readiness, victory, glory.

The hurdle before you now is how to convince the PDP delegates to get the party’s ticket. How are you going about it? Are you getting the buy-in of the delegates? Beyond that, how do you intend to push the Dele Momodu brand into the rural areas and the hinterlands if you eventually emerge PDP’s presidential candidate?
How many of the other aspirants have pushed themselves into the hinterlands like I have done? The best way to do it is to go to the youth. Average age, as you saw it, is 39. How many of them are known beyond their immediate families? Look, 99 per cent of Nigerian politicians today, who are running are local champions. I’m a global brand. There is no hinterland that does not have a son or daughter abroad. In Nigeria today, there is nowhere you will go that you don’t have somebody who is educated in their family, who talks to them about the problems of Nigeria. When people beg you for money, why do they beg you for money? They beg you for money because they are suffering. And why are they suffering? Because of the useless political leaders. That’s number one. There is no part of Nigeria today that I’ve not been to and I’ve proved it – communications, telecom in particular, has demystified those things you are talking about.

Today, I’m one of the most effective users of social media in Nigeria. On Twitter, I have 1.7 million organic followers; on Instagram, 769,000 followers; on Facebook, nearly 300,000 followers. I do Twitter spaces, I do club house, I do everything. Talking about the delegates, I will be stupid if I’m playing Brazil in the game of football to play the Brazilian style. Meeting the delegates, we all understand the language. The delegates have the right to collect their money back from those who embezzled it. I’m not going to oppose that, but I’m not going to give one kobo. If I want to change Nigeria, I should start the change from myself by not encouraging corruption. But if they collect their money, it’s their legitimate right; the money belongs to Nigeria, and if those people are ready to spend it, let them spend it. I’m not accusing anybody because I don’t know who is spending it, but I know some people will spend it. Some people have openly boasted that nobody can beat them. It’s not because of their brains, it’s not because of their record of performance, it’s because of the humongous, stupendous amount of money available to these guys.

You see, a public servant who has not managed any business successfully and he’s able to fuel aircraft; takes private jets up and down, you must know there is a crisis.  If that person gets power, he’s going to spend your money lavishly. I’m one of the few people who travel light, maybe Peter Obi also. I’m a very objective person. We travel light. Maybe we have two or three of our staff with us, that’s all.  So, for the delegates, my approach is the same approach I used in 2011. Everybody thought I was not going to win the primaries then. I had two rich people contesting against me. A day to the primaries, I got information that they were going round the rooms, I didn’t know what they were doing there. I didn’t go to anybody’s room. I only told my assistant, get two copies of Ovation and go and drop them into their rooms, so that they can have something to read overnight, and at least have an idea of who Dele Momodu is. That’s what we did.

I defeated them. Nigerians are good people; Nigerians are united in wanting a change in their country. I know about stomach infrastructure, I’m a practical politician. People need money, let them take it, but not from me. I go everywhere, I see the joy I create. Look, without being president, I’m already acting presidential. I went to Maiduguri, they told me that the marketplace is a no-go area. I went there. We flew our drones in the market, everybody was surprised and they said, ‘this guy, you are brave’.

I was not wearing bullet-proof. I had security, of course, I’m not suicidal in nature, but I went there. If there is a crisis in any part of Nigeria, I will go there. A leader must be hands-on. Seven years of Buhari, we are struggling to complete one road – the Lagos-Ibadan. So, how long will it now take you to do Ibadan to Ilorin; Ilorin to Jebba? Look, this is stupidity. In one single term, John Dramani Mahama, the then President of Ghana was able to increase hospital bed capacity by 1000, he was able to do thousands of kilometers of roads. He was able to rehabilitate their airport and started a new airport in one term.

Electricity is stable in Ghana. But in our own, even in this hotel that we are having this interview, in the last 24 hours, they would have cut electricity more than 50 times. But in Ghana, Mahama was able to inject 824 megawatts into their national grid in 18 months. I spoke to an African president once and he said, ‘what’s wrong with Nigeria and electricity?’ I said I don’t know. He said, ‘so who is in charge?’ I told him. He said, ‘can I call the minister?’ And he offered to help Nigeria and he sent people to Nigeria, the same people who did their own electricity. He said, ‘after one meeting with the minister, the meeting collapsed.’ The day we are ready, we will fix it, and I’m ready to fix it. I have the people who can fix it. I know the people who can fix it. I know the politics of power in Nigeria, I know the politics of the Mambila Project, for example. It’s in arbitration, I know why it’s in arbitration. I know the man who brought the project, Laitan Adesanya. Until we stop our oppressive nature, we love to oppress our own people, we won’t fix electricity.

On this issue of zoning, the PDP has finally opened the contest for every aspirant; it’s no longer South or North. What is your take on that?
From day one, I knew that was going to happen, and I’ve spoken about it. A lot of people were still hoping against hope, but I said, look, the problem PDP has is peculiar, and it is the problem of Nigeria. It is not because PDP is bad or anything. There are big people in PDP just like there are big people in APC. Those big people have enough financial muscle and otherwise to wreck a party, and so, what the party has done in its own wisdom is to ensure that they do not allow those who want to destroy the party, who have the capacity to do that, that they don’t encourage them. It is too late now to start all over. Look, the moment they threw the forms open, I knew it would be difficult to now tell some of us to withdraw. After I bought my form, you will now say the thing is going to the South-east, that I can no longer contest? It will cause bad blood in the party.

Despite the fact that I would have preferred that they zoned it to the south, because that is the tradition of our party, whatever they have done, I’m a good party man, I abide by it. But it should have been to the South and you let the South now decide amongst themselves where it will go. But the South is the only place where I hear, it must be South-east, it must be South-west. We don’t play good politics like the northerners. They are very smart. You can see that they all move together, whether you are North-central, you are North-east, North-west. If you look at Saraki, for me, I will say it all the time, he is a Yoruba man. But he says he’s a Fulani man, that he wants to represent the north. The north has never rejected him. Whereas if I stand up now and say I want to be governor of Osun State, some people will tell me to go back to Edo. Until the South learns to work together, it may be difficult for, whether South-east, South-west, or South-south to get power.

If you look at Shagari’s time, Awolowo and Zik refused to work together. If you tally the results of both of them, they would have defeated Shagari. Let’s stop talking it’s the turn of the Igbo, it’s the turn of Yoruba. Let’s say it’s the turn of the South. And you can see, even some Yoruba people are supporting the Igbo. Chief Ayo Adebanjo openly endorsed an Igbo candidate. I won’t go against a Peter Obi, for example, if he emerges, because I believe he is competent. I’m more interested in competence. Don’t tell me I should go for any Igbo man, no. Tell me, this is Peter Obi, let’s all go and queue up behind him.

But what I hear is, we want Igbo president. So, I’m saying this publicly, because you have a big platform to educate our people that it’s not just about where you come from, it’s what you bring to the table. You think I’m going to accept just any Igbo candidate? Or any Yoruba candidate? Or any South-south candidate? No, tell me your plans for Nigeria. Tell me what you have done in the past. If you have ever been a governor, you have been a senate president, you have been this or that, and you are telling me, because of that, the next thing is to become a president? I will not accept it. You must tell me what you did with everything that God did in your life and with every position you held.

So, you are saying now that if any other person emerges your party’s presidential candidate, apart from yourself, you will support him?
Yes, even if I don’t agree with the person that was chosen, do I have any power? I don’t have any power to stop it.

And you will remain in the party?
Of course, I will be a party man. Once the party says, this is the person who we have chosen in our collective wisdom or stupidity, I will accept it, because the best people don’t usually have the people behind them. For me, it’s not about money. No billionaire has ever been president of Nigeria. Nobody spends his money, not even Donald Trump, to win an election. Donald Trump collected donations. So, nobody can tell me that because this person has more money, automatically, he will be the next president. Then, there would have been presidents long ago if it was that simple.

One of the bases upon which this administration was elected was to fight corruption. Do you think they have done well?
No! In fact, that’s why Buhari was angry yesterday (last Wednesday) for the first time. He could no longer take it. I told my friends and said, you watch it. That a lot of these ministers will walk into a trap. If a minister openly, in good or bad conscience, can release N100 million just to buy form, do you know what it costs all these ministers who are flying about? You can see ministers flying private jets up and down, going from state to state, going from palace to palace, king to king, delegate to delegate. A serving minister? It tells you instantly that Buhari’s anti-corruption stance has failed. They were dropping N100 million as if they were buying popcorn. So, I’m not surprised that Buhari had to react. It’s not about the court order or any such order. Any right-thinking president would have fired all of them immediately. It’s unfortunate that our constitution does not take cognisance of a lot of these things. But now that we are witnessing it, we must apply Newton’s Third Law of Motion: Action and reaction are always opposite. So, it’s all about taking drastic action against corrupt elements. The action and the reaction must be equal and they must be opposite. That’s the third law of motion.

So, if you finally win PDP’s ticket and eventually, the presidential election, how will you tackle corruption in the public sector differently?
It’s very easy. It’s about you being hands-on. I’ve told you, actions and reactions are always equal and opposite. A good leader, number one, must start by using himself as a sacrificial lamb. Fortunately, I do not have a family that will be interested in contracts in Abuja. I’ve trained my kids to be useful globally. My wife is a certified chartered accountant in England and in Nigeria. There is nothing stopping a first lady from working. Nigeria is the only place where you turn the Office of the First Lady into a political appointment. It’s not. It’s the husband that is employed (by the nation). Nothing stops her from being gainfully employed. Cherie Blair, wife of Tony Blair, remains a lawyer till tomorrow, one of the best in England. John Major, the former Prime Minister of Britain had a son, who was working in a supermarket. Until we change how we do things in Nigeria, nothing is going to change.

And it’s the fault of our leaders, because once you get to power, then you become a demi-god. I will not be an emperor, that one, I can guarantee you. I will sign deliverables to the people of Nigeria once I get the ticket. I heard President Yar’Adua did it, I don’t know, I’ve not been able to confirm or corroborate that. I’m going to give you (what they call a shadow cabinet in England) a shape of what my cabinet will look like. It must be a star-studded affair. From your cabinet, people will know if you are going to pass or fail. In the days of Babangida and Obasanjo, that’s one thing I admired in their governments. They were not perfect though, but look at the calibre of people in their respective cabinets. Today, you still remember them. If I ask you who was Foreign Affairs Minister? You will immediately say it’s Bolaji Akinyemi; who was Finance Minister? I was with him yesterday (last Wednesday), Chief Olu Falae; who was Sports Minister or Information Minister? Chief Alex Akinyele.

Today, if I ask you to name half of the ministers, you won’t remember them. If I ask you to mention half of the governors – 18 governors today – you will struggle. If you name them, you will struggle to remember where they were coming from, what’s their pedigree? And yet, you are telling me they are better than me. And then some people will say, Dele is working for some governors. Me? At my age? I know those who want to be houseboys to politicians, I’m not one of them. I’m not a houseboy to any politician. You can be my friend, I respect constituted authority, but I guarantee you that you cannot make me your houseboy. I’m too big to be a houseboy to any politician.

What will you do differently to tackle insecurity and address the challenges we have in the economy, which are major problems facing us?
 Let me start from the rear. Nobody can manage the economy of a country better than someone who has managed his own business successfully. I started Ovation with about a £20,000 take-off grant when I needed £150,000. We were able to raise £20,000 and we took a decision. Even my bank manager at National Westminster Bank in London, said we can’t do it. Today, Ovation is 26 years. We are very relevant. We are doing things on television. We are doing things in the newspaper, we are doing Ovation magazine, we are doing hardcopy, we are doing e-copy and everything. Twenty-six years after, all the other Ovation lookalikes have fizzled out. It tells you that I have the wherewithal, that I have the knowledge, I have the tenacity. So, a leader must be able to stand firm and be able to deliver, and be able to rescue his people from the perilous stance.

So for me, the economy is difficult. I assure you, as the president of Nigeria, we will reduce over 60 per cent of our present overheads. The reason Nigeria’s economy is in trouble is because we spend more money on the politicians than we spend on infrastructure. There is no other magic. We must diversify, but Nigerians like ready-made. For our politicians, the easiest way to do it is the oil and it is drying up. The gas that we have in incredible proportions, we are not even investing in it. I will do that. The bitumen that we have in Ondo State, that every government that comes talks about it but because they have to get the capital outlay, and if they have to spend the capital outlay on developing bitumen, they know they will have no money to spend on themselves. So, they are not interested. You need a leader who is not a big man. That is the problem with our economy. So, we must stop the outlandish lifestyle of our politicians, and I will begin with myself.

On the issue of security, it’s not about guns. I’m on record as the only person who has gone to see Sheik Gumi in Kaduna and we had a heart-to-heart talk and agreed on what exactly are the root causes of insecurity in this country. And he told me a lot of revealing things, and we are going to continue. I’ve gone to see the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, we discussed heart-to-heart. I’m not going to them now because I want the vote. I’m going to them because we’ve had a friendship and relationship. I’m on record as the only Nigerian politician who crossed the border to go and see Sunday Igboho in Cotonou. It’s to find the solution.

Look, even if you bring out guns and kill people, you are still going to have to sit down and negotiate at some point. I told you I’ve gone to Maiduguri. I spent last weekend with the Sultan of Sokoto. It’s nothing political, it’s a relationship I’ve built over time. I’ve gone to see the Emir of Kano. When I go to them, it’s not about politics. I know their views already about everything. Fortunately now, we have much younger monarchs, very well-educated monarchs. They want Nigeria to develop like Dubai, like Saudi Arabia. There is nothing in Islam or Christianity that says a country should be backwards.

When you become the president of Nigeria, what plan do you have for the media industry – your primary constituency?
It’s interesting. Number one, our government can only invest in the media, they should not own the media. Every government that comes uses it as a political tool. If you go to NTA now, most of the studios are run down, because government cannot manage business. In fact, every appointment into parastatals in Nigeria is an invitation to come and eat. My government will invest in the media and buy shares to be part of the business. The money will come back to government. For as long as the government does not have controlling shares, then, you cannot control the direction of the editorial policy. You need a cosmopolitan leader to do all that. The British government practically runs the BBC franchise, but the BBC is a public company. Of course, they try to project British ideas,  British culture and everything, but no government can come to the BBC and say it must be about me. But NTA’s programme is about what Mr. President does.

I, personally, will privatise NTA and all those government media agencies. Why is it that the New Nigeria Newspaper did not survive? Why is it that Daily Times did not survive? It’s because government has finished all those companies before they were eventually offloaded. Number two, you will see that journalists may begin to enjoy better incentives when their businesses improve. Today, what I hear is, we don’t earn a salary. The truth of the matter is, it is difficult for any media organisation to make money and spend money when there is no patronage. So, we will try to make sure there are positive regulations. Most governments in Nigeria today try to regulate the media, because they want to control them. No, we will regulate it in a way that media practitioners can enjoy the benefits of their sweat.

Finally, what do you see of Nigeria’s future?
The future is bright. But Nigerians will have to work for that bright future. If we continue to repeat the same things and expect different results, that’s what has been described as insanity. But I know that Nigerians are amongst the greatest, the brightest, the most brilliant human beings on earth. All it takes is to have just those people that can make the necessary sacrifice.