I sat with Tinubu for two hours, he slept most of the time – Najaatu Muhammad (Compact edition)

A former director in the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Najaatu Muhammad, spoke on why she quit and why the ruling party’s candidate should not be President

I Was Shocked To Read That You Decided To Quit Politics?

I did not say I’m quitting, people don’t read very well, I said party politics, party politics is different from quitting politics, all I’m saying is that I should not be caged to a particular party.

I have God-given ability to mobilize, I cannot cage myself to the All Progressives Congress; that is why I left the APC, but I’m still very much in politics.

Which Candidate Are You Going To Support For President?

I’ve been talking to Kwankwaso, I know he is handicapped, I have not sat with Obi, but Obi is not accepted in the north anyway. Someone was saying between Tinubu and Atiku is like the devil and the deep sea, I said that is true but I rather jump into the deep sea.

Is There A Reason Why You Will Prefer Atiku?

Yes. I have sat with them, I wanted to leave APC long time ago but they pleaded with me not to, and made me understand that things would change. When I was first given the appointment, I was called by one Falaki.

He said they wanted to make me a director in the civil society organization, I told him that I don’t want and he started to plead with me.

I told him Asiwaju knows me but he has never contacted me, for that reason I have not sat with him to ask him what he has for us in the north.

He pleaded with me to accept the appointment and speak with Asiwaju later. So, you know one has to be humble, I accepted but on the basis that if I’m not satisfied by the answers given to me by Asiwaju I will opt out, and he said yes, he was grateful.

That same day at night an unknown number called me for about a couple of minutes, and I picked it up, then I saw a text message saying ‘Asiwaju wants to talk to you.’

He called immediately and said ‘I’m very sorry, but I respect the fact that you refused my appointment,’ and I said no wahala.

He asked why I refused the appointment, and I said first, he never consulted me….

He said he was in London, adding that I should come and meet him in London? I said why not? He said, “Do you want me to buy you a ticket?” I said, “No sir, it’s not the problem.” He said, “Do you need a hotel, I said yes sir.” So, after I dropped the call, I called my traveling agent that night to get me a ticket and that is how I got to London that same day at night.

I was picked up by one Ibrahim Masari, I sat with Asiwaju and while we were sitting there, Chief Bisi Akande came in. I asked Asiwaju, “Sir please tell me, if you really want me to do this job for you tell me, tell me what I did to Buhari, I always attend his campaign, the structure for the northwest is my structure.”

I asked Tinubu, “What do you have for us in the north? He looked me in the face and said, “Nothing.”  I said, “Sir, you mean you have nothing for the north? The question of security, out of school children, agriculture and many things like that, everybody in the northeast is waiting to be killed or kidnapped.”

He said, “If I give you my blueprint, I will be subjecting myself to all kinds of things, they might even kill you.”  I said, “Who are they? Sir, you have to have a blueprint.” He said he had no intention of making a blueprint until he wins the election. I said then, there will be a lot of distraction, this is exactly what has happened to Buhari; every time we go out is about how we get power, not about how to utilize it. He said if I had anything the north would need, that I should bring it to him so he can put it in his manifesto…. But he has not reached out to me up till now. I tried Sir Bisi Akande, I tried convincing Ibrahim Masari, I begged him because it was through him that I got to Asiwaju when I came to London, he was the closest person to him we know up north. I said, “Please what do I do with these things I have written?”

He said, “You know you are late now because Nasir El-rufai has already brought something that we are putting on the manifesto and the only thing that we are putting is the state police.” So, I said, so the north does not need anything except state police? State police for what? From that day I had nothing to do with them, in spite of the fact that they made me a director.

But Do You Think Atiku Will Be Different?

What I’m saying is, if I have to choose between the devil and the deep sea, I’ll go for the deep sea, because over and above everything else, I follow my conscience. I’m not doing it for myself, I’m doing it for God and for my country.

I see Obi as somebody that has the charisma to move the youth, he can move the youths but he has not been able to move the youth in the north, and the only youths he has been able to move are those outside their stations, outside their states. He has not been able to move the youths of the southeast, I have not seen the youths of the southeast follow him, they’d rather go with Kanu, and these are youths that don’t know anything about our history, their parents probably didn’t know about the war. But for somebody like me, I still remember that my father was hiding a lot of Igbos in our house.

Obi is that he has never condemned IPOB; that is my problem with him, he has never come out to condemn IPOB. If you want to lead, how do you dialogue with them, they are even killing his own people. He said they have a right to agitate for secession. So, if you believe they can agitate, then you shouldn’t be the president of the country. He should be like Desmond Tutu and negotiate for peace as a national figure.

Asiwaju that I sat with for two hours, he slept most of the time, it was Bisi Akande that I was really talking to. Most importantly he is not only physically unfit, he is mentally unfit, whether we want it or not, this is the truth. It’s not that I hate him, I respect him because I have heard of one or two people that he assisted which is good. But when you talk of leadership of over 200 million people you know that if you remove tribal sentiments, you know that he is incapable, those that will rule are those around him. This is the reality. He is mentally deranged – I said it!

What Evidence Do You Have To Support Your Claim That Tinubu Is Not Fit?

I sat with him for two hours in London, when you talk of green, he will give you an answer of red, he can’t even decipher, he has very serious dementia. I believe he has Alzheimer’s because he cannot even hold a cup of tea, if you remove tribal sentiment, if you remove the Lagos/Ibadan press, if Tinubu were not a Yoruba man, he will not dare contest election because they will crucify him, but people are all there to defend him because he is Yoruba, it’s Egbe Omo Oduduwa over everything else.

You’re from Kano Where Kwankwaso Comes From, Why Are You Not Supporting Kwankwaso Who Is Younger?

Let’s not talk about youths, there have been some old presidents in Asia that have been very very good, and there have been very young governors here that are nothing but tyrants, thieves. So, it has nothing to do with age but mental ability and commitment. At least you can make sense of what he is saying and what he is doing.

I was in the campaign for Yola, and we had to beg them to take the mic from him (Tinubu), everything about Tinubu is based on lies. Imagine he is an Hausa man, will he contest elections with all these gbese on top of him? In this campaign nobody should talk of corruption because they are corruption personified.

Do You Think President Muhammadu Buhari Is Supporting Tinubu?

Buhari is not supporting anyone; he is too self-centred, quote me, Buhari has never supported anybody but himself. I will be shocked if he is supporting him and if Buhari is supporting anyone it is zero for that person. So, when I heard Asiwaju say he will continue from where Buhari has stopped I said, “you have killed yourself in the north” because Buhari is a taboo.  Check his budget over the years, the highest is has given the northwest is 12 per cent, the highest he allocated to agriculture is 2, and he is hated because of his nepotism, all the service chiefs, including fire brigade, he gave to a northerner, and he picked the worst of the worse, so that we will continue to be killed and then you say your own brother is killing you. So, if your own brother is killing you what difference does it make to the victim?

If you had given me Osinbajo, I swear I would have put my life on the line for Osinbajo, because he is a better person, he’s open, he’s proactive and he puts his eye on the ball and looks at Nigeria holistically. The few months that he was given to act he changed things, so why should I be sentimental, if the Yorubas were serious why not give it to Osinbajo, who is a pastor, you are doing Muslim-Muslim now, the holy prophet said a just atheist is better than an unjust Muslim. So, why do I care about Muslim-Muslim? Somebody that could not even read Fatiha is calling himself a Muslim, without Fatiha you can’t pray, which means he has never prayed, what nonsense is that?

Source: The Whistler