Motivational speaker and candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria, Mr. Fela Durotoye, tells SUNDAY ABORISADEhis strategy to win the 2019 presidential election
If you are elected President of Nigeria, kindly summarise what you hope to do differently that will make the country great?
If Nigerians give me the privilege to serve as their President, one of the first things my Presidency would instantly achieve on the first day is a Presidency with a clear vision for Nigeria. I have been an avid proponent of the New Nigeria for at least 14 years. My vision for Nigeria still remains that we become the world’s most desirable nation to live in by December 31, 2025. This nation must become the most preferred destination to live, work and do business in.
Dubai came up with an audacious vision to become the tourism capital of the world, and they achieved it in 26 years. Rwanda, after a terrible civil war with over one million casualties, set a vision to become Africa’s most desirable nation and they achieved it in 15 years. We do need visionary leadership to make our nation the most desirable nation to live in and I believe this is possible.
What specific thing will your administration do differently?
My cabinet will consist of experts with proven track records who will manage ministries, not people who are rewarded with political favours. Every goal and milestone of each ministry and agencies will be galvanised towards our most important goal, which is becoming the world’s most desirable nation. For example, the Ministry of Education will have a clear goal; which is to be the first choice for Nigerians to educate their children and the preferred destination for foreign universities to set up their campuses in Africa by December 31, 2025. This decision alone will drive us to reinvest in our education system, retrain our teachers, revise our curriculum, and retrain our students to not only be employees but employers in a globally competitive labour market.
My administration will measure our milestones and make its officers responsible to execute on our main goal. But you can’t have a new Nigeria without having new Nigerians. So, another thing I will do differently is to clearly define who a Nigerian is. For too long, we’ve been told we are fraudsters, cheats and rule breakers. That’s not who we are. The Ministry of National Orientation is such an important vehicle in clearly defining and (allows me to say), indoctrinating Nigerians the right kind of values and behaviours that describe us as new Nigerians. That’s a clear example of what I will do differently when given the opportunity to serve as President.
You begged Nigerians to contribute N1,000 each to enable you to purchase your party’s nomination form. Are you encouraged by the response you got?
I will like to reframe a word in this question. We didn’t ‘beg’ Nigerians to contribute N1000 to purchase my party’s nomination form. We asked Nigerians to own the campaign. To be honest, our campaign has been funded by everyday Nigerians who gave their N500, N1k, N5k and more to support our movement. Our campaign has been very transparent with the donations; we have been faithful stewards towards these donations. We have published monthly financial reports of our donations and expenses, which can be seen on my website or on my social media pages. No other candidate or campaign has done that as far as I’m aware of.
I’ve always said the Nigerian people are the only ‘cabal’ I will ever need. I don’t have any godfather. Most politicians are funded by the same establishment they try to change, and realise too late, that he who pays the piper calls the tune as we saw in Lagos State recently. I want to be accountable to millions of Nigerians and not a few moneybags or godfathers who would determine whether I run or sit down. So when everyday Nigerians saw and heard my request on social media to own a piece of the campaign, they came through and in 24 hours, they had given N5.5m. Nigerians know that every donation they give to my campaign is for me to represent their values and interests and I will never betray that trust.
Were you able to realise the money and are you convinced that the people’s response to your call will determine your acceptance at the presidential polls in 2019?
Yes, Nigerians were very gracious to support us and we not only raised the money to purchase the form, their donations allowed us to go to several more states, spreading the vision of the New Nigeria and our role to deliver it, starting in 2019. As of today, our movement has reached 22 states, speaking to everyday Nigerians. I’ve seen so far – whether in Nasarawa or Ebonyi, Ibadan or Port Harcourt – Nigerians are tired of the present political situation. They want hope; they want a New Nigeria and that’s what my Presidency intends to deliver.
Some 13 aspirants, including you, formed an alliance to produce a consensus party which did not succeed. Are you sure that you still have a strong platform to actualise your dream?
About 20 presidential aspirants came together to form an alliance called PACT (Presidential Aspirants Coming Together). Our goal was never to form a party. We recognised that we were stronger together than divided. So, we needed to come together, place our personal interests aside for the good of Nigeria and ultimately come up with a process to choose a consensus aspirant, who we would all throw our weight behind. Eventually, 13 aspirants followed through those conversations and I emerged from that process.
Therefore, I would say we achieved our goal. The truth is one person alone cannot defeat the political goliaths; it’s going to take a movement of like-minded candidates who I believe we still have to come together, bring their ideas and strengths to the table and form a united and formidable bloc to bring these giants down.
Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, who contested the ANN ticket with you, withdrew from the race, alleging that some desperate elements in the party were working for the ruling APC. What is your reaction?
I will simply say that those of us who remain in the Alliance for New Nigeria are patriots who want the best for our nation. Those who have sown discord, lies and propaganda in order to further their own personal agenda to the detriment of true democracy are no longer with us. I wish Mr. Olawepo-Hashim good luck on his journey as he recently emerged as the candidate of the People’s Trust party.
The National Chairman of the ANN, Mr. Emmanuel Dania, said the party would reach out to all aggrieved members. Has the process started?
Our National Chairman, Emmanuel Dania, is a man of integrity and high values. The national convention was an incredibly transparent process, supervised by INEC, and live-streamed on social media for all to see. There were only two names on the ballot – mine and Mr. Olawepo-Hashim – who withdrew from the primary a day before and tried to pull down what many incredible people had built. Money politics has no place in the Alliance for New Nigeria. Our delegates voted for a candidate they could trust to deliver a new Nigeria; and I was privileged to win 240 votes to seven. Mr. Olawepo-Hashim wanted a platform and luckily, he has found one in People’s Trust.
As the party’s candidate, have you made personal efforts to speak with your aggrieved colleagues?
Sincerely, I wouldn’t say we have any ‘aggrieved colleagues’ in the ANN. We all spoke clearly with one voice. Those who were aggrieved for their personal reasons and tried to pull down a party of integrity have followed Mr. Olawepo-Hashim. The rest of us are united in our resolve to sharing our ideas and winning the hearts of Nigerians across the elective positions we are running for.
A political analyst described other political parties apart from APC and PDP as mere social clubs. Do you agree with him?
No. I don’t believe Nigerians only have a choice between two clear evils, or different sides of the same bad coin. Both parties have clearly given Nigeria 20 years of rot and devastation and I’m not sure any Nigerian wants more of the same for their children. We can’t say ‘both parties are bad, but this one is clearly worse, so I’ll vote for the least bad option’. Neither of these parties have an ideology; which is why politicians cross carpet from one (party) to another. You don’t see Republicans become Democrats or vice versa, simply because the parties share two different ideologies. It’s not about shouting ‘Power to the People’; their policies showed it was never about the people. It’s not about shouting ‘Change’. They forgot to mention that after ruining our economy, all we’d have is change.
Nigerians are looking for a credible alternative to the status quo. And that’s where the other parties must step up and offer true leadership, different from what we currently experience. We need a candidate that is the picture of the New Nigeria we all desire and that’s what Alliance for New Nigeria offers.
Politicians spent huge sums to buy votes in recent polls held in the country and the highest bidder won. Do you think the electorate would listen to your message and ignore cash from other candidates in 2019?
When people are poor, their first loyalty is to their stomachs and you can’t blame them for that. They know the politicians are lying to them, but it’s their only opportunity to get anything tangible from them; so they’ll sell their future for N5,000. These politicians deliberately impoverish the people; they can control the cost of elections. When you educate people, you remove their chains. Politicians know that they can’t bribe an educated electorate. They keep them uneducated and poor.
About 98 million people were registered to vote in 2015. Only about 30 million votes were counted. That doesn’t necessarily equate to 30 million voters. Where were the 68 million people who didn’t vote? They were absent at the polling booths because they were protest voters. They looked at the choices for President and said, ‘I don’t believe in any of these guys; I’m not going to waste my votes on either of them’. So, they stayed at home.
Speak to your drivers, gatemen, home-helps, the people on your street; tell them who to vote for and why. My immediate goal is to go after the 68 million people; particularly, the first time and disenchanted voters. My goal is to create a new grass roots of 30 million first time and disenchanted voters.
If 30 million people decide to waste their votes on the new Nigeria, the new Nigeria will be born. Fela Durotoye is just like you and knows exactly what you go through.
Do you have confidence in the ability of INEC to conduct a free and fair poll in 2019 based on its performances in the recent polls held across the country?
I believe that INEC is not yet either truly independent or still has a long way to go. I feel like INEC tends to look the other way, not enforcing things that can curtail the excesses of campaigns. Not only at the polling centres. For example, in campaign finance, INEC regulations state that the largest single donation a candidate can receive is N1million. Do they check to see if those rules were followed? Do they sanction rule breakers? My campaign has consistently told donors to follow INEC guidelines, because one of my personal values is doing the right thing irrespective of who’s doing the wrong thing.
INEC has the opportunity to become a bastion of democracy by delivering free and fair elections. But questions remain like why was the PVC registration closed three months before December when their regulations say it should end 60 days to the general elections? These are questions that must be answered or is it a case of the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob? We may forgive the mistakes of the past as a learning curve, but INEC must get it right in 2019.
PUNCH