‘Jonathan not using Labour Party as alternative vehicle to regain South West’ 

The leadership of People’s Democratic Party both at the national level and in the South West has continued to explore new strategies that could help the party regain the control of the region believed to be very crucial to the re-election bid of the party at the centre in 2015. The need for new strategies has led to the emergence of new and young political leaders in the region who are determined to mobilise resources and people to achieve this onerous task. Chief Kasamu Buruji from Ogun State is one of those young new leaders in the region. He spoke with ABIODUN FANORO and SEYE OLUMIDE on why the PDP must dispense with those he called the old and non grassroots politicians who he accused of being responsible for the setback for the party in recent times. He also spoke on the allegation of anti-party activities some people are insinuating against President Goodluck Jonathan. Excerpts

WHAT is the state of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State at present?
  Before I make any comment on that, I would like to say there is no reason for any Nigerian, whatever the status, to disparage President Goodluck Jonathan. I found it very embarrassing to hear people talking down on the person of the president of their country as if we all do not have our personal life. That is what politics has turned into today; and I find it very uncomfortable.
  In respect of the PDP in Ogun State, I can assure you that the party is very stable. Although, there are minor crises and that is in respect of the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). Some of the coordinators of the state’s SURE-P funds, whom we believe are supposed to use the funds to empower the people in Ogun, were using the money for other purpose. Apart from this, the party is stable and we are mobilising people to join us.  We are also solving various problems among our members. A lot of people are defecting into the PDP now. If any election holds today in Ogun, I can say boldly that the PDP would clear not less than 90 per cent of the votes.
   How is that possible in a party that is seriously divided, where former President Obasanjo has been relegated, former governor Gbenga Daniel has moved to Labour Party and Gen. Idowu Olurin (Rtd) is no longer heard in the party’s affairs?
  Chief Obasanjo is not a politician and this is what many people do not know. We are the grass-root soldiers. We have leaders but they are not grassroots politicians, we referred to them as Abuja politicians. Most of them can hardly spend their personal money to fund politics and the politics of today requires leader who can listen to the people and share in their problems.
  On a more serious note, are you not concerned that Obasanjo, whom you claimed to be your father and a leader in Ogun politics and also a former president is today not in good term with President Jonathan?
Who told you that Obasanjo is not in good term with Jonathan?
  Who told you they are fighting? That is not true. Apart from areas where they have differences over some issues, you will recall that when the new PDP went to see Obasanjo over the issues in the PDP, he told them to go and resolve them with the president. Are you saying if Obasanjo leaves the PDP today, he will go and support or join the All Progressive Congress (APC), where the likes of former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari and former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu who were looking for his head, domicile?
  Or is it the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar that is going to support? If any of these people takes over control of power today in Nigeria, except for Obasanjo to relocate to America or London, they will get back at him. So, we all know there is no way Obasanjo will work against the interest of the ruling PDP.
Secondly, Jonathan whether we like it or not is Obasanjo’s ‘boy’.
Obasanjo’s boy! Was it not the same Obasanjo who said you could only help someone to look for a job but not to assist the person in doing the job?
  You have already finished the whole matter. If Obasanjo could come out openly to say that he was the one that helped Jonathan to get the job, that confirms that Jonathan is one of Obasanjo’s political sons because for Obasanjo to pick Jonathan out of the millions of people, if there is no trust; he would not have done that.Out of the governors investigated by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) then, it was only Jonathan that was cleared, that was why he (Obasanjo) proposed him to Nigerians and that was why most people supported and voted him to power in 2011. So, there is no way Obasanjo could turn round now to say Jonathan is this and that.  As I have said that it is possible for a father and a son to have misunderstanding, but they will settle it.
 For Olurin, he is not a politician and he is still not a politician. He is a military man. It was Obasanjo who dragged Olurin  into the whole matter. Daniel is no longer an issue in Ogun State politics, when he floated the People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN) in 2011, what did he achieve? He went to the local government election after that and the PDP defeated his party. So I am not afraid of them because they really do not know anything about grassroots politicking.
 To the surprise of many Nigerians and even within the circle of the PDP, you have suddenly emerged as a rallying point in the South West PDP, what is your driving force?
  God is the most powerful.  He is the creator and He knows from the beginning to the end. Former President of South Africa, Dr. Nelson Mandela was a hero today because of the role he played in the life of the people of his country. It is the Lord’s doing for whatever I am today.
  All the old politicians in Nigeria have cheated the  people so much; they are the ones creating problems for us. Whenever the younger ones strive to grow, the so-called leaders will do everything possible to pull them down. What is paramount to these leaders is their personal interest and their children. They sit down in Abuja with their babariga, they are not ready to fight the course of the common man. If God had destined me for a particular purpose to help his people, then, it is not by my power. I always make people understand that nobody brings politicking from heaven. What I have achieved today in politics is through the help and assistance of the Almighty God. I love my party, I love the people of Ogun State and I have passion for Nigeria. At present, I have over 421 cases in court and out of it, only 13 cases are mine, the rest are for the people on the street whose fight for justice I have taken over.
   Are you saying Daniel and the LP are no threat considering what happened in Ondo State when Governor Segun Mimiko used the LP to defeat the PDP and the ACN through alleged assistance from the presidency  during the governorship election last year?
You cannot to compare Mimiko with Daniel because they are different people.
How will you  react to reports that President Jonathan is planning to use the Labour Party as an alternative inroad to the South West in the 2015 elections?
  I don’t react to rumour. I do not belief that President Jonathan can make the error of trying to fund LP against the PDP in any region. It wasn’t the LP that made Jonathan to become president but the PDP. So there is no reason why he would do that. Those who managed the party before him did not do that, so there is no reason for us to think that the President is funding another party other than his own party. For me, the President will never do that.
 But the incident in Ondo and Anambra States where the allegedly supported rival parties was a good example?
  That is not true. Mimiko is a PDP man, I am telling you the truth, whether Mimiko likes it or not; he is coming back to the PDP. His body is just LP, while his soul is PDP. He only used LP to get what he wanted; he is coming back to his base. 
 Looking at how the PDP has been beaten to an almost a state of non existence in the Sourth West, is it there any hope for its resuscitation?
 Yes, It is not just that there is hope, but we are actually going to regain the region. It is about strategy, organization and mobilization. I won’t disclose the rest to you. We can win the region with good planning. If all these old politicians who are fond of traveling to Abuja to go and deceive .the President would stop and allow us, the foot soldiers to work and mobilise the people, you will see changes.
   What are the implications of the decision of the Court of Appeal, which returned Oyinlola as the secretary general of the PDP?
If you don’t understand things then you ask. The Court of Appeal did what it did in the case of Oyinlola because it did not understand the matter. It did not understand the issue involved, otherwise it would have done justice but I can assure you that the Supreme Court is going to do justice. Secondly, if you lose a case in the Appeal Court, as soon as you appeal to the Supreme Court and is recorded, the whole issue stopped; that is what we call return to status quo.
That means the judgment of the Federal High Court is still subsisting until the Supreme Court comes up with a new decision.
Don’t also forget that while Oyinlola was in the Court of Appeal, he came out openly to declare that he was now a member of the Alhaji Kawu Baraje’s new PDP which he also emerged as their scribe. By this act, he has lost his chances of laying any claim to any office in the PDP. You saw the copy of Oyinlola’s letter and also the response of INEC, what are we then talking about? The fact that Oyinlola made this kind of declaration and in addition is now romancing with APC, convinced the PDP that he has fully turned his back against the party and the party had no choice than to discipline him by suspending him.
   With the new strength of the APC, is there no fear that it could displace the PDP at the centre in 2015?
  APC may be deceiving itself but you must not fool yourself. In the 2011 presidential election, we knew the millions of votes the PDP polled. ACN did not have up to two millions. If five governors defected to APC, which I doubt would hold because all they are doing now  is ‘film show’, APC will soon collapse.
   What makes you think it would collapse?
  It is simple because they will not be able to agree on power sharing. For instance, do you think it is only Bukola Saraki that controls the PDP structure in Kwara State, the answer is no. Most members of PDP in Kwara State and many others are still with Gbemi Saraki.
His father, Olusola Saraki was a strong and founding member of the PDP. The people of the state love PDP and there is no reason they will not support the party. Nigerians are  also aware that whatever the defected governors and their colleagues are today was achieved through the PDP. There is no reason God will allow them to collapse the party.
   What is your view about the planned National Dialogue, which APC and some people have already said would not work?
  We all know what is right and what is not right. What do you expect the opposition to say about the conference? They have made up their mind to oppose whatever programme or project the Jonathan administration embarks on no matter how lofty and beneficial it is to the people.
What the defected governors are trying to do is to portray Jonathan in a bad light, that he is not capable to rule the country.
 They are the enemies of this country because it was the decision of several millions of people through their votes that Jonathan should rule for four years, with the right to seek re-election. Those people are deceivers and I believe Nigerians will never allow then to succeed.
   Has Jonathan performed enough to deserve second term?
  I only believe in justice, I love the PDP, I have passion for Bamanga Tukur and I also have passion for Jonathan. I swear to you and I can spill my blood for Jonathan. Don’t let anybody deceive you, how can you say that the president is not performing? The most brilliant professionals are around him, would the Minister of Finance; Okonjo Iweala put her hands in anything dirty?
  All the allegations are because it is no longer business as usual; they are no longer able to get what they used to get. Instead of listening to gossip, I think the media should move round to see what the government is doing. How many property belonging to the country has Jonathan sold since he became president? We should not be deceived, the president is intelligent and is working. If they say he is not performing, then they should list those things he has not done.
This interview will not be complete if you do not clear the issues bothering on your alleged extradition and the alleged drug trafficking around your personality?
  When you came here, you met me in my office do I look like a criminal? How many people in this country that have stolen a lot of our money? How can criminals be coming out to label me a criminal? I have never in my life visited America, I have never obtained American visa and the time they were talking about that I carried N20 million worth of drugs or there about, I was one of the richest people in the Republic of Benin. The issue does not concern me and I do not give a dam on it. Do you want to tell me that America doesn’t no that I am in Lagos State or that I am in Nigeria or is it that I am not popular enough to know where I work? I don’t have any case to answer in America. It was my brother who we look alike that lived in America and Chicago before.
 Chief Olusegun Obasanjo mentioned your name in the letter he wrote to President Jonathan, what is yopur reaction on the way he referred to you in the letter?
In the 18-page letter, Obasanjo said how can the presidency be working with me? It is not the fault of Obasanjo, the former president was my partner in 2010 and in 2011. Almost all Nigerians were aware that I worked for Obasanjo, he used me to fight against Gbenga Daniel, who had relegated and dethroned Obasanjo in Ogun State politics. I risked my live for Obasanjo and I spent over N3 billion  before I could take over the control of the PDP in Ogun State from Daniel. I took back the party machinery from Daniel and returned it to Obasanjo.
  It was also Obasanjo who introduced General Olurin and told me to work with him so that we could win the 2011 governorship election in Ogun. But I insisted Olurin was an old man and that we could not win the election. He said my son, my partner, go and work with him. Everybody is aware of this. Then, myself and Iyabo, Obasanjo’s daughter worked together for Olurin
  Unfortunately, the same Obasanjo is now calling me criminal, someone I dined with in his house more than 30 times, I have entered Obasanjo’s bedroom, living room and also his office.
Obasanjo was the one that introduced me during the South West meeting of the PDP held in his house to the Minister for Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, Alao Akala, Segun Oni and many other leaders.
  He told them to thank me that I assisted him in fighting Daniel to a standstill. Obasanjo was my partner. I spent over N3 billion to return the PDP structure in Ogun state to him. It was also Obasanjo that introduced me to the National Working Committee of the PDP then. He introduced me to Alhaji Kawu Baraje. He was the one that took me to the Presidency and said I was the one fighting on his behalf in the South West and that I was the one mobilising for him in the region and that with me, we could deliver the area for the PDP.
 Baraje is alive. During our crisis, the President instructed the party to resolve the problem between me and Obasanjo and Baraje was appointed as the peace maker. Baraje scheduled a meeting for Hilton Hotel where we met for about two hours. It was sad development that after this reconciliatory meeting Obasanjo still went ahead to create another parallel PDP in Ogunn State.
  How can Obasanjo now turn around and label me a drug dealer? When the going was good, he did not know me as a drug dealer.
  I am a clean businessman and as at the time they said I committed the offence they are talking about, I was the richest person in Benin Republic. What is my business in dealing in drugs? I have always been a businessman, I have over 800 people working for me both in Nigeria and in Benin Republic. I do not know anything about the allegation levelled against me.
I was arrested, prosecuted and I won the case in a London court where they said it was mistaken identity. I returned to Nigeria to continue with my business before I joined politics. I went for interpretation of the judgment I won in London and at the end of the case, I got a clean slate. I am not a drug dealer, I am a business man and whatever Obasanjo is saying, is a cheap blackmail.