OMOJUWA TO BUHARI: Change Nigeria or Nigeria changes you

•JJ Omojuwa says APC set unrealistic standards during campaigns but must keep the tempo

By KEMI YESUFU

For any of his 237,000 followers on Twitter, the millions that visit his blog, Japhet “J.J” Omojuwa speaks his mind no matter who is involved. To many of those that worked for or supported President Goodluck Jonathan, the young man who travels the world on various speaking engagements was a pain in the neck.

For his legion of supporters, the syndicated columnist is deserving of nothing but commendation for highlighting the many troubles with Nigeria. In this interview, the blogger talks about President Muhammdu Buhari, his Baba Go-Slow tag, the Jonathan administration

and why youths on the social media are not to blame for the negativity leading towards the presidential elections. He also spoke on why he turned down the offer to serve in government.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been under fire in recently with even a foreign newspaper dubbing him Baba Go-Slow. For certain people he isn’t living up to the billing as they expected him to move quickly owing to hype that he is bringing change. Do you align with this line of thought?

Who built the expectation? It was the president and his party that built the expectation. So, if people now want results government has to respond. It is not people’s fault that they expected government to hit the ground running. It is the government’s fault for promising so much during the campaigns, so there is no excuse for inaction or the seeming inactivity going on. This is not to say government doesn’t have challenges. But they knew about these problems before they came in. There is so much talk about how the handover note came in four days before handover. This means that they didn’t know the exact situation of things, how to go about auditing the situation of things. But everybody knew that the former government was a disaster. Everybody knew that we didn’t have money. Every Nigerian interested in governance knew that the 2015 budget that the Jonathan administration sent was a budget for election and not a true representation of Nigeria’s reality. For me, the biggest issue is that of terrorism. I know without a doubt that the president’s number one priority is the war on terrorism. And he is building up a strategy of totally wiping them off the North East and anywhere else in the country. But this administration is about 40 days old and some 400 hundred people have been killed. This is an average of ten people a day and this is not acceptable. While they are working a strategy, they have to know we cannot wait for too long. I don’t believe in his being called Baba Go-Slow because a government can be better judged, at least, by the third month. Even as I say it’s too early to judge this government, it is not too early to start taking scores and this (slow start) is how we score a government and how the government is perceived. So, the Buhari government has to get started, they need to feel the pulse of the people and not listen to the words of those who want appointments or contracts. And the people feel this government is not starting well.

Some have expressed fears that  former governors with EFCC cases and others with poor reputations played major roles in Buhari’s emergence. They say this will make it difficult for the president to really deal with graft. What is your opinion?

Muritala Nyako, the former governor of Adamawa is a member of All Peoples Congress (APC) and he was interrogated by the EFCC. Kano state practically supplied the highest number of votes for Buhari’s election. But the former governor is currently engaging the EFCC. Buhari might not be perfect but I trust in his ability to confront anybody involved in corruption especially if the act was carried out during his administration.

Through your tweets and other commentaries, you were one of those that sold President Goodluck Jonathan as incompetent and clueless. On the other hand, some people said powerful cliques sat together to ensure that the clueless toga stuck with Jonathan. Do you think you were fair to the former president?

I think the question we should be asking is, if it is fair that eleven million children are out of school? Is it fair that Nigeria has one of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world? Is it fair that we still have over 100 million Nigerians that are poor? Four of five Nigerians graduates don’t have jobs and if yes leads in the answers to these questions, then he was incompetent. It doesn’t matter if some people sat somewhere and planned to call him clueless. You can say some people didn’t like him because he is from the south and things like that. You can say it is propaganda. But such arguments are emotional excuses. If you look at the indices, you will see that the Jonathan government left Nigeria worse than it met it. Is it Boko Haram? Is it the Chibok girls for 42 days the government didn’t want to believe that they were kidnapped, again because they felt it was a northern conspiracy to embarrass Jonathan since they don’t like him? When I had the opportunity to meet with President Buhari, I told him plain and clear that ‘we voted you on the altar of change and if you don’t deliver this change, we will vote you out’. And he said he could understand the subtle threat and he would try to ensure that things are done correctly.

Do you agree that you and many others on the social media contributed greatly to the caustic nature of the last presidential election?

The social media is a reflection of society. Do you know the worst case of the hate campaign? It came from Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State. He placed a wrap-round advert in one of the biggest newspapers in this country. The other hate campaign was carried out through a documentary on the pioneer independent TV station. If social media did any hate campaign, you should ask where they got the impetus from. The established media instigated the hate campaign. Social media was not the source of hatred. It only amplified what it got from established media houses. In my own case, I don’t belong to any party. I only endorsed a candidate as it is done in other democracies. The people were angry and they voted against Jonathan, 15 million gave their verdict on Jonathan’s transformation government at the polls.

Quite a number of people would argue that you are among those that talk with anger, even making rude remarks about Jonathan. At a point he hinted that he probably is the most insulted president around. What do you say?

If a president is constantly clueless and you make people see that he is clueless, if that is seen as an insult, I take responsibility. If a president is constantly incompetent and you make people see that he is incompetent and he has proven himself to be incompetent, if that is seen as an insult I take responsibility. I can list cases of incompetence and cluelessness under that president. Is it the people that died during the immigration service recruitment on March 15th 2014? The minister that made this happen was a minister until the end of his administration. Let’s be sincere, if the president was the most insulted, he should ask himself why.

What some people are asking is that the young people on social media be more polite in expressing their views. Can you people ever say things nicely?

Governance is not a tea party. Again, it matters what you define as politeness. Is it polite to call man in your family or neighborhood in his 70s Baba Go-Slow? No it is not. But if that man is the president, you won’t say calling him Baba Go-Slow is rude. Being in public service comes with things like people making a caricature of you.

But did Jonathan achieve anything in his years as Acting President and President?

Oh well, five years he was in office and with trillions of naira down the drain, you can get some things right. They did quite well with agriculture. They didn’t do too badly with the renovation of airports. Some people might ask at what cost they this but the airports are much better. I did an article on the Lagos airport when I flew in 2013 and it was quite popular. Our airports are not up to global standard, but they are much better now. They also didn’t do badly with their auto policy. On the   issue of the media, they didn’t do too badly though they later impounded newspapers one time and one or two journalists were arrested. They took criticism well though they didn’t work on the issues raised. They didn’t jail journalists though I was once arrested. But as a whole, the government was a disaster.

What do you say to people that would say someone like J.J Omojuwa made a name by castigating Jonathan and demonizing the people around him, especially those that handled his image?

Can you say a man is bad man when he is not? People will find you out. No matter how much government or the opposition chooses to play propaganda, by and large people can see things for themselves. Government policy affects every day realities. It is difficult to make a government look so bad if it is not. If anyone becomes popular, believable and largely trusted by saying certain things about a government, it is the truth that is being told.

Many will be surprised that you have a bible on your table. How do you view religion? How important is it to you?

I believe that there is a God that governs the affairs of men. But for me faith is a personal thing. I don’t think that religion should be an issue in governance. A lot of people will be surprised that I read the bible, let alone, having one close to me for consulting when I need to. This is how it should be. My faith is personal. I am not in the business of talking or dressing like it to show what faith you profess. I am in the business of living like it.

You seem to be living comfortable life. How does Omojuwa pay his bills? Is it through activism? 

I don’t call myself an activist because I don’t earn money from activism. I earn money from writing columns in Punch, CNN, ThisDay and several other platforms. I have quite a busy speaking schedule. In the coming days I am in Halifax Canada, Washington, Florida and several African countries. These are paid for. My online media platform reaches 10 million people a week. My social media accounts reach one million people a day. If conventional media can sell adverts, I can also sell spaces on my blog and social media accounts. Maybe with respect to the poverty in Nigeria, you can say I am comfortable. But by global standards I don’t think I will accept being called comfortable. More importantly, I think I am privileged to have a voice that when I speak people listen. I try not abuse this privilege and I try as much as possible to speak for the underprivileged.

Will take up political appointment having supported APC?

I have already respectfully turned down a political appointment. I am not ready to join government. I will when the time is right. If I am to join government I will have to take a pay cut. I don’t have enough resources in reserve to take a pay cut now. I am also not mentally prepared to take up an appointment. I am that kind of person that has to prepare myself mentally to do anything. And when I was campaigning that Jonathan should go, I wasn’t doing this, so a new government can come and I will get an appointment.

When you were criticizing Jonathan did government ever reach out to you and did you fear for your safety?

Yes, they reached out to me which is normal. Did I fear for my life? Well, I have the understanding that we must all die one day. But I don’t live fearing that I will die. Nevertheless, I was very careful. I wasn’t tactless.