- How rocked PDP and pulled out 5 govs
Former Minister of Information Prince Tony Momoh has given a fresh insight into the undercurrent politicking that undercut the People’s Democratic Party’s strength and helped the All Progressives Congress emerge as the ruling party.
MOmoh also ruled out President Muhammadu Buhari setting up a formal probe panel to investigate former President Jonathan administration, saying that the job would be done largely by the security agents.
He said that it was Asiwaju Boka Tinubu who actually orchestrated the tide that swept the PDP out of office by pulling the strings that generated the political crisis in the former ruli
ng party.
Momoh, who was the Chairman of CPC, party promoted by incumbent by now President Muhammadu Buhari, spoke to Vanguard in an interview publish on Monday.
While answering questions on Tinubu, Momoh said, “We can never underrate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the success that we achieved in the 2015 election that produced this government. Tinubu is an excellent crowd mobilizer, very highly proactive and exceptionally digital politician. He was the one who knew how he wooed the five governors of the New PDP and brought them into the APC. You cannot underrate Tinubu’s contribution to the success of the emergence of this government.
“I only pity the PDP who are thinking that the so called crisis in the National Assembly is to their favour. There is no problem with what happened in the Senate and House of Representatives because we cannot say because Saraki emerged as Senate President that he is PDP or that because Dogara emerged as Speaker of the House he is a PDP person.”
Continuing on Tinubu, Momoh who is a respected journalist and mass communication teacher, said that kudos should be given to “Tinubu because of his role in the influence that brought the PDP governors into APC.”
He said, “He (Tinubu) wooed Saraki and Atiku and he knew how he went into the PDP and played all those games. I would tell you that two politicians that should be respected most in Nigeria today are Tinubu and Bisi Akande.”
Momoh however blames Tinubu for the feetering crisis in the APC over the elections the National Assembly leadership. He thinks that all came as a result of Tinubu’s lack of trust for the PDP elements who he was instrumental to bringing to APC.
According to the former minister, “I will also blame Tinubu for the crisis because having brought Saraki, Atiku and the five governors, you should know that it is not proper to think that Saraki, Dogara, Atiku, Kwankwaso will ever still be thinking of being PDP in APC. No. None of them is PDP any longer and they will ever remain APC. So, they should be so treated. What we owe Nigerians is delivery on our change mandate.
“APC was just lucky to be the vehicle used to drive the change because, even without the APC, the Nigerian people would still have overrun the system and achieve the change by themselves. I congratulate the APC for being lucky to be the vehicle for driving the change. It is sad that the debt Jonathan plunged us into as a nation will take a long period to repay.”
Momoh, who is close ally of the president, said the president will rely on security agents in the investigation of the fraudlemt dealings of the past administrations.
According to him, the administration will rely largely on the security agencies to fish out the culprits with their loots and ensure justice is done.
“If anybody had done anything bad in the past, it is the business of the security agencies to investigate. President Buhari won’t be the one to do that. He believes that the security agencies should know what to do to anybody, who has committed a crime, be it financial or whatever,” he said.
“So, the security agencies should not wait until the President tells them to go after such a person because Buhari will not ask any security agent to do so. He believes that the constitution has stated clearly the roles of security agencies. If they now see an offender, who committed a crime and fail to handle such a person according to the law, then the law enforcement agents should be blamed.”
