Minister of State, Labour and Employment and chief spokesperson, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Festus Keyamo (SAN) spoke to OBIRE ONAKEMU on how non-state actors have been threatening peaceful conduct of the general elections and factors that favour All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

As 2023 general elections draw nearer, what is your opinion about political development in Nigeria?         
We have made tremendous progress irrespective of what anybody would say. Our political development since 1999 has been slow, but on steady growth.

We have moved progressively from unacceptable election to a stage where our electoral process has become cleaner and more acceptable internationally, and for me, that is progress. And that is what has sustained the largest streak of political experience we have ever had since 1960.

Do you have any fear about the forthcoming election?                   
l am an activist and I do not envisage any fear. We have now become used to our nudge before election and it has now become our fear. Before any election, you would think there would be Armageddon. In 2003, there were fears that heavens will fall but everything came and went, it was the same with 2007, 2011, 2015 and in 2019. In fact, 2015 was even more abusive and contentious but it all came and gone. In 2019, it was like Armageddon will be there but it came and gone. Nigeria has a way of moving round every election, and now for us, we are beginning to understand that our country comes first before any individual ambition. We are beginning to understand that and that is why Nigerians are not willing to accept election violence.
lf one should look at it very well this day, Nigerians are so inter-related in terms of friendship, marriages and all that and very difficult for you not to see any of your friends in opposite camps this day. They are all over the place.

Why do you think Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is more competent than other candidates? And what are his chances of winning the presidential election?      Well, this question is both objective and subjective. Objective because on my own mind, Asiwaju is objective enough for everybody to accept; because this is a political terrain; what appears objective to me is subjective to another person. Somebody looks at my status and said those factors are not strong enough. He knows that they are strong enough but he doesn’t want to admit them publicly because he wants to downgrade the importance of my candidate.

But let me tell you this, beyond all the noise we are making, it all comes down to what have you done before? How can we trust you? Do we trust you based on the hypothesis that you spelt out during your campaign? Do we trust you based on government projections you made based on calculations or mere factors you mentioned that are not verifiable? When it comes to the criteria of performance records in public office, Tinubu stands taller and above other candidates.

Tinubu has history of performance; history of vision; history of building and fighting for democratic institutions, you know that such a particular President will also uphold all the tenets of democracy, which are necessary to build on our democracy.

We need a President, who value democracy; who knows the importance of democracy; who knows what democracy really entails and who will not put our democracy in danger and that candidate is Tinubu.

Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation recently said that the coordinating structure of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council was already collapsing with members becoming disoriented following series of criminal allegations against your candidate. How will you react to this?
This is a comment coming from an opposition that does not have even one house; that doesn’t have all the governors campaigning for them; that doesn’t have key members buying into their presidential campaign council and no key governor is coming out of their presidential campaign. This is a statement coming from a party that today spends half of their campaign airtime replying each other – either Wike’s camp replying Atiku’s camp or Atiku’s camp replying Wike’s camp. They are not campaigning.

So, such a comment coming out from that party is wrong. You are talking against a party that is united; that has shown cohesion; that all its governors are on board; all elders of APC are on board; all members of NEC are on board; all members of APC are on board and the President is on board. What else do you want again? What else do you want for the unity of a party? What else? The baseless allegation they are trying to raise died when documents of clearance began to fly from the American Embassy in the past.

Nigeria has moved forward beyond all that. PDP is a party that is gasping for breath; it is gasping for survival and for them to have turned their attention to us is a mark of real insults to the intelligence of Nigerians. A party going through grievous crisis that cannot simply obey and respect its constitution is now pointing hand on united party that insisted on power shift for the unity of this country. For us, it is a comedy.

Do you really think Muslim-Muslim ticket will change Nigeria’s political narrative in 2023?
Nigerians are driven more by one expectation: records of candidates and perhaps, regional balance. Atiku is a factor but not a factor that is strong enough to fill the need for regional balance. And so, l think Nigeria has gone beyond that, Nigeria has shown in the past that they can trust a Muslim-Muslim ticket. You may say that was Nigeria of yesterday but we can change Nigeria to Nigeria of yesterday. We believe in Nigeria of yesterday. Nigerians believe that Nigeria of yesterday was a better Nigeria.

So, we should work towards that, and we are working towards that to let Nigerians know that it is not about capacity and performance. That is where l think we are going and Nigerians are confident to prove that on February 25.

I believe in Tinubu and I am convinced that he has the best chance. I have looked at the other major candidates and I have tried to work out their paths to victory; l have tried to look at their credentials and achievements and I don’t see anyone compared to Tinubu. l have calculated it from left to right, region to region and A to Z, I cannot see the path to victory for anyone of them except Tinubu.

Is the continuous vandalisation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) facilities, a ploy by politicians to disrupt the election?      These things had been happening before the present electoral process by non-state actors. They are not politicians but they are people who say they don’t believe in Nigeria. They are the ones causing crisis all over the country, it has nothing to do with politics. So, people shouldn’t mix it up, but it is up to all Nigerians to speak up and condemn it, insisted of leaving it for the law enforcement agents alone. We must first of all knock the moral force out of their argument that it is good to use violence to express themselves. When we all speak out and we reduce that moral high ground that they stand on in the name of freedom fighting, and all of that, then, of course any action the security forces take against them will be justified. But we need to give these security agencies our supports, the moral supports to move against them.

I call on Nigerians to let us approach this election with a broad mind. Let the loser be ready to accept defeat and let us realise that this country is bigger and important than any individual ambition.