Mba Emmanuel is the director, Social Media and deputy director, Media and Publicity, Re-elect Buhari Movement (RBM). In this interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he spoke on the objectives of the body and why President Muhammadu Buhari deserves to be re-elected in the 2019 election. Excerpts:
What is the objective of the Re-elect Buhari Movement and how long has the organisation been in existence?
Our primary objective is to drive forces for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari into office. We operate all over the federation. We zoned the body according to the six geo-political zones of the country. Thus, we have the North East, North Central, North West, South-South, South East and South West zones.
We have a unique structure to ensure that we cover every part of the federation. Each zone has a Coordinator. The Coordinators in turn appoint State Coordinators who are in charge of each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The State Coordinators in turn appoint Local Government Supervisors, who in turn appoint Ward Supervisors. The essence is that we cover the federation. So, I can tell you that we have the RBM in all the 744 local government areas and the FCT. At the top, we have the National Coordinator and the Convener.
You said that the Re-elect Buhari Movement has members across political parties. Does that also include members of the People’s Democratic Party?
No. We do not have People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as RBM members. But I have to add that the Re-elect Buhari Movement has supporters even in the Diaspora to project the agenda and good governance of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is to ensure that people in the Diaspora will know what the President is doing. Thus, we have people in the Diaspora who are saying what we are saying now.
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To what extent would you say that these objective of the organisation as you enumerated above has it been met?
The Re-elect Buhari Movement was formed early this year. It has a central register for each state. The coordinators will go to the local governments, supervise those who will go to the wards to identify the supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari. That proves that we have people who support the re-election of President Buhari. So, each state has a big register of supporters. This way, we mobilise supporters for the re-election of President Buhari.
Why do you think that President Muhammadu Buhari deserves re-election?
President Muhammadu Buhari deserves to be re-elected because of the good governance principles he put in place. We support his re-election because of his efforts to restore sanity into the Nigerian system. This is the major reason we are supporting his re-election.
I must add that the Re-elect Buhari Movement cuts across political parties. Since the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari, he has tried to restore sanity in the scheme of things. That is why we support his re-election.
What would you consider the major achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari administration?
From the reports we are getting from the zonal coordinators, we have discovered all the job activities and all the projects being handled by the administration, both completed and on-going. We report on the on-the-job projects. We take pictures to ensure that there is work going on, on the projects. We authenticate these projects to the purpose of using them to mobilise support for the re-election of President Buhari. From our findings, President Buhari has achieved much in areas of agriculture, road constructions. Even abandoned projects by the former administration were not left out. The projects include bridges, like the Second Niger Bridge.
Now that you have mentioned the Second Niger Bridge; to what extent would you say that the project has effectively reached?
Work on the Second Niger Bridge has not effectively gone into the waters. The job is starting from the land. We do not report hearsay. We take pictures of the projects. When work is going on, our will pictures indicate that.
A cross section of the populace believe that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war has been one-sided. What is your view on this?
People are politically biased. President Buhari is not one-sided in his anti-corruption war. As he deals with the Southerners, he does the same with the Northerners. He tackles anyone found to be corrupt, no matter where he or she comes from. Because people are biased, they see, hear more of what the opposition is talking.
But it is being said that the anti-corruption war is targeted against members of the opposition and that if one is an All Progressives Congress (APC) member, such a person will be a sacred cow, even if such a one is enmeshed in corruption. What is your take on that?
This is not true. Those that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently tackled in Kogi State, are they not APC members? Even people who served in his government and found wanting had been dealt with, including ministers and other top officials. When there are allegations, he mounts investigations and people go through the allegations to establish if they are true. That is done before the EFCC will go after such people. The EFCC operatives are well trained to do that.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) seems to be Buhari’s strongest opponent so far. What does the Re-elect Buhari Movement feel about Atiku’s candidature? Don’t you think that the Atiku challenge is real?
As the opposition, people try to run down President Muhammadu Buhari. That is the type of politics we play in Nigeria. It is not possible that Atiku will defeat President Buhari. A lot of things are working and speaking against Atiku Abubakar. We know what happened when he was the Vice President under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. We also know what happened in United States of America. Although he has a university, no poor man can send his children there. If he is allowed to enter into power, he will not remember the poor. President Muhammadu Buhari, unlike Atiku, is not like that.
One of the things Nigerians have been clamouring for is restructuring, which Atiku Abubakar has promised he will do if elected, but which President Buhari has not done. What is your view on restructuring?
It is not true that President Buhari does not support restructuring. But everything is procedural. Everything is done step by step. President Buhari does not jump from one thing to another. President Buhari has not spoken against restructuring. But he follows due process. If there will be restructuring, there will be a process. When the issue is properly presented, he will handle it and at the appropriate time.
