By Chioma Gabriel, Deputy Editor
Prof. Tam David West, was the Minister of Petroleum Resources during the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida.

In this encounter, the professor of Virology writes off President Jonathan’s perceived ambition to fly the presidential flag of PDP, saying the zoning formula of the party is currently in favour of the North. He also dismisses him as the best for Nigeria saying Jonathan has never campaigned for any election and has a shallow track-record politically. In his assessment, General Muhammedu Buhari is the best man for the job. Excerpts.

What’s your view on the preparations made so far towards 2011 general elections?

Well, I have looked at the scenario at hand and I want to say that Nigeria cannot have credible elections if we don’t have any thing down to suggest it. We cannot keep deceiving ourselves.

One of the problems against Prof; Maurice Iwu’s INEC was the lack of credible voters’ register and do we have that now? With the release of the new timetable and seeing what we saw, would we have a credible election?

So, we should get serious and tell ourselves the truth. We have said we want free and fair elections and we want elections by January. How will that be? There is no voters register yet and we want free and fair elections.

INEC is already working on a new voters register.

The current chairman of INEC who we believe is better than Iwu should be careful because his reputation is on the line. If he already has a new voters register, let him tell us. He should tell Nigerians about it by addressing the nation.

INEC should address the nation. INEC should buy pages of newspapers to tell the country what is going on with voters register. Everybody knows that Iwu’s voters register is beyond repair and we don’t have confidence in it.

We should not manage it for any reason and we must get this election right. Nothing should stop INEC from sacrificing all that needs to be sacrificed for free and fair elections. You cannot have credible election without a credible voters list.

Voters registration is yet to commence but the fear now is whether the January date for elections would be right if we want to achieve results.

January cannot be okay. We are in September already and to prepare a new voters register, we need at least three months to register 120 million people. A new voters register must be durable for us to get better election results. We must get it right for the future of this country.

We must remove the time constraint of January. If we don’t get it right this time, we will continue to have problems. The time is too short but INEC knows best.

What time do you think will be best for the elections to commence?

I don’t know what time but we can’t put absolute time when we are not yet prepared, when we have not solved the problems. But my position is, if Jega needs a longer time, let him have it.

A new voters register is a must. We need a credible voters register if we want the elections to be credible or we will be heading for turbulence. Anyone who tries to rig this election is asking for trouble but the time is short. If Jega says the time s okay, let him address the nation and tell Nigerians January dateline is okay, that he needs no extension.

Let Jega address the nation and tell us that the time limit is okay so that in future, nobody would use it as an excuse for anything. The confidence of the voters is on him. He must speak up.

But you know some Nigerians would crucify INEC if the date is shifted.

That would be penny wise, pound foolish. It is better to be late and get things well, than to hurry into problems. We criticised Iwu. We want to discard of everything Iwu and yet we don’t want to give all it will take to have credible elections. That would be foolishness.

I think our problem is poverty. We don’t talk and insist on our position. We want Jega to give us credible elections and to get credible elections, we need credible voters register. We cannot have free and fair elections without that and that is the basic truth or we are back to where we started.

Besides INEC, would you say the parties are ready. In the ruling party, they are not done yet with the argument on zoning and nothing much is happening in other parties.

It is the PDP that is throwing itself into confusion. Zoning is a PDP problem and whether the party likes it or not, it must provide a Northern candidate. If it gets its candidate from any where other than the North, there will be problems because its constitution says so. PDP should change its constitution if it insists that Jonathan will contest.

If that change is not effected, then, Jonathan cannot contest on the platform of PDP. If he goes ahead, he will be asking for trouble. That section 7: 2(c) of the PDP constitution must be removed. The party agreed it’s eight years to the South and eight to the North and must abide by it.

I am not a politician, I belong to no political party but I have the interest of the country at heart. As at now, in the interest of PDP, a Northerner has to be the candidate.Jonathan should go and declare on another platform.

Nigerians believe PDP will produce the next President and I think that is what the problem is about.

How do you know PDP will produce the President? Who can explain that? Is it because PDP is in control now? Will PDP rig the election? If you say PDP will produce the next President, its like rigging the election in advance. I don’t believe PDP will produce the next president.

But you said the party must field a Northerner because its eight years to the North and eight to the South. It’s saying the same thing.

It’s about the constitution of the party and the fact that some people want Jonathan to contest. I’m not saying Jonathan should not contest if he wants but it should not be on the platform of PDP.

But what PDP NWC has said is that Jonathan has inherited Yar’Adua’s tenure including the right to a second term in office.

Please don’t even try that explanation. Jonathan is on Yar’Adua ticket. That mandate died with Yar’Adua. Jonathan can only conclude the remaining four years and we all know this. Why are we doing like this? Jonathan cannot contest another four years on behalf of Yar’Adua.

The doctrine of necessity is not applicable here. It is not in our constitution. There is nothing like Yar’Adua/Jonathan joint ticket. It was Yar’Adua and he picked Jonathan as his running mate.

Things should not be mixed up. Jonathan was irrelevant when Yar’Adua was around. It was not his mandate. The constitution is clear on this. The presidential candidate will choose his running mate. Yar’Adua chose Jonathan. He was just lucky to be chosen by Yar’Adua.

As Vice-President, Jonathan was nothing without Yar’Adua because the Constitution is clear. It is the presidential candidate that chooses who will run with him. To say Jonathan has inherited the right to a second term in office is not true.

He was Vice-President and now President and has chosen his Vice President in the person of Sambo.

It was convenient for him to become President because of circumstances at that time. That is coming to an end and PDP must field a northern candidate. Jonathan is the President on borrowed terms. If you lend me N1,000 and you gave me IOU and my son countersigned, if I refund N500 and die, my son will pay you the remaining N500. It is the same thing here.

Yar’Adua was voted for four years and he served three and died. Jonathan will conclude the remaining one year and hand over to the North . That is how it should be, not the other way round.

PDP is owing the North, one more tenure of four years. If PDP does not field a Northern candidate, that is the beginning of the end of that party. It is still the turn of the North to produce the president in that party.

The leadership of the party has accepted that all their aspirants are free to contest primaries.
PDP cannot say all the aspirants are free to contest primaries. The party has a constitution and must abide by the dictates of that constitution or abrogate it.

It is expected that Jonathan will declare from today. Are you saying he shouldn’t?

Jonathan can declare in the moon, in the sun or anywhere he likes but he cannot be the presidential candidate of PDP. Anybody can contest but in PDP, zoning is their policy. So, let him declare anywhere, it should not be on the platform of PDP.

He cannot be the presidential candidate of the party because there is no justification for that. It is also wrong to say that anybody who contests on PDP platform must be president. That is a lie. It cannot be like that.

It was reported you are supporting General Buhari.

Buhari is the best amongst all those who have been there before that are trying to stage a come-back. He has a track-record. He is principled. Remember, I was part of a government and I am speaking from experience.

I was not speaking with Buhari, I don’t have his number even now but I know what I am saying based on his record from the past. He is disciplined and he achieved results. Buhari is the best and I’m saying it loud and clear and history is backing me up.

Today, we complain of corruption in leadership. Buhari is the only leader who has not been tried for corruption. He doesn’t know me, we don’t talk and he didn’t even know when I was writing a book on him. Buhari is the best.

The South-South where you come from has not produced a president before and one expects that you should support Jonathan.

That is not the way it goes. I don’t support that line of argument. I’m not against Jonathan contesting but I don’t support him. What has he done before? In terms of track records, what is his?

Does he have experience? His records are very, very shallow. Jonathan has not contested elections before. He rode on the back of Alamiesegha to become Governor of Bayelsa and on the back of Yar’Adua to become President.

He never campaigned on his own to become governor or president. So, he has to start from that basics. He has to stand on his own and contest election.

He should not be used as a stooge of somebody. I am from the South-South but supporting Jonathan because he is from the South-South is not the right approach. We need the best to lead Nigerians and based on track-records, the best is Buhari and not Jonathan. We have to tell ourselves this truth without sentiments of any sort.