Professor Awwal Yadudu was legal adviser to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha. In this interview, he forecloses President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 on political and legal grounds. Yadudu believes the proposed National Conference is a ploy by the Federal Government to divert attention from the problems besetting it, saying the plan will fail.

It is not every day that you meet the Information Minister, Mr.Labaran Maku, who also oversees the Defence Ministry. So when Maku met a team of editors in Abuja, last week, on the state of the nation, it was an opportunity to field questions on issues ranging from the economy to defence, power, agriculture, defence, politics, etc. Excerpts of interview:

Col. Gabriel Ajayi (rtd) was Colonel Administration and Quartermaster General, Lagos Garrison Command and author of End of the Road: The Travails of an Infantry Officer. By his appointment at the Garrison Command, he was second-in-command to the then General Officer Commanding, GOC, Major Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, whose hands the Ijesha-born infantry officer alleged were apparent in his travails over the alleged 1995 coup. Ajayi was accused of planning to overthrow General Sani Abacha, arrested, tried and sentenced to death along side former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Major Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and Colonel Gwadabe, among others. In this interview, Ajayi says the only thing government could do to make him happy with the system was for his ‘compulsory retirement’ to be reversed and his normal rank at discharge (major-general) be effected.

In a session in Lagos, Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, took us through her two-year old administration of the aviation sector. She spoke on the rot she met on her assumption of office, the reforms she introduced to make our skies safer, and the airports’ remodelling she initiated as part of the efforts to key into the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

I’m happy you’ve raised the question because every Nigerian is entitled to fair hearing. Nigerians must learn to ensure that we do not convict people before they get to court. The whole scenario was such that people wanted the ICPC to step in and stamp a shield of authority to the conviction without trial, thereby jeopardizing investigations. We don’t work that way. Even when you arrest a journalist, the first thing he says is ‘fair hearing’. When you run persons or agencies down, the corrective measures are never commensurate to the initial damage done.

The first thing I did upon my appointment as Minister of Aviation on July 2, 2011, was to take a comprehensive assessment tour of all airports, all agencies and parastatals as well as their facilities and installations across the country. I found that safety and security-critical equipment and installations were obsolete, unserviceable or unavailable. Infrastructure all round-airport terminals were dilapidated and derelict.

During his inauguration for a second term of office on February 24, 2013, the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, promised to take governance closer to the people by posting greater achievements on all fronts. in his inaugural speech titled: ‘The Work Continues’, delivered extempore, Mimiko said: “Our major focus shall be on an aggressive drive at job creation for our teeming youths through innovative and durable programmes that will engender sustainable livelihood.

Matthew Iduoriyekemwen is the former Edo state representative in the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Iduoriyekemwen who also is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state spoke to Saturday Vanguard last Monday, regretting that the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan in moving the nation forward is not being recognised. The Benin- born politician who was one of the governorship aspirants of the PDP in Edo state in 2012, described the seeming opposition against the 2015 presidential ambition of Jonathan as unfair and declared that the President’s achievements will guarantee him second term in office. Excerpts:

Politicians will do anything to get into power. I’m not surprised and I’m not going to lose any sleep over what any politician says or does in order to win over people. I’m not saying I support what they do. I’m just saying I’m not going to lose any sleep because it doesn’t surprise me.

Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, is a Nigerian politician who was elected to the Senate for the Taraba South constituency of Taraba State, Nigeria in the April 2011 Federal elections. He was elected on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform.