NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CRISIS TONY MOMOH TELLS THE TRUTH!

Prince Tony Momoh , lawyer , journalist and politician remains vintage and evergreen.  Those who want to hide facts or sweep the truth under the carpet would not want to go near him.  The Prince doesn’t know how to bend the rules.  And as they say, truth is bitter.  If we have more people like him at the helm perhaps we would be talking about a different Nigeria today.

From the time destiny took me to him in the early 80’s, I have never ceased to wonder about his forthrightness.  But on close examination, after many years of closely monitoring his actions and utterances, I can tell you without any iota of doubt that the startling discovery is that he is not corrupt.  Again, I also discovered that he is very much contented.  He is not one given to extravagance.  If you are fond of cutting corners then you better run away from him.  No wonder he is a close friend of President Muhammadu Buhari. They can look at each other eyeball to eyeball because they have no skeleton to hide.

Not since his days as the nation’s former Minister of information and culture in the General Ibrahim Babaginda’s regime has he been giving Nigerians a foretaste of what was to come.  Through his ‘’Letters to My Countryman ‘’, he admonished us to be careful about spending, over dependence on oil, extravagance; he also advised that Nigerians should look elsewhere for survival like Agriculture.

It must be mentioned that these ‘’letters’’ laden with severe implications were wholly sponsored and produced by him – never expecting anything in return.  Since then, he has been consistent - never wavering.

At a time it was the fad to become a PDP member, Prince Tony Momoh aligned with the Conscience of People’s Congress ( CPC ).  Though his people kicked against it, wondering what he was doing with the opposition, he stuck to his guns and continually warned against excesses.  At that time you may say that his lone voice was like that in the wilderness.  Not true.  Tony Momoh saw tomorrow; we did not.

Now that his party has triumphed at the centre stage you may also have expected him to be boastful - shouting at the roof top. Not this iconic preacher of the Word of God.  As a matter of fact, ever since the APC – the acronym for the merged parties upstaged the PDP he hardly said a word although the other prominent members have all gone to war--fighting for spoils of office – especially National Assembly members.  Since June 9, Nigeria has not known peace from these people; newspapers, televisions and radios, all manner of public commentators or analysts been around putting up all sorts of treatise.  They only succeeded in defending their various camps.  We never heard the truth until Prince Tony Momoh’s interview was published by the Sunday Telegraph of July 4, 2015, on pages 48 – 49.  For those who have not read it, you are advised to pick up a copy and do so. But let me help you a bit via summary.

He was asked whether Bukola Saraki’s rebellion was a northern conspiracy against Bola Tinubu or the ACN / Yoruba bloc in the APC. He replied that all he knows is that it was  with the support  and maximum effort of such solid leaders who are leaders in their own right that APC was nurtured – referring to Bola Tinubu; Atiku Abubakar, Saraki and Buhari.  He said anybody who enters APC today will have as much right and is free to contest for any position.  He said the problem in office seeking has always been there – in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and now.  ‘’So if you now have Saraki and Dogara coming, not chosen by the party, then the party must show concern, but that does not mean they have no right to come’’, he stated.  On whether the APC has too many ambitious people, he replied: ‘’anybody who wants to be a politician must crave for power. ‘’lying, deceit, manipulations are all associated with politics’’,  he again stated.

Tony Momoh again emphatically stated that the National Assembly is not a threat to Buhari that while they are responsible for making laws President Buhari is responsible for executing the laws; that their roles are clearly defined by the constitution.  He told Nigerians that the President is not slow in appointing his Ministers and cannot have constitutional crisis when he has not worked against the constitution; he subsequently narrowed the problem in the National Assembly to that of a storm in a tea cup.

Prince Tony Momoh completely disagreed with those who believe that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has an over bearing influence on the party.  Hear his response: ‘’Give it to Tinubu. Tinubu is a digital, proactive politician. An organiser, mobilise and a leader of leaders! ‘’

On whether the internal struggle in the APC is directed towards 2019, Prince Momoh replied incredulously ‘’why are people giving the impression that individuals within the party cannot express their ambitions or say what they want? They are reading meaning into everything.  Whoever is interested and contested and emerges winner at the party primary will be supported by the party’’, he said.  He added that there is no age limit for the President in the constitution. ‘’you can be 90, you can be 100 as long as you ask for their vote and they vote for you’’.

Finally, he gave his insights on the way forward: ‘’ you may have seen my publication entitled: ‘’to save Nigeria, let’s talk’’.  Instead of having 36 federating units, let the federating units be six, that is the six geo political zones. Then the powers of the National Assembly, which are about 93 now, reduce them to one and half a dozen and then place the powers in the regions.  But the states, if they remain, should reside in the regions’’. He added that the Legislature should be part- time while the Local Government Areas should be wiped out. ‘Let the regions decide if they want local Governments and fund them’

Sule Ahmed Column.