The National Transformation Continuity is an NGO that is wholly committed
to ensuring that only leaders with genuine agenda for the improvement of
Nigerian society and economy are put in power in the country. In this chat with
the organization’s National coordinator, he reveals that the group will
campaign in every LGA in Nigeria and also in major cities abroad, to ensure
that President Jonathan is returned at the 2015 polls.
May we meet you?
My name is Dr. Dako
Mamudu, I am a medical practitioner, I am also involved in politics, both
locally and internationally.
As a medical
practitioner, do you work for government?
I am into private
practice, I practice here in Lagos.
We hear that you are the
National Coordinator of National Transformation Continuity, (NTC), can you tell
us what that is all about?
National Transformation
Continuity is an NGO we set up to assist politicians we know can actually
transform the nation to win. Apart from supporting President Jonathan whom we
believe is actually doing a lot to transform the nation, we are also going to
support a lot of other people such as senators to be as well as Governors that
we know can actually transform the nation.
We have had so many
pressure groups asking for President Jonathan to continue, did you just emerge
from the blues to join the bandwagon, or have you been in existence?
We have been in
existence for a long time, we have been in the business since 2009, but with a
different name, now we just changed the name to National Transformation
Continuity, then with others operated with the name Reality International. We
campaigned for President Jonathan and our campaign took us all over the country
and even beyond. We were in the UK, we were in USA we were in Canada. The only
thing that’s changed is just the name.
How are you funded?
It is funded by
individual members; we source money from our pockets to fund our activities.
The organization is made up of people that believe the same thing; we support
people that we believe will transform this nation. So the individual members
contribute handsomely, financially, to our projects.
Where is your
operational headquarters?
In 2009-2010, we had our
head office in Abuja, and to some extent it affected our operations because
most of the principal actors were outside Abuja. So this time around we have
our head office in Lagos.
The members of your NGO
are they drawn from Edo, your state of origin only, or were they spread around
the whole geopolitical zones of the country?
Our membership goes even
beyond the nation, virtually all Local Government Areas of this country have
our members, we have offices in all the states, we have offices outside
Nigeria, we have a major office in the USA, we have a coordinator who
coordinates the USA, we have a coordinator who coordinates all the people in
the Diaspora, we have a secretariat in Canada, we also have an office in the
UK.
Why do you support Good
Luck Jonathan?
We support him because
we believe he is doing very well. We know that he is actually
transforming the nation, though very quietly. If you look at the railways, the
airports, look at the transformation in the sea ports, look at the
transformation in the power sector, you will agree with me that he is making
very good transformation of the country. For example, if you go along Apapa
Oshodi expressway, if you know what used to happen at a place called trinity
bus stop, and what is happening now, you will know that president Jonathan has
done things, where other people have never touched before. If you look at
Ore-Benin Expressway, during the last Christmas, no Ibo man slept on the road
while trying to travel home. In the previous years, it used to be nightmare for
people travelling to the eastern part of the country for the yuletide holidays.
Sometimes people spent two days on the road travelling because the road was
bad. All over the Nation, there has been massive transformation in road
infrastructure development.
How about agriculture,
has any meaningful progress been made in that sector in terms of development,
because food-security is one sector that affects the man in the street?
The contributions that
Jonathan’s government has made in agriculture in Nigeria are not only
recognized by people in Nigeria but also by people beyond. To the extent that
Nigeria’s minister for agriculture has been applauded all over the world for
doing very well. Before this time, fertilizer was distributed with a lot of
corruption. These days, fertilizer is distributed directly to the farmers, they
have direct access to whoever is distributing it and each time they need it,
they just make a phone call and it is supplied to them, and the price has been
crashed down. When you look at food production, you will see that the
contribution of agriculture to our GDP has increased of recent. The quantity of
rice we import every year has reduced drastically, and in the next few years, I
can assure you that we will be exporting rice and some other agricultural
products to other countries.
Your core area of
involvement as a professional is health, how do you view the achievements of
President Jonathan in this sector especially with this outbreak of
Ebola?
Even the enemies and
adversaries of the president have agreed that Jonathan scored 100% pass mark in
the management of Ebola. The US government for the first time came out openly
to applaud the efforts of the government, especially the Health Minister. We
did so well that we have brought the spread of Ebola to a stop. Apart from the
case of that was brought into the country by Patrick Sawyer, no other case has
been imported in the country. When he brought the disease into the country, all
the people that made contact with him and those that made contacts with any
body that made contact with him, all who in one way or the other were exposed
to the disease, were traced, culled out and quarantined. Those who eventually
developed the disease were adequately managed. Today we are Ebola free in this
country. That is a very big plus for the Nigerian government.
How do you feel being a
medical doctor concerning the risks of Ebola infection? At First Foundation
Hospital Where Patrick Sawyer was admitted, the people that died from
being infected by him were medical doctors. What pro-active measures are you
putting in place to make sure that medical workers are not the first victims?
When the Ebola case was
first reported in Nigeria, The Nigerian Medical Association, Association of
General and Private Medical Practitioners and all other associations, within
the health industry, held a series of meetings with the Federal and state Government and adopted a series of
measures which border especially on hygiene, to curtail the spread of the
disease , bearing in mind that the Ebola that came into Nigeria was as a result
of the fact that the first and the carrier victim, was not faithful, he was not
fair, he was not frank, he did not tell the people he met in the health
facility the truth. If he had done so, they would have taken adequate
precautions. But thank God that the eventual victims, though they sacrificed
their lives, made very good efforts and succeeded in preventing further spread
of the disease. And if you look very well, you will see that after the first
index case, and secondary and tertiary contacts, there have been no other cases
because the health people took a lot of precautions to prevent further spread
of this deadly disease.
Apart from Ebola, which
you have claimed is well managed by the government, via the Health Ministry,
what about other key issues in the Health Sector such as Malaria and HIV/AIDS?
In the case of HIV?AIDS,
even the World Health Organization, WHO, has agreed with us that it has been
well curtailed. I as a health practitioner have not seen a single new
HIV/AIDS case for the past six to seven months now. In the past it used to be a
daily thing; two or three cases everyday you will see in the clinic. This
government has done very well and apart from the very government, the
government before this very one had taken very pro active measures in managing
the AIDS scourge and that has helped in curtailing the spread of the disease.
Malaria scourge, yes that is another big problem worldwide, especially in the
tropical regions. In most of these diseases, it is actually the countries
outside the tropics that initiate the control measures because they have the
resources. But in the case of malaria, the Nigerian government has done pretty
well in the control of the disease. Individuals are also being educated in
hygiene which is a personal control measure for the management of malaria.
One sore point in the
issues of this government is the problem of insecurity, as a result of this
Boko Haram. There has been a lot of accusing fingers and condemnations between
APC and the ruling PDP over who is to blame for the malfeasance of Boko Haram,
what is your view on security in the country?
Security is a national
issue, whether you are a ruling party or opposition, but unfortunately in our
country, security is taken as a political issue. People do not want to own up
to what they know, and they do not want to come together and fight insecurity.
In other lands, both opposition and the party in power, they come together to
fight insecurity, especially when it comes to insurgency. Islamic insurgency
all over the world is very difficult to fight. USA has not been able to
exterminate it. It remains a scourge all over the Middle East, Iran, Iraq,
Syria, etc. Even Russia also found it difficult to fight it in the Chechen
Republic. So it is not a battle for a particular political party to fight. In
our country, in a situation where blames are being put up here and there,
nobody wants to own up, nobody wants to come forward and contribute positively
if you are not in government, it is very sad. Even before the present
government came into power, certain individuals in opposition threatened to
make this country ungovernable if certain individuals come into power. It
appears that is what we are seeing today. And unfortunately, because of the
judicial system we have in this country, it is almost impossible to judge
somebody unless you catch that person red handed. It is a problem I think is
facing all of us, not only the ruling party.
One other issue is
deployment of troops during elections. APC has lately been accusing
President Jonathan of using the military might at his disposal to muscle people
coming out to vote during elections. As a card carrying member of PDP, do you
support the use of military during the elections?
Yes, I fully support it,
I think the APC is complaining because the presence of military men during the
elections prevented them from doing what they wanted to do. If the military
comes into elections management to create a fair playing ground for a free and
fair election, I do not see anything wrong in it. The security you put in place
to run a system is a function of the type of players in that system. Elections
in Nigeria for some time now, have been taken as a do or die affair. Sometimes
it is compromised. The military being what they are, the way they operate, it
is not easy to compromise them. Once you bring them into a place, everybody
will check himself. And you can see from the way the elections were conducted
in all the places where the military were involved, they were free and fair and
violence free. Even the results were better than expected by all parties. So I
think the involvement of the military in election management was a good omen.
What is your comment on
the election results from all the particular areas where the military were used
in managing the elections?
The use of military in
conducting elections is for the well being of all Nigerians. In Edo State, the
APC won the elections, the military did not favour the ruling party which is
the PDP, APGA won in Anambra state Labour party swept the polls in Ondo State, In
Ekiti State, the PDP won the election, the election was said to be biased by
those people who felt they should have won the election without the military.
In Osun State, the APC won the election and the military was there; they did
not twist things to favour the PDP which is in control of the Federal
Government. So to me the military has been very fair in protecting and ensuring
very free and fair elections and their coming in was a very good omen for all
of us.
So you think the
presence of military in future elections will guarantee fairness and security
at the polls?
In future elections, as
long as the parameters remain as they are today, I think the military should be
used. For example, if you want to conduct an election in the North Eastern part
of the country today, I wonder if you can achieve anything without the
military. In future when democracy has been well assimilated by all of us and
elections are well tolerated by all of us, I think the military can go back to
the barracks.
Let’s go back to your
state, Edo State, which was formerly a PDP State, APC later won the state
through the personality of Adams Oshiomhole, it’s like the PDP is strategizing
to get back the state. What do you think we are likely to see in Edo State in
the coming elections?
In Edo State, during the
regime of Igbinedion, PDP did not manage their success very well. That was why
the success slipped through their fingers and went to the opposition party. Now
in the coming elections, it is going to be very interesting, there is going to
be a reversal. PDP is coming back to power because Adams Oshiomhole did not
manage his success very well. And this time given the consistency and
perseverance of the Edo State PDP executive, led by Chief Obi, ably assisted
and supported by our leader, Chief Tony Anenih, we will come back to power.
There have been talks
about Adams’ inconsistent policies. There has been a time he organized a check
for teachers who had never gotten any certificates. Later we heard in the
news that he has reversed the termination of those teachers’ appointments, do
you think this was just a move the win the votes of those teachers?
Yes one of the biggest
problems with the policies of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has been these
inconsistencies. We are not going to start with the teachers, first of all, a
man was in charge of the environment, he was doing the job very well, then
right there in the public, he caught the man and threw him into the van as if
he was a common criminal. A few months later he called the man back. The
Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment had an accident and was bed
ridden in the hospital with P.O.P. On the air he dismissed the man for not being
on duty. Few months later, he called him back. A poor widow with her wares was
waiting for transport by the road side, he accused her of violating
environmental laws, despite her pleas for clemency, The Governor called her a
witch and asked to go and die. A few months later, he made her a heroine. So
that of teachers is not a new thing at all. He seems to act before he thinks
and that is not too good for a governor. My brother there has refused to
realize that there is a difference between labour unionism and governance. In
Labour unionism, you are free to do things in a commando style and people will
be praising you, but in governance, it is a different ball game entirely, you
have to consider a whole lot of things before you take a decision. Your
decisions are final and if you keep reversing these decisions every day, you make
a mess of your own government.
Let’s go back to your
group, the NTC, what do we expect from your group in the coming days?
In the coming days, you
are going to see a very vibrant support group. We are planning to have rallies,
starting from Lagos we will move to all other parts of the country, and we are
also going to have rallies in major cities outside Nigeria, where you have
Nigerians in large numbers. We will need their support because some of them,
their words at home carry a lot of authority. We have been doing a lot of
campaign for our candidate through the electronic and print media and through
physical campaign. Like I said, the resources to carry out all these activities
are already on ground, we are not going to anybody to beg for funds; we are
ready for it.
We heard in the news
that the whole PDP governors have endorsed President Jonathan for 2015, and
there seems to be no room for another candidate to come up, ie the incumbent
must be adopted. Looking at it, does it portray the internal democracy which
they preach?
Yes I think so because
if there was any discordance within the party, they would not have adopted him
at all. It is because we looked at everything and we decided that going for
primaries is going to cost a lot of money, and since we have all agreed that he
has done very well, there was no point conducting another primary, we just had
to adopt him. Nobody actually raised any opposition against his adoption, which
actually tells you that internal democracy in PDP is not a fluke at all.
Outside of politics, how
do you spend your leisure time; how do you relax?
I do a lot of writings
when I want to relax, I write very interesting stories, I have friends all over
the world who have similar interests, infact I spend about four hours every day
on the internet, communicating, learning new things and putting up my own
writings.
What about sports, do
you follow football?
I am a football
enthusiast. I have some soccer teams that I cannot do without, such as Arsenal
and Barcelona, so anytime they are playing, even if its is twelve midnight, I
will watch the match to the end. I also have interest in watching Nigerian
soccer. I am a fan of the Golden Eaglets and the Super Eagles, so anytime they
are playing; I am always there to watch, either in the stadium or on the
television.
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