Senator Babafemi Ojudu is the Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Muhammadu Buhari. In this interview with reporters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), he speaks on the face off between the executive and the legislature, particularly the refusal of the Senate to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the rift with the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), among other issues. What**’s your comment on the Senate’s handling of the Ibrahim Magu’s and the Hameed Ali’s affairs?** I hate to criticise an institution in which I have served and where I still have many friends and colleagues. How I wish these issues have been handled more carefully and in a manner in which the image of the institution won’t be tarnished. The reactions I have read both on social media and the traditional media about the conduct and handling of these matters have been unsavory and not complimentary to the image of this noble institution. How would react to the insinuation that President Muhammadu Buhari is not taking on critics of his administration, including Fayose, Wike and Fani-Kayode? We are in a democracy. The people, whether high or low, are entitled to their opinion about government and its activities. The people too, who are consuming these opinions and criticisms, are enlightened and equipped enough with the antecedents of these individuals to know what much store to set by what they say. I think it was former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who stated you do not stop to throw stone at every dog that barks at you. If you do, you won’t get to your destination. Our concern is to work assiduously to solve the problems confronting Nigerians and as you can see we are beginning to get results. So, let those who want to bark continue to bark until they lose their vocal chords. Why has the APC not deemed it fit to call Saraki to order? Saraki is the President of Nigerian Senate and he is a member and leader in my party, the APC. If I have anything to say about how he conducts himself either as President of the Senate or leader in our party, I will walk up to him and say so. That is what decency and decorum demands when you belong to same party and holds positions of responsibility in a government run by your party.
I can confidently say that when it comes to fighting corruption this government has done its bit. It is left for the other arms of government, the judiciary and the legislature, to do theirs. In all ways, President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated his readiness and preparedness to fight corruption. But, the executive cannot do it alone. You need the legislature to come up with the enabling laws, the security apparatus to carry out its investigation and the judiciary to carry out the trial expeditiously. If President Muhammadu Buhari begins to fight the war against corruption without carrying the other arms of government along, we know what the noise will be. It is you people who will start shouting that he has come again; he is a dictator; he has jettisoned the rule of law and all that. The government has even gone further to introduce the whistleblower initiative, to assist in providing information on the activities of looters. I think within the limits of what we have now the President has acquitted himself in the fight against corruption. Why is the President not taking charge as the leader of the party? I can assure you the President is taking charge. What you have seen is a man, who as he once said, has transformed from the command and control ethos of the military to a consensus builder. In the military an order is instant and must be obeyed by all subordinates, while in a democracy you have to employ persuasion and lobby.The Nation