Without being insultive, I don’t respect the intelligence of Jonathan and his men. If Jonathan is intelligent as a PhD holder that he claims, he should know when they are leading him astray. Jonathan has not shown the intelligence of a wise man. What I am saying in totality is that after they had failed in everything, they started attacking Buhari’s person.

They also said that Buhari searched Baba Awolowo’s house. I had told many people that Buhari’s running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, is Baba Awolowo’s son-in-law. Are you going to love Awolowo more than his son-in-law? The quality of Buhari is making Jonathan to be afraid. They feel that if Buhari is elected president of Nigeria, those of them that are corrupt are in trouble. I said for corrupt Nigerians, the fear of Buhari is the beginning of wisdom. When all their strategies have failed, they asked themselves, what is the next plan and their next plan is to postpone election. But has that helped them? No, because they have caused more problems for themselves.

What is your view on the certificate problem as it concerns Buhari?

The issue of certificate they have raised is the most stupid and senseless issue that no sane man would ever think of. PDP is so anxious to destroy. How can a logical human being think that Buhari doesn’t have a school certificate? Buhari has a school certificate and he has more than a school certificate. On the statement credited to Fani Kayode that Buhari’s certificate is forged, Buhari is going to court and I am one of his witnesses.

How do you perceive the threat of the militants from the Niger Delta?

Nonsense. Asari Dokubo is my cousin and I used to give him pocket money in this house. Dokubo’s highest certificate is O’level. He was thrown out twice in the university. He was thrown out in the university of Port Harcourt and University of Calabar. He has the gift of the gab. He can talk from morning to night without content. He is a content empty person. That one has freedom of speech doesn’t say that he should be irresponsible.

Violence is not a preserve of only one person. He is saying that he would pitch himself against the Federal Republic of Nigeria if Buhari wins and you think Buhari will fold his arms and allow anybody to destroy the country we have all built. Let’s wait till then. I feel sad that Jonathan has not dissociated himself from Dokubo’s statement. That means that he is supporting militant actions. Honestly, Jonathan does not think like a PhD. I can be too sure that one of their plans is to launch aggressive attacks on the personality of Buhari in the next six weeks, but it will not take them anywhere.

Nigerians seem to be in a dilemma. They think if Buhari wins, there will be crisis or if Jonathan wins, hell will be let loose. What is your position on this?

As long as election is credible, I assure you, there will not be post-election problem. The only thing that can bring post-election crisis is incredible election. If Jonathan loses, the threats of my brothers will not materialize. If Buhari loses, the north will not cause problems that can’t be curtailed.

Some of the militants said they would deal with people like you?

Nobody can deal with me except God.

Jonathan and his campaigners said that he built many universities as part of his achievements. Do you, as an academic, see it that way?
It is a nonsense claim. What is the content of the universities he has established? University is not just label, but content. Jonathan makes all sorts of claims because he does not have anything to claim.

Buhari’s supporters see him as someone who does not condone corruption. But can the president police everywhere? So how can such a virtue translate into a change of our value system generally?

Quite simple. Within six months, Buhari will bring down corruption. When he is elected, the fact that he is the president will make people have the fear of getting involved in corruption. He will put in place structures to checkmate corruption. He will fight corruption with his life style.

As a former minister of petroleum, what is your assessment of oil resources today compared to your time?

NNPC is only for contract sharing. Corruption in NNPC is monumental and they are getting away with it because they know that their leader can’t fight it. People in government have oil blocks. Do you know that Buhari does not have oil block or shares in any oil company? I don’t have either, despite the fact that I was a former oil minister who was very powerful then.

What is your view on the fact that Buhari can now take the advantage of coming back to office to enrich himself just like the others have done?

Absolutely not! Why should he destroy the reputation he has built for 73 years just because of four years? As long as Buhari is comfortable, as long as he can afford food, shelter and clothing, I tell you, he needs nothing again.

Can some of the policies of that time work in our current situation?

Buhari is going to operate from a different atmosphere, a democratic atmosphere using constitution not decree. Somebody said he overthrew Shagari, no. It was the armed forces that overthrew Shagari and selected Buhari to be the head of the government. Could you believe that Buhari’s government then was more democratic than Shagari’s parliament? In Buhari’s exco, every memo was passed by vote. When a minister presents a memo, Buhari will ask every minister to comment. After, he will say,“gentlemen, let us vote”. Could you believe that Buhari, Idiagbon and myself lost a memo?

What is your reaction to the belief that Buhari is weak and that it was due to this reason that Idiagbon was more visible when he was the military head?

That notion is wrong. Idiagbon and Buhari worked together like twins. Idiagbon loved Buhari so much with absolute loyalty.

What is your reaction to the current happenings in Ekiti State?

It shows that we as a nation are very primitive and not serious. Simple. The government of Ekiti State is primitive, not democratic. It is an obvious fact that democracy has been truncated in Ekiti State and I am not seeing sanity in the state as long as we have undemocratic government at the centre. The Federal Government is part and parcel of the current happenings in the state. In fact, it is the Federal Government that is promoting all the illegality there. Jonathan has disappointed me as an Ijaw man. Jonathan has never impressed me because he doesn’t think like an intelligent person. He has embarrassed us at the international level. I have come to a stage that there is nothing that Jonathan government does that surprises me.