Obasanjo is a highway robber - Chollom

By Prince Dickson <pcdbooks@yahoo.com>

Oct 20, 2006

These are indeed tough times on the Plateau, home of Tourism and for the citizens in the State as they watch the high profile drama of the EFCC, Federal Government and the State Government do battle things could actually spiral out of hand if not properly handled. Plateau State announced its presence on the National scene with the declaration of a State of Emergency in May 2005. Apart from Anambra, Oyo and now Ekiti States, the State has probably featured most in the news for the wrong reasons. For its helmsman, the famed Joshua of Our time it has been a rough road

 

 

Against this backdrop we called Ngo Hannatu Chollom an elder in the State on phone to book this interview, it was supposedly a routine interview to sample opinions on recent happenings on the State and National scene and she told us she was at the hospital and we should call back later, when we did call back she asked us over and we were soon talking, it was short but it was typical Ngo Hannatu at her fiery best, she insisted that if we were going to edit her we should not bother.

 

 

Ngo Hannatu, one time women leader of the defunct NPP and one of the founding members of PDP both on the National and State level is a respected women leader on the Plateau, she trained as a secretarial linguist, before she moved into the murky waters of politics, she has held many appointments and positions both at State and National levels, until recently when she went underground, she contested for a seat in the Senate in 1999...

 

 

Her house in the Rayfield area of Jos, some form of Mecca for all sorts was the venue for this interview, which was conducted exclusively for ChatAfrik and Nigeria Village Square by Prince Charles Dickson and Sa'a Abdul

 

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS: What exactly is happening on the Plateau and what is your stand?

 

Ngo Hannatu: We need to get events on the Plateau in the right perspective, Plateau people are not in support of corruption in anyway, we believe that corrupt persons should be punished but I and the majority of Plateau people do not believe in the present jungle justice method, we are saying that the rule of law should be respected, we are of the opinion that the due process be followed, I just came back from the EFCC detention place in Lagos and one needs to see the treatment being meted out to Legislators just to get them to dance in line. It is all rubbish, total rubbish. The President is taking some of these issues very personal for reasons that are beyond the eyes. There is more to it and one day we shall find out. Leave the Governor alone, he is barely months away from the end of his tenure, then he can be arrested and tried in a well constituted law court and if found guilty, let him face the music.

 

The situation is one that is creating tension in the State. There are laid down procedures, and they should be followed

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS: Lately you have been out of the news, are you contesting for any position and what is the role women are playing as we march towards the 2007 elections?

 

Ngo Hannatu: The situation is terrible now, a lot is wrong with the system, We were thinking that politics would be soft...women don't play politics like it is being played now, hard-line politics, politics of assassination. No woman would love to leave her children and go and stay in detention...No woman wants to be blackmailed or watch her name dented in front of her kids. I am still thinking...as an elderly woman... no one wants to go and die, as much as we love the nation. Our patriotism is being questioned due to the actions of the present players in the field.

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS: You are a member of PDP?

 

 

Ngo Hannatu: (Cuts In) No, I was once

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS:  What do you think about the suspension of the Vice President from the PDP and this question is in the light of the in fighting between both men?

 

 

Ngo Hannatu: The decision was a rush one, they have molested his human right...they should have allowed both men to continue exposing themselves and them the matter be adjudicated in a law court or any such body, not to rush and take a decision...let Atiku say, all he knows about Obj and vice versa.

 

 

What I know from the entire episode and please quote me is that "Obasanjo is a highway robber", when we formed PDP, Obasanjo was not there, we brought Obasanjo as a compromise, we felt he could do better, surprisingly he is not doing any better and that is why I am calling it robbery, I know how much we suffered to bring the party to where it was. He did not reveal Atiku's offence on, yet he bulldozed the party to suspend Atiku, Obasanjo is somebody that would not see you progress, you cannot come to peoples home and want to take his wife, it would not work...INEC should scrap PDP, the aim of the party has been defeated, they have turned everything round. You do not pay goodness for evil.  The case we have is one of highway robbery

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS: Should Atiku not have resigned?

 

 

Ngo Hannatu: It depends on what will be the consequences, if they would bare him from the elections then no but if no, then he should resign...Atiku helped in building PDP, I was there like they say live and direct, we wanted him so that the party would be strong, surprisingly someone that was invited is chasing everyone, so technically it would be wrong for him to resign and leave the party that he helped found for an imposter. People forget that constitutionally the office of the Vice President barely exist, it is dependent on the office of the President so if there is an unconstitutional act, then, using the fact that Atiku is just a parasite, if Atiku goes, then the President should in humility as well go.

 

 

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS: Why did you leave PDP?

 

 

Ngo Hannatu: The aim of PDP has been defeated because there is nothing there for the people...look at Ekueme. Lar, Infact I was punished with Awoniyi in the PDP...If these people do not know anything, is it Obasanjo, the soldier that has killed and still killing that is more humane, he wants to rule the nation forever, have we asked Obasanjo why he was put in prison, why was money put in a plane and carried to Uganda during his first dispensation, silence is not foolishness, who owned the money, we are not all foolish. The PPD has been hijacked by these highway robbers. I now belong to the Action Congress

 

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS; So, is there hope for the Action Congress?

 

 

Ngo Hannatu: Well already they are afraid because If they are not afraid of AC why are they arresting all of us...The President is the all and all in oil, nobody has arrested him for all his misdeeds, Nigerians are quiet people that is why nobody has been told why the ex-Minister of Finance left, I tell you on authority that she left so that she wont account for the fraud of Obasanjo and his cronies, this government stinks, so naturally they are afraid of a party coming on board that will expose them.

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS: The present reform programme is paying dividend and you cannot take it away from the President?

 

 

Ngo Hannatu: Where is the reform programme, the amount of money we have is more than people we have, I am just from the hospital and people are dying every minute, either due to lack of money or because of minor illness that the drugs are not there.

 

 

CHATAFRIK & NVS: You take on EFCC

 

 

Ngo Hannatu: EFCC, is just nonsense, people should be treated fairly, nobody is supporting looting, but people should be treated fairly. Obasanjo is a barbaric human being, if he was treated the way he is doing, he wont have been alive, even in Banana Republics you do not treat people like animals. Then why Nigeria, not the giant of Africa. Obasanjo was imprisoned here in Jos and we took care of him and made sure he was comfortable in jail. The EFCC is going about its duty like a cannibal and I need to say that we do not support corruption but this is not how to go about it