For 16 years, PDP was the ruling party. How do you feel as a member of the party that you are now being referred to as opposition and secondly do you see your party bouncing back in 2009?I think one of the good things we are experiencing in this country is that for 16 years there has been democracy and democratic practices in the country. A lot of things must have gone wrong somewhere and the right judges are the people and the people have spoken.
I think it is natural they needed a change after 16 years and they did what is right, they did not go wild, they did not fight anybody, they used their ballot papers to change the government.
I think this is the beauty of what happened and I look forward to such practices in the next 50 years of democratic practice in this country. Don’t forget politics is what is happening now. They (the PDP) will try and I hope they learn from their mistakes, what they did wrong, what they did right and what they can do now to re-launch their party.
Talking of corruption, the President has launched strategies to recover stolen monies. What is your take on this move?
When you say strategy when my boss President Obasanjo created a similar strategy and to be fair to him and his government he made a lot of recoveries when he was in office, so we should support this present federal government in what it is trying to do, to achieve the same objective.
What is your assessment of the performance of the present administration so far?
That should not be fair but so far, I am confident that they are doing well, they have identified the problems and they look resolute in confronting this problems head-on and there are a lot of people in the society who are offering a lot of sound advice on what to do.
Some have been speculating that you are not from Niger State, that you are from Ogbomoso in Oyo State and that your middle name ‘Badamasi’ was coined from the Yoruba name ‘Gbadamosi’. This is an opportunity for you to clear the air on where is your source...
I must tell you and say I appreciate you, I appreciate your concern, I appreciate the goodwill I enjoy from every one of you. I have always considered you (Niger state correspondents chapel) as part of my family, so for that I am very grateful. I want it to go on record that I appreciate every one of you and your efforts you are making. Once more, thank you very much.
On your question, I had to answer the question way back in November, 1962 because of my name, Badamasi. I answered the question during my final year in secondary school when I had to answer that question. Now 52 years later, I am glad I am answering the same question. The truth is that I hail from here, Niger state; my parents were from between Wushishi and this town (Minna). My grandparents traveled to settle down here, though I think that says it all, but there is nothing wrong in being from any part of the country but the truth is that I hail from Niger state. My grandparents and great grandparents moved from somewhere to settle down in Niger state. There are some who still call us the settlers in Niger state, that we are not indigenous from the state because our grandparents came from somewhere to settle here but I have live all my 74 years in Niger state and I think I am more than qualified to be called an indigene of Niger state.
Are you missing your friend, late Chief MKO Abiola?
Last week, I dug out a lot of letters he wrote to me and I read them, so that shows that I still miss him.
Sir, it has been said that you were the first person in the world to address the United Nations in a military uniform. Is it true?United Nations? I was not the first person. I think Obasanjo was the first one because he was President before me and he addressed the United Nations. I went in plain civilian dress in 1991 or 92 but General Obasanjo was well dressed up in what you call Service Dress, his pictures are there, so I was not the first.
_________________________________________________________________________
