Ben Murray-Bruce, who was at Aso Rock with President Goodluck Jonathan the day he conceded defeat, relives the experience, predicting President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari would work with Jonathan, commending the President for his class act. He spoke with Nduka Nwosu over the telephone
How he feels as a Senator-elect
I am very excited by the opportunity it provides me, to serve those who voted me to office. I
see myself as a nationalist fighting the cause of the poor in society. I will propose and seek the passage of bills representing their interests. The poor are not protected, they do not have the rights of the rich, the poor have been abandoned and are dangerous today because they are fighting back and to avoid class warfare I will represent them and fight and protect their interests.
see myself as a nationalist fighting the cause of the poor in society. I will propose and seek the passage of bills representing their interests. The poor are not protected, they do not have the rights of the rich, the poor have been abandoned and are dangerous today because they are fighting back and to avoid class warfare I will represent them and fight and protect their interests.
On the power shift
This is democracy at its best and it affords everyone the right to contest with a winner and a loser emerging. APC won under I General Muhammadu Buhari. I congratulate General Buhari for emerging the winner. I have not met him recently but some years ago he won a Silverbird Man of the Year Award along with General T.Y. Danjuma. Buhari was admirable with his slim-fit image. I have been watching him from a distance and I believe he is a great man. I believe he is going to fight corruption; he is focused, he is disciplined. Whoever becomes president of Nigeria deserves the respect of all regardless of the party he comes from because he is the symbol of the oneness and unity of the country. So I congratulate him.
I also congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan for his magnanimity in conceding defeat. I was with him on the day he conceded defeat and I spoke with him and he said you know Ben if I don’t do this people will die and I do not want blood to be shed because I want to remain in office. Governance is not all about killing and maiming people; my conscience will not be at rest if that happens. Governance is all about protecting the interests of those you govern. I said to him, you are a great man. That was a class act. That was in his office; later when it was close to one we moved to the house for breakfast. Of all ex-Presidents he is going to stand out in working with General Buhari.
On that that we had breakfast with him. Governor Seriake Dickson and a couple of others were there. Vice President Namadi Sambo came in much later. The President had fruits and I had an oats meal. He is a very healthy President and contrary to what people say he does not drink. I have not seen him drinking.
I have known him all these years and I am honoured to have worked with him. I was there when he won the election in 2011; I was also there during his inauguration and to be part of the momentous occasion on the day he called General Buhari to concede defeat and congratulate him humbles me. I learnt a lot watching him and working with him. I believe both of them would work together very well. I am proud I met him.
The mood of the President when he knew he was going to lose.
He took it by its strides; he is not the kind of guy you see wearing defeat on his face. He is not the kind of guy that goes by so much advice. He did what he had to do. He is not the kind of guy that questions his fate. He knows what to do ahead of time and believes in destiny. He is a very shy man by nature. He is very, very humble and believes in destiny. He is concerned about his people. There were many people around him who were not feeling as comfortable as he was but he maintained his cool, his mien. Let me say that Jonathan is well disposed to General Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; President Jonathan will give his greatest support to General Buhari. I have been to a few meetings with him and Governor Tinubu and I can assure you it was very cordial. He will be willing to work with General Buhari and represent him in any capacity he deems fit.
If he was there when he called the President-elect General Buhari
I was not there but I was in his company twice that day once in his office and then at home. He was in good spirits, he was very calm. He was smiling, looking around and in a cheerful mood. Some people were stunned at this man who had just lost an election for the highest office in the land and was smiling and cheering everyone. I took a walk with him round the building and I could see the zebras, the giraffes, the same animals that were there when President Obasanjo and I walked round the fence several times. I was living in the Villa for many years and had a lot of walks on this same environment with President Olusegun Obasanjo. We received and hosted many world leaders including President Bill Clinton. It was for me a historical moment going back to memory lane as a result of this loss. You don’t let such moment pass you by.
On Asari Dokubo threatening to go back to the creeks
That is wrong. Nobody should do that. If the President has accepted peace, has accepted to work with General Buhari, nobody should challenge that decision. Goodluck is patriotic; he is as patriotic as President Obasanjo and General Buhari. Nobody, in particular an Ijawman should defy the President, a President of Ijaw extraction, his decision to concede defeat and pledge to work with another equally patriotic Nigerian President-elect General Buhari. I hope to engage Asari Dokubo and other militants on the need to let peace reign in the polity. We don’t need war any more.
His message to Bayelsa East Senatorial District, which he represents
I want to thank them very much for all they have done to see me elected into the Senate. I know their expectations are high. I will do the best I can to propose and pass bills that will help to turn their lives around and for good. The poor man in Bayelsa is not different from the talakawas or almajiris in Maiduguri or any other poor man in the country for that matter. Nigerian politicians must address the problems of the common man. We must care for all our children. We must stop the way we exploit our people using the power we have to enrich ourselves. We have to help them; we must care for all those who need help. Before my campaign I did not know my people; now I know them, most of them cannot even afford one square mill a day.
Each time I am on board on a Business Class ticket I say to myself my God, the people who elected me cannot even have money to board their buses. Enough is enough, Nigeria has to grow. We must stop the way we think. The people we represent cannot buy a meal for themselves and we are talking about buying apartments in Dubai. It is wrong, it is immoral. We must not see public office as a way of exploiting the people; we must be there to help them. Enough is enough.
On his plans for the Niger Delta, Northeast and the downtrodden
First of all I am going to present the Ben Murray-Bruce Plan within the context of a Marshall Plan. The banks must provide loans to help the plan work. The banks are there to provide help to the people and not to make profits feeling indifferent to the problems of the people; the private sector must be involved if this plan must work; it is not just the government or public sector that will make it work. If the banks as custodians of great resources do not loan money to people in the Northeast and other areas that need help, we will not be able to move the economy to the next level of growth. There should be an intervention fund to resuscitate the Northeast and similar areas needing intervention. The message is a focus on the transition process, for a smooth handover of power to President-elect General Buhari.
Why he is stubbornly addressing the Senate on the need for positive change
When I propose these plans, some people say to me, what you are fighting for has not been done before so you are not going to succeed and this is shocking to me. I thought in running for public office people would say thank God, here is someone who holds views differently but what I hear is how impossible my task is and how it would be difficult for me to succeed in changing the mindsets of those who lead you but I am looking in the direction of changing the mindsets of those who lead us regardless of the political party they belong, the party on whose platform you assumed public office. I say to them regardless of the political party they belong, you seek public office to serve the people who voted for you, not to enrich yourself by exploiting them. Once this is not done, you are creating a problem.
Our common problem
Today, the problem of the Niger Delta is the problem of the Northeast; it is not a problem of religion but a class warfare between the rich and the poor. You do not come to public office to acquire wealth, wear million dollar watches and hundred thousand dollar bags and moving your money to the banks when those that voted you to office are wallowing in abject poverty. I say to the political class, if you want to lead, you must lead by example. All my life, I flew Nigerian Airways, I flew Virgin Nigeria and I have never flown on a First Class ticket on British Airways; therefore no politician should take the taxpayers’ money and use N1.5 million to go to London, using taxpayers’ money to lead a life of stupendous wealth.
I will fight for Nigerians of all classes
At the Senate I will fight for Nigerians of all classes. It is wrong to carry Ghana Must Go Bags trying to impeach a President not because he did something wrong but because it makes economic sense to do so. Politicians who seek to be in office under General Buhari should be careful. General Buhari is a no nonsense leader. Those who misconstrue his victory as a sign for enrichment and continue with corruption have missed the point, the spirit of the new dispensation. Today, it is politics of ideas, not political parties. The qualification for public office may be school certificate but just that does not mean you were taught compassion. We need compassion to lead and those we lead are armed and angry. You have a choice, do what is right for the people or they will come after you. If we don’t look after them they will rape, maim and kill.