Former commissioner for Higher Education, Prof.Patrick Muoboghare has said that any southern governor would have taken advantage of the call to serve as vice president to a northern presidential candidate despite the agreement of the south-south people’s conference that warns agains it.
He made this disclosure in an interview with TALK TO NOL24 TV, on the issue of Okowa should not have accepted Vice Presidency because he is a southern governor.
“Every southern governor would have jumped on that opportunity, you saw what happened the time Osibanjo was to be vice president, do you know how many people fought to be vice president? The same thing when Yarua’dua became vice president, this is not the first this is happening”.
Muoboghare noted that the same thing happened with Ex- President Jonathan, “The South-South People’s conference had met and decided that nobody from the south-south should accept the position of vice president to any northerner, must be president but when Goodluck Jonathan was nominated as vice presidential candidate to Yarua’dua, all the agitations went down”,he said.
He further added that the small deal that comes through the office of the vice president should be gotten by them as they are not expecting any powerful deal in Abuja.
“Whether you like it or not, the vice president has no constitutional responsiblity except to act for the president when he is away or whatever the president asks him to do is what he does.
“we are not expecting any big deal in Abuja but the small deal that can come through the office of the vice president, let us get it. “Atleast, Okowa knows where Uwheru is, Okowa knows where Ayakoromor is, Okowa knows where Torugbene is, none of the others knows where these communities are, Yes Agreed! this last regime, the vice president, Professor Yemi Osibanjo (SAN) was reduced to the status of distributing money in the market places. “The boot of the entire convoy loaded with currency, so vice president will carry N10,000…. Iya Yemi, Iya this and that,come and take. “Okay, if its just trader money that we get as being vice president, atleast Warri market will get trader money because we didn’t have before, Agbor market will get, Sapele market, Owoalero market will get trader money which they’ve only heard of without seeing Like i said, for this period that we are together, whatever we can get from the centre, let us get it before the country splits.
“Some people make this noise, hoping that it would come to them. If it comes to them FINE!!! but if it does not come to them, let us break it into pieces… No, i don’t operate like that, let them go to the polls, we are PDP People, PDP has chosen Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate and Ifeanyi Okowa as the vice presidential candidate,let’s go. For as long as Nigeria remain together, lets get as much as we can get from there”, he said.
