I escaped being tricked to endorse Atiku –Edosomwan

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress Party, (NDCP), in next week’s election, Dr. Johnson Edosamwan, in this interview states his programmes for the country if elected and how he refused to be persuaded to jettison his ambition to endorse the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar. BIYI ADEGOROYE reports

It has been said that the presidential election is more of a two horse race, between President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar. What is your view?

You are pre-judging the election, but I think that is wrong because we should leave the election to the Nigerian people to judge. The election is about the Nigerian people and their PVCs. So it is too early to determine that. I have seen a lot of polls that put me ahead Atiku and some others but even the polls do not determine the election. Nigerian people want transformation, not change because the politicians in the PDP months ago have moved to the APC. They are being recycled.

What is reaction to a popular view that you, Yele Sowore, Kingsley Moghalu and the rest should have form a coalition to become a stronger and move formidable force?

We had CUPP, it was s a coalition of all small parties and then we have a memorandum of understanding that all political parties will come together and those people that have presidential candidates will be interviewed; we had all that put in place. One morning I got a call that I had to show up in a meeting. I said to myself what am I doing in a meeting and I found out I should not even be in the meeting because the power of the Holy Spirit told me not to and I told the guy who called that, you can go, I am not entering there. I found out later that the guy was shown on the television and the meeting was meant to endorse Atiku, without following the MOU and any defined arrangement. All of the people were upset.

These were political parties gathered to be able to form a major force but was truncated. I had to write a letter to the Chairman of INEC that I remain a presidential candidate of NDCP; my party is not part of the coalition because they are not following the MoU. That was what happened there. Some people sold out their conscience; sold their minds for whatever reason and that is between them and their conscience. I remain a presidential candidate; CUPP violated the basis of understanding.

What will you do in your first one hundred days in office if you are elected as the president of Nigeria?

You cannot go to Aso Rock and not be equipped with the capability, the experience, with the know-how, with the world wide knowledge and technology to fix the myriads of problems facing the country. That is part of the problem we have… I have been tested, I have been trained all over the world; I have proven results all over the world. I have worked in all large agencies in United States and worked in several places and I have used my qualification not just to build enterprise but to help them all over the world.

And that is what is missing. It is not Aso Rock, it is the capability of the individual. Look at the people who have been in power, what capabilities do they have? What exposure do they have? What do they know about electricity, roads infrastructure and governance? You need to have the experience and capabilities to make it work.

In the first one hundred days, you should be able to fire from all cylinders. The day I walk into the office, Boko Haram is important to me, the economy is important to me, infrastructure is important to me and the rest. You should be able to fire on all cylinders. My 10-point agenda is important to the development of our nation. So, I am not going to focus on economy and leave the people that are suffering and get to poverty six months or 10 months later, no. A president should be able to fire from all cylinders.