Nigeria Content Online

Former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf claims a 100% free and
fair election is not possible in some third world or developing
countries with massive diversities in ethnicity and religion. Exceprt of the interview he recently had with NEXT’s Ayo Okulaja:

As Nigeria
prepares for a general election amidst a background of corruption and
fears of threats to democracy, what lessons can Nigeria learn from your
country, Pakistan?

Nigeria is a
country with a strong economy, with a GDP of about $170 billion. For a
country to stand on its own, it needs a good economy. The next step is
that of leadership; once a good leader is thrown up, and he gets the
right people to work with him, then the nation can progress.

Corruption is a
widespread problem which needs to be arrested at the top governmental
level and this will prevent it tripling down. So, I have faith in
Nigeria that it will pull through.The perception of fair election is
different from the West from what obtains in developing countries like
Nigeria or Pakistan.

Nothing like 100%
fair elections can be possible where we have societies with tribal,
religious, sectarian, and ethnic diversities. So, in these
environments, a degree of compromise on fair election does take place.
There are individuals who will want to take laws into their hands…so
one should not be worried that it is not free and fair, though it ought
to be free and fair.

Efforts must be
made by the Nigerian government to make sure it is fair to a very large
extent. But the truth is it will not be as fair as it is in the UK or
Europe.

Isn’t this a pessimistic view and why will this not be possible in countries with brilliant minds…….

This has nothing to
do with brilliance……there is massive illiteracy, backwardness, and
poverty amongst a wide range of people at the grassroot level who can
be manipulated due to the enabling environment for those who want to be
manipulative.

So, there can’t be
free and fair elections in such environment. That is the realist stand
and not pessimistic. Idealistic values will only work in the
Scandinavian countries.

In your
lecture, you said the military should be constituted into helping
democracry work, as seen in Pakistan. Do you think other developing
countries should copy this?

It depends on the
condition in the country. I was only talking of Pakistan, where the
military is most structured organisation and the people keep running to
the army for deliverance ‘whenever’ the country is suffering.

Throughout its
sixty years, the democratically elected governments have barely
performed. Therefore, there should be checks and balance on the prime
minister/president and the parliament. Because without these checks, it
(democracy) cannot function well.

In Pakistan, that
check can only be provided by the military and the army, and that check
must be constitutional. It is not as if I want the army to be
super/over-structured on the Senate.

Today, the army has
no role in the constitution, but people still run to them and demand
from them to interfere and when they interfere, it becomes
unconstitutional. So, why not make it constitutional, if that is what
the people want and what the environment dictates. Because, as we have
seen in Pakistan, if the military comes they perform very well and when
the civilians are back, they take the country back to square one.

So, utmost military
is not the answer; we must create institutions that will make democracy
function without letting the army get involved in the legislative and
parliamentary roles. It is only the army that can make some things work
in our world. For example, the army can be used to ensure free
elections, because if they man election polls, no one will dare go
there to snatch the booths.

That is the reality
in Pakistan. I don’t know the reality in Nigeria, but the military must
be constituted into a body so that they can exercise checks through
their force.

How is Pakistan handling the issue of minority?

Empowerment; don’t
let any member of the society be segregated. All people must be
empowered, vertically and horizontally, including all tribes. All
ethnic groups, all sects must be politically empowered. And this can be
done by reserved seats, like what we did in some regions where some
non-Muslims win elections.

So, there is no
fixed formula. You need to see into your own environment and evaluate
what is the best to empower people. The key is to empower people; don’t
let them feel disempowered, because the danger is not giving power, it
is denying power. Don’t deny power to any member of the society.

In your lecture, you stated that dictorship is a state of the mind. Will you say your regime was democratically minded?

Absolutely, I was
democratically minded as the leader of Pakistan. I maintained the
leadership of monitoring system that came around by the military and
this ensured civility nationally.

The essence of democracy is empowerment of people, the minority groups, and that is what I did throughout my reign.

Do you have fears over India and Pakistan conflicts, which took a new turn following the attack on Mumbai hotels?

After the terror
attack by Pakistani militia on India hotel, despite ongoing peace talks
initiated during my regime, the statements from the India government to
the Pakistanis was very bullying. I have a lot respect for Mr. Singh
(India’s Prime Minister), but such statements must not be directed to
the Pakistani people. We must collectively fight terrorism and
extremism in both countries, particularly amongst the Muslim youth in
India, who are now developing nexus with Taliban in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.

We ourselves are
victims of these attacks, and the Pakistani government is not
responsible for this. Stamping out the Taliban is guerrilla warfare, as
they have no border to invade and claim victory. Therefore, we must not
lose and cannot lose. We need to work out a winning strategy.

What is your view about the planned withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan?

The completion of
the job in Afghanistan is putting a legitimate government before
quitting. Therefore, the exit date of July 2011 is misplaced.

Are you saying the government of Hamid Kazai is illegitmate?

A government which
has weak representation of the 50% Pashtun majority’s does not have
legitimacy among the people of Afghanistan. How can you run a country
with a minority of 8%?

You have
been named as a prosecuting witness in the ongoing investigation of
Benazir Bhutto’s assasination. How will you react to this?

Nobody is doing
that except for some politicians trying to implicate me. My government
did everything possible to protect her. I personally told her that
intelligence had revealed that she was a target and we told her not to
go to the place where she was assassinated. She stuck her neck out and
it’s just unfortunate that she was assassinated. I don’t want to reply
to it because it is just ridiculous.

How are you
preparing to return to Pakistan for the next general elections in 2013,
as you remain in London on a self-imposed exile?

I feel I must work
for the country and not myself. I am preparing very well for my return
because there is the problem of security, as I fought strongly against
terrorism and extremism and stood against anyone who talked against the
integrity of Pakistan.

I may be having
some enemies which are there, so the security concerns. And there is
also some certain politicisation of legal issues, which is not there at
the moment, but the possibility of their politicisation is out there.
Therefore, I need to create an environment of support in Pakistan
before I reach Pakistan, and the more political clout I have, the less
will be the danger against me.

The man you
deposed to become the Pakistani leader is now an opposition leader
against the ruling government. Will you work with him to achieve your
ambition?

The PLMQ supported
me a great deal and the maximum electable people are in this party,
which are neither with PLMN or Peoples party. They are just in the
centre, and yet they don’t accept the leaders of the PLMQ. There is a
political void in PLMQ which I am now trying to come and gather all
those who are neither with PLMN or People’s party, as most of them are
in contact with me. Many want to join me when I reach there, so I know
the environment and will work with it.

The other is the
PLMN, which is Nawal Sharif; my door will be open to anyone, but right
now, they are on a course of vendetta and as they say, you don’t clap
with one hand. It’s not merely possible that if I want to be with him.
I don’t want to be with him, but if he wants to be with me, that will
be alright, as far as I am concerned. But more than that, what is
important is the people of Pakistan and their electable local leaders,
who will be answerable to me.

I am on a dual
track of getting the people and the electable onto my side, so that
once I nominate someone for the people, he will be voted in. That will
change the political culture and it is the only way to get good people
into power.

I am creating a
move to involve the real Pakistani people and their tribal leaders and
chiefs, coupled with Pakistanis in the Diaspora.

What are your regrets of ruling Pakistan for nine years?

My graph was very
high in January 2007, but it plummeted by December 2007 because of the
lawyers issue and the result was very negative for me as well as the
country. What I have learnt is that if doing the right thing might have
negative implications for the country, then that thing shouldn’t be
done. That is where pragmatism should have come in. I regret doing that
because the country is suffering now.

Other than that, I
am very proud in succeeding in the economy front. My only regret is
that we did not achieve such high success in some other critical
sectors, but we will achieve it next time.

What is your take on the recent Nigeria-Iran brawl over weapon shipments?

I am very sad that
Iran is exporting arms to any other country. It is very saddening, but
I cannot say for sure that Iran is involved.

The world has to conduct necessary investigations and any country involved must be penalised.

Mr. Musharraf was
recently in Lagos, where he delivered the 12th Anyiam Osigwe Anyiam
Memorial lecture on ‘Democracy as Holism: That the dove may be set free
in our land’ (Political stability, security, peace, and social economic
development as integrals for democracy.)