The ex-SGF stated this when fielding questions on Channels Television’s “The Verdict 2023”, on Friday night.
Responding to a question on why he stopped supporting the All Progressives Congress and joined the Labour Party as its member and now supporting the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Lawal said he repented from “the darkness” of “the old system that used to govern us” when he saw the light.
He stressed that the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party were the same with the “same people”, the “same agbada”, adding that they both represented the darkness.
He said, “I’ve seen the light; you can repent when you see the light. I’ve seen the light, I saw the light and I repented, I’m sorry. I did that before. The light is Peter Obi. The darkness is the old system that used to govern us, which is represented by both the PDP and the APC. No change. Same people, same agbada, same red face cap. Same people. So Nigerians have seen the light, not only me.”
Also, speaking about the state of governance of the ruling APC, Lawal said things were out of the hands of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He further stated that there was no government without an inner caucus, adding that those in the present government who had the ears of the President refused to carry out the expectations of the President or the public.
Lawal also said before the President’s election into office in 2015, he had shown a remarkable sense of leadership, while he previously held positions as governor of Borno State, Minister of Petroleum, and Military Head of State, but had challenges with his “lieutenants”, and deciding who executed projects and orders when he came into power as President.
“Things are out of his hands, there’s no running away from that fact. There are people that do not take the orders they are given. As soon as they leave where the order is given, they go and do different things. There is nothing like cabal. There is no government that does not have an inner caucus. There’s no government. There are people who have the ear of the President, to whom President by functionality, their functions in government, ought to do things, but they are not doing what the President tells them to do, or what the President expects them to do, or what the society itself expects them to do.
“I can tell you this, I know President Buhari very well, even long before he became President, and most Nigerians also knew him. And the expectation was that based on his antecedents as former governor of Borno State, former Minister of Petroleum, and then President, he had shown a remarkable sense of ability to rule.
“By 2015, we were almost at the same level where we are this time around; people were fed up. But when he got in, I think the President had issues with his lieutenants about who executes the orders he gives, and who executes the policies that he makes. And that that is really my own side of things.”
