- Nasheed will assume leadership
- Nasheed exercises dictatorship, not democracy
- Majority does not accept Nasheed as leader
Home Minister Umar Naseer has said the opposition Maldives United Opposition will not work and that he had been aware of this fact long before.
In an exclusive interview to Avas, Minister Umar said the coalition was doomed to fail as Nasheed would find it difficult hand over leadership to another individual. Even though former Vice President Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed was appointed as leader of the coalition, Minister Umar said Nasheed would make a play for power later on and eventually, Dr. Jameel will become a sacrificial lamb.
"The coalition will not work. It is a foregone conclusion. First thing is who will lead the coalition, Nasheed will not be satisfied with a minor role in leading the coalition. Jameel is a sacrificial lamb, he will use Jameel, parade him on the center stage, then will make a play for leadership," Umar said.
Minister Umar said Nasheed had never exercised democratic principles and is hardly likely to do so in the future. He painted Nasheed's MDP as a cult, adding that Nasheed was capable of only running a cult.
"He has no democratic principles, he can only run a cult. The basic characteristics of a cult can be seen from MDP. Their rallies will start by praising Nasheed, continue by doing that and conclude by praising Nasheed. That is the first defining feature of a cult. Then next feature is that they will name public areas after that individual; a road in B. Thulhaadhoo is named after Nasheed," Umar said.
Minister Umar added that Nasheed's actions were alien to democratic values. He said that he had gotten an unparalleled insight into who Nasheed was when the two worked as part of the reform agenda in 2007.
"We saw this in 2007. We worked in that coalition. Nasheed was in that coalition, he first said he will not contest. No one seems to remember this fact. He said he will remain as Chairman, Chairperson. He was the first to run for the position. We all saw how Munawwar was kicked out from MDP," Umar said.
Minister Umar said Nasheed had won the 2008 MDP Primaries by cheating and had exercised undue influence on those who had carried out the primaries. He described Nasheed's actions as an exhausted story and that his personal agenda came before national interests.
"We watched this film in 2007. Perhaps Jameel, Ali Waheed missed the film then, but most of the coalition partners had front row seats to the movie. When this movie is run, Anni will come to center stage, he will remove all in the coalition; the coalition will not work," Umar said.
Umar defined the coalition, Maldives United Opposition and their shadow cabinet, as "cosmetic".
Minister Umar said Nasheed will not be able to rule the Maldives again, in spite of the many initiatives and coalitions that form to facilitate this. He warned that no sincere person would back the Nasheed coalition and as such it was doomed to failure.
