The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, and Northern Elders Forum, NEF, have insisted they would not support President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015. What is your take on this?
I am not a member of Arewa Consultative Forum and Northern Elders Forum and they are not a political party. My comment on this is that every Nigerian, both young and old has right to air his views. It’s a constitutional provision for you to say this is what you want or this is what you don’t want. I have no problem for anybody to raise an eyebrow over what ACF or the NEF said. They have the constitutional right to choose Mr. A or Mr. B, or to say they are not going to do this or that. So they have all the right. They are Nigerians and have right to say what they want. After all, they are not members of the PDP.
Don’t you think their stand has to do with the agitation of the North to produce the president in 2015 considering the rotational agreement within the PDP?
The constitution of the PDP is very clear. So, I don’t think there is any problem here. If the President wants to contest, he’s welcome to do so, and anybody that wants to contest should be welcomed too. The constitution of the PDP says there is no automatic ticket, therefore whoever wants to contest can come and contest. All the previous elections had primaries, as there was a contest. So, I don’t think there is any problem. The President has the right to contest and any Nigerian also has the right to contest against him. The PDP’s constitution did not say only the President should contest, and I’m challenging anyone to say there is automatic ticket. There is no automatic ticket in PDP as there would be primaries and the primaries have to be done in a free and fair manner.
But the chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Tony Anineh recently called for automatic tickets for President Jonathan and first-term serving PDP governors. Are you not comfortable with the idea?
Chief Tony Anenih is my leader and I respect him so much. He has the right to say what he said and we in the PDP, the foot soldiers, also have the right to say what we can say. I don’t want to join issues with leaders because that is not how I was brought up. I was brought up to respect leaders when they speak, but when they go out of context, as a PDP man, I would chip in no matter the consequence. That however does not mean that I am insulting my leaders. I am saying the truth and defending the constitution of PDP.
Some Nigerians have called on President Jonathan to contest even as opposition parties have lamented that he has not performed up to expectation. Do you see Jonathan as worthy of another term?
I am the Vice Chairman of the PDP North West, and as a leader of the PDP, I will not castigate my leaders but for the opposition, you don’t expect them to say the PDP government has performed to expectation. No matter what you do, your opposition cannot say you have done something, and as the vice chairman of the PDP, I have little contribution on whether we have done enough for Nigerians to appreciate. But if you go to the PDP states, you can definitely say it differs from other states that are not PDP. The PDP governments at the states have performed very wonderfully. I don’t want to personalise performance but the PDP government in general has done what is supposed to be done.
So, you are supporting President Jonathan for second term?
He has the right to do so. The constitution of Nigeria has given him that right to contest but that does not stop others from contesting. This is something I want to make clear to Nigerians.
Looking at the constitutional amendment, do you support removal of immunity for the President and governors?
If you remove immunity, there would be no government. I still remember what happened to some of the legislators, governors and president when I was younger. In any country, when you say governors or president have no immunity, then there would be chaos; there would be no government and especially in Nigeria if you remove immunity, nobody would like to contest for positions. For me, that immunity clause should be left as it is. Governance is a conviction, and you can be a good person if you want to. You can be a good president, governor or lawmaker and leave office without being corrupt.
Corruption does exist in places like the United States of America, United Kingdom and in every nation. So, removing immunity does not remove corruption, and I plead with Nigerians to leave that clause as it is and let’s forge ahead. A time would come when in Nigeria everyone would follow the rule of law; you would ask someone to do something unlawful and he would refuse to do it. I don’t think removing immunity is what would keep political office holders from being corrupt.
What about autonomy for local governments?
I’m indifferent as far as local government autonomy is concerned. I’m not saying the local government chairmen are not responsible but what I am saying is that in every accounting system there should be checks and balance and it differs from state to state. Take for example in my state (Jigawa), the money for the local governments is given to the chairmen and the state governor doesn’t take a dime from the it. I don’t know about other states. My job is to promote PDP and not to promote local government autonomy. But for me, there must be checks and balance at the states.
The PDP has been faced with crises and efforts have been made to reconcile feuding members through several committees, but they are yet to yield the desired outcome. What is your take on this?
Politics is crisis itself; politics means crisis, and you have to know that we are a big party. The PDP is the biggest party not only in Nigeria but in Africa. You don’t expect not to see wrangling in a place where so many people want to have positions.
But to be honest, we don’t have crises in PDP. Every year, they say we have crises but we still win elections because it’s only the PDP that can rule this country. Any party other than PDP that wins elections in this country and tries to rule would end up throwing in the towel. It is only the PDP that has the capacity and tenacity to hold power and to rule a nation like Nigeria. There is no other party that can rule Nigeria except the PDP. I am telling you that in the next 100 years to come, the PDP would still be in government. And when you look at the party, you must expect problems. It’s just like everybody wants to hold to his position and that position they are holding are being eyed by other people that want to be there also.
So, I doubt if the PDP has any crisis. There were so many committees that were formed but that does not mean anything; that does not mean we are in crises. You see, you can’t step on my toes and not expect me to feel pain. That is exactly what is happening. The opposition however cannot do anything in this country, whether APC, Codeine, or Fansidar, whatever it is, they will still come back to PDP. All those opposition members that you see were mostly from the PDP at some point in time. It is when we vomit the bad ones that they go somewhere and form another party or group.
There is almost nobody that is in another party that was not at sometime, a PDP member. They left because they could not get what they want, but for me, I will never leave PDP. You see, you don’t fight from the outside; you fight within. So, opposition parties to me are just jokers. They cannot do anything and PDP will still win elections.
But what about Rivers state, the division among PDP state governors, the problem between Bamanga Tukur and Governor Murtlala Nyako? Don’t you think these could affect the political fortunes of the PDP?
When you say Rivers State for example; have you ever heard where five defeated 27? That too, I don’t see as a crisis. If one wants to go into politics, he must be ready to face challenges. You don’t come into politics without some form of harassment, attack and so on. I still say it, and we are PDP: what happened in Rivers State is unfortunate in the sense that some people somewhere that is strong wanted to put their hand into that crisis, and because they are not politicians, they forgot and took war into their house.
To me, there is no big deal on what is happening because those that are concerned, those with PDP in mind, went and resolved the crisis. And the people who went there to solve the crisis are Nigerians that you cannot do away with politically. So, I don’t think the issue in Rivers State is a crisis that should make one to lose sleep. It’s a crisis that was magnified. There is no reason for the crisis when you look at it critically. It was a crisis that came without reason.
In Adamawa, it’s a case of two elephants fighting in which it’s the grass that suffers. They are all gentlemen and know what is right and wrong. My call is for them to sit down on a roundtable and iron issues. And if somebody is playing politics, he should know the limit of the consequences of his actions. He should know what he is supposed to do so that he doesn’t worsen the situation. They should go back, sit down and see reasons because they are all PDP and our elders, and I would not sit here and judge. But I know it would soon be resolved amicably.
Do you see the All Progressives Congress, APC, posing serious challenge to the PDP in 2015?
Believe me, a politician like me, born in this region and politically polished, under polished politicians, trained and moving with polished politicians; APC, or whatever name it is called, does not give me anxiety. I know APC is a combination of ANPP, ACN and CPC. Even if you still change the name, the people are still there and they were alive and present when PDP defeated them. If you look at the votes for the opposition parties, do the arithmetic and you would see that they are not even up to half of PDP votes.
I know people call it rigging but remember that in politics you can only rig where you are strong, you don’t rig where you are weak. The PDP doesn’t fear any party. If people think that they are afraid then they are not politicians. But people like me that was born and brought up in the party that was politically excellent, and the people I am with are politically excellent, do not have any fear at all. Someone that stayed with the likes of Aminu Kano, Sule Lamido, Abubakar Rimi, was with NEPU, PRP, and so on would not fear contesting an election with any opposition party. I only pray that we live to see 2015 and you will know that PDP is a party to be reckoned with.
What of the influence wielded by major stakeholders of the APC like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu?
I want you to note today; all these people that you are mentioning will never be president in this country. Buhari is our brother, leader and as I said earlier, I don’t want to castigate our elders. But if I were him, at this age, I will not contest election. If I were him, to be defeated three times – in the history of politics, I have never seen a candidate that was defeated three times and he still wants to contest. I’m sorry if I offend some people on this matter, but that is me and anyone can say anything about it. But I know that any party that Buhari leads would not win election. Bola is a friend and I think he can be electable but only within his domain. But I doubt if he can win elections around the eastern, northern and South-South areas of the country.
How do you see the government’s war against terror as it relates to Boko Haram insurgency?
To be honest with you, I am not in government; I’m not a security man and I don’t want to be one. So, this question should go to the security people.
What of your assessment of the government in addressing the problem of power supply?
I have been talking about this power issue but unfortunately both the government and the people, including myself, are not serious in addressing the issue of power supply. We are either not ready or we don’t want to tackle the issue of power in Nigeria. We have been talking about it for some time now and even I have been talking about it when I was Minister of Special Duties. Something could have been done at the time but unfortunately, we were cut on the way. I am not in government now and I don’t know the arrangement and preparedness of making power available to Nigerians. But by my assessment both the government and people are not ready for power availability and I don’t know who is deceiving who. I have been on a blue line but my house has yet to see electricity for two hours since the past three months. This problem of power cannot be solved unless the country gets someone that is serious and who has this country at heart.
Do you see government really addressing corruption and youth unemployment?
As I told you earlier, corruption has so many forms. Even refusing to come to work on time and closing at a designated time is a form of corruption. It is not only stealing money from government coffers that is corruption, and every country of the world has some form of corruption. The magnitude of corruption in Nigeria is however what bothers us as a people. White men usually say how much money do you need that would be enough for you? For somebody to steal N20 billion or N50 billion is outrageous, and for God’s sake, what do you do with such money?
Corruption would always continue because perpetrators are not punished, like cases of seizing a corrupt person’s money or houses without him facing punishment. I know instances where corrupt officers are heroes in this country. You remember what happened this year, where somebody stole N57 billion and up till today nothing is done to that man as he has become a king.
To be honest with you, we need a courageous leader to address this problem. To end corruption, you have to have the political will and determination to tackle same at all levels. Without this, we would continue to be a corrupt nation, but we can solve or minimise the problem when we have leaders that are really committed to tackling corruption. It is not every Nigerian that is corrupt as there are those that can be exempted. But these type of people should first be given power. And it’s not the issue of jailing people for 90 or 150 years for example, which is madness.
As regards youth unemployment, when you look at states in the North- West, we are really trying to minimise the problem. Take for example the kind of progammes the PDP is coming out with. This will reduce unemployment but because the problem has been there for long, fully addressing it would take time. But with the way the system is being run, the issue would soon be a thing of the past.
There are speculations that you are one of those eyeing the governorship seat in your state when Governor Lamido leaves office in 2015. Is there any truth to this matter?
It’s good that it’s a speculation and you know most speculations are always not correct. I am a Muslims and God knows tomorrow. It is left to Jigawa people to choose who will lead them. You have to leave this question as God knows what he has arranged. In fact, we in Jigawa do not care or bother about who becomes the leader. We would follow that person, but our prayer is that such person would be as good as Sule Lamido or even half of Sule Lamido. The governor has satisfied what in the next 25 years should be done. Any person coming in will just build on what he has done.
Source: National Mirror
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