Chief Amos Gizo is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State. In this interview with KOLADE ADEYEMI, the former governorship aspirant bares his mind on the removal of petroleum subsidy by the Federal Government, national security and Plateau politics
What is your take on the steps taken by Mr President so far to tackle the challenges bedevilling the economy, especially the removal of subsidy and appointments of service chiefs?
It has been one month into the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; it has been a month of serious action and activities. So far, Mr President has shown determination to turn things around for the good of the nation. Mr President has taken proactive steps, even though some people are thinking he has increased hardship, and he has also taken steps that have saddened the hearts of many people.
On the issue of subsidy removal, from all indications, the billions and billions of naira that go into the subsidy policy have not helped to make things better for citizens over the years. Let’s be sincere to ourselves as Nigerians, the subsidy regime has only made a few Nigerians billionaires. I mean the subsidy has benefited only a few people. I am part of the team who put up the document that recommended the removal of the subsidy to Mr President; this is because we found out that it will be better for Nigerians to pay higher for petrol so that the money saved in the process will be invested into building infrastructure, education, health and other social amenities.
If you know how much has been saved so far since the removal of the subsidy, it is a huge amount that can give Nigerians thousands of kilometers of roads. This would have equally gone to pockets of individuals if the subsidy was still in place. The removal of subsidies now means it is an open market for petrol marketers to sell the product as they like. You are already aware that A. A. Rano for example, has reduced its own price to N400 per litre. And the price will continue to go down and down to an affordable price for Nigerians.
So, I believe that a political leader like President Tinubu would not have removed the subsidy without putting everything into consideration. Nigerians will soon realise that Mr President means well for this country and its citizens when the cabinet is put in place and the action commences with the application of the subsidy funds.
The appointment of service chiefs is another achievement of the first 30 days in office of Mr President. I mean the speed with which he made the appointment of service chiefs. He showed he was prepared for leadership and already knows what to do to reset the security architecture of the country. He has shown that he knows the citizens very well and he knows who is capable of doing what especially in the area of national security. He swung into action in appointing the service chiefs, and the way and manners Mr President made those appointments were deliberately done to address the lopsidedness of the appointments done by the last administration.
You remember several sections of this country were crying about the lopsidedness of the security chiefs of the past government. Many Nigerians had observed that the Buhari administration did not succeed in the area of internal security due to the lopsidedness of the service chiefs. Buhari inherited Boko Haram, but in their attempt to fight Boko Haram, banditry emerged under his watch and even spread to become a national challenge.
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But, with the quality of people Tinubu has appointed as service chiefs, Mr President means business. President Tinubu is a leader that wants results, those appointed, or anyone to be appointed should not take the humility and kindness of Mr President for granted. You will realise that these security chiefs were picked from various zones, it then means when they will be holding security council meanings, the reports coming in will reflect what is happening across the country, not the case in the past when all of them come from one zone trying to resolve national security challenges.
Plateau APC just held a stakeholders meeting and you were in attendance, do you think all is well with the chapter?
Yes, I was in that meeting of the APC, but my worry was that the party leaders claimed to have held a reconciliatory meeting, but what we did during the meeting was not look like reconciliation, because if they called it reconciliation, which faction and which faction are you reconciling. And what was the resolution after the reconciliation?
Those of us that came from the other faction came because we heard, we were not invited, no invitation from our platforms indicating that we were invited to a stakeholders meeting. And it was deceptive for anyone to take that meeting as a reconciliatory meeting. It was just a meeting of critical stakeholders. If you noticed in that stakeholders meeting, there was no agenda for the meeting, they just came in prepared for selected people to speak. And if it was a reconciliation meeting as they try to claim, who spoke on behalf of my group? But we were there as stakeholders. It was not a reconciliatory meeting. APC belong to all of us, the conference hall they held that meeting I set it up when I was chairman of ACN, and I consider myself a critical stakeholder. I came to that meeting as the leader of the other group, and I was not given the opportunity to talk. But, former Governor Lalong understood that some of us are aggrieved and he used the opportunity to tender an apology, which to me is not reconciliation.
You cannot talk about reconciliation without talking about what caused the conflict in the first place. So, to me, the meeting was just a waste of time, there was nothing like reconciliation. They will continue to pretend there is no faction in Plateau APC, let them look at the APC in Nasarawa State, the people that were denied the party ticket went into the SDP and they won elections, is that the progress of a ruling party? Nobody is contesting that Lalong is the leader of the party, I could not talk of contesting that position because I’m never a governor if there was an APC governor before Lalong, he would not have been the party leader, and the constitution is very clear about it. But, it is high time they stopped pretending the better for the party. We have just started, and we shall see how it will end.
Party leaders in states are already sending lists for ministerial appointments. With the crisis in the party, who will send the list?
Ministerial appointment is not about a list of names submitted by the party, ministerial appointment is a prerogative of Mr President. All I know is that, in states where there is no faction, the president may work with the list. But in states where there are factions, Mr President knows what to do.