Abdurazak Namdas represents Jada/Ganye/Mayo Balwa/Toungo Federal Constituency of Adamawa State. He is the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Army. In this encounter with Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor Northern Operation, Sanni Onogu and Tony Akowe, in Abuja, he spoke about his ambition to govern Adamawa State and why he prefers Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to fly the presidential flag of the APC in 2023. Excerpts:
YOU head the House Committee on Army and you are from a troubled geopolitical zone. From the benefit of hindsight, is this war against Boko Haram and bandits winnable?
I believe that it is winnable, but it will take a longer period. That is the way I look at it. Right now, the situation in the North East is far better than what is happening in the North West. The rate of attacks has reduced to the barest minimum. I am not saying there are no attacks, but these attacks have reduced and the situation is calmer in the North East right now than in the North West. With the introduction of the Tucano Jets, it appears we are winning the war to some extent. But initially, when we wanted to use the Tucano jets on the bandits, there was this argument that they should only be used on terrorists and we had to come up with a resolution calling on the President to declare bandits as terrorist. The Minister of Justice was able to work on that and this has given us some hope that we will be able to deal with the situation at hand.
Are you tired of being a lawmaker that you are aspiring to be a governor?
The truth is that I have served in the Executive before when I was Chief Press Secretary to Governor Boni Haruna and I know how the executive functions. I am a Legislator and so, I know how the Legislature functions. Right now, we have leadership problem in my state and I feel that with the experience I have, I can do better. Don’t forget that I was a Deputy Governorship candidate about 11 years ago under the ticket of the ACN and we came runners up to Murtala Nyako. We were defeated with about 68,000 votes at that time. I have been in this game for sometimes. I was Director General of Atiku Support Group that took care of Atiku’s campaign in the entire North East. I feel that with what is happening in my state today, if I become the governor, with the experience I have both in the Executive and in the Legislature, things will be better. In fact, at the international level, I was a member of the Pan African Parliament. So, I have friends both internationally and locally. If I take the kind of experience I have now to the state, I will do better. Right now, what I have been able to do in my constituency is so much that the state has to work hard to get to where I am.
Is it true that you are from a minority tribe in Adamawa? What are your chances?
I wouldn’t say I am a minority. I don’t know what you mean by minority. Yes, I am from a great tribe in Adamawa. I have four Local Governments as my constituency, which is the largest constituency in Adamawa state, out of 21 Local Government Areas. My constituency is the largest. No other constituency has up to four local governments. I am a Chamba by tribe and we dominate three and half of these local governments. No other tribe has that kind of dominance. But that is not all. The truth is that you must have something to offer the people. I have been in politics for several years. You know my antecedents as a legislator. You know what I did even when I served as the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Boni Haruna and you know my antecedents as a legislator.
So if given that opportunity, if I am able to bring four local governments – there is no candidate that can bring four local governments to the table like I will do. Right now, I have four local governments in my kitty for now by the grace of God. All I need to do is to tap from A and B and we will carry the day. In the entire southern zone of Adamawa where I come from, it has nine local governments but I am the only aspirant for this office since January 2021. I am not saying other aspirants will not signify interest, but before they match what I have done, they need to work hard.
Can you defeat ‘ATM’ Ahmadu Fintiri?
The truth is that even in his first election, we were the ones that helped him. Our people, out of anger and frustration, were angry with the governor and they decided to engage in anti-party activity and that was why he won. All of us are aware that there was a second round of elections. If he had won convincingly from day one, I would have had that fear, but since our people did anti-party to enable him win, this time around, we are saying that all of us as aspirants, we are not going to fight ourselves.
We will work together. Even if I am not the one, any other aspirant that picks the ticket, we are going to work for the person and the party, because people have come to realise that if you are angry momentarily, don’t lose your senses. If you engage in anti-party activities and your party loses out, the winner cannot reward you with any juicy appointment. Because the people who worked for you on the other side, will not even allow you to do that. Look at them now, they are crying all over the place. He does not even pick their calls now.
He knows that I can defeat him. Everybody knows that I can defeat him. That is not something to debate about. I don’t want to talk about Fintiri too much. I want to talk about my party, APC, because no matter how you do, if I don’t pick this ticket, I will not be facing him. So I pray and hope that my people understand that I am the man to beat once I pick the ticket.
2023 is by the corner. Your party is in crisis and in court. We have so many Presidential aspirants. Should power shift to the South or should it should remain in the North as it is? Again one of the foremost aspirants that have come out is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What is your take on him?
Personally the North is known to keep their promises. Even the South respects us for that. In those good old days, you will see Hausa boys go to the East to work and they are given access to all properties because they believe we can keep promises. So, I feel that this power should go back to the South. But sometimes, most of these insecurity issues you find, is based on simple things like not keeping to agreements. What is there? We have done eight years now. Hand it over to the South. To me, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the leader of the APC and I think there is nothing wrong for us to support him to be presidential candidate. Let me give you a personal example. Asiwaju was the man that brought in or gave Atiku ticket to run for the Presidency and that was the first time Atiku had a Presidential ticket. The one former Vice President Atiku contested in the PDP is only his second time of all the number he has been contesting. That was the only time he was given a ticket to be President of Nigeria. Asiwaju did that and the man is from my state. At another point, he brought Nuhu Ribadu who is also from my state. He gave him a ticket to run for the presidency of this country under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Both of them didn’t make the Presidency. Now he wished someone from Adamawa to be President and he has done his own part. Even Babachir Lawal who became the Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the Buhari’s regime, we know that he is Buhari’s man, no doubt about it. He gave an interview at one point in time that Asiwaju has a hand in his emergence as the SGF. He is also from Adamawa state. Boss Mustapha who is the current SGF was the Deputy National Chairman of the ACN at that time when I was also the deputy governorship candidate in my state. All is because of Asiwaju. Apart from me these, if you look at the leaders he has groomed and brought to limelight, no politician alive that can boast of that. No any politician alive has been able to at least tutor people to be able to sieve good leaders than Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Given this and since he has the capacity with what he has done in Lagos state, I feel if you rule Lagos which is a semi Nigeria, I believe that he will do much more in Nigeria as a President. So for me, he has my support. If he is able to get the ticket, we will work with him throughout. That is just the truth of the matter.