Category: Politics

In this interview, Mustapha Kankia, Commissioner for both Works and Transport ministries in Katsina State, explains to Adetutu Audu how the state government is executing many ongoing projects, among other issues.

Ministry of works appears to have the biggest chunk of the state government budget, why is this?

I think it is so generally, probably because of the nature of what they do, mostly capital intensive projects. Of course, capital intensive projects would take slightly larger percentage of the budget. This is so because a single kilometre of road can cost so much. This ministry is not only into roads, we are in charge of housing, transportation and road maintenance. For all these three, they have agencies, parastatals. We have the Katsina Housing Authority, a parastatal under the Ministry of Works. There is Katsina State Transport Authority, still under the Works Ministry and we have Katsina Roads Maintenance Agency. So if you put all these agencies together, coupled with the ministry, you see that it is quite a huge amount of resources that go into our activities.

Why is government building a new Government House when there is a functioning one?

The current government house as you can see is a government house inherited from the colonial masters. It was actually the district officer’s residence then. Then successive governments were just adjusting one thing or the other. As a matter of fact, the office of the Deputy Governor, that is the exact office of the District Officer at that time. So, subsequent governments were just adding one structure today and another tomorrow. At the end of the day, it is a collection of structure did by different people with different thinking. Sometimes, there is a conflicts like accommodation, power supply, quarters and the government activities is ever expanding. For example, among all the first generation universities, only university of Ife appears to be the best because it was the only university that started afresh from a virgin land, a development concept from the beginning. Therefore it can go in the direction you want it to go. That is why it is better than most of the other first generation universities.

Now, we have a chance here to do it properly. We have a Governor who is not thinking about now. We are thinking of the next 50-years. As a matter of fact, all our projects here are for the future. They are there to provide platform for growth and development.

How?

My principal is a manager of resources. He manages men and material so that he gets the best for the state. The way the funding of the place is done is like this: We receive fund just like any state from the Federation Account, we manage it properly such that what accrues from the investment is now pumped into the government house project. The Governor has generated over N8b in the last six years accrued from constant generation of the investment. So, the government house is being given to the people of Katsina as a gift free of charge. The target of the project is about N5b but we have spent about 3b.

Why build another governor’s lodge in Abuja when you could possibly manage the previous one?

The condition we met it was not just habitable. It had developed cracks and in dilapidated condition. It has reached an extent where the governor’s lodge is no longer governor’s lodge because the Governor can’t really spend the night and at the same time work in it, because it is not only about sleeping there but also working there and attending to state issues from there. So, it became inhabitable. So, it was now either to completely knock it down or remodel it. And so we remodeled it. So, it is not a new building as you claimed, it was a remodeled building. We spent about N400m on it. And don’t talk about the cost because that amount is something that can be spent by the governor for a couple of years in a rented building. If you calculate the amount you would have paid on rent for say four years in Abuja, you will agree with me that it is a wise financial decision on the part of the Governor. The lodge is now in place such that all his staff can lodge there comfortably. Even northern governor’s forum and governor’s forum meetings are held there sometimes, that tells you how habitable it is now.

There have been arguments over federal roads in all the states, what type of collaboration do you have with the federal government in terms federal roads in your state?

Generally, the state government is interested in partnering with any developmental agency that will bring development to the people. Let me give you a classical example of the extent of commitment of the state government towards that policy. You will recall that the President established 11 universities recently. Out of the 11, one was in Katsina State. That one, among the other 10, was the first to matriculate students. The reason is simple. The Governor committed over N1b for the project. He gave them a secondary school to take off. It was remodeled as new classrooms, staff quarters were added; provided hostels and immediately gave them certificate of occupancy. He pumped over N1b into the project as the state contribution to the federal school. The students are in their second year of learning. Another one was the expansion of the Katsina airport. It was an aerodrome. The previous administration started the expansion programme. My principal completed it with a new runway of 3.6kilometer long,100 meters wide, enough to carry any Boeing 747, which is the international standard.

He told the federal government, look I can do this and refund me later. Of course the approval took time but that is the kind of commitment I am talking about. Currently, the state government is looking at the Zobe water Dam scheme. The Zobe dam is one of the largest dams we have. It was started more than 30 years ago. And he has been trying to convince the federal government, come please let us talk, I can do this and then you reimburse me later.

There is another one, Jibia irrigation scheme. It is federal government owned. It was lying down for nothing and it can be used for irrigation but it had technical problems of pumping machines and channels through which you carry the water to the various farm lands were broken. The governor came into the picture, supplied the generators and as I speak with you now, it is working.

What are you doing in housing?

My ministry is saddled with the provision of affordable housing through the Katsina State Housing Authority. From 2007 to date, we have so far built 1772 housing units which were segmented into three. We are financing these projects with proceeds from investments.

When you adopt such style, you can achieve a lot within a short space of time. With all that we are doing, we have not borrowed a kobo both within the country and outside to execute all these projects.

The initial optimism that the solution to the crisis bedeviling the Adamawa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was at sight may be a forlorn hope if the hard-line posture of a faction loyal to the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is anything to go by, reports Remi Adelowo

The crisis that has been rocking the Adamawa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last one year may not be over soon.

For some time now, the state Governor, Muritala Nyako, and the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, have been embroiled in a bitter contest over the control of the party apparatus in the state.

Trouble erupted about a year ago when Tukur, shortly on assumption of office, dissolved the state executive council of the party led by Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama. Expectedly, Nyako kicked against this decision.

He was reported to have described Tukur’s action as ‘unwarranted and a clear attempt to denigrate his status as the leader of the party in the state.’ Tukur, on his part, refused to back down. And thus the battle line was drawn.

Worried that the crisis, if unchecked, could jeopardise the future of the party in the state, President Goodluck Jonathan, set up a committee headed by the Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, to find a lasting solution to the issue.

With the caliber of the members of the committee, many PDP stakeholders in the state and beyond were confident that the Lamido panel would do justice to the matter. After about five months, the committee finally submitted its report to the President.

The recommendations

In one of its recommendations, the committee proposed the retention of the ward and local government executives, pointing out that these arms were not dissolved by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party from the outset.

Perhaps to prove its neutrality, it further recommended the harmonisation of the two main factions in the party-the Mijinyawa Kugama and Joel Madaki executives, while urging the factions to work together in the interest of the party.

The discordant tunes

These resolutions led to mixed reactions from the factions battling for the control of the party.

The state Secretary of the Madaki-led faction, Alhaji Tahir Shehu, dismissed the recommendations as ambiguous and failing to address the core issues that led to the crisis in the first place.

Giving an insight into the issue, Shehu said the NWC of the party had assigned the Ambassador Umar Damagun-led caretaker committee to conduct fresh congresses at the ward, local, and state levels.

He disclosed that prior to the party congresses, the NWC had written a letter to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, notifying him of the dates slated for the conduct of the ward, local and state congresses. The letter, he reportedly said, was signed by the National Chairman of the party, Tukur, and former National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

Shehu was also reported to have said that the caretaker committee has since completed its assignment and subsequently handed over the party’s control to the Madaki-led executive. He picked holes in the Lamido Committee’s position that the NWC did not dissolve the wards and local government executives of the party with the Kugama-led state executive.

In a counter-response, Shehu’s counterpart in the Kugama-led faction, Chief Phineas Pwanohoma Elisha, said the recommendations of the Lamido Committee has affirmed the announcement of the party’s Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja, which rescinded the earlier decision of the NWC, which had dissolved the Kugama-led executive on October 17 last year.

He added that the NWC announcement did not dissolve the ward and local government executives alongside the Kugama-led executive. Elisha, however, extended an olive branch to the Madaki faction, while promising that his group was prepared to obey the decision of the Lamido Committee.

Madaki faction not shifting ground

The Madaki faction, believed to have the backing of Tukur, has spurned the olive branch of the Kugama faction. Pointedly accusing the Lamido Committee of bias, its secretary, Tahir Shehu, said the proposed harmonisation of the factions was not only partial, but lopsided in favour of the Governor’s camp.

He further accused the Lamido panel of not giving a fair hearing to his faction. He was quoted thus: “Right from the time the Lamido Committee was formed, we officially wrote them that we wanted to pay them a courtesy call, but he (Lamido) refused.

“That was why when the committee concluded its report, we sent a protest letter that we did not accept its recommendations. The committee did not hear from anybody on our side. How can we then recognise a committee that is one-sided?”

While the Madaki faction is talking tough, the Mijinyawa-led executive, in its quest for peace in the party, has reportedly conceded existing seven vacancies of party positions to its rival.

Sources in the party revealed that real reason of the crisis in the Adamawa PDP runs deep. For Tukur, he is alleged to have an axe to grind with Nyako over the latter’s lack of support for his (Tukur) chairmanship aspiration, accusing the Governor of only backing him following the President’s insistence.

In the run-up to the national convention, which threw up Tukur, the North East caucus of the party had, at a mini-convention held in Bauchi, nominated Dr. Musa Babayo as its candidate for the national chairmanship of PDP. An intense horse trading embarked upon by the President’s loyalists eventually paved the way for Tukur’s emergence as National Chairman.

Also linked to the non-resolution of the crisis is the alleged plot by Tukur to ensure that his eldest son, Awwal (who is currently his father’s special adviser), emerges as the next Governor of the state in 2015. “Taking control of the party structures in the state now is vital to realising this objective,” said a source in the party.

The personality clash between Tukur and Nyako had pitched majority of the latter’s colleagues against the National Chairman, whom they accused of running the party like a private estate.

The Governors viewed the development as a “signal from Tukur, and by extension the Presidency to undermine their influence in the party and clip the wings of recalcitrant governors.”

In the thinking of these Governors, if Tukur is allowed to have his way this time, he will be emboldened in the future to mete out the same treatment to other governors who “falls out of line.”

With the hard-line stance of the Tukur-backed Joel Madaki faction, it remains to be seen how the crisis in the Adamawa State chapter of the PDP will be resolved.

Once every year, somebody must remember his birthday. Some persons celebrate theirs in a majestic style, while others just think-over it. Reasons for these vary among individuals. It is the motive of this treatise to memorise a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu as he clocks 53 on April 21, 2013.

The Igbo would associate a man of Kalu’s standing with – Obu nnukwu mmanwu. (He is a big masquerade). And big masquerades are not watched on the day of festivity from one focal point of view. To get a sizeable view of a big masquerade, one has to be moving from one standing point to another, yet the view of the masquerade will not be complete. This is why it is called nnukwu mmanwu.

While friends and well-wishers of Kalu are preparing to celebrate with him in the 36 states of the federation, in Europe, Asia, other African countries and around the world, it is essential to keep-in-mind that there is no amount of party – be it grand or ordinary – that will surpass the fact that Kalu is alive today. Any day a person is alive is one biggest quiet celebration on its own, even though that it is not amplified. This is why the Igbo would say that Odi ndu kele Chi. (Any living should thank his God).

Kalu is a friend of the people who has helped numerous people both financially, emotionally and in anything positive. Some he knew, many he did not know. He has filled a lot of people’s sorrow with happiness, joy and peace. He cannot make a list of the people he has assisted in life. However, one content of the help that he has rendered to mankind that does not vary to suit any person in particular is humility. If Kalu were a kid, due to the tremendous help he has turned-to people, on this occasion of his birthday, many would have taken him to the market and buy him balloons, whistle, paper-kite, toys and other children’s fanciful items.

While a host of peoples around the globe are in the festive mood to celebrate with Kalu, without doubt, he is busy in prayers for his dear life and for providence making him who he is today wealth-wise, but among all, as a man who is loved, admired and adored by many friends than perceived foes. As a token of love to appreciate him, at his Igbere hometown of Abia State, Kalu’s kinsmen and kinswomen have been celebrating his 53rd birthday remembrance since the past one month. At his Neya country home, the atmosphere is an epoch one. What people have not eaten and drank are not in the market. The significant aspect of this festivity is the cake which was in the shape of a beautiful house, resembling Kalu’s expensive and expansive compound that was cut. All these the villagers have done in acknowledging that their son is alive today to witness his 53rd birthday.

It is something to cheer about that Kalu who was born without a golden spoon, but not in the absence of a spoon, has become a personality that is drowned in gifts of thanks-giving from people around the world that cut across creed, culture, tradition and religion. It is worthy of praise that Kalu who was not born into an upper-class family has taken his lower-middle-class family to the upper-class family. The momentous aspect of this year’s birthday tribute to Kalu is that the world is very particular about observing it because of his years of very active thorough service to mankind; though since his birth, Kalu has been regularly celebrated every year. As a central figure that all eyes are set on, on this birthday occasion, Kalu’s joy knows no bounds, and is thoughtful of the passing year and the year to come.

Another exceptional aspect of this year’s birthday is that it comes when Kalu who hates evil has taken to coordinating an anti-corruption war in Africa, which is supposed to be instituted in South Africa this May, having stakeholders from part of European Union, the United Nations, some diplomats from the United States and other Western countries. In this bid, Kalu is crying that government agencies in Africa have failed to fight corruption; hence the use of Non-Governmental Organisation to fight corruption ensued. Kalu vehemently frowns at politicians, civil servants who are stunningly financial rich today, but were paupers before they assumed their different leadership positions.

Kalu is using his birthday to enlighten people that corruption is not only synonymous with those in government, but there are jokers in all the spheres of human endeavours. He is one politician who has suffered politically-motivated cases in the hands of the authorities, losing many of his assets in politics. He lost two banks, offshore companies, building platforms and an airline he came to power with, when he was a former governor. He has been severally molested by the authorities. An example was in 2007 when traducers launched a vilification campaign against him that an anti-graft agency was looking for him. He was in London and called Ibrahim Lamorde, a Czar of the agency that he was coming to Nigeria. He told Lamorde the time that he was going to land in Nigeria – 5a.m – and even specified his place of landing which was Abuja, instead of Lagos. He also told Lamorde that by 11a.m., he would be in Lamorde’s office.

Kalu would not be celebrating today if his God was and is not always with him. His voluntary return was made to look like a suspect being caught after a hard chase. Nuhu Ribadu of the anti-graft agency came to the airport with an arsenal of journalists and cameramen to arrest Kalu as he landed in Nigeria. They tried to rubbish him but here is the great son of Ndigbo and a citizen of Nigeria without blemish; a man who has never been afraid of who will lock him up or use rules that are not in line with the constitution to chase him. Kalu’s birthday today tells the story of a man who was governor at 39 and lost many of his businesses, but is here today stronger at 53, than the political demagogues wanted to enfeeble him.

Kalu’s fears at this year’s birthday are not personal. They are not that he’s being persecuted by the authorities, but that the country is gradually ebbing to a point where anybody can do anything he or she likes, because the leaders are not able to come together and address this issue, hence law and order are being broken down. He has not been happy that Nigeria has a lot of problems but has always said that if Nigerians are all part of the problem, they should all be part of the solution. Without equivocation Kalu has been part of the solutions to solving majority of the problems besetting the country.

Among all, may Kalu’s God grant him an Igbo presidency in 2015 through his Njiko Igbo, when he would be 55.

Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, contributed this piece from Rivers State.

Oladipo Diya, the Odogbolu –born General is in the news again after many years of silence and licking of wounds. In the last one week or so, Nigerian newspapers were awash with the syndicated interview Diya granted to some journalists in which he raised issues bordering on the type of security guards befitting his status as a former Chief of Defence Staff and alleged unpaid allowances. Diya’s interview came on the heels of the pardon granted him alongside Alamieseigha by President Jonathan.

It should be recalled that the lucky Diya was the Chief of General Staff during the overlordship of General Sanni Abacha until he was cashiered off by the regime he tirelessly worked for as its number two man. Diya, Tajudeen Olarewaju and Abdulkareem Adisa (Abacha’s Ministers of Communications and Works respectively) were arrested, tried and found guilty of conspiring with others to violently topple the government of Abacha. They were sentenced to death by a Military Tribunal.

But following pressures from several quarters within and outside Nigeria,the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment. The death of Abacha paved way for the eventual release of Diya from prison by the Gen.Abdulsalam Abubakar’s regime.

Diya was the hatchet man that saw to it that the June 12, 1993, election, won by Chief M.K.O Abiola who incidentally was from the same Ogun State as Diya, would not be revalidated. The struggle for the revalidation of Abiola’s mandate, freely given to him by the Nigerian people took such a national dimension that surprised the likes of Diya, who were on the other side of the divide.

The struggle, anchored by the politically resourceful and resolute Campaign for Democracy (CD), a movement that had over 30 rights groups and political platforms that subscribed to it, was so intense that Babangida, the man who annulled the election, had to ‘step aside’ and appointed the hapless Interim Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan.

Nigerians did not give the Interim Government an opportunity to operate because of its illegal and usurping status. This much was shown in the decision of a Federal High Court which declared the Interim Government illegal, paving the way for Abacha’s coup, which had been on the wings.

Most Nigerians might not have known that it was this same Diya that went to the embassies with documents purported to have emanated from the June 12 campaigners calling for a military solution in the resolution of the logjam that the June 12, 1993 election crisis had become. No doubt, there were prominent voices in the June 12 Movement, who, out of desperation, naively thought that since the unnecessary June12 crisis was caused by the military, it was incumbent on the latter to resolve the imbroglio. It needs to be stated that these desperate voices were not dominant but Diya took advantage of their views and interactions with him to urge his master, Abacha, and others in their clique to take over power immediately after the Interim Government was declared illegal.

The Campaign for Democracy was the first casualty in the intrigues engineered by Diya and his cohorts as a result of the June 12, 1993 crisis. The CD and some of the cells that were relevant in the strident opposition given to the military have not been able to recover their voices arising from the bilious and divisive stratagems that Diya injected into the CD platform.

Today, the CD is a shell and shadow of its former self. The organisation was such a powerful voice to the point that it became an alternative government. But with Diya’s penetration of the organisation, the rest as they say, is history.

Having conquered CD and fought other opposition groups like NADECO, Diya was seen strutting about the length and breadth of Nigeria providing Abacha with the strategies and tactics to bomb the opposition to complete surrender. In the South-Western part of the country where he comes from, he tried to upstage the authentic Yoruba political establishment ably represented by the Afenifere by creating the ill-fated, second eleven IMERIN group. As he jockeyed about and around demobilising the June 12 forces, he and his other henchmen, like Tajudeen Olarewaju and Abdulkareem Adisa (the thoroughly grammatically challenged one), were busy fawning and servilely working for Abacha. Their cringing knew no limits as they wore all kinds of Abacha-embossed badges to display their loyalty to their boss.

To the best of my knowledge, no court of competent jurisdiction has reversed the judgment of the Military Tribunal that found Diya and co guilty of an attempt to violently overthrow the regime of Abacha. As part of the political manipulation to give Alamieseigha a wide berth for political relevance in 2015, the Jonathan administration decided to include names like Diya to give the pardon a geo-political configuration.

It should also be remembered that in those dark days of Abacha’s dictatorship, Diya, Adisa and others of their ilk had been shown in a video cowering, like wounded dogs, kneeling, crying and begging Abacha for forgiveness, thereby portraying themselves as chocolate soldiers. They never denied participating in the alleged coup but were only weeping and paying their allegiance to their boss, Abacha. Many discerning Nigerians saw it as a comeuppance to a set of people who went even beyond reason to ingratiate themselves to Abacha with a view to enjoying the available lucre on the table for members of the inner cabinet of Sanni Abacha.

Now, Diya has started another canticle, asking for military guards as opposed to the police security he is currently enjoying. He has suddenly remembered that he rose to the position of Chief of Defence Staff and therefore must be treated as such. The military authorities will soon be asked to compute all his allowances and pay to a man who should always be thankful to providence for its intervention in his life after all that he did to Nigerians as he worked assiduously to ensure that Abiola never became the President of Nigeria.

Does Diya even think about those thousands of Nigerians who died prematurely as a result of the brutal activities of the regime that he served with everything that he had? There is no limit to chicaneries in Nigeria among its ruling elite!

Diya is complaining of police security and looks forward to a military one very soon. Does he know about many Nigerians killed everyday for lack of security? Does he remember about the goons that were stuffing out the lives of Nigerians when he was the CGS? Does he really believe himself in his recent interview? Is it not better he remains silent and thank his God for being alive today?

Many Nigerians are not as lucky as Oladipo Diya. It may not be surprising if in a few years time Diya is made the President of Nigeria or something very influential. After all, Nigeria is a country of many possibilities and ‘magicality’.

* Uwasomba is of the Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University

Ile-ife.

By 1830, some terms of truce was declared between Sokoto and Kukawa in the 13th century. The prowess of Borno extended to the port of Kabara near Timbuktu, where currently, Islamic groups were recently expunged by the French and allied forces. Borno had made efforts to expand its purist Islamic norms to the other parts of Nigeria or the Northern hemisphere. For instance, in the autumn of 1825, Bornu army’s attempt to take over Kano was repelled by 124,000 Fulani soldiers, half of the number of soldiers deployed by Alaafin of Oyo to guard Yoruba territory almost a century earlier. The Borno army captured the Bauchi flag, while the Fulani soldiers also captured silver timbre. Realizing the balance of forces, peace accord was signed at around the time the Nigerian nation began to emerge. In all the ancient battles, the Shuwa Arabs supported the El Kanemi who is known to be the direct descendant of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW), through his mother. They are believed to have migrated from Baghdad, in Iraq. There are historical reasons to suggest that the uprising may continue to receive unprecedented support from unlikely quarters in the Middle-East. It should be realized that the break-up of Boko Haram into factions appear to reflect the old rivalry between the North West and the North East which has been explained earlier. It now appears that at least three extremist groups, the Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, Boko Haram (Jamaa Ahlal-suunah Li-dawa wa al-Jihad) and other fringe less known Islamic groups have emerged in the North each representing varying ideologies of Islam. In the Zaria province lay the prominence of the Shiite which mystical root is Iran. There is now the obvious fear that apart from the on-going confrontation with the state, intra-Islam insurgence, based on ideological cleavages, like in the case of Pakistan and Iraq is not unlikely in the future. This portends serious danger to the conservative caliphate which has been holding on to power since 1804 to the disadvantage of the poor, impoverished Northern masses.

We should recollect that in 1981, the Maitasine group re-launched its own mode of Islam which was crushed by the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari.

Viewed critically, Boko Haram is a radical, revolutionary Islamic movement that is questioning orthodox political and economic traditions in Nigeria but which is most proclaimed in the North where political leaders literarily feed on the misery of the people. Today, Boko Haram appears to be exploring the deep-seated poverty in the North, the public distrust of the authorities and the ethnic cleavages in Nigeria to strengthen its recruitment base. Ab initio, the group may have started as a front for politicians seeking political power, the reality now is that it has assumed the status of a cultural and religious movement capable of drawing sympathy from an angry and disenchanted Northern Muslim audience, and of course with great potentials of drumming huge support from millions of angry and hungry people spread across the Maghreb region where the exclusion from economic and political contest has been their lot.

There have been harsh criticisms of the group for its campaign of violence and blood, with some describing the group as a bunch of anarchists. These criticisms sometimes come with blind rage that it often makes constructive engagement difficult to conceive and suggesting that a solution would only come when the group has been exterminated.

To me, the group appears to be genuinely driven by the Philosophy of an Islamic theocratic state.

Military regimes left a terrible legacy that the civilian administration has done little to correct, a culture of viewing the people with disdain especially by armed personnel, reckless killings of innocent people without authority sanction of the law enforcement agents responsible and the rise of state-sponsored armed cult groups in academic institutions.

Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sanni Abacha should be held responsible for this. People started believing that justice is quicker when a victim results to often violent self –help.

What should be done? The current arrogant posture of state and power will not resolve this crisis. We need honest and meaningful approach to stopping the senseless killings and the thickening air of uncertainty that makes us to dangerously hold our breath, not knowing when the next stream of blood will flow. To save the unending human carnage, this is the time to enter into genuine, constructive dialogue with Boko Haram. Are we not astonished that the elite from the core-North has been calling on the FG to dialogue with the group? This must involve giving concession for the right of the group to participate in democratic elections. This may sound awkward, but an Islamic Party controlling a part of the country should not be seen as anti-thetical to democracy, once the party enjoys the full support of the majority of the population.

This must not be limited to Boko Haram alone, the siege mentality that defines national party politics and the electoral process in a plural society must vanish. Locals, ethnic groups, environmental, social movements and other groups that seek political power driven by particular interests, either ethnic or religious, must be allowed to register their political parties and contest in their own area of cultural jurisdiction. We should learn from other states. After several years of bloody confrontations, Egypt had no option than to allow the Muslim Brotherhood to seek political power through the electoral contest. The government should conduct a honest referendum in the North East and North West: do the people want Sharia or not.?

The second solution is to decentralize the security structure and unburden the Presidency. Let President Goodluck Jonathan has less to trouble his valued head with: state and community police, regional military commands, regional democratic and social institutions.

Thirdly, the troubled states should announce Amnesty, but this must be backed with meeting the contending powers at least half-way. There should also be a policy to retrieve all weapons in the hands of non-state actors across the country. This should be the condition for the Amnesty. States and local governments should run a data base of all residents. A lot of Northern leaders criticize the government for inactivity but they are scared stiff of applying the effective stop-break to the state of blood. They do not want the country to be restructured but are rather contended with keeping the rot to their own short-sighted advantage.

I ask, why should these demands offend others when our experience in the past 100 years has seen us squelching through blood, war and endless strife? The country is floundering. We must act fast.

Adeoye, a human right activist, journalist and CNN African Journalist of the Year 2000, wrote in from Lagos.

Concluded

Political debates and commentaries may be getting increasingly risky, following recent actions against media organisations, reports Sunday Oguntola 

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, was the first to raise the alarm. Nigeria, he warned, was sliding back to the era of dictatorship. Many dismiss his pronouncement as politically-motivated, given his running battles with the Presidency. But subsequent events have started making many give his observation a closer look.

The last weeks have been really traumatic and bumpy for freedom of speech, especially the media. A Kaduna-based private radio station recently had a raw experience. The Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) imposed a fine of N2million on the popular station for airing the comment of a listener on its Hausa programme “ina dalili”.

The caller, during the phone-in discussion programme, frowned at the planned tour of the good governance team to Kaduna State, describing it as a waste. The caller went on to suggest the Governor should have expended the N150 million it cost to host the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku and his team, on developmental projects.

For many, that was a personal opinion on a public issue that every Nigerian is entitled to. But the NBC, the regulatory body, thought otherwise. It imposed the fine on Liberty Radio FM and ordered the station to feature the minister as a guest. Farouk Mohammed, a public analyst admitted the NBC has the right to impose fines but pointed out the station had done nothing wrong in the particular circumstance.

Mohammed said: “What the caller said is completely his opinion, which he is entitled to. He never abused or called government officials names. He simply said the tour gulped too much public funds. I find curious NBC considers such statements offensive.”

According to him, such clampdown will discourage Nigerians from airing their views on public issues and frightens stations from sampling opinions. “Are they saying we can’t say what government is doing is bad again? When has it become offensive and abusive to disagree with government officials? This is a dangerous trend that we must all resist to guard our hard-earned democracy, “he added.

The FRCN, Kaduna Zonal office, it was also gathered, was fined N2 million for airing a live interview on its programme Hanu Dayawa with former Zamfara State Governor, Ahmed Sani Yerima, who vowed to lead a protest should the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) fail to register the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Yerima was detained for hours for allegedly making what was considered a politically inflammatory remark. The NBC felt likewise and imposed the fine on the station. The Zonal Director of FRCN Kaduna, Malam Ladan Salihu, however stated the station was only queried, but not fined.

On allegations that the presenter of the programme was suspended, he said he was only queried. He was quoted to have said: “Yes we queried him because he took his eyes off the ball and allowed the guest to make remarks that ordinarily he should have guided him on. The query we issued him was normal in the civil service.”

Observers and political analysts feel such repression of freedom of speech is inimical to the nation’s political development and culture. They pointed out it will not only spread fear but also gag political debates and constructive criticism of government policies and activities.

All these are coming after the security agents recently raided and arrested reporters of The Leadership newspaper over the publication of a story the federal government considered false.

The National President of NUJ, Malam Muhammad Garba, stated such actions are unbecoming in a democratic setting. According to him: “We are surprised that in recent times, we are seeing high cases of intimidation, arrest and assault on our colleagues, and I think this should not be because we are in a democracy. We can only witness this type of thing, probably during the military era.’’

As 2015 gets closer, there are fears the situation may get messier with freedom of expression becoming more targets of attacks.

Associate editor, Sam Egburonu, reports that General Ibrahim Babangida’s recent advice that the Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, should vie for a higher office has further complicated the 2015 puzzle.

Since he emerged the country’s Number Four citizen, rather unexpectedly, many myths have been created around the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

While some say the chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have been adopted by unseen hands as the bridge between the conservatives and the progressives in Nigeria’s political equation, others, especially his political rivals, insist he is only an opportunist who is being used by the opposition to get back at the ruling party.

As a result of these conflicting perspectives, every action taken by the Speaker, since his emergence, has been a subject of intricate scrutiny and controversy. His leadership style at the lower House, coupled with his bluntness has not helped matters, thus making him one of the most watched and discussed political leaders in the country.

So, when on Saturday, April 6, 2013, at the investiture of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as the Vanguard Man of the Year, former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, called on Tambuwal to consider running for a higher office, based on his “outstanding performance,” both his political rivals and close observers came to the conclusion that the Speaker may have been endorsed by some powerful political caucus to contest the 2015 presidential election.

Given Babangida’s position, both as a former military president and as one of Nigeria’s most powerful political godfathers alive, all stakeholders in the country, including the Presidency, have since gone back to their political chessboard to either factor in the person of Tambuwal in their 2015 presidential calculation or seek a way of ensuring the plans of his sponsors are rubbished. This development, according to insiders, has deepened the already icy relationship between the Speaker and some top leaders at the Presidency.

Notwithstanding clear signals that President Goodluck Jonathan is poised to contest for reelection in 2015, Babangida had said pointedly that Tambuwal’s performance and conduct in office had shown that he had the capacity “to sustain the labour of our heroes past,” adding, “When leaders like Tamuwal delivered on their electoral promise, we advise them to try something higher. For Tambuwal, your guess is as good as mine. Well done.”

 

Between Tambuwal and Jonathan

Even before Babangida’s open endorsement of Tambuwal for a “higher office,” which Presidency sources said was a mere confirmation of what has been suspected; it has been one long endless battle between the Speaker and the Presidency.

Starting from the case of subsidy management probe, the issue of Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), where the House demanded Madam Arunma Oteh’s exit, to the 2012 implementation controversy, the Speaker has dared to be as blunt as possible and this has further fuelled the suspicion.

For example, at the peak of the 2012 Budget implementation controversy, Tambuwal was unsparing. After the initial disagreements, which delayed the presentation of the 2013 budget by President Jonathan, Tambuwal shocked the PDP leadership when, at the budget presentation venue, he still spoke his mind while presenting the vote of thanks.

He had said, “I would have been done with my vote of thanks at this point, except that the mention of certain salient points of critical importance to our collective resolve for good governance is compelling. Mr. President Sir, given that the 469 elected members of the National Assembly have closer interaction with the nooks and crannies of the nation, we are privileged to feel the people’s pulse more intensely and we feel same on behalf and for the benefit and guidance of all the arms of government.

“Surely Mr. President and his deputy, being the elected officials on the other side cannot be expected to be in 109 Senatorial Districts; worse still, 360 Federal Constituencies. Therefore, when we feel this pulse, we are duty bound to communicate to you.

“As I speak, interim field oversight reports from House Committees on the 2012 budget implementation are clearly unimpressive both in terms of releases as well as utilisation and this is a great challenge to all of us. It is important to state, at this point, the clear provisions of Section 8 of the Appropriation Act to the effect that approved budgeted funds shall be released to MDAs ‘as at when due’. This is sadly observed more in breach.”

Although Jonathan tried to keep an open face after that clear disapproval of his government’s style by an influential member of his political party, insiders told The Nation that since then, the leadership of PDP, especially the elders had given up on hopes that the youthful Speaker would learn to play the game the way PDP would want it. They had therefore drawn a line, with some of them declaring Tambuwal as one of the disloyal members, whose actions must be carefully noted in order to avoid a form of political implosion.

But close associates of the Speaker, reacting to these criticisms, have argued that Tambuwal is not really an opponent of the ruling party or of Jonathan, but an independently minded leader, determined to say his mind in all circumstances.

So far, the presidency and the ruling party are not impressed by such denials and so, the Presidential aides, especially those responsible for 2015, have been allegedly briefed to follow up on Bagangida’s recent puzzle and Tambuwal’s card.

 

How the Tambuwal factor started

Although some aides and associates of Tambuwal would, as Babangida alluded while endorsing him, trace the Tambuwal factor to his performance, the fact is that the political intrigues that threw him up and installed him as the Speaker of the House, at a time his North-West zone was not expected to produce a Speaker, were really responsible for the attention he has attracted since then.

It would be recalled that the events of June 1, 2011, running up to June 6, 2011, when he finally emerged, sowed the seed of discord between Tambuwal and the leadership of PDP. The party had zoned the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives to the South-West but partly because the zone had less than 10 out of the 360 members of the House, Tambuwal easily got the support of radical and progressive members of the House, most of who wanted to challenge the status quo. Together, they made a mess of PDP’s calculations.

Perhaps, in a bid to sustain the popularity he garnered within the house during that intriguing week, Tambuwal had since remained on the side of the people whenever issues of national interest put the people on one side against the federal government of PDP.

Another major factor that has continued to worry the PDP leadership is Tambuwal’s alleged closeness with the opposition political parties. An aide of the Speaker, who requested not to be named since his principal has not given him permission to speak on the matter, explained that Tambuwal, who is not unaware of the factors that made his emergence possible, is relating to all because he wants to carry everybody along. “The Speaker, though a passionate member of PDP, is not unaware of his position as Speaker of the House, who must carry everybody along,” he said.

 

Tambuwal: the man, his politics

Born January 10, 1966 in Tambuwal village, Sokoto State, Tambuwal studied law at Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto.

He began his political career, according to official records, between 1999 and 2000, “while working as Personal Assistant on Legislative Affairs to Senator Abdullahi Wali, the then Senate Leader.

“In 2003, he ran for a legislative seat as representative of the Kebbi/Tambuwal Federal Constituency. He was elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).”

Few months to the 2007 general elections, he reportedly defected to the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) alongside the former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa. But when the DPP denied return tickets to former ANPP legislators, Tambuwal returned to the ANPP, where he got ticket for the election.

He was to join the PDP in 2007, alongside the former ANPP governorship candidate for Sokoto State, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko.

In 2005, he became the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, a position he held until he defected to the PDP. When he was re-elected to the House in 2007, he was elected Deputy Chief Whip of the House.

So, fundamentally, Tambuwal has been linked more with the progressives than core conservatives and this, said an insider, is the source of the suspicion of the leadership of PDP.

Given his deep association with progressives in the opposition political parties before and now, the fear within PDP and the presidency, according to a top PDP official, is that “Tambuwal’s alleged ambition to vie for a higher office, an agenda of some forces strongly opposed to Jonathan’s 2015 reelection bids, enjoys his tacit support.”

While PDP may be worried by Tambuwal’s style, our findings show that the Speaker is currently enjoying some popularity because of his perceived transparent style of leadership at the House.

Senator Joel Danlami Ikenya was the governorship candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Taraba State for the 2011 polls. Before then, he was a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform he represented Taraba South district in the senate. He spoke to FANEN IHYONGO on a wide range of issues affecting the nation and his home state, Taraba. Excerpts

As the opposition satisfied with the Peoples Democratic Party-led administration in Taraba State?

We have decided to be quiet not because we are satisfied with the PDP government. We have kept quiet for long because elections were conducted and a government was formed. And during the electioneering, we went round and told people that the PDP in the state has no people-oriented programmes and cannot deliver; it has no vision or dream for the state and it came to pass. Today, we are in the second tenure of Danbaba Suntai. From May 29, 2007 to date is about six years. Within the period, there has been no single project to commission despite the huge amount of money the Suntai administration has collected from the Federation Account.

The administration has, from 2007 to date, collected over N350 billion apart from internally generated revenues, loans and other colossal injections. These are facts. So, the opposition is quiet not because the PDP government is performing. No. We are keeping quiet because we told people from the beginning that these people don’t have the masses at heart and they don’t care about the people who die every day in the hospitals. Our hospitals are not even up to what in 1983, General Mohammadu Buhari said have been turned into mere consulting clinics. Today the hospitals are not even like clinics; they are synonymous with people hawking drugs.

We are watching and taking stoke of what they are doing to tell the people at the appropriate time. We said it before and I am saying it again, for posterity and our conscience. The opposition, as it is today, is working hard to see the coalescing of the four political parties –ACN, CPC, ANPP and APGA into the All Progressive Congress (APC). I am in Jalingo because of the membership card validation exercise for all members in the 16 local government areas. I brought materials for them from Abuja, they are working on them to put our structures together.

On April 27, we are having a national convention in Lagos to endorse the merger plan. We shall have the final rally in Abuja for all the parties to submit their registration certificates, so that we shall go ahead and empower our party leaders to do the final registration of APC as a party.

Do you think the APC will have the means to win the presidency and the governorship elections in 2015 polls?

Our weapon and strength are in the unity that we have. We have understood why the opposition is being defeated. We are being defeated not because we don’t have the people but because we are divided. But this time, we are putting our heads together to have a cohesive and formidable political party that will take over power from the PDP. Not just because we want to rule, but to perform better than the PDP, by developing this country in the interest of the masses.

The confusion and infightings in the PDP are also to our advantage. We understand they are divided over the presidency and governorship interests in the states. Besides, there are other individual members of PDP who want their interests to override others’. Look at what is happening in Taraba State today; there are many camps in the PDP. We in the opposition have learnt a lot of lessons through the democratic process.

So, we are working hard to put in place a superior platform for people to come in, so that we can defeat the PDP in 2015 and deliver dividends of democracy to the people. We shall continue to expose the failures of the PDP. If there was any magic to perform, the PDP would have made it happen a long time ago. It is about 14 years (from 1999 to 2013) that the PDP is ruling this country. But it has not done anything spectacular. I believe we can uproot the PDP in the new platform.

Don’t you think the opposition would be rigged out as it alleged in the last election?

We believe that in every process there is always room for improvement. On our part -as the opposition, we are going to mobilise our people. Not only to mobilize people, we shall educate them as well. Some of the things that happened to us in the last election were a result of ignorance on the part of our people. Some of us were asking for one man one vote but the PDP did not and does not believe in one man one vote. PDP believes in using the resources of the people to fight the people.

In the coming election, our people are going to be fully mobilised as it is done in Lagos, Osun and Edo states. You can’t rig election in these states because the people are well mobilised and informed. Look at what happened in Edo State, even some of the people who call themselves political godfathers lost their polling units. I want to say our case is different here because of lack of mobilisation and voter education. However, we have taken note of these things and we are working hard to see that the mandate of the people is not taken away by force henceforth. People should allow free and fair elections to hold.

If for the past 14 to 15 years you could not perform, why do you want to be re-elected? The people will not allow it. Our state today is crumbling; everybody is in a state of confusion without knowing what tomorrow holds. This is so because of bad governance in the state. If you look at the quantum of funds that the state government of Taraba has collected from Abuja and the internal generated revenues, it amounts to over N400 billion.

Yet you cannot see anything on ground. I just want to say that we are working hard to educate people and we are making it in such a way that there won’t be any form of violence.

What is hindering the official registration of APC by INEC?

The issue of registration of APC is being tackled at the national level. I believe nothing good comes easy, so these obstacles are normal. Everyone in Nigeria knows that it is the CPC, ACN, ANPP and APGA that came out very clear that they are merging to be known as APC. Everybody, including those in government, knows that we are the real APC. Whoever is behind the frustration will not succeed.

I understand you have the ambition to contest for governorship of the state. Are you not going to impose yourself or muzzle the APC to your interest?

If the parties merge, it is going to be the most popular party in the state. I will be a fool to think I am the only one qualified to contest the number one position of the state in its platform. I want to assure you that APC is going to be very transparent, with internal democracy.

And the primaries are going to be conducted by the national secretariat of the party. The party has credible people, people who are honest, people who are fair and people who believe that democracy is a government of the people for the people by the people. So, I am not going to impose myself. I am going to contest but I will accept every outcome of the election at various levels, believing God that there wouldn’t be any injustice.

The need for power shift is now a major concern to the people of Taraba south, who believe it is their turn to produce governor in 2015. What is your candid opinion?

We are part of Taraba and we are also indigenes of the state. We believe it is our turn to produce the next governor of the state. In the northern part of the state, Jolly Nyame was governor from 1992 to 1993. He bounced back in 1999 till 2007. He handed over the baton of power to central zone which produced the incumbent governor, Danbaba Suntai. This means that by 2015, the north and central zones would have ruled for eighteen years.

Therefore, it will only be fair if we are given the slot. This is a very serious battle and we shall ensure that power is shifted to us. We shall insist on our rights, we shall insist on justice and I believe that it will be given to us.

Everyone knows it, and the people we have been supporting know that it is our turn to govern this state too. There shouldn’t be any manipulation. Some people are calling for a Muslim governor in the state. I share their views, in the sense that we also have Muslims in southern part of the state. If the stakeholders want a Muslim governor in 2015, fine, but he should come from Taraba south. We have prominent and well educated Muslims from the southern part of the state who have all it takes to govern Taraba.

Do you feel betrayed by the former Governor, Rev. Jolly Nyame, for making efforts to return to the PDP fold?

I am not betrayed. He consulted me but I refused to go back with him. I know how he (Nyame) fought for the survival of PDP in Taraba State. During his administration, he fought all the oppositions. He fought to see that PDP won all the elections. We are all his products.

During his tenures, I was elected member of the House of Assembly, member of the House of Representatives and also as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I don’t feel betrayed by his action at all. For someone who served the state for 10-years, and felt that the PDP is his brain child, I see no reason why he should not be allowed to go back to the party he nurtured. Nevertheless, Rev. Nyame is still respected by the opposition. He is the father of all.

The door is still open for him in the APC because so many people have ganged up against him in the PDP. I see no reason why they have ganged up against him because he is not going to contest to be governor again. But the people in the state chapter of the PDP are working very hard to see that he does not return to PDP. We, on our part, are praying and working hard to see that we build a formidable structure before the elections. At any moment he wants to join the opposition, we shall embrace him.

As a former lawmaker, is it proper to make the Acting Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, the substantive governor because of the prolonged absence of Danbaba Suntai who was involved in a plane crash last year?

The people calling for the acting governor to be sworn in as substantive governor are ignorant of the provisions of the constitution. They are overzealous people, who believe that it is only the acting governor that can give them what they want. The process of succession took place when Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State died and his deputy Mukthar Ramalan Yero took over. The process comes to play when the boss is dead, when he is impeached or incapacitated. Governor Suntai only had a crash of which anybody could as well have. He survived but sustained injuries and is receiving treatment abroad. We should be sympathetic and prayerful, as human beings. Nobody should wish another person dead. I believe that the acting governor is doing very well because he is a matured person. He is handling the situation very maturely. I commend him because if it were other people they would have turned the state upside down. The man (Umar) must be a very wise man. He knows where he is coming from, how he was picked to be deputy governor and who brought him onboard. He knows that he did not buy or lobby for his present position. He was doing his things and providence saw him. God’s favour located and picked him as deputy governor and now as the acting governor. He is thanking God that he was brought only as a deputy governor and in five days, he became an acting governor of the state. Those who are giving him a lot of pressure to dissolve the cabinet so that he can be made the governor are making a big mistake.

Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda spoke with reporters in Lagos on the activities of his administration, his purported ice presidential ambition and national security. EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

What is your reaction to the rejection of amnesty by the members of the Boko Haram sect?

Amnesty has been given to the real Boko Haram and I believe that they are willing to negotiate with the government. That is my belief. But you know there is the criminal Boko Haram and there is the real Boko Haram. So, the criminal and political Boko Haram are the armed robbers and they are the para-military arm of the politicians. They go about attacking people. The real Boko Haram are willing. But those who are criminal, may be, they are the ones responding that they don’t want amnesty because they are benefiting from it. Some of them are gun runners, some of them are armed robbers. Some of them are doing that on behalf of politicians. So, they just hide under the name Boko Haram to perpetrate evil and criminality. But those who call themselves the actual Boko Haram, there is something agitating their mind, not about killing human beings, probably joblessness in the society. Some of them are university graduates. They finish school and for 15 years, there is no job.

Now that the President has extended that olive branch to them, I will like to strongly believe that they will embrace it. There must be an end. Once they accept, we know we have to face the criminals. Any other person that is doing this and calls himself Boko Haram is an armed robber and a political Boko Haram. So, the definition of Boko, you should try to understand it. May be, from the definition, you try to rationalise. Boko in Hausa is learning, including learning rocket science, chemistry, medicine, biology. That is western in English. But if you learn rocket science in Arabic, is it Boko to you? It is not Boko, it is Arabic. If you learn it in Chinese language, they don’t call it Boko. So, you tend to get confused. A medical doctor who went to learn in Indian Language or Arabic, as we have close to 40 students from Bauchi learning Medicine in Egypt and they about finishing next year. When they come back, they can do a lot of things. So, why should a group come out to say that Boko is Haram. Haram in Hausa is ‘forbidden’. Would you forbid a knowledge of medicine? Would you forbid a knowledge of pharmacy? Would you forbid a knowledge of civil engineering, construction engineering? Would you forbid the knowledge of financial management? o, you sit down and ask yourself. What do they want? Let us know what they want. As far as our thinking is concerned, there is no meaning in what they are saying. There must be something that is agitating them. Is it going to be a doctor by using English, or going to be aeronautic engineer or going to learn rocket science, or sophisticated architecture? And you are using aircraft and pilot. Is it Haram to fly aircraft to Mecca, to Jerusalem? If you don’t have somebody who learns… It is a food for thought for all of us. That is why it makes sense and in fact, we have to commend the President for extending that olive branch to those that we know are Boko haram and of course, they are agitators. But for the criminals, we will fight them; the criminal Boko Haram, the political Boko Haram, the armed robber Boko Haram and the gun runner every where.

It has been alleged that you are nursing the ambition to become the Vice President, thereby displacing Vice President Namadi Sambo is 2015. What is your reaction?

It is more of the figment of imagination of somebody’s else who wants to play me against somebody I look up to as a senior brother. He grew up in Bauchi. I have known him since I was a small boy.He is working with Mr President and he is very loyal to Mr President. He is competent because he is a successful architect. I was in Part One when he was in Part Four.We have close family relations and he takes me like a younger brother. Why should me, Isa Yuguda, blind ambition? That I will not be grateful to God, that I want to be Vice President or President is blind ambition. The Almighty Allah will test me with what is more terrifying to me.

I had a privilege of being an average intelligent human being. I went through school and never failed my exams. I graduated at the age of 20 and at 21, I was doing my NYSC. And I consider myself privileged and have been so favoured by the Almighty God. Sometimes. I even weep in the night when I remember the favours that Allah has done to me. I was one of the bankers that enjoyed the fasted promotion in the banking industry. I have a Bachelors Degree. I went through development bankings, commercial banking, mort age banking to investment banking. I worked with the mortgage bank, development bank. I went to a commercial bank. I ended up as an investment banker. I was the MD of NAL.

So, if I had that privileged from the Almighty Allah; a two-time Managing Director and I was the youngest branch manager in Savannah Bank at the age of 27. I was 32 years when I became the Director of banking Services. I don’t have other diseases in my body than malaria. I am happily marries. My children are all healthy; no deformity, nothing. My wives are also healthy. In fact, right now, I have five graduates with masters degrees and another four are graduating next year. I have the means to send them to school, in spite of the hardship in Nigeria. I am a two-time minister and by the time I joined the cabinet, I was the youngest minister in Obasanjo government in 2000. I never had the ambition of becoming the governor. People were saying, Yuguda, you cannot be a politician because people have a definition of politics that has to do with violence, rancour, arson, mayhem, looting the treasury of government. I am not like that. But today, I am a second term governor. And you are saying that I am begrudging somebody who is the Vice President. What will I get from the office of the Vice President that Allah has not tested me with?

So, you have no such ambition?

I left PDP in 2007 when I had problems with the PDP. people were in support that I should contest for the governor. I was virtually asked by the people of Bauchi to come out and that was confirmed during the election. If I had had the ambition to contest, that revolution that happened in 2007 would not have happened. We had 22 seats in the House of Assembly, out of 30. We have 12 seats in the House of Representatives. We had two senators. It was not because I had money superior experience and intelligence. No. When I was the Managing Director, I was recruiting my classmates. They would sit and I would interview them. Some of them had higher marks than me in school. So, if you say that you will not be grateful to God, you are looking for trouble. So, forget about that ambition. I am a loyal party member. I am loyal to Mr. President. It is God that brought him to power. I support him so that he can lead Nigeria well, together with the Vice President. And power belongs to God. Anybody who is forcing himself will not get there because he is not going to offer anything. The average Nigerian considers political office as an enterprise. They see the governor as an entrepreneur. But there is a difference between entrepreneurship and governance under a political dispensation. A governor is not an entrepreneur. He was elected to serve humanity; to offer an enabling environment so that people can live a good life, safe life; educate people. But an entrepreneur is someone who is after profit. So, if you want to be a businessman, go and be a businessman. But once you are in politics, don’t make politics an enterprise or imagine that you want power for its sake. You cannot be a despot. You cannot play God like some of our governors in the past. If you wear the cap of arrogance, you are comparing yourself with the creator.

The reconciliation embarked upon by the PDP national Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has not achieved success. Now, the BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, who has disagreed with the chairman, has embarked on another one. How can the crisis in the party be resolved?

In every environment; that is why you have a manager; if there are no problems, there won’t be any manager. That is why you have the chairman of the party. A party is an association of like-minded people. But sometimes, there is the conflict of ideas, thoughts and vision, and in the process, you have misunderstanding. In families, there squabbles and misunderstandings here and there which the neighbours should not hear, but they get to hear. If you are not a PDP member, you are a neighbour. I assure you that what you read in the newspapers is not the actual picture. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the National Chairman are elder statesmen. At their age, you don’t expect rancour from them. Baba Anenih is one of the finest men I have ever met in my life, especially in the political landscape. He loves Nigeria with passion. And, he is a man of peace. Take it from me. I know him closely. He has vision for our country. He is interested in helping Nigeria to grow. If you don’t hear his own side and you go and write a story, you won’t get to know. PDP is intact, I assure you. And PDP is going to win 35 out of 36 states in the next elections.

What is your reaction to the crisis rocking the Governors Forum, owing to the formation of the PDP Governors Forum?

It is not a crisis. The formation of association is provided for in the constitution. Today, the opposition parties have formed an association and we call them the APC. If the PDP governors feel that there are certain things that are exclusive to them as the PDP governors, that there is a PDP manifesto and there is the need for them to discuss together to implement the programmes, the manifestos, we should do that. But the Governors Forum is Nigerian Governors Forum. It symbolises the unity of our country. And I had the privilege of going to the meeting of the American Governors Forum. Let me tell you, if the Governors Forum of Nigeria is not like this, then, I will look so cheap.

But how constitutional is the body?

Whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional, it is in our own interest to re-unite and solve our own problems. It there any thing unconstitutional in uniting and discussing our problems?

Is that why they are holding the President to ransom, as alleged by Chief Edwin Clark?

What do you mean? Tell me. Let us exchange ideas. I am in government and it is my responsibility to explain certain things to you. You may agree or not agree with me. I owe it a duty to talk to you because I am paid to talk to you so that you tell the people what the government is doing. If we don’t talk to you, we are not doing our job. You are saying that the Governors’ Forum is holding the President to ransom. I am not bothered by what Baba Edwin Clark has said. I am bothered by what you my younger brothers are saying. That doesn’t exist. We are holding the President to ransom. In the interest of the larger Nigerians, our governors are united. I am closer to Fashola than many of the PDP governors. Of course, there are ACN governors that are closer to PDP governors than their own colleagues. When we get to the Governors ‘ Forum, believe me, in the name of Allah, we discuss Nigeria’s problems, not the President, not even any other person. We speak on issues that will unite us. Any issue that we believe that will create a problem for the economy, we thrash it there before even going for the National Economic Council meeting, and we agree and we tell the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum that this is the consensus view of the governors. All of us, we speak with one voice on all the issues that concern Nigeria.

But what about the crisis between the PDP governors and PDP national chairman?

How can we discuss that at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum? In the Governor’s Forum, we have the ACN, PDP, APGA, ANPP, CPC and Labour Party.

But it has been alleged that when the NGF Chairman, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, speaks the mind of the governors to the President, the President sees him as an antagonist…

No. I am afraid, when you talk on what the governors have decided upon, nobody can object to it. The excess crude account is not recognised by the constitution. Is it a fact or fiction? It s a fact. If we had no reason, if Obasanjo had no reason to establish that account… but it is in the constitution that the President has a leverage for the purpose of good management of the economy of the country, you take certain decisions. And that is subject to the interpretation of the court, to determine if the excess crude account can be factored in for the good management of the economy. These are questions that you need to ask. So, there are things we need to discuss generally. Should we have an excess crude account? The position of the governors is that, look, we don’t have sufficient money to pay salaries. In the budget, you have recurrent and capital expenditure, but you need revenue to fund them. That is why you have a balanced budget, a deficit budget and excess, a surplus budget. Nigeria has not had a surplus budget, except during the Gowon era when there was the remark that we had money, but we didn’t know how to spend it. But that may not have been the true position. may be, the planers then, did not know where to throw the money because we had a lot of infrastructural challenges, bridges to be built, airports to be built. I don’t know whether they had surplus budget then. But all our budgets today, from the federal to the states, are deficit budget. And if you are running a federal budget and you have a deficit, there are three ways of financing a deficit. One is long term borrowing, either from the international capital markets through the raising of bonds. The repayment may take 30 years. But you have to plan very well. If you take this money, we should know precisely where it is going because you are taking the money to fund capital projects. There is nowhere in history an organisation will not be called a failed state is you borrow to finance recurrent expenditure. The second way of funding the budget is from your reserve. You can run down the reserve and fund your deficit. And the last option is printing money. It has negative effects. A state can raise internal and external loan. For instance, I have the sovereign guarantee of the Federal Government, approved by the National Assembly, to take a loan of $171 million to build a power plant from China Bank. That facility of $171 million will be paid back in the next 25 years at two percent.