Senator Lawal Shuaibu is the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He represented Zamfara North in the National Assembly between 1999 and 2007. In this interview, the former National Secretary of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) speaks about the chances of the Apc in next year’s election. He spoke with Tony Akowe.
The APC is less than two years old as a party, but it has gained a wide acceptability across the country. What is responsible for this?
What is responsible is the desire by Nigerians to see a change. The Nigerian people have always been looking forward to the opposition to effect a change in the status quo. People are fed up with the situation of things in the country because nothing works, corruption is growing and impunity has become the norm in official quarters. You’ll find out that there is impunity everywhere, including the legislature, the judiciary and the executive. In fact, in the executive arm of government everybody is doing whatever they want without any caring what will happen. The Nigerian people have been pushed to the wall. Nigerians are desirous of good governance. Indeed, the APC was formed to push for good governance. For your information, the APC is a conglomeration of all major opposition parties in this country. They made sacrifices to come together because they know that Nigerians are yearning for change.
Why has the party settled for Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate?
That is the people’s choice. The primary that threw him up was very transparent; votes were cast and he emerged. He emerged because people want to give him the opportunity to realize his ambition of effecting a change in the country.
The argument is that globally many countries are going for younger people…
But, in Tunisia, an 82 year old man just won an election; in Sierra Leone, somebody much older has also won election. You cannot question people’s choice. People wanted a change and they made their choice as to the person they feel can effect such a change.
The North, which is your constituency, appears divided between Buhari and Jonathan. For instance, the ACF came out recently to say that they have not endorsed Buhari. What is your take on this, given the fact that the region is very critical to your success?
The North is solid as far as the choice of Buhari is concerned. When you talk about the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), you should know that it is not a political grouping, but a cultural organisation. When you say ACF or Ohaneze, they are not political organisations and, so, what anybody from the organisation says does not necessarily reflect the views of the generality of the people in the North. Let me tell you that the leaders of the PDP from the North have resolved to back Gen. Buhari and will mobilize for his success come February. Quote me on this and go and write it down. Forget all the rhetoric flying around. Of course, man must eat. But, when it comes to that day, you will see what is going to happen.
Do you think it would be easy to defeat an incumbent? Secondly, don’t you think the insurgency in the Northeast will affect your chances in the election?
There are several countries in Africa where the opposition took over power and Nigeria cannot be an exception. I told you from the beginning that when the wind of change comes, it will not be about money or power, but the will and wish of the people. Once they are resolved, they will go the whole hug to realise their wish. As for the issue of insurgency, elections were successfully held in Afghanistan, Egypt and Syria, which are experiencing insurgency. The same applies to Iraq. So, what are you talking about? Insurgency is not an impediment. In fact, the people in the Northeast where the insurgency is more pronounced are very eager to use their votes to express their opinion about the incumbent government and the way things are going in the country. They feel highly disenchanted and they are going to show it.
Some people believe that the change the APC is preaching has only happened in the state capitals in places like Lagos and Edo and that if given the chance, the party may not be able to replicate this at the federal level…
We are talking about the APC as a party that is a little over one year old. It has just ratified its manifesto at the recent National Convention. The party intends, as a matter of policy, to enforce the implementation ifs policies by government at all levels. Our policies are cry clear and we are going to implement it and it is left for Nigerians to judge the implementation of the party’s programmes. You cannot use the standard of the legacy parties to judge what is going to happen to an APC government henceforth.
We are talking about change in the APC when a good number of the chieftains of the party are from the same PDP we are accusing of running down the system. So, what is that change we are talking about?
The good thing is that it is not everybody in the PDP that came to join the APC. Besides, those who defected to the APC probably found themselves in the midst of strange bedfellows and that is why they left the fold. I want to assure you that in the APC we are going to strictly adhere to the constitution of the party. There will be the principle of party supremacy. The party is supreme and dictates what happens; the governors or the President cannot hold the party to ransom.
The leader of the party is Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in his capacity as the National Chairman. But, of course, we have national leaders such as Atiku Abubakar, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and many others. Tinubu is always in the news, but he is not the only national leader. The issue of national leader is not an issue that has to do with the constitution of the party. As far as the party is concerned, the leader of the party is the National Chairman of the party. During the NPN days, they observed the principle of party supremacy. If you watched General Buhari on Channels TV before the convention, they asked him what he intends to do or the action he will take on certain issues and he said he will rely on the party to tell him what to do. He has read the constitution and gone through the manifesto and understood how the APC should operate. The party is just starting and we are going to show Nigerians for the first time that the issue of party supremacy is back in Nigeria’s democratic norms.
In other climes, when you defect from one party to other, you resign your position. But, in Nigeria under the present political dispensation, this has not been the case. What will the APC do about this?
We will follow strictly the constitutional provision and ensure that the judiciary, when confronted with matters like this, will do justice to it.
Recently, Prof. Akinyemi wrote a letter predicting that there will violence during and after the 2015 election. What is your take on this?
When you talk about violence, you are shouting fire even before you strike the match. It means that you have a motive. We don’t foresee any violence. What we foresee is when the will of the people is spelt out, the generality of Nigerians will stand up in jubilation because for the first time, we have all resolved to accept the will of the people. But where you are talking about violence, it means there is an intention to rig election. If there is no intention to rig election, why do you have to talk about violence. Why do you start shouting fire when there is no smoke?
But one of your governors Chibuike Amaechi said if the election is rigged, you will not go to court, but will form a parallel government and make Nigeria ungovernable. How would you react to this?
People are entitled to their opinions and their audience is entitled to their own interpretation of such statements. Only Amaechi could interpret what he said and what he meant. But, we are saying is that we don’t intend to embark on any violence. But, let me tell you that if you strike somebody and he reacts, then you turn round and say he wants to perpetuate violence. We don’t propagate violence and we don’t advice people to embark on violence. But, sometimes, you don’t have control over the reaction of people who feel they are on their right. You may even be in your house when commotion will erupt and somebody will say that you caused it. You didn’t cause it. Once the will of the people is allowed to prevail, there is not going be violence in any party of the country. When you talk of the Niger Delta, I want you to go and write it down, the APC will win Bayelsa, the home state of the President. We have made our assessment; we know what is going on there and we I’ll cashed in on that.
There is the belief that the Southwest is the base of the APC. Don’t you have this fear that there may be a repeat of what happened in 2011 when they voted for Jonathan when Nigerians were expecting them to vote for the ACN?
When you talk about 2011, the circumstances are not the same. The political atmosphere is no longer the same. The year 2011 was a time when an opportunity was opened for the political class to introduce religious politics and the PDP has continued to encourage it. The President visited Lagos nine times within a period of one month. He was visiting churches and that has never happened in the history of this country where you take your political campaign to the church or the mosque. But, he was doing it openly in the full glare of cameras.
The PDP has just raised N21 billion for the campaign. How would you match this? Are you going to do the same thing?
We would not attempt to replicate the fraud perpetrated by the PDP. If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is serious about enforcing the provisions of the electoral act, it ought to ensure that every member of the PDP who pledged a donation at the fund raising show the source of the money. This is the law and the electoral act is very clear about this. When a governor says he has donated N1 billion, it must not be from government coffers. INEC knows that the governor has no right to take the peoples’ money and donate. The PDP National Chairman Adamu Muazu said part of that money will be used to complete the National Secretariat and the rest will be used for campaign at all levels. There is no provision in the law that says you can use government money meant for developmental projects for political campaign. So, the party should show us the receipt issued to each donor by the party and let us see the accounts of the PDP because such money cannot come in bags and sacks, but through some instruments. We must know the source of that money. If it comes from government account, then the PDP or the person who stole government money for political campaigns is liable. In our own case, we intend to raise funds, through transparent means. Whoever donates money, we will publish it, so that the whole world will see. We will not accept any anonymous donations.
Whoever brings in money, it will be for the world to know where the money comes from. So, we don’t have any fear about the money raised by the PDP, as long as they are as transparent as the law stipulates and as far as INEC will be neutral and be prepared to enforce the provisions of the Electoral Act.
