Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Morocco Senator Abdallah Wali won the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship ticket in Sokoto State. In this interview with ADAMU SULEIMAN, he speaks about the Sokoto governorship primaries, his vision and other issues.
How do you feel emerging as the PDP’s governorship candidate in Sokoto State?
I feel grateful to Almighty God for making it possible to be elected as the governorship candidate of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for next year’s general elections. I am highly delighted by the level of support by members of our party, who have demonstrated their confidence in me, by allowing me to fly the party’s flag in the forthcoming general elections. I thank all the delegates, particularly members of the National Working Committee and Mr. President for leading the party in such a way that people can aspire to various positions through a free and fair election. I must say that without the discipline that the national headquarters of the party has provided, people like us would not have had the opportunity to aspire, let alone win the primary election. I sincerely thank them all.
What strategies did your party intend to adopt or put in place to win the governorship election in the state?
Well, winning strategies are not things that should be disclosed in the public. They are things that are exclusive to the campaign committee, which is being worked on for our victory. But, be it as it may, I will say that we are well prepared for the elections. We look forward to a successful race. We have gone through the same system before and we believe we will make it again.
The party won the 2007 and 2012 general elections in the state. Although, the governor and some of his aides have since moved to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), we believe that the PDP is a party that is still alive. It is still kicking and capable of winning any elections in the state. The coming of His Excellency, the former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa into the PDP fold has re-galvanised the party. We believe we can win all the various seats. You will also recall that in 2003, former Governor Bafarawa was running for second term on the platform of the defunct All Progressive Party (APP), and I was also contesting on the PDP platform for the first time. But, he (Bafarawa) won the election in that contest and today the two of us are working together. We believe that we have the necessary structure on the ground to win the election for the PDP. By God’s help, it will come to pass.
Why are the other contenders refusing to accept the outcome of the primary?
Well, I will say that I am very disappointed by the development because the election was covered by the media and other observers. We, the four aspirants received an invitation to the venue from the panel in order to address us. When we arrived, we found that we were only three; we were told that the forth aspirant, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman had withdrawn from the race. The panel advised us to go through the election in a peaceful manner and urged us to accept the outcome of the elections.
The accreditation lasted for a long time. Though, the accreditation exercise was supposed to be a simple formality in the sense that the same delegates voted a week earlier for the state assembly election across the state. All the delegates that had participated in the congress of the governorship primary were delegates to the state assembly elections in their respective constituencies. These same delegates also participated in the National Assembly elections which was conducted without hitch. The governorship election was the fourth election the delegates were participating in. The accreditation was still done in the usual way and after that the election panel announced the commencement of the election.
That was when one of the aspirants, Alhaji Mukthar Shagari, as we were told, approached the panel that since the election could not hold in neighbouring state of Zamfara, it should also be postponed here in Sokoto. That was an absurd proposition. The Police Commissioner had to come and address us individually assuring us that election must hold because the accreditation has been completed. Later, he (Shagari) had a session with the media and later met with the electoral panel before staging a walk out from the Giginya Stadium, venue of the exercise. To me, all those actions are not consistent with the democratic principles. People who hold the position of leadership are supposed to live by example. In summary, the voting continued and election was conducted peacefully in the open. The result was later declared and we expected them to quickly congratulate the winner.
One of the contestants alleged that the delegates’ list was manipulated in the process. What is your take?
As I said earlier, the delegates that were accredited had voted three times previous occasions before the congress. In the real sense, there is no justification for accusing anybody of manipulating the delegates’ list.
Do not forget that these delegates were accredited in front of three certified agents that represented the three aspirants.
To us, it is embarrassing for anybody to raise the issue of fake delegates during the election. This venue was an open air arena and not a hall. Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were present and they monitored the processes. Security agents were also present at the venue. To many, the election was one of the most transparent in the state. Two of the aspirants were even seen going round, speaking with the delegates. But, I was not involved in the act because according to the rules, contestants are not expected to have contact with the delegates. Anybody who says the exercise was not fair, is not telling the truth. I hope such people would quickly desist from that and accept the outcome.
Have they formally congratulated you?
Senator Abubakar Gada, one of the contestants had since congratulated me for winning the election. Alhaji Mukthar Shagari was not at the venue when the winner was declared, so I am not expecting him to congratulate me immediately. I have been hoping to receive his phone call or text message. But, up till now he has not done so. I believe we are one PDP family and we are supposed to work together as a team for the success of the party. I have invited the party executive members to brief them on the preparation of my campaign team and activities. We will also invite the supporters of my co-contestants to join our campaign team, so that together we will work hand-in-hand in order to come out victorious.
The action of your co-contenders, by not accepting the outcome of the contest, could threaten the party’s success next year. Don’t you think so?
You see, this borders on the unity of the party as a whole. We all believe that it is only a united front that can bring success to our party. The first aspect is that, one of the aspirants, Senator Abubakar Gada, has accepted the outcome of the election because right there, he congratulated me and I alluded to that in an acceptance speech.
It was in the open when he came over to me and I thanked him for that. The second aspirant who is yet to accept the result now is Alhaji Mukthar Shagari. Of course, his decision not to accept the outcome is a challenge. But, it is a manageable challenge because the election is not a question of somebody winning 100 per cent. We only won with 74 per cent of the total votes, which means three quarters of our party faithful shared our beliefs and dreams. That is a strong percentage of the party followership that can lead the party to success. Secondly, even among sympathizers of other aspirants, we are still going to have sizeable numbers of them that could work for the party. Since all of them are aware that the process was free and fair. They (delegates) would be convinced to toe the path of truth at the end. It is natural for aspirants to be disappointed after losing a contest and thereby refuse to congratulate the winner. But, that is not always the case for followers.
What are your plans for the state, if elected as the governor?
You see, Sokoto State is facing very stiff challenge in terms of moral value. The people of the state are so worried that the morality level among the youths has gone so low and they believe that something must be done. One of the reasons I am aspiring for the governorship position is because people believe in our sincerity of purpose. They are aware that we are really committed to changing the trend of moral decadence in the state and that we will do by the grace of the Almighty. We are committed to doing that for ourselves and for the sake of our children. That is one area. The second one is the national disgrace that the state is facing today going by analysis from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The bureau has for long identified Sokoto as the poorest state in the poverty indices. The question is that, why should we be the poorest state in the country?
What really is the problem, is the state lacking in human or natural resources?
The answer is none. So, why should a state that has over 90 per cent of its land arable and has one of the major productive dams in the country be called a poor state? This is simply because of lack of good leadership. We believe that we can change that trend. We intend to use agriculture as number one focus in transforming the fortunes of the state. We will give support to farmers during the rainy season. We will make sure that we draw the Goronyo Dam to service all the farmers that are on the sloppy part of the state. Where we cannot use the dam, we are going to construct tube wells and make sure that our people are engaged in farming all-year round. Sokoto people are productive people and we believe that if we can support them, it will improve their lot.
What can you say about education in the state?
On that also, the National Bureau of Statistics has also released the indices that Sokoto State is the worst state in education. How can this state that is the historical bedrock of learning be rated so low? Sheikh Usmanu Danfodiyo of blessed memory established the Danfodiyo dynasty on the basis of knowledge which is the most critical ingredient for the foundation of the Danfodiyo dynasty. So, how can we say 200 years after, all the evidences of learning in terms of the books produced by Danfodiyo, his son Muhammadu Bello and his brother Abdullahi Fodiyo have faded off? That is not acceptable. So, if voted into power, we will tackle the problems facing education from the primary up to the university level. Take for instance when you talk about scholarship, the government made a principle that it will provide scholarship to students. But, such promises are usually not fulfilled.
So, we believe that we will strategically tackle that. We will bring the best brains we have from primary school to the tertiary level, so that the state can compete favourably with other states. We will design a system that will bring the best out of us.
As a stakeholder, have you in anyway proffered solution to the government in these areas you have identified?
The problem is that we do not have a listening government. Even when we were both members of the same political party, the state government never considered us as stakeholders in the system. The best we can do is to get them out and then take charge.
Do you see the emergence of the APC flag bearer, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal as a threat to your aspiration?
Honestly, I do not see it that way. We know from the onset that he (Tambuwal) is one of the possible contenders of the APC ticket. For that, we built our strategies in such a manner that anybody that the APC pushes forward, we believe that we have an edge over him and can be able to face any of their candidates. I believe that when he emerged we did not have any cause to be apprehensive. We only considered it as one of the natural cause of the event. So, we will go ahead and fight the APC until we take over the state.
