When the results of the April 11 elections were announced, you were quoted as saying that the election was won and lost. Can you expatiate on what you mean by that?
Yes I said ‘won and lost’ because we won the election but along the line INEC mischievously announced PDP as the winner of the election that is why I said the election was won and lost. We won the election but we couldn’t take the crown because INEC gave our mandate to the PDP.
Recently you were quoted in the media as accusing INEC and PDP of conniving to rig the election in favour of PDP. But many attribute your loss to cases of anti-party activities by your party members in Gombe State. What is your take on this?
Many forces come into play in an election and the fact that some of us betrayed the course of APC and betrayed our supporters does not mean that we wouldn’t have won the election. They connived with PDP and INEC in order to lose the election. I don’t want to go into details because already the matter is before the tribunal and whatever I say will be prejudicial to the determination of the case by the tribunal and we should allow it to be determined by the tribunal and when the time comes I believe the good people of Gombe will see the verdict of the tribunal.
You were reported in the media immediately after the election as accepting defeat but few days after you headed to the tribunal to challenge the results of the election. What informed your decision to do that?
No. Let me come in again, what really happened was that I was interviewed and the full text of the interview was not played. They only picked that which I did not say in the interview. I did not say that I conceded defeat, I said in that interview that I am a democrat and as a democrat I must rely and accept the verdict of INEC otherwise I will not challenge it, that was what I said. If they want people to get the correct thing they should play the full text of my interview with them so that people will understand me in the real context that I spoke at that time.
Did you say something like congratulating the PDP candidate in that interview?
I cannot remember congratulating the PDP candidate. What I told the journalists at that time was if he wants to congratulate him, let him go and do so but me no.
There is this talks going round Gombe that Dankwambo has approached you to drop the court case and join hands with him to form a unity government. Is this true?
That is what politicians do to blackmail fellow contestants or people that are of different party backgrounds. I was in the PDP before Dankwambo and I was a commissioner for seven years plus in the government of Gombe State. What role do you think I will come and play? Our supporters are mostly people who have left other political parties but they are people of high principle and we are fighting the PDP in Gombe State. I know what is in PDP and that is why I left the party to join the CPC and subsequently the merger arrangement brought us into the APC where we are today. I have never contemplated going back to PDP and I believe so for most of my colleagues in the APC.
What issue again do I have to join by accepting to form a government of unity in Gombe. There is nothing I can get there.
Recently a chieftain of PDP in Gombe said he can work for Buhari but not his party. What do you make of this statement?
Well, for me I believe Buhari is a principled man. Buhari has a party and Buhari I believe will work in accordance with the programme and manifestoes of the APC and for somebody to come and say he will work for Buhari and not his party I think he must be a joker. A joker in the real sense of it and if it is so, I will advise Buhari to employ him as a servant in his house.
Some of your party members admitted there was a crack in the APC even before the elections and that could have been one of the reasons why you lost the election. What is your opinion on this?
There is no party that doesn’t have crack and as far as I am concerned, we have not lost the election but I will not like to comment on that until we see what comes out of the tribunal since the matter is before the tribunal.
APC is solid, APC is on ground in Gombe and I believe our supporters are patient and are waiting to see what comes out of the tribunal. I always advise our supporters to be steadfast, obey the rules and to wait patiently and always continue to remain in the APC.
What are your expectations of Buhari’s government?
I have high hope because Buhari is a principled person, he has a mission and the capacity to take Nigeria out of this mess. But I also want to plead with Nigerians to exercise some patience and to wait in a way that positive change can be effected. It took many years for the mess to be created and Nigerians should not think that the mess created can be changed overnight. Nigerians should give Buhari and his party ample time to study the issues that was handed over to them by PDP so that he will have the time to move this country forward.
The North-East region is one region that has been battling with insecurity for over six years which has also crippled economic activities in the region. In what ways do think Buhari will help the region to come out of this quagmire?
I will advise Mr. President to focus on security of lives and property, and restoring normalcy in the region. After that I will advise that a marshal plan be set in a way rapid development will come to the region so that it will catch up with other regions of the country. Whether we like it or not we have lost twenty or even more years of development because of this destruction inflicted on us by Boko haram and insurgency, so we need a marshal plan and a marshal plan in its real sense is not the type that Jonathan came to Gombe during the North-East Economic Summit where he budgeted N2 billion for it, while he gave N3 billion to Nollywood film industry which shows that the former president was not serious and committed to the wellbeing of the people of the North-East. I doubt very much if they were really in their senses when they were proposing to put in N2 billion for the over 20 million people in the region. We need to have a real marshal plan that will include development in all aspects of lives; education, agriculture, industry, commerce and general enterprises so that it will uplift our people and reconnect them to the rest of the country.
