How will you describe your victory at the Supreme Court?
The case was a baseless case and I think that is why the Supreme Court judges in their comments were very tough and hard on the lawyers. I think the case was propelled further by the comments of President Goodluck Jonathan when he said that very soon the senatorial seat will become vacant. Sometimes, the president seems to forget that the executive and judiciary are two different arms of government. The president’s comments during the visit of some members of the Kwara State PDP to him gave them the impetus to pursue the case to the Supreme Court.
It is unfortunate we tried before then to find ways internally to prevent the case from getting to the apex court. It was not because we were weak but part of our own mechanism of carrying everybody along.
The judgment has put the case to rest. Again, it is to tell you that majority of some of those things are propaganda and hype. At the end of the visit to Abuja, they all came back jubilating that very soon the seat would be vacant, that the powers in Abuja will make it happen.
That is the same thing we saw at the rally where Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed declared to take a shot at the seat for another term. It was again to show people that do not know that APC of less than a year has strength; because it is the strength of the people it is not the name of the party but what you represent.
This has also put a lie on the perception again that parties are driven from Abuja.
The only time you see the PDP doing anything here is when the president or his wife is coming to Kwara. It sums up what Kwara PDP is all about. It is not about the people at all. They should go and station their party either in Abuja or Bayelsa.
How are you managing your relationship with the presidential aspirants of the APC?
These are democrats who have taken a decision that a victory for any of them is a victory for all. They do not see it as a do-or-die affair. We have had discussions with them and if you talk to any of them, he would tell you “whoever emerges at the primaries will be supported.”
It is clear that what we are fighting for is what Nigerians want. We are not doing what Nigerians don’t want. That is why I took the painful decision not to contest. It is about the ambition of the country today.
No matter how we want to paint it or gloss over it, if all of us as Nigerians want to be truthful to ourselves, we know that things are not going on well. We know that this is not the Nigeria we all dream about. For over so many years, some parts of Nigeria are under siege or you see Nigerians becoming refugees in neighbouring countries. Is that the Nigeria we dream about? Or is it APC that is causing that? Before they tried to use religion and ethnicity but both Christian and Muslim towns and villages are being attacked. What are we doing? What is being done?
I always say it is not about Jonathan, whoever is the president now whether he is a Muslim, Christian; from the North or South and he is running a government like this then the person has to go. If tomorrow the president becomes born-again then it is a different ball game. But we must talk about issues that are on ground.
The level of insecurity and impunity is a thing that needs something to be done and corrected. They are not things that we are fabricating. When you make comments they attack you, but that does not change the issue. That is the way they operate. Address the issues and if you are not capable of doing them, step aside.
As a country, if a scorecard says a government has not been able to provide security, then honestly that government should be voted out.
There seems to be a stalemate in the PDP between governors and senators over who should get automatic tickets which has threatened legislative procedure. As a senator, what is your take here?
The crisis between the state governors of the PDP and their senators is an internal affair of their party and it shouldn’t have been allowed to affect the running of the upper chamber of the legislature.
I sympathise with my colleagues from the PDP, but some of us had told many of them before now that this is going to happen. Some of us do things that people in this country don’t appreciate until after they have left the scene. I know and you can go and check the record, personally what I did to prevent this situation in 2011. It was the same situation. I was the chairman of Governors Forum then. The PDP went for delegates’ election, by the time they finished the exercise no senator was coming back. The late President Yar’adua called by that time to talk to the governors and save the situation. This same problem; I moved in and summoned an emergency meeting of all the governors.
We worked till very late practically begging some. I used my position, relationship and experience to get fine agreement with the governors at that time to see that one senator in each of the PDP states came back. One used his relationship with them and the respect they have for one and we got the deal. It was the deal that brought back some of the senators then.
It was the deal that even brought our Senator Simeon Ajibola from Kwara South back. Before that delegates’ election, Ajibola had gone. He had done two terms and as far as people here were concerned, the thing should go to another part of the district. I now said how can I be the chairman of governors’ forum who had told all my colleagues to bring back at least a senator?
That was why I went to appeal to them in Kwara South to please allow Ajibola to come back based on that agreement. That is how Ajibola came back as a third term senator. It was the same issue that laid the foundation for the current Senate President David Mark. When this came, we saw that in PDP, that leadership was not there to implement this thing because it is about leadership. You can do the primaries many times; the governors will always get what they want. The only way you can change this is by discussion, appealing to them because the governors control the political structures in their states.
But for the selfish interest of President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election, he cannot look at the governors and tell them point blank what he wants. What I disagree with is that because the issue pertains to PDP it is being made very important. I sympathise with their struggle, because in fairness I think it does help a bit. That again re-emphasises that every politics is local. You cannot sit in Abuja and not play your local politics back at home. You say the governors are emperors, the system that gives those powers to the governors is something that should have been addressed because some of us saw it coming.
There have been divergent views on whether there would be election in states under siege of terrorists, what is your view sir?
Honestly, everything is not about the issue of election. What is important as a government, we must not just accept the fact that we cannot restore law and order in certain parts of the country. We want to get used to the fact that three or two states are under siege and should we just accept this? There must be something wrong. The material and human resources are there. There must be a collusion that is dampening the morale of our troops.
As Jega said, even in war zones like Afghanistan elections take place, so he has no excuse not to hold elections. One of the responsibilities of government is to secure lives and property.
INEC has made it clear as far as we are concerned that it has the capacity to carry out elections in some of these areas that are under siege. Though those states are APC states but to me election in every part of the country must rise above ethnicity and religion and look at the issue. We should ask ourselves if this government has done enough to deserve our vote.
Some APC members in Kwara are complaining of marginalisation, what is your assurance to them ahead of 2015 general elections?
There will be level playing field. We will ensure that it is driven from bottom up based on the demand, request, acceptability and popularity. For someone like me everybody who is an aspirant is my candidate. I don’t have anointed candidates. I always believe that the internal democracy of political party elections should not be so rigorous. In managing it, we must do it in such a way that you stay united to face the opponents. But at the same time nobody would be discouraged or prevented from aspiring.
How prepared is the APC in Kwara for the 2015 elections?
We are very prepared. We are waiting for them to bring their candidates. Until we see their candidates I will be able to tell you more. Let them cross that bridge first but we are ready and going ahead to sell our party and candidates to Kwarans.
In this trying time, it is not a time for trial and error. It is a time for tested hands and when the time comes Kwarans will compare and contrast the candidates.
We have ministers now that all they do is just to go on television to haul abuses on us, instead of focusing on the issues. I have not even heard the minister talk about the economy or the planning. All I hear is Saraki, Saraki and Saraki. Again, that shows you the type of government we have. They should make him minister for Saraki now; Minister for special duties in charge of Saraki. It shows the way this government thinks about everybody.
