The governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said that he is sure the election tribunal will affirm his victory in the governorship election. In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, the governor accused the PDP of using thugs and the police to rig the first round of the poll, putting the PDP in an early lead. He also explained how he overturned his opponent’s head-start and won in the supplementary election.
You have just won an election for a second term in office, have you started preparation for your swearing-in?
Yes, I have not just started preparation for the swearing-in ceremony, I have also started preparation for my programme, projects, blueprint, which I think are more important. Very soon, I will inaugurate a committee that will organise the ceremony. I will also like to know the ministry, department and parastatal where we stopped so far and how we can get ahead.
During the last swearing-in ceremony you wore a red cap, is there any particular colour of cap you are going to wear this time around?
Are you trying to make a reference to Kwankwasiyya.
Do we expect a Gandujiyya cap?
I don’t have any particular cap. They are free to use any type of cap they want. We have dropped the Kwankwasiyya cap forever. I was the one who initiated that red cap when we were trying to win an election. At that time, Kwankwaso was a gubernatorial candidate and the presidential campaign team of the late Yar’adua was trying to come to Kano. Coincidently, I was a member of Goodluck’s team who was a vice presidential candidate, because we were deputy governors in 1999. So I had the opportunity to know what was happening in the states. When it came to the turn of Kano, we held a stakeholders’ meeting to decide what type of dress we would use. I said each state had its own symbol, so since Malam Aminu Kano was our icon, he should be our symbol, let us use the type of dress he used to wear – white garment, red cap with black shoes. We adopted it, and when Yar’adua came with his team, we gave them a set of that attire. And we continued with that as our symbol. That was the beginning of it.
What is your assessment of the supplementary election in your state?
Why don’t you start with the other election because supplementary election is its child.
Okay, what is your assessment of the main election?
It was full of fraud, irregularities and everything you can think of. That’s why the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had to go for the supplementary election. If you look at it, there was a connivance with security agencies. Card readers were not properly used. Thugs were used in different polling units and many ballot boxes were destroyed, which gave birth to some cancellations. So if you start your question with the supplementary election, I think you are missing the history. It happened that the amount of cancellation was more than the difference between the leading candidate and the runner-up. I think that is what gave birth to the supplementary election.
The irregularities were concentrated within the eight metropolitan local governments of Kano. We won 27 state House of Assembly seats out of 40. They won 13, and out of the 13, eight are within the metropolis. So you can easily see that there is a loss of sequence in the election, which shows that there was an aberration.
We won the presidential election 100 per cent, giving Mr President the highest votes in the country. Three senators all scaled through, as well as 24 House of Reps members. So they came with a grand design that they must do something about it. Our people were carried away by the first success and thought it would be business as usual, not knowing that these people had organised a kind of two approaches – to create confusion by harassing voters, as well as vote-buying.
Now, what is your assessment of the supplementary election?
It was a pure child. The supplementary election took place in 28 local government areas. They did not win any local government because security was beefed up and eyes were on everybody; hence security compromise was not possible again. Imagine that during the main election, many of our people were arrested, including the deputy governor and a commissioner. But in the supplementary election when the security was put in a proper position, they resorted to the propaganda that people were killed. They even took some clips from Rwanda and different developing countries where they had social problems. None of the clips was from Kano. Just find out. Get the report of the commissioner of police and see that nobody was killed. Ask the IGP, nobody was killed in Kano. Ask the DIG who went there, nobody was killed in Kano. So where did they get that clip? It was just a propaganda to convince people, especially those outside Kano. Those that are in Kano know there was nothing like that.
You see the main election as impure while the rerun was clean. That’s exactly the opposite of what the PDP gubernatorial candidate thinks. Between you and him, who is right?
I am the one to ask you that. I have told you that I am right. It is either you believe me or them. That is the problem we are having. But I told you to go and conduct investigative journalism, not to rely on what I told you. They want you to rely on what they told you; that’s what makes the difference. I want you to rely on what you investigate.
They also accused you of using thugs and conniving with INEC staff…
That’s why I want you to investigate. Whatever it is, we are going to the tribunal and maybe some of your questions will be sorted out.
You accused the current commissioner of police of being biased, especially during the main election, what made you feel uncomfortable with him?
He was giving them protection. He had no right to arrest a deputy governor. In fact, we could have taken him to the court for doing that because he went against the constitution, particularly because the deputy governor has immunity. Our supporters were sighted in that particular collation centre, so the deputy governor went to tell them that they should leave the place, not knowing that the commissioner of police had already dispersed them. And he allowed the opponents to come in. So, when the deputy governor went in, instead of him to see our supporters he fell in the hands of the opposition. So he was biased. A member of the House of Reps was also arrested. Two elected local government chairmen were arrested and taken to the police station. And we did not hear that any important person from the PDP was arrested. Is it not a bias?
You said the commissioner of police was biased, but when he assumed duty he arrested some thugs, about 1,700 of them, which many people saw as an effort to make the election peaceful; does that mean anything to you?
It was deception. During the main election he did not behave that way. I told him not to allow Kwankwaso go to Bebeji because of his utterances, but he said he had already given him permission. I said he could revoke it because there would be security challenges, but he refused. He allowed him to go and many people were killed during the presidential election and no arrest was made. Up till now, he hasn’t even found out who killed the people. I told him that if he abided by my advice, nobody would have lost his life. That’s why I told you that he was biased.
But he arrested the commissioner for local government for tearing result sheets at Gama ward.
That was a lie, he didn’t tear it. He was with the deputy governor and nobody tore anything. In fact, the document that was torn was by the PDP. The document was to be cancelled and it was signed by all agents of political parties, including that of the PDP. We have a copy because a photocopy was taken before they tore it. That was the basis for cancelling the election. It was because there were irregularities that all the parties believed it should be cancelled. So the INEC put it in writing; we have that document now.
There were allegations that you influenced the posting of top-ranking officers of the police to the state during the supplementary election. Did you do that because the commissioner of police was biased?
The posting was done by the IG; isn’t it?
But there were allegations that you came to Abuja…
It was a false allegation. It was because of the high degree of insecurity that the IGP decided to post high-ranking officers; and that was not common to Kano. It happened in Adamawa and Bauchi, then why not Kano? That is the case and I am not even aware of any preferential posting of security agencies.
Let’s take you back to the issue of election because that is what formed the basis of our previous interview with the PDP governorship candidate, who lost.?
Who failed, you are only starting with the latest. Even if he won the first day he would be impeached.
Would you instigate that?
No, I would not, I cannot.
Some people, including the PDP candidate, said you abandoned Gama, and did not recognising the fact that they needed certain social amenities, but all of sudden, because there was going to be a rerun, you moved in tractors and other equipment to build roads and sink boreholes. What is your take on that?
Is he the one to decide what they wanted?
Go and ask the people of Kano, during the Kwankwaso administration, were they having such services? Is it only during the Ganduje administration that the services disappeared? I think we should look back to find out. It is easy for him to give that as an example, but that is not an analytic approach to it. Those people said that for decades they lacked such services. Now, is my four years a decade? Is the Kwankwaso era not part of the decade? You see that during the four years of Kwankwaso they were abandoned, and during my time too, they were partially abandoned.
What actually caused the suspicion is the time. You scrambled in the tractors…
How are you sure that they are not on the line? Put that one aside, what is wrong in that? Is it not a social service?
He said you more or less relocated to Gama.
Is it not part of politics? Did we breach any regulation? Was the campaign not lifted?
But he said you prevented them from going there to campaign.
No, I was doing an official duty; it was not the party. If the APC was holding rallies there, they too could go and hold rallies, but it was the governor who was executing some developmental projects. Go and ask those people if the projects were important to them or not? Have I stopped the construction of the roads after the election? The road construction is still going on. The provision of water is still going on, almost completed. In fact, I will even build more now.
During the first election we saw the results that were coming in for both the PDP and APC, but during the rerun there was a remarkable gap between the two parties in favour of the APC, what informed that?
I think there was a polarisation in perception during the supplementary election. People perceived that there could be an upturn, which was not so. Okay, how about other parties; is it only the PDP that got zero?
Not in Makoda, I mean generally.
Then why are you taking general and pinning it to the specific? In Makoda the difference between the PDP and APC gave them 13,000 votes difference. That is the whole local government with so many voting units. Now you are talking of only one voting unit where they got zero.
Does that mean that there is no PDP member in that polling unit, no House of Reps member, no state Assembly member, former local government chairman from the PDP or any other person loyal to the PDP?
No former local government chairman or any member from the PDP, yes.
What gave you this humongous number of votes in Makoda Local Government Area in the supplementary election?
Are you aware of what is meant by ratio? When I told you that the APC gave a difference of 13,000 votes, if you break it down to units, you will find out that there will be zero for some political parties. So, it was more glaring because it was one polling unit that was taken. Let’s assume it was a random sampling, you could have taken a zero one side and 100 per cent on the other side.
Since the APC gave a difference of 13,000 plus, it means that there is a possibility that in some units, the PDP got zero. Now, if there is a random sampling, you may be lucky to pick the one that the PDP scored no single vote. I mean when you are doing a rational decision, don’t just take things from sentiment; take it from the scientific point of view.
It’s only in the secondary election that you have seen the results of the units, so you don’t know what happened in the first election. Probably, the PDP got zero also in some points, but that one was not exposed. I even don’t know why you are applying that kind of hypothesis.
These are the questions raised by your opponent…
That is why I am explaining to you that it was not only the PDP that got zero. It was not only in the rerun election that the PDP got zero in some polling units. Go and find out; there are some polling units where the PDP got zero during the main election, especially in the rural areas.
You performed very well in the rerun, would you say that the work you did in Gama before the election was responsible?
I can’t answer that; you go and ask the people there. But one thing I know is that they came to congratulate me and show their appreciation. I think what happened was that those people realised that they were tricked in the first election.
You promised to run an inclusive government during your second tenure; what do you mean by that?
Yes, there could be some people who have not contributed in the election but can contribute in running the government. There are people who are reserved, those who don’t have the disposition to take part in active politics, but when it comes to achieving results they will be able to contribute in running a government. That’s what we mean by inclusive government.
After the elections, what effort are you going to put in place to see that you bring the whole of Kano State together and put bitterness behind when you finally assume office for a second term?
That is absolutely necessary. In my acceptance speech I thanked and appreciated those who voted for us and those who did not vote. I have to carry everybody along, including Kwankwaso if he is ready for reconciliation.
One important issue this election threw up was the issue of thuggery in Kano; how are you going to disarm these youths to make sure that they don’t become a nuisance to the society?
Okay, from the announcement of the election, have you seen any weapon moving about? People are jubilating in Kano. You are not a practising politician that is why you are…
That is why you are surprised. During electioneering you can see a lot of things, but after the elections, everything dies down. I am telling you this from a professional’s point of view. I have been in politics since 1979 and it has been the same thing. Some people were even killed, but when a government was formed, everything died down. So don’t expect these weapons to be going around during normal times. I assure you that it is not going to be a problem for us. It is all a matter of unemployment.
Do you think there is something that can be done to reduce thuggery during elections so that we won’t even worry about them?
I think there is. First of all, there is the need for sensitisation of political actors. Secondly, security agencies need to be overhauled. But you know that unemployment also contributes to that. When people are gainfully employed they will find it very difficult to abandon their jobs and carry weapons. So it is the result of the economic situation in the country and I believe it will improve.
There is a concern that in your first tenure you concentrated too much in urban areas in the execution of projects, what do you have for rural dwellers this time around?
It’s not that we concentrated in the urban areas, but some of the projects are more conspicuous when they are aggregated in the metropolitan area. And the challenges are different. You don’t need a flyover in the rural area, but you need access roads, of which we constructed hundreds of kilometers. Flyovers are more conspicuous and attractive, such that people can be carried away by that. In the rural areas we constructed hundreds of kilometers of feeder roads across streams, bridges, rivers, so that such towns and villages could be accessible. That is also development in its own context. Don’t you think more than half of the population in the metropolis are rural people? Is it not the same rural people who are commuting in the city? And supposing you have acute traffic hold-up, is it not affecting the economic activities of the city and rural people?
Your opponent categorically said that your election cannot stand at the tribunal; are you worried? How are you prepared?
I am prepared, but I am not worried?
Why?
Because the election was fair and free; that is my stand.
You are the champion of tax collection as far as Kano is concerned, which you use in executing some projects in the state. There is this fear in the minds of the people that in your second tenure you would. What is your response to that?
Which houses? How? There are countries which don’t have a drop of oil, yet they are categorised as developed countries. Lagos is more developed than Kano; what is the difference? Is it not tax? London is developed because of what? Why are you falling into the trap? The whole philosophy behind our tax in Kano is to tax the rich in order to improve the quality of the life of the poor. That is what we are doing. There is improvement in agriculture in the state; who is benefiting from that? Is it not the farmers, is it not the masses?
Our fertilizer blending company was abandoned for over 30 years, now we are using the tax money to bring it back. Many states in the northern part of this country are purchasing their fertilizer from Kano. In Kano now, it looks abnormal to inaugurate the sale of fertilizer because it is available any moment, any season. If you want to buy 100 trucks of fertilizer today, you can get it from our fertilizer blending company. We used the taxpayers’ money to bring that fertilizer blending company to its position. All supplies you are seeing are from taxpayers’ money. Have we taxed any poor man? We only tax those who are taxable. Don’t fall into the cheap propaganda that he is going to tax this and that. That is an old issue. Taxing the rich is absolutely necessary, and that is what we are doing.
Your second tenure will begin by May 29, what should people of Kano expect from you in the next four years?
They should expect me to take some sectors of the economy to a higher level. I will make sure that accessibility to education is given a wider dimension. Girl-child and quality education will be given priority. In agriculture, we will make sure that the wide gap we have in mechanisation is bridged to some extent so that farmers can use a more sustainable system. That will make agriculture profitable rather than spending much money for production. We have already started discussing that with those who produce tractors. Already, we have spent more than N200million on that, trying to build for the next period. On the issue of health, we also want to make sure that our primary health care system is more effective and our secondary health care is geared towards reducing medical tourism. We have started achieving results on that. We shall build on that to ensure that Kano State is the number one to stop medical tourism in Nigeria.
I am happy to inform you that there were successful brain and spinal cord surgeries in Kano at the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital. Now we are going to build a cancer treatment centre and attach to that hospital. It will be provided with the most sophisticated and latest equipment in the world.
According to the minister of health, as at today, there is no public hospital that is well equipped as the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital. That’s a hospital we built and equipped. Already, we have awarded the contract for a cancer treatment centre. We are planning to award contract for the equipment, but I said they should give us the latest equipment, the best you can get in the world. We are ready to acquire it so that people can benefit from such services. Also, our contributory health scheme, that’s the insurance health scheme, has succeeded. So far, it is the best in the country, even better than that of the Federal Government. We want to see how we can extend that to the vulnerable to start getting free medical services in Kano State.
We will take it to a higher level to see how private employees can benefit from such services. And we’ll move it to communities because this is part of our human development agenda – education and health are the two sectors that benefit the ordinary people. Even the rich and the middle class will benefit from such services. That is our programme in brief. There are other sectors.
