You have just emerged as the APC governorship flag bearer for Kastina State. Have you reached out to your opponents?
Nine of us contested for the ticket on the platform of the APC. It was a keenly contested election. It is only God that made it possible for me. Since the day after the primary, I have started reaching out to all my opponents. In fact, immediately after I was declared the winner, I started reaching out to them; we are all from the same political family. We have been in politics together for over 20 years. So, we are friends. Some of us even have personal relationships, and family, and that has been a very good outing. All the aspirants have declared their support for me. As committed party men, they have agreed to work for the party.
If you are eventually elected as governor, what are the things your people should be expecting from you?
Since I resolved to contest the election, I have started to focus on areas I can make a difference in the lives of the people because I have been a player in Katsina politics and I know what is going on. I was chief of staff to the governor and I know how the state is being run. I believe the major stake the state has right now is the issue of insecurity. This is the first thing I will want to address when I become the governor. I will put more emphasis on security. I will spend a lot of resources to make sure people are secure because security is more important than education or any other sector. This is because it is only when you have security that your children can go to school; that your people can go to the hospital or travel. I intend to involve the locals in the area of intelligence gathering within the communities. We will engage the locals to work with the conventional security, the police, the army, as well as other members of the security apparatus. We will try to give them all the necessary support in terms of equipment, vehicles, and moral support. What do I mean by moral support? I will lead the war to confront the bandits. There is also a need for public service reform, for government to succeed. We need to reform the machinery of government that is going to form the pivot of our reforms because once you don’t have the machinery, once there is no bridge for you to cross, you cannot achieve anything. We will want to encourage public service reform by giving them the necessary training. Placing civil servants where they need to be placed without favouritism or favour. Whoever deserves to get whatever he or she needs to get, let him get it; with any favour. Then, we will try to digitalise the system. We will try to have biometric capture of all the staff and all the structure so that you can send instructions through email to your staff and then get the things working for the state. We have to be IT conscious in running the state.
Many Nigerians believe the emergence of Atiku is a threat to APC. What should the ruling party do to defeat the PDP?
I don’t think it is a major threat because Atiku has been running. He has run elections for many years. I think this is the sixth time he will be running for the presidency. The APC has 22 states or more under its control. I want you to wait and see the person that will emerge as the presidential candidate of the APC. I believe the party will bring somebody who will match Atiku from the beginning to the end. Then, you will understand that you can’t play politics of regionalism, ethnicity, and religion under whatever guise anymore. Nigerians are becoming wiser now. What they are looking for is competence; the person who can deliver. Who can give Nigerians the kind of leadership they need. I don’t need a Hausa man to be president. What I need in the North is to have the security of life and properties. If he is an Igbo man or Yoruba, that will bring peace and security to my people, why not him? Why must it be a Hausa man or a Muslim? Why must he be a Christian? We must go above board in Nigeria and try to think rationally and be able to bring leaders who can transform our society and increase the economic activity in the country by employing our teaming youth. Then, get the educational sector to perform better.
People have attributed the insecurity in Katsina State to people from neighbouring countries. Do you agree with that?
All these hypotheses are true because those involved are people from neighbouring countries. There are about nine local governments in our state that share borders with the Niger Republic, Cameroon up to the Central Africa Republic. That is the same forest they are talking about. There were movements and these are thick forests. This is a forest that has been in existence for years. There are two issues here: the issue of people coming in; and the local people who are also perpetuating these acts through the use of these foreigners. They take their weapons through these channels. But, the most important thing is that I have headed the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) for six years now. I know the problem of micro medium enterprises in this country. I know that majority of the challenges we are facing in Nigeria are due to the unemployment of our teaming youth. This is because the bandits cannot come and kidnap any person if they don’t have an informant who must be among the people. What drives him to become an informant is because the money he is being given. Lack of employment is the major thing. When you engage the youth in gainful employment, they will not have time to be informants. I believe it is not their wish to do that to their brothers and sisters. They don’t have money or means of livelihood. They have to do it. If you try to do that by providing an enabling environment, to do their businesses, give them necessary training in the area of entrepreneurship, and vocational training and then give them capitals to run their business, that will provide the opportunity to employ our teeming youth, because whoever says he is going to become a governor and provide employment to the people through the government is a lie. Where are the vacancies? You can only get the vacancies when somebody dies or retires. So, the issue of getting a white-collar job is no longer available. What you need to do is to provide an enabling environment. Give them all the necessary support for them to be gainfully employed or even be an employer of labour; instead of waiting for somebody to employ them. Then, try to industrialise the state. Katsina State is an agricultural state. It will help to provide industrialization through agriculture and also support the industry and government, increase the livelihood of the people, then increase the income of our people and reduce the poverty among the people. This is the only thing we can do to reduce insecurity by 70 per cent.
Many people believe that the ruling party has not been able to deliver on its campaign promises in the past seven years, particularly on security. What is your take on this?
INEC has been accused of succumbing to blackmail from your party, the APC, by extending the deadline for political parties to conclude their primaries. What is your comment on the accusation?
I don’t share that sentiment. I think the next general election will be the most credible. Why because there is a new electoral law, which allows the transmission of results from the polling units to the central collection unit. That makes it impossible for people who alter result sheets afterwards. Even if you block the roads and collect everything and change the results, it will not change anything because the result is already on the website and everybody has access to it. I think it will be one of the most credible elections. Can’t you see that the primaries we have been conducting in the parties, the governors, and everybody have been longing for an extension? But, the chairman refused to extend it. Unless when he finds it that only one week does not affect it. All the political parties, including the main opposition parties, have been clamouring for an extension of time. So, it is not the APC alone that has been clamouring for it but all the parties.
How popular are you in Katsina to win the coming election?
Have you seen anyone who is not popular winning a primary? I think the onus is on you now to go to Katsina and find out from the people who they consider to be the most popular candidate. Or you can conduct an independent survey to find out.
Are you the preferred candidate for Mr President?
The president doesn’t have a candidate. Whoever knows Mr President knows that he has no candidate in any election. Again, in Katsina State, the governor has declared publicly that he doesn’t have a candidate. I mentioned earlier that all of us belong to a political family of the governor. We have been in politics together for over 20 years. It is a fight from within and among friends within the family. Family members were able to accept their fate. And, we thank them for doing that. We accept magnanimity as a family.
What do you think of the recent defection of some key members of the APC in Katsina?
The defection was before the governorship primary. We are bringing everybody on board. I don’t have the intention of harming anybody by becoming a governor. I don’t have the intention of having any bad feelings toward anybody who contested the election against me. This is because I am a democrat. Since I have been in the party, I was the national welfare of the APC. I have worked as a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. I know what the party stands for and I have contested elections in the past and won. I have also contested an election and lost. This is another opportunity for me and I won. So, I know the pains of losing the election and I know the joy of winning too. So, I have all the experience. I will never let anybody down; my opponents or any other person.
The APC National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu has been accused of running a one-man show. Don’t you think that might spell doom for the party?
I am not aware because I have never heard about it.
How will you rate the PDP and the NNPP in Katsina State?
I don’t know because I am still trying to figure out which one is NNPP. I believe that we have the PDP. We can’t say we are underrating anybody or an opponent. We will give them a fight as much as we can. We are also praying to God to give us victory.
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