GovernorRabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state is among President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s
political rivals who spare no word in pinpointing the anomalies in the PDP-led government
under the leadership of Jonathan. For Kwankwaso, things continue to get worse
by the day and President Jonathan has no grounds to win election “by luck” in
2015; instead, Kwankwaso who left PDP in the wake of controversies that trailed
the party’s 2013 Special Convention insisted that with the “poor performance”
of Jonathan’s government, particularly in the area of security of lives and
properties of Nigerians, 2015 elections will be a walk-over for the All
Progressive Congress (APC), where he now belongs. He spoke with journalists in
Kano, including representative of Pointblanknews.com.
Excerpts:
Whatis your feeling over recent attacks by female suicide bombers during the Sallah
period?
Itis very sad that we had some few cases of attacks; and all of these last ones
were done by very young ladies—it is very sad, but the fact remains that as
long as we are into this issue of insurgency and other criminal activities, we
will continue to see all sorts of scary things, all sorts of surprises, because
before now it will be very difficult to even believe that a Nigerian can go and
kill himself or herself—especially now that we are seeing women into it—it is
another dimension that the people and, of course, the security agencies must
open their eyes. It is not only in Kano; we have other cases elsewhere—we were
even told that another woman was arrested in Katsina state; and I think now,
the security agencies have to be wiser in handling this issue.
Asusual, we want to appeal to the people of the state—Nigerians in general to
continue to support the security agencies, and even the President because this
is an era that he needs support and support should be given to him to manage
the situation so that we can go to the 2015 election—that is where by the grace
of God, we can get a better leadership that will be fame enough to stand
against any insurgency and killing of Nigerians. It is sad that we have to go
through all this and these are things that can be handled better over the
years; but unfortunately, it is rising. I think that is not good for any
leadership.
Every leader, every time, should protect lives and properties of the people he is
leading, and I think that is the expectation of Nigerians; and I think that is
what Nigerians are saying—that these killings, these nonsense, these madness
must stop. So, I believe that all hands must be on deck; and the consequences
of all this is inadequacies of leadership. Nigerians now are more divided than ever
through religious and ethnic lines. All this our differences are now being
amplified by what is happening today. What is happening today is really not
good for this country, it is not good for our neighbours, it is not good for
international community. What Nigerians are saying is that we can stop what is
happening today. That is our appeal to the Commander-in-Chief to wake up and
stop all this killings and destruction of properties of individuals and public
infrastructure being destroyed on daily basis. This is very dangerous for all
of us and that is why we keep on saying this and I hope people should listen to
us. The President should surround himself with patriotic Nigerians and not
hawks—people who are there to represent themselves and take whatever garbage
that is left for them and their family.
Peopleare now concerned. Everybody now is afraid—it doesn’t matter your religion, it
doesn’t matter your tribe, it doesn’t matter where you come from. You know our
leader, General T.Y. Danjuma made a very expensive joke and everybody was
laughing, and I think they were laughing at the Commander-In-Chief. General
Danjuma said the Commander-In-Chief should lead them to Sambisa Forest to
rescue the Chibok girls and everybody was laughing! I am sure General T.Y.Danjuma
must be very angry with the situation, because I am sure he would start
remembering himself about 50 years ago when he was strong enough to solve
problems like this for this country and even outside Nigeria—now we have a
situation in our hands which is very disheartening. Just yesterday, we watched
an event where they were collecting billion of Naira for the victims—well
it is good to get every Naira or Dollar for the victims, but what we are saying
here is that we want more sustainable way of handling the issue of North-East
and other parts of this country. It should sustainable, it should be
reliable, it should come from a reliable source. That is why we are saying that
there must be a marshal plan that can support that particular area because we
believe that every government, every leader has challenges. Our challenge now
is big and huge. The late Umar Musa Yar’Adua faced a similar challenge and
everybody knows what he did to ensure that the challenge was sorted out—and I
think to a very large extent he succeeded. Now, this issue of begging people to
give money, especially in our situation now, I don’t think that will work at
the long-last. What is very important is for the government to tackle it and
for the government to face the reality—that there is correlation between
illiteracy, poverty, unemployment in one hand and of course violence,
insurgency and so on and so forth. That is what they don’t want to accept. But
that is the reality everywhere in the world and everybody knows it. Everybody told
them, but unfortunately, they don’t want to accept it. And their reasons are
best known to them. I personally believe that unless the issue of North-East is
tackled, we will continue to unfortunately and regrettably have some crises (I
am saying this because it is the truth; and you are aware that I am not from
the North-East.) They have a reservoir of people who could be recruited any
minute, any time. They have people whose value is so low to the extent that
they will be happy and willing to die any day and any time. So, we will keep on
praying and we have to urge to ensure that there is peace in the North-East,
there is peace in the North-West, and there is peace in the North-Central, and
of course there is peace in the West and in the South because even the South,
we are aware of the level of insecurity there. There is a whole lot of
insecurity. How they are managing it is not coming out like our own, I don’t
know—maybe because they have the radio, television and newspapers; and they
decided not to blow it out—otherwise the people who are there, who are telling
us the level of insecurity in the South generally is not something that any
friend of Nigeria would want to hear. So, I think that is where the issue of
change comes in. I believe that APC at the end of the day will ensure peace;
because without peace, there will be no development; without peace, you cannot
go to school (like we are seeing in the North-East); and I hope, God’s willing,
this madness will stop; and we will ensure it stops as soon as possible.
Recently, we witnessed an attack orchestrated to assassinate General Muhammadu Buhari in
Kaduna. How do you view it?
First of all, let me take this opportunity once again to commiserate with General
Muhammadu Buhari and of course, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, their families, their
relations and of course, anybody that is close to them. While commiserating
with them, I think, I should also congratulate Nigeria in the sense that the
lives of these two leaders were saved. I am congratulating Nigeria because only
God knows what would have happened in this country if any one of them, and at
worst, two of them lost their lives on that day. It is very sad that they had
to go through this trauma at their age and their level and position in the
society. This is Nigeria for you and this is the situation we all find
ourselves. Everybody is having his own share of trouble, attack and so on and
so forth. Dahiru Bauchi I think he is a little bit older than my father—my
father had to go through similar experience also in a Mosque at Kwankwaso. They
went and spread a small Mosque where my father was praying with bullets. They
had to push him into a particular corner, and so many people heaped themselves
on top of him and they received all the bullets. Three people died, 13 people
wounded on top of him. So, you can see that now, it cuts across strata, it cuts
across the different segment of our society. The late Emir of Kano (Ado Bayero)
was attacked right on the streets of Kano. Other traditional Rulers have been
attacked in the Mosque, just like my father who is a Traditional Ruler. So
also, all other sectors of people—civil servants, politicians, police,
journalists, everybody; and that is not good for any country.
In this particularly case of Kaduna, we keep on thanking the Almighty God that
they escaped death by whiskers. And I want to say we are lucky; but I believe
nobody can run any country with luck. You can win election by luck if you have
good luck, but you cannot run any administration, any government, serious government,
by luck! Because it has its limitations—you cannot be lucky all the time. I
think that is what everybody should know. You see, when the issue happened,
there were many people who have been pointing fingers; and that is a lesson
also, especially for the leaders. Leaders should create an environment of love,
so that even if bad stories happen anywhere, nobody will point at their
direction—and that is what has to be done. After the incident, we have seen so
many commentators trying to exonerate so many people, but you see, that is not
the issue because those who are saying it were saying it on papers; maybe, they
are on social media; maybe, they are on television and so on—but you see, under
those circumstances, it is not those who even have money to buy newspaper that
will take laws into their hands—that is the unfortunate thing. The unfortunate
thing is people who have no capacity to buy newspaper or even read it if they
have it are the people who take decision; and that is such of the decisions that
cannot yield anything. That is why (I hope everybody is listening) their
advisers, if they have any good one, should advice them to reduce the level of
hatred and dislike of leaders and their followers; and I think that will
probably help to ensure that even if bad thing happen (God forbid), nobody will
point fingers at some persons. A lot of people are saying that not certainly
that leaders are being accused of doing something bad; but leaders can also be
accused for not stopping something bad. I think leaders have to know that—that
the resources of this country—both human and material are so enormous to the
extent that we shouldn’t find ourselves into this avoidable mess and we will
continue to pray for the country and work for it to come together—that all this
divides should be de-emphasized and we have seen in the past when Muslim,
Muslim ticket was sold in this country, everybody was happy. At that time, even
Muslims and those of us here in Kano didn’t only vote for that ticket because
they were Muslim, Muslim, but because we believed in democracy. Our son who is
also our leader, then and now, Alhaji Bashir Usman Tofa, was a candidate who I
come from the same Ward with him, the same polling boot; unfortunately, at that
time, we came out and voted for MKO Abiola. Abiola won in our polling boot, won
in our Ward, won in our Local Government Area. So, we had no problem with
ethnicity at that particular time. Abiola won here, and won with huge margin,
unbelievable margin, and under normal circumstances, we didn’t expect that. We
had no any sentiment that this man was coming from our state; my house and
Bashir Tofa’s house then and now is within the same vicinity, yet we voted
Abiola. Look at the case of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. We were supporters of
Obasanjo. In 1999, our son here, the late Abubakar Rimi was contesting; we
didn’t support him—I didn’t support him, then I heard well over 90 per cent of
my votes then—with the biggest votes in terms of number. It is just like we
have it now in APC—I have the largest contingents to any convention. So, in
1999, we went to Jos, and we voted for Obasanjo from the South, a Christian—he
won election—the primary election. We came here, we voted for him again in the
main election. The same thing in 2003, our son here contested, yet, we
supported Obasanjo. In 2003, everybody knew my history. We lost election, but
we stood by Obasanjo. We lost election but we had no regret whatsoever—that is
how party politics should be played; unlike a situation where at this time, at
the national level, government is reduced to provincial government; and I think
this is the biggest undoing. So many people are not happy, so many people are
angry, including leaders who should be comfortable either in the opposition or
in the party that is governing the country—people at certain level should be
happy with the system—many people who are in the system now are very angry with
the system. I believe that is not healthy for any democracy.
Let us know the measures you are putting in place to retain investors in Kano in
the face of this entire crisis?
You see with what we are passing through in this country—what Kano or any other
state can do is to have people who can protect our interest; and those
people who are suppose to protect our interest are working against our
interest. If you talk about investment, we have so many airlines that are
interested to fly in Kano, but somebody are busy in Abuja blocking them, to the
extent that many of them have now surrounded; and even those who were allowed,
like Emirate (everybody was happy Emirate was coming and co-incidentally it was
to come on the August 1, that is today), but some people blocked; and that was
after getting all the papers, after even selling all the tickets! There are
people right now holding the tickets, now they said they should not come to
Kano. People are now holding Emirate ticket to Kano; they sold all the tickets,
fully booked and they stopped them. How do you handle this? When somebody would
say I want to come and invest, a company like Emirate will not encourage that
person. Look at the Emirate—good airline, everybody was happy because
Emirate was coming to Kano. Now, tell me how I can bring any investor. I
personally went to the chairman of Emirate in Dubai, we held meetings with him.
I saw almost everybody, including the then Minister of Aviation (Stella Oduah).
The last I spoke to her during a meeting, I said Honourable Minister when are
we going to have that approval to get this airline coming to Kano, her answer
was ‘it depends on the outcome of today’s meeting,’ and that was the end. Now
that we have Osita Chidoka—I don’t know much about him, but from the little I
know about him, I think he is a good man. He is somebody who will not reduce
Federal Government to his village meeting or a gathering of his friends. He is
not somebody who will say, I want people from this side of the country, I don’t
want people from the other side of the country—and that destroys the essence of
political party. In political party during a democratic setting, you don’t have
fight between Muslims and Christians, you don’t have fight between South and
North, you don’t have fight between Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba or any other tribe—why
because they are all there at the table. Under normal circumstance, an Igbo man
or a Yoruba man, or Itshekiri man, or Urhobo man who is a Christian and from
the South, who is in my party, under normal circumstance, is my number brother,
not my blood relationship who is in another party. Now, the whole thing has
been changed and I think that is what is making the whole polity sick!
So, we agree that there is no question about the fact that we have done so much for
the state and we have invested in terms of infrastructure, we have invested, we
have invested in terms of empowerment and so on, we thank all mighty God and we
have all the support of every responsible person in the state—those who are
there for development and progress. However, as a politician, particularly, in
our own level, you have to contend with enemies and people who are
anti-progress—and I think we are prepared for that.
We have a situation in Nasarawa where a sitting Governor of APC is about to be
impeached. How are you taking it as a chieftain of the APC?
Well, I don’t think anybody is happy—whether in APC or any other responsible party in
this country, especially, those who are conversant with the tenets of
democracy. Democracy is about winning election; and while you won election,
somebody would have lost election—even if it is through party system. And you
see, in our Constitution, there are many sections that talked about the
opposition. Again, across the world, especially where you have mature
democracy, the Constitution supports opposition in their own way. In this
country, we have Commander-In-Chief who is very powerful in terms of killing
his opponents. He is ruthless—he does not wait for anybody to advice him. That
is what we have seen in Ekiti state—we went there—and we saw what happened—and
in politics, that is what we call armed robbery—armed people taking votes for a
particular political party. If it is Army, it is Nigerian Army, if it is
Police, it is Nigerian Police—they are not any political party police. And the
implication is that the whole military, the whole police will be politicized.
This Nigeria Army didn’t come from a particular village, they are from all
kinds of villages in this country. This military and police should be
exonerated from politics—they should not be used to go and intimidate people
and take victory by force. That is what we have seen in APC—that is what
happened in Ekiti. They went to Adamawa using the same security agencies, using
other opportunities they have and that opportunity worked against the welfare
of the people. They literally took Adamawa by force. We have read in the
papers. You have reported what happened at the residence of the Chief Judge,
what happened at the state Assembly. For those who are doing second-term, they
are in their eight year; for us who started in 2011, we are in our fourth year.
In the next few months, there will be primary election—by February next year,
there will be election; and somebody has been on the seat for eight years—and
in the eight year, you have no patience to leave that man, you want to remove
him by force. In the case of Adamawa, I have forgotten the number of Local
Government Areas, but they are over 20, they have 25 members in the House, out
of 25, you took the position of Governor elected by millions of people and gave
it to one person who was elected by just people from his Local Government Area.
They used the weaknesses of the Constitution, they cajoled the young men in the
Adamawa state House of Assembly, I am sure he induced them—at the end of the
day, they told them look, ‘why are you leaving this elderly man, why can’t you take
it yourself, go and take, we will support you, we will give you all the support
of the Commander-In-Chief to go and deal with him!’ They went
there, they used the very process that would have protected the people of
Adamawa state and made them live in peace, and of course make progress—they
used the same process to remove Murtala Yhako. Not only that, I know what they
want is to mess up all what he did for this country, bring in all sorts of
allegations, take all those that they want to take; but I am happy that they
couldn’t get him, though I don’t know where he is. Many of us would be happy to
stay here, at least, one would have been a nuisance to them, keeping any of us
in the prison.
My opinion is that if there is anybody that should be impeached, it is them who
are in the headquarters of corruption—that is the headquarter of bad
politics—that is the headquarter of everything evil—that is the headquarter. I
am not here to defend any Governor, because I am the Governor of Kano—I can’t
defend anybody, I will not say somebody is right or wrong; but certainly you
should put them on a balance. Everybody knows where the balance will tilt. We
have cases of direct stealing of ballot boxes, cases of direct stealing
of crude oil—look at what happened when our Emir (Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as CBN
Governor) mentioned that $20 Billion was missing, instead of investigating the
case, it was him who was being investigated; and of course, they wanted to send
him to jail. But our God is wonderful, now he is the Emir of Kano—and I don’t
know whether they are still contemplating that. So, all these issues are
issues that are of great concern to us and all our friends across the world.
Now, look at the case of Nasarawa—it is even worst, but I think the people of
Nasarawa now, especially, the young men have started doing the right thing.
They are chasing the state Assembly members—and I think they should chase them
to the Villa where they belong—that is where they belong because I don’t think
they are protecting the people’s interest in Nasarawa—they steal want to
exploit the weakness of the Constitution—since the Constitution is permitting
20 people to remove someone elected by millions of people as Governor. I don’t
know what that clause in the 1999 Constitution means, but they are using it
against the wish of the people. They are conniving with normal enemies to
remove APC Governors from their seats. I had wanted to go to Nasarawa—you the
man (Governor Al-Makora) is a complete gentleman; and in this game, you have to
have so many sights and faces—a gentleman cannot be a good Governor. You cannot
be a good Governor by just being a gentleman. We wanted to go there, we
organized. We mobilized people to go to Nasarawa and help them fight injustice,
but he said, ‘no, no, don’t come.’ We even begged him, we said okay, we are not
bringing all the foot soldiers, we want to come by ourselves—in fact, a day
before we were to go there, he said, ‘no, no, don’t come.’ What is the meaning
of that? You see, in this game, if you are dealing with mad people, you don’t
just become a gentleman, you have to go out there and handle them as they are.
This madness at Nasarawa, I am happy, the young men are taking the matter into
their hands—that is what it should be because they are being insane; of course,
for me, somebody who is leaving in glass houses, glasses everywhere, 100 per
cent glasses; and myself is leaving in a small window of glass—you started
throwing stones—I will be very happy.
Are you not afraid that they may use the state House of Assembly against you here
in Kano?
Well, I want us to finish this democracy, at least, from now to 2015. They have been
trying that—you are aware they came here and collected all the principal
officers and other members of the state House of Assembly; not because they
stole anything, but because they didn’t want us to go and pass budget. The EFCC
came dead in the night and started collecting them like criminals, they took
them to Abuja; and we followed them, there was just no answer, nothing. At the
end of the day, I don’t know what happened, they granted us bail—and the case
is still in Court. It is not that they stole money, but we don’t want them to
go there again tomorrow. I have never seen this kind of thing anywhere—where
authorities came to the state, to collect people in the night—elected state
legislators, you took them to EFCC, you lock them there. Just recently, we have
the same case, after we joined the APC, they came with one hawk. I think he is
from Kebbi, he was calling them to his house—you know Kano is a great state, we
want people to come and settle in Kano, but many of them are trying to become
enemies—and Kano is so attractive. If you are from Kebbi, why can’t you go
there and talk about Kebbi, why don’t you go there and start talking about
Kebbi—maybe, because Kebbi is so small that you cannot talk about it. They are
here creating all sorts of trouble. They are meeting in his house discussing
all sorts of things; but God so kind by the time they started the meeting, they
were already celebrating and they told Abuja that they have gotten the Speaker
and majority of the members—that APC has got executive, PDP has now the
legislature—thinking that because they got the principal officers and gave them
money, everybody will follow. By the I called them, we had meeting on a Friday
which ran into Saturday; by Sunday, they put them in the aircraft and took them
to Abuja; by Monday morning, I told them to go and declare, and instead of 31
members for APC, we were now having 34! So, they have been trying, but we are
politicians here and we have been in the game. I have been here, I have been
there, I have been all over; and I have some doses now, dose—you know dose, I
have some junks, which when pressed, I will use it and I believe all
politicians in my position do the same.
Even General Buhari have said what I want to say now that I have never seen a
situation like this where the biggest beneficiary of this democracy are the
ones destroying it. You ask me who is happy—I should be one of them, my people
should be all happy, we have performed, we have done so many things that can
enable us to be happy; but unfortunately, we are not happy because of what they
are doing. Politics should not be seen as enmity, politics should be seen as
something that you have to destroy this or that. The very forces that they used
in Ekiti, they used in Adamawa, which they are now using in Nasarawa, I am sure
they want to try it again in Osun. These are the forces that they would have
used in the North-eastern states. On Ekiti Election Day, the whole state was
taken over and dominated. I don’t think Ekiti is as big as Sambisa Forest—you
go and dominate there, why are you dominating an innocent state? And what they
don’t know is that the party taking seats by force from other states does not
give them automatic success in 2015. In this state in 2011, I had no one
counselor, I had no one Local Government Chairman, I had no Commissioner, I had
no Governor, even our friends who were suppose to help us from Abuja, didn’t
believe in us, but we won election. So, if you take Ekiti, you go and take
Nasarawa, you are forcing everybody—take it—Commander-in-Chief. And there is
one advertisement on NTA—it makes me very angry—showing Commander-In-Chief
smiling by this their transformation agenda ambassadors—Nigeria turn, turn,
these are faceless organization with headquarters in the Villa. They are
faceless, who are they—tell me, Commander-In-Chief. I use to know the
credibility of the Nigerian military. I use to know how much they were respected
even outside the country—now, where are the respects. I am happy Rochas
Okorocha is also advertising his own achievements. Tell me what the
Commander-In-Chief is doing. Things that we have not been seen on ground, we
are already seeing it in television, courtesy of technology. I hear some people
wanted to do one-million-match in Abuja, I can do 10-million match in Kano.
What is one million? Maybe, somebody advised them and it didn’t take place;
because I had wanted to do 10-million-match in Abuja, take over and dominate
everywhere.
The rumour is making the round in town and people are speculating that you wantedto contest the presidency. Are you interested?
We have good materials in APC; we have people if given the opportunity, I have no
doubt in my mind can perform creditably. Look, I am conversant with that Villa
for over 20 years now. From the days of my membership in the House of
Representatives as Deputy Speaker, I know what the Commander-In-Chief should be
doing under these circumstances. Now, they are just using propaganda. Look at
this Chibok girls, for three weeks, they were arguing—where are the names, who
are they, where are the photographs; they didn’t believe that over 200 children
were abducted. Haba! Even if it is 20 tortoise or goats! Won’t you look for
them! One of the reasons why I love this country is that we have of high
caliber in all the regions, in all the states. Look at my former colleague,
former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwezili. This is somebody who works in
the World Bank, but now she has devoted her time. She is not from this part of
the country, but she felt she had to take the bull by the horn and that is what
we are seeing in developed countries—fight injustice, save people, help them,
if you have the opportunity to do so. They sent some hawks to go and stop the
protesters. The other I saw an advertisement while she is saying
‘BringBackOurGirls.’ Some people are saying ‘votes for us, we want to
stay and maintain the statusquo; look at my photograph, I am smiling.’ And they
don’t know time is of essence.
You have insisted that these killings and spate of insecurity must stop as 2015
elections draw near. What do you think should be done to stop it?
You see, you are in 2011. Government was not paying salaries. They had no money to
pay salary; I am not talking of programmes and projects. From 2011 to date,
salaries are being paid as at when due. Projects are in progress. We have huge
projects which ordinarily states that are getting as many times what we are
getting cannot go and show that this is what they have done. Challawa and Tiga
Dam project is costing us N14.2 billion and we are finishing it latest by
March. Look at this fly-over at Kofar Nasarawa, about a kilometer; look at the
one near Radio Kano which we want to name Obasanjo Fly-over, look at the the
one in Sabon Gari, two kilometers—that one is costing over N11 Billion. Look at
Wuju Wuju, almost N10 Billion, look at North-West University, look at five
kilometer road in 44 Local Government Areas, which is over 220 kilometre of
dualized roads with street lights, look at our institute numbering about 24 and
so on and so forth. We are not talking of education which is our trade-mark.
Free education for all levels from primary, secondary and tertiary, look at over
2000 of our sons and daughters studying abroad—some are doing very expensive
courses like piloting. In each one, we are spending over N10 million; and they
are in the best universities in the 14 countries in the world. Now, we are
sending the next batch of over 500 people. Look at law and order in Kano, look
at street lights, look at drainages. We have changed the attitude of Kano state
people. We have no Almajiri here. I hope when those guys from this side of the
country finish their job in Abuja, they will send them to their Almajiri
schools. We don’t have Almajiri here in Kano, what we have are Nigerians of
Kano state origin who are ready to compete with anybody in this country. We
told our children to go back to school, we don’t want to see anybody on the
streets of Kano, we can’t see them. If we see them, we arrest them because we
have a law covering us to do that. We have to help our people. Now, if
you are asking me what are we going to do—how did we do all these? You see, it
is just leadership, if you are a leader; you are a leader, you cannot just go
there by mere saying that the right man is there—everybody will cue up. It is
not a matter of what you are going to do and what are you not going to do. Did
I tell the people what I was going to do when I was campaigning—I don’t need to
tell them because they know me; and when I came, I did it. Nobody is above the
law in Kano. Look at Achaba or Okada—they were two million and today, where are
they. Look at beggars, not only Almajiri, where are they? Everybody has gone
back to the drawing board; they have gone back to school. We are empowering
people from these 24 institutes. So, you see, what we need is a very strong
leadership, strong leadership is what will stop all the nonsense in the North
and in the South; and we have to stop it. And these are things that should be
done—we have been telling them; look, get a way to negotiate—negotiate with
them, not using the uniform or your position as Commander-In-Chief.
As the Chief Security Officer of the state can you explain why we no longer see
the Joint Task Force checkpoints on the streets?
That tells you that we are not insurgents; that tells you that we are not criminals.
You see, you are talking of investors, when you block all the streets with
soldiers, how can the investors come in. Everybody would have been complaining.
So, we don’t see them but those people who are on the other side know where
they are; we don’t know where they are, so I don’t have to tell you.
We read in the newspapers that immediately after the Council Meeting, Godswill
Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Babangida Aliyu of Niger gave assurance that the
insurgency will stop before December. Do you believe them?
Well, I hope so. If they can finish it today, I will be happy and I think it will be
better. But that should come from the Commander-In-Chief. We should see all
that on the ground. You don’t give such assurance arbitrarily. Now, we are
looking for $1 billion and I don’t think they will be in a hurry to do anything
without collecting that money. So, these are serious issues, serious deadlines
that should come from better places; not the Governor of this, or the Governor
of that who don’t have the police, you don’t have the SSS, you don’t have the
military—and you are the one coming to tell the world that by December, it will
be over; I hope they will finish it next week; but we want serious people to
say it, not a Governor who is controlling a small portion of the country.
In less than a year, there will be election. What are the qualities do you want in
your successor?
You see, I am one of the lucky politicians who have worked very hard over the years
because I don’t believe in luck alone; and along the line I met so many people.
I am lucky I have so many of them and I am conversant with all of them that are
qualified and competent enough with all the integrity to become the Governor of
Kano state. Of course, just recently, we have other people coming from other
parties, that are the legacy parties, we have people there. So, it is not a
matter of where can you get. God decides all these things and ours is just to
implement. But the happiness is that we have a reservoir of high quality people
that can manage the affairs of Kano state. Many of them have been tested in terms
of reality and hard work. This time is for us to finish our projects and
complete them before 2015 and that is where we are. When we get to the river,
we will cross it.
How do you feel about the appointment of the new Inspector-General of Police?
I am happy that our son has been appointed the IGP. He is from Jigawa and I know
that he recorded most of his success as a Police man here in Kano. I hope he
should work hard and honestly, he should be committed to change the direction
of the police. They should police with difference, police should be for all of
us, police should protect us, police should be neutral during election and that
is how we know democracy. By the time you now start sharing police that these
ones are from these region, these ones are for the other party, all of this
will bring crisis, because by the time you are stealing victory from Mr. A and
giving it to Mr. B, you know that Mr. A will not respect you. I want to appeal
to all of them to always go by the rule of engagement, they should always
respect themselves, and that is the only way for the police as an institution
to be respected by all. I think that is what the new IG should be doing and I
wish him well.