GovernorRabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state is among President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan\u2019s
\npolitical rivals who spare no word in pinpointing the anomalies in the PDP-led government
\nunder the leadership of Jonathan. For Kwankwaso, things continue to get worse
\nby the day and President Jonathan has no grounds to win election \u201cby luck\u201d in
\n2015; instead, Kwankwaso who left PDP in the wake of controversies that trailed
\nthe party\u2019s 2013 Special Convention insisted that with the \u201cpoor performance\u201d
\nof Jonathan\u2019s government, particularly in the area of security of lives and
\nproperties of Nigerians, 2015 elections will be a walk-over for the All
\nProgressive Congress (APC), where he now belongs. He spoke with journalists in
\nKano, including representative of Pointblanknews.com.
\nExcerpts:<\/p>\n
Whatis your feeling over recent attacks by female suicide bombers during the Sallah<\/strong><\/em> Recently,\u00a0we witnessed an attack orchestrated to assassinate General Muhammadu Buhari in<\/em><\/strong> Let\u00a0us know the measures you are putting in place to retain investors in Kano in<\/strong><\/em> Are\u00a0you not afraid that they may use the state House of Assembly against you here<\/strong><\/em> The\u00a0rumour is making the round in town and people are speculating that you wantedto contest the presidency. Are you interested?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n We\u00a0have good materials in APC; we have people if given the opportunity, I have no We\u00a0read in the newspapers that immediately after the Council Meeting, Godswill<\/em><\/strong> In\u00a0less than a year, there will be election. What are the qualities do you want in<\/strong> GovernorRabi\u2019u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state is among President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan\u2019s political rivals who spare no word in pinpointing the anomalies in the PDP-led government under the leadership of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive","category-interviews"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nperiod?<\/strong><\/em>
\nItis very sad that we had some few cases of attacks; and all of these last ones
\nwere done by very young ladies\u2014it is very sad, but the fact remains that as
\nlong as we are into this issue of insurgency and other criminal activities, we
\nwill continue to see all sorts of scary things, all sorts of surprises, because
\nbefore now it will be very difficult to even believe that a Nigerian can go and
\nkill himself or herself\u2014especially now that we are seeing women into it\u2014it is
\nanother dimension that the people and, of course, the security agencies must
\nopen their eyes. It is not only in Kano; we have other cases elsewhere\u2014we were
\neven told that another woman was arrested in Katsina state; and I think now,
\nthe security agencies have to be wiser in handling this issue.
\nAsusual, we want to appeal to the people of the state\u2014Nigerians in general to
\ncontinue to support the security agencies, and even the President because this
\nis an era that he needs support and support should be given to him to manage
\nthe situation so that we can go to the 2015 election\u2014that is where by the grace
\nof God, we can get a better leadership that will be fame enough to stand
\nagainst any insurgency and killing of Nigerians. It is sad that we have to go
\nthrough all this and these are things that can be handled better over the
\nyears; but unfortunately, it is rising. I think that is not good for any
\nleadership.
\nEvery\u00a0leader, every time, should protect lives and properties of the people he is
\nleading, and I think that is the expectation of Nigerians; and I think that is
\nwhat Nigerians are saying\u2014that these killings, these nonsense, these madness
\nmust stop. So, I believe that all hands must be on deck; and the consequences
\nof all this is inadequacies of leadership. Nigerians now are more divided than ever
\nthrough religious and ethnic lines. All this our differences are now being
\namplified by what is happening today. What is happening today is really not
\ngood for this country, it is not good for our neighbours, it is not good for
\ninternational community. What Nigerians are saying is that we can stop what is
\nhappening today. That is our appeal to the Commander-in-Chief to wake up and
\nstop all this killings and destruction of properties of individuals and public
\ninfrastructure being destroyed on daily basis. This is very dangerous for all
\nof us and that is why we keep on saying this and I hope people should listen to
\nus. The President should surround himself with patriotic Nigerians and not
\nhawks\u2014people who are there to represent themselves and take whatever garbage
\nthat is left for them and their family.
\nPeopleare now concerned. Everybody now is afraid\u2014it doesn\u2019t matter your religion, it
\ndoesn\u2019t matter your tribe, it doesn\u2019t matter where you come from. You know our
\nleader, General T.Y. Danjuma made a very expensive joke and everybody was
\nlaughing, and I think they were laughing at the Commander-In-Chief. General
\nDanjuma said the Commander-In-Chief should lead them to Sambisa Forest to
\nrescue the Chibok girls and everybody was laughing! I am sure General T.Y.Danjuma
\nmust be very angry with the situation, because I am sure he would start
\nremembering himself about 50 years ago when he was strong enough to solve
\nproblems like this for this country and even outside Nigeria\u2014now we have a
\nsituation in our hands which is very disheartening. Just yesterday, we watched
\nan event where they were collecting billion of Naira for the victims\u2014well
\nit is good to get every Naira or Dollar for the victims, but what we are saying
\nhere is that we want more sustainable way of handling the issue of North-East
\nand other parts of this country. It should sustainable, it should be
\nreliable, it should come from a reliable source. That is why we are saying that
\nthere must be a marshal plan that can support that particular area because we
\nbelieve that every government, every leader has challenges. Our challenge now
\nis big and huge. The late Umar Musa Yar\u2019Adua faced a similar challenge and
\neverybody knows what he did to ensure that the challenge was sorted out\u2014and I
\nthink to a very large extent he succeeded. Now, this issue of begging people to
\ngive money, especially in our situation now, I don\u2019t think that will work at
\nthe long-last. What is very important is for the government to tackle it and
\nfor the government to face the reality\u2014that there is correlation between
\nilliteracy, poverty, unemployment in one hand and of course violence,
\ninsurgency and so on and so forth. That is what they don\u2019t want to accept. But
\nthat is the reality everywhere in the world and everybody knows it. Everybody told
\nthem, but unfortunately, they don\u2019t want to accept it. And their reasons are
\nbest known to them. I personally believe that unless the issue of North-East is
\ntackled, we will continue to unfortunately and regrettably have some crises (I
\nam saying this because it is the truth; and you are aware that I am not from
\nthe North-East.) They have a reservoir of people who could be recruited any
\nminute, any time. They have people whose value is so low to the extent that
\nthey will be happy and willing to die any day and any time. So, we will keep on
\npraying and we have to urge to ensure that there is peace in the North-East,
\nthere is peace in the North-West, and there is peace in the North-Central, and
\nof course there is peace in the West and in the South because even the South,
\nwe are aware of the level of insecurity there. There is a whole lot of
\ninsecurity. How they are managing it is not coming out like our own, I don\u2019t
\nknow\u2014maybe because they have the radio, television and newspapers; and they
\ndecided not to blow it out\u2014otherwise the people who are there, who are telling
\nus the level of insecurity in the South generally is not something that any
\nfriend of Nigeria would want to hear. So, I think that is where the issue of
\nchange comes in. I believe that APC at the end of the day will ensure peace;
\nbecause without peace, there will be no development; without peace, you cannot
\ngo to school (like we are seeing in the North-East); and I hope, God\u2019s willing,
\nthis madness will stop; and we will ensure it stops as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\nKaduna. How do you view it?<\/em><\/strong>
\nFirst\u00a0of all, let me take this opportunity once again to commiserate with General
\nMuhammadu Buhari and of course, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, their families, their
\nrelations and of course, anybody that is close to them. While commiserating
\nwith them, I think, I should also congratulate Nigeria in the sense that the
\nlives of these two leaders were saved. I am congratulating Nigeria because only
\nGod knows what would have happened in this country if any one of them, and at
\nworst, two of them lost their lives on that day. It is very sad that they had
\nto go through this trauma at their age and their level and position in the
\nsociety. This is Nigeria for you and this is the situation we all find
\nourselves. Everybody is having his own share of trouble, attack and so on and
\nso forth. Dahiru Bauchi I think he is a little bit older than my father\u2014my
\nfather had to go through similar experience also in a Mosque at Kwankwaso. They
\nwent and spread a small Mosque where my father was praying with bullets. They
\nhad to push him into a particular corner, and so many people heaped themselves
\non top of him and they received all the bullets. Three people died, 13 people
\nwounded on top of him. So, you can see that now, it cuts across strata, it cuts
\nacross the different segment of our society. The late Emir of Kano (Ado Bayero)
\nwas attacked right on the streets of Kano. Other traditional Rulers have been
\nattacked in the Mosque, just like my father who is a Traditional Ruler. So
\nalso, all other sectors of people\u2014civil servants, politicians, police,
\njournalists, everybody; and that is not good for any country.
\nIn\u00a0this particularly case of Kaduna, we keep on thanking the Almighty God that
\nthey escaped death by whiskers. And I want to say we are lucky; but I believe
\nnobody can run any country with luck. You can win election by luck if you have
\ngood luck, but you cannot run any administration, any government, serious government,
\nby luck! Because it has its limitations\u2014you cannot be lucky all the time. I
\nthink that is what everybody should know. You see, when the issue happened,
\nthere were many people who have been pointing fingers; and that is a lesson
\nalso, especially for the leaders. Leaders should create an environment of love,
\nso that even if bad stories happen anywhere, nobody will point at their
\ndirection\u2014and that is what has to be done. After the incident, we have seen so
\nmany commentators trying to exonerate so many people, but you see, that is not
\nthe issue because those who are saying it were saying it on papers; maybe, they
\nare on social media; maybe, they are on television and so on\u2014but you see, under
\nthose circumstances, it is not those who even have money to buy newspaper that
\nwill take laws into their hands\u2014that is the unfortunate thing. The unfortunate
\nthing is people who have no capacity to buy newspaper or even read it if they
\nhave it are the people who take decision; and that is such of the decisions that
\ncannot yield anything. That is why (I hope everybody is listening) their
\nadvisers, if they have any good one, should advice them to reduce the level of
\nhatred and dislike of leaders and their followers; and I think that will
\nprobably help to ensure that even if bad thing happen (God forbid), nobody will
\npoint fingers at some persons. A lot of people are saying that not certainly
\nthat leaders are being accused of doing something bad; but leaders can also be
\naccused for not stopping something bad. I think leaders have to know that\u2014that
\nthe resources of this country\u2014both human and material are so enormous to the
\nextent that we shouldn\u2019t find ourselves into this avoidable mess and we will
\ncontinue to pray for the country and work for it to come together\u2014that all this
\ndivides should be de-emphasized and we have seen in the past when Muslim,
\nMuslim ticket was sold in this country, everybody was happy. At that time, even
\nMuslims and those of us here in Kano didn\u2019t only vote for that ticket because
\nthey were Muslim, Muslim, but because we believed in democracy. Our son who is
\nalso our leader, then and now, Alhaji Bashir Usman Tofa, was a candidate who I
\ncome from the same Ward with him, the same polling boot; unfortunately, at that
\ntime, we came out and voted for MKO Abiola. Abiola won in our polling boot, won
\nin our Ward, won in our Local Government Area. So, we had no problem with
\nethnicity at that particular time. Abiola won here, and won with huge margin,
\nunbelievable margin, and under normal circumstances, we didn\u2019t expect that. We
\nhad no any sentiment that this man was coming from our state; my house and
\nBashir Tofa\u2019s house then and now is within the same vicinity, yet we voted
\nAbiola. Look at the case of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. We were supporters of
\nObasanjo. In 1999, our son here, the late Abubakar Rimi was contesting; we
\ndidn\u2019t support him\u2014I didn\u2019t support him, then I heard well over 90 per cent of
\nmy votes then\u2014with the biggest votes in terms of number. It is just like we
\nhave it now in APC\u2014I have the largest contingents to any convention. So, in
\n1999, we went to Jos, and we voted for Obasanjo from the South, a Christian\u2014he
\nwon election\u2014the primary election. We came here, we voted for him again in the
\nmain election. The same thing in 2003, our son here contested, yet, we
\nsupported Obasanjo. In 2003, everybody knew my history. We lost election, but
\nwe stood by Obasanjo. We lost election but we had no regret whatsoever\u2014that is
\nhow party politics should be played; unlike a situation where at this time, at
\nthe national level, government is reduced to provincial government; and I think
\nthis is the biggest undoing. So many people are not happy, so many people are
\nangry, including leaders who should be comfortable either in the opposition or
\nin the party that is governing the country\u2014people at certain level should be
\nhappy with the system\u2014many people who are in the system now are very angry with
\nthe system. I believe that is not healthy for any democracy.<\/p>\n
\nthe face of this entire crisis?<\/strong><\/em>
\nYou\u00a0see with what we are passing through in this country\u2014what Kano or any other
\nstate can do is to have people who can protect our interest; and those
\npeople who are suppose to protect our interest are working against our
\ninterest. If you talk about investment, we have so many airlines that are
\ninterested to fly in Kano, but somebody are busy in Abuja blocking them, to the
\nextent that many of them have now surrounded; and even those who were allowed,
\nlike Emirate (everybody was happy Emirate was coming and co-incidentally it was
\nto come on the August 1, that is today), but some people blocked; and that was
\nafter getting all the papers, after even selling all the tickets! There are
\npeople right now holding the tickets, now they said they should not come to
\nKano. People are now holding Emirate ticket to Kano; they sold all the tickets,
\nfully booked and they stopped them. How do you handle this? When somebody would
\nsay I want to come and invest, a company like Emirate will not encourage that
\nperson. Look at the Emirate\u2014good airline, everybody was happy because
\nEmirate was coming to Kano. Now, tell me how I can bring any investor. I
\npersonally went to the chairman of Emirate in Dubai, we held meetings with him.
\nI saw almost everybody, including the then Minister of Aviation (Stella Oduah).
\nThe last I spoke to her during a meeting, I said Honourable Minister when are
\nwe going to have that approval to get this airline coming to Kano, her answer
\nwas \u2018it depends on the outcome of today\u2019s meeting,\u2019 and that was the end. Now
\nthat we have Osita Chidoka\u2014I don\u2019t know much about him, but from the little I
\nknow about him, I think he is a good man. He is somebody who will not reduce
\nFederal Government to his village meeting or a gathering of his friends. He is
\nnot somebody who will say, I want people from this side of the country, I don\u2019t
\nwant people from the other side of the country\u2014and that destroys the essence of
\npolitical party. In political party during a democratic setting, you don\u2019t have
\nfight between Muslims and Christians, you don\u2019t have fight between South and
\nNorth, you don\u2019t have fight between Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba or any other tribe\u2014why
\nbecause they are all there at the table. Under normal circumstance, an Igbo man
\nor a Yoruba man, or Itshekiri man, or Urhobo man who is a Christian and from
\nthe South, who is in my party, under normal circumstance, is my number brother,
\nnot my blood relationship who is in another party. Now, the whole thing has
\nbeen changed and I think that is what is making the whole polity sick!
\nSo,\u00a0we agree that there is no question about the fact that we have done so much for
\nthe state and we have invested in terms of infrastructure, we have invested, we
\nhave invested in terms of empowerment and so on, we thank all mighty God and we
\nhave all the support of every responsible person in the state\u2014those who are
\nthere for development and progress. However, as a politician, particularly, in
\nour own level, you have to contend with enemies and people who are
\nanti-progress\u2014and I think we are prepared for that.
\nWe\u00a0have a situation in Nasarawa where a sitting Governor of APC is about to be
\nimpeached. How are you taking it as a chieftain of the APC?
\nWell,\u00a0I don\u2019t think anybody is happy\u2014whether in APC or any other responsible party in
\nthis country, especially, those who are conversant with the tenets of
\ndemocracy. Democracy is about winning election; and while you won election,
\nsomebody would have lost election\u2014even if it is through party system. And you
\nsee, in our Constitution, there are many sections that talked about the
\nopposition. Again, across the world, especially where you have mature
\ndemocracy, the Constitution supports opposition in their own way. In this
\ncountry, we have Commander-In-Chief who is very powerful in terms of killing
\nhis opponents. He is ruthless\u2014he does not wait for anybody to advice him. That
\nis what we have seen in Ekiti state\u2014we went there\u2014and we saw what happened\u2014and
\nin politics, that is what we call armed robbery\u2014armed people taking votes for a
\nparticular political party. If it is Army, it is Nigerian Army, if it is
\nPolice, it is Nigerian Police\u2014they are not any political party police. And the
\nimplication is that the whole military, the whole police will be politicized.
\nThis Nigeria Army didn\u2019t come from a particular village, they are from all
\nkinds of villages in this country. This military and police should be
\nexonerated from politics\u2014they should not be used to go and intimidate people
\nand take victory by force. That is what we have seen in APC\u2014that is what
\nhappened in Ekiti. They went to Adamawa using the same security agencies, using
\nother opportunities they have and that opportunity worked against the welfare
\nof the people. They literally took Adamawa by force. We have read in the
\npapers. You have reported what happened at the residence of the Chief Judge,
\nwhat happened at the state Assembly. For those who are doing second-term, they
\nare in their eight year; for us who started in 2011, we are in our fourth year.
\nIn the next few months, there will be primary election\u2014by February next year,
\nthere will be election; and somebody has been on the seat for eight years\u2014and
\nin the eight year, you have no patience to leave that man, you want to remove
\nhim by force. In the case of Adamawa, I have forgotten the number of Local
\nGovernment Areas, but they are over 20, they have 25 members in the House, out
\nof 25, you took the position of Governor elected by millions of people and gave
\nit to one person who was elected by just people from his Local Government Area.
\nThey used the weaknesses of the Constitution, they cajoled the young men in the
\nAdamawa state House of Assembly, I am sure he induced them\u2014at the end of the
\nday, they told them look, \u2018why are you leaving this elderly man, why can\u2019t you take
\nit yourself, go and take, we will support you, we will give you all the support
\nof the Commander-In-Chief to go and deal with him!\u2019 They went
\nthere, they used the very process that would have protected the people of
\nAdamawa state and made them live in peace, and of course make progress\u2014they
\nused the same process to remove Murtala Yhako. Not only that, I know what they
\nwant is to mess up all what he did for this country, bring in all sorts of
\nallegations, take all those that they want to take; but I am happy that they
\ncouldn\u2019t get him, though I don\u2019t know where he is. Many of us would be happy to
\nstay here, at least, one would have been a nuisance to them, keeping any of us
\nin the prison.
\nMy\u00a0opinion is that if there is anybody that should be impeached, it is them who
\nare in the headquarters of corruption\u2014that is the headquarter of bad
\npolitics\u2014that is the headquarter of everything evil\u2014that is the headquarter. I
\nam not here to defend any Governor, because I am the Governor of Kano\u2014I can\u2019t
\ndefend anybody, I will not say somebody is right or wrong; but certainly you
\nshould put them on a balance. Everybody knows where the balance will tilt. We
\nhave cases of direct stealing of ballot boxes, cases of direct stealing
\nof crude oil\u2014look at what happened when our Emir (Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as CBN
\nGovernor) mentioned that $20 Billion was missing, instead of investigating the
\ncase, it was him who was being investigated; and of course, they wanted to send
\nhim to jail. But our God is wonderful, now he is the Emir of Kano\u2014and I don\u2019t
\nknow whether they are still contemplating that. So, all these issues are
\nissues that are of great concern to us and all our friends across the world.
\nNow, look at the case of Nasarawa\u2014it is even worst, but I think the people of
\nNasarawa now, especially, the young men have started doing the right thing.
\nThey are chasing the state Assembly members\u2014and I think they should chase them
\nto the Villa where they belong\u2014that is where they belong because I don\u2019t think
\nthey are protecting the people\u2019s interest in Nasarawa\u2014they steal want to
\nexploit the weakness of the Constitution\u2014since the Constitution is permitting
\n20 people to remove someone elected by millions of people as Governor. I don\u2019t
\nknow what that clause in the 1999 Constitution means, but they are using it
\nagainst the wish of the people. They are conniving with normal enemies to
\nremove APC Governors from their seats. I had wanted to go to Nasarawa\u2014you the
\nman (Governor Al-Makora) is a complete gentleman; and in this game, you have to
\nhave so many sights and faces\u2014a gentleman cannot be a good Governor. You cannot
\nbe a good Governor by just being a gentleman. We wanted to go there, we
\norganized. We mobilized people to go to Nasarawa and help them fight injustice,
\nbut he said, \u2018no, no, don\u2019t come.\u2019 We even begged him, we said okay, we are not
\nbringing all the foot soldiers, we want to come by ourselves\u2014in fact, a day
\nbefore we were to go there, he said, \u2018no, no, don\u2019t come.\u2019 What is the meaning
\nof that? You see, in this game, if you are dealing with mad people, you don\u2019t
\njust become a gentleman, you have to go out there and handle them as they are.
\nThis madness at Nasarawa, I am happy, the young men are taking the matter into
\ntheir hands\u2014that is what it should be because they are being insane; of course,
\nfor me, somebody who is leaving in glass houses, glasses everywhere, 100 per
\ncent glasses; and myself is leaving in a small window of glass\u2014you started
\nthrowing stones\u2014I will be very happy.<\/p>\n
\nin Kano?<\/strong> <\/em>
\nWell,\u00a0I want us to finish this democracy, at least, from now to 2015. They have been
\ntrying that\u2014you are aware they came here and collected all the principal
\nofficers and other members of the state House of Assembly; not because they
\nstole anything, but because they didn\u2019t want us to go and pass budget. The EFCC
\ncame dead in the night and started collecting them like criminals, they took
\nthem to Abuja; and we followed them, there was just no answer, nothing. At the
\nend of the day, I don\u2019t know what happened, they granted us bail\u2014and the case
\nis still in Court. It is not that they stole money, but we don\u2019t want them to
\ngo there again tomorrow. I have never seen this kind of thing anywhere\u2014where
\nauthorities came to the state, to collect people in the night\u2014elected state
\nlegislators, you took them to EFCC, you lock them there. Just recently, we have
\nthe same case, after we joined the APC, they came with one hawk. I think he is
\nfrom Kebbi, he was calling them to his house\u2014you know Kano is a great state, we
\nwant people to come and settle in Kano, but many of them are trying to become
\nenemies\u2014and Kano is so attractive. If you are from Kebbi, why can\u2019t you go
\nthere and talk about Kebbi, why don\u2019t you go there and start talking about
\nKebbi\u2014maybe, because Kebbi is so small that you cannot talk about it. They are
\nhere creating all sorts of trouble. They are meeting in his house discussing
\nall sorts of things; but God so kind by the time they started the meeting, they
\nwere already celebrating and they told Abuja that they have gotten the Speaker
\nand majority of the members\u2014that APC has got executive, PDP has now the
\nlegislature\u2014thinking that because they got the principal officers and gave them
\nmoney, everybody will follow. By the I called them, we had meeting on a Friday
\nwhich ran into Saturday; by Sunday, they put them in the aircraft and took them
\nto Abuja; by Monday morning, I told them to go and declare, and instead of 31
\nmembers for APC, we were now having 34! So, they have been trying, but we are
\npoliticians here and we have been in the game. I have been here, I have been
\nthere, I have been all over; and I have some doses now, dose\u2014you know dose, I
\nhave some junks, which when pressed, I will use it and I believe all
\npoliticians in my position do the same.
\nEven\u00a0General Buhari have said what I want to say now that I have never seen a
\nsituation like this where the biggest beneficiary of this democracy are the
\nones destroying it. You ask me who is happy\u2014I should be one of them, my people
\nshould be all happy, we have performed, we have done so many things that can
\nenable us to be happy; but unfortunately, we are not happy because of what they
\nare doing. Politics should not be seen as enmity, politics should be seen as
\nsomething that you have to destroy this or that. The very forces that they used
\nin Ekiti, they used in Adamawa, which they are now using in Nasarawa, I am sure
\nthey want to try it again in Osun. These are the forces that they would have
\nused in the North-eastern states. On Ekiti Election Day, the whole state was
\ntaken over and dominated. I don\u2019t think Ekiti is as big as Sambisa Forest\u2014you
\ngo and dominate there, why are you dominating an innocent state? And what they
\ndon\u2019t know is that the party taking seats by force from other states does not
\ngive them automatic success in 2015. In this state in 2011, I had no one
\ncounselor, I had no one Local Government Chairman, I had no Commissioner, I had
\nno Governor, even our friends who were suppose to help us from Abuja, didn\u2019t
\nbelieve in us, but we won election. So, if you take Ekiti, you go and take
\nNasarawa, you are forcing everybody\u2014take it\u2014Commander-in-Chief. And there is
\none advertisement on NTA\u2014it makes me very angry\u2014showing Commander-In-Chief
\nsmiling by this their transformation agenda ambassadors\u2014Nigeria turn, turn,
\nthese are faceless organization with headquarters in the Villa. They are
\nfaceless, who are they\u2014tell me, Commander-In-Chief. I use to know the
\ncredibility of the Nigerian military. I use to know how much they were respected
\neven outside the country\u2014now, where are the respects. I am happy Rochas
\nOkorocha is also advertising his own achievements. Tell me what the
\nCommander-In-Chief is doing. Things that we have not been seen on ground, we
\nare already seeing it in television, courtesy of technology. I hear some people
\nwanted to do one-million-match in Abuja, I can do 10-million match in Kano.
\nWhat is one million? Maybe, somebody advised them and it didn\u2019t take place;
\nbecause I had wanted to do 10-million-match in Abuja, take over and dominate
\neverywhere.<\/p>\n
\ndoubt in my mind can perform creditably. Look, I am conversant with that Villa
\nfor over 20 years now. From the days of my membership in the House of
\nRepresentatives as Deputy Speaker, I know what the Commander-In-Chief should be
\ndoing under these circumstances. Now, they are just using propaganda. Look at
\nthis Chibok girls, for three weeks, they were arguing\u2014where are the names, who
\nare they, where are the photographs; they didn\u2019t believe that over 200 children
\nwere abducted. Haba! Even if it is 20 tortoise or goats! Won\u2019t you look for
\nthem! One of the reasons why I love this country is that we have of high
\ncaliber in all the regions, in all the states. Look at my former colleague,
\nformer Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwezili. This is somebody who works in
\nthe World Bank, but now she has devoted her time. She is not from this part of
\nthe country, but she felt she had to take the bull by the horn and that is what
\nwe are seeing in developed countries\u2014fight injustice, save people, help them,
\nif you have the opportunity to do so. They sent some hawks to go and stop the
\nprotesters. The other I saw an advertisement while she is saying
\n\u2018BringBackOurGirls.\u2019 Some people are saying \u2018votes for us, we want to
\nstay and maintain the statusquo; look at my photograph, I am smiling.\u2019 And they
\ndon\u2019t know time is of essence.
\nYou\u00a0have insisted that these killings and spate of insecurity must stop as 2015
\nelections draw near. What do you think should be done to stop it?
\nYou\u00a0see, you are in 2011. Government was not paying salaries. They had no money to
\npay salary; I am not talking of programmes and projects. From 2011 to date,
\nsalaries are being paid as at when due. Projects are in progress. We have huge
\nprojects which ordinarily states that are getting as many times what we are
\ngetting cannot go and show that this is what they have done. Challawa and Tiga
\nDam project is costing us N14.2 billion and we are finishing it latest by
\nMarch. Look at this fly-over at Kofar Nasarawa, about a kilometer; look at the
\none near Radio Kano which we want to name Obasanjo Fly-over, look at the the
\none in Sabon Gari, two kilometers\u2014that one is costing over N11 Billion. Look at
\nWuju Wuju, almost N10 Billion, look at North-West University, look at five
\nkilometer road in 44 Local Government Areas, which is over 220 kilometre of
\ndualized roads with street lights, look at our institute numbering about 24 and
\nso on and so forth. We are not talking of education which is our trade-mark.
\nFree education for all levels from primary, secondary and tertiary, look at over
\n2000 of our sons and daughters studying abroad\u2014some are doing very expensive
\ncourses like piloting. In each one, we are spending over N10 million; and they
\nare in the best universities in the 14 countries in the world. Now, we are
\nsending the next batch of over 500 people. Look at law and order in Kano, look
\nat street lights, look at drainages. We have changed the attitude of Kano state
\npeople. We have no Almajiri here. I hope when those guys from this side of the
\ncountry finish their job in Abuja, they will send them to their Almajiri
\nschools. We don\u2019t have Almajiri here in Kano, what we have are Nigerians of
\nKano state origin who are ready to compete with anybody in this country. We
\ntold our children to go back to school, we don\u2019t want to see anybody on the
\nstreets of Kano, we can\u2019t see them. If we see them, we arrest them because we
\nhave a law covering us to do that. We have to help our people. Now, if
\nyou are asking me what are we going to do\u2014how did we do all these? You see, it
\nis just leadership, if you are a leader; you are a leader, you cannot just go
\nthere by mere saying that the right man is there\u2014everybody will cue up. It is
\nnot a matter of what you are going to do and what are you not going to do. Did
\nI tell the people what I was going to do when I was campaigning\u2014I don\u2019t need to
\ntell them because they know me; and when I came, I did it. Nobody is above the
\nlaw in Kano. Look at Achaba or Okada\u2014they were two million and today, where are
\nthey. Look at beggars, not only Almajiri, where are they? Everybody has gone
\nback to the drawing board; they have gone back to school. We are empowering
\npeople from these 24 institutes. So, you see, what we need is a very strong
\nleadership, strong leadership is what will stop all the nonsense in the North
\nand in the South; and we have to stop it. And these are things that should be
\ndone\u2014we have been telling them; look, get a way to negotiate\u2014negotiate with
\nthem, not using the uniform or your position as Commander-In-Chief.
\nAs\u00a0the Chief Security Officer of the state can you explain why we no longer see
\nthe Joint Task Force checkpoints on the streets?
\nThat\u00a0tells you that we are not insurgents; that tells you that we are not criminals.
\nYou see, you are talking of investors, when you block all the streets with
\nsoldiers, how can the investors come in. Everybody would have been complaining.
\nSo, we don\u2019t see them but those people who are on the other side know where
\nthey are; we don\u2019t know where they are, so I don\u2019t have to tell you.<\/p>\n
\nAkpabio of Akwa Ibom and Babangida Aliyu of Niger gave assurance that the<\/em><\/strong>
\ninsurgency will stop before December. Do you believe them?<\/em><\/strong>
\nWell,\u00a0I hope so. If they can finish it today, I will be happy and I think it will be
\nbetter. But that should come from the Commander-In-Chief. We should see all
\nthat on the ground. You don\u2019t give such assurance arbitrarily. Now, we are
\nlooking for $1 billion and I don\u2019t think they will be in a hurry to do anything
\nwithout collecting that money. So, these are serious issues, serious deadlines
\nthat should come from better places; not the Governor of this, or the Governor
\nof that who don\u2019t have the police, you don\u2019t have the SSS, you don\u2019t have the
\nmilitary\u2014and you are the one coming to tell the world that by December, it will
\nbe over; I hope they will finish it next week; but we want serious people to
\nsay it, not a Governor who is controlling a small portion of the country.<\/p>\n
\nyour successor?<\/strong>
\nYou\u00a0see, I am one of the lucky politicians who have worked very hard over the years
\nbecause I don\u2019t believe in luck alone; and along the line I met so many people.
\nI am lucky I have so many of them and I am conversant with all of them that are
\nqualified and competent enough with all the integrity to become the Governor of
\nKano state. Of course, just recently, we have other people coming from other
\nparties, that are the legacy parties, we have people there. So, it is not a
\nmatter of where can you get. God decides all these things and ours is just to
\nimplement. But the happiness is that we have a reservoir of high quality people
\nthat can manage the affairs of Kano state. Many of them have been tested in terms
\nof reality and hard work. This time is for us to finish our projects and
\ncomplete them before 2015 and that is where we are. When we get to the river,
\nwe will cross it.
\nHow\u00a0do you feel about the appointment of the new Inspector-General of Police?
\nI\u00a0am happy that our son has been appointed the IGP. He is from Jigawa and I know
\nthat he recorded most of his success as a Police man here in Kano. I hope he
\nshould work hard and honestly, he should be committed to change the direction
\nof the police. They should police with difference, police should be for all of
\nus, police should protect us, police should be neutral during election and that
\nis how we know democracy. By the time you now start sharing police that these
\nones are from these region, these ones are for the other party, all of this
\nwill bring crisis, because by the time you are stealing victory from Mr. A and
\ngiving it to Mr. B, you know that Mr. A will not respect you. I want to appeal
\nto all of them to always go by the rule of engagement, they should always
\nrespect themselves, and that is the only way for the police as an institution
\nto be respected by all. I think that is what the new IG should be doing and I
\nwish him well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"