First civilian Governor of Kaduna State and Presidential candidate of the
\ndefunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Alhaji Abdulkadiri Balarabe Musa,
\nin his characteristic way of x-raying the government of the country took a
\nswipe on the federal government controlled by the All Progressives
\nCongress (APC); he declared that APC cannot succeed in the war against
\ncorruption because the leaders are corrupt. Musa further said the former
\nPresident Goodluck Jonathan saved Nigeria in the 2015 General Elections.
\nHe unequivocally stated that the APC spent more money that the Peoples
\nDemocratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 General Elections in winning the
\nPresident.<\/p>\n
Q: THE general elections have come and gone, what is your perception of
\nthe current state of the nation?
\nA: Well, first and foremost, it has been mixed feelings since after the
\nelections. Yes, it was good we had the elections otherwise the story would
\nhave been different. Nigeria would have been in a terrible situation if
\nthe elections did not hold. What saved us was President Goodluck Jonathan
\nwho conceded defeat and congratulated Buhari, the winner.\u00a0 But then, the
\nrest of the issues, which is the state of the nation, are still negative
\nin all respects. Nothing has changed; things still remained the same in
\nthis country. The 2015 election does not have any promise to Nigerians. If
\nyou are one of those Nigerians that rely on wishful thinking, you can say
\nthe election has some promises for you but I don’t think so. Take for
\nexample the inaugural statement of President Muhammadu Buhari, he said he
\nhas not promised to do anything. His speech was too ritualistic, the same
\nwords we have been hearing from past leaders, be it civilian or military.
\nHis statement was not qualitative enough to convince Nigerians that
\nsomething different has come.\u2028He said in his speech\u00a0 \u201cI will improve
\non education,\u201d So what? Past leaders have told us that before but did they
\nimprove the education in the country? The question is how are you going to
\nimprove on education? Nigerians need specific road map and targets; I mean
\nqualitative targets like declaring that education from primary to tertiary
\nlevel is now free not a blanket speech that holds nothing for anybody. I
\nvery much doubt it.<\/p>\n
Q: Your wish for this country has always been free, fair and credible
\nelections, how will you describe the 2015 general elections?<\/p>\n
A: This is the ridiculous thing that happened and that is why I remain
\ncritical. The 2015 elections were actually peaceful if you compare it with
\nother elections yet we recorded deaths and other social disorders.
\nNigerians expected worst things than what happened in the 2011 general
\nelections but it didn’t happen because nobody cared about the elections.
\nOnly very few Nigerians cared and participated. Out of 70 million
\nregistered voters, only 28 million cared to go and vote; and out of the 28
\nmillion only 15 million voted for the President; 55 million never cared to
\ngo and vote. The level of apathy was very high. It shows that the people
\ndid not even care for the elections. Informed Nigerians, especially the
\nmedia, didn’t take that into account in assessing the real situation but
\nthat was what happened. How do you claim free, fair and transparent
\nelections in a situation when out of 70 million registered voters only 15
\nmillion actually voted for the President, yet, you claim this is free,
\nfair and transparent election? There was also the deciding role of money
\npower that took place during the elections. It was money power that
\ndecided who won the elections.<\/p>\n
Q: If you said money played a major role, one would have expected the
\nincumbent to be at an advantage as a sitting President. How did it
\nhappen?<\/p>\n
A: Both parties displayed money power during the elections. Both PDP and
\nAPC used unimaginable sum of money during the elections. I stand to be
\ncorrected; it may interest you that APC used more money than PDP. It was
\ntheir money that decided the winner. The only thing, I believe and I know
\nit has been proven to be so, is that PDP for strategic reasons decided to
\nwithdraw from power and let APC take over and grapple with the problems in
\nthe country because PDP has failed woefully to tackle the problems. One of
\nthe reasons they decided to let go power was because they know that if PDP
\nhad won the elections, Nigeria’s situation today would have been
\ndifferent. That was why instead of venturing into the looming danger, PDP
\npreferred to wait and fight another day. They are already talking of
\nreturning in 2019.\u2028When taken into account, the fundamental reality,
\nAPC did not really defeat PDP in the 2015 elections. PDP tactically
\nwithdrew and merely allowed APC to take over. PDP knows that if they had
\nreturned, there would have been massive violence in all the northern
\nstates. Remember what happened in the North during the campaign for 2011
\nelections. The media is not really educating the people on the true
\nsituation of things. Remember the incidents after the 2011 Presidential
\nelections, particularly, in the North West, North East and some parts of
\nNorth Central, PDP leaders were attacked openly and their property
\ndestroyed in large scale.\u00a0 There was an inquiry by the Federal Government
\nand at the end, the Federal Government compensated PDP leaders throughout
\nthe North heavily after those who were involved in the anarchy were
\narrested and investigated. The Federal Government knew who were
\nresponsible in organizing that 2011 post-Presidential election violence
\nbut nothing happened to those that were arrested, instead they were paid
\nheavy compensation by the PDP government. PDP government couldn’t take any
\naction against the organizers of that violence because they were preparing
\nto hand over power in 2015. They knew that and some of us knew it
\ntoo.<\/p>\n
Q: Before the 2015 elections, it was reported that the group you led split
\nover who to support, Jonathan or Buhari, how did you manage that?<\/p>\n
A: No, there was no split. We had National Executive Committee meeting in
\nUyo, Akwa Ibom State, and decided through voting. 26 states voted in
\nfavour of the PDP at the Presidency while other voted for APC for the
\npresidency. We also agreed that states’ leaders should decide on whom they
\nwill support in their respective states.<\/p>\n
Q: Now that Buhari is in charge, do you think he can solve the problems of
\nthis country?<\/p>\n
A: No! I don’t think so. No single person can do it in Nigeria without a
\nrevolution. It is not just Buhari but anybody. Even I cannot handle the
\nsituation without a revolution. When I say a revolution I mean fundamental
\nchange. For instance, you have to change the social, economic and
\npolitical systems controlling all developments in this country and the
\nleadership produced by the system.\u2028From one base to another,
\nself-interest first; to one base on public interest first. You have to
\nbring about that change. You have to change the economic system. In the
\nsystem now, public interest has been relegated to third. To change it
\neffectively, we have to bring the leadership of the state in the economy
\nto ensure peace, equality, justice and dignity of the human person and
\nprogressing even development in the whole country. Is Buhari prepared for
\nthat? Can you effect such change without a revolution? We have a situation
\nwhere the rich and powerful that are so mindless, selfish and so
\nentrenched that they will oppose everything to bring about this leadership
\nof the state in the economy. \u2028Take for instance, the present
\ncontroversy at the National Assembly where members are demanding wardrobe
\nallowance amounting to N9 billion. Wardrobe allowance means clothing
\nallowance for each senator will have over N21 million while House of
\nRepresentatives will have over N17 million. When you have leaders like
\nthis, produced by a system based on self-interest, how can you change the
\nreality without a revolution because those who are enriching themselves
\nwill resist any change and it can be violent. The change we want must be
\nrevolutionary in nature. So, the way it is now, Buhari has no answer to
\nNigeria’s problems.<\/p>\n
Q: APC promised Nigerians that they have come to fight and eradicate
\ncorruption. Do you think APC can achieve this?<\/p>\n
A: How can you fight corruption with corrupt leadership? It is not
\npossible. You cannot do it because you are also corrupt. They are not free
\nfrom being corrupt. About 80 per cent of APC and PDP leaders are all
\nbefore the three anti-corruption agencies, ICPC, EFCC and Code of Conduct.
\nSo, you can see that they cannot fight corruption because they are
\ncorrupt.\u2028Are you saying that the present APC leadership is
\ncorrupt?\u2028Was PDP leadership corrupt? The answer is yes, it was; and
\n70 to 80 per cent of the APC leadership now came from the PDP. Invariably,
\nwhat we have today is not APC but PDP one (1) and PDP two (2). Now, APC
\nhas the majority in the Senate yet they couldn’t elect APC Senate
\nPresident without the support of PDP. So, it is clear that they have now
\nstarted working together.\u2028The APC which defeated PDP yesterday is
\ntoday working with the PDP and rely on PDP to perform, what do you expect.
\nNothing will change without a fundamental change and a fundamental change
\nin this case means revolution, I hope when it comes, it will be peaceful.
\nWith this outrageous demand of wardrobe allowance, Nigerians can
\norganise themselves in such a way that National Assembly after they have
\npassed the law or at the process of passing the law, Nigerians can act
\nwithin their constitutional right to remove such bad
\ngovernment.\u2028Many people don’t know how this mindless corrupt system
\ncame to be\u00a0 in Nigeria. After the election in 1979, that is the Second
\nRepublic, members of the National Assembly led by Joseph Wayas, who was
\nthe Senate President then, demanded the right to fix their own
\nremunerations. Shehu Shagari, who was the President then, saw the danger
\nin it and he told them that he was against it but the senators insisted.
\nSo, when we had the National Economic Council meeting which was made up of
\nstate governors, vice president etc., after the meeting, President Shagari
\ncame to us and said he needed our help. He told us that he called for a
\ndinner and the senators refused to attend because they were angry with him
\nbecause he refused to allow them to fix their remuneration. So, that is
\nwhy he needed our help and we told him that we have no alternative but to
\nhelp him because if he allows them at the federal level, members of the
\nstate House of Assembly will do same to us.\u2028In spite of the sharp
\ndifference between the parties, especially the NPN and the UPN, we came
\ntogether for our own common interest to support the President.\u00a0 A
\ncommittee of governors was formed to advise the President. At the end, we
\nrecommended maximum remuneration for all public officers both politicians
\nand civil servants. We submitted our recommendations to the President
\nwhich he presented at a press conference but that did not go down well
\nwith the National Assembly members as they came up with war against the
\nPresident and the governors. They threatened to remove the President. They
\nwere callous and vicious. At the end, President Shagari allowed them to
\ndecide their own remuneration and that was what opened the floodgate of
\ncorruption in Nigeria today.\u2028I don’t know whether Buhari was aware
\nof this history because he was not a politician but he needs to be aware
\nof this as a leader. Now, is he going to allow himself to suffer the
\nconsequences Shagari suffered as a result of failure to contain the greed
\nof the members of the National Assembly? We are not just talking the
\nholistic of their remuneration, which is up to 10 items, but we are only
\ntalking about one item. Now, should Buhari allow it after knowing that the
\nroot of the NPN problem where he could not perform was because he could
\nnot restrain the National Assembly from demanding and getting what they
\nwanted?<\/p>\n
Q: Barely one month now, President Buhari has not been able to form the
\nFederal Executive Council, what do you think is responsible to this?<\/p>\n
A: Nobody can be comfortable with the level of arrangement so far,
\nparticularly, when I can see the kind of coordination in a negative sense
\nbetween the center and the state, just as the president could not
\nconstitute his federal executive council, so also the states have not.
\nThat means there is a conspiracy otherwise it will not happen like this.
\nIt is disappointing, particularly, at the federal level. Buhari is not new
\nin this position. He was military Head of State. Before even being sworn
\nin, he should have known who to appoint as ministers and also announced
\nthem within two days after inauguration but this has not happened. Why it
\nhas not happened I don’t know but I pray it is not the beginning of
\nincompetence.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the implication of the delay in executive appointments?<\/p>\n
A: The danger in this is that foreign countries will not do business with
\nhim, knowing that he has no team. Then, those that decide to deal with him
\nwill be taking risk and they know it. Secondly, the country will doubt its
\ndirection because even in Nigeria, businessmen will be interested in the
\nministers they are going to be dealing with but they don’t know. The delay
\nhas shown that something is wrong with the leadership.
\nCulled From National Daily<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First civilian Governor of Kaduna State and Presidential candidate of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Alhaji Abdulkadiri Balarabe Musa, in his characteristic way of x-raying the government of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive","category-interviews"],"yoast_head":"\n