Decamp To PDP And Commit Political Suicide, Kwankwaso Warns Nuhu Ribadu
Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, Govdernor of Kano state and staunch political rival to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan spoke to reporters in his office condemning the alleged plot by the presidency to impose a new Constitution on Nigerians through the National Conference. He also spoke on the resolve of his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) to sack the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Aso Rock come 2015. Pointblanknews.com recorded the interview.
What is your view on the latest rumbles in the National Conference over endorsement of a new Constitution?
In my last chat with you, when I mentioned the issue of new constitution and the Confab, many people thought it was a joke; but this is a very bitter reality. Today (Wednesday), immediately after Council meeting, I received so many calls from northern delegates attending the National Conference in Abuja that the issue of new Constitution 2014 is now a reality in the Confab. Of course, all people who love this country and really understand the situation we are today; and the likely consequences of another brand new Constitution which Villa wants to use to start eight years, beginning from 2015; certainly, it is a very dangerous development.
Let me take this opportunity to thank all those who have rejected the issue of new constitution, let also take the opportunity to thank the National Assembly because they were the ones that have received earlier plan, earlier efforts by those at the Villa to have one single term of six years beginning from 2015, which they rejected. Now, in a way of trying to succeed, they are smuggling it into the Confab. Now, I believe that the delegates, whether from the North or from the South, whether they are Christians or Muslims, whether Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or any other tribe should help in rejecting that Constitution, because that will not help in this country, it will not help the orphans and it will not help anybody in this country. That is why we told our delegates very clearly that they should owe a duty for this country by rejecting that new Constitution. We have seen some of the things contained in the new Constitution, especially, they are on the papers, the issue of six-year single term has already resurfaced after it was kicked out like polio and Ebola by the National Assembly. And the issue of 50 per cent derivation, the scrapping of 774 Local Governments, listing additional 18 states, and limiting of Ministers to 18. The only good thing that I saw here is the limiting of Ministers to 18.
Now, we only hope that those who are pretending to be representing us there in Abuja will have no place when they will come back or remain there in Abuja, we will send them to the Almajiri schools that were being built by Jonathan. And I believe that all of us should come and join hands and save this country. It is difficult to know their thinking in Abuja; I think they are too much, too high in the air, they don't know what is happening on the ground. The story of the higher it goes, the cooler it becomes, maybe, it applies to the situation in Abuja today. T hose that are very high are in very cool atmosphere, while the masses, the people of this country are very much suffering from poverty. Illiteracy is killing this part of the country; and of course, the issue of insecurity. Every day, people are being killed and maimed, everyday, properties are being destroyed. As we are sitting here, displaced Nigerians in Borno are now taking refuge in the forest, many of them are in Cameroon, many are in Chad, and also thousands are in Niger Republic; now what we are talking here is to extend the tenure of Jonathan to life presidency! It is very sad that this thing is happening now and I am one of those that have travelled across the world or have the opportunity to read a lot; the Nigeria's history, geography and of course, political situation across the world. What is happening today in Nigeria, if 10 per cent of it can happen anywhere, that leadership cannot stand; and it is very dangerous for all of us. We are very happy here with what we are doing for the people of the state; but we are very angry because we have read the minds of our people because they are not happy with what Villa is doing, we have never seen anything like this from this part of the country; and they seem not to care, they seem not to understand, they are very busy in the air, working for themselves and helping themselves to steal forever. I always remind people that when the offspring happened in the Northeast, little did many people know that one day, it will come to this part of the country. We have it here, it is also in the North-Central, and now it is crossing over to the South. I am sure that you are aware that some parts of this country now have flags other than green-white-green. This is terribly ugly and unprecedented. It is up to us to appeal to our delegates and Nigerians to resist the temptation of the so-called dollars people are distributing in Abuja to come and save this country. Any Constitution rather than the 1999 Constitution should be rejected because any thing less than that is an instrument designed by those who think it will help them, but it will not.
As a major player in the opposition, what steps are you likely to take to ensure that this new Constitution does not see the light of the day?
One of the steps is what we are doing here. We want to make our position very clear to them and the entire world, especially, our friends across the world that we believe that what is happening now is very dangerous not only in Nigeria, but for our neighbours; and I believe the consequences will cut across the continent. That is why I thought I should take this opportunity to appeal to all Nigerians to shun away from the division tendency that we are seeing from Abuja. The division of North and South, the division of Christians and Muslims, the division on the issue of tribe, division everywhere. That is the keyword. The keyword now is divide-and-rule, and I don't think that will help. And from the information I have which is not correct–that many people are saying those who are not supporting the new Constitution are the minorities and that whether they like it or not, tomorrow, they will push it to Nigerians; and the next thing is to start kangaroo referendum. They will cook the figures like they did in Ekiti and force themselves on us. I don't think that is good enough. I appreciate the elasticity of Nigerians, but I think that elasticity has a limit. When you keep on pulling and pulling, there will come a time when it will not take anymore. That is why I think the good people of this country should speak because some of the consequencies, as many people are now seeing will affect everybody.
Your party, the APC just won the Osun governorship election. What do you think your victory is signaling ahead 2015 general elections?
Well, my party has been elections. My opinion and the opinion of my party is that we won the Ekiti governorship election; and I think that is why the party is in court. The experience that we had in Ekiti worked for us in Osun because people came en mass and defended their votes and that is exactly what is going to happen in 2015. People will vote, and not only vote, they will stay and defend their votes. Let me thank the social media. Those who have cooperated with us and those who have supported us as a party and that made it very very difficult for anybody to change the real figures. I they had done that in Ekiti, I am sure they wouldn't have had the chance to rig us out. But to us, the Ekiti experience is a lesson; and also that of Osun, we have learnt from our mistakes. INEC is improving and I hope the security agencies should also improve. We always tell them that instead of militarizing Ekiti and Osun with mass security agents, they should go to southern Borno and do their job there so that we can have free and fair elections and also on the other hand, have a peaceful country. So, we are happy that people of Osun and Ekiti came en mass to vote for APC, and I am sure, given an opportunity again, especially in Adamawa where they want to use the executive power from Abuja to force Nyako out of office because of his opinion, I believe that when the election comes, people will come out en mass and support APC so that we can have peaceful Northeast, free from what we are seeing now as emergency in the state and other states in the Northeast, so that people can continue their normal businesses, people can come down from the rocks and hills and forests to go to their towns and villages. In that part of the country nobody is talking about education, nobody is talking about agriculture, nobody is talking about business, people are talking about survival—what to eat and how to see tomorrow. These are the things that, by the grace of God, APC will provide in 2015.
From what is happening, there are indications that 2015 may be violent. What are your prayers?
Our prayers are not only about 2015. We are also praying for this president to take the ship to the shores of 2015. I think we are more concerned about that because the way things are going now, the wayh people are dying, the way people are being kicked out of their homes; when we are seeing the picture, I believe it is not the best; and I believe that Nigerians are being taken for granted. And we hope that 2015 is going to be peaceful and we will do everything possible to ensure that it is peaceful from our own end because we believe that everybody wants a united Nigeria where an Igbo man will continue to stay in Kano. You know here in Kano, we have what we call New Enugu. If you go close to airport, you will see a whole area that we called New Enugu. It is looking like any part of Abuja. We are very happy that we have them here; and we hope one day, we will have New Kano in Enugu, New Kano in Port Harcourt, New Sokoto in Adamawa, and so on and so forth. Here we are working to integrate our people, here we are together as Muslims and Christians, Hausa, Igbos, Yorubas–we are one and the same. We are all Nigerians. That is what we want in this country and that is the best way we can have peace. Otherwise, by the time every party like they are doing begins to divide, I don't think that it will be good. During democracy, all this tendencies tend to go down; while unity of people based on political parties will come up and that is why I preach that we all should see ourselves as brothers irrespective of our religion or where we come from.
There are speculations that former chairman of EFCC; Nuhu Ribadu is about defecting to the PDP. Can you confirm this and what is your party doing to stop him?
Well, I have heard the rumour and we read it in newspapers and watch it on the television; and I don't want to believe that that is correct or that is true. But I want to say that if that becomes a reality–it is, indeed, a big disappointment for Nigerians. People ordinarily will think that my brother, Nuhu Ribadu is a principled person; somebody with good ideology, somebody who is progressive; somebody who is always working towards the unity of this country; and above all, I remember during his days as the chairman of EFCC, he has done so much to deal with corruption. As we are moving deep into democracy, water is taking its level, people are moving in and out of parties, meaning that people with similar ideologies are coming together; unlike 1998/99 when we were forming parties to deal with the military and install democracy, everybody from all ideological tendencies came together. Now that we have gone deep into democracy, we are looking at our shoulders to say who is close to who and who is on the other side; and that was why some of us left the PDP to join our brothers and sisters who have the same ideology with us–and that is to bring about the desired change in this country. Now, for him who was, in my opinion, in the right place and together with the progressives, if he should just leave because he is looking for position or he is looking for a ticket to contest election, I don't think that is good for him and I don't think that is good for the country. At the end of the day, if that happens, God forbid, he will be the biggest loser. He will lose because he joined a group that most of them were jailed by him. I don't think they will ever want to see him there but in politics, there is this accommodation of people that they will bring you close, raise you up and dump you. At the end of the day, they will laugh at you and say, look at him now. If Ribadu is joining PDP, whether he wins election or not, he will be the biggest loser. People can't believe that all what we said about him was completely wrong. The biggest punishment for a politician is for him to be in a wrong place; because if he goes there, by the time they are talking about how to share $20 billion, I don't think he will be happy if he is the kind of person I use to know; unless he was just deceiving all of us. I don't think Nuhu Ribadu will make that mistake because if he does, it will be the biggest political mistake of his life.
Somebody like Fani Kayode is gone from APC, now it is Nuhu Ribadu. What have you done to stop Ribadu and does it not worry you that people considered to be highly placed in the APC are defecting at this time?
Well, it doesn't worry me at all. It is something that we should expect. I wasn't in APC. I left PDP because I realized it was not a place that I should be; and that was why I moved. And of course those who were in ACN, CPC, ANPP and APGA who are now in APC, they would have moved and don't forget we are dealing with a government that has accumulated so much money to the extent that they see everybody and attach price tag on him. I believe that not everybody will be on this side and stay long including your humble self—and maybe, they don't know you, otherwise, when they start dangling some dollars, you begin to wonder whether you stay or go. That is not the issue; the issue I believe is the people. The issue is the people. Some of us are lucky in the sense that we have so many people behind us. So, we are so heavy that it is not issue for us to be flying from one pole to another. And once we decide to do it, we do all the arithmetic, we do all the calculations that are necessary so that we can go with almost 100 per cent and that is what we have done here in Kano. So, there is limitation, but those who align to it–it is very simple because they believe that there wives and children are behind them. It is very easy for them to change position. You see, in politics, you don't sit down and start looking around and be chasing luck—where can I get it? Create it! stay where you are and work hard. You don't have to win elections all the time. I contested elections 12 times (including primary and secondary elections), and I lost one–that is the general election of 2003. It was a big lesson to me. I learnt so much, I was humbled and I am very proud of that particular election—one out of 12; because I believe any politician who has never won election or never lost election or only had one—that to me is not a complete politician—you need to win, you need to lose election; with that, you have to know how to manage success, you will have to know how to manage failure. And we cannot do anyone of them, if you are not lucky to find yourself in both experiences. That is the position under which I believe that we will continue to work together as progressives so as to make this country better for all of us.
What is the APC doing to sustain political jibes from the ruling party via impeachment of APC governors using the state Houses of Assembly?
It is unfortunate that so many mistakes are being made by the leadership of our party in Adamawa state. They got it very easy there; and that is why they wanted to replicate the same thing using security agencies, using money, using all sorts of things—intimidation, blackmail. I am happy that it failed in Nasarawa state; and I want to congratulate the young men and women who have decided to chase away the state Assembly members. I am very happy that they chased them out and I hope they chased them far to where they belong—that is the Villa. That is good for them because I don't believe that they have the state in mind, I don't believe that they have the country in mind. What they want was what they saw in Adamawa. Now, if you have to amend the constitution of Nigeria, I think the people should check this area of the state Assembly impeaching governors for themselves. A Speaker in his own is sacking a governor who was elected by over 20 Local Government Areas, go give to himself who was elected by only one Local Government Area! I think these are the things that should be changed in the Constitution at the appropriate time—I mean these weaknesses that Abuja is exploiting. So, I hope this does not work anywhere because people are beginning to call the man (President Jonathan) Mr. Impeacher; and that is not a good name for somebody at that level. There are many other issues in addition to that. Look at what is happening in Edo state, look at what is happening in Rivers state. As long as you are an APC Governor, you are standing the risk of being attacked by the EFCC, security agents, just because you are not in PDP; but no matter how big a crook is in PDP, he is being sheltered, he is being protected—everybody is behind him, he is getting the clap that he should continue, that he is doing well; and that is why many people, especially with those tendencies cannot stand any other place rather the under them for protection.
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