SOKOTO SUFFERING FROM LEADERSHIP POVERTY – ABUBAKAR AINU, CHAIRMAN, CPC
How do you describe the politics of Sokoto State?
Sokoto State used to produce good leaders right from the jihad up to the Sir Ahmadu Bello and Shehu Shagari days. But this time around, we are in serious poverty of leadership. Our leaders are not at all the leaders that Sokoto State is supposed to produce. We are in a mess and we have to correct it.
How prepared are you for 2011?
We are prepared. Honestly speaking, we have very credible people in our party.
Do you have what it takes to win?
Yes. Since 2007 when the PDP took over till date, no project has been commissioned by this government. At the same time, Governor Wamakko indicted all his local government chairmen. He would go to a local government and tell the chairman that he gave him one billion naira but that he did not see N100 million project. That is indictment from a governor. Telling people to vote for that kind of government is stupid. They are deceiving themselves. The governor himself is telling us that his people are thieves. I don't think we have a problem. We started small but we are growing. There is a local government that has five commissioners, but they cannot win a seat. They also have their internal crisis. I suspect that even the governor knows he cannot win an election.
Let him tell himself the truth.
We have the structure in all the 23 local governments and 247 wards. We received a lot of people who have decamped from other parties. Some commissioners and some house of assembly members are meeting with us. I just want you to see the situation of things in this government. It is a situation whereby you are in a government, but you are fighting that government. They who are with the government do not believe in what the government is doing.
One of the issues opposition leaders usually raise is that they were rigged out of power. What are you people doing to ensure it does not happen?
Our great leader, Genaral Muhammadu Buhari tells us that if Bauchi can reform themselves, Lagos can reform themselves, Kano can reform themselves, why is Sokoto not reforming? We are the first people in West Africa that started uprising against injustice. It is in our blood. All we need to do is mobilize the people. We are the producers of Uthman dan Fodio, Shehu Usman came and stopped dictators. About all of West Africa and Central, he fought against them and won.
If we have that legacy, that history, I don't think this time, we are going to deceive ourselves. We are people-oriented, like Buhari. We know this time we are going to succeed.
That rigging you are talking about has a limit and we know the problems and we know how to succeed. They denied us education but God educated us so anybody in the streets can analyse the Nigerian situation. I think we inherited the gift to fight corruption and injustice. We are going to fight them.
CPC is for independent minded people. CPC is a party of ideology.