Sir, you are the elected Governor of Yobe State in the North East, and your party, the APC, has zoned the seat of the senate president to the zone. However, Senators Ahmad Lawan, Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje have indicated interests to vie for the office. Do you not think some will say there is no cooperation among your party’s leaders in the region?
As you are aware, the party has already endorsed the Senate Leader, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, as its preferred candidate. What is expected of every loyal party member is to support the position of the party in this regard. However, we have seen Sen. Ali Ndume who has also declared his ambition; and there are speculations surrounding the ambition of Sen. Danjuma Goje who is yet to formally declare his ambition to contest for the office. That party had been magnanimous to zone the office to the North East and went further to endorse Sen. Lawan; there is obviously wisdom in the party’s decision and choice of Ahmad Lawan, so the two other senators are expected to accept and reason along the party’s decision in the interest of unity, democracy, the North East and party supremacy.
The reason is simple: apart from the party, other key stakeholders, including governors, returning and newly elected senators, party chieftains, youth and women groups across Nigeria have equally endorsed the decision of the party in supporting Sen. Lawan for President of the 9th Senate.
When you receive such support from these stakeholders, it demonstrates the strength of the party and the popularity of its decisions. As a stakeholder myself, I want to personally appreciate the governors, members of the National Assembly, party chieftains and other organisations for their respect for the party structure and leadership. This gives us hope that our democracy is growing. Most importantly, the North East had in the last 10 years suffered unprecedented onslaught by insurgency; this is the time for us to recover by coming together to get Sen. Lawan to the saddle. Borno and Yobe are one and the same thing, and what goes to Yobe is as good as going to Borno.
It is the same for Gombe where Sen. Goje comes from. The benefit will also accrue to Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa, the whole of the North and Nigeria at large. Looking at our experience in the last four years, the frosty executive-legislative relationship did not help the APC-led Federal Government. It was a disaster characterised by deliberate sabotage to see President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration failing to execute its policies and programmes. Budgets, bills and confirmation of appointees were deliberately delayed and withheld to make the government incapacitated.
With this in mind, no reasonable party would want a repeat of such disaster; it has to take a position to ensure the election of credible and competent officers for the National Assembly to support the executive to execute the party’s campaign promises to Nigerians. The opposition PDP, including some APC members, see the decision as an attempt to impose leadership on the National Assembly
What is your reaction to this?
It is natural that the opposition party will make such baseless allegation because they benefit from any possible division within APC; just like they did in 2015. They are hoping for another crack in the ruling party for them to take advantage of it. But let me assure you that they will be disappointed this time because the perceived reservation would soon be sorted out. APC senators will soon sort themselves out to remain a one united family. Assuming the ruling APC allows the contest without a sense of direction, we would be accused of indiscretion. Some people would pour all sorts of insult on us; that we didn’t learn from the mistakes of 2015. I strongly believe those accusing the party of taking a position are just being mischievous. It may interest you to note that it is an established norm in advanced democracies that the ruling party shows interest in who occupies what office to effectively implement the party’s manifesto.
The political parties throw their weight behind competent and capable candidates for the leadership of the assemblies. In fact, it is the best standard practice for political parties to strategise and adopt a common front in presenting their candidates for offices in the legislative assemblies. Party supremacy is key in decision making on all issues involving the party to foster unity, maintain discipline and promote democracy.
Therefore, we should always consider decisions taken by the party to be in the best interest of its members and the country. We should also remember that the senators contested on the platform of the party. They owe the party the desired loyalty and respect and, not to allow personal ambitions to supersede our collective interest. I wish to take this opportunity to once again commend the stakeholders who stick to and support the party. Their contributions to actualise the party’s wishes for a credible leadership that will support President Muhammadu Buhari’s strive to improve the lives of Nigerians is highly commendable.
But despite the party’s endorsement of Sen. Lawan, Sen. Ndume is insisting to contest. How effective is the party’s supremacy and its grip on its members? You may wish to know that the idea of Sen. Ahmed Lawan contesting the senate presidency was initiated by his colleagues who felt he has the prerequisite for a meaningful and purposeful leadership of the senate. The APC senators, in appreciation of the role played by the senate leader in stabilising the National Assembly APC caucus at a time when Sen. Bukola Sarki led the defection of some senators from APC to PDP, and the senate leader exhibited excellent leadership skills that promoted robust relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government, decided to adopt him. This in addition to his experience in legislation and exposure, making him a better choice hence his endorsement by the party.
The party’s concern is equally important because of the need to have a focused leadership. A leadership that is vibrant, independent and supportive of the ideals of the party. I am confident that negotiations would be intensified and Senators Ndume and Goje will reconsider their positions, respect the party’s decision to have a united position and support the election of Ahmed Lawan as Senate President of the 9th Assembly. What measures will you suggest APC should adopt to avoid a repeat of the 2015 experience? First of all, the vicious and desperate ambition for the senate leadership in 2015 does not exist now. Secondly, the betrayal by party members in 2015 is no longer in vogue. This time, more vibrant, committed and patriotic lawmakers have been elected, replacing some of those who went against the party. I am confident that the party will be approaching the National Assembly leadership elections with a united front. Similarly, there is a general understanding that the unnecessary antagonistic disposition of the National Assembly leadership against the presidency was counter-productive and did not do anybody any good.
The internal political wrangling was regrettable, unprofitable and unproductive. This affected delivery of dividends of democracy to Nigerians negatively. The consequences also affected the political fortunes of many politicians badly and the lost their re-election bids. It was in view of this terrible experience that the party rose promptly to endorse Sen. Lawan for a healthy, strong and robust working relationship between the executive and legislature.
You are a few days away from being sworn in as the Governor of Yobe State. What will be the priority areas of your government? The slogan of our campaign is “Continuity and consolidation”. We will continue and consolidate the achievements of the outgoing administration. The Gaidam administration has laid a good foundation in healthcare delivery, road construction, education, agriculture, youth and women empowerment and ensured prompt payment of salaries, pension and gratuity. These would be consolidated to serve the people better. Government will also explore and exploit agricultural and mineral potentials in the state to stimulate the economy, improve revenue and provide employment opportunities.
We will equally explore areas of Public Private Partnership (PPP) to invest in allied ventures. Yobe State has a lot of potentials that stimulate the economy to grow. We will explore these opportunities. We have seen situations where successors and predecessors disagree over issues, how immune are you from this tendency? I have spoken on this on several occasions. Insha Allah we shall have a government of continuity and consolidation. We have come a long way; what you are seeing in Yobe is a product of intensive prayers and fear of God.
Ours would be a government that would expand the legacy policies and programmes of the Gaidam administration to further improve the lives of our people. Nobody can take his wealth of experience away from him, and we have every reason to tap from his guidance to effectively serve our people and take the state to higher greatness. Are you not shocked following the recent story that Yobe is one of the eight solvent states in the country? The governor effectively managed the little resources at his disposal to serve the purpose of government, and Insha Allah, we would continue from where he would stop. My biggest joy is that the template for good governance has been established and we will strive to sustain it so that posterity will judge us positively. Related 9th Assembly: Group storms NASS, asks Goje to declare for Senate presidency Inside ‘mad dash’ for Senate presidency Ninth Assembly: APC recommends Lawan for Senate Presidency Dear Esteemed reader, As part of our drive to keep improving the content of our newspaper, we are conducting a readership survey to enable us serve you better. Kindly take two minutes of your time to fill in this questionnaire. Thank you for your time.
Daily Trust
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