Kano State Governor Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, in this interview with SADIQ ABDULATEEF, lays bare the intrigues and power play that trailed the controversial election of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). He insists that the winner of the election, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, will not abandon the mandate without their say so.
Please give us insight into how this Governors Forum thing started, and why the choice of Governor Amaechi?
I had the chance to be a governor in 1999 when this Fourth Republic started. And I am also happy to say that I participated actively in electing our first chairman, the governor of Nassarawa State, Alhaji Abdulahhi Adamu who has always been my friend. I and a very few others decided to nominate him and he was eventually elected. It was just like any other game and everyone was happy. The day was like any other game to us because we were able to elect somebody we respected, loved and liked. He was NGF chairman until 2003 when I left.
As you know this time around 2011, I was elected governor again and I realized that just before I came in, they elected the NGF chairman, which was Governor Rotimi Amaechi. As far as I am concerned, Amaechi is a good man. He has respect for all of us and I remember when I was member of NDDC, anytime I went to Port Harcourt, all that we needed to do was for my special assistant to phone them to tell them. He never allowed me to sleep in any hotel. I was always in government house, its presidential wing and I was treated like what it should be. And we kept on having good relationship and Gods-willing I became governor and we are in the same forum.
What actually led to the current impasse in the NGF?
You see, early this year when there was a meeting, he (Amaechi) raised the issue of election. And somebody said he should continue. Many of us supported but others said no. The constitution was brought, all sought of argument were brought in, at the end of the day, it was decided that it should be postponed because the constitution of the forum has given specific days’ notice, I think three days that must be given to all members and at that time, three days were not given and we all accepted, even those who were supporting him. Another date was fixed and we all came in for the election, unfortunately, there were people who were desperately trying to kick against the election because they thought Amaechi will win. Now that election didn’t take place again especially when some people brought in an issue that we just had weeks to the handover day and people decided to say look, if we have an election, it means, you have to hand over, they said there was no problem, yet it was decided because of the desperation of some people to postpone the election again.
And along the line, some people suggested that PDP should have a leadership,and then many people thought there is linkage between that election and of course the appointment of the NGF chairman. Ofcourse we now have chairman of PDP governors forum and we met immediately after the appointment of the chairman PDP governors forum. Let me say that, at that meeting, we made it very clear that we are determined to ensure democracy in this country and if there is no democracy in governors’ forum, I begin to wonder where we can have democracy in this country. And many people don’t understand how angry many people are. Many people here in Abuja don’t understand how committed we are to ensure democracy in this country. We are not even talking of governors’ forum. So we decided to stick to our guns.
Stick to your guns? Does it mean you were put under pressure?
I have two grandchildren in primary school and no father or grandfather will choose a friend to your grandchildren. You only see them. Who is your father, they will tell you maybe he is your enemy. It is very difficult to tell your child that the father of this your friend is my enemy. A good father or grandfather is better if he keeps quiet. Because the more you tell your grandchildren that your grandfather or father is your enemy, the more they stick to their friends because they wouldn’t understand what you mean by that.
What exactly played out in the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) before the NGF election?
During the meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum, we made the point, but you see, after the meeting we decided to call the Northern Governors Forum meeting. We sat down at the Benue governor’s lodge and at that meeting, the issue of Governor Shema came up. And I told Shema look, I am terribly disappointed with you that you are my neigbour, friend and you never came to tell me you were contesting the election and you are parading yourself like someone who was sent to us. I advised him and told him clearly thatI will never vote for him on that issue; I will never ask anybody to vote for him and I will make sure that he lost that election. I even told him to withdraw. Other governors present supported me. Isa Yuguda was there, Adamawa supported and others supported that he should go and withdraw. Unfortunately, some people took that opportunity to go and say that Shema had no support in the north. Later Shema was dropped and they brought Isa Yuguda. Isa came to me and I told him that look, I am still a villager, I behave in many ways like a villager. In my village in Kwakwanso in Kano, if a councillor goes to a family and says I am contesting to become a councillor in the morning and they accepted, when someone comes in the afternoon, they will tell him that you are late. I told him clearly, look, you are late. Let me also correct the impression that many thought North didn’t like Shema, No. That is not the issue. On that particular instance, we did not want Shema because we want to choose our own chairman. Now you are coming through the same route and I advised him, you must not try it, if you do that, you will loose. When he insisted ofcourse it was in my house, I didn’t want to go as hard as I did to Shema whom we met in a neutral ground. I told him let’s see how it goes.
A day to election, he phoned me and I said still Amaechi is our target. On the day of the election, we went to the chairman Northern Governors’ Forum. You see, it was all politics; it’s ok. Some people were determined to ensure that Amaechi didn’t win the election and on the other hand, we were determined to prove to them that nobody can shave our heads in our absence. A situation where our colleagues are going round in Abuja abusing us telling them that they can do it alone, I don’t think that is acceptable. That was why we proved to them that they are at the elementary level of politics in this country. By the time they went there, the Niger state governor’s lodge, of course we had serious deliberations. The question; was any of them ready to stepdown for the other? None was ready to step down. At the end of the day, we had as governors the privilege, the luxury of selecting who was to be the NGF governor.
Let me say that we are northerners and I think we should be consulted on what we need for the north. Some people have decided that we should take chairman governors forum. That is not our choice. We know what we want in the politics of this country and even if that is what we want, we are not expecting anybody to choose for us, we should choose for ourselves. I think that point should be very clear.
Our position is very clear with all governors, whether in the north or south that we are determined to elect the Rivers State Governor but everybody was playing game, everybody was playing politics
What exactly happened in the Niger State Governor’s Lodge?
What we did in the Niger State governors Lodge was (that) we decided to say, ‘you can’t get Shema as chairman of the minority group, the G-16, you cannot even get your second choice, the Bauchi governor that they elected’ and our group decided under my leadership to give Jang as their leader. I nominated Jang and I asked the Benue State governor to support me; he did. And many people supported Jang to be the leader because we realised that they were very desperate. We gave them who we feel should lead the minority group of G-16. Now many of them were happy because they refused to take us seriously that Amaechi should continue; they thought they could play games.
They went and had a meeting and Jang nomination was accepted. At the end of the day, they brought him to the general meeting of the governors forum and at the forum, we told them clearly that Amaechi should continue to be our chairman and all efforts to frustrate voting saying that there shouldn’t be voting. Why shouldn’t there be voting when there is no consensus, this is democracy. They were hell-bent in removing Amaechi and were also determined to ensure that our friend whoever he is among 36 governors is the chairman of our forum.
There was an election. 35 of us who were there voted and counted with the exception of the Yobe State governor who was absent. At the end of the day, the votes were separated – Amaechi 19, Jang 16. I was really shocked when the governor of Akwa Ibom brought a paper that was signed in April. Initially I was laughing but when I thought about it deeply, it was very disheartening for a governor who was supposed to be our leader, the leader of PDP Governor’s Forum.
What is important (I believe in democracy) is people to appreciate the power of ballot papers. I am the governor of Kano by the Grace of God, but I got only 46 per cent of the vote. The three major parties, ANPP, CPC and ACN and others shared 54 per cent. But what could they do, they went everywhere, they went to court but I am the governor. It is very disheartening that even at our own level, governors will sit down in a hall, get ballot papers, vote, count the votes and then somebody is saying he doesn’t agree is referring to old papers that were signed weeks before that election.
I was very angry with some rascals in Kano who went on rampage immediately after the presidential election and I was telling everybody that what they did in Kano and other states was unforgiveable but when I experienced this election, I felt terribly sad.
Especially the chairman of the PDP governors forum, when he brought that paper, the way he is talking, he is talking too much. When you see him, tell him to talk like the PDP governor’s forum chairman. Because I am beginning to be ashamed if our chairman is behaving like that.
Like I said earlier, we should decide on what we want in the north. We are fifteen governors in number. If there is anything we should be given, it is chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.
What do you have to say about the gale of suspensions in PDP?
I want to say, especially to those living in Abuja, that those living in glass house must not be throwing stones, especially when it comes to these dirty words: suspension, expulsion, dismissal and impeachment. These are words people should be cautious about. We want peace, stability and development in this country.
Are you worried over the NGF factionalisation?
But we are democrats and people should be conscious. Now all these things that are happening to me, I think people shouldn’t worry too much. Because in developed democracies like Britain, America, Germany everywhere, you have two major parties. In Nigeria we have one party now and other small parties. Who knows? Maybe we are having transition in this country of two parties. And before we have two parties, some people must make mistakes, big big mistakes. You begin to wonder why people are thinking in that direction because if you have party ‘A’ with 25 number, you have another one with difference of 36, and people are fighting when the table is being turned, that is how you have group of nineteen and sixteen. Certainly, governor of Yobe should be part of the 19. He doesn’t need to say it. Even, there are so many people among the 16 that are not supposed to be there. We did not even ask them to come and vote on this side because we are very considerate of their situation. We just allowed them to be there. And we didn’t even need a majority of 10; we just wanted a majority of one or two or three because we believe in cutting edge politics. If you have very sharp razor blade and the one that is blunt by looking at them, the difference is very small. But when you start cutting – that is the work of the blade – that is when you see the difference. The difference now – 19 and 16, the three is the cutting edge. And that is very important.
Back to PDP…
Let me at this time appeal to all those concerned stakeholders in PDP; be very cautious and patient to do what good politicians should do. We are the stakeholders, we are the governors, we are the field commanders, we should be important especially in meetings. The problem we have in the party now is we don’t have anywhere to go and say our minds and that is why the founding fathers of this party decided to say in the constitution that at least, every three months, we should meet at least once. Now, for how long have we met since the election of our chairman? These are the issues; we don’t have to be communicating through you the press. We should communicate among ourselves. And that is the only way. By the time we start washing our linens outside, that becomes a disaster. We are still loyal members of the party but we have rights and privileges. I cannot appoint a minister, I cannot appoint chairman, and other people should do that. But when it comes to rights and privileges of governors, they should be allowed to go and do the right thing as they understand them. So I hope that our leaders in Abuja will think more positively because if you suspend a governor, if you dismiss or expel a governor, what is he handing over to the party; salaries or allowances that he receives or offices? This party belongs to all of us, it doesn’t belong to governor, it doesn’t belong to party chairmen, it does belong to President, it belongs to everybody. When I was going into the PDP in 1998 in Kano, we had invested so much in the party, we have benefitted so much from the party. I don’t think any governor is thinking of leaving this party. But if you are suspended, dismissed or expelled, well, of course there are many options. I can assure you all those governors who voted for Amaechi consider this suspension a suspension to all of us. Not to Amaechi, not to Sokoto governor. We are even surprised that it started from them. I think there are bigger fish than Amaechi and governor of Sokoto. Most of us are disappointed that thing started from there because, on this issue, Amaechi to us has only two task; campaign, talk to the opposition because it is governors forum, not PDP forum; talk to them, we have no business with governors from other parties, but you are the candidate, talk to them, probably even soothe them to vote for him. The second option is hanging on to the contest, can you hold it? He said yes, ok, hang on to that. Now I can tell you, Amaechi cannot withdraw without our approval. He cannot. Anybody who is saying Amaechi should withdraw is wasting his time because that is not the agreement between us and Amaechi. Only two tasks before Amaechi and he is doing them well. Ours is to ensure democracy prevails in this country and if there is no democracy among ourselves then you begin to wonder. We are working very hard to ensure democracy. I can assure you if there is any election today or tomorrow, Amaechi will get more votes than 19 because all of us who voted for him are even more determined now to vote for him. I begin to wonder what is there. If you give me that position now or chairman, Northern Governors’ Forum, or PDP Governors’ Forum, I won’t take it. And I told them on many occasions because, you see when I nominated Jang, I think governor of Kwara nominated me towards the tail end. I told them, ‘look don’t put caucus here especially after we have already got a candidate. I cannot do that’. But you have got somebody that can do it and he is doing it effectively. What is the purpose of that position? It is to represent our interest. If our money is hanging somewhere, he should go and tell them to bring the money.
What is your parting shot on Amaechi?
Amaechi is a good man and he has our support. You see, this kind of election is not the type you go and give money; we are all governors. We just have a conviction in what we are doing. The more people are making noise, the more we are getting more determined. It looks to me that many people who are benefitting from this system are determined to destroy it.
Have you brought this development to the notice to the chairman, BOT and Mr President?
That is the issue; that is why I have been making reference to some of our colleagues and many other people. If you are close to the party or somewhere in Abuja, you better tell them the truth. At this level, we are playing advance level politics. Those who thought they are there now, we are proving to them that we are far away from them. They went and convinced everybody that Mr. A or Mr. B will certainly win the election and that is why they are frustrated. That is why they are on rampage. You cannot choose my own friend for me. The party didn’t call me. Nobody did. (Culled from Leadership)
