Why APC won in Kogi, Bayelsa — Gov Buni

Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State is the immediate past National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he described the success of the party in the Kogi and Bayelsa states elections as an endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari’s people-oriented policies and the suitability of Governor Yahaya Bello and David Lyon. […]

Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State is the immediate past National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he described the success of the party in the Kogi and Bayelsa states elections as an endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari’s people-oriented policies and the suitability of Governor Yahaya Bello and David Lyon. Excerpts:

Many people, including APC members, had expressed fear that the party will not win a second term in Kogi, and in Bayelsa, being a traditional stronghold of PDP, not much was expected. What do you think gave APC victory in the two states?

Well, if you look back and see where and how we started, from 2015 to date, you will appreciate the value of having good leadership that is result oriented and a political party with a vision, mission and passion to improve the lives of Nigerians. In the beginning, it was quite challenging. Many people doubted if anything can work again in Nigeria considering the quantum of damage done to the economy, the infrastructure and other social services. However, the commitment, determination and dexterity of our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, gave us hope and made us believe that we can change the situation to make life more meaningful for Nigerians.

In Kogi, the problems inherited from the 16 years PDP-led administration made things difficult for the government of Yahaya Bello. However, his new approach paved the way to resolving the problems as seen before the elections. The ensuing success was therefore glaring and the people opted for his return for a second term as demonstrated by the massive votes they gave him.

As for Bayelsa, I was the panel chairman for the APC governorship primary. I am satisfied that the primary produced a popular candidate who roundly defeated the PDP candidate despite the fact that Bayelsa had been a stronghold of the PDP. Again, if you look at the 20 years domination of the state by the PDP, what is the level of socio-economic development compared to the enormous resources that accrued to the state? The electorate realized that an APC administration under David Lyon will certainly transform the state and improve the lives of the people in line with the APC next level agenda. Most importantly, PDP stalwarts in the state were busy fighting when we carried out vigorous campaign and convinced the people to vote for our candidate.

Therefore, the collective factors of purposeful leadership at the national level and the competence and popularity of the APC candidates which surpassed the candidates of other political parties made it easy for APC to win both Kogi and Bayelsa states.

Some people have questioned how Governor Bello’s performance in his first term of office could give him a second term. What is your response to this?

These are normal submissions by political job seekers, opposition forces and armchair politicians. While they made such claims, the people of Kogi in this election have spoken widely and loudly with a landslide victory for Governor Yahaya Bello. If the people of Kogi who he served in his first term are satisfied and now gave him another mandate, how can someone who is far away from the state argue otherwise?

Like I said earlier, yes, there may be challenges of problems inherited from the previous PDP regimes but the situation is not as bad as being exaggerated by the opposition and vendors of fake news.

There were reports of violence which characterised the election in both Kogi and Bayelsa states. What is your take on that?

Political thuggery is  the stock in trade of some political parties in Nigeria long before the APC took over. However, as a responsible party with defined democratic values, vision and mission for the country, APC, as a deliberate policy, is against political thuggery.

Again, if you had followed the political events in the two states, especially during campaigns, APC and its candidates had cause to complain to security agencies on the state of desperation and other provocative tendencies capable of breaching the peace being perpetrated by supporters of the PDP and some other political parties. I think the security agencies by now must be reviewing their reports to get the perpetrators of the reported violence. We will continue to condemn violence in any democratic process.

You are six months old in office, what has been the focus of your administration?

Yobe has been an educationally disadvantaged state, although there were efforts to change the scenario by previous administrations, especially by the Senator Ibrahim Gaidam-led government in the state. Unfortunately, however, the protracted Boko Haram insurgency has had devastating effect on the sector.

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and this affected enrolment of pupils and completion. Schools were razed down and qualified teachers relocated out of the state. These added to the traditional problems faced by the state which culminated in poor performance in national examinations. This caught my attention and called for drastic and pragmatic approach to address the state of education in the state.

So, upon assumption of office as the executive governor, l declared a state of emergency on primary and basic education in Yobe State. This was followed by an education summit drawing scholars and intellectuals of Yobe extraction from within and outside the country to discuss the problem of education in the state. That was also closely followed by the constitution of a technical committee on education comprising of education administrators, former vice chancellors, community leaders and other stakeholders.

The committee came up with some recommendations and we have started gradual implementation. We have also established a teachers training centre in Damaturu to improve the capacity of teachers. This was done after a competency examination was conducted on our teachers across the state.

My government has also appointed a professor and former vice chancellor of the state university as chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board to provide the required administrative skills in the management of basic education.

This government has sponsored 228 undergraduate and postgraduate students abroad to study medicine and health related courses, engineering, and some other key courses. These competences will be of immense benefit for the state.

It may interest you to know that the education sector has the lion share of N22.8 billion in our 2020 state budget which I recently presented to the state assembly. So, education is a leading priority of our administration.

Secondly, this administration procured 40 units of Masey Ferguson tractors and 9,000 metric tons of fertilizer which were sold to farmers at the cost of N3,000 per bag this season. We also organised agricultural summit where experts, successful farmers, including former Governor Murtala Nyako, and the governors of Kebbi and Jigawa states, shared their success stories with our farmers to boost production. This was intended to move our farmers from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture to improve their economy and enhance food security.

We have in the last six months resuscitated the state-owned flour and feed mills, the aluminum company and the woven sacks company. Government has also entered into partnership with several organisations and laid foundations for the construction of 2,600 housing units across the state; a trailer transit camp in Potiskum, modern markets in Damaturu, Potiskum, Gashua, Nguru, Geidam, Buni Yadi and Ngalda.

This administration is determined to diversify the economy of the state, create job opportunities and improve the economy of the people and state.