Zoning: PDP governors, stakeholders will have the final say -Lamido

Sir the issue of zoning of the presidential seat has been generating a lot of heat in the polity. What is your own position? Yes it is generating debate because the PDP has 28 governors in Nigeria out of the 36 states. We dominate the National Assembly and virtually all local government councils in the […]

Sir the issue of zoning of the presidential seat has been generating a lot of heat in the polity. What is your own position?

Yes it is generating debate because the PDP has 28 governors in Nigeria out of the 36 states. We dominate the National Assembly and virtually all local government councils in the federation, so naturally, we are dominant in the country, but it is still a PDP affair. It is when these 28 state governors and their people decide how they govern, then we will inform the country officially. So, normally you do not simply begin to pre-empt the African party in terms of what it should do. So the PDP zoning debate is a PDP debate. It is not an ANPP debate. It is not an AC debate or any other political party’s debate. Let them go and debate their own party’s constitutions, their cultures and traditions as they want in their parties and the way they think they can win elections. Let them go and do that and leave us with our own party. The issue of zoning is a PDP affair, like I have been saying. It is a very responsible party with responsible and patriotic leaders who believe in Nigeria, who love Nigeria and who will do everything in the best interest of Nigeria with the best practices. 

But it appears that the zoning formula introduced by your party, the PDP, is affecting the nation’s politics negatively.

You see, the PDP is the dominant party and, therefore, if the dominant party is made by the people who are the majority, then it is the minority that is making such questions.  So, when the big party with the largest followers of Nigerian citizens decides, then the parties with their smaller followers will be informed if they want to know, but then, it is purely a PDP debate, therefore allow the PDP to sort its things out. How we came about this zoning, in 1998, you were not there, neither were these small political parties there. If at that time they were taking their bearing from the PDP, everything the PDP did to secure Nigeria,  then following what the PDP was doing because the PDP has the larger Nigerian followers, Nigerian patriots and Nigerian political gurus and therefore they are waiting for  the PDP to do things as in 1998, so if they are asking us to work-quicker for them, fair enough, let them give us some few days  because I know  the smaller parties who are waiting to take their own bearing from the PDP. We will do that like we did in 1998. We will sit down and look at it as a party affair and what informed taking a political decision in 1998 will be looked into, if that condition persists, fair enough ,if it doesn’t , then we will formally make a pronouncement whether to go by the zoning or vacate it depending on the current Nigerian situation. Because that is why we are leaders, we believed in Nigeria and Nigeria believed in us and, therefore, we try to look at the country and do things that will further national cohesion, national unity and national stability. We are going to do that and if the other political parties are waiting for that like they did in 1998, let them give us time, we will define the parameters and then they can go and copy.

Do you share the same view as those claiming that the zoning is negatively affecting Nigerian politics?

You see, I don’t give a damn if people in the ANPP, AC, CPC and or other political parties are affected. It is their own business, I don’t give a damn if they are affected. It is a party thing and we are doing things to please smaller parties which are opponents. We are doing things which will give Nigeria the best results in terms of security, stability and also for the electoral fortunes of the PDP. So, it is not the issue of somebody being affected. Of course, these smaller parties, because whatever we do, they just have no hope.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has got a new chairman in the person of Professor Attahiru Muhammad Jega. How do you see Jega as Chairman of INEC?

Look, I have been saying it; there is no better way to judge his integrity, his authority. I don’t think there is any better testimony to tell Nigerians that Jega is the right person. So I am wishing him the best.

Before his appointment, there were that the problem of Nigeria electoral process was the former INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu. What can you say about this?

Look, my position is very clear; the PDP was formed, for the purpose of winning elections. The PDP was formed bearing what is called Nigerian interest, security, stability, unity, prestige, image and Nigerian wellbeing. The PDP campaigned vigorously and the party is in every part of the country, therefore, to me, the elections of the PDP were perfect. There is no better testimony than the rule of the Supreme Court which upheld its leadership. So if those who lost feel that by making these noise, they can change things, then they should go and campaign.
Therefore, changing the personality of the operators will not give anything different to what they have been calling for. They have been calling for credible elections, fair enough. We have now put in place a person whom all Nigerians have come to accept as an ideal person. It is now left for all Nigerians to give him the required support for him to fulfill their dreams of having what they called correct, right and credible leadership.
It is not going to be Jega alone because Nigeria has 70,000 polling booths nationwide. He cannot be in every polling booth. He can only be in Abuja and he can only bring his moral authority to bear on INEC and the institution of INEC, but he cannot begin to assert his own moral authority on Nigerians because it is up to Nigerians to decide how they want to move.

Jega, like I said, can only assert his moral authority on INEC as an institution to do the right things and he will be up and doing and insha Allah, he will succeed. But this is not enough, Jega cannot be in all the polling units. Jega cannot come to a voter who is putting a leaf on his head claiming that his vote is for sale for him to say no, you can’t sell it, because in a democracy if the voter on his own volition decides to say it is my right to sell my vote who is to stop him, Jega?

What can Jega do to stop that? So, if they want Jega to succeed, the Nigerian voters should make sure that they do the right things, otherwise no matter what he says or does, no matter his own kind of moral reputation, he cannot make any difference in our electoral processes.

In your own opinion, what are the major problems of our political processes?

Like I have been saying, we call it a process, which means it has to be nurtured, it has to be developed and for it to be nurtured properly, it means all of us must contribute and therefore, we must do the right things for it to be properly developed as a standard mechanism by which we will elect our own leaders. Therefore, it is up to us to change our attitudes. To me, the various laws in our books are perfect, the commitment to it in terms of declaration is perfect. But beyond the declaration and when it comes to the implementation, the contestants, the political parties and the voters, then this is where the problems come. Therefore, it is up to us, Jega alone cannot simply deliver Nigeria. It has to be Nigerians working together with Jega to deliver Nigeria. All of us know what is right, we know the rules, we know the regulations. Therefore, they should be upheld. We should operate by them and the rules applied to the voters and the political parties, not only to INEC.

2011 general elections is approaching. Are you going to contest for governorship of Jigawa state again?

We live in a composition where if some are happy with our leadership, others on the other hand, are not happy. Somebody from Ringim local government texted me through my line, saying the entire wealth of Jigawa was being given to my children and that I even gave Obasanjo a contract. So you could really see how low we can be. So the issue of my contest in 2011 is in the hands of my political party. It is left for the PDP to decide which candidate it wants to field.

If the PDP fields your name for the seat of governor, are you going to contest?

Well, when we get there, then we can cross it, when they say I should contest, then fine, I will contest, but if it says I should not contest then I will not contest. 

Recently, you made a pronouncement concerning oil exploration in Jigawa State. Can you shed more light on it?

Sure, you know Jigawa as a people, as a state has gone through a lot of what can be called embarrassment. The way people talk about Jigawa in very negative terms, why there is so much poverty, why there are so much deaths when it comes to maternal and infant mortality, why there is so much illiteracy. In fact, everything negative is Jigawa State. So the people of Jigawa State prayed to God to deliver them from these kinds of afflictions and I feel that God has answered our prayers. And my feelings are that, there must have been some underground kind of a shake-up, something like a tsunami, some geological kind of shake-up, may be some several miles down where the various oil reserves of the world found some kind of piteous underground where they slipped into Nigeria and therefore is coming to Jigawa State. Because the report I got from an American company is that, the oil deposit in Algeria and that of Libya have found a kind of crack underground where it flows through Niger Republic into the northern part of Jigawa State. And the same thing, the oil in Sudan and the oil in Chad have also found the kind of underground crack or routes where the oil flows into Jigawa. Like you know, nothing is impossible to God. So may be God has answered our own prayers and very soon, the federal government can come into it, hence, the Jigawa State will shed that negativism people are saying about it.

With this development, what will be your next line of action?

It is to tell the federal government to write to it formally and get some time to come up with drawings. The survey and what they called the works so to speak, which looks into this and submit same to the federal government for exploration.

How would you foresee Jigawa State, if finally oil is discovered in the state?

Oil or no oil, I have said it several times and I mean it, that in the not so distant future, Jigawa State  will become Nigeria’s reference point in everything oil or no oil, and I mean it and, mark my words.