Sule Lamido on G-7/PDP crisis: ‘Why Jonathan must negotiate’

Sule Lamido on G-7/PDP crisis: ‘Why
Jonathan must negotiate’
on november 10, 2013 at 12:55 am in interview
By Ochereome Nnanna
Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and member
of the group of seven governors opposed to the PDP
leadership played host to Sunday Vanguard in his
official residence for this interview, in which he
touched on various issues including the
developmental challenges in Jigawa State and the
heated political crisis in his party.
EXCERPTS…
Coming to Jigawa is always an opportunity for sight
-seeing. Even if you came here a month ago, when
you come back there are so many new things to
see. This morning we went to the airport and we
saw not only the pace of work but also, the level of
completion. What plans have you to ensure that
when the airport is completed, it will not only be for
Hajj; that it would be a thriving commercial airport
that would drive business from all over the world?
Let me start by your saying that if you come to
Jigawa you must see something new. You know if
you have got a healthy growing baby, if you leave
her, after a month, you will find she has grown
bigger. So Jigawa is a growing baby and has about
4.5 million people. Being the father, we are working
hard to develop it. Number two, the airport is not
meant for one event per annum.
Gov Lamido
It is an airport which was conceived by the PDP
government during the 2011 campaign. Dutse was
designated as a zonal airport for exporting
agricultural goods to the rest of the world. Primarily,
it is going to be a cargo airport but it is going to also
be for export of agricultural goods. And part of it is
to build huge cold storages around that area to be
able to preserve most of these perishable
agricultural goods for exportation. And so in terms
of concept it is not really like what you said. There
is no fear. It is going to be a very busy airport.
When you say it is being sponsored by the PDP
government, are you talking about the Federal
Government because I know airports are in the
exclusive list? Or is it in collaboration with the
Federal Government?
Of course! Is there anything apart from PDP? When
I’m talking you should know I’m talking about PDP.
So it is part of the programmes of the Federal
Government under the PDP for this country. It is a
manifesto programme and so I do not see this fear
you are now seeing.
I think it is going to be fully utilised. Of course, there
would be a commercial side where you will be flying
domestic flights between Dutse and other parts of
Nigeria and the rest of the world. It is because
Dutse is a growing city and Jigawa is a growing
state.
Obviously, our activities during the economic
summit would be bringing in investors. They will be
coming in their own private jets and other
commercial airlines.
It does appear that it is your government that is
financing the airport project?
Yes. When we made the agreement, it is for me to
kick start it so as to extract that commitment
because, certainly, it would compel the Federal
Government and the President who made the
promise to then come in.
What is the level of implementation of the outcome
of the economic summit?
You are right. Even as the summit was going on and
we were doing the presentations, I saw the
difficulties ahead. Mine is just the desire, the
political will, the commitment, but beyond that you
know there is also reality. There should be
something on the ground. There are a number of
things which have to be there and I know on
infrastructure we are doing very well.
On power I hope the Federal Government through
its own effort would be able to give us power. There
have been a number of MOUs signed – we signed
about eleven of them or so (with Dangote and many
others). They have been coming here and there is
an advisory committee on the conclusions of the
summit. They are working
very hard to ensure implementation. We have
already gotten a one-stop facility whereby as an
investor you come in there and get all the
information on land, on taxation and on whatever.
They would try to minimize the difficulties the
entrepreneurs coming encounter, get the required
information for them to be able to really come in. It
is difficult but we’re working very hard. I think we
have the commitment to overcome the difficulties.
What is your plan to let the investors know about all
these things you are doing here?
The DFID has been very supportive; they published
for us an investor handbook which we have sent to
all our embassies, which DFID is also promoting.
And the statement of the British High Commissioner,
Mr Pockock, it gave us a kind of confidence we
needed because we saw, according to him, a
commitment to Africa – to Nigeria where he thinks
given the chances things can really work out here
like in any other place. And so in terms of the
advocacy, in terms of the information, in terms of
reach out, I think that we are ready.
There is a handbook in all our embassies showing a
list of what Jigawa has in terms of solid minerals,
gas, agriculture everything that an investor needs –
has been put in our handbook and all the efforts we
are putting in place will magnetize people to Jigawa
State.
What are your plans about ensuring their security
which is key?
Your citizen is your main security. If your citizens
see that government is there for them, they own the
government; if they have a stake in his country, if
they are participants in their country, if they see a
means whereby they can develop their potentials, if
there is trust and confidence about the system then
you are secured.
No matter what you do, if your citizens are not
contented, if they are not happy, you’re insecure.
So people here are our own security. Our
government is very open, very transparent and it’s
a government which they own, which is theirs and
working for them. And so whatever is your then it is
up to you to defend it to protect it.
How would that now work for people who are
coming from abroad to invest?
You see, when you are coming from abroad and
they know that you’re coming to give them
prosperity, they will defend you. Whatever we do as
government, as leaders at whatever levels, if people
see that we are there for them and that they are
stakeholders in their own country, in their own
system, the problem of insecurity is solved. But
when as a citizen you are shut out institutions
which are supposed to be yours, which is supposed
to give you security and protection is the one which
is now turning around to harass you, then, of
course, you know.
So the issues are very simple. People are not born
criminals. The main security concerns with us
today are all social problems simply because the
youth are there. They have needs, they have
desires but they don’t see where these can be
actualised and they are watching and seeing that
things are not right. So security is a very simple
thing.
It is a human thing. Even the keeper is afraid of the
lion even though lion eats flesh but somehow
because it is able to develop a relationship of trust,
it doesn’t eat the feeder. It doesn’t! But what is
important is giving people confidence. Once they
trust you when they believe you can guide them,
then they begin to play a huge role in getting the
economy developed.
Could that be why we have not have issues at Boko
Haram in the state?
Let’s say we are very lucky. We have been praying
and God in His own mercies has been able to
secure our people. I think the phenomenon of Boko
Haram, I cannot begin to simply boast and make
any claim. I’m just lucky, people of Jigawa State
are also very lucky and I thank God; He also knows
our heart that we are genuine, we are sincere, we
are God fearing and because we fear God, that is
why God is protecting us.
In all sincerity, what should be the way out of the
Boko Haram quagmire?
It is a big problem. It is a national problem. It needs
a national approach and I’m a state operator; I can
only do my own in terms of supporting the national
effort. In terms of policy direction that is supposed
to be done, I’m not at that level yet.
You see, the Boko Haram is not the only
phenomenon in Nigeria, maybe because it is more
militant and therefore more reflex but like a father
with a family who in the morning cannot feed the
children for that morning breakfast; it means he is
failing his basic function as a father. If the children
are crying he would go out to look for something. He
wouldn’t mind slaving or doing any menial job even
as a labourer.
Now if that job is not available, he would have to go
to friends and family to beg. He is blind and his
preoccupation is what does he bring home? If that
thing is coming from Boko Haram, robbery or theft
he would do it. There was a woman on CNN; a
woman in America was caught shoplifting and the
police lady who caught her and was trying to
prosecute her asked her why did she shoplift?
She opened her bag and they were groceries, bread
and some fruit and she said, ‘I want to give these to
my children at home because they are there crying,
they are hungry’. The police woman followed her to
the house and indeed so the children were crying of
hunger. The police woman went and paid for the
groceries.
The woman was caught committing a crime but it
was crime forced on her by society, by the system;
a system which is not compassionate. So you
could see, every human being has honour around
him, every human being has pride but then poverty
can take away your pride. It can take away your
self-esteem. It can take away your honour.
Do you share the views of Professor Wole Soyinka
and Mr Femi Falana who said what we have in River
State is worse than the Boko Haram insurgency?
I think they are dramatising. There is a difference
between political issues where there is contest for
power and control compared to lack of sensitivity
from the leadership in giving service to your own
people. What is happening in Rivers State is contest
for power, pure contest.
When you go to a governor who is operating in a
different environment and harass him, intimidate
him, so what you have there is raw power on the
rampage.  So it is not a kind of thing in-between
governance and service rendered. The governor of
Rivers State is a very proud young man who has a
clear understanding of himself, with strong notion.
Therefore, he would not simply allow people to
impose on him because he knows his rights under
the Constitution. He has been duly elected with all
the power and authority and somebody is simply
unleashing raw power on him.
PDP, your party, is in crisis and it is like there is no
end in sight. What is really happening?
There is end in sight. I’m really kind of amused.
Here is a political party that was formed with some
kind of ideas and belief with the primary role of
always capturing power to run the country; it is in
crisis because the people who now claim ownership
of the party have no idea what is called party
management and therefore would go to court and
seek relief from the court to compel members of the
party to stand by the party or use police to enforce
followership of the party.
Now that is a very primitive party culture. What
would it translate to on election day? Would the
crisis make us win the election or lose the election?
And then from this, take your own position. If the
crisis would make them win the election, let them
continue with the crisis, but if the crisis would make
them lose the election, which is the ultimate in
political party formation; if we are going to lose the
election through the crisis, then it means that should
be enough warning. Do not go to the police; do not
go to court because on election day, the court would
not be there, the police would not be there. It is
going to be the voters who are
going to be there and there is no way the court
would say this voter being a ‘New PDP’ member
has no power to cast his own vote and this is a
sycophant of the president who has been
bootlicking and should not vote. What should worry
us, the current crisis in the party at the end of the
day, on the day of election, is how would it not
affect us?I once asked you if the G7 governors
would consider going into the APC and the answer
you gave was that if you go into the APC it would
collapse but now APC has summoned the courage
to ask you to come and join them, what should
Nigerians look forward to?
You see, the crisis has a history, which we
identified and which we listed as our resolution and
for which we are meeting. So obviously, if all the
issues raised are met then we would have no moral
authority to say we would fight again because the
fight is on principle, the fight is the desire in us to
ensure that we remain the winning party; a winning
party must have discipline;
beyond making money and industry out of
government – there is something we call service
and service can only be rendered by people who
can make sacrifices, by people who have elements
of human dignity and human decency. The way the
party is being run, it is being run by people who
want to prove that they are loyal – that is the
problem. It is one huge contest to deal with in PDP,
between those who don’t want to a prove point to
anybody and those who have to prove a point to
somebody.
Now, people like Bamanga (PDP National Chairman),
he is clinging unto Mr. President’s ambition -he is
helping him – people who had no input in making
the president are now brought on board and
therefore those post-election characters have to
prove that they are loyal to him and therefore they
must be sycophants, they must bootlick, they must
praise-sing and they must say he is the best
human being on earth. They would say anything
because they have to prove to him their loyalty. In
my own case, my proof is him (the president).
How?
He is my proof because he knows, more than
anyone knows, what I was to him. So I cannot be
competing with people like Doyin Okupe, Reuben
Abati, Bamanga Tukur, Gulak and the new people
who are now brought on board and who had no idea
what happened before he became the president.
They are now there and the place is filled with
bootlickers and sycophants who are working hard
to prove their loyalty. Should I be competing with
them?
Should I go to his house and say ‘Mr. President, you
are the best man in this country, your head is
beautiful’. Must I say ‘you are very powerful?’
Because he is mine! Together we got to where we
are with him. From nowhere to somewhere!
Therefore, I don’t have to prove anything to the
president because he is my proof.
Others have to because they were not there before,
so they can prove they are loyal to him. This is
what I call loyalty of opportunism because in that
same office people were there who they sang their
praises. During Obasanjo, people like Ibrahim Mantu
and many others sang the same song. Under
Babangida, they sang the same song. And it is one
huge industry today.
Our attention has been taken away from issues.
And that office is a very huge office which if one is
not very careful…like I say, Obasanjo was there
before and, if you look at the personality of
Obasanjo, it is something else. Babangida was there
before, so also was Buhari and so also was Gowon.
These are people who are coming from huge
institutions and yet Nigerians were able to prevail
on them – they left office and Nigeria is still there.
So my worry is, this thing you are doing is
upturning the PDP; ignore all these sycophants –
these bootlickers because they are vultures
pecking on what they think is a rotten flesh. Behind
all these noise, would these things get us there in
the next election? That is the bottom line. If it will,
fine, we will keep on fighting. If it will not, then I
think we should be sensible enough.
Now coming to your point about my friends and
brothers, it is true, there are changing dynamics,
but, in spite of everything, we gave conditions and
these conditions are on issues bordering on the
party’s interest, not on individual interest. And the
PDP is a family – a collection of a number of
interests all over the country, therefore, we see that
we are losing direction and that is why we said, ‘no,
apply the brakes because we are not preparing for
2011’ – 2011 is ours now. We are saying ‘let us
work and see if these vultures can keep eating in
2015’.
From 2011 to 2015 is not an issue; it is something
we did long before 2011 and therefore we are
looking at the next level – how do we come back as
the ruling party at the next election, united to be able
to address the issues in Nigeria? Because after the
stability of the nation between 1999 to
2011 we should be able to now focus on the next
level – human development, which is the most
difficult thing. Now, are you saying this crisis that
we are making is what would give Nigeria
development? ASUU has been on strike for about
four months. Students have been denied the right to
be able to be focused; they have distorted views.
There are a number of things begging for attention
more than the APC going around to see me or see
anybody else.
Could you eventually consider their invitation?
Like I said, in our party, we met and a committee
was set up by the president.  It was made up of
former Head of State, Obasanjo, as the chairman,
elders of the party like Babangida, former party
chairmen like Gemade, Ahmadu Ali and others. We
discussed these issues thoroughly and they were
itemised and given to the president, now we have
not fully exhausted these issues yet, so the issue of
where I go would only comes in based on the
outcome of these demands we made.
They are not personal demands; they are demands
arising from worry and concern of the party we
know damn too well as the vehicle for this country
at the moment, which is being hijacked and they
see it as an industry more than the issues. So when
these issues are ruled either way, then from there
we would know what to do?
The other day we heard that none of these demands
you made has been met by the president?
No! No! No! When we met for the second time, in
principle all the demands were acceded to. First,
restoration of Adamawa party structure; two, recall
Amaechi and give him his structure; three,
sacking of Bamanga Tukur; four, new convention –
election of new officials who have been shut out,
then because there has been so much impunity,
restoring the party to the path of legitimacy and
legality as per the laid down rules.
In principle, all these were accepted. Now it is only
the pronouncement we are waiting for because
there was a committee which was set up by the
president, headed by me and we made a
submission,
part of which was that Adamawa structure should
be restored to Nyako. So really that one is
conclusive, so it only needs a pronouncement to
bring it into being.
That is all! Amaechi, because he went to court they
said there should be a procedure, therefore, the
chairman of BoT would go and meet Amaechi and
the others and then all cases pending in court in
Rivers State would be withdrawn and that will also
be restored. So in principle, all the terms given were
agreed to. It is simply the implementation that we
are expecting.
So why have they not been implemented? Ask them.
But, in principle, it was agreed.
Some days ago, the PDP inaugurated a disciplinary
committee and you also hosted the APC. When one
looks at all these two, don’t you think you and your
colleagues in the G7 risk expulsion from the party?
As a journalist, I know where you want to delve into
because it gives you the kind of excitement you
want in terms of news making. I understand that but
I would disappoint you. You see, it is part of the
aberration. Look at the committee headed by a very
senior elder of this country, Umaru Dikko. Now
when you are talking about discipline, you are
talking about people who are part of a party who
know the party culture and will be able to
understand the breaches and see in the course of
the offenses so committed – because of being part
of the system, what and what do you think is
wrong.
Umaru Dikko was not part of PDP. He is a personal
friend of Bamanga Tukur and also a good brother to
me, because he has been coming here. So you
could see – the approach is so laughable. When
you put up a committee to discipline a governor of
the PDP – Umaru Dikko has no idea of the
sacrifices that the governor made. He needs to
have the understanding of some circumstances by
which things occurred, so by the time you want to
make a judgment you can be just and fair. Now
Bamanga is aggrieved whereas he is the principal
problem of the entire crisis and he is creating a
committee to discipline people. It doesn’t make
sense!
How could Bamanga Tukur inaugurate such a big
committee without the input of stakeholders? Is that
the way things are done in the PDP?
I’m happy you are helping us to think in a clearer
way because by the tradition, by the history, you
are even marveled and perplexed that how could he
do that. Now, if you, an outsider, is worried, how
about me as a key player?
You supported President Jonathan in 2011; do you
now regret your decision?
This is the thinking of a typical younger generation,
because they allow the heat of the moment to judge
their instinct. A single second under this
circumstance, I have no regret for supporting
Jonathan
because I feel in my own judgment I would do the
right thing for Nigeria’s stability, for Nigeria’s
continuity; that whatever sacrifice he make, we
make it’s because doing otherwise would introduce
other dimensions. After supporting him, after
winning the election, it is now to earn my confidence
for the next level; if he wants to go there, it is up to
him to earn my confidence because, at that time the
reason was mine, the feeling was mine and the
concern was mine and analysis was mine. Now it is
up to him to vindicate me.