Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, presidential candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) in the 2007 election is a grass roots politician. In 1999, he took the political landscape of Sokoto by the storm emerging governor of Sokoto State for eight years. One unique trade mark of his politics is that he always joins the opposition parties.

Sokoto State, the seat of the caliphate that had always been in the ruling party since Nigeria’s political independence conceded for the first time that envious history to Bafarawa by electing him governor on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP). The party was to be renamed All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

Since that episode, the state has been in the opposition until 2007 when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ‘captured’ it back with the emergence of Bafarawa’s estranged deputy, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko as the fourth executive governor.

As governor for eight years, he was far from the madding crowd in terms of conviction, performance and straight talk. At a time that governors were thronging Ota Farm cap in hand to court President Olusegun Obasanjo’s friendship, Bafarawa remained the only governor that did not go to Ota. Reason: “I was the only governor that did not know the way to Ota Farm. I did not visit Obasanjo for once and I would not go there because Obasanjo was, and remains the number one enemy of Nigeria today. He is incurably corrupt and wicked,” Bafarawa alleged.
He spoke exclusively to Sunday Sun, giving reason why he parted ways with the ANPP leadership to form the DPP.
Excerpts.

Who is Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa?
He is a humble politician from Bafarawa village in Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State. I was born on 4th October 1954 in Bafarawa meaning that I am over 50 years old. My father is the district head of Bafarawa. There was no primary school in Bafarawa at the time. My father took me to Shinkafi in the present Zamfara State, about 18 kilometres away from Bafarawa where I did my Quranic, primary and secondary education between 1963 and 1969. I later attended pivotal course at the Haliru Abdu Teachers College Birnin Kebbi in 1975. I am a trained teacher.

I joined the civil service as a court clerk and later took up a teaching appointment before resigning in 1976 to join politics. I started as councillor and later vice chairman of Isa Local Government Area. I was also elected chairman of the council on the platform of National Republican Convention (NRC) and later NRC’s National Vice Chairman for North West Zone. I was a member of the Constitutional Conference between 1994 and 1995. I was not just the vice chairman of the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) for North West but a founding member of the party and many more.

I could not go to the university for the sake of politics. My dad had insisted that I must further my studies after the pivotal course in Kebbi State. He contacted Dr Ibrahim Tahir of the famous Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria to help secure admission for me. On this faithful day, I was at the ABU for the admission and I saw a front page story on New Nigeria newspaper advising teachers to play politics. This was around 1976. I told my self that I had always wanted politics to uplift my people, I quickly forayed into politics. That same year, I was elected councillor in charge of Education portfolio. And since then it’s been politics all the way. I combine politics with business because as a politician I need something to fall back on. I incorporated my first company, Bafarawa Nigeria Ltd in 1979.

You have been out of government house for over a year now. How are you adjusting to the hardship and loneliness of being out of power?
For me, life continues. It is true I don’t have a job now but I am neither lonely nor facing hardship. A man of the people like myself can not be lonely. During the re-run election in Sokoto State, you were there to cover it and I am sure you saw the unprecedented crowd in my house and in our party secretariat. A man who is lonely cannot enjoy that. If you come to Sokoto today, you will be amazed by the kind of good will I enjoy. People in their hundreds throng my residence to pray for me. We eat together and discuss the state of Sokoto and our nation, Nigeria.

You will recall that as governor, I refused to live in government house even though I built magnificent governor’s lodges, presidential lodge and a new government house within the eight years I led the people of Sokoto State to whom I am eternally indebted to for giving me the opportunity to serve them. I erected those structures but refused to in habit any of them because I knew one day, I would be out of power. Rather I have always lived in my private residence. I did this so that I would not have problems of adapting to new life after office. Those who suddenly became governors without thinking one day they would be out of government end up developing heart attack whenever it dawns on them that they are out of the comfort zone of power. In any case, I don’t see politics as comfort zone but service zone.

Therefore, I refused to be carried away by the state of the earth facilities we installed in the government house and lodges we built. So after completing my two terms successfully, I still remain in my house and I feel the same way I felt when I was governor. And most important, my not being in government house saved billions (of naira)for the state. That money helped us to turn around Sokoto state. And I am happy the party I call ‘Peoples Destruction Party’ (PDP) acknowledges the multi-faceted development we brought to our people. I am also proud to tell you that I handed over about N12 billion to my successor.

This is unprecedented in Nigeria.
Most times you behave and talk like a progressive politician. But you have always been in conservative political parties. Where do we situate Bafarawa? Do we call you a progressive or conservative?
First and foremost, there are two broad types of politicians all over the world. We have those who want power to primitively accumulate wealth for themselves and family members. We also have those who joined politics to serve their fatherland. They use common wealth for the common good of the people. It means the people are the driving force of every government action. I belong to the latter category and without sounding immodest, I am in politics to serve .

You can see that in my track record. Talking about progressivism and conservatism, I have no doubt in my mind that I am a progressive even though I don’t make noise about it. I believe in transparency and accountability. I was the only governor that left over N12 billion in state coffers. I was the governor that went to the then Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and advised her to publish all the federal allocations to the states on the pages of newspapers so that the electorate would know what accrues to them and hold their leaders accountable. There is money to make positive impacts on the people. Any governor who does not perform is simply diverting public funds to private pockets.

She went to Obasanjo and told him and that was how Nigerians got to know the accruals to the 36 states. Okonjo-Iweala is still alive. Go and ask her. I gave the advice because while Sokoto and a few states were working, many state governors were giving excuse that there was no money to develop their people. It was with the monthly publication of the allocations that Nigerians started appreciating the enormity of resources that came to state governments. Unfortunately, the Yar’Adua government has stopped publishing the allocation for only God knows why.

Perhaps if I were shouting about progressivism on the pages of newspapers without following suit with actions, you would have known me as a progressive without even asking me because that has been the character trait of the average Nigerian politician.
A progressive is he that brings about positive change for the good of his people. And this was all we have done for the eight years we held sway. I will give you a few examples. We built over 1000 kilometres of solid road for the people of Sokoto State within eight years. For the first time too, the people saw flyovers in the state. The good road network has boosted transportation and commercial activities in our land. Before we came on board, Sokoto State had no TV station. We were relying on NTA for information. We established an ultra-modern TV and radio stations.

In fact the Katsina State Government under the headship of Umar Yar’Adua under studied it before establishing the Katsina TV. Today, you can access both the state radio and television from any part of Nigeria. We built hospitals, schools, Mosques, provided pipe-borne water and even hooked the 23 Local Government Areas to the national grid (electricity). In the educational sector, Sokoto State lacked medical doctors. Our first approach was to send 50 students to Bulgaria to study Medicine and today I am happy to inform you that they have graduated and qualified to practice medicine. We also gave scholarship to students in the field of engineering and other fields. We empowered women and youths and the state is better for it and that is why nobody accused me of lack of performance.

Indeed I was the first governor Olusegun Obasanjo visited to commission project in his state in 1999. In all, he was in Sokoto six times to commission projects executed by our government in his capacity as President and Commander- In- Chief of the Armed Forces. But I didn’t allow that to derail the progressive ideals in me. I was the only governor that did not know the road to Obasanjo’s Ota farm. I did not visit Obasanjo for once and I would not go there because Obasanjo was and remains the number one enemy of Nigeria today.

He is incurably wicked and corrupt. The only truth in Obasanjo is his face. If he tells you good morning, you must look at your wrist-watch to be sure that it is not afternoon or evening. So as a progressive politician, I refused to be close to Obasanjo especially when I discovered that he is corrupt, wicked and inept. When he made himself chairman of the fund-raiser for the Abuja National Mosque, I just went there, announced my presence and left. I didn’t make any donation either in my personal capacity or as governor of a state. I didn’t donate a dime on behalf of the Sototo State Government even though my state is the flagship of Islam in Nigeria.

Why?
Obasanjo is ungodly. He is not a Moslem, he is not a Christian, I believe. So I don’t see why he should chair a function that is purely religious. But you know he did that hoping that it would endear him to the people especially the Moslems. But it did not work because he had impoverished the people and no amount of fund raising could have shored-up his image. Secondly, I was the only governor who did not contribute a dime to his fraudulent presidential library project. He used state power to subtly force state governors to cough money to the Obasanjo Library in Ota. But I stood out as the only governor that refused to bow to pressure because I knew it was wrong for a sitting public officer to build a library with public funds.

If ours were to be a sane clime, Obasanjo Library should have been taken over by the Federal Government and Obasanjo would have been tried and jailed. At the end of the day, billions of peoples’ money were diverted to Ota by state governments. That was not the reason for which the money was allocated. It was supposed to be used to develop the people. I want the relevant agencies to investigate and try the governors that diverted the money to Ota because it was criminal. I was surprised that Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it has no case against him when it can see the library. Obasanjo was both president and Minister of Petroleum for eight years. That gave him the opportunity to operate secret accounts that ran into billions making him the most corrupt Nigerian and the richest Blackman on earth. Recently, billions of naira was discovered in a secret account operated by Obasanjo and the proceeds were drawn from the Oil & Gas.

But what interests me most was that as governor, I was able to give to Sokoto State what they couldn’t have when their son, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was president of Nigeria. In that republic, the Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Shehu Kangiwa was of the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Before I become governor on the platform of All Peoples Party (APP) which was later renamed All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Sokoto State had always been at the centre. In the first republic, the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) that controlled the Federal Government was led by the legendary Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of blessed memory. He was premier of Northern region. But our government constructed over 1000 kilometres of road, produced over 50 medical doctors, built a time tested state media house and hooked our people to the national grid. These are feats that were not achieved by the Sarduana, Shagari and Kangiwa’s governments put together. We have proved a point that what matters is not the party but the personality sitting on the driver’s seat. Nigerians should use the Sokoto example and say never again, shall we vote for people on the basis of party.

You alluded to my being in conservative party. I started politics in 1976 when I was elected Councillor for Education at the age of 23 and later vice chairman of Isa Local Government Council. My first action was to build primary school for our people. Before then our people in the present Isa Local Government trekked all the way to Shinkafi, 18 kilometres away to attend school. In 1978, when the military lifted ban on the formation of political parties, I didn’t join the acclaimed conservative party, NPN even though it was popular in the seat of the caliphate.

I opted for the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP). Initially, we were in Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) before we left on principle to form the GNPP. In the General Ibrahim Babangida transition programme, I joined the National Republican Convention and became the Sokoto State chairman of the party. During the General Sani Abacha government, I was among those that formed United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNCP). In 1998, I was one of those that founded APP, the platform on which I became governor. I left it because Obasanjo infiltrated our party by using the national chairman, Chief Don Etiebet to weaken the party. He took the party away from me as governor and gave it to my deputy. From that point, Obasanjo was indirectly running the affairs of the party. ANPP became a PDP annex and some of us were not comfortable with that. I could not understand why a failed president like Obasanjo would control our party when he was not one of us. This was why I left the party and teamed up with others to form Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), the party on which I contested the 2007presidential election.

But in all these parties I joined and indeed all the political parties formed in Nigeria, there is none that you can call a core progressive or conservative party. There were all mixtures of all the tendencies including the free thinkers. What is most important is not the party but conviction .The parties are mere platforms .The good news is that all the parties have manifestoes that emphasises development but unfortunately, because we had a scoundrel in Aso Rock for the past eight years, Nigeria was not developed.

With the work you did in Sokoto coupled with your cosy relationship with the sultanate, analysts had expected your party to have produced the governor of Sokoto State. We heard on good authority that the Sultanate worked against DPP in the election. Why?
I can not blame the sultanate or the people for the loss of Sokoto State by DPP because there was no election in the first place. We served the people and as I talk to you now, if a free and fair election is held today in the state, DPP will carry the day. Two days to the 2007 election, Obasanjo ordered the EFCC to harass my party and I. EFCC operatives invaded my house, the home of a serving governor and arrested the DPP state chairman, Alhaji Umoru Kwabo and others to scare our supporters. This was pure intimidation. Where is the much talked about immunity enjoyed by governors? Tones of mobile policemen were deployed in the state. Obasanjo turned Sokoto State to a war zone. New police commissioner that was ready to do a hatchet job for PDP was drafted to our state.

Similarly, a new Independent National Electoral Commissioner from Katsina State was brought to Sokoto just one week before the election to rig the election for PDP. The implication of this was that the PDP had INEC, Aso Rock and the repressive state apparatus at its beck and call. So on the day of the polls, in spite of the intimidation of DPP chieftains, our people came out en-masse to vote for our governorship candidate, Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi and all our candidates but at the end of the day, INEC announced a prepared result. This was how PDP snatched the sacred mandate of the people. I refused to incite the people because I wanted to avoid loss of lives. I was a sitting governor at the time but I refused to mobilise the people against the MOPOL and soldiers who collaborated with INEC to deliver PDP.

There was no way the people would have rejected our candidate, Maigari Dingyadi because he was part of the success we recorded in the state for he was the Secretary to Sokoto State Government for over seven solid years. The people know him and he knows them. There is no way PDP would have won because PDP is a disease in the lives of people and our people have never hidden their dislike for it. In 1999 and 2003, we defeated them and after a resounding success in government house for eight years, how could the people have rejected us? If you use good roads, drink piped water, enjoy free health service, listen to state television, enjoy massive infrastructure or visit the new government all within two terms, you must remember Bafarawa and his party. But in our own case, the people were helpless and I don’t blame them. Rather I thank them.

I saw the rigging coming. Obasanjo had offered me Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara in 2007 but on one condition. He wanted me to decamp to the sharks and Crocodile infested water called PDP. Obasanjo wanted to capture the entire North West for PDP since they were already planning to rig election for Yar’Adua. They said Sokoto was too important to be in the opposition. They also believed if Yar’Adua must be popular then his zone being the North West must be in his pocket. The immediate past PDP national chairman, Dr Ahmedu Ali was there when Obasanjo made the offer. Please go and ask him for he is still alive today. Today, I am happy being in a party that does not have member or senator in the National Assembly than to be in PDP that controls everything with no impact on the people. The last thing I would ever contemplate is to join PDP. God forbid, my conscience will prick me. I told you my mission in politics is to serve and if service is my mission why should I join a party that does not serve the country but individuals. This is a party that has killed this country. This is a party that has not recorded any achievement at all in spite of the incredible resources at its disposal.

Those who decamp to PDP do it to escape prosecution for their misdeeds in office. But I know with time, the people of Nigeria will rise against them because PDP will soon be a wreckship.
It was after I turned down the offer that it was given Senator Adamu Aliero who was the Kebbi State governor at the time. Then Aliero recruited Aliyu Wamakko who was the ANPP governorship candidate for Sokoto State at the time. So Wamakko became the PDP candidate few weeks to the polls in clear contravention of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2006 because under Obasanjo, any political magic could happen. Our laws frown at that because there are time limits in which you can join a political party; you are not allowed to be a candidate of two parties.

This is called double nomination and it is criminal. This was exactly what PDP used Wamakko to do and we are currently in court challenging this criminality. Wamakko according to the laws of the land was not qualified to be candidate in that election because he was both ANPP and PDP governorship candidate in the 2007 election.
But Wamakko is governor of Sokoto State today. How do you feel that he revoked some hectares of land you acquired to build school? We also heard that since you left power, you have not been paid your monthly allowance as required by law.
Correct! He has done more than these to me but I have promised not to discuss Wamkko. I leave him to God.

If you see Obasanjo today, what would you tell him?
I will not tell him anything. I will only have a good laugh and pray for him to be alive to enjoy the repercussion of his calamity. I don’t need to tell him any thing because the Nigerian people who should be the judge have spoken loud and clear that Obasanjo was a cancer in their lives. Any where Obasanjo goes today, he is a subject of mockery. The people are already talking. Why do I need to talk? If I start talking, he would say it was because I was rigged out.

Is it correct to say the North is regretting imposing Obasanjo on Nigeria?
Let me reveal a secret to you. In 1999, I was one of those that funded Obasanjo’s election even though I was not and would not be a PDP man. The APP then had gone into alliance with the Alliance for Democracy (AD) for the purpose of the presidential election. Our candidate was Chief Olu Falae. I examined Falae and Obasanjo and I felt given his experience, Obasanjo would be a better president. I mobilised my governor colleagues of APP extraction. We were nine at the time. I lead them to see Obasanjo in Late Chief Sunday Awoniyi’s house. We told him why we were working for him. And made a request that if he became president, he should treat us the way he would treat the PDP governors and not to look at us as opposition. He gave me money to work for him but I refuse. I told him I would deliver him and I did just that. Again the governors are all alive. Only Awoniyi is dead. Go and ask them. But he betrayed us. We don’t regret our action. I believe we did the correct thing at the right time given the prevailing situation at the time.

Your action amounted to anti-party.
Yes but it was necessary. I told you political parties are mere platforms to power. I have never voted for people based on their political parties but on the strength of their character. No. I love Nigeria and I felt Obasanjo does too but little did I know that he was a corrupt bloody dictator this country has ever produced. I prefer to play anti-party to playing anti-Nigeria.

But Nigerians believe General Sani Abacha was the most corrupt past leader
Never! It is Obasanjo. Don’t forget that Abacha is no longer alive to defend himself. Obasanjo made people to believe what he wanted. Obasanjo is the richest black man on earth. What are the sources of his wealth? I told you he operates secret accounts that run into billions! Where is Abacha’s wealth? You don’t need to show the blind where Obasanjo’s are before he names them for you

You were very close to Abacha. How did you meet him?
We met through the Constitutional Conference between 1994 and 1995. And since then the relationship blossomed.

We heard that you were running some of his business for him. In fact, it was rumoured that you were the custodian of the money voted for his re-election.
There’s no truth in it.

So how did you make your money? The rumour in town is that part of the money you used to campaign in 1999 was Abacha’s.
First and foremost, I was a successful businessman before I met Abacha. As a businessman, I was already contributing positively to the well being of our people. In every fund raising launch, I was the chief launcher in Sokoto. So when the General Abdulsalami Abubakar government rolled out its transition programme, the people of Sokoto State unanimously invited me from Lagos to be their governor.

What is your assessment of the Yar’Adua government?
The Yar’Adua government has not given hope to Nigerians at all. The legacy of government in 18 months is sound snoring sleep. We hear of seven point agenda but none has been actualised. Yar’Adua should start with one first so that Nigerians would see. This government is deceptive and it is already a failure. But I am not surprise that he is not performing. Yar’Adua did not prepare for the office. Obasanjo imposed him on us. Governance is serious business. Once you are not prepared for it you will never succeed because you would have no programme. I wanted to be president and I prepared for the office. I toured the 36 states to campaign. I told the people what I would do if I became president. But Yar’Adua was only accompanying Obasanjo, (Ahmadu) Ali and Ojo Maduekwe on the campaign trail. Only Obasanjo and Ali were doing the talking. Yar’Adua was mute. Now, Nigerians don’t even know where Ali and Obasanjo are. Yar’Adua whom they see on the TV is weak and confused because he didn’t prepare for the office.

As I talk to you, Yar’Adua cannot imagine he is the president of Nigeria. He is still dreaming and asking himself a question: ‘Is it true I am now the president?’ Maybe after three years, if the Supreme Court does not vitiate his election, he might come to realise that he is president and then wake up from his slumber.

The PDP just had a fund raising dinner to raise N10 billion for the building of a national secretariat. What is your take on this?
The dinner was a continuation of the Obasanjo mentality where he intimidated governors, corporate organisations and contractors to contribute to the building of his fraudulent presidential library. If Obasanjo calls for a mini launch today, nobody would go there. Similarly, if my party does launch today, those people you saw in the PDP launch won’t be there because we are not in power and so we have no contract to give out. All those at the launch are beneficiaries of contracts and deals. Where are the billions coming from? I smell rat. The anti corruption agencies if truly they know their job must investigate this. If I were the president, I won’t encourage such. There is infrastructural decay in the country, why not look for how to tackle it. Is our priority a mega PDP secretariat? What is even more painful was that each PDP governor was asked to cough out N50million from public funds. This is corruption of the highest order because it was not budgeted for in the first place.

The Appeal Court in Benin declared the Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the authentic winner of the 2007 governorship election in Edo State. Can you now vouch for the judiciary?
It is sweet victory for democracy. I want the President of Court of Appeal, Justice Umar Abdullahi to take over other sensitive matters like the DPP appeal against the candidature of Wamakko. It is not enough to deliver justice only in Benin while other divisions of the Appeal Court are wallowing in injustice. People believe that Justice Abdullahi announced Oshiomhole winner for fear that a contrary decision would have precipitated mass action from labour. If the law is applied in all the Appeal Courts, PDP would not have up to 10 states because it is not a popular party.