From Gyang Bere, Jos
Former Chairman of Northern Elders’ Forum and the former Minister of Steal Development, Paul Unongo has explained how the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Bauchi State Governor emerged in the consensus arrangement of the Northern caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He spoke on various issues in this interview.
Nigeria is preparing towards the 2023 general elections, what is your opinion concerning zoning of the Presidency?
I believe that the time is going to come when Nigeria will not need zoning; if you have a man and he is good to be made President, we should make him President, and at the same time if his child, bearing the same name is competent enough and is good, he should be made President. But in our country from practice, Nigerians feel a sense of belonging when they see somebody from their area in a leadership position. So in the wisdom of political parties in Nigeria, zoning offices to the zones that the military created and the people accepted, somehow by observation, gives them a sense of belonging; yes, if they see that someone from their zone is in power but I have come to notice that those people that come from your zone, they don’t necessarily help you and that is what political practice is in Nigeria. In practice, I support zoning because it is a developmental process; our democracy has not stabilised, some people want to see the person from their place; if you keep giving to one particular place even though those people may be the most competent, Nigerians will start making a noise; that is why the North Eastern Nigeria is making a lot of noise. I believe that will go away so that competency will allow people from the same family, like it happened in the Unite States of America where the Bush family has produced the President for more than one time. That is the ideal but we haven’t reached the ideal yet in Nigeria. So, at the present stage of our development, zoning has solved a lot of political problems in Nigeria and I believe in zoning as a developmental thing.
Are you in support of the arrangement that brought Bukola Saraki and Governor Bala Mohammad as consensus candidates for the Presidency in the North?
I was actually the person who proposed that; I cannot go to a meeting where people have respect for me and in Nigeria people know that I speak my mind, that I am fair; I cannot deny what I have done and if I do, it will be unfortunate for Nigeria. I cannot deny, I was present, I was consulted and all kinds of proposals were brought to me. I was summoned to appear in Abuja and I went because I believe in this country; after deliberation for two days, we reached a consensus that if the Northern region of old wants to fill a candidate for the presidency and not the Southern Nigeria alone to fill candidates, we the Northerners should fill a candidate from what used to be called the Middle Belt or the North Central. They brought four candidates and we looked at their credentials; we were predisposed to bring stability to the North so that they can be united on critical important things peculiar to the former region of Northern Nigeria; we took that in to consideration. We settled for harmony and total unity of the North even if we present a person and he doesn’t win, he should be presented from the part of the North that used to be called the Middle Belt or as it is called today, the North Central. We looked at the candidates purely from their merit and capacity to attract other governors or people to work with him and in my case, I even consulted my governor and he told me his own disposition and what they wanted. Right now that our politics is developmental and the governors are important and my governor told me that if a president is chosen from the North Central, it will bring cohesion. From the credentials given to us, I am old enough to know who is going to be a better President. From our thinking, we thought we should give the governor of Bauchi State which was also part of the Middle Belt in our own movement and the former governor of Kwara State and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki because of the contribution of Olusola Saraki to the North. In our opinion, we believe that the two of them stood out, the governor of Bauchi and the former Senate President. We looked at their experience in the politics of Nigeria and we felt that the person who can be Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can pilot the affairs of Nigeria successfully, so we felt that Saraki should be presented as our own preferred choice.The person who came second in our own assessment was the governor of Bauchi because of the geographical coverage and we decided to present the two names for the people to choose among themselves. We showed preference for somebody from the proper Middle Belt; with the experience Bukola Saraki had of being two term Governor and then Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we felt he was qualified enough to represent the interest of the North and that was the decision we took and presented the two of them.
The Northern consensus candidate has generated heated reactions across the North with some elders saying they are not part of the arrangement, what do you think should be done?
The Northern Elders’ Forum is an organization that has capacity and very competent elders but I cannot speak about those of them that were not there but I can speak about Paul Onongo who is one time leader of the forum and people I saw there, I felt represented fairly. I was there, Prof. Ango Abdullahi was there and some other elders were there. We gave our view and if our very qualified elder Amb. Yahaya Kwande feels we didn’t do well, we were given a task to say what do we say about these young men? Who do you think can best represent the interest of the North. We are looking at it from the point of view of keeping the North united, making everybody feel they belong and the contribution of these young men that was presented to us. The consultation was a bit personal and the last time I went, it was only six of us. I regret in my own judgement that somebody like Amb. Yahaya Kwande was not invited but I can assure that I am prepared to take it up with him and to suggest to him that the decision we took within the context of the Middle Belt was correct based on practical application and experience. I know Yahaya Kwande very well and I respect him a lot but I don’t think he can say I am irrational or emotional. I have been in the politics of the Middle Belt and I was the secretary to the founder of the Middle Belt. So, I feel I am reasonable to speak on behalf of the Middle Belt unless he says otherwise. I feel for the people presented to us, it is correct for the Northerners to say it is good time for the people of the Middle Belt to produce among our children who said they were vying for Presidency from the North. We advised that the candidate should come from the Middle Belt and we said the Middle Belt of old include the very competent governor of Bauchi State and the super competent former Governor of Kwara State and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki. In our judgement, we presented these two and if there is a third one that was presented to us, a respected elder like Yahaya Kwande should come and suggest to us and we should include that person too. Anytime we call a meeting of the Northern Elders’ Forum, it is not everybody that goes there but we take a decision believing that, it will be suitable in the interest of the Northern region that existed before and when it comes down to the Middle Belt, I was part of the founder of the Middle Belt movement. I was there in Lafia in 1958 when we selected the late Joseph Tarka as leader of the Middle Belt Congress and I was the Secretary; I feel that if I am there, Yahaya Kwande is properly represented.
The zoning arrangement in Nigeria is between South and North and President Muhammadu Buhari has spent 8 years from the North, don’t you think it is time for the presidency to go back to the South?
In my wisdom, I am not in active political practice but if they came to ask me what is the best thing to be done, I don’t know how politicians think today, I would have said that President Muhammadu Buhari comes from the North. I would have shown deference to the former Southern Nigeria to produce the next President. If Nigeria wants zoning, it will be defined between the North and the South and we in the North, if we have somebody from the North East, North West or North Central that has taken it, I think I would have advised that somebody from the former South, whether is South West, South East or South South be considered but the reality of politics is what you are seeing in Nigeria. I think the political parties told themselves that they are not going to be concerned about North or South because they don’t exist any more; the reality is that zones exist now and there are six geo-political zones and the presidency can rotate within that six geo-political zones. Within that context, I support fully that if the North is interested in the presidency, it should go to North Central and the North Central should consider two of our children, Bala Mohammad from Bauchi and Bukola Saraki from Kwara and our thinking is that one of these people will be a wonderful president for Nigeria and we stand by that.
Will you be disappointed if the North still produces a candidate outside the two individuals the Elders’ Forum has presented?
I told you the reality of politics, a personal ambition can do anything but I tell you that we produced Major General Muhammadu Buhari and I was a leader that led a delegation from Nigeria to the United States. I know the problem we had with the US. I can say that when my people left for about 10 days and I was still in the US, trying to satisfy the government of the United States because they were not too happy about the candidature of Buhari; they heard all kind of stories about him. As of that time, some elders on the Northern Elders’ Forum were invited to go to the US and they refused and I went; I wonder if they can question my decision now. I convinced the American Government that it is proper for them to respect the voice of the North because it is a powerful geopolitical entity in Nigeria and that since they are interested in investing in the politics of Nigeria, they should allow the one that is chosen by the North. Their argument was that Buhari is a religious fanatic and will bring religious trouble and I said no. I addressed the Congress of the United States of America. What we are doing now is the role we have played before quietly; we don’t come in the front but we play this role of reconciling whether international or national problems; we have seen these two Northerners and we are playing geo-political politics from our own Middle Belt; they are competent. We said based on the role they have played, we think these two should be considered and we believe Bukola will get more cooperation from other people.
Looking at 2015 and now based on your preference for Buhari, do you think it is justified?
Preference is not based on justification. Preference is preference, it involves emotions, it involves what you had seen by that time. Buhari was a no nonesense President who did us proud; he stopped the riot that started in Kano, he did all kinds of things and we felt he was Mr right. We believed he will fight corruption, some of us that went for Buhari risked our lives; I think most of us are a bit disappointed and I am too old not to speak the truth. We are disappointed with this performance that we have seen put up by the government headed by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; we could have done better; I think he has given us the Northerners more work; we need to work harder to bring us consensus in the North and even our credibility can be questioned. Both Prof. Ango Abdullahi and I passed Gen. Buhari and we think he didn’t do well as we expected him; history will Judge him that he has total support from his people and some of them took a risk to the United States of America to plead his cause. I feel the decision we took to support him was correct but the people that were around him are the cause. I complained that the people that were managing Buhari were doing him a disservice. But I don’t regret because at that point, I was taking a decision and risk to support his candidature. I had seen his behavior, I had seen his competence as Military President and I know I had written a paper and given to him as Military President and I know he acted on it but what we saw now is beneath the practice associated with Buhari; so I say the people who managed him, they didn’t treat him well.