A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Deputy Chairman, Committee on Repositioning PDP in Kaduna State, Dr AbdulRahman Usman, in this interview with SOLA OJO, bares his mind on the security challenges as well as political development in Kaduna State. He addresses the secession threats and general insecurity in Nigeria, even as he charges the Federal and Kaduna State Governments to embrace equity, fairness and justice.
What is your committee doing to reposition the PDP and make it a formidable party in Kaduna State?
The leadership of the party in Kaduna State has been making a lot of efforts to reposition the party and one of the major steps it has taken so far are the two major committees which it set up – the committee on reconciliation of the members who feel aggrieved and those that have chosen to sit by the sidelines, as well as the committee on repositioning the party for future success. We are working very hard and the committee will soon submit its report to the party’s leadership.
What is the party doing to ensure that only a formidable individual is presented as governorship candidate in 2023?
Any candidate that is going to flag the party in Kaduna in 2023 must, to a large extent be the opposite of Malam Nasir El-Rufai. He must be somebody that has empathy for the people. He must be somebody whose governance will be about the people. This is important because any government that thinks it exists for itself, family, friends and cronies as we have under the present leadership of Nasir, who does not believe in equity, fairness and social justice, cannot serve the masses. Anyone who cannot meet these criteria cannot flag the ticket of PDP. Of course, people can see what Nasir has done. Within six years, he has sacked no fewer than 60,000 civil servants. Unfortunately, this systematic sacking of workers as it is has not followed due process. Due process in terms of laid down guidelines on the extant rule of engagement which anybody that wants to downsize should follow. Furthermore, the issue of emoluments of these people that are being sacked. I know of people who have been sacked since 2017 and up till now, they are yet to get their retirement benefits and gratuities. So, if we do simple minus and on this alone, Malam Nasir has heightened insecurity in the state because we all know the African traditional dependency system whereby one person who is working has between 10 and 15 persons or more who are dependent on him as a source of their survival. By the time this is multiplied in terms of those that have been affected in the state, I can assure you we are talking about a million people who have been affected.
But, the loss of job or joblessness is not an excuse for any patriotic Nigerian to embark on criminality?
When you have this kind of issue, what do you expect? Just like the saying, an idle hand is a devil’s workshop. It has heightened insecurity in the state. Look at what has happened in Southern Kaduna, the injustice that has been meted out to the people of Southern Kaduna sustainably by this administration. I know if Nasir has his way, he would have picked his deputy outside Southern Kaduna. I don’t know why he has chosen that style of leadership. I don’t know why he has segregated the people of Southern Kaduna. Look at what he has done to Kajuru Chiefdom. You say you are bringing about changes in a traditional institution, but you are decimating the culture and history of the people which form part and parcel of them. To say, Adara, which is the fifth largest ethnic group in Kaduna State, occupying about four local governments should be confined to only Kachia, is not sustainable. It does not make any logic. And, when you look at the circumstances in which the Chief of Adara passed away and situate that with all the government has been doing, I don’t think it’s fair to Adara people as the case may be.
Some people within and outside the state are coming together to see the possibility of calling on Governor El-Rufai to contest for President or Vice President in 2023…
(Cuts in) I don’t agree with you, even though I know that this is Nigeria. If today, Lucifer should come to Nigeria, he will have supporters. But I certainly believe that even within the North-West here, if a vote should be taken, Malam Nasir cannot emerge as a consensus candidate from any party. Let me refresh the minds of your readers. As a director of NGO, collation and observer in the 2019 election, I know that APC did not win that election. Even before the results were out officially, the results announced by INEC were already on the social media. And, common sense and analysis tell you that you cannot say Nasir is popular than President Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna State by having about 400,000 more votes than Buhari in an election in Kaduna State. It is impossible.
What if he decides to return to his former party where he was an active contributor during former President Obasanjo’s tenure?
If he ever comes back to PDP, we cannot fly Nasir even as a counsellor because, given his antecedents, I don’t see how we can fly him. Nasir is a tyrant. He represents everything that is anti-democracy. Look at how he declared the NLC President wanted. He takes the law into his hands. If we look at clips of what Nasir said in 2012 about fuel price, the right to protest, governance and security, will anyone tell me today that the country is better?
There have been agitations for restructuring and secession across the country, especially from the south. What is the way forward?
People are raising these issues as a result of poor governance. It is a result of nepotistic democracy which Buhari’s administration is running in Nigeria. When you notice agitations of this nature, it simply means some people don’t have a sense of belonging in the Nigerian nation because they feel sidelined. Today, we are not safe to the extent that we have become a laughing stock in the world. Today, Nigeria is the third terrorised country in the world which was not so in 2015. Today, Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world which was not so in 2015. Governance, security and welfare of the people are the basis and survival of any democracy. Shamefully, there was an attempted burglary at the Aso Villa in Abuja. I only hope that I don’t wake up one day and hear that Mr President has been stolen.
Mr President asked Nigerians to be patient with him as some of his policies may tarry before Nigerians beginning to see them…
That is laughable! You have finished the four years of your first term and already in the middle of your second tenure, and you are still telling us that you need more years. Where will that come from? After his tenure? I don’t think so. We all saw what Americans did to Donald Trump. A lot of people are fed up with the APC and they know that the only option is PDP which is why the party must do everything legally right to get it right this time around to rescue the masses from this obscurity. In 2017, a contract for the supply of drones was awarded by the state government, and I wonder why people have not begun to ask the governor about that because I know the money has not been returned. Neither do we have the drones up till now.
The Senate is proposing a 15-year jail term for anyone caught negotiating a ransom with bandits. What options do Nigerians have when the lives of their loved ones are being threatened by criminal elements with little or no response from the government?
I’m saddened that the National Assembly is proposing a 15-year jail term for anybody that negotiates with bandits. The truth is, what options are we left with when it is obvious that this government cannot deal with the situation. All we need is the political will, boost the morale of our security men, equip them with modern devices and deployment of technology. The whole essence of NIN is useless when these criminals can still perpetrate their evil with all the mere verbal threats from the government that swore to protect Nigerians.