Former Kano State Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and governorship aspirant on the platform of Action Democratic Party(ADP), Ahmad Zumaru in this interview spoke on various issues including his ambition to succeed Governor Umar Ganduje in 2023.
As a lawyer, what motivated you to join politics?
What motivated me to join politics is that I came to realize that there is need for good persons to join politics. The way our state, nation are being governed is not good enough. Today, none of the institutions in our country is not working. If care is not taken, Nigeria is going to disintegrate, may Allah forbid. That is the reason; we need good persons to come into the rescue of our nation. As a lawyer, for instance, as our state is going on now, I need to join politics. As you are all aware in our system, one needs a political platform before you could become a Governor, Senator or even a Chairman of a local government. To make a positive change in my society, that is the reason I joined politics. If God in His infinite mercy made me to become Governor of Kebbi State, I will make a lot of change. That is why I joined politics. And by God’s grace, all these issues of insecurity, infrastructure facilities challenges and other problems will be solved.
Why did you decided to join Action Democratic Party( ADP) instead of ruling party, APC or PDP which are well known by the people?
Before I joined politics, I read Nigeria’s Constitution before joining a political party. So, I read constitution of ADP very well which gives priority to the grassroots development . If you read the manifesto of the ADP, they give priority to the people at the grassroots. That is why I decided to pit tenth with the ADP which fit my political interest. This party will enable me to pursue my political agenda.
In Nigeria, it has been a norm that before you are elected as the governor or any political position, one must have a reliable godfather or be a money bag. How do you want to actualize your ambition without this?
You see, many of us easily forget history. I was among those who started CPC under President Muhammadu Buhari. When we started then, people just believed in Buhari because he didn’t have money to give anybody. In a nutshell, all the posters of Buhari across the country were not done by him or financed by him. It was done by those who loved him, the people. What I am trying to explain here is that, if you are loved by the people and you have good intention, with God’s mercy, ideology, I believe everything is possible. For instance since I have been going to the party’s meeting in Abuja, I use my personal money to attend. I have started bringing people of like minds to our party and we believed that we are going to rule Kebbi in 2023.
How do you want to make your party ADP popular that would be accepted by the electorate?
I have been following Nigeria politics for some time. There was a time Governor Wike said Rivers is a one party state. If you remember, in Zamfara, Ahmed Yerima introduced Shariah and since Yerima finished his tenure, nobody talks about Shariah again. I read common and Islamic laws. So, what I have been telling people is that, if they elected me as the governor of the state, I will introduce Shariah personal Laws that will be generally accepted by the people. For instance, the Nigerian constitution recognizes three set of Laws -Common laws, Civil Laws and Islamic personal laws. The Nigeria constitution gives room to use it to govern the state, especially administration of ‘Udu’. This is to give people their rights without cutting anybody’s hands. We have analysed the programmes Yerima brought to Zamfara but there was no continuity. When he finished his administration, nobody talked about Shariah in Zamfara again.
So we are making arrangement to introduce proper Shariah in Kebbi state during my tenure. And after my tenure, my successor would continue from where I stopped. It is only through Shariah that we can solved the problem of insecurity and infrastructures. Definitely, we are going to succeed if we implement Shariah in Kebbi State. This current administration in the state is silent on Shariah. If you go to Arabic board, Islamic board, nothing like Shariah, which is wrong. If you are governing in Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states, you must talk about shariah because it has already been established long time ago and it was backed by the Nigeria constitution. We have been meeting stakeholders on this and we are getting their full support.
How do you intend to create employment opportunities for the youths of the state?
If you remember very well, since the administration of Senator Adamu Aliero, they have placed an embargo on the recruitment in the state. When Alhaji Saadu Dakingari became governor, he did not lift the embargo and the present administration still did not lift the embargo. The state government is not recruiting. So, if I am elected as governor of the state, the first thing I will do is to recruit more civil servants. Just like we do say that ‘ soldiers go, soldiers come and barrack will remain. If you are not recruiting, technically, you are killing the working force. How would you replace old workers, retired ones when you refused to recruit new workers? You are saying you cannot recruit and you are inviting foreign Doctors to the state. If I was elected as the governor of this state, Civil Service commission will work properly.
Many Nigerians always have this phobia whenever politicians are saying they are going to implement Shariah. How do you assure the public that you will be fair to all?
The problem with the Yerima”s shariah was that he introduced Shariah punishment; that if you steal, your hand will be cut off, if you commit fornication, you will be stoned to death. That is not the only aspect of Shariah. They did not understand that there are Islamic personal laws. If you are administering personal laws, giving the rights of the people to the people, there will be no problem. Majority of Nigerians don’t know much about these Islamic personal laws. Let me give you an example now; we have Jaizs bank which is operating under Islamic laws and many non-Muslims are keeping their money in the bank. So, Yerima was not careful about the introduction of Shariah in Zamfara State for non Muslims to embrace it. So, if I get elected as the governor of the state, we are going to introduce Islamic Personal Shariah Laws. If we are going to give out contracts, it will be based on these laws. We would make sure that there is no form of bribery and corruption and it will not be inflated
The issue of governorship and other political positions rotation has been an issue in Kebbi State politics. What is your position on power rotation?
I quite agree with the power rotation. Now, what is the way out; we have a lot of Generals in Zuru Emirates. These Generals are not foolish, they are intelligent and that is why they attained that rank in the military before retirement. If you go to other parts of the state, we have many Professors. Therefore, they have enough human resources to lead the state. In our party, we are going to open the floor to everybody who wanted to contest for any elected position and be fair to all. If a capable governorship candidate emerged from Kebbi South or North, we shall support the candidate. If we cannot get a capable candidate, any candidate that emerged from any part of the state, we shall support such candidate according to our party’s constitution. We are just concerned on having credible candidate that will govern the state well in accordance with Islamic laws.
Elections in Nigeria have been always monetized. How would you discourage votes buying?
This will stop soon by the time the electorate see credible candidates they can vote for. Anybody that gives them money, would not be voted for, they will just collect their money. If you rememberwhat happened during President Buhari’s election in 2015, without money, they voted for him thinking that he would deliver his campaign promises; thinking that he is messier. It is just unfortunate that those who are surrounding the President are fooling him; they don’t advise him well. So, those who voted for Buhari initially did not collect money from him. This will happen in Kebbi State come 2023 by the grace of God. If the money bag politicians offered them money, they will collect it and choose their best candidate. I can assure you that people of Kebbi will queue behind us in sha Allahu.
If you become Governor of Kebbi State, how would you handle the issue of insecurity?
Let me start from here, you don’t negotiate with criminals. I have been following what these governors are doing on the issue of insecurity, right from the governor of Kaduna State, and even that of Sokoto. How would you be withdrawing money from the government’s coffers, giving it to bandits while the security agencies were not well equipped? I was watching a TV station where President Buhari said he had approved billions of dollars for our military to buy weapons. After all these, General Mogunu told us that there was no ammunition bought. So, who is encouraging criminals? Mr. President has approved the money to buy ammunitions and nothing was done. The bandits that are killing our people are well equipped than our military. In sha Allahu, if I become Governor of Kebbi, I will work closely with all the security agencies. We shall ensure that they are well equipped. To be frank with you, I will not be part of any negotiation with criminals.
Secondly, people are agitating for the state police, under Shariah, we have Hisbah. If we fortifie Hisbah, they can complement the efforts of the Police, the DSS and Civil Defence. If Hisbah is well equipped, there is no need to be employing Yan Sakai to be fighting bandits. If I get opportunity to be a governor, with prayers, our state will be an example for others to emulate in Nigeria.
How would you feel facing up with your former boss, the AGF who might also be contesting for the governorship position in Kebbi State?
You see, Prophet Muhammad(SAW) had said that, “action would be judged by intention’. I started with Malami(SAN) in 2007 from ANPP to CPC. But my problem with politicians is that when they get to power, they easily change their minds. All of us agreed then what we should do when we get to power, but they have derailed. Since the constitution gives me the right to join another party, there is no problem in that. It is better for me now to be in a political party, where I can actualize my ambition than remain somewhere where people will be exploiting us. I will not leave my party to join anybody no matter the condition. Anybody that will need my support is free to seek it but I will remain in ADP to actualize my ambition of serving my people.
What is your advice to the people of Kebbi state?
My advice to the youths and the populace of this state is that we should wake up. Our nation’s constitution gives us the rights to challenge anything which is not good. We should use our votes wisely because we can use our votes to change things. This coming election, our people should vote for good persons that would deliver their campaign promises not those that will embezzle their wealth.
How would assess the administration of APC in the state?
This administration has performed poorly, very, very poor. Tell me, which Ministry is working now? They are just being governed by the NGOs.
Kebbi was 30 years on 30th August, 2021. How would you assess the journey so far after it was carved out from old Sokoto State?
If you want to assess the journey so far, you have to start it from the first governor of the state to the present administration. No matter the lapses of each regime, there are some areas where they performed poorly and certain areas where they have done well. If I have to assess all these governors, they have performed averagely.