Alhaji Ya’u Adamu Danfulani, is a National Coordinator of  Buhari Presidential  Campaign Committe. In this interview with ABDULLAHI HASSAN, he  refuted the  rumour that  President Buhari is planning to witch-hunt  opposition  and critics of  his administrations  or those that challenge his election in court soon after he is sworn in for  a second term. He  said those who lose elections while in office, failed because of their inability to perform, describing the concluded elections as wind of  new change brought about by President Buhari in Nigeria’s  democracy. He also set an agenda for newly-elected leaders  and host of other issues. 

You headed a Buhari Presidential Campaign Committee,  what is your assessment of the conduct of the elections generally?

The election was generally not bad  and it portrays our maturity in democracy and rate at which Nigerians are concerned about their right to chose leaders for themselves by themselves. Although there were hiccups here and there  before the kickstart of  the elections especially with the postponement of the polls, but that one is normal in a growing democracy like ours. I think it was not deliberate but circumstantial. Sometimes, it is good to  correct  mistakes while trying to do the right thing than leaving mistakes for doing  the right thing. Once you leave  mistake in your plan, it’ll eventually  destroy the entire arrangement of the planning . So, what INEC did was right because  later, we have seen the good result. Free and fair elections were held. It was an election that was described as free, fair and peaceful by both foreign and domestic observers. Although some losers are planning to challenge the matter in court of law, no problem, it is their constitutional lawful right. Muhammadu Buhari went to court three times  to re-claim his mandate which was supported by  Nigerians at that time. But the questions to ask here is, can Atiku succeed  while his own party and his closed associate are urging him to accept the result in good faith? We are waiting to see his game plan. This is democracy  where every one can exercise his right at any point. We have done our own and God has accepted our prayers; we worn elections almost all over the country. I expect my brother to respect people’s advice on  the power  of destiny.

  Your party boasted that it would defeat  the opposition party landslide but from the result obtained in the presidential  and gubernatorial elections , the victory was not with a wide margin. What went wrong?

No, you got it wrong my friend, are you  saying that   four million votes are not enough.  We would have got more than that vote if our  supporters  in South- West had turned-up massively for the elections and  if the violence  that  threatened the life of voters was not injected in South- South and South- east. I am sure every Nigerian  is a  witness to what happened in Porthacourt, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Enugu and Anambra states. These were some areas that violence  had deprived  APC supporters and sympathizers  to come and participate in the elections.

Typical example is Rivers State where since the court of appeal in Abuja  passed judgement  over APC candidate, the PDP government had shivered and began to find ways that will destroy the success of APC. Have you forgotten   that  Muhammadu Buhari has trashed  Atiku Abubakar in the  North- East, his own regional area talk less of North- West and Central  where the difference and margin was glaring and convincing. Let me emphasise  here that  whosoever challenged or  competed  with Buhari  in  this material time  of politics  ended up in shame  and wasted his  resources and popularity. Muhammadu Buhari is God’s gift to Nigerians and  currently  the most beloved person by  the dominant populations of  Nigerian  masses.  The   general election  was over and some governors, national and state assembly members are returning to office, while  many have failed the elections . But for those who failed, they failed because of their failure to perform. President Buhari has won elections based on performance. You see, gone are the days when you sit down and expect Buhari to come and campaign for you  even if you   didn’t serve people for  good four years in office. So, we are witnessing an era of new  democratic transformation brought by President Muhammadu Buhari.    

On low turn- out of voters  in South-West  especially Lagos  which is the  APC’s  second  largest supporters’ base, the turnout  surprised many Nigerians. What   does that  indicate; losing popularity  or political miscalculation of your party?

Not at all , let me correct the impression that   there was low  turn- out of voters  in lagos or South- West. What we are saying is that if compared with voters that registered and the people  that voted during election,  you would conclude that people did not come as  expected. That could be attributed to a number of factors, one , it could be because of the prevailing circumstances at  the time caused by  initial postponement  of  elections or people’s inability  to withstand the delay in commencement of voting. Of course, there were complaints  in many areas that Card reader machines developed faults and it took time for electoral  officers to rectify the problems and so many reasons like that. Look at what happened in Gubernatorial elections; despite all odds, many voters  participated massively in South – West and other places although there were only complaints of low  turn-out of women yet the result was good for us.  There is another notion; most  Nigerians to some extent, pay more attention to  central government than state and that is why you find that if the candidates come from the  opposite  region, the election will take a different  dimension  in terms of  full  participation. In this case, the two candidates are from the same zone, perhaps not all will be bothered much to participate. If you look very well,  North and  South-West participated more than South- East.   

In the recent governorship elections, there were reports of  cancellation of result here and there in some states. What is your comment on this?

Yes, but it is common and  normal in   general elections like this.  Cancellation of elections is usually done on   circumstances or on reasons. It could be based on multiple invalid votes that  exceed the differences  of scores merging  between candidates, or absence of card reader, violence, rigging or malpractice or any other related  reasons. You see, it is dangerous to  have more cancellations of elections in  a sensitive election like this but there is no alternative to cancellation  if it happened. But what is important is how to manage the consequences or implications of it’s aftermath of the  general elections especially  on timing the supplementary elections. That is where the anxiety of voters always hinges on. It is imperative for INEC to re- consider the need to schedule supplementary  elections within the shortest possible time in the affected areas. These are issues that we’ll propose to INEC  on amendment of electoral act which formed part of the rule of the game.   

Another issue that dominates the social media is the possibility of Muhammadu Buhari witch- hunting some opposition party members and the critics of his administration when he is inaugurated for a second term; do you agree with that position?

Honestly, I am not aware of this plan and knowing Buhari very well, he will not do that. In fact, if there is any motive for witch-hunting , he would have done that since he took over government in 2019. He came to serve and correct anomalies in Nigerian political system particularly our democracy which  was considered as  parley for corrupt practices and maladmnistration of justice. In fact,  I  met  Mr. President  personally along with my colleagues in Agro- dealers shortly after elections and we discussed vital issues including how he wants to run his government with honesty and sincerity.  You  see, those that are speculating this are perhaps some mischief makers who want to score points or generate  political controversy. Please can you tell me one person that was witch-hunted in Nigeria because he opposed Buhari. 

Muhammadu Buhari has returned for a second term in office while  new governors have come on board, what agenda can you set for them?

We thank almighty  God for the success;  President Buhari has already  gone far in  improving the lives of  Nigerians. This  is the  second phase of Buhari’s administration  which will include the first tenure of some  new governors. So let me emphasise that  as human, we are bound to make mistakes and this is the time to correct the past mistakes.  The  most important area that deserved more attention is  the issue of security  particularly the  continuous operations of terrorists,  prevention of ethno- religious  violence, farmer/Fulani headsmen clashes and rampant cases of kidnapping across the country. On this note , there is need for federal and state governments  to establish Conflict  Consultation  and  Resolution  Commission (CCRC) to handle cases related to communal clashes and interfaith  crises. It is a world-wide belief that  any crises can be solved through dialogue, mediation and negotiations. The second important aspect is the job creation. Infrastructure remains a major bottleneck to the socio- economic development of Nigeria. Recent report revealed that Nigeria requires USS 2.9 trillion to close gap of its infrastructures  over the next 30 years. This clearly means an average annual infrastructure spending of S25 billion dollars by government.  I think , we have to  call for the  need to broaden our   revenue base   by encouraging private-public sector collaborations. However, government should  add  more  support and increase production in the non- oil sector of the economy  by creating a conducive  business environment  and  revive our ailing agro-allied  industries  as well as power sector. Private sector is the key to any economy and agro- allied sector alone  can create jobs to more than  5.5million people annually. Unemployment especially to youth is the basis for  criminal activities, therefore the  new elected leaders must take this with seriousness. On the  fight against corruption, the Federal Government should hasten the inauguration of Anti Corruption  tribunal  at the federal and states  for speedy trial of cases related to corruption.     

Other areas that require quick intervention are the completion of dredging of River Niger and River Ports at Lokoja and Baro which will cover the distance of 572km. This project is important as it will enhance inland  waterways transportation  and will open up the northern part of the country to more  commercial activities .

More importantly, the Federal  Government should review the  privatisation of power  generating companies and electricity distribution  companies  which was carried out by  Goodluck Jonathan’s administrations. Since the take off of these companies, the distribution of electricity has not significantly improved.  You can see that our industries are still grounded as they cannot  effectively function with gas generators; the cost  is so high. In fact, that is what is preventing our foreign investors from coming to Nigeria. Power generation  is central to industrialisation;  that is what keeps developing countries alive.      

What are  the lessons learnt from the just concluded elections?

We have a lot to learn  from 2019 elections. But it is important to state that Buhari has brought  so many changes to our nation’s democracy. It is the first time  in the history of Nigeria that a common  man’s vote became so significant  to the change of leadership. In the past, it was a system  of few deciding for the majority of the country. In other words, whether you vote or not, the result will be announced even in the  areas where they did not  vote at all. Buhari brought an end to box stealing, or  vote purchasing. Buhari brought an end to imposition of candidates. Even at the worst, if a candidate is imposed at the primary election level, certainly  people will reject him at secondary election because people will vote for another party. This is what happened in Bauchi in the just concluded elections  where many candidates failed because they were imposed. Muhammadu Buhari  also brought changes in the voting pattern whereby only credible candidates are elected and not necessarily on party affiliations. A   typical example is how some APC governors and Assembly members failed elections in their states and constituencies. In fact, with  the re-introduction of  Direct primaries at presidential  position, it is a  signal  that  our next elections will be direct through  discarding of delegate primaries.

Are you satisfied with the  conduct of  the election  by INEC?

INEC has tried but you see, elections have gone beyond voting process; it also includes  the security of the voters. So, security,  media and community  leaders have also tried in ensuring the success of  2019 election. But I still want to say that there are some mistakes here and there especially the early preparations of the elections . It will be embarrassing for a country like Nigeria  to be postponing elections 12 hours to the  exercise.