Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto
Alhaji Mukthari Umar Maigori is the Chief of Staff to Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State. He spoke on the re-election of the governor, the intrigues that characterised his emergence at the poll and what Tambuwal re-election means to the people of Sokoto State among others issues.
Tell us your assessment of the general election in Sokoto state?
As we are all aware, the general election in Sokoto State was so rough before it was finally concluded. Although, the presidential and National Assembly elections was a straight forward exercise despite the fact that the result did not favour our party. However, the governorship and state House of Assembly elections was the one INEC declared inconclusive and called for supplementary election, even though there was no need for such a decision. But to God be the glory, the governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal emerged victorious in the end.
What does the victory mean to you and the people of the state?
Yes. The victory means a lot to me. One; the governor is my boss and I know his good intention for the state. Also, the victory means continuity. Continuity on the good works he has started and his intent for the good people of Sokoto State. Now he will continue in providing a robust and inclusive government for the next four years. So, I believe the state as a whole will take the victory serious.
Some people have submitted that the margin of win (342 votes) were too meagre for a sitting governor to have polled; meaning, the governor could have secured greater win margin if he was really popular among the electorate? What is your take on this?
Well, that could be anybody’s opinion on that, and I won’t blame them for two reasons. One; they might not be too conversant with the provision of the constitution. Two, they might not know what happened and how this figure came in the first place. If they know what was done by the opposition in both the first and supplementary elections, they would not say the 342 margin of win is too small to garner.
During this period, the governor actually fought against the federal mighty and other forces. God crowned his effort with victory. They brought in money that could not even make sense; they brought in some state governors as well as security personnel to work against the sitting governor as you rightly said. You could imagine large number of political thugs brought into the state to intimidate PDP supporters. Before the general election, the opposition has already concluded by saying they have won the elections knowing well what they have put in place. Knowing the amount of money and forces they brought into the state to fight the governor. They entirely believe that the elections were just a walkover for their candidates. If you also go by the provision of the law, in the first place there shouldn’t be any rerun. This is so because the constitution was very clear that as long as you are able to secure two-third of the valid votes cast and simple majority votes, you should be declared winner of such election. Unfortunately and for one reason or the other, INEC decided to declare it an inconclusive exercise even though, the governor won more than the specified requirement by the law. We were all surprise because we knew the decision was alien to the constitution. Osun State’s case is still fresh on our minds, where the tribunal court recently pronounced that there was nothing to be called inconclusive in an election.
You mean there was no need for a supplementary election in the first place as pronounced by INEC, why do you think so?
Yes, going by our calculation, there was no need for such rerun because after the poll was declared inconclusive, we approached INEC to get the details of those polling units that were cancelled and the reason for such cancellations. In our findings, we discovered that out of the 135 polling units they claimed they were cancelled and their argument was based on the amended Electoral Act. But after we went through what they gave us, we found out that only 26 polling units were really in conformity with the electoral law as amended.
Why did you say so?
This is because most of the reasons were electoral violence and the law says where there was violence; all the parties shall record zero figures without any rerun in the affected polling unit. The same consequent applies to where there was over-voting. And we did our calculation on the 26 polling units that were genuinely cancelled and discovered that we are still winning. But been law abiding party, we still went ahead and participated in the rerun election.
What is your take on the deployment of the military during this general election?
The presence of the military especially in Sokoto State was a bit disturbing throughout the election period. The opposition actually used their presence to intimidate us. A lot of our voters were scared away and those who were able to stay were not many. In fact, there was an unconfirmed report that a highly placed police officer even snatched a ballot box during the election. So, that was how damaging their presence was in the state.
If you are to rate INEC, what will be your verdict as far as the 2019 elections are concerned?
Honestly, I will rate the 2015 general election above this year’s elections, taken into cognizant what happened in both Kano and Rivers states. The previous elections were much organised, fair, free and credible than the 2019 elections.
Having said all these about the credibility of 2019 elections, in which area did you think INEC should improve upon?
It is all about human credibility and determination especially regards those piloting its affairs, not the institution itself. INEC is just a body that comprises human beings as its heads. It is the people that are formulating the INEC policies that should improve in their credibility. We have seen what Professor Attahiru Jega did during his tenure, which people commended him for, so well. This year’s elections witnessed a lot of mistrusts and low credibility on the part of INEC officials. It witnessed situation where a professor announced a result and claimed that a particular political party cleared all valid votes without any voided vote in a polling of about 500 votes. People piloting the affairs of INEC should improve in their integrity among other good virtues. We saw what happened in Kano State, which is just one example. There are several others.
Some say the governorship election in Sokoto state was a fight against political god-fatherism. Do you believe so?
The election in Sokoto State is a demonstration that you can win without a godfather. The people of the state were so eager and prayerful to see that Governor Aminu Tambuwal wins this election. During his first tenure, there were a lot of misgivings where some people were saying he was not in charge of the government. That is public opinion by the way. But, with the governor wining his re-election, I can assure you that there will be a new Tambuwal this time around. We thank God that Sokoto has set the precedent that anybody can win re-election without any godfather been involved.
Sokoto State has witnessed menace of political thugs in the past years. What is the assurance that such will not re-emerged under Tambuwal’s government?
It is true that people are having nightmare and are even afraid to stay in their offices because of political thugs known as area boys in the state. But I can assure you that the efforts put in place by Tambuwal will be improved upon in his second term. There are lots of youth empowerment schemes initiated by this administration to keep these idle youths busy and be self-reliant. The governor has reiterated that his government will not tolerate the activities of political thugs and he is keeping to his words since the inception of the administration.
What are the things Sokoto people should expect from Tambuwal’s government in the next four years?
People of Sokoto should expect a government of continuity. His second tenure will be much better than the first term. We have learnt so many lessons. We have also come around so many hurdles and we have realised some bitter mistakes we had made as human. The governor is now ready and willing to make amends. He (Governor Tambuwal) is now here to work for Sokoto people and not any god father. He is ready to work for Sokoto people and I believe that a lot of good things will come our way this time.