Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Senator Mas’ud el Jibrin Dogowa was the pioneer chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State. He was reelected in the same position some 18 years after, but was forcefully removed from office by the Secondus-led National Executive as part of the deal to absorb Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso into the party.
Last week Monday, his faction of the PDP executive in the state renounced their membership of the party in a grand style. They defected to rival APC, raising a lot of dusts.
In this interview, the first since his defection, Doguwa offered insights into why they chose to leave the PDP at this time.
He also declared that with a unity of political forces against Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in the politics of the state, there is doubt if this is not his political end. Excerpts:
Only this Monday, the faction of the executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). May we know why you decided to resign from your party only days to the governorship elections?
I want you to know that my defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a very painful decision. In deed, it is a very painful step that had to be taken. It is very painful because if you look at my antecedent, I have been in politics for 40 years today – active politics – and I have remained a consistent party man. I have never, at any time, defected from my party to another party. I have always remained in my party, no matter the storm. I was in NPN where I begun my active participation in politics. But up till today, and not until this defection, I have never changed my loyalty from one party to another party. That is why I said that my decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a painful one. I was the chairman of the party in Kano State. And as the chairman, I did everything humanly possible to manage the ugly challenges that unfortunately befell us with the return of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso into the party. I endured so many things in the wake of that defection saga, which were not in the public domain. I tried to be patient; I tried to understand and absorb the shocks that came with the storm. That politically dubious Secondus made sure he frustrated our every efforts at achieving peace and a level playing field in the PDP in Kano. Secondus decided to mortgage the party in the state to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in return for his membership. And that is the reason, Kwankwaso returned to the party with the least regard for the people he met in the party. He felt he did not have to deal with the members of the old faction of the PDP in the state. Let me tell you something: the history of the politics of Kano State is based on factions. Look at the parties that we have had at different times, they were run on factions. And, therefore, as a leader, he was expected to embrace the members of the old faction of the party. Yes, we do not expect him to carry us all 100 per cent, but at least, carry along our representation. This is one thing that Kwankwaso did not want to hear. He did not think so and he did not want to recognize anybody who was not a member of the Kwankwasiyya faction. What do you think we should do under this circumstance? Remain in the party and be relegated like this? Do you know that his governorship candidate, Alhaji Abba Yusuf did not deem it fit to find any of us, to appeal to our conscience to come and assist him in the campaign? If you decided to go and assist him, and if he wins the governorship race, will he look at you in the face as one who had contributed his quota to his success? He would not recognize your efforts because he did not invite you, he did not ask you to come and help him. Secondly, Senator Kwankwaso, who installed the boy as the governorship candidate, also did not deem it fit to talk to us all these months. If you are in our shoes, what do you do? Would you continue like this? Were we supposed to continue like this simply because we do not want to defect to another party? Are we supposed to remain irrelevant politically while they take away our relevance? The least we could do in the present circumstance was to seek relevance elsewhere. The best we could do was to leave. As a Chairman and as a leader, I cannot stay in the party and be involved in anti-party activities. My best option is to simply leave and that is what I and my colleagues decided to do.
Sir, you waited till after the election of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s before renouncing your membership? Is this, therefore, a move to hit precisely at Senator Kwankwaso and his faction of the party or it is just a coincidence?
This decision is not an accident or a coincidence. My relationship with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar started in 2011, when I was his zonal coordinator in the Northwest and we worked harmoniously well. We respect ourselves. He knows that we respect him a lot. And we were so patient with his campaign organization. There was even a time when he left the PDP for the APC, but we said no, we would not follow you to the APC because we would not be relevant to you there. So, we stayed in PDP. So, when he set forth for his presidential journey, we felt morally obliged to stay and assist him. And we stayed and assisted him greatly. Now, the presidential election is over and he was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari and I think that as far as we are concerned, we have played our role judiciously. Nobody can look at us in the face and say that we have betrayed Alhaji Atiku. We were patient even under a very difficult circumstance. Of course, we stayed just to work for Atiku to realize his goal. But as fate would have it, he was unable to attain that position. We have done our part and our best.
Some politicians have suggested that you and your faction had shared a secret romance with the APC administration before your defection? That your faction voted against Atiku and not for him during this presidential election? Could this be true?
I always laugh when they say that our faction did not vote for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. If we did not vote for him, then who did we vote for in the just concluded elections? Who did we vote for? I am asking you? The faction of the old Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state voted for Alhaji Abubakar Atiku in Kano. In fact, if you look very well, you will see the evidence that it was the Kwankwassiyya faction that did not vote for Atiku in Kano. I am so sure of this. Let me give you some facts and figures to convince you. If you put together the final results of the senatorial candidates of the party – these are candidates nominated by the Kwankwassiyya faction, you will see that the party polled together about 700,000 plus votes. In Kano South, PDP scored over 250,000 votes, in Kano North over 150 votes and add it to the result of the senatorial candidate in Kano Central which is over 300,000 votes. That is over 700,000 votes. That is the kind of results that Atiku was supposed to have secured from Kano State. But he only got 390,000 votes and that means that some people among us voted for President Buhari at the presidential level and then for their senators at the senatorial level. And those senatorial candidates did not belong to old faction of the PDP. If you subtract their votes from the total, you will see that it was our votes that gave Alhaji Abubakar Atiku the 390,000 votes he got from Kano State.
When you announced your defection, there were whispers that not much of the old faction of your party was leaving with you; that you were only trying play up the narrative in order to be relevant in your new political abode. Are you truly few in number?
Please do not underrate our number. Remember I was the state chairman of the party. And when a popular chairman relinquishes his position and defected to another political party, do you know how many people would be going with him across the local government areas? You don’t know! So now, if you open your ears and eyes – if you look a bit at the social media, you will know how many people are defecting by the day because of my resignation. I want to, therefore, assure you that PDP is going nowhere in Kano State on Saturday.
From the way things stand, APC in Kano State is gradually becoming one big octopus, consisting of different fractions in the same shade. Have you thought about the problems of managing such a big party? How do you intend to survive in a party with this kind of multiplicity of factions and interests?
Let me tell you something. You are only going to fight or start having trouble with other party members, if you are too ambitious. If you are not, you will work with people of diverse backgrounds. I am a party man and I believe in the supremacy of the party and I want to assure you that there will be no problem for us in the APC. And I want you to note that my paths have always crossed with a lot of the people in the APC. We have been members of the same political party before now and, therefore, we would find it easy to embrace each other and work together. Nobody among them can say he was not in the same party with me at one time or another. Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau was until recently in the same party with me, Ganduje was in the same party with me before. Abdullahi Abbass was in the same party before. We know ourselves, we understand ourselves. And that is the more reason we have a lot of personal respect for one another. There is no record of misunderstanding between me and any of these personalities. I expect that it is going to be a harmonious working relationship between our faction and the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
But would a one party state serve the best cause for the people of Kano State?
Kano will come to benefit from the vast resources of advice and cooperation that the governor will enjoy when most of the stakeholders are from his own political party.
In the past, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had revived his political career even after it has been proclaimed dead. Do you see him springing up fresh surprises in future?
I don’t expect any surprise from that camp for now….
Why?
Because what they have is a one-man show. Kwankwaso is the only one in that party and he would have to compete both now and in the future with a number of very strong forces who have decided to work for the success of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in Saturday’s elections. Kwankwassiyya cannot surprise anybody.
With what has happened so far, his recorded losses, is this the end of the politics of Kwankwaso? Has Kwankwaso come to the end of the road?
You see if only Kwankwso is remorseful of his missteps, I think he would look back and try to effect some changes. But, I doubt if he would do so. The political approach of the former governor and his understanding of the people around him make him want to stay high over his members; if he should change his style, yes he might still return to relevance in Kano politics some day because I must say this of him, he is one wonderful person. The only problem is that he has a relationship issues. He has to learn to respect the views of others. Let him stop sticking to his own views and think that his views are superior to the views of other people. So if he changes, then certainly he can still come back to limelight.
Atiku intends to go court to seek redress over the poll, but many people have been counseling against that. Do you buy their view on this?
I think I am of the view that he should be allowed to test his case in court. I think that a fair involvement of the judiciary into this matter would help reduce the tension associated with the outcome of the results. Let the court look at it and be able to say yes or no to his request. Atiku’s claims and counter claims should be subjected to judicial interpretations. I believe that if anybody is aggrieved, the only place you can get redress is the court and I think that in the end, the court is the best thing for all Nigerians, in the present circumstance.