A meeting of Kogi APC stakeholders was held in your house recently. What was the meeting all about?
Actually, while I was abroad, I received a lot of calls from political associates, complaining vehemently about the state of our party, the APC in Kogi State, particularly the recently conducted election of ad-hoc delegate. The complaint was so tensed that I had to beg them to calm down till I return from my journey. I was a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party before we were dissolved. That, alone, shows that I am an elder in the party that should be respected. Again, I was a member of the presidential campaign organization that worked assiduously for the emergence of our President, Muhammadu Buhari. But today, the congress of the party is conducted without my knowledge. The usual and normal channel of communication to members of the party is through the structure of the party. Whether the congress is mid-term or ad hoc, we are supposed to be informed. Instead, we suddenly read on social media platforms that a delegate Congress has taken place in Kogi and even in my own local government area. Names that were submitted are not known to me. The party stakeholders, who called me on phone, said they were not aware and they were furious the way and manner the national body of the party handled the congress in Kogi State as it is an attempt to further tear the party apart. I spoke with the national secretary of the party and from our discussion, the national body of the APC was totally wrong to have arranged the delegate Congress. I don’t really know what they stand to gain by their action. If you take a look at the genesis of the APC in Kogi State, I carried a lot of burden before the party was accepted by the people of the state. That time, I did not see anybody, especially those who are now claiming that they own the party. It was only the late Prince Abubakar Audu, who came out boldly to uplift the party and eventually became the flag bearer of the party. But I went round the 21 local government areas (LGAs) canvassing for support and registration of membership. I spent my resources to ensure that the party becomes the bride of the people.
Are you saying that you are not being carried along despite the efforts made?
Today, some people, who came when the party had recorded success, have hijacked the party and want to push us out by all means. Today, I will not say that I regret joining the party or spending my resources on the party, but I am not happy. I believed that God wanted to use me for a purpose. So, when I returned safely, I quickly called for a meeting before some notable members of the party get scattered. Though, several meetings were held, while I was abroad, especially in the eastern flank of the state. Imagine, in my local government area, which is Mopa-Moro, the three people they brought as delegates; one of them is Director General on media to the governor, the second person is also the council administrator, while the third person I don’t even know him. Where were those people when I deployed my resources? I sold my properties to nurture the APC in the local government which became so strong that the party won all positions during the 2015 general elections. It was an insult of the highest order that a delegate congress was held and I was not contacted even when I single-handedly brought the party to the local government. Now, they want to push me away.
In short, with the current crises in Kogi APC, the party’s future is between the deep blue sea and the devil. Though I am not God, but the party is heading toward total collapse if urgent steps are not taken by President Muhammadu Buhari, who is today the national leader of the party.
What really happened at the meeting?
At the meeting, which was held in my house, the stakeholders presented three salient opinions. The first is that we should wait for the outcome of the reconciliation, maybe the governor can change for the better. But some members still believe that they cannot trust Governor Yahaya Bello based on the way and manner he behaves to genuine members of the party. And the second opinion is that we should embrace a new party and abandon the APC for them just the way we did when the PDP was misbehaving in the state so that when they finally push us out of the party by force, we can fall back to the new party and ensure its success at any election. The third opinion is that since in the last governorship election, the PDP and the APC were neck and neck and the difference was not up to 5 percent, if we can take only 10 percent from what constitute the APC and join the PDP, we will have a smooth ride during the election over the APC. This is a fact because election is an issue of numerical strength.
You also travelled to Abuja shortly after the meeting of stakeholders in your house. Was the trip part of the reconciliation efforts?
Truly, I travelled to Abuja. But it’s not for reconciliation. I went to see Hon. Abiodun Faleke, who is also a factor in Kogi politics. So, when I heard that he called for a meeting almost the same period with the one we held in Lokoja, I decided to meet him and his complaint was similar to mine. He expressed worries over the behaviour of the national body of the party. It is annoying and painful to say that 95 percent of people in the government of Kogi State today who were given jeeps and other expensive cars are the same people that fought us during the election. It is erroneous for anybody either at the presidency or national secretariat of the party to believe that those of us complaining about the governor’s behaviour are just giving him headache. That is where the pain, the agony comes in.
What is your take about how your party, the APC, fares both at state and national levels?
At present, there are eight APC states completely enmeshed in crises. Kano State that gave the party over two million votes during the presidential election is also in crises. Bauchi, Kaduna and Benue states respectively are in serious crises, while Kogi State is leading. It is high time the President takes a look at the situation of the party. It is a pity that the national body of the APC which is supposed to intimate the president on the true picture of the crises in the party at state level are even the people causing it because of lack of sincerity. I am appealing to Mr President to create time to look into the APC issue because 2019 is around the corner. Since party members are complaining, he should set aside time to look into their complaints.
This issue of perceived marginalisation, what do you have to say about it?
The national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie – Oyegun, who is my friend, cannot claim that he is not aware that I have been complaining of being marginalized as I have laid my complaints before him on several occasions. But my complaints end there because I don’t have link with the so-called cabals at the national level. I am an advocate of peace and my complaint of marginalization is misunderstood by Governor Yahaya Bello. My candid complaint is in line with federal appointments. Kogi West senatorial district is not carried along. Instead of calling me so that I can tell him the details of my complaints, the governor mistook it as an attack on his government. If my complaints are not genuine, why is it that two weeks after my complaint, the federal government hurriedly balanced the marginalization with four appointments. What I said is that since we have three senatorial districts, whatever comes should be shared among the districts instead of neglecting one district.
There is agitation for restructuring of Nigeria. Can we have your views on that?
I have deliberately refused to comment on the issue, but one thing is key here, what we should do at this point in time, is to ask ourselves the type of restructuring we need. I believe that the type of restructuring we need now is the rearrangement of our political structure in such a way that it will be manageable because the political expenses and burden on our economy are too high. We have to also ask ourselves whether we need 109 senators and 360 House of Representative members sitting full time and at the same time having large numbers of aides gulping reasonable percentage of our income which can be channelled to provide the infrastructure that are lacking across the country. We formulate our own form of democracy that will take a bit of the presidential and a bit of parliamentary British form of democracy, where members of legislative arms will also hold ministerial position, thereby reducing the cost of running the government. The restructuring I am looking at is the type that will end the agitation for state creation through the introduction of regional governments by having six regions, which of course, we have already defined by our action. We can also restructure some offices. For instance, the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice can be broken into two – let one be professional and the other administrative .This is my concept of restructuring.
