We’ve not heard
much from you as chairman of finance committee unlike what obtained in the
past; what’s happening?
I don’t believe in
propaganda. Even at my constituency, I don’t do propaganda. I don’t make noise.
What is important is to achieve results. Mine is to do my job. Even where there
are observed lapses, our responsibility is to make correction and move forward,
not to start coming out to indict people and make noise and confuse the system.
If you notice,
during the last assembly, much of the noise was non-remittance of revenues. We
now have the TSA, so the issue with remittance is not there.
This year, we’ve
not heard of any controversy on the budget. How was that achieved?
The 2016 budget
was the first budget of this administration. When you look at the
circumstances, the timing of the budget and how it came in, there were many
issues not sorted out. My personal observation was that in the past, in the crude
benchmark, there must be adjustment from the National Assembly. But in the 2016
budget, there was no any additional benchmark.
Virtually all that
the executive presented was what they expected to be returned, but the National
Assembly has the constitutional powers to make amendments, and for that to be
done, they adjusted what the executive presented. That was the major source of conflict.
There were reports
that you’re not in a good relationship with your governor, what’s the issue?
To be very honest,
I think the whole crisis started during the leadership election in the House.
During that time, there were a lot of claims by some people that the party
directed members to go on a particular direction. We tried as much as possible
to have an interaction with the party, but there was no any resolution
presented to us that it has resolved on where we should go.
What was
obtainable was that a party would zone the positions. That’s the best to do.
But the party cannot present somebody’s name and insisted on it. It wasn’t even
the party that did that. For any decision to be taken, the National Working
Committee of the party must pass a resolution.
We believed we
owed a duty to our members to comply with the standing rules of the House in
terms of election of the presiding officers. Along the line, the controversy
continued and we had to hold series of meetings with the party leadership, and
we told them the truth. Even if the party had a candidate, it could lobby for
such person, but there was nothing like that. If you notice, we never had
issues since the House took off.
How did that
affected your relationship with the governor?
I was told my
governor said we should go for another candidate, but nobody told me. I even
told the governor this. It was only two of us from Katsina State that voted for
Dogara out of 15.
Basically, my
relationship with the governor has been very cordial. But the problem is the
people around the governor. Their understanding was that if I come closer to
the governor, they won’t get what they’re supposed to get. Most of them are
people that we contested election together and later supported my opponent.
They try as much as possible to say I said different things against the
governor.
We learnt you were
suspended?
What happened was
that we had a zonal interactive session with the party leadership. We all
agreed that we should tell ourselves the truth. Somebody raised an issue that
the governor should try as much as possible to assist the party officials. A
vice chairman from Funtua zone said the governor has done everything for them.
I drew the
attention of the gathering to say that the governor assisted one out of 26
local government excos or ward chairmen and should pay attention to the
remaining. That statement was what some people said I was challenging the
governor. It was just two people. They then called the local government excos
and the ward chairmen that they should suspend me.
Where does the APC
constitution allow somebody to hold official party meeting at a private
residence? As far as I’m concerned, the suspension was null and void. Nobody
gave me any letter or contacted me. We gathered not less than 17 signatures in
each out of the 26 wards in a protest letter. They then went down to the wards
to suspend those that signed the protest letter. How can you build a party
structure on the basis of discretion? It doesn’t work.
So, the major
challenge is that the people around the governor are misinforming him. They are
giving him wrong information; they’re mischievous. They want to make sure that
the governor and I are not in good terms, because we’re from the same
constituency. The governor should at any point in time investigate any
information he receives from anybody.
Are there efforts
for reconciliation?
We sat several
times with about eight members on my issue. We resolved it, but any time we sat
with the governor, some people would go behind and start bringing issues. They
would make sure that whatever we resolved didn’t work. The governor is my elder
brother, and based on my upbringing, I respect my elders. If I meet with the
governor, I give him all the respect. If you ask him what the problem with me
was, he’ll tell you he doesn’t have any. So, where is the problem coming from?
We’re in the same party and we’re supposed to use our positions to bring
development to our various constituencies.
What’s the way out
between you and the governor?
Sincerely
speaking, we’re making serious efforts. We had a session with some people that
we would sit again between me and him along others. Let’s explain to him
further that there’s no grudge.
Have you been
recalled from suspension?
I learnt there was
a reconciliation committee set up to reconcile us. But the questions is,
reconcile on what? There was no issue in the first place.
We had pockets of
attacks on some lawmakers recently; what’s responsible for that?
I’m of the opinion
that we’re under a recessed economy. Our people are not finding it very easy to
survive. The government has challenges of resources. Most of them have promised
the constituents certain things, but lack of funds has made it almost
impossible for those promises to be fulfilled.
This is coupled
with the fact that some people thought they can only bring others down before
they go up. If you noticed, wherever somebody is attending any gathering, you
can organize a small group of people to embarrass him. When you go to your
constituency and people try to stone you or protest, that’s not the reflection
of the generality of the people of your constituency. It’s only the reflection
of the few, possibly hired people engaged to embarrass you.
Anybody that goes
to his constituency, they’ll shout and stone him. What is the proportion of his
constituents doing that? That thing has to be discouraged, because as long as
you allow anybody to come out and misbehave, that means there would be
breakdown of law. It can happen to anybody. Nobody would claim that he’s more
than that. You can be embarrassed by anybody. All that is required is to
mobilize about 50 or 100 people or even less. When you come, they’ll protest
which would be recorded and posted in the social media.
So, I think it has
to do with our attitude. Respect for leaders has to be there. I’ll also want to
encourage our leaders to try as much as possible to pay attention to their
constituents. Even if you promise something that you can’t do, try and explain
to them. You have to be on the same page.
Let them understand you. If you have challenges, let them know.
But in most cases,
people hardly interact with their constituents. Again, this isn’t a politicking
period, so the issue of unnecessary gatherings should be minimized. It’s
uncalled for. This is a period for the execution of promises. Let’s wait until
when it’s time for politics then we can do that.
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