By Wilfred Eya
Special Adviser on Political Affairs to Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, Dr. Kasim Mohammed Kasim in this interview speaks on various issues in the country.
Recently, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje called for a one-party system in Kano State and invariably in the country. Do you think one-party system is good for the country?
I will say yes because we still want a state like Kano in APC. We want the totality of Kano people to become members of APC. But in reality, one-party system for a state or for a country is wrong. That is just the truth. If you want to collapse everybody to a one-party system, there will be no good governance or check and balance in the system. There will be no justice because all the people will be in one party and there will always be crisis. There will be problem everywhere because there will be no enough space to accommodate everybody in a one-party system.
People have different opinions. Like myself, sometimes I used to raise suggestions and advise the government, which are not contrary to some of the beliefs of the party but I feel that as a Nigerian, I should be able to make suggestions like the recent observation I made about the border closure. I have a contrary view over border closure unlike some people because what people feel is that closing the border reduces insecurity. Let’s tell ourselves the truth; are the borders the main cause of insecurity we are facing now? The answer is no.
I think there are challenges behind all these things and we are just chasing the shadow because it is the common masses that are suffering. So, you cannot just blame insecurity on the borders. Most of these security challenges we are having in the country are being perpetrated by some people we know and they can be identified. It is good that most of them have been arrested.
Most Nigerians voted for President Bola Tinubu because of the confidence they had in him, most importantly the promises he made during the electioneering that he will address the economic situation. Are you in any way surprised that things have not changed 10 months down the line.
I disagree with you that things have not changed since the beginning of this administration because governance is a process. President Tinubu met a situation that he has to study and understand first. He was not part of the previous government to be frank, so he has to understand the system and then came out with his own agenda. You have to understand the system and know where the problems are and that’s what he’s doing, trying to identify those problems before fixing them. But Nigerians are just eager as normal human beings to see Mr. President rush into doing things and make things work.
The truth is that the President can’t do everything overnight. He needs time and support of every Nigerian for him to succeed. The process of governance is a gradual one but I can assure you that things will definitely change for the better soon. We voted for him because of his experience, not because of anything. We know that he can work hard to better the lot of Nigerians. He was the one who said age is nothing but just a number.
So, we are counting on his performance, experience, endurance and what he had to offer and what he has done before, given his track record. The distraction by the opposition is over, so our responsibility as party men is to suggest an advice. For instance, on the subsidy removal, Mr. President on the day he was sworn-in, said fuel subsidy is gone. He said we must end this and that was what he did. So, it must take a little time for people to adjust.
Are you saying the removal of fuel subsidy by President Tinubu is in the best interest of the country?
Yes, it is the best and one of the best things to have happened in this country. It is just that Nigerians are not really patient to see the dividends but I know that a time will come, when people will see the benefits. I am telling you, it is one of the best decisions that the President has taken so far since he assumed office but the people are complaining because of the situation we found ourselves and I agree with them. That is why some of us are suggesting to Mr. President to also make Nigerians start to benefit from the subsidy removal. He should work hard to address the hardship Nigerians are passing through at the moment without further delay.
Is Nasarawa on the same page with President Tinubu’s led Federal Government given the fact that the state didn’t deliver Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election?
It is a joint agenda considering what happened in the last election. I don’t want to shy away from that question. What happened during the election was that we were taken by surprise. Nobody took Peter Obi serious. If we had taken Peter Obi serious, there is no way he would have won Lagos and Nasarawa states. So, I don’t think Peter Obi would want to contest the presidential election again in the next election.
As a political advisor, I am telling you that Tinubu will not have any challenge in the next election if he contests. That is just the truth. I can assure you this because nobody will take such for granted again. So, I want to tell you in categorical terms that Nasarawa State is on the same page with Tinubu’s government because the state has taken the lead in keying into some of the progrmmes of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President.
What is your take on power rotation being debated at the National Assembly?
Power rotation is good for the country because it will help in giving sense of belonging to all the segments of the country by geopolitical representation. It will also help in carrying various nationalities along. Power rotation will also help in curtailing the bad intentions in some of our people across board because some people feel that if power does not come to their area, they are completely marginalised or neglected, which is not so as it depends on the leaders we have.
But in reality, power rotation is wrong. We should be after competency and capacity to deliver. Power shared within religion is wrong. We should be after competency. If a Christian will continue to be president of this country for 40 years and things are going well, then so be it. I think that’s what Nigeria wants. If a Muslim will do the same and people are living happily and there is development and the atmosphere is conducive for people to showcase their potentials or do businesses and interact peacefully and live in harmony, then it should be so.
The agitation for power shift is what is creating tension and all these agitations are because of our names and our religion. If you are Ali, it is believed that you are from the North. If you are Obafemi it is believed that you are from the South-West and if you are Obi, it is believed that you come from the South-East. I am from the North Central and the North Central is agitating for power to shift because the zone is one geopolitical region that has not taken a shot at the presidency for long.
Talking about the just concluded governorship disputes between David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Abdullahi Sule, how would you have felt if the Supreme Court had gone the other way?
It wouldn’t have been possible. The judgement of the Supreme Court was just affirmation of the mandate given to Governor Abdullahi Sule by the people of Nasarawa State in the last election. The people voted for him from their hearts because of his tremendous achievements in the last four years. The call on Governor Sule to re-contest was never his wish because he said that he was returning back to Dangote Group where he came from but the people kept insisting that he must stay back and continue the good work he was doing in the state.
We didn’t know who would succeed him because there was no plan for his successor at that time. That was why people were on his neck and made sure that he accepted to contest for the second term and that decision to contest is something that the people celebrated not even the winning because for him to have accepted to re-contest was another thing and therefore his re-election was never a surprise to anybody but the opposition were protesting and mobilising people against the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The election and the court process are over, so nobody would think about the election anymore because we are talking about governance now and for a governor who is coming for the second time and saying ‘I have projects on my mind and want to deliver them, I want to make sure that I leave these legacy behind. I want to take Nasarawa beyond where I met it.’
This means that he has keyed into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu even before the agenda came on board. Our hope is alive because if you look at our slogan, it is ‘Exceeding all expectations.’ The governor is somebody who will say, I want to exceed all expectations. It is only God that can exceed all expectations but for a governor to say, I want to see how I can do it, and he is doing it, means he is really serious about what he is doing.
Our next agenda is to advise the governor to continue to do good things to the people and plan well with the stakeholders and the entire people of the state. He should start thinking of who will be his successor, so that the person will continue from where he would stop. We have trust in the governor and believe that he will take us to the Promise Land. We have assessed Governor Sule’s performance in five years running and we are sure of his ability to lead us in the path of peace and progress.
Would you say Governor Sule has met the aspiration of the people of the state by way of performance?
I think I am in a better position to say whether the governor actually performed well or not in his first tenure because I was his Senior Special Assistant on Project Monitoring. I went around the 13 local government areas and I visited most of the villages. Even areas where one cannot go by vehicles, we use canoes to go to those places. I have pictorial evidence of these projects and if people are to vote by projects, I don’t think any party will come up again because we have done well and that was why we won the last election.