Mohammed Sani Musa is a senator representing Niger East Senatorial District in the Senate. He is currently seeking the position of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He spoke to a select group of journalists on his ambition and the changes he intends to bring to the party if he clinches the seat. JAMES KWEN brings the excerpts:
Do you not think that sacrificing your senatorial seat for the APC chairmanship would be a huge disservice to your constituents?
No, it is not a disservice to my constituents. I tell you, it is a sacrifice to make Nigeria a great country. It is from the selection of leadership that you can make it (country) work. We are living witnesses since the inception of the 4th Republic in 1999. Has every Nigerian been able to achieve his aspiration through the ballot box? So, the sacrifice I am making is for me to go and contribute to change the narratives, the trajectory of what used to be. We have what we called the books of law. The books are there. The party manifesto, the guidelines. We create the guidelines and then we don’t want to abide by the guidelines.
I want to see to the implementation of what would guide us in what we want to do as we follow the constitution. I want to assure you that if we do that we would make our leaders accountable to the people. You elect us with your votes for the good of this country and that is why I believe that I should aspire to be chairman of this great party that would create the platform for the party to be an institution of its own, that will give Nigerians the best and qualitative leadership. It is even a larger sacrifice, a larger contribution to my constituents.
What is the disposition of your state governor towards your chairmanship aspiration?
My governor is the chairman of the North Central Governors’ Forum. He is also representing the zone in the CECPC. Don’t you think it will be a kind of conflict of interest for my governor to come out loudly just as one of his colleagues have done? If I am in his position like the other colleagues I would do the same thing if somebody is there from my place. As far as I am concerned, I have communicated to him; I have seen my governor; we have sat three times on this issue. The issue of whether he endorses me or he doesn’t endorse me shouldn’t even arise. Would he prefer to have somebody from outside than his own? So, I will tell you, I have the support of my governor and my governor at the right time would make a statement.
It would be improper for somebody who is a member of the CECPC to even before the pronouncement of the zoning and who happens to be part of those to decide to come out to make the statement. These are some of the things this country needs to correct. I don’t think it is wise for us to always personalise matters of institutions like this in a political party. It is just like being a governor and then I want my son to be a Minister even before the President decides who will be a Minister. Won’t that be a conflict of interest? Would the aspiration of Nigerians be better achieved that way? No. My Governor’s position for now is okay. This is the same thing he did when I was coming out for the Senate. So, when we get to that bridge we will cross it.
With the imposition of direct primary on political parties by the National Assembly, ahead of the National Convention of the party, will you advise the party to adopt direct primary?
Whatever the law says is what the party should abide by. We should be governed by the rules. And whatever the rules are, that’s what we should do. But I need to clarify this notion; the National Assembly is not imposing on the political parties. I happen to be a member of the harmonisation Committee and I knew what the interest of each member was. Yes, they say the majority can always have their way but the minority would always have their say.
What are your chances in this race and what is your take on the theory that the party chairmanship seat be reserved for aspirants from the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) background?
I will first and foremost speak about my chances. My chances are very bright. You and I are Nigerians. You may be a member of the APC or not. But if allowed to choose in terms of quality; in terms of precedence and antecedents of one, I am the best candidate. There is a need for the right leadership for the party.
I have a lot of chances. I have interacted with so many party stalwarts. I did not make too much noise about this. But I believe that there is a dark horse to beat in this race. Whoever that is, is for you to make your calculations. I have met with the majority of the APC governors; I have travelled to their states. I have reached out to 262 members of the APC in the House of Representatives, about 62 members of the APC in the Senate; I have communicated with them, I am sending a communication to all the APC members in the states Houses of Assembly.
Recently, someone asked why do I have to do all these things when this is going nowhere since somebody would say this is where it should go? I said it doesn’t matter. I will sell myself everywhere. When the chips are down, we will know. I am not calling for any assistance but there will be a time people would say they need the best. And this is the leadership that will lead them. And I will tell you I belong to that category of leaders.
About the legacy parties, what I know today is we have APC. And what I know today as legacy is the only legacy President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to lay for this country. And that is what we will pursue, we will try as much as possible when we are given the opportunity to lead, we will provide the best architecture for how we can take care of the security of this country, how we can provide education, how we can provide agricultural implements to catch up with the rest of the world. How we can provide those basic things and ensure that the infrastructure development policy of this administration is sustained, because governance is a continuum. I believe I have all it takes to see to it that it benefits everybody.
I have three things going for me. I believe in my conviction as a human being to go with everybody. If I stand and somebody else becomes victorious I go with him. I will give him 100 percent support for the benefit of the party and Nigerians. We have had the legacy parties ANPP, CPC and ACN and a faction of APGA. The first three parties are defunct parties. What we now have is APC. Some people say my group was there before. What work have they done to win the heart of party supporters? So, it is not an issue. The party is not divided into mine or yours. This party belongs to all of us. And I believe that we will be in a position to bring everyone on board.
You were almost a victim of the alleged imposition of candidates when Adams Oshiomhole held sway; how can we remedy the situation?
Every organisation has its rules and those rules are meant to be obeyed. Even in the civil service, there are rules on how you conduct yourself as a civil servant. So, it is with the NGOs and the political parties. They are entities and not owned by one person. They are owned by all. So, when you don’t follow the rules in accordance with how the books have made it, definitely there will be rancour. Before you even venture to be a member of the party, before you even venture to think of aspiring for any position in the party, you must have gone through the constitution or guidelines of the party. When there is no respect for law and order, there will be rancour. Somebody would feel aggrieved and will seek redress.
I was a victim and as a Nigerian who felt aggrieved, I believed that there was a wrong done and we should be able to correct the wrong. If I happen to be a victim and I went all the way from the High Court to the Supreme Court to get a judgment, is it every Nigerian that can afford to go that way? So, we must do the right thing. If we continue not to do the right thing, we will remain where we are. Once you attach personal interest you have a problem.
I am not telling you I am a saint; a perfectionist. No. What I am saying is if you believe consciously in what you want to do because somebody will look at it and scrutinise it; do it. Don’t care about what a few will say. If I become the chairman of this party, I will bring out a guideline. This is the way we want to go.
Even in the United States, it happens. For example, that’s how Barrack Obama emerged as President. What are the roles of the Kennedys? But what do you do? You do it diplomatically in a decent way. What is that decent way? We are all in a hall; these are all contestants for a Local Government Chairman or a House of Assembly. Thirty people have all come out. I am the leader of the party. Before I even sit, I must only sit with those that have followed the rules. You did not buy the nomination form and somebody bought a form for you and the day you are the candidate, how did it happen? You don’t have the form, somebody is holding the form for you somewhere and you are the candidate. How did you become the candidate? So, you see there are things that if we are to do it consciously, honestly this country will change.
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I am not going to tell you I don’t believe in godfatherism. But I don’t have a godfather. You that believed in godfatherism and you think you can have your way and do what you want to do, so be it for you. But when the challenge comes, you face the consequences. If I don’t have one and I followed through the rules, eventually I will triumph. And this is a simple example – my case. It was only when I got to the National Assembly I heard there was an arrangement that all sitting Senators had been allowed to return. It is not a bad thing to do.
But how do you do it? It happens in modern democracies. If any institution needs veterans to remain, it is the institution of the legislature. In the United States, if a sitting Senator makes his intention known in the party that he would go for the next election, you hardly see anyone coming out because they go by the books. Now, if you say this is what we wanted to do just like my scenario; before I even purchase the form; I will have a rethink if that is the position of the party. If the majority abides by it, so be it. I don’t believe in imposition and I will not use my office to impose anyone on Nigerians. I will give Nigerians the opportunity to make their choices.
What is your take on the use of consensus arrangement in the choice of party leaders?
I believe in consensus because there is consensus in our constitution. Anything enshrined in the books I am a believer of that. If I have a contrary view I would wait for the opportunity to air my views when there would be an amendment to the Constitution. I will make my case and if it is taken by the majority; so be it. Referring to what happened in the states during the ward, local government and states congresses, it depends on the state. For me, in my state, whatever happened, I was part of it.
One thing in this country that had always been our problem, is, I will say, you are my candidate and I will give you all the support to be there, and at the end of the day I will want to control you which was the reason I put you there. And the moment I cannot control you there would be controversy. It will not start from me; it will start from you because if I send something to you and you refuse to do it, I will say he has refused to do it. But, if I allow anybody that merits it to come in, he would see my value. And if I seek any support from him, he would look at the merit of my request to see if it is okay with him.
What is your take on the notion that there is more poverty and hunger under the APC-led government compared to what was obtainable during the PDP era?
When was there no time that there was no hunger in this country? There will continue to be hunger until we become very independent, then we can drive the kind of economy that this country needs. We are living on a borrowed economy. What are the indices of our imports? What is the capital inflow to this country? What are we taking out of the country to generate foreign exchange? How many of us have produce bringing capital into our country? Not until we change these narratives, there will be problems. The APC has done well. Today, you can go to Banex plaza and you are not scared of a bomb going up.
Yes, you can say we are scared to travel on the Kaduna expressway and that if you have taken care of this problem, why not the other one? There is one thing I always try to tell Nigerians, we should not politicise security matters because when you do that, it is not about PDP or APC, we are all involved. Criminality doesn’t know APC or PDP or tribe and religion. Let’s try to come together to see how we can fight this menace. I have raised this issue severally and even done so before Mr. President where I told him that we need a declaration of a state of emergency on security in the country. He asked me what I meant by that.
I categorised it for him by saying let’s the priority on anything we do focus on security and have a timeline. But later, when I was briefed by the Chief of Air Staff of the situation, I became satisfied with the efforts to tame the menace. So, the hunger and security situation would be phased out with time.
There is no basis for comparing the APC and the PDP. Look at the infrastructure on the ground. Let’s be honest with ourselves, have our farmers been able to get it right the way they got it now? No. Talking about corruption, in Africa, there are always corrupt people. It’s tutelage. Some people come in with their proposition. Because we have some kind of inferiority complex in terms of understanding the realities of the economy, we believe what they proffer to us is the best for us and we tend to follow that and at the end of the day, it hits us.
The IMF conditionalities were the first thing that broke what the economy would have been. I don’t know if we remember that the naira was stronger than the Dollar. Is it like that today? So, we need to work hard. And in so doing we need good leadership in every stratum.
Won’t there be a conflict of interest for chieftains of the party from the North Central zone vying for the office of the President and the chairmanship of the party?
No conflict of interest here. The governor you are referring to is not a member of CECPC and if for any reason the party decides that this is where the zoning will be, His Excellency who is vying for the Presidency will abide by it. It is not for me to make statement on this but I believe when the party takes a stand on this issue, we will have something to say. Whether presidency or chairmanship positions, anyone the party says, we will abide by it.
