Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state. He was the presidential candidate and national chairman of the defunct Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN). In this interview with BODE OLAGOKE, he speaks on the performances of the current administration in Kwara state, Southern presidency among sundry issues.
As a chieftain of the APC in Kwara state, how would you assess the performance of the present administration in your state?
The performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Government in Kwara state has been very wonderful as the Governor, Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq is doing everything possible to change the narratives of the past.
The Governor has touched on virtually all areas of governance in Kwara State. This range from Education, Health, Agriculture and rural development, massive infrastructural development across Kwara State and equitable allocation of resources. Taking sectoral view of the achievements of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq will take a more than a day, suffice to say that he has tried to prove himself where his predecessors in Office failed. The Governor gave us pipe borne Water in Ilorin, the State Capital in 100 days in Office and also intensifying efforts to replicate same in all Communities and major Towns in the State. This has been achieved substantially. His achievements in Education is legendary, especially, basic education which suffered so much neglect in the past administration as a result of which past government in the state was blacklisted by UBEC leading to total collapse of basic infrastructure in our primary and junior secondary schools.
Teachers now are being appointed based on merit and regularly remunerated to boost their moral.
The achievements in two and half years are just too numerous.
You were a national chairman of a defunct political party, would you say your former party’s ideology and that of the APC are the same and if not, how are you coping with your new terrain?
Political parties in Nigeria are basically the same and without any clear cut ideological leaning like in advanced democracies. Political parties in Nigeria are mere tools for electoral contest and the reason people abandoned political parties after losing or winning elections is lack of strict ideology that makes a sitting governor to leave his party for another party.
Our politics and political parties are dictated by our interest. If we truly believed in ideological parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would not deregister political parties. The ideas and philosophy behind the registration of a political parties by a group of people would be allowed to germinate and bear fruits instead of being truncated. Ideas takes time to penetrate the people and replace an old idea. Although our people also abused the right they have to register political parties which makes deregistration of parties sometimes not the fault of INEC.
Our own ideology is to pitch tent with people whose interests aligned with each other at a particular time and also change camp at a slightest disagreement.
For the reasons above, I think I am comfortable in the APC. The APC at the national and state levels aligned with my interest and the interest of all former members of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN). It was as a result that we fully supported the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 elections. We cannot abandon the party we worked with and then join a failed party in Nigeria.
Where President Mohammadu Buhari’s successor should come has been a subject of controversy, what is your stand on this?
It is not true that the APC is undecided on where the next President of Nigeria should come from. No one should be waiting for anyone to tell him or her where the successor of President Mohammadu Buhari should come from in the APC. That is already settled in the APC, only the opposition is undecided.
In Nigeria, we believe in power rotation and sharing in order to bring the diverse people of the country together. It is an accepted principle of fairness and equity to allow power to go round peacefully without rancour or acrimony.
It ensures unity in diversity that a section or segment of a country does not muscle or dominate the others unduly. This arrangement is called Federal Character or affirmative action in other climes. Based on this, you will see that aspirants for the Nigerian President are more in the Southern Nigeria than in the North in the ruling party, while Northerners dominated the race for the APC chairmanship.
President Mohammadu Buhari is representing the interest of the Northern Nigeria as the Nigerian President for a second term in office, it is just equitable and natural that the south takes its turn.
What came to your mind when you heard that the former Lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared to contest for presidency?
I was surprised. Not that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not qualified like every other Nigerian to be president, only that seeking to be President will be conflicting with the the traditional role of leadership Allah has bestowed on him in the APC. The respect and influence Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu gets from being the leader of the APC is so enormous that it can open every closed doors in the country, including the presidency.
That affords him the opportunity to give genuine advice and guidance to every occupier of the Aso rock Villa. We cannot all be President, but a person of the calibre of Asiwaju’s advice would always be heeded to move the nation forward. I am against his putting himself for leadership position. He is our leader and a successful fisher of men and kingmaker. What we expected of him is throw his political weight behind one of his numerous political sons with the requisite physical and mental capacity to lead Nigeria after President Mohammadu Buhari.
The person that fits into that description today in the South is the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. He has been tested and trusted and he is the most qualified person today in south. I hope that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will listen to the voice of reason. We cannot all be President. It is respectable for him to remain a statesman.
Prof Yemi Osinbajo and others are yet to come out publicly to make their ambition known if any, what is your advice for them?
What I would say is that it is not late for people to make their aspirations known. There is still plenty of time for that as the game is just beginning. It is a process that is guided by law and the electoral umpire. At the appropriate time the INEC will blow the whistle for the commencement of the exercise with a notice of elections and guidelines to parties and aspirants as to the procedure to be adopted for the exercise.
It is then that the exercise is truly beginning, what aspirants are doing now are preparations. A lot depended on the contents or provisions of the Electoral Act that would guide all participants in the Election.
It is not known yet whether there will be amendments to the Electoral Act or not. In the 2010 (Amendments) INEC is allowed to issue notice 90 days to elections, while other preparations are for political parties activities.
