Despite party differences, Jonathan resisted pressure to get me impeached – Al-makura

Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura, the  immediate past governor of Nasarawa state and lawmaker representing Nasarawa South Senatorial  District, clocks  70 years today. In  this special interview with MUAZU ABARI to mark the day, he speaks on his life struggles, politics and why Nigerians should vote Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress come 2023 among other  issues.

At 70, how do you feel?

Alhamdullilah. All praises  be to almighty Allah who gives me the opportunity to witness this day when by His grace I am attaining  the age of  70 years. Mine  is total submission to Almighty God that has made it possible for me to attain this age in good health without anything to regret in life in the last 70 years. This has made me feel a sense of celebration, fulfilments and accomplishments.

 What lessons can younger generation learn from your life’s history and struggles?

I thank God almighty that I have been able to be around for 70 years and have been very lucky to have attained whatever I have attained in life through sheer dint of hard work, commitments, determination and above all destiny.  I  believe the secret behind my successes in life is destiny. It  is God that destines what one will become but in any case, one has to persevere.

From my childhood up to this period,  I have always been   consistent, focused, determined  and persevered in anything I do and I  always consider the adage that what’s worth doing is worth doing well. So, to me, if there is any secret apart from destiny, it is one’s  commitments to do what is worthwhile and anything that is worthwhile is worth doing,  and I think that is what could be the secret behind my successes of life. So, i will call on the younger generation  to be focused ,disciplined and committed to their goals and dreams and the sky will be their limits.

But most people attribute your successes in life to your family background.

Yes, of course, my family background has a lot of inputs in what I became today, I  came from a normal family where the vocation of the family has to do with the kind of vocation  everybody does.  So, the commitments and the seriousness of which my parents attended to what they were doing  gave me an inkling and also some kind of orientation  to pursue life with seriousness, commitments  and vigour. To that extent therefore, I will be right to say parts of the attributes I have today were  acquired them through the guidance, care and counselling of my parents. So. i can tell you that substantial background of my successes has to do with the guidance of my parents.

You were privileged to be in the House of Representatives in the Second Republic, you were a governor for 8 years and now a senator putting. Would you say you are fulfilled?

When  one is growing up  one has a lot of dreams and hopes.  Some  are pipe dreams  others are intuitive dreams.  Intuitively, if you are thinking about something you have no reason to prove or disprove whether you can get that thing,  but something keeps ringing in your mind that something could happen. So, i believe part of what i have been able to attain has to do with one’s struggles ,wishes and dreams and also commitments to realise such dreams.

As you rightly mentioned, in 1988 I was privileged to be a member of the Constituent Assembly  representing Lafia/Obi  when we fashioned the 1989 Constitution.  Thereafter, i became the youth leader of NPN in Plateau state and subsequently became the state secretary of the NRC in Plateau state in the aborted Third Republic after which i wend back to my business after politics became moribund.

How  did you emerge governor in 2015 beating an incumbent?

With the restoration of democracy in 1999, a lot of friends and associates  tried to encourage me to see if I  can participate taking into consideration my experiences in the second and third republic believing that I  can add one or two values  in determining the direction of politics based on one’s pedigree.  With that, i said why not? So, i threw my hat in the ring and given the kind of relationships I  have with my constituency and the state at large, we seem to be on the same page and seem to relate with different sectors of the society.

As soon as I indicated  my interest to contest  for the office of the Governor in 2011, a lot of people who knew my trajectory in politics, economically and business wise,  in their own judgement, believed that I am someone the people can trust with leadership and that gave me some kind of push  and before i knew it, the support was overwhelming  even when there was already  a sitting governor.

As God would have it, before we  conducted the primaries in 2010, there was pressure on me  not to contest  because there was a sitting governor.  The  traditional rulers , political leaders and other critical stakeholders in the state  were on my neck not to contest against  the then sitting governor and being a very serious and committed person in what i intend to do, I  already indicated my interest and I felt if at that time I  withdrew, that would put a dent on my integrity and commitments.

So, here I was having two problems- succumbing to appeals by elders not to contest as against defending my interest  as a serious and committed person.  So, i had to find a middle road and the middle road was to give to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar  and give to God what belongs to God. To the traditional rulers and leaders in the state, I  told them that since their concern  is not to disrupt the political activities in the state  of the sitting governor,  then I  could do one thing.

I will not contest on his own platform of PDP, I would leave him so that he can have a field day and realise his dream  but I  crave their indulgence to allow me go to another party which would not have anything to disrupt him  and they were glad that I  respected their views  and blessed me to go to any party as long as I would leave PDP for him  as a sitting governor. As  God would  have it, I  picked my ticket from   CPC and the campaign started and all that is now history.

From there it had been two terms of 8 years  with the mandate and supports  of the people of Nasarawa state. In fact, what is more exciting  about my coming into office as governor was that I  was contesting against a sitting governor,  I   had no traditional rulers, commissioners, permanent secretaries, local governments chairmen and other public office  holders tied to my aspiration.  But  the people of Nasarawa state made a statement they wanted Tanko Almakura  and so it was. I  can’t  thank them enough for their show of patriotism and love.

National  Assembly as retiring home for governors. Your take on this?

At the tail end of the completion of my tenure as governor, very unlike what other people would think Senate is a retiring home of governors, mine is a different case.  I  was prompted by the people to contest for the seat  so that I  can add value  to the Senate   and I  agreed absolutely  because Nigerian politics has always been a battle between the executives and the legislature, especially in the states.

So, I  feel those who have been governors knew exactly the kind of fragile relationship that exists in states between the executive and the legislature.  So, it is good that some of them  come to the National Assembly so that they will be able to give guidance and brought some of the experiences they had in the states so that the gap between the executive  and the legislature can be narrowed.

You are aware of what happened in the 8th Senate, the kind of hullabaloo that took  place between the executive and the legislature, almost to an impossible situation where governance was almost brought to its knees from 2015 to 2019. That  kind of relationship I feel very uncomfortable about, which is one of the reasons  that  made me come to  the Senate to use my experience  as an executive in the state  to see how we will be able to work together  with the executive at the National level  while in the legislature. This  kind of things I believe, is what will bring  about collaborations  and cooperations  between the two arms of Government rather than considering Senate as  a retiring  home for governors 

How fulfilled are you as governor for eight years?

This is very personal question to me  because it strikes the very heart  of my motive and decision to vie  for the gubernatorial seat in 2011. In  2010 when i look at the state in comparison with other states, it appeared to me then that we had a long way to go because  the new states that were created namely Nasarawa, Zamfara, Ekiti, Bayelsa and Ebonyi,  these new states were glorified local governments because the states they were created from, that is the 30 states,  some of them were created about 10 to 20 years and the things that make them more workable ,effective and progressive  were being developed from the time they were created to the time when these new states  were created.

So when I  look at the relationship and compared the standard  between these 6 new states  and these 30 states,  I  knew that whoever that  wanted to govern Nasarawa state needs to  have a vision  and a programme  if he means well for the state. So, that to me, is the philosophical motive and reason behind my contesting the number one seat in the state.

What were those things? Before I  came into office,  there was only one asphalt road  that passed through the state, that is the one that came from Abuja and branches in Akwanga  to Jos  and from Akwanga to Lafia. So  I  felt that had to be corrected  if the people of Nasarawa state are to move  shoulder to shoulder with their colleagues  in other states. And  if Nasarawa state is to be called a state,  there are certain indices without which we should forget it. 

So, as soon as I came, I charted my course on what I  should do to change the face of Nasarawa so that at least  we could be seen  to be gradually maturing  to attain such status of other states. That  was why I  used to say  that Nasarawa is a state in a hurry, that hurry  has to do with provisions of certain infrastructures. So, I  deployed all my attention to ensuring I put physical infrastructures as my first top priority.

Before I  left office from 2011 to 2019, I had constructed  more than 300 kilometers of asphalt roads alone across the state linking various communities and 5 kilometers each in all the 13 local governments to open up the state for economic  activities and movement of the people among other provision of basic infrastructures.

Secondly, I  look at the education system.  The  kind of structures  that were there were not enduring  and were dilapidated  and to a large extent,  most of them were decayed.  So, i introduced Taal model schools  where for the first time in the history of the state,  we have schools in two-story buildings  in virtually all the 13 local governments and development areas of the state which give education a boost  and people now see that education has taken its rightful place, which encouraged parents to sen their children to schools.

On economic activities, I  felt Abuja is close to Nasarawa. One  thing we should do to bring about economic buoyancy  is to look at the land system and regularisation  of how the title could be. So, we had to convert the analogue  land administration to digitalised land administration where I  put in the NAGIS which brought the land administration of Nasarawa state and that of Abuja almost  at par, and that opened great opportunity for people to come to Nasarawa to own land  and do things  that will improve the wealth of the state.

Not only that. Not  everybody is a civil or public servant,  majority of the people are traders and farmers. So, I  quickly embarked  on building of markets across the state to expand the scope of  commercial activities. To crown it all, I  constructed the Lafia cargo airport and by the grace of God from 2013-2018, I  have been able to do 95 percent of the job.

As a matter of fact, it was through that airport  that I  took off  after handing over power  in 2019 that has unbundled the state. Last  week, I  was so happy when Asiwaju came.  The  number of planes  that landed at that airport was very impressive. Before  then, when we had function, half of the dignitaries would  not come  because it is a land upstair. But  with the provision of that airport,  it has opened Nasarawa to more activities even beyond commerce.

That’s not to say I have accomplished all my dreams  for the state.  But  constitutionally, you have only 8 years to serve  and for the 8 years I  stayed in Nasarawa, I  tried my best. I just wish I could do more.

Secrets of your performance

There is no secret behind it. It  is something that one can see visibly nobody has the monopoly of wisdom or ideas.  When  saddled  with such a complex and highly sophisticated responsibility as governor,  the only way to be fair to people is to call the right calibre of people to come and work together with you  so that everyone  can add his own competencies, values and ideas. To  me that was what helped me for the 8 years I  served in Nasarawa state.

I did not discriminate. All  I  wanted was what were your competencies? Do I need such competence to change the face of things in Nasarawa? The answer is yes. It doesn’t matter to me where you come from, what  is your religion or which tribe you belong.

Failed impeachment move

Let me give you a background to this failed impeachment plot.  When  I  came into office  in 2011 on the CPC  platform, I had only 4 members of the state House of Assembly  as against that of PDP which had 20 members.  So, right from day one, I  was seen as a governor  that would  not likely last more than a year and with litigations all over, we went to tribunal then to appeal  and up to Supreme Court.

It was seen at that point given the  small votes between me and the person I   defeated- only about 3000 votes  was the difference between me and the then incumbent governor. What  was more? The  litigations which took me 6 months had not given me peace.  So,  i had always been seen as a governor that could be removed either by court  and if I  escaped the court process, the Assembly was waiting for me.

They had more than two third,  so it was just to them a doable exercise .However, when i realized  that, I  refused to be bothered.  I  concentrated io delivering my promises to the people of the state believing that even if I  served for six months, whoever that came and see my efforts  in six months  shall appreciate what I  had done.  So, with the confirmation of my election  by the Supreme Court, the state Assembly went to work because at that time I  was seen as a stain in PDP political map in Nigeria,  because Nasarawa state had always been a PDP state.  So,.i constituted a stain  in the clothes of the PDP in Nigeria and that stain had to be removed.  So, the Assembly started the process of my impeachment over what they called  allegations of gross misconduct, about 16 allegations were levelled against me.

Virtually all of them were frivolous.  But  one thing  that was going for me was that when  I  looked at the arrays of allegations, I  was never pelted  because they were frivolous  and a lot of them  cannot be proved. The  only way to go was by fiat, and when I  looked again at the Constitution and saw the procedures and processes of  impeachment, I  was waiting to see whether the state Assembly and the powers that be   would adhere strictly to constitutional provisions or  bastardise   it.

One step after another  the process continued up to the point  where the panel for the impeachment was put in place. Fortunately  for me, the panel put in place  were people of integrity.  How  the chief judge managed to bring people who were honest, sincere and with tremendous integrity and good name was something that gave everybody hopes and believed that these people would do the right thing.

They looked at the allegations one after the other and found out that all the allegations were frivolous and decided to exonerate me from all the allegations. Let  me even tell you, there was even an attempt to get the then President (Goodluck Jonathan)  to interfere so that PDP could have their way,  but being a gentleman man  and honest leader, he was  he categorically told them that he has nothing to do with the impeachment he never interfered  and insisted on due process.

Even before then, the people of Nasarawa state in their thousands went into the streets to protest.  So  you can see there are many angles to it. The allegations of gross misconduct  levelled against me by the lawmakers were not proved, hence they were thrown out by the panel .

But the then Speaker, Musa Ahmed who presided over the failed impeachment bid, apologised tow weeks ago. How did you receive this?

This, I  believe, is a wakeup call to all of us. If  you do things that you believe in and do it rightly, even if you don’t  have people around you,  God almighty will see you through. I  was actually surprised and excited  when two weeks ago  when the state Assembly had a ceremony of their compendium,  the then speaker who presided over my impeachment was God-fearing and honest enough to admit the action was not right and was politically motivated .

Nothing can be more exciting than that. I  shed tears  and also appreciated the speaker Hon. Musa Ahmed Mohammed who showed compassion and believed that the truth should be told for the world to know for the sake of history and posterity.

Choice of Sule as my successor

History is replete with a lot of experiences. In  today’s Nigeria, whoever is a keen observer of how things happened in the past 10 to 20 years, will notice that all that glitters is not gold.  When  you are faced with a decision to take ,take the decision based on conviction  not on sentiment.

When 11 people came to contest with AA Sule,  these are very close friends of mine, there were even my cabinet members among them, including my deputy governor,  it took me many months to think whether i should toe the line of some of my colleagues  who pick their commissioners, who took their SGS or their relations  to succeed them,  thinking that they would have a comfortable retirement.

But for me two things happened.  I  wanted whoever that wass coming  to leave Nasarawa state better than he found it. For  that reason, I  had to set a criteria based on one competence and capacities,  not minding whatever sentimental relationship I  had with anybody.  And  sincerely, of all the 11 people that contested, I  believed  that if there was someone that can handle the state  better  based on his experience, education and pedigree, I  have no doubt in my mind AA sule was to me the best choice.

He is not someone that I  have been very  close to and he is not even in my own political circle.  But  the grave commitments, passion and patriotism  for the state to ensure that I  put someone  that I  believed  has the competence  to move the state forward  was what governed my decision to support AA Sule  without suppressing the rights of other aspirants. I  felt AA Sule compared to others, would do a better job. So, I  decided not to succumb to sentiment or primordial consideration, so I  supported him while at the same time giving all of them a level playing field to exercised their political rights.

On Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Buhari’s successor in 2023

Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a politician  that has come a long way and to be fair to him,  before you advocate for his supports, it is good to bring to people’s attention to his trajectory  and the efforts he has made  over time at nsuring that democracy is rooted in Nigeria.

I call him a patriot and consider him  a committed democrat  and fighter of true democracy. When  the election of Abiola(June 12, 1993)) was annulled and there were a lot of hue and cries  about re- instatement of that mandate, at that point in time,  the country was at crossroad despite the NADECO issue.  There  were people who believed that true democracy must return. Some of them found their lives in danger for pressing for such position.

Asiwaju  Ahmed Tinubu was among the people who in the desire to protect their lives  had to leave this country  to go on exile.  It  is not only about running away  from danger  while in exile,  working towards the return of democracy on that scope alone, one can consider him as someone  who has made a lot of sacrifices for democracy to flourish.

Coming back home during the 2011,2015,2019 elections, every active politician in this country knows the roles Asiwaju  played, especially from 2012 to 2019 in ensuring the success of APC as a party  and also for the emergence of not only President Muhammadu Buhari,  but a lot of governors from the south west and even some from northern part of the country.  So, I believe Asiwaju has paid his due in Nigerian politics and has invested so much in Nigeria democracy , and this is the right time to pay him back and Nigerians will not regret having him as their president in 2023.