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.