Former National Assembly aspirant, Billy Tafewa Balewa, says Bauchi South should give way to other zones to produce the next governor of the state and thinks ex-House of Representatives speaker, Yakubu Dogara, is vastly versatile and a better politician than those under rating him.
How stable is Bauchi politically now?
Yes, Bauchi is a political hotbed and had been the indicator of Nigerian politics right from the start. In 1999 when the military ceded power to a democratically elected government, Bauchi was the hotbed of the ANPP but the PDP won. The people decided that they wanted a change from the traditional way of doing things. So the PDP ruled for two terms under Adamu Muazu, then the ANPP took over under Isa Yuguda, though after about a year he returned to the PDP and stayed for two terms. After him, the APC won through Abubakar Mohammed, and now it is the PDP through Bala Muhammed.
It’s thus clear Bauchi people are highly enlightened politically. In Bauchi, it is neither about having money nor the wish of the elite that determines who carries the day, but the consensus of the ordinary people; what they think about you as the leader. Similarly, in 2015 most of the people decamped from the PDP to the APC and then in 2019 they moved away from Gov Abubakar of the APC to Bala Mohammed who is a PDP man. Now, the trend is being repeated; people are moving out of the PDP to the APC because of the style and bad leadership of the current governor.
Some think that the recent resignations of commissioners and defections from the PDP are statements on its bad governance, would that be the general mood of the people of the state?
To some extent yes. In fact, in his first month, a member of the cabinet resigned followed by another and now not only resignations of commissioners but some serious senior stakeholders are dumping the party for the opposition. It shows there is a crack on the wall, though the PDP keeps denying it. Unfortunately, Governor Bala Muhammed is one sitting governor that has lost so much goodwill yet still believes there is nothing wrong with his style of administration.
He needs to check his style of administration because previously it used to be said that governance in Bauchi is family affair but now it is strictly a family affair because any appointment or contract, it just him and members of his family.
But isn’t the decamping probably a realignment for 2023?
Yes, to some extent it is and people like us are in the vanguard of that. For instance, in my constituency – Bauchi South – we have been producing the governors since 1999 (20 plus years) yet there is really nothing to show for it. We think it is high time we gave other competent persons from the other zones the chance to rule.
Just because you have the number does not make you the only person to govern, there are competent persons in other zones. Right now, what we are advocating is that it should go to other competent persons outside my zone. That Bauchi South have the number to produce the governor each time does not make it mandatory for us to do so.
We think it is because power has domiciled in the Bauchi South that is why we have had bad leaderships and governance. So people like us are in the vanguard of ensuring that power moves to the other zones in 2023.
What is your perspective on the series of probes carried out by the present administration?
There has been no real probe, perhaps only verification of workers’ salaries: Governor Bala Mohammed had promised to probe the past administration but has not done so. He set up a committee which submitted its report but nothing has been done. It’s the usual Nigerian thing whereby every governor that comes promises to probe its predecessor but does nothing eventually. Even as former Minister of the FCT he was probed, but what become of it? Nothing. If this trend continues one day we will not have a country or state to govern. People should be held responsible and accountable.
Bauchi is purely a civil service state, there are no businesses, yet workers are owed salaries for four or five months and the administration keeps telling you there is verification. The former governor did the same thing and it was one of the reasons that brought him down. He toyed with the salaries of government workers and ended up being defeated. Now, the present government has brought in its friends as consultants and they are busy short-changing workers’ salaries.
Some say the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, is fast becoming inconsistent because of his frequent defections, do you share that sentiment?
I don’t. In Nigeria, there is nothing like party loyalty because no matter how loyal you are to your party if someone does not like your face you will be frustrated and may eventually have to leave that party. We have seen in some states where some had left party A to B and accessed power that the former had denied them.
I believe before he defected from the PDP to the APC Dogara must have done his assessment and he is a better politician than the rest of them. He was instrumental to the APC’s victory in 2015; with his might, his colleagues and friends came into the party and they won. Even before then, he was instrumental to the emergence of Abubakar as governor in 2011. It was the same in 2019. I think he must have done his calculation very well and has seen that the PDP’s boat is capsizing. You don’t expect him to remain in a sinking ship no, no, no. Magic don’t happen.
Dogara is a vastly experienced cerebral politician, better organized and very incisive. Forget he is from the minority tribe, he has clout, better vision and connects with the people far better the rest. What we have now is a one-man show because people are not carried along. People are grumbling because Bala is not running an inclusive government. Dogara was not even asked to nominate one person into the cabinet. Someone who spent his money and pulled his friends along for you to win and yet you pushed him aside, no no, no, it was a huge and costly mistake.
His defection to the APC is a sign of good thing. I won’t want the elite to be in one camp because the ordinary man will suffer. Let the elite be in different parties and the ordinary man’s eyes will be opened for him to see who is better among the elite to govern them.
Is it really the PDP boat capsizing or Dogara is repositioning for 2023?
It is both. With the bad leadership and lack of good governance the party will collapse. Dogara and the APC repositioning for 2023 I am not sure of that, it’s too early for that. There is ongoing awareness creation for a total departure from the way things are being done. We want to do things in the unusual way.
I know to some extent that Dogara is not interested in being a governor but remaining in the capsizing boat might adversely affect not only him but those also in his camp. So to move out was the better option and perhaps something favourable may happen in the APC. Recall that the margin by which the PDP defeated the APC was about 15,000 votes and therefore too close to call.
You could not win the senatorial election in 2019, what next?
I contested the 2019 National Assembly election for the Bauchi South senatorial district and came third. It was an achievement because I contested on the platform of the ANPP when its national outlook was minimal. We won two seats; the state assembly and House of Representatives but the power that be muffled the election result and took away the Reps’ seat but we still have the state assembly seat. With all the money the PDP and the APC had I believe probably money was my undoing.
In my brief experience in Nigerian politics, I had never seen where money was used as if it was going out of fashion in 2019. And it was understandable because rigging was minimal. So parties had to use money to woo the electorate. We will make another attempt in 2023 if it’s God’s will, perhaps money won’t be as influential as it was in 2019.
Are you likely to join the bandwagon?
My people will advise me on what next to do. But as I had told you it’s a stupid politician that would insist on sticking to one spot because none is God’s party. There are virtually all the same and whichever gives you advantage and better spotlight you go to that. We are educating people to separate between those that want to buy power and those with ideas and programmes to engender development in the state.
What’s your perspective on the security situation in the country and efforts of the federal government in this regard?
I am sad as a Nigerian. Insecurity is largely due to bad governance. We had the Boko Haram for almost 10 years and people considered it a Borno issue instead of coming on board together to crush to it. Though we have almost defeated Boko Haram because they are confined to one corner, but we have insecurity issues: the farmers/herders, kidnappings and incessant killings everywhere.
Unless the government addresses unemployment we will keeping churning out criminals. What breeds criminality, they say, is injustice, which is a product of bad leadership. If you have a good president but bad governors, the problem will continue. We have all manner of persons in the NASS, as governors and others.
