Hon Idris Hussein, popularly called Idrisima by friends and associates, is an aspirant for the House of Representatives (Idah/Ibaji/ Igalamela/Ofu Federal Constituency of Kogi state) in the general elections scheduled for February next year.
In this interview with BILAL MOHAMMED, the PDP aspirant dwells on the nature and scope of his stewardship if he eventually wins the seat.
Politics in Kogi state has been a battle between the PDP and APC.
What is your take on it? It depends on what you regard as a battle.
Life in itself is a battle between good and evil.
Many noble people in this country have lost their lives to politics, it is a battle.
Democracy is about choices, the more platforms the people of our state have to make these choices, the better for us and our democracy.
The PDP and APC are just fortunate that at this stage of our democracy in transition, they are the two major followed parties and most populous platforms in Nigeria.
Whether the battle is ideological or the struggle for power as it now seems is left for you to decipher.
We heard you have decamped from APC to PDP in Kogi state.
What informed your movement? Prior to the formation, registration and actualisation of the eclipsing of the then ruling PDP by the All Progressives Congress (APC), the founders of that party enunciated some basic democratic ethos which when meticulously followed and imbibed by leaders and party faithful would easily make the party the most accepted and democratic party in Nigeria and Africa in general, considering the significance of our country on the continent.
But today that goodwill which blossomed the party to easy maturity and in the process actualization of its quest for power has been wasted by the actions and inaction of its leadership and party vested interests.
In Kogi state, for example, we have a government that came to power unprepared, a government that came to power as a beneficiary of the death of one of the state’s astute politicians.
This is an individual that did not have a systematic and pragmatic policy framework to tackle the myriads of problems confronting our people in the saddle of power.
Being unprepared and given power on a platter of gold, he decided as a young man not to listen but introduced a cowboy system of governance in our state.
And what do you see and get: misery, pain, stunted growth in all sectors of the economy, political upheaval and terrorism, deprivations and want.
Above all, he has always committed political heist and manipulations against the members of his own party.
As an honourable who came into politics not by accident but a sincere quest to better the lot of my people, I decided to move to a party many believe has come out of its self inflicted misery stronger and with lessons to actualize my dream for my people.
Is the PDP now a veritable platform to achieve your dreams for your people? Let me tell you, I have actually been known as a very frank person.
In the short period I received my political tutelage to maturity I have seen great political platforms crumbled, great political personalities failed and permanently incapacitated politically and never regained political strength.
But this platform called PDP has now been recognised nationally as a cat with nine lives because of its fall and resurrecting tenacity.
This party created to be an embodiment of the dream of all Nigerians has learnt its lessons.
The party by its pronouncements and actions has shown that it is back and better and would not go back to Egypt.
I am proud to now be a member of a resurgent PDP.
We learnt you are from a very recognised field, the estate development industry.
Why the quest for politics? I can say with all sense of responsibility that I thank God for his grace in my success in the estate development industry just like American President Donald Trump.
I basically made a foray into politics for the sake of my people and majorly to give back to society what God and man have given me.
Globally, politics is for service; it is not for never-do-well in society.
It is recognised as not an industry to make ends meet but a give back platform for self actualized men and women to provide service for the people.
I, Idrisima, made a pledge and that pledge is to provide service to my people, to fight their symmetric and asymmetric warfare to the glory of God.
As an accomplished professional, can you educate us on your perspective on politics generally? Three words have always been the definition of my political life: opportunity, responsibility, and community.
These are the major essence of my involvement in politics.
I have always dreamt of introducing to my people a new type of politics that has never been seen or heard by them as it defines my aspiration and my personality in politics.
This is philosophy.
I shall also canvass for our state fiscal discipline to cut poverty and spur growth, investment in education and skills to prepare our young ones for the new age and the new economy, new markets.
I am of the view that we need a comprehensive set of initiatives to make our state and country work.
Poor economy hit us as a country because of our waste but today the reality is for leaders to develop initiatives that will spur our people to work, to contribute to the economy.
We need to look at our character and morality.
I disagree with the view that we cannot legislate on our character and morality because all our laws are reflections of our character, values and morality.
A decline in the morals of our people has produced a decline in the quality of our leader.
Tell us about it foundation Foundations all over the world are aimed to better the lots of humanity, and mine is not an exception.
My major philosophy is love and the love of my people takes precedents in what I do.
I am compelled by the love of my people to give back to the society.
Thanks for that question.
Which areas of interventions has your foundation covered so far? A lot.
Anywhere you turn in our immediate communities and state in general, what you see and feel is the alarming rate of poverty and deprivations facing our people.
Our feel and touch foundational philosophy behooves on us to start the touching of life programmes from: the skill acquisition programmes, scholarship scheme, soft loan for agriculture and the transformer distribution programme to specific quick access of poor communities to electricity which will in turn enhance their quality of life.
I can tell you that the numbers of persons and communities touched so far can better be imagined than counted.
Thanks to God.
Who your political hero and godfather? I can tell you without mincing words and all emphasis that God is my mentor in the spiritual world and after him I can acknowledge the honest, indefatigable, distinguish Senator Atai Aidoko.
He has accomplished a political and distinguished feat that transcends any known feat in Kogi state; a man loved by his people; a man that has accomplished more for his people; a young man of purpose.
I bless Allah for him.
I am of the view that godfatherism has its negatives in this part of the world.
I would rephrase for emphasis sake that Senator Aidoko is my mentor.
Do you believe that politics can really define development? Yeah, absolutely.
The people get the type of leaders they deserve.
We should never as a people play politics of convenience or for tribal and clannish satisfaction.
We should recognize politics as an idea for development.
Development has eluded many states, local governments, and communities because of the docility of the people and their leadership.
We have clearly been left behind developmental because of the choices we made and this time we need to take a common decision that we need development over selfish benefits.
This is a clarion call on us all for deliberate citizenship action to say never again shall we have a leadership that does not represent the ideal which we all yearn for.
I believe that a leader is the total collective representation of the character, aspirations and views of the people he leads.
What will the people get when you are voted as member of the House of Representatives? Service like never before.
I promise them that my new TYPE OF POLITICS mantra and disposition will lead to the total development of our area.
I shall epitomize the servant-leader principle.
We shall submerge and subsume the critical development needs of our people into a collective action plan, which I shall lobby and actualize for the people’s benefit.
Thank God that in the course of our business, I have been enriched with positive negotiative skills which will be handy in the pursuit of our collective goals and aspirations.
We shall aspire to sponsor bills that will make our areas included in the development prioritization considerations of government.
Never again shall we sectionalize development.
We shall lobby that the millennium development goals project shall be located in our areas of representation based on need and not of greed.
I shall be an agent of change and genuine change in character by always paying emphases on my personal character because the people I represent are known for good character and moral rectitude.
If we can assist the people when we are not in government with personal resources which I promised to be a continuum in and out of government, then I shall do more by creating an enabling environment for everyone in my area towards achieving their dreams.
This you can take to the bank.
