Abdulrahman Sade is the Sadauki of Bauchi Emirate. Beside that he is a political activist, youth leader and philanthropist. In this interview with AWWAL GATA, this founder of the Sadauki Foundation which caters for the the downtrodden says the vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo has the leadership qualities capable of bringing about revolution for Nigeria.
How do you feel about Osinbajo’s declaration to run for the Presidency?
I am one of the millions of Nigerians who have been shouting our voices hoarse urging him to run. He is a modest being. Despite the millions of people who were urging him, he just kept mute. He did not rush it. That is to tell you of his modesty –modesty is a great leadership quality. However, we are happy that he has finally declared. Our happiness is because of our belief in his capabilities. His declaration is the greatest in the history of this country.
You seem to like him, why the support?
First because of his leadership qualities and because he has proven times without number that he has the capacity of taking Nigeria out of the woods if he holds the wand. He is experienced and he is well educated. He understands the country’s economy and her people and capable of heralding the revolution we have been clamouring. Also, he is a pan-Nigerian; his leadership would bring about the unity of this country. There is no way growth could be attained if peace and unity are not there. Therefore, to me and millions of other Nigerians, Osinbajo is the answer.
But others are of different view on the qualities you just enumerated.Democracy allows multiplicity of opinions, ideas, etc. But except people want to play politics, what I said earlier about him are glaring. When President Buhari was ill and he acted as president, he led this country out of recession. He is the brain behind the social safety programmes that are currently making the lives of ordinary Nigerians better. Many of the success stories of the Buhari administration, he has been the major initiator. The Buhari administration has brought progress to this country, no matter what people are saying. There is improvement in infrastructure, there are programmes for the unemployed and the under-employed. School enrolment has increased because of the feeding programme and there is a ministry catering for our humanitarian issues. We need Osinbajo to continue where his boss is going to stop or let me say we need him to make Nigeria greater.
Are you admitting that Nigeria is not great under Buhari?
Of course, it is great, but no matter how great, there is always a room for more greatness. So, Osinbanjo can make Nigeria greater.
Most northerners seem to be uncomfortable about him after words emerged about his religious inclination. Do you think his candidacy would fly in the north?
Northerners are already behind him. How many northerners did you see calling on him to run before he did? Of course, we were in millions. Many northerners benefited from the interventions he led. He was more particular about the north. Northerners love him more than any other aspirants because they know his capacity. Those saying that he is a religious fundamentalist are not serious. They are armchair critics sponsored with peanuts to rant on Facebook and Twitter. Thank God their ploy is not working. For those saying he appoints only members of his church or tribe as aides; that is not true. Competence has always been his watchwords when he appoints aides. Mr Ade Ipaye, who is the head of his team as deputy chief of staff is not a Christian but a Muslim from Lagos state; his director of protocol, Ambassador Abdullahi Gwari, is a Muslim from Yobe state; his special adviser on social investments, Maryam Uwais, is a Muslim from Kano state; his senior special assistant on legal, research and compliance, Dr Balkisu Saidu, is a Muslim from Sokoto state; his senior special assistant on economic affairs, Edobor Iyamu, is a Christian from Edo state; the special adviser on power, Dr Tochukwu Nwachukwu, is a Christian from Imo state; the special adviser on national economic council (NEC), Donald Wokoma, is Christian from Rivers state; the special assistant on social investment, Mohammed Braimah is a Muslim from Kwara state; his special assistant on inter-governmental affairs, Abdul Rahman Baffa is a Muslim from Kano state; another special assistant on the economy, Peter Dimike, a Christian is from Imo state; the special assistant on power team, Anita Otubu is Christian from Delta state; Zainab Edu, special assistant on SIP is a Muslim from Kano state; special assistant on Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Bege Bala (BPE), is a Christian from Kaduna state; assistant on social investment, Amina Edu, is Muslim from Kaduna state; the personal assistant to the vice president, Gambo Mansur is a Muslim from Gombe state; the personal assistant to the vice president, Murtala Aliyu is Muslim from Kogi state; EA-DCOS, Nkoli Anyaoku, is Igbo and Christian from Anambra state; the special assistant on rule of law, Zainab Buba Galadima, is Muslim from Yobe state; the special assistant, administration, Koko Iyamu, is a Christian from Akwa Ibom state; the personal assistant to the vice president, Edewede Akhidenor, is a Christian from Edo state. This list shows you that those ranting online are liars. They have no facts. Anybody who is seeing Osinbajo as a fundamentalist does not know him. Apart from being a foremost interfaith propagator for ages, he has done for the north what he has not done for the south, his subregion, or Christianity, his religion. I am talking about North-east Children’s Learning Centre which he set up in 2017 to cater for children orphaned by Boko Haram. The centre boasts of some of the best facilities in terms of education, vocational education and digital literacy. The majority of the people in the North-east are Muslims. If he is a fundamentalist, that centre would not have been in Maiduguri. Siting it there shows that he is a pan-Nigerian. Pan-Nigerian is the person we need to change the fortunes of this country.
So, would you campaign for him?
I have been doing that since last year. I have a team and we have placed structures on the ground to convince those who have not yet boarded the Osinbanjo bus to board. We don’t base our campaign on social media alone. We do grassroots politics. We go to the grassroots to talk to people about him. We have structures in all the states and LGAs. We are about to take same to the wards. Osinbajo’s is APC’s best shot, if they want to retain power. They better give him the ticket.
