10 August 2007
interview
Alhaji Yusuf Ado Kibiya was a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Kano state. He was a Commissioner of Land and Survey during the Dr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso regime. In this interview with Daily Trust's Yusha'u Adamu Ibrahim in Kano, he speaks on the Government of National Unity (GNU), the Chief Alex Ekweme-led Reconciliation Committee, the Ambassador Aminu Wali reconciliation move in Kano, the Kano PDP crisis and his disagreement with Dr. Kwankwaso and much else.
What is your view about Government of National Unity?
You see the issue of formation of government of national unity initiated by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adau is a welcome development largely because this is the first time we are having a president who is trying to change the political approach where winners take all and the opposition or the so called losers don't have any role to play in moving Nigeria forward.
You know in Nigeria some politicians prefer to cause chaos when they lose elections, instead of accepting defeat in good faith and in the spirit of sportsmanship. So I think it is a welcome change for him to extend an olive branch to all the stakeholders in the building of Nigeria. The move will go a long way in dousing tension so that people would be allowed to enjoy the benefit of democracy in the country.
But critics say this move is aimed at turning Nigeria to a one-party state and thus killing opposition political parties. Do you share this idea?
Well, it all depends on how someone views the issue because it is hydra headed, and when you analyse the current political situation that you can understand the motive behind the Government of National Unity. However, the wisdom is just for the building of a new political order and building a new political order will help the nation to move forward. So if the nation is at your heart, I think there will be no problem with the unity government. So I think it is an idea whose time has come and it is the best option for a peaceful and united Nigeria. Remember, the entire army around the world cannot defeat an idea whose time has come.
Recently your party, PDP raised a high-powered reconciliation committee headed by Chief Alex Ekweme with the mandate of reconciling aggrieved members of the party. Do you think the PDP can achieve its desired objective through the committee?
This is another good development in the party because if you look at the PDP today and what it was from 1999 to 2003 there have been lots of changes, and many people are not comfortable with the present situation of the party. About 90% of the founding fathers of the party have left for other parties. I want tell you that these pioneer members left the party due to one reason or the other and it is bad enough to initiate a good project and at the end of the day quit it for some bad reasons. So I think reconciling the PDP internally would heal lots of wounds.
So I think if they can be asked to return to PDP it would make the government of national unity to succeed. If you take a cursory look at the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo you would see lots of problems around it. This is simply because the former president was not addressing the problem headlong. Maybe he has tried his best according to his ability, but this is left to history to judge. For me the on-going reconciliation is an exercise in the right direction.
What are the roots of PDP crisis?
One of the causes of the PDP crisis is the outright disregard for the rule and regulation guiding party formation. It has been like a train that has no regard to the rail carrying it. Many people left because they felt cheated or aggrieved by certain policy or issue but nobody makes any attempt to meet these people and address the problem. They were summarily abandoned. So these aggrieved party members decided to achieve their political ambition in other parties. That is why to a large extent I will agree with what some aggrieved party member are saying that military strategy was used to solve political problems. In other words, so many people lost faith and felt that if they continues to remain in the party they will not be accorded any regard or recognition. But now with the Alex Ekweme-led reconciliation committee a lot could be achieved.
Coming down to the state level, Ambassador Aminu Wali, one of the PDP elders in Kano has summoned all party members to a special meeting for reconciliation. What is your take on this?
I think it is a welcome development because he has admitted that he was part of the problem, but now he wants to reconcile. I think that deserves commendation because for one to accept his mistake that means he wants to correct them. So what Aminu Wali did is commendable and I implore other leaders of various factions within the party to do the same. This, without doubt, will help boost the reconciliation efforts. I can also tell you that we have held several meetings about the reconciliation and the last one was in Kano. The meeting was well attended and he was able to explain why he deemed it necessary to make the move. He told us that being a member in the Alex Ekweme committee, there is no moral justification for him to continue reconciling members of the party somewhere else under the committee while he knew that party in his own state is on fire. So by accepting his mistakes and trying to correct them will give the party another chance to move forward in the state. It will also give other members of the party a chance to sit down and analyse their problems with a view to reconciling them. All of us make mistakes and we have to accept our mistakes if we really want this party to move forward in the state.
Going by your statements, you mean that you are ready to cooperate with any committee that is formed in the name of reconciliation, being it national or state committee?
Yes, because it is a national committee formed by my party's national body to reconcile aggrieved members of the party. This is the first time such thing is happening in our party. Before it is either you stay in the party or go your way, but now that we have respected members of the party who will go round the country and reconcile the party members. One has no reason to turn his head somewhere else.
Why did ministerial nomination create controversy within the party in the state?
Well, to me it has to do with the many problems associated with the elections especially the primary elections in the state. PDP was under one leadership before the primaries, but unfortunately the issue of the primary election polarised the party into several factions. So in brief let me tell you what happened. When the issue of ministerial appointments came, it was President Yar'Adua that sent letter to the party state's chapter requesting them to nominate ministerial appointees and the party in turn sat with elders within the party over the issue. But you will agree with me that there were some groups within the party who are recognised and others who felt that they have been sidelined. This is human nature and it is common to any human organisation. So if you please one group, you may not please the other.
The result of the conflicting groups is that you have two lists of ministerial nominees sent to the president for approval.
Is that the only problem you have in the Kano PDP?
The major problem of PDP in Kano is betrayal of trust among the party members. I said so because I knew that dozens of the party members at the state level felt betrayed by other members of the party who thought they are better than others. PDP was one solid party before and under a single leadership, but later some few self-centred members of the party turned it to something else. If the party leadership had handled the situation in good faith and are sincere, I am sure we wouldn't found ourselves in the present situation. But I am sure with the recent moves by the national body of the couple with that of Alhaji Aminu Wali's efforts at the state level, something fruitful would be achieved in the near future and the party will move forward.
There have been speculations that your problem with Dr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso is irreconcilable. How true is it?
There were lots of insinuations about the disagreement I have with Kwankwaso, but there was never a time that I said I would not reconcile with him. What is thought is that I have been loyal to Kwankwaso as a person in the last nine years or so in terms of the level of loyalty and so many other things that you may think, but at the end of the day the result I got was not favourable. So generally, it is not the matter of not to reconcile, but the question is that I felt cheated and I felt if you complain to somebody he should listen to you. But in the other case, reconciling with Dr. Kwankwaso will take a lot of courage between two of us because so much has been done and I think it is only time will heal the wounds. I believe we will reconcile but like I have said earlier, I would have expressed my opinion because with the support and commitment I gave him, why should I be going along his direction knowing that I was cheated earlier?
What is the way out?
The only way out is for all of us to accept our mistakes and forgive each other in the interest of the party and forge ahead to move the nation forward.
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