allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Governor Ali is Politicising Hunger

Although the gubernatorial election has been lost and won, the rivalry between Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri, Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP's) gubernatorial candidate and Governor Mamman Ali of Yobe state still runs deep.

Recently, Waziri's supporters descended on the governor's convoy when Senator Mamman Ali went to Potiskum to flag off fertiliser and grains sales. In this interview, Waziri who is also the minister of state for Agriculture and water resources, clarified his position on which tier of government procured the grains, between the state and federal governments.

He also picked quarrels with the decision to flag off the sale at a political gathering. The minister also explained his role as the national coordinator of NAPEP and sundry issues.

Recently, the Yobe State Independent Elec-toral Commission (SIEC) suspended the conduct of local government election which was slated for November 1. How do feel about that action?

Let me say that on the 3rd or 4th of May 2008, I granted an interview to pressmen and one of the issues we discussed was local government elections. I called on the governor that if he is the democrat that he proposes to be, he should conduct the local government elections without hesitations. For the simple reason that the local government is at the bottom of the pyramid, it is the closest public administration to the generality of people and we have had elections at the national level which have produced leaders who are already exercising their mandate.

We have also had elections at the state level and public officers are also exercising their responsibilities thereof. It will be unethical to continue the situation as it is in Yobe where for almost a year into the administration, the people exercising authority at the local government level were exercising an illegitimate and undemocratic authority. Happily, within seven days or so after the interview I granted in May, the state electoral commission called on the parties to come for a meeting for the purpose of conducting the local government elections.

But very sadly for me, I heard on my arrival yesterday (Friday, June 22) that the state electoral commission had postponed indefinitely, all preparations for the conduct of local government elections in Yobe for reasons that are just known to the government and for reasons of inequities. So I want to call on the governor to be more courageous and conduct local government elections without further delay. That is not saying we are confident that the elections would be free and fair but other states have had local government elections and as imperfect as they were, we need to have one in Yobe so that the administrators at that level would be people that would be exercising their 'legitimate authority'. People in positions of authority can only be leaders when they are duly elected. As far as the PDP is concerned, we are fully prepared. We are ready and we know we are going to win a couple of local governments and would lose a couple of local governments. But the issue is that there would be more enduring benefits if the elections hold because there is an adage which says practise makes perfect. So, if we have elections, with time, we would be perfecting the imperfections of the elections and democracy would be entrenched. Democracy being the best form of government in this modern world would also find a place in Yobe State.

Of recent, there were serious allegations over the supply of grains to Yobe state. You said the grains were supplied by the federal government while the Yobe State governor faulted your claim that the grains were procured by the state government. The latter claim continued up to the Potiskum rally which culminated into some suspected PDP youths attacking the governor's convoy. Who really supplied the grains?

There were publications in the Leadership newspaper of yesterday (Friday 20th June, 2008) and in Daily Trust of Thursday 19th June, 2008 where the federal ministry of agriculture released allocation of grains to affected states. In the release, it was clearly shown that 2,700 metric tonnes of assorted grains were given to Yobe state by the federal ministry of agriculture and water resources. And it is also unfortunate that in the publication it was also shown that the Yobe State government has refused to pay and collect the grains and distribute to the people. Yobe is one of the few states that have not paid for the grains. There is also an additional 750 metric tonnes of assorted grains released to Yobe State for the benefit of organizations who would not benefit from the highly politicised grains being distributed by the Yobe state government. So you can see that records don't lie but individuals can lie and I want to tell you that I have the reputation of not telling lies. The governor lied. Grains were given to Yobe state and he has refused to pay for it. It is still there and we are going to take measures on that.

The second issue is that journalists have an overriding duty to help the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria because they have the wherewithal to inform and influence public opinion. The governor of Yobe state went to Potiskum on the 19th of May 2008 to accept decampees from PDP and AC into ANPP. That was the primary reason why he went to Potiskum. But in the course of that assignment which is normal in democracy, he also used the occasion which was attended only by ANPP supporters to launch sales of grains and also sales of fertilizer. It is very unfortunate that none of you (the journalists) inform the Nigerian society that it was wrong for the governor of Yobe state to use a political occasion to launch the sales of grains and fertilizer. This is because both the grains and the fertilizer were bought with public funds which means the funds that belong to the PDP, ANPP, AC members and even non politicians. None of you did that.

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