Has failed to divide APC – Sen. Shuaibu
Senator Lawali Shuaibu is in his second term as the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, Shuaibu, who was elected alongside Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and others, speaks on recent developments in the pa
Daily Trust: You have been a key figure in the APC in the talks with the New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP). With the recent development, a faction known as R-APC has emerged, would you say all is well with the party?
Yes, it is true I was mandated to deal with the issue when they sent a letter to the party in which they conveyed their grievances. I held the first meeting with their representatives in my office after which I consulted with the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who agreed to take over the meeting and find a way of getting to the root of the matter. We had the first session with him presiding. We were to meet again the following week when they communicated to me that they were not coming for the next meeting because they felt the atmosphere was not conducive again. Since then, we never met again. But let me quickly say that the nPDP is not the same with the R-APC as this new group call themselves. What we understood was that the nPDP was the group of APC members that came from the PDP after the merger. But we don’t know what this group is all about as they never sent any grievances to the party, at least, that I was aware of.
DT: The R-APC described the APC as worse than the PDP which it replaced in 2015, how do you view this description?
You see, anybody can say anything in line with his opinion but the fact is, every Nigerian knows the situation of this country up to February 2015 when President Buhari was declared winner of the presidential election. Nigerians heaved a deep sigh of relief, and felt reassured that they would be saved from what seemed an impending collapse of the country. And I can assure you that we have on record what those talking now were saying then. So we don’t get ourselves worked up with such statements.
DT: The APC held its national convention recently. Some are of the belief that the convention rather than help cement the party, what is your view?
There was absolutely no division within the party as the convention was conducted successfully and those elected were duly sworn in without any rancour. Even the speculations from our detractors that some groups might stage a walk out did not happen. So where is the division?
DT: Your position, Deputy National Chairman (North) was one of the most keenly contested positions at the convention, what factors would you say accounted for your victory?
There was no factor than the work of Allah. Once He has destined something, it must come to pass. I feel I had done my bit over the last four years and I did it with utmost sincerity and with my conscience knowing, fully well that I am always accountable to Allah in whatever I do. I left everything to Allah as He alone knows best. I believe politics predicates that everybody shall have to go back to the constituency he represents if you need to go for any office, and in my own case, I can assure you that I did go back home to seek the blessings of my people. My position was zoned to my state (Zamfara) and the moment my governor and the key stakeholders gave me the go ahead, I decided to settle for it without too much worries. My governor was mandated to be my campaign coordinator. He accepted to execute the campaign on my behalf and did it better than anybody’s campaign director that I can ever remember. He told the team from our state that since Zamfara people had accepted to go for this position and return me to it, he was going for it with all the vigour and sincerity that went with it and he assured Zamfara people of success by the special grace of Allah. And every one at the convention can attest to how he turned himself into a oneman campaign committee. At last, you could see what he was able to achieve. I found myself and the rest of my team congratulating him instead of congratulating myself.
DT: It is clear that the crises that attended the congresses in
When you allow corruption to become a way of life, you end up with a monster that can eat up everybody, and to the corrupt person, it doesn’t matter if it eats him up along with everybody, but he can’t sink alone
states are still unresolved, what plans do you have to address them, especially across the North?
I don’t want to say there were crises, but arising from the congresses, there were disagreements that the new national chairman promised to look into and address with utmost sincerity, and with his focus on the party rather than the individual.
DT: The country is facing serious attacks, especially in the North, where killings are going on, yet, security is one of the key campaign promises of your party, and indeed the fundamental priority of the government, how does the party intend to address this?
When President Buhari came in, it was expected that the first item on his agenda was to fight corruption and restore security. Let me tell you something about fighting corruption; when corrupt leaders want to fight back, they fight dirty, using every arsenal at their disposal, including sacrifice of human lives. Corrupt people don’t care who dies in the process of protecting what they stole and their perceived image. When you allow corruption to become a way of life, you end up with a monster that can eat up everybody, and to the corrupt person, it doesn’t matter if it eats him up along with everybody, but he can’t sink alone. What is going on regarding the Fulani/Herdsmen crisis to the magnitude you see today is politics. The target is to bring down this government because the fight stage seems to them more serious than what previous governments did.
It is most unfortunate that today, the North has been made to be at war with itself. Northerners killing one another is something that will not be forgiven. We grew up to see ourselves as one, no matter the differences in our tribes and faiths, and suddenly, our children are now being subjected to a different growing experience. It is the most disgraceful act of disloyalty and anybody that fuels this will not be pardoned, Allah ya isa.
DT: Do you think the creation of state police will address the killings and the general state of insecurity?
Look, these things are easy to handle. Those who crafted the 1999 Constitution were fully aware of the reasons they left the security apparatus in the control of the federal government. But what they did was to let each governor and local government chairman become the chief security officer of his constituency. All that could have been done was to allow them to give direct, genuine directives to the security agencies in the event there is a situation like what is happening now. But such directives could also be seen to be objective after it is deliberated at the state or local government security council meeting in line with what is provided by the law and the constitution. But it is actually not good enough for a governor to be told by a military or police commander posted to his state for addressing a security challenge that he doesn’t take orders from him or even the State Security Council meeting of which he is co-opted as member for that purpose. It makes mockery of the constitution. The state governors and their security council decisions must be respected by the heads of the security agencies operating in the states, after all, the heads of such agencies are part of the meetings that give rise to such decisions. State police is a matter of the constitution and since it is not there I don’t want to say something that could be misinterpreted to mean my party’s position.
DT: But your party set up a committee on restructuring and they recommended state police, is the party backing out again?
That’s why I avoid saying my own personal opinion while occupying the party office. The committee headed by Gov. El-Rufai only made recommendations but the party is yet to deliberate on such recommendations.
DT: The PDP strongly believes that it has learnt from its mistakes during the 2015 general elections, what chances are there that you can win the 2019 general elections?
Well, let us see if they have learnt from their mistakes. But I strongly advise them to change that name-PDP, because to the mind of an average Nigerian, it still stinks. We have much brighter chances to win the elections, I assure you. 2019 is just by the doorsteps, let us see what they can do, especially with such antecedent that constitutes a big baggage which Nigerians are yet to recover from. As the Hausa man says, “Ga fili, ga Maidoki.”