I am not used to throwing diatribes at my principals irrespective of how we parted, but I will not be seen as a political neophyte

We understand there are permutations for power shift to Southern Borno where you come from. What is your take on this?

I have been an advocate of power rotation in Borno State for a very long time. It has been the dream and hope of all sons and daughters of Southern Borno. Some of us have chosen to be silent because the clamour has assumed a curious dimension to the effect that it is now being championed by non-stakeholders and somebody who has consistently stood in the way for us to actualize that dream. We are surprised that the former governor of the state, Ali Modu Sheriff who had the opportunity to give it to us on a platter is now pretending to support our cause. One can see that there is no sincerity in it, looking at the people working with him on the project. We know as a matter of fact that he is desperate to regain control of power so as to pursue his vendetta against those who deserted him. He is looking for willing partners to work towards distracting the government in the state, and may have found some amongst my brothers from southern Borno. It is on record that the same Ali Modu Sheriff who in the build up to the 2011 elections was reported as having promised to go for a southern Borno candidate only to turn around and sabotage Adamu Dibal, who was his deputy for eight years and who hails from Biu, from getting elected as governor. He brought in his cousin, the late Fannami Gubio, and went ahead to manipulate the primaries where Adamu Dinal lost. One would have expected him to make up for Dibal when Gubio died, by doing the logical thing in picking Gubio’s runner up in the primaries since they were only two in the race, but choose to bring forward the incumbent governor, Kashim Shettima and denied Adamu Dibal from further participating in the subsequent primaries that produced Shettima. I give it to Kashim Shettima that he is young, intelligent, humble and pragmatic, but that is a story for another day. Again when he defected to the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff never considered any person from Southern Borno, but went for Mohammed Imam from Borno Central to fly the flag of the PDP in the 2015 elections. Based on these and other actions he took while we were with him, left me in no doubt that his new romance with the idea of power shift is a mere ploy to confuse stakeholders and electorates. Those who are following him blindly may not see what we can see, but my word of advice to them is to know that there is no free lunch with Ali Sheriff.

We have known you as Sheriff ’s spokesman, but what is happening between you?

I left him for some personal reasons which I will not want to discuss at this stage. I have worked with four governors, all

I am aware that Ali Modu Sheriff has returned to the APC, and I am also aware that he is desperate in seeking to be regarded as its leader in Borno State. He has returned to meet familiar foes, most of whom were his foot soldiers. They know his antics and he knows their capacities. I promise you Borno will be the usual melting pot, but Sheriff will be the eventual loser. It is not because I underrate him, but because greater number of those who fought to entrench Sheriff dominance in politics are now on his opposing side and it will not be the usual tea party for him. The APC was winning its elections even before Sheriff returned to the party. He is not going to do anything extraordinary from what Governor Kashim Shettima and his team have been doing before. Let me tell you, the dynamics of the political equation in Borno has since shifted from what people perceived to be under a one-man control. The upcoming generation now know their onions better and will not cheaply lend themselves to the head boy style of politics. Sheriff may have had his ways in the past, to the effect that at a point, people think he was the soul of any political contest in Borno. Subsequent events have demystified him, to the effect that he was defeated in so many elections even as a sitting governor.

People say he has a cult-like followership across the state and commands a large financial war chest to take over the state from the incumbent governor.

In the first place I want to assume that he returned to the APC with the best of intentions, to help the leadership at the state level to build the party. If that is the motive, I think he will get the soft landing he desperately seeks after his humiliating exit from the PDP. If otherwise, because he feels he has followership and the requisite financial war chest to bulldoze his way, I want to tell you that he will be making a gross miscalculation. Neither the followership nor the money people think are available for him to play around with is any longer there. His most ardent followers, including my humble self will not go into the misadventure with him, because we have since realized that we are important only when we are available as cannon fodders. And even if he has the money, it will be foolhardy for anybody to assume that a particular individual could match his resources against that of a state government. Sheriff has promised to galvanize one million votes for President Buhari’s reelection in Borno. I can tell you authoritatively that the likely person who can make such a pledge and likely get the results is the governor, who is in firm grip of the political structure in Borno State.

How do people like you figure into the envisaged scenario?

You see, every politician is a stakeholder in his or her own locality. I may not have the spread he has but I am relevant in my place. My people love me and I love them. I am not going into any contest so I do not see how somebody could be an impediment to my political reach. In any case, let me correct the impression, that, my politics is tied to Ali Sherriff ’s apron string. He met me a selfmade man, who volunteered to work with him for the good of our state and Nigeria. He does not spoon feed me politically and is not in a position to determine how I play my politics. In any case, the constitution of the APC vests the leadership of the party at the state level on the governor at the state level. If I decide to seek my political fortunes in the APC therefore, the governor is more likely the one I may have to approach as a leader. I am not used to throwing diatribes at my principals irrespective of how we parted, but I will not be seen as a political neophyte.