I’m contesting against Ganduje’s policies, not his personality – Kabir Yusuf
Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf is the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State. In this interview, the 56-year-old graduate of Civil Engineering, who has held several political positions in the state, spoke on how he emerged an
You were among the people who formed the present government in Kano State, why are you contesting against the incumbent governor?
I am contesting against his policies, which have not been good for the people of the state. His policies are also against the movement that brought him to power. This is to say that as a person, I don’t have anything against him. I didn’t know that I was going to be nominated as the party’s candidate; it just came naturally, by God’s wish.
We spent our resources, energy and everything to ensure that he was brought into power, with the assumption that he would continue with most, if not all the policies of the Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso administration, who is also the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement. There was an agreement that he would continue with all the good policies and programmes initiated by the Kwankwaso administration, especially in terms of free education.
We elected him because we believed he would continue with infrastructural development in the state, health care delivery, human empowerment and agricultural revolution. Don’t forget that Kwankwaso initiated 26 empowerment institutes. We completed some and left some for him to complete. Unfortunately, all of them were abandoned. The government of Ganduje destroyed everything. Those who were admitted into those institutes were asked to leave.
We thought he was going to bring the development of Kano State to the highest level, but everything started crumbling when Kwankwaso left. Instead of continuing with these developmental projects, he started fighting Kwankwaso and most loyalists of the Kwankwasiyya movement. This culminated into a big problem between the movement and even President Muhammadu Buhari, who was brought to power with the massive support of Kwankwaso and the good people of Kano State. Don’t forget that we gave him almost 2million votes.
Ganduje has brought a lot of conflicts within the APC and that has affected the relationship between Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and President Muhammadu Buhari. That was what led to the present situation we were in. We were forced to decamp from the All Progressives Congress (APC) back to the PDP.
What do you intend to do differently if elected?
I am part of the programmes and policies initiated by Kwankwaso. As the then commissioner for housing and transport, I led the execution of many projects in the state, particularly in terms of infrastructural development. I personally led the construction of the flyover at Kofar Nassarawa and that of Ibrahim Taiwo Road. I laid the foundation stone of the Murtala Muhammed flyover. I led the commencement of the construction of Wuju-Wuju road, under the Jakara river. We had gone far before leaving it for Ganduje to continue.
Among other projects, I led the construction of the 26 key institutes and 44 schools for higher Islamic studies, as well as schools for technical studies.
My major priority is education. I feel very bad when I see our children from poor families abandon classes, simply because they couldn’t be fed and their parents couldn’t give them uniforms and other instructional materials. My first priority, by the grace of the almighty God, if the good people of the state decide to give us the mandate, would be to initiate a refined free education. We are going to provide free uniforms and feeding for children in school. We will ensure the provision of all instructional materials and boost the morale of teachers and other lecturers through training and retraining, promotions and so on.
Secondly, I will complete all the abandoned projects initiated from May 29, 2015 till date.
Once that is done, we intend to look at the health sector, especially the aspect of maternal mortality. We intend to provide pre-natal, natal and post-natal intervention for the benefit of our teaming populace.
We also intend to have an agricultural re-orientation in the state. We are going to revitalise the state’s fertilizer company, KASCO and revive the activities of the KNARDA for optimum performance.
Of course we are going to give civil servants a clean bill to ensure that they perform optimally. We are not happy with the way and manner Governor Ganduje has abandoned civil servants in the state. They are not happy. They have been suffering because there’s no prompt payment of their salaries, no promotion, no training and re-training. Most disappointing is this deduction by the so-called tax consultants that were brought into the state. These consultants have been deducting unnecessarily from civil servants’ salaries. We also intend to stop that.
We will also ensure that pensioners get their gratuities and pensions in good time, among other good policies that will move the state forward.
Your emergence as PDP gubernatorial candidate has raised a lot of dust within the Kwankwasiyya movement, and by extension, the PDP. How do you intend to reconcile with those aggrieved members?
As I said earlier, ours is an organised movement. We are disciplined loyalists of Rabi’u Musa kwankwaso. My emergence was a collective decision of all the stakeholders of the party. There was no objection when the issue was raised. In fact, everybody was clapping because they were happy. Members were hugging me to show their acceptance. I will, therefore, be surprised if you say there are aggrieved members within our movement. However, some members of the party contested.
Since my emergence as the PDP candidate I have been going from office to office, house to house, trying to persuade them to come together so that we can collectively move the party forward. I am happy to say that 90per cent of them have accepted my candidature and they now work with us. Recently, we also set up a reconciliation committee, which has been going round to meet any aggrieved member. And we have received positive responses from them. Before the end of the day we will all come back together as one family for the benefit of the good people of the state and Nigerians.
Looking at the personality of President Buhari and the popularity of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in Kano, what do you think would be the outcome of the forthcoming presidential election in the state?
If I understand you question right, you are talking about President Buhari’s popularity in Kano compares to former vice President and PDP’s presidential candidate, the Wazirin Adamawa Atiku Abubakar’s popularity in Kano.
Don’t forget that it was the popularity of Kwankwaso as the then governor of the state that gave Buhari almost 2million votes. Now, looking at the present scenario, from 2015 till date, Kano people have become wiser. They are disappointed with most of the policies of the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari. There is general suffering, hunger, business collapse, prices of food items and other things have gone up, the health care delivery system has deteriorated. You would find out that Kano can’t boast of a single project being executed by the President Muhammadu Buhari government. Therefore, his popularity has gone down drastically in Kano.
On the other hand, the Wazirin Adamawa has been a very articulated individual and leader. He was very persistent and consistent in managing the resources of the country when he was the vice president.
Moreover, this time around, he is the most prepared candidate. I think with the credibility of the PDP and the personality of Atiku, Kano people are going to vote en masse for him.
Are you not afraid of the incumbency factor in Kano?
Honestly speaking, I have never ever been afraid. My belief is that God gives power to whoever he wants and he takes power from whoever he wishes. That is my general perception on leadership. So I am not afraid of any incumbency factor.
I am in the contest with full force and I am not afraid of any gubernatorial candidate in the state. I will put in my best and allow the rest to the almighty Allah.
What message do you have for the electorate in Kano?
I want the good people of the state to come out en masse and vote for the PDP as the only party that will emancipate them from the present situation. I also advise them to wait and protect their votes.