Of all the people we’re seeing lining up in the PDP, they’re characters known to Mr President and all of us. We know their weights, capabilities and resources
Billboards and posters mean nothing. They're meant to confuse people. If I give them N10,000 to distribute any posters along the road, they'll do it. We don't want to see posters and billboards on the roads in Katsina State again. If you want to do it, there's a price. Pay and erect your billboards, rent an office, don't disfigure the city.
Tell me any prominent person that left APC for PDP, but I can tell you from the speaker who was speaker for eight years, senators, House of Representatives members, state assembly members, previous council chairmen and councilors who have all joined APC. So, who is there in PDP?
You mean 2019 will a walkover for the APC Katsina?
be in
Because we believe in God and time, but let them come. We're not even talking about winning elections in 2019, we want to win it in such a way that we'll support other areas that didn't deliver as much as they did in 2015.
Does the state's policy on campaign posters and billboards also applies to President Buhari's?
Yes, as long as it is on the road and within the prohibited areas. If you want to put a billboard of the president and mine, and you feel so confident, go and pay, but littering the streets and disturbing traffic is not something we'll allow.
The opposition is angling for formidable presidential candidates from the Northwest to face Buhari in 2019, can they find one?
Well, unless someone is going to come out from the ground. Of all the people we're seeing lining up in the PDP, they're characters known to Mr President and all of us. We know their weights, capabilities and resources, fullness of all of them; unless either from the moon or from the ground.
If what I read is true, they're shopping for somebody who is not a politician but one who held public office that can match the integrity of Mr President. We're waiting for that miracle to happen. But if these characters that are
On the other hand, there should always be friction between the executive and the legislature because if the assembly is working as it should in the interest of the public and the country, and the executive is always working for the interest of the people and the country, there are bound to be clashes because they're representatives and this is the executive. One executes and the other carries out oversights as provided in the constitution. There is bound to be misinterpretation and misunderstanding. That's why the courts are there to interpret the provisions of the law as it affects the relationship between the two arms of government. This is a natural thing anywhere in the world.
The peculiar one is the one which the National Assembly started in 2011. The speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015 emerged not on the basis of the agreement of the party and that strained relationship continued with the House leadership up till the end of that tenure.
The current leadership of the National Assembly emerged against the will and arrangement of the party. That has put a sour taste as regards the relationship between the executive and the legislature and this will continue till 2019. We hope that by 2019, we must have learnt our lessons that there should be no interference in exercising the rights of members to elect who they wish as their presiding officers. There is need for that body to come to agreement with the executive in the best interest of the nation because our democracy is still in the learning stage.
Twenty years is something in the life of an individual, but not in the life of a nation because it's negatively affecting the National Assembly and the system. That's why every year or term, over 60 percent of lawmakers don't return. That 60 percent with the billions spent on them has gone down the drain. They're always learning; the longer parliamentarians stay in office, the better they become.
Why are we not stable in the National Assembly? Why is our politics not stable? We need to look at the cost of governance and the way we run our democracy. The element the media is giving too much attention to as regards what the National and State Assembly lawmakers are earning is encouraging people to say if this is what people are getting, I'll go and get it too.
We cannot afford that every four years. We spend billions and immediately we want to start reaping the fruits of our investment. We need to look at the way we operate this democracy and guide it properly in the best interest of the people.
How do you view the delay in passing the 2018 national budget?
From October to now, I don't think anyone can justify the delay. My prayer to the assembly and the executive is that we should come to some form of agreement because this administration will come to an end on May 29 next year. We started this when we had this delay when I was speaker. The delay in that case came from the executive who submitted the budget very late and the budget was completed between February and March. We said for the capital, you can roll it to the end of March so significantly we would've done the 12 months required