‘Babangida Aliyu Can’t Force Me Out of PDP Chairmanship Contest’
Tanko Beji is a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party in Niger state. He was first the Legal Adviser of the party before becoming the state Secretary and later the deputy chairman He has already served one term as chairman and is aspiring for the second term. Beji told Laleye Dipo that nothing has changed in the past five years of APC administration in the state
The issue of zoning at the state and national levels has been a very contentious matter. What is the position in Niger state as far as zoning is concerned
The issue of zoning in the PDP in Niger state has come to stay, you don’t need to ask anybody before you know where and what is going to anybody or any part of the state. In our first 8 years the governorship was zoned to Zone A they had it successfully, the second time it was zoned to Zone B they also had it successfully, the third time it was moved to Zone C. In the two primaries that were held it was a Zone C man that contested but unfortunately we didn’t win the election. So by right the governorship moves to the next zone which is Zone A. If you look at the people rearing their heads that they want to be governor all of them are from Zone A because everybody knows that naturally the governorship is moving to Zone A. This thing(zoning) has come to stay, it is enshrined in the people already except you want problem you cannot jettison it. Even when a Zone A man wanted to scuttle the arrangement in 2019, what happened? He got less than 20 votes because people know that that is the direction. This is why it is always good to enshrine things.
What is the zoning like at the National level
I don’t Know and I don’t want to comment on what I don’t know about
You are one of the contenders for the chairmanship position of your party, the PDP in the state, how has it been with the party?
I think the best way to answer your question is to start from where we are coming from. You know my tenure expired 10th of May, and because of the COVID 19, elections could not be held due to the restrictions here and there, and according to the party constitution we couldn’t stay office a day longer.
The National Secretariat in compliance with the constitution of the party decided to put in place a caretaker committee to oversee the affairs of the party pending when elections would be held. And again this is not peculiar to Niger PDP alone.
However, now that the COVID-19 pandemic is gradually going down, we hope that a new timetable will soon come for elections to be conducted in states where elections could not be held.
Your party seems to be divided ahead of the state congress, why is this so?
PDP in Niger state is not in anyway divided, that is not true. However let me clarify this. Prior to this moment, the PDP in Niger state met and took a decision to say look because we are now an opposition party there is no need for us to open ourselves for attacks therefore except it is extremely necessary or where death has occurred, there is the need for the Exco to carry on.
It was as a result of this that all local government councils were directed to go back to their LGAs and Senatorial zones to take a decision. They were given three weeks to look at issues and sought them out themselves. At the expiration of the three weeks, every local government reported to their zones and every zone reported to the state Working Committee.
Again in the state, an expanded State Executive Committee meeting was held where these reports were received. After that we conveyed a state caucus meeting where the state Executive Committee, comprising 29 members reported to the caucus for ratifications.
At the meeting all the zones affirmed that there was the need for the state Exco to continue. It was only two local governments in zone B, that is Suleja and Chanchaga. But then it was only two out of nine local governments, so it was a majority decision which ordinarily should be binding on them.
So you can see that it was a clarion call from 23 out of the 25 LGAs, with this I don’t think the party is divided.
There are mounting concerns that because of the forthcoming state congress, the party is sharply divided along ethnic and tribal lines, what do you have to say about this.
I think it is normal for anybody to insinuate anything There are three major ethnic groups in the state, the Nupes, the Gwaris and the Hausas. We have all been living together peacefully we have done things together not minding which ethnic group or tribe anyone belongs to.
Did the Gwaris not support former Governor Babangida Aliyu, a Hausa man as governor of the state for eight years? In fact I was the Director General of his Campaign Organization against a fellow Gwari man. Can only Hausa votes make him governor, today he is the state representative in the Board of Trustees, we elected him unopposed. Again another Hausa man from the state, Maibasira from the same local government with the former governor, is the state representative at the national working committee of the party, did the Gwaris or the Nupes complain, and right now the Chairman caretaker committee of the party is a Hausa man, did anybody complain. PDP has gone beyond politics of tribe and ethnicity, especially in Niger state. Let us talk on issues because no single tribe can do it alone.
One of the few things that we have lined up is to take the party back to the people. It is one of the major reform we want to do. We will allow the people decide what they want. The era of allowing some influential people to decide what happens in the party is over. Let majority of the party members at rural areas have a say in the affairs of the party, that is the only way we can win the trust of the people. Again we will ensure we improve on our party primaries in subsequent elections. The last governorship primaries was very peaceful with none of the six aspirants complaining or going to court to challenge its outcome