Shadalafiya’s Breakthrough
After four failed attempts, luck finally shined on Nuhu Dogo Shadalafiya, as he made it to the Kaduna State House of Assembly in the just concluded general election. He shared his story of resilience with John Shiklam. Excerpts:
You have contested elections many times and lost. But this time, you made to the Kaduna State House of Assembly. What would you describe as the source of your strength? Yes, it is true that I have contested elections several times like our President-elect, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari. I contested elections four times and I lost. I was rigged out in some while I was defeated fairly in others. I contested for the primaries of the state assembly in 2006 for the 2007 elections on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and I lost. I later contested for the chairmanship of Kagarko local government, I won but I was denied victory. We went to court to challenge it and by the reason of going to court we were motivated into an opposition party in Kagarko, my local government. In the quest to get justice, our people became united and strong. Disappointed with the situation of things in the PDP, we moved to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). When the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) came on board in 2010, we all moved there and I contested for the House of Assembly election in 2011 which I believe I won, but I was again denied. By and large, this experience helped in strengthening us politically. Having gone through that, we came together with some aggrieved individuals in the PDP from the southern senatorial zone of Kaduna state, people like Senator Caleb Zegi, Barrister Francis Koza, Husseini Dambo and others. We formed what we called Democratic Emancipation Movement (DEM) and were able to reach out to mobilise people of the zone. We later moved to the APC when it came on board. We remained committed in mobilising support for the APC at the grassroots because we are on the ground it was easy for us to get support from the people. Since 1999, the people of Southern Kaduna have held unto the PDP like a religion, but the last elections showed that things have change. Coming from that zone, how were you able to convince the people to support the APC? One syndrome that was resisted by the people at the grassroots was this tradition by people who live in the city to dictate things to them. Normally, those in the city will come back home during elections and dictate to the people to vote the PDP. But the southern Kaduna people have come to realise that they had been voting the PDP since 1999 without benefiting in return. It was a revolution by the people when they rejected the PDP during the elections.
Look at the tenure of the late governor Patrick Yakowa. All the projects he located in Southern Kaduna were stalled; continuity was zero. Yakowa and Ramalan Yero contested election together in 2011 and won. Ramalan Yero never came to Southern Kaduna to appreciate the people. The first time he came to Southern Kaduna was during the burial of Yakowa. After the burial, he never came until when he was seeking to be elected. Our people also come to realise that some of our leaders in the Southern senatorial zone are self-centred. People came to understand that in spite of their support to the PDP government, only some few individuals and their cronies were benefiting at the detriment of the generality of the people. So they decided to go with those of us who have been struggling with them. But one issue that we had to confront was the issue of religion. The ordinary people were misled to believe that without the PDP, you are in a Muslim party. But we were able to enlighten them, we created awareness among them. We told them we had two candidates, both Muslims from Zaria who are contesting for the governorship. We said if you claim PDP is for Christians and you want a Christian to be governor and Ramalan is the candidate of the PDP, tell us which church he worships. This made the people to understand that religion was being used to deceive them. What should people expect from El-Rufai as governor of Kaduna State? I have worked with El-Rufai for good four years when he was minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The El-Rufai that I know is a man of foresight, he is highly intelligent and very courageous. He has passion for whatever he does. He has concern for people and development. These qualities give you an ideal leader in El-Rufai. If you work with him, he is always 20 metres ahead of you and you need to work with his pace. He is going to develop Kaduna State and going to make Kaduna State home for everybody to come in. He is one person that will not allow anything to weigh him down in realising what he wants to achieve. This will show clearly when he comes to appoint his commissioners and aides, because I believe that he will want to work with technocrats, professionals and politicians, who are competent and can deliver dividends of democracy to the people. I am optimistic that he will transform Kaduna State. The international community has great respect for him; the business community has trust and confidence in him. So you will soon begin to see investors trooping to Kaduna State when he takes over. What is your own agenda for your people? My concern is in the area of education, agriculture and health. I will put my salary on the line for scholarship award. Whoever comes out with a first class, I will sponsor such person to any school abroad to do his master’s degree. That was the promise I made during my campaign. I want to see more engineers, doctors, surveyors, pilots, pharmacists etc coming from my constituency. I know what El-Rufai did for schools in Abuja and I am optimistic that he will address the dilapidated condition of schools. I will lobby for development projects to my constituency. For the past years, a few cabal within my constituency have divided the people and stunted the development of the area. I will work towards ensuring unity and cooperation among the people so that we can move forward. There are speculations that you are aspiring to be the deputy speaker of the assembly. How true is this? Yes it is true that I am aspiring for the post of the deputy speaker of the assemnly. Power comes from God. How I even won the election to the assembly was an act of God and I know that God who started the good works for me will perfect it to the end. My constituency massively supported the APC in all the elections. In the whole of the Southern Kaduna senatorial zone, we gave the APC the highest votes. I have been in politics long enough and I feel I have the ability to hold that position and work with my colleagues for the development of our state. Remember, we are saying let’s make Kaduna great again. We need great men and women with great minds to achieve great things. You are a first timer in the house and it is said that first timers are not to be elected as principal officers because they lack legislative experience. How do you intend to make it through? It is men that make laws and it is the same men that break the laws and the same men can change the laws. This may have been the practice during the era that the PDP was in power for 16 years. The same PDP that was doing this in the assembly did not abide by such arrangement. Agreed that principal officers are not supposed to be led by anybody that is a first timer, but I am interested in the position of a deputy speaker, not the speaker. Moreover, we had instances in the assembly when first timers were made principal officers. For instance, Hon. Jatau who represented Jaba during his first time in the assembly was given the privileged to be the deputy speaker. Hon Matto was a first timer, he was made deputy speaker. Hon Peter Adamu was made the Chief Whip in his first time in the assembly. So a precedent had been set and I don’t think the issue of a first timer should be respected again. Besides, the party in power is APC and we are going to do it the way we think is best.
I contested for the primaries of the state assembly in 2006 for the 2007 elections on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and I lost. I later contested for the chairmanship of Kagarko local government, I won but I was denied victory. We went to court to challenge it and by the reason of going to court we were motivated into an opposition party in Kagarko, my local government. In the quest to get justice, our people became united and strong. Disappointed with the situation of things in the PDP, we moved to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria