‘No animosity between Saraki, Lai Mohammed’

Mallam Manzuma Kawu AbdulMalik (Dogo) is the immediate past Organising Secretary of the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with HEAD POLITICS, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM, the former ACN member and newly appointed Special Adviser, Environmental Services to Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed talks about his political experiences and challenges among other issues. Excerpts.

As the former Organising Secretary of APC in the state, what can you describe as your challenges?

I have been privileged to be the organising secretary right from when a nine-man committee was set up and when we had the opportunity of five PDP governors merging with the APC. The challenges then were very tasking, which gave us the privilege to register all members at that time working together with the team from the headquarter, registering members from polling unit, ward level and to the local government level supervised by INEC. We also conducted congresses in all strata of the party structure at home and nationally in conjunction with the office of the secretary and the committee from Abuja. We organised national congresses featuring delegates from the wards and local governments, as well as the appointment of polling unit agents in all the activities of the party. At the national level, we compiled names of those going for convention; gave the office at the national level names proposed from the state for organisation and collection of tags, hotels, going to the congress venue, seating arrangement among others. So, it's very interesting to be an organising secretary and it provided opportunity to mix with a lot of people at the rural areas, wards, states and national level. We also have association of organising secretaries of the whole federation and we meet during conventions to rob minds on challenges the face individually and provided solution for success.

Was there any particular incidence you want to quickly forget?

No! Dr Bukola Saraki made things easy for us; he gave opportunity for people from the north to be considered on issue of time because of our distance and we are usually accommodated to come a day before others coupled with some kind of remuneration based on our recommendation. He doesn't allow us to have any problem because we usually defend our recommendations.

There is the rumour that some national leaders are working with some members of the legacy group to weaken the structure of the dynasty in the state?

It's not true. Alhaji Lai led us to the merger in April 2014 and since then, I have come to understand that the leader and senate president is a man of his words. Today, the APC legacy members are being referred to as his children (OmoBukola). He wants us to have sense of belonging and the Party chairman, Hon Ishola Balogun-Fulani is following that trend. Initially, we use to hear certain things about Saraki, which some members of the legacy couldn't handle and they went away with Belgore. But when we got closer, we discovered a lot of those things are lies. Based on my initial position, I have the opportunity of working with him directly and he asked questions which I defended. They are about a lot of things which made him see that we are very active and efficient. We weren’t waiting for money and are very hard working, which made him see us as even different from some of his people. So he embraced us and gave us things in excess to give to our people at local level, which even made some of his people jealous of us. In the recent appointments, three members of the legacy group were appointed out of nine. After CWC meetings, he usually ask our members if we have any problem for him to come in if we were being maltreated. Getting close to him made us understand what the dynasty was all about. Agreed there was a little misconception, which was almost blown out of proportion at the local level against Alhaji Lai Muhammed, but he was performing his function as a publicity secretary; performing his role in airing the views of the party meetings at the national level. I was once a UNICEF PRO in the state and many announcements were made in my name in the media even though most times I was not part of the decision. Though Lai Muhammed was part of the decision, people should understand that majority always carry the day in a democracy even when it’s not in his interest. But because of the low level of our education, some were saying he was against Bukola Saraki's ambition. Lai Muhammed was part of the people that struggled for the zoning of the senate presidency to the north central zone rather than the north east, which Hon Ishola Balogun-Fulani have acknowledged many times here when he hears people trying to criticise Lai Muhammed. Balogun told us that Lai Muhammed said the ambition of Bukola Saraki is his project and that he was doing his job then. And they try everything possible to make sure that the first zoning they did, gave us the success that produced the Senate President.

What can you say about their relationship now?

Very cordial and I will give you a 2002 incident. When the two of them were contesting for governorship under AD and PDP while I was the chairmanship candidate of Edu under AD, Lafiagi Descendant Union invited them to an almanac launching, including former Speaker of Kwara Assembly, Dr Benjamin from APP to complete the tripod of parties. Muhammed was there before Saraki and when Saraki came, he sent Kayode Yusuf (Maja) that he (Saraki) is sending greetings to him that he didn't see him in the club. Alhaji Lai sent me to Saraki to return the greeting that they will speak through Thuraya because network was a problem. Look at the language. When Saraki was about to leave, he headed straight to where Alhaji Lai was and the former stood up and they met at a middle point and they embraced themselves. See, we should be very careful on issues like these, especially we at the lower level and it's so funny when people are spreading such rumours about. We disagree to agree in politics and this people are very close. At the national level, Lai is protecting the interest of Kwara state and that of the Senate President.

How best then do you think the APC should handle its bickering?

Water will find its level, it's normal in politics. The issue is their problem over there and not ours. Constituencies have given them opportunity to represent them as senator, which is their primary assignment and they are talking about secondary in terms of committees' chairmen, senate presidency, among others. It's all political gimmicks. Hence they will not stay long in that crisis because of their primary assignments.

But some have said the situation can explode the party if care is not taken?

It will not; never. Winning at the national level has to do with collective efforts. If you are losing out, the other people are also smart just as demonstrated by the five governors of the PDP then. All these wrangling are part of politics and by January, I can tell you that this bridge would have been crossed because people would have seen how to work for their constituencies to deliver campaign promises and fulfilment will be next target and accommodating more political parties, who are already now lining up at the gate.

The president has come under attack for his recent appointments and alleged plan to discontinue input from party leaders on appointment of ministers?

It's mere noise making. Appointing domestic staff is always a sensitive issue and requires understanding and trust of those appointed. The president has a policy and his own agenda which he wants to be implemented for the fulfilment of its campaign promises. Hence, just anybody can't be used. On the issue of the ministerial appointment, of course, he can give some people like senators and governors the opportunity for input, but that will still be subjected to scrutiny. Those appointed are representing the president in their various portfolios. APC is for change and we have been coming with the wrong step and abnormalities, which have given us lots of problems. So we are here to make corrections and in doing that, it's better to waste more time than to rush and still come back to square one. He has promised Nigerians before the end of September and so he is consulting, which will still be scrutinised by security agencies. Governors and senators can make input but the final decision lies with the president because his office has the opportunity to choose his own cabinet by law.

As a caucus member in Edu, what was all the noise about regarding the issue of list of nominees?

The Leader gave us a privilege that he wants us to have input because of the respect for the party, it's not a right for three names to be submitted each for commissionership and Special Advisers. But at the end of the day, the privilege was bastardised by all members across most local governments. Those who had served before wanted to return and it caused a lot of crises, which led the leadership of the party to adopt the no-recycling directive to give new people opportunity to bring in new ideas and sense of belonging, which calmed a lot of frayed nerves. These were some of the guidelines the party issued and where asked to pronounce in their local governments. Some followed it and some didn't, which made the leaders to look outside the list

Are those so far appointed by Governor Ahmed based on merit or to fulfil political patronage?

They are excellent. I for one, I'm just coming on board, same with my colleagues in the Forestry, SA Relief and Labour also. These are new bred that are coming into the system to bring in new ideas to power the state to greater heights in line with the vision of the Governor. Secondly, a lot of members submitted their CVs and it was based on merit because one of the policies is to work for the party and what you score in your polling unit, your qualification, political and working experiences and your relationship with the party.

How will you add value to this ministry?

I have been privileged to have my first and second degrees in social sciences. I also have the privilege to read comparative administration, which has to do with ecology and so I know much about what is happening as regard this in other parts of the world. So I am prepared to bring in ideas to make the ministry money spinning one like planting grasses for road construction and stadia establishments as obtained in places like Switzerland. It is my field and I believe that is why I was posted here because we submitted our CVs. I intend to leave this place with a lot of standard because what I met on ground was not bad. But we will be proactive for those coming to have something to build upon.

#Politics