Saraki must forget leaving APC for PDP in Nigeria’s interest – Gadi, former Bauchi deputy gov

Alhaji Mohammed Garba Gadi, a chieftain of the All Progres­sives Congress (APC), was for­mer Deputy Governor of Bauchi State who was impeached by the State Assembly in a controversial circum­stance in 2009, two years after he was elected into office along with former Governor Isa Yuguda. Gadi’s sin for most watchers then was his refusal to leave the ANPP with Yuguda to join the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) shortly after the governor took the daughter of the late President Umaru YarAdua as his fourth wife. In this inter­view with Saturday Sun’s PAUL ORUDE in Bauchi, Gadi says the dislodgement of the PDP by the Nigerian people at the 2015 polls has vindicated his stand to re­main loyal to his party and the people of Bauchi State. Excerpts:

You refused to join your boss Isa Yuguda who decamped to the PDP from the ANPP that brought you to power in 2007 and this obvious­ly led to your impeachment by the State Assembly. What really hap­pened?

Actually, this is a story known by ev­erybody. Isa Yuguda, for whatever reason, decided to leave ANPP and moved to PDP from where he was coming from. I had been part and parcel of ANPP right from the day it was inaugurated as APP and I remained a member of APP then ANPP up till the time we were voted in. So, when he was moving, I felt there was no need for me to move into PDP. I took the decision based on two criti­cal factors. One, we were voted by the elec­torate and their mandate was there. I believe it was our responsibility to ensure that the mandate is delivered. Two, in this country, everybody believes that every public office holder is a crook. I didn’t believe in that and as I said earlier, I wanted to prove to Nige­rians that not all public office holders were crooks. So, that was probably the parting point between myself and Isa Yuguda. It is a case of the President of Pakistan during in­dependence when they insisted on leaving India. His argument was that we eat cow, India worship cows, so there was no meet­ing point. I had no meeting point with Isa Yuguda because they believed in corruption and I abhor corruption.

Will you say that you have been vindicated by revelations from the current administration that claimed to have recovered cars and landed property allegedly frittered away by Yuguda’s family and some of his aides?

Well, the vindication is that the waves that brought Yuguda and myself to power is the same waves that swept Yuguda away with ignominy. So, there is no doubt that I have been vindicated. It would have been different if he had remained with the people or with the party who voted him.

What lesson can be learnt from your stand of insisting to remain in the ANPP against all odds?

Fortunately for me, by refusing to de­camp to the PDP, I maintained my respect from even top members of PDP not to talk of members of my then party, ANPP, CPC and now APC. So, as far as I am concerned, it was a good omen and it serves me bet­ter. From what I saw then after leaving his government, even if he didn’t organise my impeachment, I wouldn’t have stayed with him that long. I wouldn’t have stayed with him up to the time that he completed his tenure even his first term.

After the impeachment, you went to court. You won the case. Has your entitlement been given to you?

What happened was that I won the case, they appealed, the Appeal Court quashed the case. Now we are at the Supreme Court. Up till now, we are awaiting the judgement of the Supreme Court which will be the last resort for everybody.

You are a consistent supporter of Buhari. Why do you believe so much in him?

Sincerely speaking, I always tell peo­ple, there may be thousands of Buhari in Nigeria, but Muhammadu Buhari remains the only person standing if I can borrow the words of Prince Tony Momoh. He remains standing because he had a lot of opportunities and he proved to be different from his other colleagues or other people who had the opportunities of being gov­ernors, ministers, head of state and what not and this is why I believe in him and I can assure you that the confidence we are having in General Buhari will soon be justified. We are looking up to a Nigeria where as a Nigerian, you will be proud to be called a Nigerian, where you will be proud to associate with people of other nations.

It took him four attempts before he got to be President. Do you think Nigerians misunderstood him all this while? There were fears that he is a fundamentalist, he is there to promote northern agenda and so on?

Well, I don’t believe that Buhari was misunderstood as such but there are two factors. One, unfortunately, we had a rul­ing party that was absolutely corrupt. And they had the control of the resources and they were using whatever was available to them to ensure that somebody like Buhari never succeeded in becoming the head of the Nigerian government. Number two, I think those of us who were with General Buhari had not played our cards proper­ly. Not playing properly because Buhari has the absolute support of the masses but those who have provided a bridge between General Buhari and the masses honestly were not limited to expectations whether by default of whatever because there is no way for anybody in this country to get the support and also to have the votes of the electorate counted for him without having a very large supporting middle class and that was what made the difference when Buhari’s party CPC merged with ACN, merged with APGA, to come out with such a strong opposition that in the final analysis succeeded in removing PDP. If it had been like that right from the beginning, Buhari would have been the head of state since 2003. In 2007, Yar’ Adua owned up that he didn’t win the election but the true situation was that Buhari didn’t have what it takes to realise the presidency.

Now that he is president, criti­cisms have trailed his appoint­ments as some Nigerians partic­ularly from the South viewed his appointments as skewed to favour his region. What is your view?

I have said it times and again that if the president has over 5,000 positions to fill and only appointed less than 30, then we will not be fair to General Buhari that he is not carrying the rest of the country along with him. Of the appointments he made, some are statutory like the service chiefs and so forth. There are normal stat­utory procedures which are followed to appoint service chiefs and all other gov­ernment statutory employees. I always argue that these are not even the preroga­tive of the government. He is just endors­ing a normal process. The second group, somebody like the Secretary to the Fed­eral Government and the Chief of Staff, I will continue to argue that we will not be fair to the President or to a governor if the appointments of such close aides are made by sentiments. But soon everybody will be seen to be coming on board with the appointments of ministers or special advisers and so forth, then we come down to the board of parastatals, and institu­tions of learning and so on. So, as far as I am concerned, the first appointments are something that is within the prerogative of the president.

Some senators have passed a vote of confidence in the Senate President Bukola Saraki, what is your opinion on his current tra­vail because it is threatening to cause implosion within your par­ty?

Well, I don’t know if that position will stand. One thing is clear, and we have been seeing it happening all over the world even in some developing countries like Pakistan having heads of states going to court. In a civilised society, Saraki will not even wait to go to the dock before he resigns as the Senate President. Now it has happened, he has got his own reason but one thing is clear, that Nigerians are all out for positive change and the major­ity of Nigerians believe that General Bu­hari is capable of bringing such expected changes that probably will bring the div­idends of democracy to you and me. So, a situation where somebody feels he can face the government or he will move out of APC as of now with Buhari as Presi­dent will be a serious mistake. It will not take him anywhere. I have been watch­ing what I will call Saraki dynasty from the time of NPN. With all the educated Kwarans, Saraki family has been able to decide for them from 1979 to date but it will definitely come to an end. Everybody was surprised that Saraki was stoned on Sallahday in Ilorin which is the beginning of the end. Our prayer for Saraki is that let him realise the situation he has found himself, let him realise that he’s a pillar in the APC, the ruling party and that it will serve him better if he remains with APC than thinking of going to the PDP, that will not change the circumstances that the Nigerian people have found themselves now politically.

But the Saraki issue has divided your party and this is not healthy because his supporters believe some leaders in APC want him out at all cost?

Well the Saraki issue has not divided the party but there is an apparent division within the senate where you have the Unity Forum, the Like Minds, that is, those going with Saraki. We believe that the division will sooner than later be resolved.

Some have also argued that Saraki’s case was selective and if the administration must fight cor­ruption, it should not be selective?

I don’t know if we will be fair to say Pres­ident Buhari has anything to do with the tri­al of Saraki or any other party. He is insist­ing that there are three arms of government. One is the executive, the legislature is there and the judiciary is also there. He believes each one of them should have the constitu­tional free hand to run their activities there­fore President Buhari has nothing to do with anybody going to court to face trial. Well, recently some members of the APC like former governors of Adamawa and Kano were in court. They are members of APC. I would assume that if Amaechi or any other person is found wanting and taken to court, the last thing General Buhari will do is to intervene. I can assure you of two things as far as General Buhari is concerned. He will not mismanage, he believes in the rule of law, he believes in constitutionality and due process.

Number two, you could be Buhari’s son and if you are found wanting, he will be the last person to intervene. If we appreciate these two thoughts, then that is the begin­ning of wisdom as far as the Buhari regime is concerned.

What is your view on the fight against Boko Haram by the current administration?

Well, from what we are hearing, what we are seeing, there are lots of successes but at the same time these suicide bombings and attacks on some villages are matters of con­cern. But from the way the military is going, the Chief of Army Staff and other Generals are in the field, it is likely that before the end of the year insurgency in the north east will be a thing of the past.

What is your observation of the Bauchi State governor, Mohammed Abubakar so far and what advice do you have for him?

As far as I am concerned, Mohammed is focused and two Mohammed will not allow business as usual. That to me is the source of his problems with some people who are used to getting government resources easily.

That is why he is having problem with people who have stolen the state money which from what we are hearing he is de­termined to recover. But we will be unfair to expect to see much physical development on the ground. So as far as I am concerned Mohammed is focused and has all that it takes to change the fortunes of Bauchi State. In the last eight years, Bauchi has been de­stroyed. What Yuguda left were two things: one, poverty, and two, indiscipline. So if, Mohammed can work towards changing these two scenario, Bauchi will be a better place.