…Eposes APC’s Fuel subsidy lies
…Says Nigeria does not consume 70 million litres of petrol daily
For the second time in four years, former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has thrown his hat into the ring to battle for the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of next year’s presidential election. And this time, he insists he is the president to provide the kind of leadership Nigeria needs at this point in time.
The former two-term governor of Kwara State who was whiskers away from taking the ticket in 2018 told a select group of Editors why he is in the race and what he feels should be the campaign narrative for a Nigeria that is clearly at the precipice at the moment.
In yet another interview with Daily Trust TV, Saraki would further x-ray the issues of contemporary Nigeria, the politics of his native Kwara State, the parlous economy, as well as controversial issue of Zoning.
And Saraki does not run away from the issues, neither does he parry the questions.
Excepts:
FORMAL DECLARATION
Of course, to say I’m fully in this race is no news. I’ve also said so myself at both formal and informal gatherings too. Although I may have hinted of my intention to run on several social media platforms before now,
I plan to declare at the end of the month, March 31 precisely.
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I intend to declare but a formal announcement will come out too. We’ll have an event to formally declare my intention to run for president of this great country.
WHY I’M RUNNING
According to the former Senate President, things have so much degenerated in the country that it is almost unthinkable that that any lover of Nigeria, any patriot at all, would just sit back and watch things degenerate any further without getting involved.
Hear him: I believe that Nigeria can be much better than where it is today. I strongly believe in that dream of a better Nigeria. I strongly believe I have something to offer to provide for that better Nigeria. When you look at where we are as a country, we are not going in the right direction. It requires fresh leadership. We will provide leadership that can offer solutions and can address the challenges Nigerians are having today.
ISN’T HE AMONG THE LEADERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MESS OF TODAY?
Well, People have asked me just like you’ve asked me that question; in 2014 and 2015. And a lot of people believe passionately that the APC then led by the president would come with a desire, after so many years and so many attempts, with a passion to make the country better. With three issues; I remember, the issue of insecurity, Boko Haram in the North East, the issue of corruption and unemployment. But it has only gotten worse.
In 2015 I was campaigning because I believed APC would make it better. And at the moment when I saw that was not going to happen, we parted ways. And that’s what separates me from a lot of those who are still in APC today. Because they all know that this is not what we promised Nigerians.
In 2019, the opposition, especially you people in the PDP couldn’t get your acts together to push aside what you considered to be an incompetent government. What’s giving you the assurance that you call pu it off now?
I’m not too sure that we didn’t get together. The discussions will still continue about the elections. I still believe that you know PDP did very well and won that election. Many areas are very questionable. I always tell people that if you look at the 2019 election, and you say that between Borno and Yobe states, which we all know were under insurgents, there were more votes cast in Borno than in Lagos where there was no insurgency, then there was definitely something wrong somewhere.
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But you didn’t challenge that enough in court, Why?
No! We challenged it in court, but we didn’t win and we have to respect that. At the end of the day, we went all the way to the Supreme Court.
PDP had all of 16 years to fix Nigeria, but you failed. APC has only done 8 years…
Let me take it one by one. In the North West, we’ve never had a situation that we have today, where in certain parts of the country people just cannot go out freely….
But the people of Dansadau in Zamfara will counter that and say look, we’ve been living with this problem for 15 years.
You can argue that Nigeria might have been a weak state. But today it has moved from a weak state to a failure. That is not debatable. And I think it is unfair on Nigerians who are going through so much pain for us to be arguing on those fine details. The reality is when you put yourself up to be voted for, people vote for you based on the promises you make. You say when I become president, or when my party forms the government, we will make your life better. And what we should ask ourselves is: Is life better secured now? Are there more people who are unemployed? Has the level of corruption gone down?
Won’t Nigerians ask themselves what has changed in the PDP that they should again entrust their fate to the very few people who created the problem in the first place?
I totally disagree with you when you say we created the problem. There were issues at the time. There was an issue of insecurity in the North East, it was not about insecurity in Nigeria. That was what people said. This government maybe has not been able to address it. We’re not happy. Fair enough. It’s the right of voters. Then, they now tested this government.
WHAT WOULD A PRESIDENT SARAKI DO DIFFERENTLY?
I’ll tell you what I’ll do differently. Let’s take the first issue of fuel. There is no way under my watch that the country will continue to import 70 million litres a day. Because I know that it is not true.
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The electric power which is another current challenge, which your own party said in six months it would be resolved. Twenty something years later, it hasn’t been resolved and out of those years your party was there for 16 years.
Fine. And the party that came in campaigned and said they will make it better. Eight years now it is still what we did.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO ABOUT (IN)SECURITY? PUT IN MORE MONEY?
Yes, we need a lot of money in the regard. But the solution is definitely not to throw more money at the problem.
For starters, what I’ll do is to ensure accountability. There is no doubt that there is no accountability and that says no more. Two, people must be held responsible. Then we must improve the morale of men in uniform to ensure what needs to be done is done.
We must bring in technology. It is embarrassing in today’s world in a country like Nigeria, we’re still battling things like kidnapping. There’s something wrong somewhere and that is why we’re not winning this war.
SARAKI’S ALLEGED EFCC BAGGAGE
I think we work with the law where people must be assumed innocent before you come to conclusions. If anybody has been fined, convicted, the laws are very clear. But we have seen in the past, and many of us have been victims of this kind of persecution. I am a good example. My only offence in 2015 was because I became Senate president…
Before that, your case was never in the EFCC?
Immediately when I finished my last months as a governor, the former chairman of the EFCC went to the floor of the Senate and said there were six states that he could say had clean bills – my state was one of them.
TRUTH ABOUT OTOGE, SARAKI DYNASTY AND THE LESSONS
Well, a number of lessons. I think there are many factors. Factor Number One is that we must acknowledge that this was not just an election that was decided by local issues. We have to accept that. Even on the day of elections, there were fighter jets. We had never seen it before…
I thought you’re referring to the Buhari tornado that may have also helped to sweep you off?
No, no. There were issues outside the state, but also within the state. Right. There was a lot of propaganda. People felt that it was normal 30-40 years of leadership in any democracy. Sometimes they simply say; look, we want something different.
So what are you going to be doing differently going forward?
It was something different. They’ve got something different but they themselves are not telling us that we made a big mistake. They’ve seen the kind of administration we ran and the issues we had to grapple with.
When we were in government, we didn’t have this kind of chaos. Their (ruling) party is in chaos. People are joining us (in PDP) daily. And one of the things we have done this time is to ensure there is more inclusion of the younger people and more women involvement.
THE ZONING DEBATE
It is not true that I don’t believe in Zoning.
Zoning is important. But what I’m also saying is that at this particular time, we need to take a more critical look at it.
You all know that this zoning came about in 1999 following the election of MKO Abiola and the subsequent annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
Now, today, zoning isn’t as important. There are other issues too that are important.
…So, you are sweeping Zoning aside so as to contest the election?
I’m not sweeping it aside. I’m saying that it must be looked into with other issues. And what some of us are saying is that, at the moment, we must search for the best. We must begin because there are many issues faced by Nigeria today. We don’t have the luxury of those sentiments.
If it turns out that the best is not you, will you support that person?
In 2019 when the party said the best was not me, I didn’t walk away. I stood up there and became the DG of the best. I have shown I’m a team player. I survived for years as Senate president because I’m a team player. It is not about me. I went in 2015 when we did APC. I did not contest with this president. I was part of those who fought. We must fight, and I’ve always shown it’s not about me. It’s about making Nigeria better. I believe Nigeria can be better.
I’M THE PRESIDENT NIGERIA NEEDS
I believe based on my experience in the executive and the legislative arms of government, understanding the private sector, we need someone that understands what the issues are. We need someone who has the energy to be able to provide those solutions. We need someone to have the courage to take those decisions that a lot of governments have failed to take and that is why I believe that this is something I can do for Nigeria.