Nigeria‘ll be better under Tinubu’s administration – Saadu Yusuf Gulma

Kebbi State born Engineer, Alhaji Saadu Yusuf Dandare Gulma is the Chairman, Lagos State Arewa Community in the All Progressives Congress (APC). He also doubles as the South-West Coordinator of the Arewa Community in the party.

In this interview with Razaq Bamidele in his Lagos office at the Oko-Oba Agege axis of the state, Gulma expressed excitement at the just conducted general election and the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President–elect enthusing that, Nigeria will be better under his administration.

 

How would you describe the last general election?

The election was exciting. In fact, I am still excited by its conduct and its outcome. To say the least, it was the best election we have ever had in this country since 1999.

If you look at the scenario surrounding the exercise, you will agree with me that, it was the Almighty Allah Himself and the good people of Nigeria that decided the fate of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

One, Asiwaju is from Lagos, but he did not win Lagos. The Labour Party (LP), won Lagos. Two, if you look at the whole of South-West, Asiwaju Tinubu’s votes were not the votes we expected for him.

The number of his votes went far short of expectations of the people. We expected far more, but we got far less. Three, if you look at the votes from the northern part of the country, you will discover that 80 per cent of the Arewa people voted for Tinubu just as I predicted in my earlier interview with The Nigerian Xpress before the election.

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So, if with all these, somebody now comes up to say the election that threw up Asiwaju Tinubu was rigged, I am sorry to advise such a person to visit a psychiatric hospital for a mental check-up.

If you look at the south-east, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) won everything there and he came and won in Lagos. He also won some states in the north.

Tinubu of the APC, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) did not win even a Local Government in the South-East.

So, this election of Tinubu is the most authentic election we have ever had in Nigeria since 1999. With the foregoing, we wish Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu long life, good health, prosperity and successful reign.

By their election, Tinubu and Shettima, we are expecting the renewed hope they promised the country. And in sha Allah, the Almighty God will help them to renew that hope.

What then is your expectation on May 29?

On May 29, we are expecting the new President, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his Vice, Senator Kashim Shettima to be sworn in.

On the case of the people who are calling for an Interim Government, I don’t know how to describe them. You can call for an interim government where election cannot hold. You can call for interim government where there is crisis. But in this case there was no crisis around the election. The election was the most peaceful election we have ever had since 1999 in this country.

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When they withdrew the Naira from circulation, it never prevented the people from voting for Asiwaju Tinubu. When they withdrew fuel, people trekked to vote for Asiwaju. What is their headache again?! All tricks to block Asiwaju were deployed but God said no to their stratagem.

We the people of Nigeria also said no. We insisted there must be election then election was conducted and we voted for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Why and how should anybody, after all these scenarios come out again to mute the idea of any interim government?! As how? From which constitution would that be? Everybody saw what has happened.

Bola Tinubu didn’t win in Lagos. If he has won in Lagos and had about four million votes, they can say the election was rigged for him. They could say it was rigged because the highest number of votes we used to have in Lagos was about One Million Five Hundred Thousand (1.5m).

But now, Asiwaju didn’t win in Lagos. Even in Osun where they say he comes from, he did not also win there. So, what is all the fuss about?! So, it is a capital ‘NO’ to interim government.

Do you have any agenda for the in-coming administration?

Thank you very much. Please, permit me to remind you again what you already know. Remember when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu became governor of Lagos State in 1999, I was in Lagos and I saw how he started and you and I are living witnesses of the results. Now that he is coming in as President of the whole country, I expect him to put more efforts and start with extra vigour more than how he started with Lagos in 1999.

And I am very optimistic that, with Tinubu’s antecedence and pedigree, Nigeria will be better under his administration In Sha Allah. We are expecting more from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

That was why we campaigned in the north to sensitize our brothers and sisters about who this man, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is, and they believed us and thus voted massively for him on February 25.

And by the grace of God, Tinubu will perform more than what we expect and he will not disappoint us.

What advice do you have for Nigerians?

My advice for Nigerians, the losers, the winners, everybody is that we should embrace peace to engender unity. We should also come together to support Asiwaju Tinubu to succeed and move Nigeria forward because his success is our collective success. And we should know that anybody calling for an interim government is an enemy of the country.

We should allow peace to reign because crisis will do nobody any good. Let us learn from what is happening in Sudan, our neighbour. Our children, our parents and our families are in Nigeria, so we want Nigeria to remain one and peaceful because we don’t have other countries to call our own.

That is the reason we have to guide and guard Nigeria jealously to remain peaceful and united. That is what we are looking for.

During the election, it was observed that banditry and other crimes went down a bit but coming up again now. What do you think would happen after inauguration of the new government?

The late Head of State General Sani Abacha once said, any problem that lasted more than 24 hours in a country, government has interest in it. If government has no interest in it, it would not last more than 24 hours. I can assure you that, by the grace of God, after the swearing in, crimes will go down again drastically and disappear gradually from Nigeria.

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I say this because I know that the new people coming in would not stand akimbo and allow the rubbish to continue. I know who both of them, Tinubu and Shettima, are. Even the in-coming Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Sanni Jaji from Zamfara State, is also a person that has the interest of the people at heart. He, like Tinubu and Shettima would not allow the nonsense to continue because they love the people. In my mind, I believe by God’s grace everything will go well with Nigeria under them. It is just a matter of time.

How do you arrive at Aminu Sanni Jaji from Zamfara as the in-coming Speaker of the House of Representatives?

I read recently about how the zoning was being planned. They zoned the speakership seat to North-West, Senate President to South-East. That is how some people are canvassing for Orji Uzor Kalu as Senate President and we are also canvassing for Aminu Sanni Jaji from Zamfara as House of Representatives Speaker for the 10th Assembly.

As we supported Asiwaju with prayers, we are going to assist Sanni Jaji also with our support and prayer to become the Speaker of the 10th National Assembly.

And he will also succeed like Asiwaju Tinubu. I love Jaji because he shares the same qualities as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is the only House of Representatives member that campaign for Asiwaju from the north to the south for Arewa. He campaigned for Asiwaju across the country and we have the evidence.

How would you describe the Nigeria’s democracy under Tinubu as President?

Asiwaju is a true democrat which you and I know. And with his emergence as Mr. President, it is now that Nigeria will start to practise real democratic government in its true form now without military colouration.