Amuda Kannike is currently a member of the House of Representatives, representing Ilorin East/Ilorin South Federal Constituency of Kwara State. He was commissioner for works in the state under Dr. Bukola Saraki, as governor. He spoke with Wole Adedeji in Ilorin on the politics of the state, why he and some of his colleagues in the Green Chamber introduced the motion to change from the current presidential to the parliamentary system of government in Nigeria and many more.
Wale Adedeji, Ilorin
The general opinion out there is that you have done quite well in the House in the past three and half years, but you are not running again for second term. Why?
I am a product of a system; a political and communal system. Here, it is the people that put you up to serve them. They decide whether to serve them in a particular capacity and continue in that post again or may be in another capacity. That is the reason.
But what is out there is that the Saraki political structure to which you belong did not approve that you should run again, even when you are adjudged to have done quite well?
Yes, I belong to the Saraki political family. I must appreciate the much privilege that I had enjoyed within the system. I had in the past served in various capacities and each time, I count it a great privilege.
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Even when you did well and yet the same structure did not approve that you should contest again like the others?
You see, my belief and interest is that I love our people and I love to serve them in any capacity they ask me to. It may not necessarily mean to serve them by holding an office in the structure. Who says I may not serve better in other areas. Our leader, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, calls us to serve in the areas he deems we could still do better. Don’t forget and let me make it clear that it is not true that he handpicks us arbitrarily to serve. No, he assigns us to serve in a capacity after due consultations with our people, our community and that is why we have been recording results over the years.
But there had been complaints of no corresponding impacts on the people and the state in general?
That is not true. I was part of the government of the senate president when he was the governor in this state and I make bold to say a lot of the achievements that touched the lives of the people were recorded. Name it, roads were opened, roads were dualised, improvement of water provision, established a state university that is ranking with generations before it and many more. So, the fact is we touched and impacted quite positively on the lives of the people. A lot of infrastructure that were not there before came up.
Can the Saraki political structure survive the seeming agitations from the populace?
Absolutely yes. The patriarch of this structure, Dr. Olusola Saraki, had his God-given style with which he built the structure that lasted decades before he passed on. Those outside this place may not understand but if people loved him for so long till he died, he must have done what they wanted and loved. I tell you, there is no person that had been in positions in this state and in this country from Kwara that is not a product of Saraki’s school of politics.
What of this ‘O to ge e’ (enough is enough) slogan that has taken over the political firmament of Kwara now?
One is not saying that the people cannot decide to say there should be a change of a system, which they have been using and should be replaced, but the question is, it should be replaced with what and with whom? If it is Dr. Bukola Saraki that the people don’t want again, who do they bring forth that can stand the Senate President?
Our leader has been on ground, doing the good thing for the people non-stop. The good things he has done are there for people to see and he never stopped at any point. The man the opposition, I mean the All Progressives Congress, APC, is fielding is also from Ilorin here and we know ourselves. Ask him what impact he has made on the people of this community aside from facing his personal business that is even outside this country.
I am not quarreling with a feeling that another person should be given a chance to provide leadership but not a person that is apparently alien to the people. Aside from his immediate family, who else knows the man they are talking about in Ilorin. He should tell us what he had done in the past to the advantage of Ilorin community and Kwara State in general. ‘O to ge e’ but what do we substitute it with? That is why we are saying ‘O tun ya’.
You are a frontline proponent of the introduction of the parliamentary system of government in the House of Representatives. Do you think it can work here in Nigeria?
Yes, it can work. We cannot continue with this bogus presidential system of government. The presidential system is too expensive. One cannot say because he is benefiting from this system then it is the best. Resources that should have been channelled to the necessary areas of need for the advantage of the people are limited to those in government alone.
It creates a wide gap between the citizen of the country and those ruling them. The overhead costs, cost of running the system/governance, the personnel attached to a government man and how much they take cannot take us any longer. That is the truth. The parliamentary system reduces the power at the centre and places it in the corridor of the regions.
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The resources at the regions are used maximally to the benefit of the regions and each of them is serious about the development of its resources and channeling it appropriately. We borrowed this system from America but we were not well prepared for it before we did so. The effect is what is affecting us now. It will, therefore, take us too long to be able to perfect it, whereas we do not have the kind of environment yet and there is no need for it any longer.
Apart from the fact that Nigerians have not been sensitised, do you think this idea will sell, having been operating the presidential system for a long time?
You see, we will sensitise the people. We will not relent. As soon as we get back to the House after the elections and make sure the bill is passed before we leave. Even then, we will not end it there; we will continue until it is done in the interests of the generality of the country. Let me tell you, even me, after I must have finished my term in the House will not relent in sensitising people. It is the best for us all.
What advice do you have for Kwarans?
I advise the people of Kwara State to know that we have no other place that we can call our own. We should appreciate our own; those who have done well for us. We should play the game of politics by the rules. We should be wary who do not stay with us to know our problems only to come at election time to tell us stories. People should be judged by what they have done to better our lots before now.
