Kogi State Deputy Governor, Elder Simon Achuba is in the eyes of the storm. He has been suspended by the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and is also facing impeachment by the state House of Assembly over the irreconcilable differences with his boss, Governor Yahaya Bello. In this interview, the embattled deputy governor regretted that the government has failed to meet the yearnings of the people in the areas of salary payment and provision of infrastructures in the past four years.
Achuba, who was also a former deputy speaker of the state Assembly, bares his mind on salient issues affecting the Confluence State. Our correspondent, Wale Ibrahim was there.
here has been controversy over your claims of unpaid allowances and imprest by the government. Can you throw more lights on the issue?
I want to say that if not for bad governance, the issue of salary payment is no achievement. It is the duty of any individual, who has that responsibility to discharge because every labourer deserves his wage. So, to list and boast of salary payment is to say that government is no longer functioning well because if people have worked for 30 days, you should pay them their salaries and get on to do other responsibility you have to do. The salary that I referred to in the letter written by my lawyer to the governor has to do with salaries of people, working under the office of the deputy governor. And that is why when we were doing the packaging of the schedules, the salary was not put out as part of a schedule. But for media hype, they only concentrated on that to sway the mind of the public. And, of course, those salaries come with the imprest to my office. Let me just mention an instance. The Geemony Company staff are cleaners of the state and, of course, you know that I am not the one who brought the company. I don’t know who brought the Geemony Company but they were sent to me, as cleaners and because those ones that are in my office, their payments are attached to my office. Don’t they earn salaries? Of course, they do and it has become a burden on me for the past one year and half that none of these staff has been paid his salary and they are coming to work. So, if I place such demand, is it out of place? Now, the imprest that come to the office of the governor and the deputy governor are statutory and are standing orders. When money comes to the state, what I know that has been the practice and even under this same government is that once salaries are paid, the imprest for the office of the governor, which included his security votes, are given to him and the next consideration would be the office of the deputy governor.
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Then, we have other political office holders, the ministries, departments and agencies also have imprest. I was chairman of Environmental Protection Board from 2014 to 2015 and had standing imprest, which we used in running the office. And, of course, the same applies to the office of the deputy governor. So, if a governor refuses to do that, what do you call it? As a deputy governor, I have allowances and benefits that accrue to my office. Take, for instance, if I travel to Idah and return today, there is a set standard of what ought to be paid to me, as a deputy governor because, from the day I took oath of office as deputy governor, I seized to be a private person. And, of course, those standards are known. I don’t need to tell my DOP for him to write, he knows already what the standards are. So, if as a deputy governor, I’ve been traveling for the past two years plus since 2017 and I’m not paid my allowances, the governor should be ashamed to come out to say it’s because there’s no money. It is a shameful thing. More so, when there are no explanations to me and I have asked severally; what is the problem; why this? Wherever I go, it’s official because I go with retinues of my aides. That is that on my allowances.
The issue of salary is not about me. The salary I earn is N385,000. That’s my salary and if my phone is here, I will open it and I will show you because I will show those things where there is the need. This one is private to me. I can show anybody. So, as a deputy governor, if I go with my aides from here to Abuja even in a day, let us not sleep and return, will that money (salary) take me? The answer is no. So, how is the governor assuming that I should run the office of the deputy governor if there are no other monies outside of my salary that is coming in. And this brings me to the issue of leadership because I’m wondering what a leader should be. I believe that after God in heaven, the next level is government and in Nigeria we have three strata of it; federal, state and the local government. If you have been given the opportunity to serve at any level and you are exhibiting behaviour like this, how do you think people should describe you? You should get to know that you are called as a servant and not a Lord. You are called unto service not to be a master, who boasts and goes on high shoulders as if you are the Lord over the people. That ought not to be. And in this 21st century lifestyle of our leaders, what they do, what they say and how they go about putting people together should be a thing of interest to every Nigerian. I believe that whoever has the opportunity of being a governor must humble himself in all honesty and not go out doing every fight possible even when those fights are avoidable because as a manager of people, there are fights you avoid.
If you look at some of the battles, they are unnecessary, even between me and the governor. Many times I went to him and I asked what is the problem, tell me if I’m wrong, I will apologise to you because my heart is to work with you; I want us to make a difference. But he won’t tell me anything. All the institutions that they have fought with, those fights were avoidable fights. Take, for instance, the education system, the NLC, the judiciary, name them, all the arms of this state have been fought, including the state Assembly.
You were at the Presidential Villa last week where you met with the Chief of Staff to the president over the face-off between you and the governor. Is there any political solution to the impasse or you are taking legal option as earlier threatened?
Yes. I was in the presidency and that was my 10th time visit to the office of the Chief of Staff to the president. First of all, when this trouble of nonpayment of my allowances and all these problems started, after going round the nucleus within our own locality to resolve this matter and nothing positive was forthcoming, I had to take it up. Even my own traditional ruler, Chief John Egwemi intervened. Some pastors came in and even some of the appointees also tried their best but it was not possible. I wrote a letter on the 6th of August 2018 to the president enumerating in details the issues at stake and called on them to intervene so that we can work together in harmony and in one accord. Personally, I went to their offices to complain even after writing this letter that’s taking long. I also wrote to the vice-president. I wrote to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. I wrote to the National Chairman of our party; that was in August. When all that didn’t work, this year too, I wrote to all these people that I have mentioned on the March 28, drawing their attention to my earlier letter and the need for an intervention. All these have not worked. Have I not made enough efforts for dialogue, reconciliation and all that? Even if I had killed someone and I’m begging. Sometimes there could be mercy and leniency on those who commit murder maybe by error because it is a capital offence. But there are other certain murder cases you know are not intentional but accidental. I’ve done that and of course, after doing that and I saw that they were determined never to toe line of reconciliation, I need to seek legal redress.
After my visit, the Chief of Staff invited the governor but what they discussed, I don’t know. But from what I deduce from the response coming from the governor, that meeting did not head towards reconciliation because, if there was going to be any reconciliation, that response to me wouldn’t have been necessary. I have to see my lawyer to write and of course, the ultimatum has expired. We will be in court because I have explored all avenues of reconciliation and the only place to go now is the court.
What has been responsible for the lingering rift between you and the governor?
The rift between me and the governor is nothing less than the issue of performance and this infighting between him and perceived enemies. As I said earlier, as one that is given the privilege of leadership or in position, you are the father of all and you should know that people from time to time do things that may not be in line with your own ideas. That is not to say they become enemies; what is important in leadership is dialogue. So when you throw dialogue away, you throw persuasion away and you engage in fight with those that you are supposed to work with. I don’t know what word can be used in describing such a leader because, I assume that trouble surely will come where two, three or more are gathered so long as the opinions of these individuals, their backgrounds, their upbringings, their connections or even education is not the same. So their thought lines are assumed to flow differently. So if anyone varies from your own idea, what you need to do is to sit with him and ask why do you think you are saying what you are saying? Can you convince me whether we can toe your line and not getting into the ring and then fight everybody from bottom to down? It does not work and I continue to maintain that that is not right. And then, the second thing is the issue of salaries. In fact, it got to a point that he was convinced that civil servants are insignificant which made me to rise up one day to say something that was very annoying to him. I said if they are insignificant, then let’s sack them all and then run the state without civil servants. But as long as they remain and they come to work, you must pay them their salaries. And as you are all aware, the issue of salary is something that has dragged from day one of our administration to this moment which, I can authoritatively tell you, cannot end in this tenure. It is impossible. Why do I say it’s impossible? It is because it has been messed up to the extent that as it stands today, you cannot say this is the nominal roll of Kogi State government. Even if they come out to defend, it is just falsehood and they will only be economical with the truth. I can also tell you authoritatively that notwithstanding the current money sent to the state, N30.8 billion, salary will still continue to be an issue. As at today, those who are hired are telling the world that all salaries have been paid. The salary that has been paid up to date is that of the political office holders and anyone that has not gotten his own, it will be probably as a result of networks or one omission. But as Kogi State civil servants, there’s no one that is having less than two months as of today because as at 2017, there was percentage payment for about five months or so which also account for two months payments or so if you put it together. So, government should not rush to the press to impress the public. Rather, they should take time to sit with the people and iron issues out from level to level. There are some that have been omitted and you can ask the labour people. So, it varies from one person to another because payment every other month brings about omissions of workers. Today you are paid, next month you are not paid and all that. And for your information, you remember the judiciary just had their screening how many days. They finished their screening and have paid their workers. So if the state apparatus that brought this confusion was allowed into the judiciary, it would have been a disaster and I’m sure that is why the judiciary insisted that they will not allow them to come and screen in the judiciary and of course, they have the right to say so even as the court has affirmed that there is separation of power. They have a Commission, they employ, they train, they hire-and-fire so why do you think you should lord it over them? Modern leaders must learn to look at the constitution and go by it. Where you need to lobby an arm of government, you do so and not by force or by executive fiat. Those things no longer work in the modern time.
The third reason is infrastructural development. You see, where there is genuine plan, arrange your projects. You don’t just go here and flag off this project, you go to another place and flag off and then you end up flagging more than 50 projects and none will be working. Does that make any sense? You become a jack-of-all-trade doing nothing and that is the issue. And of course, many of you know that I’ve been critical of previous governments and now that it is my turn, I want to show a difference. I want a situation that after we have finished our tenure, people will refer to this tenure that oh! What a wonderful time in Kogi State. And of course, I did that when in the state assembly by the grace of God. We did that, we left our footprints. We made the sacrifice. There were denials even as I’m going through now. It is not about me but we must deny ourselves. It’s a struggle for the existence of the people and the well-being of the people. So now up to this moment, it is difficult to point at a project, finished and commissioned by this government. Does that make any sense? When you look at the allocations that accrued to the state government over these three and half years, I have the statistics. Even if we had not done screening, by the statistics that I have, the money that has come will pay salaries and projects will be implemented that men and women in Kogi State will be happy. So, with the screening having weeded out ghost workers, why this (non-performance)? I disagreed with that. In as much as I appreciate him for taking me as a deputy governor, I disagree with non-performance. I disagree with not planning and executing projects as it is supposed to be. I disagree with that and heaven knows that my heart is out to help even the less privileged. Why should one have such opportunity and then threw it to away? So when I advised on these matters, I was seen as being antagonistic. I was seen as not towing their lines.
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People said that with the kind of treatment meted to you, one would have expected you to have resigned long ago. Why have you not resigned?
If I had resigned, would I have the opportunity of addressing you the way I’m doing? If you must change the system, you must remain. I am not an aspirant. If I were to be an aspirant, people will say I’m saying that because of my political interest. I’m someone who is asking for the right thing to be done and for men in leadership to humble themselves and serve the people. That is all I’m asking for. Why do you think I should resign when I’m not found to be incompetent? Every responsibility given to me has been discharged to the best of my knowledge and has been acknowledged as good. So why do you think I should resign? I should stay and see how far I could bring about changes.
It was alleged that you engaged in anti-party activities during the last general election. How would you react to that?
The first election I contested was under CNC in the local government, which we won. When that was brought to an end, we joined the PDP and under the PDP platform, I came to the state assembly twice and even as deputy speaker. From there, we went to ACN and then return to PDP. And when the ACN took the lead to form the APC, we now say what we did the other time, this is the result and we came back. Now, it has been about 23 years ago that I have been part of successive governments in Kogi State. Who is on the political terrain that I will not know? Everyone that matters is known to me. So, that I become deputy governor under APC doesn’t stop me from communicating with these people. Or have they become my enemies? The answer is no. If anti-party is talking with people or having to stay with anyone that is in another party, I called that lack of experience because, after all, parties go and parties come but the people remain. And, of course, the people that are in the other parties should be lobbied to join me so that it will swell. You are all aware how many times they flew the kite that I’m going to defect from the APC but I came on air to debunk it. It is still the same people, who were mulling this same idea.
Is true that you are secretly working for a governorship aspirant ahead of the November election in the state?
It is an insult to tell me that I’m working for somebody who is contesting for the position of the governor of Kogi State as a sitting deputy governor. Do you think I’m not qualified to contest myself? It is out of respect for my principal that I’m not on the field. Just like I said earlier, he brought me on board as the deputy governor and then all of a sudden, I just get up and say I’m contesting against him. Notwithstanding the treatment being meted to me, I still hold it that he has done to me something good and nice that I need to hold to firmly. If you look at the caliber of people that are on the field, I don’t think any of them has the political credentials that I have so far in Kogi State. And this is a fact. So, I’m not working for anybody. What I’m looking forward to is a Kogi State that is going to be managed by someone who really would want to be a servant and not a Lord over the people.
