In this interview with GODWIN ENNA, the immediate past secretary to the government of Katsina State, now state director-general of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign council, Dr Mustapha Muhamad Inuwa, speaks on a number of issues that could brighten the chances of the party in the forthcoming election.
Two months ago, you announced your defection to the PDP which brought a lot of controversies in Katsina State, with the APC saying you are ungrateful. Other people are seeing you as a selfish and desperate politician not ready to embrace the will of God. What actually prompted your decision to leave?
I don’t know for whatever reason those who are saying I’m angry or desperate to have moved to the PDP to get a ticket that could have confirmed the assertion, but I had offers from some parties for the ticket and I told them that was not the issue. I even mentioned to some people that if for any reason the APC was to ask me to come and take the ticket, I would have declined. Because like I always say, I want to go through the normal process, which I did despite the level of discrepancies and malpractice that were manifested in the election.
I never complained to anybody that I didn’t petition, but many people approached me with some documents on a number of issue. I said, it is not me and wouldn’t do that. And if anybody is interested, he can pursue the case among the aspirants, but for Mustapha Inuwa, mine is done and it’s over. For whatever reason we lost the election, I accepted it there and then and we moved forward.
And if for anybody is saying that I’m ungrateful for whatever reason, I served as a secretary to the state government, which was not my first time being there. I was in the late Yar’Adua’s government, where I served in four different capacities, including secretary to the government.
So, there’s nothing new for me to become SSG in the APC-led government. I was elected chairman of the party and if I wanted I would have remained chairman of the party, but the governor in his wisdom decided and asked me to be there. Ask anybody in the state, I never requested or asked anybody to give me any appointment either in the state or at the federal level.
So, even the secretary to the government given to me, I never asked for it. And I think I have a moral obligation to serve my state when given the opportunity to do so. There was nothing new for me to be the SSG and that’s why I didn’t even invite people during my swearing in because there was nothing new to me.
Ask those who were around and they will tell you. In fact, even my family didn’t know I was being sworn in that day until after the event and I returned home, then they complained and said, yes “was there anything new about it?” So, you see, there was no excitement there because it was not something new.
To me, I accepted it to serve because it’s our government and I was the chairman of the party who campaigned for the election of the government, and I was ready to serve the government which I did.
So, today, I’m not grateful simply because maybe I was given the secretary to the government, I don’t think that was a fair assessment.
If I’m keen about positions, before I left the APC to the PDP two months ago, I was reliably informed that the following week, I will be appointed head of a particular federal parastatal which I believe if I’m looking for an appointment I could have accepted. But I knew about it and still decided to leave the party before the announcement of the appointment.
So, I was never desperate, I left the party because I realised that those who won the election were never interested in me. They believed they could do it with or without me, because like you all know, I was the only person who stayed at the venue of the election until the last vote was counted.
I was there waiting to congratulate the winner, but his supporters shouted at me and I left the venue. But even then, the following day, I went to His Excellency, Governor Aminu Bello Masari, after the mosque, thinking that we’d talk and discuss the issue and think of the way forward. What I thought he would have done was to call the candidate, call me and himself, sit down and discuss the way forward. This he didn’t do. In fact, to be candid, the manner he treated me when I went to the office, it was really very bad.
What he told me was that, okay, that’s how the election turned out. Okay, I’ll see you later. That’s all he told me.
We learned they wanted to retire you from politics?
So if that is the case, I was not willing to retire. So, I feel I should move to where I’m needed. So, after that, I called a press conference in my office. I assured everybody that I am APC and I will remain in the APC, and we’d ensure the victory of the party.
Incidentally, the candidate came, and I also made the same promise. And from that time until the time I left the APC, nobody has ever called me and discussed the way forward. The only thing I heard people saying was, okay, please be patient.
But that was not the issue. We have supporters and we have people who really supported us with everything they have; time, energy, resources and so on. Maybe, if we were able to get elected, they expect some patronage and so on. But unfortunately, nobody considered that.
Nobody said, okay, let us sit down and see how we go together or what arrangement we should have to go together.
Another thing I realised is that the candidate kept talking about me in particular on social media, saying a lot of bad things about me and also some of his supporters, which means they were not only interested in us, but they also had no business dealing with us. They were saying a lot of things and calling us names.
So, I went to the governor because I didn’t just want to leave like that until after I told him. I said, okay, this is the situation; I realised that these people don’t need us, they don’t want me and my people. So, I don’t think I should have time to waste.
So, if he was really serious, he could have said, okay, no, wait let me call the candidate and myself to sit down and iron out issues. This, he didn’t do. And all those who called me couldn’t attempt to look at that either. The vice presidential candidate came here and said he wanted to work with us. When Tinubu called me, it was the same thing. He was talking about me as a person, saying I should work with him in Abuja and I’ll not regret. This is not about me in person.
So also the national chairman of the party who came, the only thing he said, to be fair to him, was a promise to relay back to Mr President what transpired and from there, he said, in a week or two weeks, I’ll hear from them, but for two months I didn’t hear from anybody.
The only thing I heard was just rumors that I’d be given appointments here and there. I said, look, this is not about Mustapha Inuwa but about those who supported our movement. What is our fate in Katsina?
If you appointed me as anything in Abuja, is that enough? Many of our supporters are locally based, and are only interested in what is happening in Katsina. So, what is their fate? How do we go into this government? How do we go into this campaign? And how do we participate in government after being elected?
These are the things I expected a right thinking person to consider and iron out, but it was not forthcoming. So, honestly, this is exactly the situation because we realised that we have no place in the scheme of things as far as this APC is concerned.
What makes you confident that you still have the strategy to return the PDP to power in 2023?
I’m very comfortable moving to PDP and we are on course to return the PDP to power come 2023. Before we finally agreed to go with the PDP, we set up a committee where we nominated our representatives, and they also nominated their representatives. We sat down two or three times and agreed on the mode of our participation in which they agreed on what would be our role, interest and how it would be protected. And people were happy.
Now, as we are going for the campaigns, we know the role we are going to play and our contribution. And if they eventually form a government, this is what our people are going to get out from the government. So, this makes our people comfortable and this is what we couldn’t get from the other party.
So, honestly, it is just a matter of time. We are lucky that the people of Katsina here are with PDP. Go to all the local governments and all the wards, you’ll see how people are yearning and itching even before the election day comes to ensure that they vote for the PDP.
Secondly, like you know, it’s just a matter of strategising and fortunately, we’ve gathered a lot of experience in this regard. Sowe are working and strategizing, we are receiving people every day from APC to PDP. These are highly placed and very influential people, groups, including religious, political and so on. So, by the grace of God, PDP will emerge victorious.
You’re coming to the PDP at a time of leadership crisis. Some people alleged that your unhealthy relationship with the former governor, Shehu Shema, caused the crisis. How would you react to this?
They don’t know the history of the PDP. The crisis has been there for some time, but it’s largely fueled by their primaries conducted, which I was not there at that time.
Some people contested against the other which is normal, and some emerged victorious, while those in the other group naturally were not happy which resulted in this issue.
They were even fortunate that I don’t belong to any of such groups, and I was not around when they had their primaries. So, I didn’t support any of the candidates and I’m neutral in that regard. As of now, we are working seriously towards resolving this crisis and we have gone far on it. And I believe that soon the issue will be over.
And let me tell you, honestly, this crisis is a clear indication that the PDP is on the path of victory, otherwise, people wouldn’t bother much. In 2019, they had primaries and because they were not hopeful as they are now, there was nothing like that. But now it’s very clear that the PDP is taking over.
So, that is why people are making all these issues out of it, but like I said, we are working towards it to ensure that the issue is over.
Again, my relationship with Shema was political, but let me tell you, after I rejoined the PDP, I made an attempt for us to meet in Abuja; we even had an appointment, agreed on the date and time. Unfortunately, something very important came up.
I had a meeting which lasted longer than the time expected with some members of the House of Representatives who were coming to join the PDP. And by the time we were supposed to meet as agreed, it was very late. And unfortunately, the following day was Friday and we couldn’t meet.
But as I’m talking now, we’re making effort to meet. I’m talking to Majigiri; he visited me twice and we spoke on the phone about two or three times and all those at the centre of the crisis, I have no problem engaging them.
Also, very soon, I’ll engage the former governor, Shema, on the matter. And I believe all these peace loving people who are truly interested in the PDP winning the election will certainly come together and work as a family. And very soon, you’ll see that.
With these discontent in your party both at state and national levels, how do you see the chance of the PDP in the forthcoming election?
This is not the first time political parties are having a crisis. Are you saying there’s no crisis in APC? Don’t you see court rulings all over on their candidates and what have you? Political parties cannot be crisis-free, especially political parties that have a clear indication of winning elections. It is normal and I know that the PDP has the capacity to resolve its crisis.
On the national issue with Governor Nyesom Wike involving the five governors, I think all of them believe they don’t have any other party like the PDP. Tell me which of these parties Governor Wike can join and make sense? He is a national figure and not a regional politician. Wike is eying the presidency and none of these parties can get him to that position. And you know, APC is not his party. He is too sophisticated for the APC.
Also, the APC even in Governor Wike’s state has its crisis. Now, I don’t know if APC has a gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State. So, the point is they can do all they can, but eventually they’ll come and bury whatever differences they may have, which we have seen they have started coming down from certain, maybe, impossible conditions to conditions that are tenable and so on. So, it is normal and if the PDP could be crisis-free, it means the PDP cannot be a national party.
How would you respond to APC’s assertion of having enough funds to use during the election?
I think they’re saying that they will use money to buy votes in 2023. It’s a simple question to ask them about what happened in 2015, did they use money? The same people who voted APC into power in 2015 will vote them out regardless of the money. That is true in Nigeria generally and not only in Katsina.
So, why do they expect now to give money to get votes? Let them bring the money because even at the primary money was used. The first time in the history of this country, a delegate in a local primaries of state congress was given N1 million to vote during our primaries.
The argument is that, if you gave a delegate N1 million just to vote for you to become a candidate, how much would you give them to vote for you to become a governor? Certainly, not N1 million; it must be much more than that.
So, maybe that is why they are talking about having the money because they realise they really have to bring a lot of money in order to buy the voters. But the contradiction is this, the party is of Mr President Muhammadu Buhari and he has assured not only Nigerians, but the world that there will be no vote-buying or money politics.
And you know, Nigerians and the world have a great respect for Mr President for keeping to his integrity. So, a president could say that and the same APC bigwigs are saying they have money which they have not even declared the source of, because we know quite a number of them could not have boasted of N50,000 before the coming of the APC to government. So, if they could have such money, they need to declare the source of that money.
Are they now contradicting Mr President who keeps assuring Nigerians and the world that there will be no vote-buying politics in the forthcoming election? In fact, some people are even alleging that even this re-designing of currencies was also part of the reason to check and ensure politicians do not have money at hand to engage in vote-buying, malpractices and what have you.
But now we’re hearing something different from the same APC that are saying they have money and commodities used in the election.The food which was purchased and donated by international organisations meant for IDPs are going to be used to buy votes.
You’ve been accused of sponsoring banditry while in government. How would you react to this accusation?
When we came into government, there was banditry. Who was sponsoring banditry? What about other states across the country, including the northwest and some other parts of the country, who is sponsoring their activities?
And now after Mustapha Inuwa has left the government, in fact banditry in Katsina increased to the level of coming into our states and towns. Who is doing that again?
So, all these were said by people who thought that its only when they bring somebody down that they can make themselves important but that never bothered me because I know very well it was just the handiwork of mischief makers. And we know them; we can even mention their names.
Honestly, on the issue of insecurity in this area which I’ve said severally in different gatherings and meetings including at the Villa in the presence of all the service chiefs and governors, my position is that, if the security agencies were really determined and serious about bringing this crisis to an end, believe me, it would not take them more than three months to do so. Especially in this area.
If you look at it numerically, I don’t think all the bandits are more than 100,000. If you talk about our security personnel, they are not many, but all the same, if we have just about 100,000 bandits, how many security agencies do we have to do the job? And it is not only the army, the police, other security agencies also, there must be synergy between them.
These weapons they are using were not manufactured in the forest; they came through our borders and through our towns and roads. Most of the banditry activities are being fueled by drugs because they usually take hard drugs to perpetuate their evil acts.
What are the NDLEA, the customs and immigration officers doing? And if you are to fly by plane, you see that everything is very visible. Today, you cannot pinpoint one serious bandit who was arrested or killed by the security agencies. Even when you find such a bandit killed, it must be as a result of internal conflict.
You also deploy military officers and keep them for six months, one or even two years in one location and they get used to the environment, including the bandits. Some of them are engaging in farming activities in the area.
You also deploy military officers and keep them for six months, one or even two years in one location and they get used to the environment, including the bandits. Some of them are engaging in farming activities in the area.
What would be your message to the PDP?
My message to them is one, to remain resolute, united and really work hard towards victory by the grace of God is just a matter of time. Because the people are eager and anxious to disgrace the APC at the poll. So, by the first election of February 25, that is the last day the APC would take its last breath.
