KANTI BELLO, erstwhile Senate Chief Whip and the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant for Katsina State, speaks with Editor, Politics/Features, EMEKA ALEX DURU, on the chances of his party in dislodging the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections as well as the recent congress of the party in Katsina, which he scores below average.
Your party, the APC, conducted its maiden national convention in June, which saw the emergence of substantive national officers. With that exercise, would you say the APC is fully prepared to tackle the PDP in 2015?
Kanti BelloHonestly, I am happy that we have been able to conduct our national convention of our great party for the purpose of putting in place substantive officials at the national level. It was, no doubt, a quite successful convention where a lot of people who emerged were chosen by consensus, negotiation and discussions. That is what politics is all about.
The national convention was very successful, and I am happy with its outcome. With substantive national officers now in place, I can say that we are fully set to push out the PDP government in the 2015 general elections. The PDP government has not been helpful to Nigerians. The PDP government has failed the people woefully, and the people cannot wait to see that it is kicked out by the APC, a party that is out to make a difference in the life of the Nigerian people.
With the conduct of our national convention, we are now fully positioned to tackle them head-long and show them the way out in 2015. Nigerians can no longer tolerate the massive corruption going on in the system as perpetrated by the PDP-led government, which has denied the people their basic social and economic rights. They have polluted the entire system, and the APC is simply coming on a rescue mission.
Do you think it will be that easy for the PDP to be dislodged by the APC?
They may be in control of the country’s resources. But the question is, how have they used these resources for the benefit of the people they are governing; the people who gave them the mandate? That is what is more important and that is what Nigerians will be looking at in the forthcoming 2015 election.
Nigerians have become wiser and nobody can deceive them this time around. They have been deceived for so long, and they are now determined to effect a change in government. APC has come to play a leading role in that change for a better Nigeria where Nigerians will be seen enjoying true dividends of democracy.
Yes, they have the money because they control the country’s finances, but I can assure you that money will not play much role this time around because the people are eager to see a change. The citizens now want a government that will value them and provide for their needs. You may have all the money to splash, but it will not change the mind of the people from voting for the right people and party that will make meaning in their lives.
Again, don’t forget that the APC is a product of leading opposition parties in Nigeria. It is a combination of opposition parties that have similar ideologies and are very much concerned about the derailment in the governance of the country. So, they came together with a view to salvaging Nigeria from the backwardness caused by the bad government of the PDP since the entrenchment of the current democratic dispensation in 1999.
I am very confident that the PDP will be sent packing in 2015. The APC structure is highly formidable and strong enough to battle the PDP and show it the way out, even as the country’s resources are in its hands. The fact is that the people of Nigeria are tired of PDP.
Prior to the national convention of your party, state congresses were held in all the states across the country. How was the conduct of the exercise in Katsina State?
As I said earlier, the APC national convention was a huge success and we are indeed happy about it. Unfortunately, our state congress in Katsina was not properly conducted. It is really sad. We held our congress about two days to the national convention. So, it was very tight. When we were doing the elections, only the chairmanship election took place – on the understanding that after the election of the chairman, whichever structure that emerged, the remaining positions would be shared pro rata among the three groups based on the outcome of their electoral votes, which, if you want the party to progress and you want to carry everybody along, is a natural thing to do. This was the understanding and agreement reached by the aspirants.
But to our greatest surprise, after the chairman had emerged from the Masari group, which was made up of members of the House of Representatives, the senators and members of House of Assembly with 1004 votes, they came out to say they had won every other position, when in actual fact no election was conducted for those other positions.
In the chairmanship contest, the candidate of my group had 776 votes and the third group led by Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, younger brother to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, scored 192. Three groups actually presented candidates for the various positions. And we equally saw the understanding and agreement of sharing the other positions, apart from the chairman, for which election was conducted as a way of uniting the three groups, since we believed that we were all working for the growth and development of the party in the state. That was why the action of the Masari-led group came to us as a great shock – members of the group tried to usurp the whole positions, claiming that they won all the seats, even when they knew that election was never held. I do not know why they should think that they have won all the positions because they emerged victorious in the chairmanship race. Even their victory for the chairmanship was questionable because we know all the manipulations they did to win. Otherwise, my group would have won hands down. But because we want peace and we do not want any problem in the party, we decided to accept the result of the chairmanship. Because we wanted unity in the party, we comported ourselves properly and accepted that they won the chairmanship.
As a man of peace, I had to beg members of my group to calm down, and they listened to me as their leader and avoided making any trouble because it was very clear that the Masari group shouldn’t have even won the chairmanship, if the election was transparent. They deliberately cancelled a number of local government areas which they knew were my strongholds, and at the end of the day, they said they had won.
Okay, we accepted that they won. But why would they want to act contrary to the agreement? Why should they not be willing to work by the agreement anymore? As far as I am concerned, that is unfair and ungentlemanly.
Could it be said that the Katsina APC congress was inconclusive?
It is definitely inconclusive. It has not been concluded. It is inconclusive and nobody is going to accept this nonsense. Anybody assuming that this rubbish will be accepted by our group is deceiving himself. It will not be accepted. We did our best to be gentlemanly.
We have been gentle enough. But it appears that some people didn’t understand the word ‘gentility’. We are not afraid of anything. We are willing to go for election with any one of them anytime. If we lose, there will be no problem. We will accept the loss. But certainly, you cannot come and sit down and do this manipulation and you want us to accept it.
That we say we want peace and we don’t want any trouble does not mean we should be taken for a ride. For God’s sake, I am a stakeholder in the APC and I cannot allow anybody to relegate me to the background. From the result of the election for the chairmanship position, it should be clear to them that I have overwhelming support in the party and the people know who they want. If with the calibre of people in their group, I mean the Masari group (senators, House of Reps members, House of Assembly members and others), the candidate of my group was still able to score about 800 while they had about 1,000 due to manipulation, they should know that the people are strongly behind me.
What is really the cause of the entire problem?
It is definitely about the 2015 poll. There is no doubt about that. They actually ganged up against me. But my group got about 800 votes, even after they cancelled three of my local governments – refusing to allow them to participate. If I was able to get almost 800 with the cancellation of over three local government councils from my own, it only tells you that the people are with me. Many things were done to undermine my strength and chances. But I decided to accept them because if, by God’s grace, I pick the governorship ticket, I will still want the Masari group to follow me.
The voters were clear that this was the person they wanted. The people of Katsina have indicated who they want to be their governor come 2015. They have shown it.