Princess BILIKISU TINUOLA GAMBARI, who contested Kwara Central senatorial election in 2003 on the platform of the then Action Congress (AC), is hardly a new name in Kwara politics. Presently in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), she tells Woman Editor, TEMITOPE DAVID-ADEGBOYE, the peculiarities of the state’s politics and how she intends to change the trend…
Attraction to politics
Bilikisu Tinuola Gambari
What attracted me to politics is the dilemma of my people in Kwara State as regards the political structure that we have had since 1979. I feel that democracy gives us the right to vote and be voted for; not that a particular group of people or men are imposing their will on the general public. I came to the realisation that if we all stayed behind and ponder over whether people would refer us to our background or not, it’s not going to help. It actually pays me to come out and explain why we need a change.
Swimming through Nigeria’s murky politics
Actually, it hasn’t been easy. The first time I ventured into politics was just to support my sister who contested the House of Representatives seat in 1999. Watching her, her campaign and every other thing, I saw a lot of things that I thought could be done differently. Unfortunately, after the elections, she got a job with the United Nations and left the country. So she wasn’t able to continue.
In 2007, I felt we all couldn’t just stay behind and not do anything but complain about the situation of things. So I decided to join the AC also because I was told that nobody was interested in picking up the ticket for the party. They felt it was waste of money to pick up a ticket under any other party that the Sarakis were involved in. I felt that if our situation had reached that point where nobody wanted to aspire because it was considered a waste of time and money, we had lost it.
I knew what to expect and what really happened. I knew it is murky, but the things that happened were things I did not envisage.
For me, it wasn’t about winning election, but more about making a statement that we would aspire and campaign. Though we might not win, the statement must have been made that it is your right to aspire and contest any election, and it is right to drive round the city, telling them about what you want to do for them. But all the resistance I got actually made me stronger because what others experienced in 10 to 15 years, I saw in the first few months I contested.
Saraki’s style of democracy
Not really. As much as I criticise Saraki and his style of democracy and politics, there were aspects that I saw were good. I have chosen those good ones and also tried to use them. One thing that he did over the years was to gather caterers to cook for ordinary people who were hungry. People would troop to his house to eat; when they were going, they would get transport money too. That was why each time you got to his house, it was always full. Anybody coming from outside would see it as political strength and not just that they were being fed.
That was a good one, and so I took to doing that. For me, it is not the feeding that matters; but it gives me the opportunity to talk and they will listen. By so doing, I started having more people around me and they saw it as an affront and a reason to also attack.
Saraki also took his time to build from 1972 to 1979 when the elections held. He was consistent. So by the time it was time for the election, he was already there ahead of his contemporaries. That was also a good one. It is not going to be about winning elections or not; the people must be able to see that one is always there for them, whether there is election or not.
Dismantling Saraki political dynasty
Nobody is ever ready for something that you are not aware of. A lot of my people do not know what they should be demanding from their representatives. I cannot tell you that they are 100 per cent ready, but I know that over the years, a lot of them, through information and education, have come to understand what our politics is all about. So we’ve come a long way from 1999. Even without our own peculiar situation, there is no politician that will come out and tell you that he will have 100 per cent support. There will always be opposition.
The problem is that we have not really had anybody to oppose the Saraki dominance in the past. Most of the people that had come out to fight him were people that passed through his “school”. In my own case, I have never been to Saraki for anything before. I came out on my own and joined the party that I wanted. As for my chances, if I came out in 2007 and did well enough that even the Saraki family had to start campaigning, that meant a lot. They never used to campaign; it was just a question of Oloye (the late Olusola Saraki) endorsing one person and everybody would just be going to congratulate him. I know that if they had allowed one-man-one-vote, they knew it was over. That was why they rigged the election.
If we have something like that of Ekiti where military men were on ground to make sure everything was done correctly – INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) ready to do it right, the police not participating – then, I know I have a very good chance. I often describe the Sarakis as politicians without people but INEC and police. Those were what they used to win elections. So if they don’t have INEC and police, and we have security to prevent them from using their thugs to intimidate us, I know I have a very good chance.
Running in 2015 against mega party
In Kwara, even if we did not have this defection into the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kwara APC was well positioned. And that was because majority of the people want change; majority of the people want freedom; they want to aspire to vote and be voted for, which were the things that we were denied, not by the PDP but by a particular family. All these things have now been denied us in APC. So APC is no longer the party of change; it’s no longer the party of freedom; it’s no longer the party that gives us due process. Everybody that positioned APC at that time has now left for PDP. Though their slogan is ‘change’, is it change from what? APC, as far as Kwara is concerned, is dead because the reason we were in the party no longer exists. Nobody in Kwara today would vote APC. You have to remember that today in Nigeria all political parties preach the same thing: education for all, water for all, road, health. It’s always the same. The difference that you get is the individuals that form the party, their drive, ideology and principles. So, 2015 is not going to be about the party but about the people in Kwara.
Unseating Senator Saraki
Though I have not actually made my intentions known, Bukola Saraki is not behaving as a senator. In Kwara, they rather refer to him as governor-general. He is actually the one calling the shots. The governor is just there carrying out his order. Though the constitution does not permit you to run a third term, Bukola is virtually doing that. So, it’s not only about the Kwara Central, but about the state at large. We know all that he is depriving us and that is how bad it has been, even as far back as his dad. Of all the names that we knew before the emergence of Saraki in Kwara politics, he deliberately would go and pick somebody that nobody knows and put in office, so that the person would always worship him. And once they are there, they’ll only be answerable to him. So we’ve never really had anybody work for us, but for Saraki. That was what the father did and that is what the son has also copied.
A woman governor in Nigeria in 2015
I don’t see why a woman cannot be a governor. It is not nuclear science, and even if it is, we have women that are nuclear scientists. But in Kwara, Gbemi Saraki actually aspired to be the governor and they said people didn’t want her because she was female. I don’t believe that is true; I think what she suffered was because of who she is – a Saraki. We are tired of the Sarakis and even the people that are with them and cannot come out and tell them that they are no longer with them will hide under religion to say we don’t want woman leadership.
So it wasn’t her person, it wasn’t democracy; it was just her pedigree that people didn’t want. I don’t see why a woman cannot aspire. It’s about talking to your people and them making a choice.
Affirmative action in Nigeria’s politics
PDP government promised us 35 per cent participation and I think they’ve done well. What we heard about Kwara was that they wanted a woman. But coming back again, the only female politician they know is from the Saraki family. We’ve been enslaved for so long that they don’t know other people exist in our state. So the minute people said they didn’t want Senator Gbemi Saraki, there was no other female to present.
Rejecting Saraki dynasty
Yes, the people do not want them anymore. I don’t know if it is true; but when the story was that they wanted to make her a minister, the people did not want her. They said when they were saying they wanted freedom from the Sarakis, one was already the governor-general, another one would be a minister, and so where’s the freedom? So nobody wanted her, not because of her person but because of the family she comes from. They didn’t want one of the Sarakis to stylishly join them in the fight.
Thought on zoning
I feel that due process means that everybody, regardless of where you are from, should be able to aspire. But when you are rotating it, you definitely will not get the best man for the job. Whether the best man is from east and it has been zoned to the west, how do you get the best person for the job that way? I do not believe in zoning, but that is a personal thing. Most people that come in usually aspire to go a second term. Why anybody should stop the president from aspiring to run the second term, I don’t know. It is his constitutional right to do it; it is also our rights as Nigerians to know who we will vote for. PDP will have primaries, and if the delegates vote for him, good; if they do not, anyone who wins will represent us. But that we will be handpicking people is what I do not believe in at any level.
Security and 2015 election
Personally, I have been trying hard to figure out this Boko Haram. Who are they? What is their mission? What do they want? Why are they doing what they are doing? Maybe if they have the answers to all these, then we will be able to know what they are capable of doing next. If they are Islamic, it might not have anything to do with politics, democracy and election. If it is politicians that are using them, then it will have a lot to do with 2015 election because on election day, they could decide to start bombing everywhere. One would think that elections shouldn’t be the primary thing on our minds right now; it should be how we get our security back. It was easy to secure Ekiti, a lone state having election; but when it is a blanket election like we have in Nigeria, we do not have the resources to do that.
Confab
Frankly speaking, I just think they are there wasting our money. What are they achieving? Nigerians like things that are fanciful, and to throw away money.
