Former governor and the leader of APC in Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, is very confident of his party’s victory in this month’s general election. He also talks on the Abuja peace accord among presidential candidates of political parties, in this chat with Assistant Editor (North), CHUKS EHIRIM.
How do you see the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign so far?
The campaign has been very good. I think there has been response from Nigerians across the country, whether they are in the South or North – everywhere. There is a general quest for change in this country and Nigerians have embraced this party and its presidential campaign. Everywhere we go to, you can see the spontaneous reactions of Nigerians that this is the salvation they have been waiting for and that they are ready to vote for APC. We are very optimistic because, so far, it has been a huge successful campaign.
What is your take on the threats that if some persons did not win, that there would be war?
Well, l think l was reading yesterday where it was retracted. I am happy that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the presidency have distanced themselves from such irresponsible statements. I believe that the essence of democracy is election and people would choose. It is not about somebody must win, or threat if somebody does not win. It is a process that we will all participate in. Sometimes it works out for you just as it worked out for PDP in 2011. If it does not work out for them in 2015, they should go back and prepare for the next election.
That is what democracy is all about. I am happy that the government and the party have distanced themselves from the threat. In every society, you will have characters that make such irresponsible statements. I don’t think that should in anyway deter Nigerians. I think Nigerians are determined. We have seen attempts, even when people were tempted to suggest that there should be a postponement, and Nigerians reacted.
Then recently again, it went beyond suggestion and was said, and Nigerians reacted again. I think it is clear. As far as Nigerians are concerned, they love this thing they call democracy; they love the ability to have the power to vote and elect their leaders and they don’t want that to be undermined at all. I think characters like that are on their own and I think Nigerians have spoken.
Kwara is one of the states that elections would be highly contested, given that PDP is also strong in the state. How sure are you that APC will defeat PDP in the state?
I am no longer in PDP; the governor is no longer in PDP. The mistake some of you are making is that you don’t understand that it is people that make the party. PDP used to be on the ground here. Every day here, we have people defecting into APC. People who have tickets of PDP are defecting; people who ran elections on the platform of PDP are defecting.
You have not heard any Kwara APC defecting to PDP; all you hear is that PDP people are defecting to APC in droves. So, they too know. But why would anybody be surprised when the party and the team captain are saying that they should postpone elections? I remember, when we used to be in school, if you were a student and you went for examination unprepared, you would be asking the teacher to postpone the exam, while those that had prepared for the exam would say no, let’s do the exam now. This is what we have. So, why would anybody stay in PDP when the captain is saying that they should postpone the election? He knows that obviously they are nowhere. By the time you go round Kwara, you will see that there is no PDP.
So, what percentage of votes will APC get from Kwara?
We gave PDP 80 per cent in 2011. This time around, because we are in APC, APC will get that result as well. That would be the minimum that we will give to APC because that is where all the supporters have moved to.
What is giving you the confidence that you are going to win?
You see, we have done well and the people have come to appreciate our system of governance, to the extent that they collectively endorse our coming for the second time. We have done all we needed to do and the people are happy for it. It is not that we are confident that we are going to win, but that people have confidence in us.
What is APC going to do differently in the next four years?
The most important thing is that we will be scaling up those things we have been working on. We will scale up the healthcare delivery, roads, economic development and, most importantly, everything that would bring development and good living to the people of Kwara.
A peace accord was recently signed in Abuja for this election. Are you hopeful that the accord would work?
We hope that there should be no crisis and we assume that the peace accord that was signed will trickle down the body of the parties, so that the message would be clear to everybody and all the political parties.