| RUTH CHOJI
Your state governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu is being touted
as being considered by the north for the presidency come 2015. Do you
think he has earned it?
It’s not my party; that is the problem of PDP.
But he is your state governor, do you think he has done enough to justify contesting for the presidency.
When it comes to the issue of Niger State, then I can talk.
So what are the chances of the CPC in Niger State?
While
CPC is the party to beat in the state, in 2015, PDP government in Niger
State is weak because people are tired of them and their lack of
performance. I don’t expect them to be talking about succession in 2015;
they should be talking about what they will do for the masses of the
state and even the country at large. When we start talking about
gubernatorial hopefuls in 2015, it means we are not mindful of the
programs we are supposed to do for our masses.
But there were reports of massive defections to the PDP; if they are not performing, why are people still joining them?
If
there has been any defection, it is from PDP to CPC. The CPC and other
opposition parties are very vibrant; we contribute to issues in this
country.
At what stage is the talk of alliance and do you think it will work out this time around?
We are still on it and we even have the PDP people who are waiting to join us because they are tired of the PDP...
But who will fly the flag of the CPC at the presidential level in 2015
General Buhari, of course...
But there are reports that some people are rooting for a younger person and this has brought division to the party as a whole?
We
don’t have any division; we have decided that it is going to be General
Buhari. I used to tell people that it is not possible to just pick
somebody and tell him to contest. If Buhari, God willing, contests and
wins, the people of this country will see what can be done within four
years and will instill confidence in the electorate.
General Buhari is not contesting because of his selfish reasons but
to right the wrongs that have taken place for years. There is no
position that Buhari has not held in this country; so what is it that he
does not know about this country?
INEC has stated that, it will continue the de-registration of parties, do you think this is healthy for our democracy?
Yes,
I support it and will continue to do so, I don’t support multiple
parties. If I were to give my opinion, I will suggest that we have only
two political parties. Remember what happened during the Babangida
two-party system. There was sanity then.
Should the federal government start funding parties?
Yes, I will support that, but we need to trim down the number of parties first.
The issue of indigenisation has drawn mixed reactions from Nigerians, are you in support of it?
Yes,
I will support it, if one has been living in an area for 10 years and
you want to seek position, you can do it because there is nothing that
he doesn’t know about the place. That will bring unity and integration.
This brings us to the issue of state police; with the
recent insecurity we have had, do you think state police will solve the
problem?
No, I will not support state police because
the state governors will use it against their opponents. Even now that
we are not having state police, the governors are abusing it. I have a
personal experience during my election. The person I defeated in the
April 9, 2011 election, who was representing us was a retired police
officer.
They connived with a lawyer who went to INEC to take away my file,
forged a document and consulted another lawyer who then wrote a petition
to the former Inspector -General of Police purporting that I forged the
document.
The IG sent the file to Niger State police command and officers were
detailed with a letter to get me to appear before the commissioner of
police for interrogation and I thought it was just routine; so, I went
there on my own, not knowing that the state government in connivance
with the police and Niger State judiciary, together with the defeated
retired police officer that was representing the our zone, and who was
using his connection with the police were out to oppress me.
The moment I saw that document, I realised that it was the lawyer’s
handwriting on the document and I told them that, it was forged by Barr.
Ibrahim Lenge. I brought my own copy that my party took to INEC,
thinking that they will compare them. But before anything, they have
broadcast to the whole town that I have been arrested for forging a
document.
This is an example of government abusing the federal police not to
talk about state police that they will handpick who controls it. My case
was so bad that they sent officers to arrest me at 4pm and took me
straight to court - on a Saturday - by 4pm. Does any normal court
operate on Saturdays?
The most surprising thing was that the Magistrate was there, waiting
for them to bring me. That woman without even taking my plea committed
me to prison. I was in prison for four days and the man was still
challenging my victory at the electoral tribunal. They thought they
could use this tactics to stop me from coming to the senate.
All these things were done with the connivance of Barrister Ringim
and other people from my area. Most of them are people they use to
launder money for them. I am a lawyer and I make sure that I attend all
the court sessions. So, I can never support state police.
So, what other laws will you like to see abrogated from the constitution or amended?
I
want the cancellation of the issue of state and local government
account. Let it be amended so that the local government can be
autonomous because as of now, the local government is not functioning.
Presently, my local government secretariat has been cut off by PHCN for
the past three months because they cannot pay their electricity bills.
The whole pressure is now on legislators who couldn’t spend the holidays
in my town because of this. There is a lot of poverty in the land.
From the time I was inaugurated till date, I have provided more than
ten transformers which I bought personally and these are the
responsibility of the state government. Before the elections, we were
told that the state government gave out N500million to a contractor to
get transformers, but where are the transformers? We need to do a lot of
public enlightenment on the duties of the executive and the
legislature.
People will come and insult you that you have not been doing anything
for them, but it is not the duty of the legislator. In the whole of
this world, there is nowhere that it is known that legislators carry out
contracts, we don’t get capital votes. Let the National Orientation
Agency do something about this; let us define the duties of the
executive and the individual legislators.
What should Nigerians be expecting from the senate this year?
Nigerians
should expect a robust representation from legislators. We are going to
be strict on oversight this year. We are going to be very proactive
this time around.
Why was the 2013 budget hastily passed by parliament
We
passed the budget in the interest of the nation because if we say we
will not pass the budget, it is the masses that will suffer; the
executive will also now turn round to blame us for delaying the passage
of the budget. So, for the country to prosper, we decided to pass it and
also do a thorough oversight.
Leadership
Senator Ibrahim Musa represents Niger North Senatorial Zone under
the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). In this
interview with RUTH CHOJI, the lawmaker affirms that General Muhammadu
Buhari will fly CPC presidential flag in 2015 and called for the
cancellation of joint state and local government accounts. He also
speaks on several other national issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment