Bandits demanded additional N100m after collecting N60m ransom –Parents of kidnapped Kaduna varsity students. - Godwin Isenyo

Parents of the remaining kidnapped students of the Greenfield University, Kaduna in bandits’ captivity have begged the Federal Government to rescue their children, saying the bandits refused to release the students after paying N60m ransom. They claimed they could no longer meet the latest demand of N160m cumulative ransom by the bandits. The students abducted by the bandits on April 20, 2021 at the school located along the Kaduna-Abuja highway have spent at least 24 days in captivity. Few days after their abduction, the bandits killed five of the 23 students for failure to pay N800m they demanded as ransom. Also, the bandits’ leader, Sani Jalingo, in an interview on the Hausa Service of the Voice of America, vowed to kill the remaining students if the parents failed to bring N100m and 10 motorcycles. But the bandits rescinded their threat upon the intervention of the controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi. Speaking on behalf of other parents in Kaduna on Thursday, Chairman of the aggrieved parents, Marcus Zarmai, begged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to use his good offices to ensure the safe return of their children from the kidnappers’ den. According to him, the bandits are now demanding a ransom of N160m with each of the parents expected to contribute N10m for the remaining 16 students. This, he said, was after the parents had contributed over N60m to the bandits for the release of their children without result. “We, the parents, are appealing to the Federal Government to assist us to pay the ransom demanded or find any other way to ensure the safe return of our children. “The same strategy that was adopted to rescue the kidnapped students in Jangebe, Zamfara State, Kankara in Katsina State, Kagara in Niger State and Afaka in Kaduna State should be adopted by the Federal Government to rescue our children too because they are also Nigerians,” he added. Easter Chukwuemeka, whose mother was among those kidnapped by the bandits, also called on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency intervene as the absence of their children had impacted negatively on them. Among the remaining 16 persons in the bandits’ den are 13 students and three female workers of the university. NAF jet pounds bandits’ hideouts, kills scores in Kaduna forests –Official Read Also Police arrest five suspected bandits in Zamfara Nigeria: As bandits buffet, government is hopeless Buhari pledges action against bandits' threat to food security The Nigerian Air Force component of the Operation Thunder Strike has bombarded bandits’ hideouts in different locations in four local government areas in Kaduna, including Chikun, Kajuru, Kachia, and Birnin Gwari, reportedly killing scores of bandits. The state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan, who confirmed this, however, did not mention the day the operations were carried out. He said the operations were as reported to the state government by the NAF. According to Aruwan, armed reconnaissance was conducted over Erena, Kusasu, Kuduru, Kulefe, Kusherki and Shiroro in neighbouring Niger State, as well as Chikun and its environs in Chikun LGA. He said, “Bandits were seen fleeing the Kaduna State part of Kusasu (in Chikun LGA) on motorcycles. They were trailed by the crew and subsequently neutralised. “Following this, armed reconnaissance was conducted along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway, Olam Farms, Rugu, Akilbu, Polewire Rijana, Katari, Jere and adjoining settlements. “Normal human activities and free flow of traffic were observed along the highway and rail line. All locations scanned were reported calm with no threats observed.” In addition, the commissioner noted that strike aircraft carried out operations over Jan Birni, Birnin Gwari LGA, which he said was observed to be active with bandits, noting that some bandits were taken out and the camp set ablaze and destroyed. Aruwan added that the air operations, including air interdiction, armed reconnaissance and patrols, would be sustained in the coming days over Kaduna metropolis and other areas of interest in the state. “Major highways will also be covered, including the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari, Kaduna-Abuja, Kaduna-Zaria, Kaduna-Kachia and Kaduna-Afaka roads. Receiving the feedback, Governor Nasir el-Rufai commended the crews for the successful missions, and thanked them for their proactive operations,” he stated. Copyright PUNCH.

Boko Haram war: Army recalls soldiers from study leave. -Olusola Fabiyi, Oyetunji Abioye and Jesusegun Alagbe.

Troops can’t be schooling when we’re in a war situation –Brigadier generals Following intensified insurgency attacks across the country, particularly in the North, the Nigerian Army has recalled a large number of its personnel studying in civil institutions (universities and polytechnics) across the country, according to a leaked memo by the Nigerian Army Headquarters, Department of Army Training, Abuja. In the memo dated May 11, the Nigerian Army also suspended the sponsorship of personnel in civil institutions with the exemption of students in the final year. This is happening as the army continues to suffer heavy casualties in its counter-insurgency operations that have seen hundreds of Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists also neutralised by gallant Nigerian troops. In one of the recent attacks, more than 30 soldiers were reportedly killed in April when Islamic State-aligned fighters ambushed a military convoy escorting weapons and overran a base in Mainok, Borno State. A month earlier, about 30 soldiers were reportedly killed in four attacks by Islamist militants in the North-East. On April 1, 2021, five soldiers and two villagers were killed in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State. About 10 soldiers were also killed in the Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State on April 9. On April 26, wherein 40 persons were killed in Anambra, Imo, Kebbi and Rivers states, two soldiers and three policemen were among the casualties. In March 2020, at least 70 soldiers were killed in an ambush by ISWAP terrorists, AFP reported. The insurgents reportedly fired rocket-propelled grenades at a lorry carrying troops as it travelled near Gorgi village in Borno State. The Islamic State West Africa Province faction split from Boko Haram insurgents in 2016 and has focused on attacking troops, raiding bases and laying ambush on military convoys. The decade-long Boko Haram insurgency has killed around 40,000 people and displaced over two million in the North-East, according to the International Crisis Group. The military has also recorded many gains against the insurgents foiling their attempts to take over territories and also neutralising them in their numbers. For instance, the troops sometime in April eliminated at least 40 Boko Haram terrorists in the town of Dikwa in Borno State. Several other members of the terrorist group were reportedly wounded but managed to escape. In another operation in the same month, troops killed at least 21 Boko Haram terrorists in the Geidam region of Yobe State, according to a statement by the Army spokesperson, Brig Gen Mohammed Yerima. Sometime in March, 57 Boko Haram fighters were reportedly killed by soldiers in the Damboa and Gwoza local government areas of Borno State. Most recently, at least nine Boko Haram militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Borno State on Tuesday, Yerima said in a statement, adding that troops of Operation Hadin Kai killed the terrorists as they attempted to attack the outskirts of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, Tuesday. Yerima said the militants tried to advance from the Aldawari axis to attack soft targets in Jiddari Polo but were repelled by the combined troops of the army, police, vigilantes, and hunters. In February, Yerima disclosed that troops cleared Marte, Borno State, and its surrounding areas of terrorists who had laid siege to the region for some days. Yerima said the troops, backed by air cover of the Nigerian Air Force, successfully recovered the town in less than 48 hours. Following the shortage of personnel to fight rising insurgency across the country, Saturday PUNCH learnt that the Nigerian Army had recalled all its personnel studying at various civil institutions except those in the final year. It is however unclear whether the recalled personnel will be deployed for administrative purpose or combat operations in the war front. The memo seen by Saturday PUNCH was signed by Brigadier General I. A Ajose on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, and titled, ‘Exemption of Ex Boys (NMS) from Personnel Affected by Directive on Suspension of NA Sponsorship to Civil Institutions.’ The memo was referenced AHQ DA/G7/230/164 and addressed to the Ministry of Defence, Office of the National Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, and Nigerian Defence Academy. The other army formations the memo was sent to are: National Defence College, Abuja; Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State; Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Lagos; Defence Intelligence Agency, Abuja; Defence Space Administration; Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria; and the headquarters of the Training and Doctrine Command. The memo cited three earlier references – A (AHQ DAPP/G5/220/16, dated March 10, 2021); B (AHQ DAT/G7/230/164, dated March 15, 2021); and C (AHQ DAT/G7/230/164, dated April 28, 2021). “References A-C conveyed directives for the recall of all NA personnel studying in civil institutions as well as the suspension of NA sponsorships, with the exemption of final year students. Consequently, I am directed to respectfully inform you that the directive does not include Ex Boys (NMS). Grateful (sic) treat and acknowledge,” the memo stated. Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, two top military sources, who are brigadier generals, said the development was a result of the insufficient number of army personnel fighting insurgency across the country. The sources, who declared that the country was already at war, said personnel could not be studying in schools while a war was going on. “We are in a war situation, but it seems Nigerians are taking things lightly. This is a war situation, and we have less than 200,000 soldiers in a country of around 200 million population. So we are lacking personnel, and as a matter of fact, we have started recruiting,” one of the military sources said. Read Also Boko Haram donation of Ramadan gifts to Borno, Yobe residents stage-managed –Army One month after, Boko Haram demands N28m for 52 Adamawa abductees Boko Haram scare: National Assembly orders thorough screening of vehicles, persons Asked if the number of recalled soldiers from civil institutions would be significant in the anti-insurgency war, the source responded, “It’s significant and it will make a difference. I can’t tell you the number of soldiers in civil institutions offhand, but they are many. ” “We cannot have a war situation and they are in school. But those in final year are exempted,” he added. The source said the army would cope better if other security agencies, particularly the police, would complement their efforts rather than being attached to politicians and other VIPs. He said, “How do we cope? If the police, Immigration and Customs personnel will do their work, probably we can cope. Everybody is waiting on the soldiers, but where are those who are supposed to complement the army? “Every politician has about five or six policemen attached to them. Is that how we are going to fight a war? Sincerely, this is the only reason for the withdrawal of soldiers from civil institutions.” The source also debunked that there was disaffection between top military personnel and the ex-boys of the Nigerian Military School over the directive issued by the COAS. “If you are a soldier, you are a soldier, and if you are an outgoing soldier, you are an outgoing soldier. If you want to be a soldier, you will join the unit and we will post you. So what is the disaffection there? When you finish the NMS, you can go, nobody will hold you, and if you decide to follow your unit, you can stay,” he said. Another military source, also a brigadier general, said the country was in a state of war and could not but recall personnel in civil schools. He said, “We are in a war situation. The era of an officer gallivanting around the world when we are in a state of war is over. What the military has done is the right thing. People even asked for the recall of retired personnel. That will not and cannot work. You know why? These men are tired. That is why they were asked to go when they either reached the official age or were considered not fit again for the system. “It is equally difficult to integrate them back into the system. Some of them have joined political parties and some of them have openly made their views known about the present government and its tactics. So, for the sake of the system and the nation, it is better to use those still in the force. After all, that is what they signed for.” The source added that even if retired personnel were called upon, there was no means of paying them due to the country’s economic crisis. He said, “Also, on the issue of insurance, how do we handle it if we have to recall old hands? Who will pay their salaries and other emoluments when the country is even broke and cannot meet some of its financial obligations? “Those recalled are aware that they were on mere postings before and could be deployed with or without notice. That is the beauty of the job. I am sure that the concerned men and officers are aware of how the system works.” Due to rising insurgency in the country, the Nigerian Army has in recent times suffered heavy casualties by Boko Haram terrorists who seem to have better firepower. Sunday PUNCH had on September 22, 2019, revealed that military troops deployed to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East were using outdated weapons and equipment, including failing Shilka guns procured during the administration of late Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who was the President of Nigeria between 1979 and 1983. The development, according to top military officers who spoke on condition of anonymity, had exposed Nigerian troops at the battlefront to attacks by the terrorists, especially ISWAP fighters, who are said to have more sophisticated weapons. Military officers noted that insufficient and obsolete weapons were also responsible for the heavy casualties the country had suffered in the anti-insurgency war in recent times, noting that there were times the Shagari-era weapons failed during operations. Sunday PUNCH, on July 12, 2020, had also reported that no fewer than 356 soldiers in the North-East and other theatres of operation applied to the then COAS, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, for voluntary retirement, citing “loss of interest” as their reason for disengagement. Controversy had ensued on March 12 after the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd), alleged that $1bn funds meant to purchase arms to tackle insurgency during the ex-service chiefs’ tenure got missing. The development was over a month after the President accepted the resignations of ex-service chiefs and replaced them with new ones. Monguno, in an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, alleged that neither the funds nor the weapons the ex-service chiefs were meant to buy could be traced. According to him, the President will soon order a probe into the matter. Some days after, the Presidency announced that six of the 12 super Tucano fighter jets earlier ordered by the Federal Government were set to arrive in the country by mid-July 2021, with the remaining six to come in shortly after. Meanwhile, President Buhari on Thursday urged Nigerians to show more understanding on the current security situation in the country. According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President made the appeal while speaking with State House correspondents shortly after observing the Eid prayers, marking the end of one-month-long Ramadan fast, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. PUNCH.

ICYMI: Banks place limits on domiciliary accounts transfers. - Nike Popoola and Temitayo Jaiyeola

Banks have begun to place new limits on transfers domiciliary accounts holders can make from cash their cash lodgements. The limits range from $5,000 to $10,000, according to findings by our correspondents. A circular from one of the banks obtained by one of our correspondents on Friday said, “The maximum limit for foreign currency transfers by cash deposits is now $5,000 per month. “This means that only a maximum of $5,000 monthly will be allowed for transfers if the source of funds is a cash deposit into a domiciliary account. “Cash deposits of foreign currencies other than USD may be paid into domiciliary accounts (subject to an equivalent of $5,000 monthly limit) but will not be allowed for transfer purposes.” It was learnt that this was in accordance with a 2020 circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria. A portion of the circular said, “Ordinary Domiciliary Accounts: Where accounts are funded by electronic/wire transfer, account holders will be allowed unfettered and unrestricted use of these funds for eligible transactions. Where accounts are funded by cash lodgments, existing regulation will continue to apply.” However, a source in another bank told one of our correspondent that the transfer limit was $10,000. Cash lodgement of up to $10,000 cannot be transferred electronically to another account but can only be withdrawn through cash, a source from one of the banks told our correspondent on Friday. According to the source, when huge cash dollar deposit is made, it must also be withdrawn by cash. The source said, “There is no law stopping anybody from lodging more than $5,000 or $10,000 into your account in cash. But what you need to note is that if you lodge more than $10,000 into your account, you cannot transfer that money, you can only withdraw that same cash based on availability. The bank needs to source the money to give it to you in cash.” Scarce foreign exchange earnings had forced the banks and the CBN to adopt a number of policies aimed at preserving limited available foreign currencies. These policies include currency swap with China and the recent naira for dollar incentive for customers that send forex through official channels. PUNCH.

We’ve all failed, stop fighting only Buhari – Yahaya Bello warns Southern Govs. By John Owen Nwachukwu

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has admitted the failure of government across board, warning the Southern Governors against fighting President Muhammadu Buhari or putting all the blames on the Federal Government. Bello spoke while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme, warning his counterparts from the Southern States to be careful of their utterances so as not to heat up the polity. He said, “Let me caution each and every one of us, leaders across board including governors and all of the leaders across Nigeria that we should be careful about the words we use,” Bello warned. “When we are talking of security, unity and national cohesion of Nigeria, as leaders and politicians, we should be careful about the words we use when we are addressing these various topical issues. “When it is titled or when it appears as if you are fighting President Muhammadu Buhari, our father and our President, we are all getting it wrong because we get to where we are today as a result of maladministration of successive administrations. “There have been collective failures across board, so let’s not just blame it alone on the federal government or Mr President.” Recall that Governors from the Southern region on Tuesday met in Asaba, Delta State to proffer solutions to increasing security issues in the country. The Governors, as DAILY POST earlier reported, condemned open grazing and movement of cattle from the Northern region to the South. The governors further called for a national conference to determine national questions bothering on the nature of Nigeria’s federalism and federal character in national appointments, among other issues. On this, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mike Ozekhome, disagreed with the governors, saying it was unnecessary for the country to hold another confab. According to the frontline lawyer, the call made by the Southern governors was unnecessary considering that the recommendation of the one held in 2014 had not been implemented. Ozekhome recalled that the 2014 conference brought together 492 Nigerians drawn from all strata but has not been implemented by the President Muhammadu Buhari government. The lawyer said that even though the governors meant well for the country, there is absolutely no need to converge for another conference. He said instead, the Governors should go back to the 2014 recommendations and they will see that most of the things people are clamouring for are contained in it. Ozekhome also pointed out that 2014 confab document contains the call for part-time legislature, wondering what Nigeria is doing with 306 House of Representatives members and 99 senators.

Soldiers who petitioned Buhari over welfare scheme are fake – Army. By Nsikak Nseyen

The Nigerian Army has reacted to a letter by Non Commissioned Officers (NCO) and Senior Non Commissioned Officers (SNCO) rejecting the proposed Nigerian Army Welfare Housing Scheme (NAWHS) The group had in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari described the proposed Nigerian Army Welfare Housing Scheme as mere fraud. The open letter co-signed by 05NA/57/2084 SGT Yusuf Shetima,04NA/55/0925 CPL James Ibok, 09NA/62/5578 LCPL Danladi Ibrahim,11NA/66/10622 LCPL Afolabi Showumi and 13NA/70/11034 PTE Lucky Dolph, accused the Commissioned Officers of “eating fat” while they starved. ”We write to reject the proposed plan of the Nigerian Army to further increase their tempo in a way of continuous swindling and to put us and our family into persistent suffering of hunger and starvation. ‘The Nigerian Army have devised a means of taking or collecting it back from us the Scarce Skill Allowance (SSA) under the guise of a useless, fraudulent and so called Nigerian Army Welfare Housing Scheme (NAWHS).” But reacting, the Director Army Public Relations Officer, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, said the signatories who claimed to be writing on behalf of NA soldiers are fictitious names and numbers which are non-existent in the Nigerian Army records. According to him, the report was made to disabuse the minds of members of the general public. ”The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to the referenced story being circulated in the social media and the following is our response which is simply to disabuse the minds of members of the general public. ”That the current Chief of Army Staff met an Army Housing Scheme in the pipeline and constituted a Committee to understudy its feasibility and desirability. Questionnaire was subsequently designed by the Committee for soldiers to bare their minds on the scheme and to ascertain those who are interested in it. It was still at this stage of administering the questionnaire to soldiers that agent provocateurs seized the moment to demonize the scheme with toxic narratives. ”Members of the Nigerian Army have established mechanisms of responding to administrative issues and resort to social media is not one of them. ”Any personnel caught using social media to engage the authorities will be severely dealt with. It is however curious that a scheme meant to benefit soldiers and families could be so fragrantly twisted in the social media user names and numbers that are alien to the Nigerian Army.”

(EXCLUSIVE) Secession: If you help destroy Nigeria, you’ll find another audience, El-Rufai tells media (2) - By ThePointNG

How was the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA) able to attract over N2billion investment despite COVID-19 and the security challenges in the headlines everyday? When we came into office, we had a very clear vision to re-establish Kaduna State as the industrial heartland of Northern Nigeria, revive all the moribund industries and attract investments to create jobs. Eighty-nine per cent of the population of our state is below the age of 35. It’s a young state, and the only way we can sleep with our eyes closed is to create jobs rapidly. We know that the government cannot create all the jobs, so the only way to create the number of jobs that we think will reduce the unemployment levels is to have a very welcoming environment for investors. We were assisted by the United Kingdom government. Her Majesty’s government gave us consultants who helped us brainstorm and establish the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA). KADIPA became like a one-stop-shop for all investors. You want to set up an industry in Kaduna; you go to KADIPA. They will get you the land, the approvals and all the licences you require. They will interphase with the Federal Government, when needed, to get you any concessions, and so on. You’re an investor, we don’t want you to do anything, just bring your money, we’ll do the rest. So, that is what KADIPA has been doing, and you know there is no advertising as effective as the word of mouth. By the time one or two companies came to Kaduna and saw how our investment promotion agency worked, how easy it was to get land, how communities were welcoming and how the Government stands up behind every investor, facilitating the investments, encouraging them, and getting concessions, when needed, they started trooping in. That was how KADIPA succeeded to a large extent. Since we came into office, we have held a total of five investment summits. We have held one summit every year from 2016 till date. We held the last summit virtually as a result of the lockdown caused by Covid-19, but we still held it. Our investment promotion agency has a board of very high profile people. The First Vice-Chairman of the Board is John Coumantaros, Chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria. He helped in no small way in attracting American investors to Kaduna State. ‘A POLITICAL UNDERSTANDING IS AN UNDERSTANDING AND SHOULD BE HONOURED. THIS IS WHY I SAY AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF PRESIDENT BUHARI, THE PRESIDENCY SHOULD GO SOUTH’ The Second Vice Chairman is HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, who is a global citizen, with sound reputation in banking, financial and investment circles. It is people like that, of that kind of quality, that drive the activities of KADIPA. The Board is chaired by the Deputy Governor of the state, because anything that needs to be done can be done by the Deputy Governor because she only reports to me as Governor. From inception, KADIPA had a good team, very young people that are hungry to make a point, and they have done very well, we are very proud of them. When we came into office in 2015, the last sub-national survey for ease of doing business in Nigeria placed Kaduna State as Number 24 on the ease of doing business ranking. Within four years, with the cooperation of other agencies, KADIPA moved Kaduna from Number 24 to Number One. So, Kaduna, from 2018, has been the easiest state to do business in the entire country. And this is ranking by the World Bank; you cannot bribe your way to get that kind of ranking. You can only get the ranking by doing the right things. And the international investment environment has rewarded us by having a lot of investments in Kaduna State. The World Bank and all the bilateral and multilateral donors have given us large amounts of money, credits and loans because of the reforms that we have done and also because of the very clear and visible progress that we have made in many areas. We share our experience with any state that cares, and many states have sent delegations to Kaduna to see how KADIPA is functioning and we open up our books, because we want every state in Nigeria to be as easy to do business in as it is today in Kaduna. We share our experiences, our KADIPA laws, our operating guidelines, our strategic development plan, our infrastructure plan. Everything we are doing, we open up for other states, if they are interested, because if all the states move up, then Nigeria moves up. What is your advice for those who are agitating for self-determination? Look, it is okay to ask for self-determination, but you must ask yourself: what are you going to do with it? This country is facing challenges and there are lots of frustrations about many things. Here, insecurity is a major problem for us. Every part of the country is facing one challenge or another, but in my view, the solution is not to say that you want your own little ethnic enclave. The most successful countries today are the big countries, not the small ones. The United States of America is big, China is big, India is big. There are some very small successful countries like Singapore, which is a city-state with a population smaller than my extended family; or a tiny African country like Rwanda, which is about the size of Kaduna State in terms of population. But there is advantage in size. Why did many European Countries form the European Union (EU)? The EU is like a federation. If you consider France, Germany, Spain and others, they are like states within the EU. Why did they do that? It is so that they will have a large internal market of 350 million consumers. Here we are in Nigeria, by some accident of providence, we have a market of 200 million. Why do you want to break it up into smaller markets? If you have your Oduduwa Republic and you produce all those Cadbury products and Nestle in Lagos, who do you sell it to? Cadbury’s biggest markets are Kano, Kaduna states in Nigeria, not Lagos. We consume more of Cadbury products than Lagos, even though Lagos may have a larger population. So, there is advantage in size; there is advantage in diversity. Some of the most unstable countries in the world are homogenous countries. Somalia operated for nearly 30 years without a government, but Somalis are one ethnic group, who speak the same language. They are all Muslims, and they are all Sunni Muslims. They don’t even have Shia Muslims, but they did not have a government for 30 years. Why? If homogeneity is what will bring progress, peace and stability, why did Somalia go through what it went through? Let us look at countries that have broken up recently. Let’s take Sudan. Sudan has broken up into Sudan and South Sudan. Since South Sudan became a separate country, have they had peace? Have they had stability? No. So, if you think your Oduduwa Republic will be quiet, peaceful, and so on, may be you should go to South Sudan and ask what happened. Going beyond all that, if you check and look at the people that are shouting, they are shouting out of frustration because they are unable to advance their interest on a democratic platform. Those that are saying they are speaking for Yorubas, which mandate do they have? Who elected them? Many of them cannot get votes even in their households. We know them. But they will come out and speak for Yoruba people. Here, we have them. Northern Elders this; Northern Elders that. They come out, they issue statements on behalf of all of us. Meanwhile, we know that in their polling units, they supported PDP and we defeated them, in their own polling units, outside their homes. Their own people have rejected them but newspapers give them platforms to say they are Northern elders. Elders of whom? I was elected to be Governor of Kaduna State, let anyone of them come out and contest with me if he wants to have the mandate of the people of Kaduna to speak for them. Nnamdi Kanu, who is he speaking for? Who elected him? These are people that lack the political legitimacy but are getting traction because we have a media that is largely insensitive to the realities of the 21st Century. It is the media that gives oxygen to these separatists who have no legitimacy, no basis, and are essentially frustrated people that cannot compete on a level playing field of democratic platforms. If you believe that you have the support of the South West states to form Oduduwa Republic, you have representatives in the National Assembly. Why are they not making any moves to call for a referendum to merge states and all that? There are provisions in the Constitution to do that. Why are your representatives in the National Assembly? We have our representatives too. Let’s sit down and talk about it. You cannot elevate thugs to national prominence just because you want to sell newspapers. It is important for people to take a back seat and reflect deeply on this. Look at successful countries; are they the ones that are of the single ethnic group? No. Rwanda went through genocide. Tutsis and Hutus speak the same language, many people don’t know that. They are the same people. It was the Belgians that created the two classes of Hutus and Tutsis. But what happened during the genocide? People speaking the same language, same origin, same ethnic stock, killed 800,000 of one another within days. Why? The media, the radio, was the main medium used to mobilise people against each other. And we are seeing the same thing happening in Nigeria, using various media platforms, mobilising people against each other, people that have lived together in peace for years, for decades, some for hundreds of years. What the people doing this don’t know is when it will consume them. My advice to them is: by all means, seek for self determination, but do not be surprised at what happens if God answers your prayers and you get it. Don’t be surprised. I think the media should understand that there can only be a national media if there is a country. If you help to destroy the country, you will have to find another audience to sell your stories to and get advert revenue. This is my view. What legacy do you want to leave in Kaduna State? I have not really thought very much about legacy. The funny thing about legacy is that you don’t really define it accurately. You may think that something is really important, but at the end of the day, people may think that something else is important. I always tell the story of what I thought was the most important thing I did in Abuja, and what turned out to be the most enduring was not what I thought. Kaduna was ahead of every part of Northern Nigeria at a point, but over the years, we’ve been left behind. And what we’ve been trying to do in the last six years with my team is playing catch up, expanding opportunities for people without regard to their ethnicity or religion. We’ve been levelling the playing field, ensuring that the poorest and the most vulnerable get the same opportunities, as everyone else, to climb the social ladder. So, we have been investing strongly in education, particularly public education. We have been investing in healthcare because we were losing too many babies and mothers during childbirth. We have been reforming the public service to make it a public service, not government of kings looking down on the people as if they are their masters when it is the other way round. We have been reforming the public service by bringing in younger and smarter ICT compliant people into the government and easing out the old guys, the dead woods who cannot adapt to the 21st Century. ‘IF YOU CHECK AND LOOK AT THE PEOPLE THAT ARE SHOUTING, THEY ARE SHOUTING OUT OF FRUSTRATION BECAUSE THEY ARE UNABLE TO ADVANCE THEIR INTEREST ON A DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. THOSE THAT ARE SPEAKING FOR YORUBAS, WHICH MANDATE DO THEY HAVE? WHO ELECTED THEM? MANY OF THEM CANNOT GET VOTES EVEN IN THEIR HOUSEHOLDS. WE KNOW THEM’ We have tried to improve teacher quality; we have sacked incompetent teachers, we have hired tens of thousands of competent teachers. Those are the things that are close to our hearts, but the results may take 30 years to show. So, for us, as a team, this is our major legacy – institutional reforms in education, in health care, in governance. Insecurity is a major issue. What has been done so far? Yes, security, Kaduna State has suffered more than most states in the north, the ethno-religious crisis, divisions and so on. But we are healing that. We are using a combination of carrot and stick to heal that. Southern Kaduna is quiet to a large extent. It has never been quieter for quite a while, largely due to measures that we have taken. We are facing banditry and kidnapping but we are dealing with those issues too. So, these are the things that we think are important, but people consider roads more important because they see them, but they don’t see the institutional reforms and the impact of the institutional reforms on the long-term health of the state. They don’t see what we are doing in attracting investments because it is not that apparent. People are getting jobs and so on, but when you build a road, it is more visible. However, what we are doing in infrastructure is getting us more attention and more commendation than all the hard work we did in reforming the governance of the state that led to the inflow of resources that are now being used to fund the infrastructure. So, legacy is very difficult to define because we have our own priorities, but the people may end up thinking it is something else. My hope is that on May 29, 2023, I will leave behind a state that is more united, more inclusive, more integrated, less divisive, less tied to ethnic and religious paradigms. I think even now, we know that we have made progress in that direction. But two years from now, we would have to assess that. You mentioned in the beginning that you lost your father at a very young age. Can you share one thing you would always remember about him? He always encouraged me to take my studies seriously. Even on his death bed, when we last saw him, what he said to me was, ‘the key to your success in life is to take your education seriously. Don’t joke with your education.’ Less than an hour later, he was dead. So, I never forgot that. That is why, for me, education is everything. The opportunities I got as an eight-year-old orphan; the opportunities I got attending a public school and then going to Barewa College, though I was the son of nobody, and getting here, were all as a result of the vision of some people to ensure that everyone’s child got decent education. This is why, for me, the most important thing I had to do, as Governor of Kaduna State, was to ensure that public education is restored to its previous quality as much as possible. That was why when people told me that if I dared to test teachers, I would lose election as (Governor Kayode) Fayemi did in Ekiti State, I said I would rather lose elections and have good teachers so that young orphans like me would have the same opportunities that I had, than for me to have a second term in office. So, we damned the consequences, we did what we did, we did the tests, fired 22,000 of them and we still got re-elected. Politicians don’t understand that the ordinary people are smarter than they think. The ordinary people knew what we were doing by sacking those bad teachers. They knew that we were working for them, that we were putting everything on the line for them, and they came out strongly to re-elect us. Education is very important; it is the key to everything. It is the key to giving people equal opportunities. It is our most important priority as a government, but the results will take 30 years. That is why many politicians ignore education; there are no immediate results to show for their investing in education. It takes 30 years before you get to see the results. But here in Kaduna, we take a long-term view. We’ll invest today; we’ll do whatever we can today because we want to secure the future of the state 30 years from now. If you become the President of Nigeria today, what would be your first assignment? It is a completely speculative question and I have not thought about it. I have never thought about being President of Nigeria. And as I said, if you want to run for President of Nigeria, you need to plan. You have to prepare psychologically, intellectually, emotionally and financially. There are many dimensions to it. I tell you, anyone that answers that question has either thought of running for president for a long time, or is foolish, because he will just tell you what comes to his mind. The presidency of Nigeria, as I said, is a very very big deal and you don’t go into it without very deep reflection.

(EXCLUSIVE) Secession: If you help destroy Nigeria, you’ll find another audience, El-Rufai tells media - By ThePointNG

… says ‘there can only be a national media if there’s a country’ Getting Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to grant an interview was a herculean task. As a leader who is constantly charting new ways of advancing his state in spite of many challenges, there would hardly be such luxury of time for a tell-all exclusive chat. After four days of waiting for the right window in Kaduna, the Governor spoke with the Editor-in-Chief of The Point Newspaper, YEMI KOLAPO. The narration of what he has been through in the course of public service and his uncommon explanation of the peculiarity of Nigeria’s problems were, indeed, worth the wait. Excerpts: You are one of the most talked about Nigerian leaders, and you have maintained this profile for years. How have you been able to sustain relevance despite the murky waters of politics? I started my public service career in 1998 as an Adviser to General Abdulsalami Abubakar. I left after that administration. Then President Olusegun Obasanjo brought me back as Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and then Minister. After that, I left. I was exiled for 23 months. I was out of the system, I was out of the country; I was persecuted. There were all kinds of fake news and publications against me. Between 2007 and 2015, I was not in government. So I don’t know what you mean by staying relevant… Yes, you were not in Government. But you still had a very strong voice, still very prominent in public discourse… Well, you would know that, as a journalist, that I remained relevant. But I wanted to correct an impression because when people talk about relevance, they talk about continuity in government. I was out of government for eight years, and it was during that time that I met Pastor Tunde Bakare and became very close to him. Pastor Bakare pulled me into CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) when he became General Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in 2011. That was when I got into partisan politics properly. Coming back to your question, I am who I am. I was brought up in a particular way. I was taught to be honest with everyone and to myself, and to state my views clearly and firmly. I don’t change my views unless I am presented with superior logic. I don’t respond to sentiments, I don’t respond to threats or blackmail. You have to convince me with superior logic before I change my position on anything. That is the way I am. It is the way God made me. That’s the way my parents brought me up. And that’s what my education and experience inculcated in me. I can’t change. I wish I could be less frank in interacting with people or be more political, but I am not designed that way. I am just who I am; what you see is what you get, and I am quite comfortable with that. The fact that you believe that I have been relevant all through this period means that you don’t lose anything by saying what you believe to be right and standing by it. At what point while growing up did you convince yourself that you would join politics? Or did you find yourself in this terrain by accident? I never considered being in politics or public service when I was growing up. By the time I got to the University, I was very clear in my mind that I was going to study a professional course, pursue a private sector career, make a lot of money and retire at the age of 40. That was my life plan. I graduated at 20 and I thought that in 20 years, I would have made enough money as a Quantity Surveyor to retire, which would have been in the year 2000. But accidents happened. When General Sanni Abacha died, I was invited to serve in General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s transitional government as an Adviser. In the course of that assignment, I became more interested in public service. During the handing over, I met the President-elect, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, as he then was. He called me aside and said he would like to work with me when he assumed office. And that is how it has been. I’ve been on that public service track since then. While growing up, I never thought that I would be in public service, not even when I was in the University. Politics was totally out of it! Everyone told me that I would never be a successful politician. I was too blunt; I held strong views. That’s not how to play politics. But here I am, I have been both public servant and politician, and I have been elected twice as Governor of Kaduna State. So, you could even say that I have been successful as a politician. But that was not my life plan and I still don’t think I am a good politician because I am still too blunt. But that is how I am and it is the only way I sleep well at night. ‘I WAS EXILED FOR 23 MONTHS. I WAS OUT OF THE SYSTEM, I WAS OUT OF THE COUNTRY; I WAS PERSECUTED. THERE WERE ALL KINDS OF FAKE NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS AGAINST ME’ During your tenure as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, were there experiences that made you feel you were not designed for government job? No. I don’t recall any such experience. But I know that once in a while, you face challenges and experience disappointments in the system or human nature to the point of saying, ‘what am I doing here?’ That is part of everyone’s life experience. The moment I got into public service from 1998/99, I realised that public service was my true calling. I had spent the better part of my life, then, thinking that I was going to remain in the private sector, make a lot of money and so on. And I was doing pretty well as a Quantity Surveyor; there were not many of us in the country at the time. I was co-founder of one of the leading Quantity Surveying firms in Nigeria at the time. So, we were doing pretty well. ‘THE MEDIA SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THERE CAN ONLY BE A NATIONAL MEDIA IF THERE IS A COUNTRY. IF YOU HELP TO DESTROY THE COUNTRY, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER AUDIENCE TO SELL YOUR STORIES TO AND GET ADVERT REVENUE. THIS IS MY VIEW’ I was comfortable, I had money, but I never got the kind of satisfaction, as a private sector person, that I got in public service. Public Service gives you the opportunity to literally positively transform the lives of millions, which you cannot do in the private sector unless you have the scale of wealth of Aliko Dangote or Bill Gates and the likes. So, I realised that what I really enjoy doing is improving the conditions of others that are less fortunate than I am. And the only way you can do so, effectively, is through public service. So, from that day on, I never regretted. Yes, during the years of exile, I often asked myself: is this what I deserve after what I had done in Abuja? Do I deserve exile? Do I deserve to be separated from my family? Do I deserve my wives being stopped at airports or my house invaded by the Government of (late) Umaru Yar’Adua and Jonathan? What did I do wrong? I served Nigeria to the best of my ability, I did not take a penny belonging to anyone; I thought I made a positive contribution. Is this how I would be repaid? I asked myself those questions. But even when I felt down and thought like that, I would go out, and on the plane, I would meet someone who would walk up to me and say ‘thank you for the work you did in Abuja’. And that would clear all the misgivings. Or some people would say ‘thank you, when you were minister was the only time I got a plot of land without bribing anybody. When you get that kind of feedback, the few moments of depression and disappointment get washed away. I think anyone that has been in the public service would have experienced what I experienced. You will be suspected, accused and persecuted as I was, but at the end of the day, when you look at the totality of what you’ve done, the lives you have changed for the better, you will conclude that it is worth it. I have been in public service since 1998, almost continuously, including the years of exile; I was still very active as a public intellectual in the opposition. I don’t regret it, I think it is well worth it. Public service is worth doing and worth the sacrifice it requires. It is worth the unhappy moments and sleepless nights that come with it because that is the only way to improve the society on a significant scale. What would say prepared you for leadership from childhood? It is a combination of many things. I lost my father when I was eight years old, but because the northern regional government at the time had free education system, I went to school, I went to public schools; I never went to a private school. I didn’t know what a nursery school was. I didn’t have that privilege. I went to a village school and when my father died, I was fostered to my uncle in Kaduna and I went through school here in Kaduna and Zaria – Ahmadu Bello University. The education I got laid the foundation for me to be whatever I have turned out to be. The upbringing I got, of discipline, of sacrifice and resilience, also contributed. I took my studies very seriously and was quite successful as a student and graduated at the age of 20. I was one of the youngest graduates at that time. ‘I HAVE NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT BEING PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA. AND AS I SAID, IF YOU WANT TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA, YOU NEED TO PLAN. YOU HAVE TO PREPARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY, INTELLECTUALLY, EMOTIONALLY AND FINANCIALLY. THERE ARE MANY DIMENSIONS TO IT’ I did my National Youth Service in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and came back to work here in Kaduna. All through the time I was working, I never thought of leadership, I just wanted to make a little money, buy my own house, my own car and be comfortable; and if I get rich enough, I buy a generator for my house in case NEPA doesn’t work. That was the thinking at the time for many of us that came out of university. So I would not say there was any conscious effort to prepare one for leadership. I never even contemplated it. Of course, I went to Barewa College, which produced five of Nigeria’s presidents, 20 governors and several ministers. We have a very strong Old Boys’ Association and we were constantly reminded, even as teenagers then, that this was a school that produced leaders, ‘you guys are going to be the leaders of the north and Nigeria, you have to be responsible, you must be disciplined and inclusive.’ This was because Barewa College was like a Federal Government College. We had students from the former South Eastern States, Cross River State, Kwara State, Oyo State; we had people from across Nigeria. So, from childhood, we understood that Nigeria was diverse and that we were all the same. We ate in the same places, played together. Some of my most enduring friendships started at Barewa College. At the back of our minds, we all thought that we were trained to be leaders. In Barewa, we were told that we should make a very clear choice very early in life. ‘If you want to be rich, choose the path of the private sector; if you want to serve people, but not be rich, just comfortable, join the Army or join the public service.’ Barewa College had a very strong cadet corps that encouraged people to go into the Armed Forces and the Police or Public Service, if you are interested in public service. That’s why the first 20 officers commissioned into the Nigerian Army had five Barewa Old Boys. But remember, public service is not where you make money. I made up my mind for the private sector rather than the public service. Of course, I was too short to be accepted in the cadet corps, so joining the Army was not an option. When you add up all this, one may not be aware of it, but perhaps you were being unconsciously prepared for leadership. But I didn’t think about it at the time. It was not until I was in my mid-thirties that I realised that competent government must be in place for society to function and even for the private sector to flourish. You need competent people in public service to make the private sector operate successfully. That was when I decided that if I had any opportunity in public service, I would take it. Earlier, I had rejected overtures. I was to be Commissioner for Education in this state in 1991. I was approached but I rejected it because I felt that my life should be in the private sector. I did not think the public sector was that important. However, the fact that many of us found ourselves in this (public service) and we were not prepared for it, is one of the reasons, for instance, here in Kaduna State, we have a mentoring programme, not only within the government, but with a fellowship programme called Kashim Ibrahim Fellows Program. We bring in 16 young Nigerians who are selected competitively. We usually get 3,000 applications and we pick 16. We bring them to work for one year with the Kaduna State Government. Through the period, they go through leadership seminars, mentoring and so on. It was something I missed but I felt it was a necessary part of deliberately preparing young people for future leadership. We take people from the age of 25 to 35; they must have University degrees. They apply, write essays, and the best 16 are picked every year. I hold the view that leaders should not emerge by accident. Successful countries deliberately prepare young people for leadership; they train them, they identify the best and brightest and put them on the path of leadership. If you go to the United Kingdom, you will find that a disproportionate percentage of UK Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers are Oxbridge and LSE Graduates. Three universities produce most of the ministers as well as Prime Ministers. If you go to the United States, three universities – Harvard, Yale and Princeton – produce a disproportionate number of United States’ Presidents because they identify people with that potential and deliberately put them through the best schools in order to give them the best exposure and training to prepare them for leadership. If you go to Singapore, it is the same. If you look at the Singaporean Executive Council, their cabinet, everyone there is brilliant, and you could see the level of preparation. All of them have gone to the Harvard Kennedy School, Oxford or Cambridge. You cannot run away from it. No country can make progress unless its best and brightest are in public service. This means there must be deliberate efforts towards this too, in Nigeria… In our country, we have to be very deliberate about it and this is why we started this program – the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship program. Within the government, we deliberately pick young people and bring them in as Special Assistants. When they prove themselves, we elevate them to either Special Advisers or even give them an agency to run, so that they learn. They will definitely make mistakes, but we correct and guide them. Those who do even better, we move to Commissioner level, which is the highest political position you can achieve without being elected. In Kaduna State, we have many of such young people who joined us as Special Assistants and today, they are in the cabinet as Commissioners. There are also people that joined as Special Assistants and now, they are running agencies. They are young people in their mid-thirties and mid-forties, and we hope that they will be the next generation of leaders for Kaduna. They will be the next set of people that will one day be governors, ministers and so on. These 16 people are not all from Kaduna State. They are from all the states of the federation, but we get them to live together for one year in the same hotel, they interact for one year, and over that time, they understand that Nigeria is pretty much the same. The level of their ethnic or religious affiliation gives way to a nationalistic ideal of where Nigeria should be. During their one-year programme, they not only do seminars about leadership, but they also study some countries that have done well like China, Singapore, Japan, Botswana, Rwanda and India. How did they do it? What lessons can we learn from them? What are we doing wrong? So that we plant seeds in their minds to begin to think of how they would address Nigeria’s problem when their time comes. We encourage them to join the public service. Some of them come from the private sector, and after that one year, they switch, because we show them that it is important to have a very effective and efficient public service. That is the only way that the private sector will also thrive. There is no other way. You spoke about Pastor Tunde Bakare earlier. He has consistently spoken about his ‘Number 16’ agenda. Do you believe in his aspiration? I believe a lot in Pastor Bakare and I hold the view that he is one of the most forthright and most progressive Nigerians I have met. I have known him for about 11 or 12 years. He is a committed patriot. He is someone who has a great vision for Nigeria, and if given the opportunity, will work till the point of death to make Nigeria greater. So, I have great belief in him and I think that he is gifted in many ways, not just in his professional calling of being a pastor. As a human being, he is really the best of the best. If Pastor Bakare will run for President of Nigeria tomorrow, he knows he has my support, absolutely, because I believe in his ideals, I believe in his vision for a united, progressive and functioning Nigeria. We share that passion together and we’ve discussed this for so long. ‘I HAVE KNOWN HIM (PASTOR BAKARE) FOR ABOUT 11 OR 12 YEARS…HE IS SOMEONE WHO HAS A GREAT VISION FOR NIGERIA, AND IF GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY, WILL WORK TILL THE POINT OF DEATH TO MAKE NIGERIA GREATER’ It is that passion that inspired President Muhammadu Buhari to choose him as his running mate in 2011. We were active in the civil society; we were together in the Save Nigeria Group and we met a couple of times with General Buhari then. We didn’t think that we were in politics; we had great respect for General Buhari. Of course, everyone knows what he (Gen. Buhari) did for this country, the circumstances in which he was removed, so we all had great respect for him and his aspiration. We were shocked when he called Pastor Bakare and said, ‘you should be my running mate.’ It was totally unexpected and it was shocking to Pastor Bakare. A week earlier, he (Pastor Bakare) was encouraging me to pick the ticket of the Labour Party and run for President, and I told him that I wasn’t interested, I had issues on my agenda that were more important than running for President. And you know, for a non-politician, running for President is easy to say, but as someone who has been on the corridors of power for a while, I know that it is a big deal to run for President. It is not something you will wake up and make a decision on. It is something that takes a lot of preparation, psychologically, emotionally, financially. There is so much to do if you are running for president such that it is not something that you can decide to do in one month or three months. But Pastor Bakare was so frustrated by what he saw as the incompetence of the Federal Government of the time that he thought I should run. But I knew it was just a waste of time to run for President without adequate preparation, and without a strong party structure, among others. So, I told him that it would not work. After about a week, General Buhari, as he was called then, said ‘Pastor, I want you to be my running mate. I have thought about this, it is not a decision that I took lightly’. And of course, Pastor called us and said this was what Buhari said, and that he could not accept because he was not a politician. I said ‘Pastor, a few days ago, you were asking me to take Labour Party ticket and run for President. Now, you have a chance to be Vice President, a heart beat away from the Presidency, on the platform of a major party, not a shelf party. You know there are major parties in Nigeria and there are parties that are shelf parties because they just register to negotiate. At the time, there was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and may be Labour Party, which had a Governor in Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko. I said, ‘how can you reject it, you cannot, it’s public service, you’ve been called to serve, you can’t reject’. You’re just scaling up your service to God by serving humanity, it’s the same thing. Pastoring is serving God by serving humanity. Leadership at that level is also serving God by serving humanity. I said ‘don’t worry about not being a politician. Buhari is a politician, he has a party platform, and the party structure will do the rest of the work. Your job is to go there and assist him. You cannot say No’. That was how we worked together and he (Bakare) gave a condition that we had to go with him to CPC, myself and Jimi Lawal. That was how we got into CPC and started working with Gen. Buhari. The 2011 election went and they said we lost. Immediately after the tribunal process, I went to Gen. Buhari and said ‘2011 election is done and concluded, now, let us plan for the next election’ because these things require planning. If you want to run for President, you have to start planning, at least, two years to the time. You have to start building the network; you have to do the outreaches; you have to develop what you want to do if you become President, and start working on it. It’s hard work, and that would only even move an inch if you have a strong party platform. I felt very strongly that CPC needed to merge with other parties so that we could form that strong platform, otherwise the PDP would decimate all the parties one after the other. So, that was how we started working, and two years later, that became the APC and here we are. I don’t know if Pastor Bakare is still running for President, but if he is, of course, I will support him because I know he means well and I know he will do a decent job. Your name features prominently when stakeholders discuss the race for 2023 Presidency. You have said if Pastor Bakare wants to run, you will support him. If your party decides to give you the ticket, what happens? (Laughs) The party does not give tickets, you have to go through primaries and so on. Seriously, my name being mentioned with regard to presidential aspiration has been on since 2006, since I was running the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. People were speculating that the then President Olusegun Obasanjo was preparing to hand over to me. It was part of the reasons I was exiled. Late President Yar’adua was told, according to those around him, that Obasanjo shortlisted two names to succeed him – Yar’Adua’s name and mine. It was totally false. I was never on any shortlist but my closeness to President Obasanjo, while we were in Government, gave people the impression that I was on that shorlist. President Obasanjo is a pragmatic person that knows you cannot pick a total non-politician out of nowhere and impose him on a political system. He knew that at that point, I was not interested in politics. I was not attending PDP meetings; I had nothing to do with the party. Even with Obasanjo’s strong character, it was not possible to impose a complete outsider, which I was, at the time, politically speaking, on the party. So, I was never on any shortlist, any way, it didn’t matter. But Yar’adua believed that, and he thought that I was a threat, and all the hullabaloo, lies and persecution that got me exiled for 23 months were as a result of that. So, I have suffered from this feeling that I am a potential presidential candidate. I returned from exile before Yar’adua’s death. Jonathan took over after Yar’adua’s death. Jonathan was a close, personal friend. We’ve been friends since he was deputy governor before he even became Governor of Bayelsa State. So, we know each other very well and we had an excellent relationship. But Jonathan was convinced by his own circle too that I was a threat, and that if he was going for a second term of office, he had to take me out of the race, and so, Jonathan continued the persecution that Yar’adua started. He totally disregarded our years of friendship and closeness. In politics, they say, there are no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. So, I went through that under Jonathan. Even when I went to the CPC with Pastor Bakare, many people around General Buhari were telling him that I came because I’m very ambitious; that I was waiting for him to go, then I would run for President. So, the story about El-Rufai and presidency has been on forever. It’s a story that is about 15 or 16 years old, but I don’t care about it. It is said that for a politician, even bad publicity is good, for your name to be in the minds of the people all the time. But, you know, I am not the typical politician; I really just want to do my job as the Governor of Kaduna State as well as I can. The people of Kaduna have invested a lot of confidence in me; they expect a lot from me and I am trying my best not to let them down. So, how have you been able to focus on this? So far, it has been okay. I have a great team and we are working hard. That is all that matters to me. I know that no matter how much I say that I am not interested in running for any office when I leave office in 2023; no matter how many times I say what bothers me the most is to have a worthy and credible successor in Kaduna that will do 10 times what I have been able to do and continue in the direction of the reforms we have started, nobody believes me. This is because politicians pretend that they are not interested in something, when really, they are. Our party has not taken any position on the Presidency in 2023. It’s too early. We have not decided on zoning, for instance, even though I have come out to state my position very clearly regarding the advantages of zoning and the disadvantages. The disadvantage is that picking the leader of a country based on where he comes from is a stupid idea. No country does it and has made progress. That is the fact, and I believe that strongly. If you look at my team, you would not see everyone from my village. I try to collect every Nigerian that can get the job done, because at the end of the day, the 10 million people that live in Kaduna will get the benefit. They don’t care whether who does it is from the moon or the sky; they want to see results. Many states don’t employ non-indigenes, but we are not like that. Kaduna is a mini-Nigeria and we are trying to get results, not please any interest. On the other hand, this country has a political tradition of rotating power between North and South. I may not agree with it for the reasons that I gave. I have not seen any country, in the last 50 years, that has made progress by picking leaders based on geography, ethnicity or religion. However, a political understanding is an understanding and should be honoured. And this is why I say that after eight years of President Buhari, the presidency should go south. That is the ideal situation. We have to honour that agreement until the country reaches a point where it realises that it is a stupid way of picking leaders. You should just pick those that will solve your problems even if they are from the moon. This is what countries that have made progress have done. The party is yet to take a decision on that, and then, political parties don’t give tickets, they give you the platform to compete for a ticket. There are many people in the APC who have already shown interest in running for the office and I am not one of them. But people keep mentioning my name and they can continue to do so, there is nothing I can do about that. It doesn’t even matter what I tell them because if I deny it, they don’t believe me anymore. But I believe that in about a year from now, everything will be clear to everyone what everyone’s intention is. So, I don’t bother about it. I have been associated with running for President, as I said, since 2005, 2006, about 15 years. I’ve suffered for this, I’ve even been exiled for it and Jonathan tried to put me in prison for it. To be continued…