The Plateau State chapter of the APC seems to be enmeshed in crisis, especially with the recent news of an alleged plan and threat to suspend you and some of the party’s stakeholders. What’s amiss?
The Plateau State chapter of the APC is in turmoil today because of what I’ll describe as the politics of exclusion, the politics of family and friends. You have a situation whereby, over the years, the then ruling party and government deliberately excluded some critical stakeholders like us from the party’s major activities and decision making. Most of us were not carried along in the affairs of the party, we were given the leper’s treatment and relegated to the background for reasons best known to them.
Prior to the general elections, for instance, to the best of my knowledge, no caucus meeting was ever held. On the few occasions that party meetings were held, usually in Government House, it was only for state government appointees to be given strict marching orders on whatever the government wanted.
Throughout the four years that I was elected to the House of Representatives, not once was any caucus meeting of the party ever held. Even right now, about four months now since the party’s depletion and comprehensive losses in the 2023 elections, unsurprisingly, nobody has called us, being critical stakeholders, to a meeting in order to do a post-mortem or an appraisal of the situation to chart the way forward. While we have been waiting expectantly for such a meeting to be called, there is no such initiative, we are faced with a situation that I’ll describe as an uneasy silence of the graveyard.
The recent incident that is threatening to further throw the party into deeper irredeemable crisis is the plan by the party’s leadership in the state to suspend some prominent stakeholders in the state from the party. The targeted stakeholders are those who went and paid a solidarity visit to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen George Akume, following his appointment by the President.
They include, ex-Gov Joshua Dariye, Chief Amos Gizo, Dame Pauline Tallen, Sen Hezekiah Dimka, Sen Nora Daduut, Rep. Alphonsus Komsol, Rep. Lumumba Adeh, Alh Dasuki Nakande, Comptroller Victor Dimka, Chief Danyaro Sarpiya, among others.
For God’s sake, Sen Akume is one of our own, from the North Central and the defunct Benue-Plateau State. When he was appointed, we expected the state chapter of the party to immediately congratulate him and arrange for the state’s APC stakeholders to pay him a solidarity visit but there was no such move. As such, some of us decided to do the needful by paying Akume the solidarity visit, which triggered the latest round of turmoil within the state chapter of the APC. Their grievance is that the person who they wanted to be appointed SGF lost out to Akume. So, immediately after the news and photos of our visit went viral, we started receiving all manner of attack and threat from our opponents within the party.
What do you think is the solution to this worsening crisis and impending doom hovering over the APC state chapter in your state?
The solution to the party’s crisis is for the immediate past Governor of the state, who is still the leader of the party in the state, to summon a meeting of critical stakeholders. This will enable us to do some critical and candid stock taking, to look at our lapses, know what went wrong with a view to learning lessons, making corrections, ironing out ourdifferences and rebuilding the party.
No matter what happened, we have to meet and jaw jaw in order to resolve our differences. Other states have done their reconciliations but the party leadership in Plateau State seems to be asleep. It would surprise you to know that while I was still serving as the House of Representatives member representing the sitting governor’s Federal Constituency, at some point, for over six months, he stopped picking my calls, I tried to see him to no avail.
We are politicians, we cannot fold our hands and watch the APC crash permanently in Plateau State. We are President Tinubu’s die-hard supporters, we have to do everything possible within our means to bring back the party to galvanize support for him down to the grassroots level in our state.
You are said to be one of the few politicians from Plateau State, who are trusted allies of President Bola Tinubu. How true is this?
Absolutely. I’ve known the President for almost twenty years now, ever since he was the Governor of Lagos State. My first encounter with him and what he did amazed me so much that I vowed to be his disciple forever. It was during the arrest and detention of Rt Hon Simon Lalong, the then Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly and immediate past Governor of the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Former Gov Joshua Dariye had dispatched me and a few others to Lagos to do everything possible to secure Lalong’s release but the bail conditions were very stringent.
However, Tinubu who was Governor on the platform of an opposition party, the Alliance for Democracy, came to our rescue and even gave us the title documents of properties for Lalong to be released after he had spent about 40 days in EFCC custody. So for me, when Tinubu declared his interest in contesting for President,it was a very easy decision to make, that is, to support him to the end, no matter whose ox is gored, even if I was going to be the last man standing!
Whenever I hear some Plateau APC stakeholders claiming that they are Tinubu’s supporters, I just laugh because of their sheer hypocrisy. They are latter day converts, who are doing so simply because they have seen that food is ready, they are looking for political relevance and appointments. The original and genuine diehard Tinubu supporters and stakeholders from the state are my humble self, Chief Amos Gizo, Dame Pauline Tallen, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande and a few others.
As the President’s disciple, what specific roles did you play to ensure his victory in both the presidential primary election, and his eventual emergence as President?
During the elections, I was a prominent member of the Tinubu Support Group and the Planning and Strategic Committee. I was also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council and Secretary, Contact and Mobilization Committee, North Central of the Tinubu Campaign organogram.
I was also the Plateau State Coordinator of Tinubu’s Independent Campaign Committee.
In fact, I was targeted, sacrificed and denied the APC’s second term Reps ticket by the APC at the state level because of my unwavering support for Tinubu prior to the presidential primaries. During the primaries, Tinubu’s most conspicuous supporters in the state were myself and the few like minds, who I mentioned earlier. We were able to convince some of the state’s delegates to cast their votes for Tinubu, in spite of the fact that most of the state’s delegates were already brainwashed to vote for Amaechi, due to the influence and support of the then Gov Lalong for Amaechi.
What should Nigerians expect from the Tinubu presidency, especially against the backdrop of his political pedigree and actions taken within his first month in office?
The Asiwaju that I know is a great achiever in all walks of life, he is always the first among equals, he is a go-getter, a man who knows his onions, an incredible headhunter who has an uncanny ability to select the best team that would fit into his team or cabinet as round pegs in round holes, he is a mentor of mentors an elder statesman, who is uncompromising, passionate and patriotic about Nigeria.
President Tinubu is a man with the proverbial midas touch, who has literally turned everything he lays his hands on into gold, be it in politics or private business, and Nigeria needs his midas touch. He is a man of his own words, who will not let Nigerians down. He is God’s choice and indeed the Messiah right now to lead Nigeria out of the doldrums. Tinubu is an accomplished businessman, political activist, democrat, a unifier, all rolled into one.
Look at how he transformed Lagos State’s economy and security challenges within eight years and has made it a mini-country of sorts that is the envy of everyone. I see him replicating same at the national level seamlessly. From the few steps he has taken in the past one month, I believe that unprecedented development and sanity are coming to this country. All Nigerians across political parties, ethnic and religious lines should therefore rally round President Tinubu to move Nigeria forward.
What legacies have you bequeathed to your constituents during your four years tenure in the National Assembly?
They are so many but I’ll give you just a few highlights. You know most of my constituents are rural farmers, so every year for four years I provided them with 10 trucks of fertilizer, to enhance their farming activities. I facilitated the construction of a N500 million rural road, as well as the construction of N250 million Model Secondary School in Demshin, both in Shendam LGA. I also built a state-of-the-art ICT Centre in each of the three LGAs of my constituency. I gifted out over 500 motorcycles, many cars, as well as women and youth empowerment facilities to my constituents. Throughout my four years, I offset the JAMB registration fees for the students of my constituency and facilitated employment opportunities and educational scholarships for many of them in both local and foreign universities, among many others.
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