For many, the Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema, is a breath of fresh air. He is one of the Nigeria’s best governors.
Most of the projects that the governor has executed –from the magnificent ones to the developmental –have changed the lives of his people. Majority of them agree that he has served the people of Katsina to the best of his ability and he is grateful to God.
Shema has equally put up with insinuations of eyeing higher public office, especially Vice President Namadi Sambo’s seat. That is why he is one of the most talked about governors ahead of 2015.
In this interview with newsmen at his Dutsinma country home in Katsina State, Shema bares his mind on his alleged opposition to Namadi Sambo ahead of 2015 elections. He also talks about the recent local government polls in the state, political occurrences in Katsina, his ambition and other important issues. He talked to ANDY ASEMOTA.
Excerpts:
What is your take on Katsina State Local Government Elections?
No political party or individual anywhere in the world can be forced to participate in any electoral process that is voluntary. The Katsina State Independent Electoral Commission has done very, very well. It deserves the commendation of all because when they issued out their notice of elections under the law of the state which mandated them to issue no less than 21 days notice, they issued 60 days to all parties including my party (PDP).
Parties responded but two of the political parties that indicated initially that they wanted to participate started to complain and their complaints were that the 60 days were not enough for them because elections conducted by FCT administration that has local government area council has 90-day notice.
There is a difference between local government area council and local government councils. Area councils are only found in Abuja, FCT, because they are covered by the laws made by the National Assembly; they don’t have a state assembly and they don’t have State Independent Electoral Commission. So, their laws are made by National Assembly, INEC conducts their elections and the President signs their laws.
In the state, the constitution of Nigeria is very clear on who makes laws for elections –state House of Assembly and the laws made by our House of Assembly have been put to use several times over. This is not the first time elections are held in Katsina State Local Government Areas.
The one we held when I first came into office, barely a year after, did give 21 days’ notice. It was adequate and everybody participated. This time round, because of these complaints, the SIEC deemed it necessary to address the concern as a whole so that they keep a level playing field. They extended the date of the elections to 95 days –beyond the 90 days they (critics) were asking for. Yet, two political parties decided that they won’t participate.
They raised another complaint. They said the next complaint is that the fee that was to be paid for forms from SIEC by contestants: local government chairmanship (N250, 000) and councillorship (N100, 000) was too much. If, for us, as governorship candidates when we were going to contest, we paid N5 million for forms and a council chairman saying he cannot pay N250,000 is questionable. But, all the same, the SIEC of Katsina bent over backwards and cut the fees by half, 50 per cent. Anybody, who wanted to contest for local government chairmanship, could pay N125,000 and councillorship N50,000.
After that, they still refused to participate and they decided to go to court. They went to court in Abuja and the court did not listen to them; they still have a matter there. They rushed to court in Katsina asking for the elections to be stopped.
I have never heard of a political party that is offered a chance to test its popularity will instead go to court and asked that the elections should be stopped. That will tell you whether that party is actually on ground or not. You know your rights under our constitution stop where another person’s rights begin. So, other parties are absolutely free to participate in the elections. There are six political parties in this election. PDP is one of them and is participating fully.
And by the special grace of God, you have seen how the electoral process has been carried out; everywhere is peaceful, people trooping out to vote and nobody says they must vote for candidate A or B. you have been to my polling unit, you saw people happily voting.
If for example, Katsina State people are not happy with the elections, you won’t see anybody voting but because PDP has been here since 199 and has offered tremendous services and support to our people and has been accepted largely by the people of Katsina State and is the party on ground, that is why there is peace and tranquility and the elections are going on smoothly.
As far as we are concerned, the SIEC has done very well and as far as we are concerned, we are willing to participate and we have participated like some other parties. Those who have interest to participate, we have no quarrel with them.
They went to two different courts on the same issue and as far as I am concerned as a lawyer, that is called forum shopping. It is forbidden by law, you can’t be running around from one court to another, running helter skelter. Part of what they said they will do is generally to get you media people a washed with stories that are false but you are here on ground. Whatever you publish, we urge you always to be publishing the truth. Be fair in your assessment and report what you have seen.
Your Excellency, there are insinuations in the media that you intend to take over the position of Namadi Sambo as Vice President of this country. How justifiable are the insinuations?
You know, number one, don’t forget my profession. I am not only a politician but also a lawyer. So, if you say insinuation, it remains insinuation. You didn’t say fact. Insinuation is close to fiction. Let me assure you of one thing that I personally believe in: Power comes from no other than God Almighty. It is not for me to replace anybody or be in any position except what Allah wills.
Anybody in Katsina will tell you I am not known to be crazy about positions. I came to be the governor of Katsina State by special grace of Allah and by the tremendous support of the people and the support of the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. After that, I came back for my second term.
Katsina is centre of opposition in Nigeria, so to speak because APC is from here; its leader is from here, yet God in His infinite wisdom gave us a resounding victory over APC. I am one of the six governors in Nigeria with landslide victory. I beat the CPC opposition candidate in Katsina State in the governorship election with almost half a million votes. And for the first time in the history of the state, PDP got 30 seats in the state out of 34.
So, that tells you how the people of Katsina are connected with PDP. So, whether I am interested in this or that is not the issue. Interest, as far as I am concerned, should be to serve your people in the position you find yourself and to be grateful to God for giving you that chance.
What God desires for you, will be, and what will not be will not. So, it is not a matter of I want to be this or I want to be that. I have not been known anywhere in my life and in the legal profession to say I want to be this or I want to be that. I want to serve people to the best of my ability in whatever position I find myself.
For the position of senate or Vice President or any position of power for that matter, it entirely belongs to God Almighty. Let us not deceive ourselves. I didn’t bring myself to where I am, the President did not bring himself to where he is and Namadi did not bring himself to where he is. It is all God.
Some of us set out to be House of Representatives members, but ended up being senators. Some set out to be senators, but ended up becoming governors, some set out to be governors, and they ended up becoming something else –House of Representatives members or senators or something else. It is all in the hands of God.
So, let us not deceive ourselves that we have power or authority over life. No, we don’t. What we must do is to be grateful to God that has given us opportunities to serve our people. That is my position. It has always been my position; I never canvassed for anything else.
Yes, political jobbers will say Shema is interested in this and that governor is interested in that; that is how they feed. They have to collect money from gullible politicians when they set one against the other.
Sometimes, people publish rubbish about whether I want to be Vice President or this, have you ever heard my response? It is because I still believe that Allah holds power and authority and gives it to whom He desires and when He desires it and no one can change this. It is God that designs things.
All I will say is that I have got opportunity to serve the people of Katsina and I have done it to the best of my ability and I am grateful to God.
What is the secret of your great achievements?
There is no secret. Number one issue is the fear of God. Once God places the responsibility of leading people on your shoulders, you do your best to discharge that responsibility.
If God thrusts leadership responsibility on your shoulders, then of course you do the best you can to render services. As I said, my guiding principle is the fear of God, fairness and equality to all and sundry.
After I was elected, I felt if you did vote for me, because in election with 51 per cent you have won, 49 per cent might not even elect you. Even in my first election, I won with over one point something votes. So, with that, no matter whether you are in my party or not, the moment I became the governor, I distribute equitably all the resources of this state –to those who voted for me and those who didn’t. I didn’t say because I am in PDP, anybody in ANPP or CPC should not have his children acquire free education that I am giving everybody. When I buy fertilizer, whether you are in PDP or ANPP or any party, I give you your share.
When I am sending people abroad on foreign scholarship to read medicine, pharmacy, engineering, etc, I don’t segregate and say only PDP children should go. I know of one occasion when we were sending these kids abroad, a parent of one of the children who was from another party, stood up close to tears. He said he was very grateful that I am sending his child to go and study a course abroad and I am paying N10 million for the child to do the course.
What I do is that when I am sending a student abroad, I pay the entire fees of the entire course so that you don’t have to come back looking for money for your course.
In short, the secret of my success is fear of God and utilization of our meagre resources to serve the benefit of all the people. We made education free ad we pay for WAEC and NECO for all the children, we give free medicare for women and children and we have constructed over 58 road projects across the state. We provide projects for water supply, irrigation, agriculture and rural electrification –over 100 or so, we built schools and we try to curtail wastage.
We have been paying salaries between 22nd and 23rd of every month. We have completed all inherited projects. There is no uncompleted project I inherited from the late Yar’Adua that has not be completed. The Sun
