Ali Is Yobe's Worst Governor—WaziriAli Is Yobe's Worst Governor—WaziriAlhaji Adamu Waziri, who is the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources spoke with journalists on the recent attacks on Yobe State Governor, Senator Mamman Bello Ali in Potiskum, among other issues. OMOLEHIN BABATUNDE attended the session.
How is the PDP preparation toward the forthcoming local government election in Yobe State?
Let me first of all call on the Governor that if he is a democrat, he should conduct the local government election without any further delay. For the fact that local government is the closest means of governing the people in a democratic set up like this. We have had elections at the national and state levels. It will be unethical to continue in the situation like this in Yobe State, where more than a year now into the new administration the people are still been governed by the illegitimate and undemocratic leaders in their areas. The state Independent Electoral Commission scheduled and subsequently suspended the local government poll that can usher in legitimate leaders into the 17 local government areas, situation that is very unfortunate and sad particularly for me as a true democrat. This decision, which was taken by the commission for reasons best known to the governor and for reason we believe to be of their iniquities. But I want to call on him to be more courageous and conduct the election into the 17 local councils. That does not mean that we are confident that the election will be free and fair but other states have conducted their own with imperfections as we can see them. We need to have one in Yobe so that the administration at the local levels will be fully legitimate contrary to democracy ideology. Leaders can only be leaders if they are duly elected. As far as we are concerned in PDP, we are prepared and ready for the exercise. We know that we are going to lose win some councils and lose some which is normal in a democratic set up like this unlike the ANPP that is aiming to win all.
We would like you to clarify some issues which actually brought disagreement between PDP and the ANPP on the grains sold by the state was from Federal Government's strategic reserves?
Actually the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has since released these grains to the affected state, including Yobe State. 2,700 metric tonnes of assorted grains were released to Yobe State by the Federal Ministry Agriculture and Water Resources. But it is unfortunate that Yobe State is one of the few states that have refused to pay and take the grains for distribution to the people. There also an additional 750 tonnes released to Yobe State for baby feeding. Records do not lie. Individuals can lie and I want to tell you that I have a reputation of not being a liar but the Governor lied because assorted Grains were given to Yobe State but it refused to pay for the logistics. The grains are still there. But we are going to take some measures about them.
Can you shed more light on the Potiskum town incident where the Governor was attacked during the flag off of the sales of the controversial grains?
About the Postikum incident, the Governor of Yobe State went to Potiskum, which is my home town on May 19, 2008 to accept decampees from various opposition parties into ANPP, to which he belongs. That was the primary reason he went there. But in the course of that assignment, he used the occasion attended only by ANPP supporters, to launch sales of grains and fertilizers. It was wrong as a leader to have used a political occasion to launch the sale of grains and that of fertilizers because these commodities were bought with public funds, meaning that the funds belong to PDP, AC, AD and non-politicians. Once you are indigene of Yobe State, you have a stake in the funds. If I may put it right I will say the Governor is politicizing hunger and agriculture because the grains, which he distributed, were not produced by the ANPP. What will now happen to the PDP people who are also citizens of Yobe but did not go to the occasion? Does that mean they will not have fertilizers for their farm this year or hunger will kill them? Because once you bring to them ANPP grains they can say they will not eat. Let me also say that if any politician come to Potiskum town and call me by name or abuse me and thinks that he/she is not committing political suicide that person is a fool.
What do you mean sir?
What I mean is that Potiskum is a place where I have overwhelming supporters and you can not come to my home town, whoever you are, wether you are a Governor, Minister or party leader and go on to lambast me, thinking that my people will not react. It is not possible. If you are a Governor you should know that you are exercising some authority and for every authority, there is a sense of responsibility attached to it. I will not now come out and call the name of a leader, abuse him and let it be put on the television. I can not do that. I always do my things with some modicum of respectability and responsibility even if I do not agree. There some things as a Minister that I am not expected to do, because my freedom to express myself is curtailed by the weight of my office. If I was not a Minister, I assure you that the reaction could have been different but above all let me say this that the President, Governors and Senators of this country all sworn to an oath of office to discharge their duty without favour or discrimination, based on tribe, religion, gender. Anybody who abuses that trust should not be considered as a leader. Governor Ali has abused the trust imposed on him by Yobeans.
It was alleged that during your term as the National Coordinator of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) that Yobe State did not benefit from the Keke NAPEP project.
It is true that in 2001/02 I was the National Coordinator of the National Poverty Eradication Programme. I conceived the Programme of Keke NAPEP which 2000 were procurred and to be distributed to all states including FCT. The launching and the distribution were done sometime in September/October 2002. And I resigned shortly after that because it was required that I should do so if I wished to contest for any public office. And I was to contest for the gubernatorial ticket of my party. So by the time I resigned, Yobe State's allocation was not made then because of the alphabetically order they followed. For me, I don't know why for Yobe State, allocation has not arrived till date. May be my predecessor or former Governor Bukar Ibrahim will be able to answer this question. But I also remember that members of the National Assembly were allocated certain quantity of Keke NAPEP, and since the present Governor was a Senator then he should also be asked why there are no Keke NAPEP in Yobe State because he did not resign his seat in the Senate throughout the process. I recalled vividly that I gave him allocation under what is called Capacity Acquisition Programme (CAP) and the Mandatory Attachment Programme (MAP) which is for the training of graduates and school leavers. And in Yobe, about 3800 youths were trained. So I believe the governor must have taken his own allocation to Adamawa State where he was born. I am aware that the third phase of the programme has been implemented. I understand that some quantities have been allocated to the state. As a former NAPEP boss, I do not have a single Keke NAPEP because I do not believe in enriching myself with government funds.
Governor has just marked his one year in office. What would you say about his administration?
Before I though the worst Governor Yobe state would have was Bukar Abba Ibrahim. Yes, I said so sometimes ago. But I have come to realize that the worst the state has had so far is the administration of Governor Mamman Bello Ali.
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