In this interview with UMAR BAYO ABDULWAHAB, Minister of National Planning and Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission, Dr. Abubakar Olanrewaju Suleiman, bares his mind on the political and economic development of Kwara state and concluded that some cabals in power are capitalising on the resilience of the people  of Ilorin emirate, to subject them to bondage

How do you hope to wrestle power from the ruling party?

The responsibility of the PDP to wrestle power from the ruling APC in Kwara state is not much more on the PDP but mainly on the people themselves. A party cannot win election if it is not popular, it cannot win election if the people are not willing to effect a change. The magic of wrestling power from APC in the state first lies in the disenchantment of the Kwara people with the governance in Kwara state; in the poverty-entrenched policies of the state government; in the obvious apparent lack of good governance in Kwara state; it lies in the quantum of joblessness in Kwara state and this scenario now puts Kwara people on the trenches to wrestle power from the APC government – using everything within their arsenal. My responsibility, for instance, or our party is just to provide the platform for this disenchantment in Kwara state, to provide leadership and to provide direction; where this party has gone wrong, what they could not do, we are there to do it, we have what it takes to do it. The hopelessness of the people should give way to a ray of hope. We don’t have any serious magic but the apparent under-development in Kwara is there. They have seen it and they are tired of what is happening. Democracy is all about collectivism, it is all about the people, it is all about people’s voice, it is all about the mass and about selfless service. All these are missing in Kwara state. So Kwarans yearn for democracy where they would be at liberty to decide who their governor would be, who their Senators would be; who their House of Representative members would be, not one person deciding for them. They are tired of that. Even where one person decides, they still want to see result of good governance, which they have not been seeing.

If you go to other APC states, I keep on saying this, Kano is working, Lagos is working, even Oyo state is working. But the case of Kwara state is tragic, no jobs for Kwara youths. The state government keeps on saying they have provided jobs and I ask the question: where are the jobs? How much are they paying? This is the situation that people like us want to address and that is why we believe that without any magic, Kwarans would rescue themselves from the perpetual bondage of Bukola Saraki oligarchy.

What are the causes of this underdevelopment in the state?

Quite unfortunate anyway, is the fact that under-development in Kwara is traceable to many factors; one is leadership, two, and quite unfortunate, is our own value system. An average Kwaran wrongly misperceive what the religion says by believing that whoever God gives power is our leader, let’s follow him. But the same religion tells us in the Quran that in the face of oppression, if you fold your arms, you are committing a sin. Where there is oppression, you must stand against oppression and God will not come to change the situation of a people until they rise up to change themselves. We misconstrue all this; we take to the cultural value and misunderstood religious values to allow some nonentities to hold us in bondage. They are capitalising on our resilience. So, bad leadership accounted for our development

Secondly our attitude of subjecting ourselves to the misperceived religious value does not really propel us to want to rise to the challenge of effecting a change in Kwara. Our political elite are also not speaking up; they believe that anyone that is engaging them is digging his grave. But that was then. What I am seeing now and what is coming out in Kwara at the moment is a change in attitude, a change in orientation and change in misperception.

PDP has many governorship aspirants who are not willing to step down for one another. And with the discordant tunes, there is likelihood of some people dumping the PDP after the governorship primaries, what are you doing on this?

We should understand what democracy entails. One of the components of democracy is the ability of people to make choice, to choose from alternatives. Where there are no alternatives is not democracy. People must have dissenting voice, opinion to choose from options. Ours (PDP) is a bride that everybody wants. This is a clear departure from the past. People should appreciate what is happening. Now that we have many of them, the printers are making money. A lot of economic activities are going on here in Kwara state by virtue of the proliferation of aspirants. It is a good thing for this state.

Now we have had congresses for delegates. Kwara congress was upheld by the national secretariat and some other states are being disregarded up till now.

As time goes, the coast would get clearer. I keep on telling people that I am not just a politician, I am a political scientist. And at the level I am in academic, I should be pragmatic and realistic.

I am not unaware of the fact that even in PDP, there are moles planted by the opposition. I know them, we know them. The moles would give way. There are jokers and when the time comes, the jokers would give way. There are serious contenders. But the beauty of it is that everybody keys into our party, which shows that it is a party to beat.

I keep on telling the aspirants especially the serious ones that they have come to the end of their roads. That it is either PDP or APC, most of them cannot go to APC. If you want a political future, you must remain in PDP; nobody wants to go to APC.

What is important is where we are going and as the leader of the party in this state, there is no cause for alarm.

Ilorin West Local Government chapter of PDP where you come from is in crisis following the delegates’ election. What are the steps you have taken to address the problem?

Ilorin West is volatile because this is where you see the minister, this is where Bukola Saraki comes from, this is where Gbemi comes from, this is where Bola Shagaya comes from; this is where Professor Oba Abdulraheem comes. So it is the most politically relevant to us. Secondly, it is a place people watch out for. For instance during election, three political heavyweights would vote in the same polling booths, the Minister, the Senator and the ex-Senator. In Nigeria, it is a place to watch out for. The congress that took place is conclusive, we have results, we have delegates’ list, the delegates know themselves, the aspirants know the delegates. This is a game of number and in the course of the game, people want to outwit or outmanoeuvre one another. I am not an aspirant but I know everybody wants to show a kind of hegemony. It is part of the game of politics. What I can tell you is that election in Ilorin West Local Government was conclusive and we have results.

After the delegates’ election, there was a barrage of allegations that you wanted to doctor the delegates’ list, how would you react to this?

It is simple. While delegates’ election was going on, I was not in Ilorin and it was deliberate. Why they were here, I was in Abuja, when the result was in Abuja, I was in Ilorin. So where did the doctoring come from? What I keep on telling people is that I am not after the primary as a party leader. Whosoever emerges is who I am going to support. Mine is to get the cabal in Kwara state out of power.

The APC people are saying as a Minister from Kwara state, you concentrated more on politics rather than issues of planning and development which is your responsibility. What’s your reaction Sir?

I am a Minister representing Kwara State, that is my primary constituency. I would not be performing my duty as a Minister if the only thing I focus is on issues at the federal level. My constituent is more primary, my constituent is more important. I cannot be coming home from Abuja and see my people in abject poverty; I cannot see slavery and servitude being perpetual features of Kwara people. I cannot come home, come down from my car and see my mates sitting down doing nothing; I cannot see a man who I know receives some billions from federal allocation, not performing in my state. It is my responsibility to speak out and I will not relent until I ensure that this insanity stops in Kwara state.

So it is quite unfortunate when they said I am not doing my work there. Within two weeks of my assumption of office, a master plan that has been lying down for the past two years was adopted and approved by the federal government and they said I am not working, may be the person is dead or not alive.

Within a month of my assumption of office, what we call the social protection policy was re-energized which is going to address the plight of Nigerian people, very soon I am taking it to NEC and later to FEC for approval. Within my few months of assumption, the donor agencies that have lost confidence in my Ministry, they all came back. I provided leadership for them and almost on weekly basis, it is either I am signing one agreement or the other, bringing in new grants to Nigeria because of the confidence they have in the new leadership.

I am repositioning the NPC and somebody said I am not working. The infrastructural master plan is taking off, in the next few weeks, the President will launch it. Last two weeks ago, a water project was approved for Malete, in Kwara state and somebody said I am not working, the person must be dead.

Again, I will not focus on the federal and abandon the constituency. It is not for them to make me Minister of Bukola Saraki, Bukola Saraki will not sleep until he changes his path of leadership.

I will do everything possible within my power to ensure that Kwara people get this government out of power in Kwara state.