A former governor of Borno State and now Nigeria’s Vice President, in this interview explained why the North cannot afford to let President Bola Ahmed Tinubu down.
He said that before supporting Buhari, the former Lagos State governor shelved his ambition and supported two presidential aspirants from the North – former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu – at different times although he had all it took to vie for the presidency.
Excerpts:
Question: Mixed reactions have continued to trail your public declaration for Asiwaju Tinubu’s presidential ambition. Don’t you think you came out too early to support him; and why not Vice President Osinbajo?
Ans: There’s honour, even among thieves. As Frantz Fanon said, “every onlooker is either a coward or traitor.” I will rather come out bluntly and take a firm position on what is right, taking into consideration, our history of leadership in northern Nigeria, than sit on the fence and wait for the direction the wind will blow. This is fundamentally the reason I came out to endorse Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
When he supported us he could have stood for the presidency, but he didn’t. He supported President Buhari through thick and thin, and one good turn always deserves another. There is a minimum threshold below which we should not operate as politicians; it should not be a case of anything goes. That minimal threshold requires that we should reciprocate in kind.
Question: What were the sacrifices Asiwaju made for this movement?
Buhari is immensely popular in the North. He has a cult-like followership of nearly 15million people. But that never took him to the presidency until we had a handshake across the Niger with the West. Wrongly, he was assumed to be a northern’ hegemonist’, a provincial politician, even a religious bigot by some of our compatriots in the southern part of the country. It was the South-West political machine that repackaged and resold the Buhari brand to the Nigerian nation in 2015. That was how he made inroads into the areas hitherto he used to perform badly, and Buhari emerged as the president of Nigeria.
In life you should be known for taking a firm, fair and just position on issues. I might well be stupid but not foolish. I know the consequences of unveiling a masquerade. It is a huge political crime that might even cost me my life, but so be it. A life worth not living for a cause is not worth living.
I have never uttered one derogatory remark on Vice President Osinbajo. He is a decent person and has built a school in Maiduguri for victims of insurgency. It might interest you to know that apart from governors Zulum, Mai Mala Buni, Inuwa Yahaya and Abubakar Sani Bello, who was my schoolmate, the closest person to me in the APC family is undoubtedly Governor Kayode Fayemi, but there are more germane considerations with regard to decision on leadership than friendship ties and other sentiments.
Question: Are you aware of any pact between the former Lagos governor and President Buhari as claimed by Senator Rufai Hanga, a chieftain of the APC and founder of the defunct CPC?
Ans: My political association with Asiwaju Tinubu, which I am very proud of, is purely on the principle of payback and consistency. In the build-up to my 2015 re-election, soon after the APC was formed, I and those associated with me came under a serious political battle for the control of the party in Borno. At a point, Asiwaju invited all colliding parties to Lagos, right in front of my opponents, including one of them that was far closer to Asiwaju than me. Asiwaju supported me. He stood by us, and with his support; we were firmly in control of the APC in Borno State through the backing of the party’s national headquarters.
Our opponents had to leave the party ahead of 2015. To honour Asiwaju, I named a project after him in Borno and I invited him to commission it, alongside some schools and 500 houses. Again, ahead of 2019, after the emergence of Professor Zulum as a candidate, Asiwaju resisted pressures from some quarters to have Zulum replaced. He openly raised the hands of Zulum, which he did not do for others. President Buhari did the same by honouring us and publicly endorsing Zulum amid litigation. These two endorsements significantly enabled us to consolidate our grip and match to victory at the polls. And you see, we needed to be consistent.
Asiwaju played a key role in the formation and victory of the APC. For us in Borno, if we were to abandon, how would anyone trust us as northerners? In Borno, we stand by those who stand by us. This is our kind of politics and philosophy.
It is pertinent to mention that when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was harassed, brutalised and chased out of the PDP, even some of our northern brothers were treating him as a pariah. It was Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that provided him with sanctuary and a platform to contest the 2007 presidential election.
Again, four years later, he provided the same platform to another harassed northerner, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to contest for the presidency under the ACN.
The 2014 APC presidential primaries election was a tough one, with two of the aspirants splashing tons of naira and dollars on members of the electoral college. Without the block support of the South-West it could have been difficult for Buhari to emerge as candidate. Tinubu worked for Buhari in 2015 and 2019. This is why some of us find it utterly disgusting when some of the folks who vigorously worked against Buhari’s ambition in 2014 have done some political somersaults and are now members of what I call the Buharist Church of Latter Day Saints, hectoring down on us and liberally dropping the president’s name.
In four electoral cycles, this man supported northern candidates for the presidency of Nigeria, and now that he wants the job, how could any northerner with a modicum of human conscience oppose him? Othman bin Fodiyo said, “A society can thrive on unbelief, but no society can thrive on injustice.” And 200 years later, his grandson, Sir Ahmadu said, “All my actions are based on my inward convictions, conscience and dictates of my religion.” And what does the Qur’an say is the reward for goodness?
The Sultan of Sokoto gave me a three-volume selected writings of Othman bin Fodiyo and the two-volume works of his son, Muhammad Bello. I have read every single page of those books and the major theme that runs through the works are justice, equity, fairness and transparency. I am a direct descendant of Sheikh Muhammad Al-Amin El-Kanemi. I have gone through his works. These are the two traditions of leadership we have inherited in northern Nigeria and we have to uphold those values.
Question: But are you aware of any pact between Asiwaju and Buhari, and how do you see an APC without Buhari’s influence in 2023?
And: In my view, Asiwaju is sophisticated enough to understand that no one can rely on a futuristic political pact, four or eight years ahead. Even a week can be a long time in politics! No one can predict what could happen between now and 2023, let alone predict it as at 2015. In politics, you can only guarantee something that is within your immediate reach. Back in 2015, Asiwaju negotiated the vice presidential slot for Professor Osinbajo; it was within his reach. I do not think an experienced politician like Asiwaju would have entered a secret pact with President Buhari without extracting an open commitment. I believe Asiwaju supported President Buhari’s re-election wholeheartedly in 2019, just as he did in 2015.
I also believe that Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu have mutual respect and connection, far beyond how their relationship is often interpreted. As for President Buhari, I think only a fool would discount his influence on permutations for 2023, if Allah spares our lives. And for me, there is a difference between a tested source of electoral fortune and an assumed source. President Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu have been tested and are consistent sources of electoral fortunes.
In spite of his taciturnity, the President deeply appreciates those that are consistent in supporting him. Some of my brothers are contesting Tinubu’s contribution to Buhari’s ascendancy to power, but facts do not lie. In the 2011 presidential election, President Buhari got 190,000 votes in Lagos, largely from resident northerners, against 1.3 million by the PDP. He got 3,000 votes in Ekiti, 17,000 in Ogun, and 7,000 in Osun. Juxtapose this with the 800,000 votes he got in Lagos in 2015 against President Jonathan’s 630,000. Buhari got 300,000 votes in Ogun, 380,000 in Osun and 120,000 in Ekiti State in the 2015 election, a very close race where he defeated the PDP candidate by a mere 2 million votes. I will allow you to make your judgement on Asiwaju, and by extension, the South-West’s contribution to our victory.
Question: Seven years after the formation of the APC, the tendencies that formed it are yet to be fully coalesced, threatening the existence of the party. Do you see the APC surviving after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure?
Ans: When the ACN, ANPP, CPC, half of APGA, and subsequently, the new PDP were merging, some Nigerians said it was not possible. Others predicted the alliance was going to end by 2019, but here we are and the APC is growing in size. As I said, President Buhari is an institution. I do not think the Buhari mystique would suddenly evaporate in the APC. President Buhari will remain relevant in Nigeria’s politics, especially in the North. Even former presidents have stakes that prevent them from immediate quietness. Party members have the self-interest to know that it’s only by keeping the party as a responsive living organisation can it continue to be a platform of power. It will certainly outlast the Buhari presidency.
Question: As a founding member of the APC, was there any zoning pact at formation?
Ans: The party is very much alive to the realities and complexities of Nigeria.
Question: A few days to the national convention of your party, people are waiting to see the direction. Where are you on consensus because the three previous occupants of that chairmanship position emerged through that process?
Ans: I believe this is a work- in-progress. I passionately believe the leaders of the party, including state governors, who are leaders of the party in their respective states, in consultation with President Buhari, will arrive at a consensus of getting a national chairman of the party. By their names we shall know them.
Let’s be honest, when the PDP elected Uche Secondus, a former local government chairman as their national chairman, he successfully seconded the PDP to play second fiddle to the APC and nearly plunged the party to extinction. But in Prof Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP got it right. Ayu is competent, intellectually sound and has the depth and breadth to give stewardship to the diminishing opposition party. We need a chairman who is going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Prof Ayu, match him or even overpower him on some indices. We hope our leaders would come up with a chairman who has the integrity, intellectual acumen, political sagacity, reach, generosity of spirit and broadmindedness to carry all of us along. We do not need a chairman who will dissipate his time and energy on thr orgy of vindictiveness, not a chairman with cloudy past or a dubious intent, an unscrupulous rogue who will plunge our party into confusion.
Question: Who among the aspirants possesses all these qualities you enumerated?
Ans: I do not want to jump the ship. In President Buhari, we have a leader who can make such decisions in consultation with other stakeholders.
Question: Fourteen serving governors, 13 former governors and three former senators assembled in Lagos last weekend under the aegis of 2022 committee. What do you make of this, and why were you not part of them?
Ans: My governor is part of them, and I believe they are there for the growth of the country to consolidate their ideas and come up with a robust solution to our challenges. One of the co-conveners is Kashim Ibrahim from Borno.
Question: Borno and Yobe tend to move along the same direction when it comes to selecting a presidential candidate. I don’t think it’s the same this time. You are for Asiwaju and Yobe seems not to be amenable to that. What do you think?
Not necessarily so. Borno and Yobe are like siamese twins. We always think alike and act alike because we are essentially the same people. Governor Buni’s hands are tied because of his national assignment as the chairman of the convention committee. We have to appreciate the encumbrances of some of our leaders from expressing their preference; for instance, ministers and political heads of ministries, departments and agencies who are answerable to the president, or even governors and their subordinates.
Question: What is your 2023 ambition?
Ans: First, I want to thank Allah for the opportunity and privilege I have been given to serve the people of our dear state and country. Not many people get such privilege.
Power is the most ephemeral of Allah’s gifts to humanity. We have accomplished so much in life, not because of our intellectual acumen, certainly not because of our physical prowess, pedigree or political sagacity, but a trust from Allah. My ambition in 2023 is to see to the re-election of Professor Babagana Zulum, with greater votes than he got in 2019, and for the APC to retain power at the presidential level, and retain control of states and National Assembly, winning back more states.
Question: To the admiration of many, your relationship is seen to be cordial with your successor in Borno, Professor Zulum, unlike what is obtainable in other states, where former governors are fighting their successors. How are you doing this magic?
Ans: Our relationship is directly related to our commitment to the service of our people and country. I had the privilege to serve as governor for eight years. And we had a determination that our successor must be a better and more qualified individual. Our state was very lucky to find such a person in Professor Zulum. Allah made the recruitment of a successor. Borno State got it right with him. I think that’s the “magic,” to use your word.
A Russian writer and philosopher, Leo Tolstoy or so once wrote in his wisdom that the two most powerful warriors in life are patience and time. As a human being, I have many shortcomings, but one of the strengths Allah has given me is patience and the anticipation and acceptance of time. Oftentimes, one mistake we mostly make as humans is to deliberately ignore times that we all know will surely come to pass. From May 29, 2015, when I was sworn into office for the second term as the governor of Borno State, I initiated my search for a successor, and by September 2016, I started narrowing down my list, purely based on performances. By December 2017, I had a potential successor in mind. I was only waiting for how to actualise it. The day Professor Zulum became the candidate of the APC in October 2018, I no longer thought of myself as governor of Borno. I began to involve him in most decisions I was taking and I increased his involvement when he became governor-elect. Many times, if I asked him to take decisions, he would insist I was still the governor and I would also insist he was to be affected by any decision, so he needed to be part of it.
In essence, it is about recognising that times are different, and as the Americans would say, know when there is a new sheriff in town. Charles Darwin once said that “it is not the strongest of the species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” The only thing permanent about life is change and every sensible person has to come to terms with the changing fortunes of time.
I am a philosopher king, and none of the vagaries of power holds much tenacious attraction to me. In life, as in politics, there are the winter years; you go into hibernation and blossom during the summer period. I held sway for eight years, but when a new sheriff came into town I had to move up to a higher plane and went off the radar and allowed him to blossom and call the shots.
There can never be two captains on the same ship. Fundamentally, Prof Zulum is a forthright gentleman, and our relationship is anchored on mutual trust, respect and confidence. He is my leader, my boss.
With Prof Zulum, what you see is essentially what you get, no pretensions, deceptions and double-speak, typical of the political class. He has tremendous respect for my person and holds me in the highest regard. When I was consulting, actually trying to sell Prof Zulum to some senior stakeholders, there was one who said to me, “Look, Kashim, I learnt that Zulum is very aggressive, he may outshine you in six months or one year. Bringing him will be a mistake.” I just laughed and said to him, “Will Zulum as governor outshine me by working against or for Borno?” I said I wanted Zulum’s superb performance to be my number one legacy in life. I cited to that person how Asiwaju Tinubu, in 2007, picked a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who was more learned than him, as his successor in Lagos. Look at how Fashola did wonders in Lagos. You see, Allah is never a tool for anyone. You can deceive people, but not Allah. It is, to me, unwise and unrealistic to think you would call the shots as former governor when as governor you resisted being controlled.
Question: During your valedictory State Executive Council you swore that Zulum would surpass you in terms of performance; and now, it seems you have been vindicated. Why were you so optimistic?
Ans: I got the opportunity to watch at very close quarters, the manner he applied himself to every assignment he was given. He was committed and selfless. He served patriotically and gave his all. And he never cut corners. I knew that our state would certainly be a better place if he got the opportunity to serve as governor.
It was also in the context of the two great traditions I mentioned, that he was also the least driven by personal ambition. His being recruited for service fitted those traditions perfectly. Alhamdulillah! He accepted to take up the challenge of service. And I am glad you also agree that the Borno people made a very wise choice.
When I appointed Professor Zulum as the rector of Ramat Polytechnic in 2011 and later as my commissioner for reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement, I largely gave him free hands to operate, and we released billions of naira for the ministry. We built and rebuilt a combined number of about 30,000 houses across the state and Zulum did not build a house for himself from the money released to him. Before then, I studied how he used internally generated revenue in Ramat Polytechnic to make huge impacts without diverting the funds. I realised that Zulum was genuinely and irrevocably committed to the Borno project. I realised that whenever we released funds to him, he tried to achieve more than what we projected without asking for more funds. So I saw in him, the best person Borno needed as I was leaving, although I knew he always had his independent mindset.
What was more important was for me to be fair to the state, which gave me the rare opportunity to be a commissioner for four years and governor for eight years. I believed it was best for me to do what was right and let posterity judge. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most men can survive the extremes of adversity, but to test a man’s character, give him power.”
You see, the fundamental error of most outgoing chief executives is their quest for a third term through proxy; hence their quest for successors are not anchored on the fulcrum of capacity, competence, integrity or commitment to the common good, but would look for the most pliable, slavish, unexposed, dull and chronically insecure person. This is the tragic error of judgement, some sort of a political hara-kiri for the exiting leader.
Ali bn Abi-Talib, the erudite and courageous 4th caliph of Islam said, “Power does not change a man, it reveals him.” Power intoxicates even the intelligent and the humble. Henry Kissinger called it the ultimate aphrodisiac, and if you make the mistake of installing a chronically insecure, dull person as your successor, you have created a human monster petrified of his own shadow, obsessed with conjuring up imaginary enemies and vulnerable to the antics of mischievous power merchants.
The battle of wits between an overbearing, exiting leader and his successor commences right during the transition period, becomes a cold war during the first year and explodes into full-scale political warfare in the second year. If I were to apportion blame, 75 per cent of the blame should go to the predecessor and 25 per cent to the successor. Charlatans will always try to create discord because without one, their source of livelihood dries up. When Governor Zulum called off the bluff of some political jobbers, guess the modus operandi they resorted to? Lavishing praises on me to curry favours from him.
Question: From the executive arm you moved to the legislature 2019; how is your experience like so far, comparing the two arms of government?
Ans: The first point I will like to make is that leadership is both a burden and privilege. Here in northern Nigeria, we are heirs to ancestral traditional institutions, the Kanem-Borno, as well as the Sokoto caliphate. These institutions emphasize the burden associated with positions of leadership.
For eight years I had the privilege to be governor of Borno State and the circumstances were well known to you as the chroniclers of social development. We confronted very difficult challenges, especially with the Boko Haram insurgency, but this never disrupted our commitment to offering the people the basic values of living in a democratic society. We endeavoured to do our ultimate best in serving the people despite the vulnerabilities and intrigues that sought to overwhelm us, and the reality of our scarce resources.
It was based on the modest efforts we put in that we were given the opportunity of service in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is a different level of service, which allows us to work with colleagues from all over the country in the service of our fatherland. The scope of work is slightly different. But either way, the central endeavour is service to our people and our country. I don’t think there’s a Chinese wall that divides commitment to service, either at the executive or legislative levels once the central perspective is to service the best interests of our people, either at the State or National level.
Question: How would you compare your schedule as a senator to when you were governor?
Ans: Let me retain the same thread of thought.
Editor’s Note:
This interview was first published by the defunct Daily Trust on Sunday, on February 13, 2022. It was reproduced for record purposes.
