Ibrahim Isah Bio, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was a two-time minister. He first served as Minister of Transport under the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua before he was later moved to the Ministry of Sports by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Bio, who was also a member of the House of Representatives later became the Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly till 2007, pulled out of government in 2010 to contest for governor in the same state.
In an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, the former minister asserted that Senator Bukola Saraki was on his own as regards the new PDP in Kwara State, saying the proponents of the nPDP have selfish agenda. RAZAQ BAMIDELE brings excerpts from the parley:
The man who inherited the title of Strongman of Kwara politics, Senator Bukola Saraki, is now a leader of the aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party(NPDP), are you with him in that boat?
W
ith all intent and purposes I am not with him and I am not going to be with the new PDP. I belong to the PDP and I don't believe in the struggle or the ideals of the new PDP. I am an ardent follower of Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, the great Waziri of Ilorin and for the last 20 years, I have been very close to Baba Saraki (may his soul rest in peace). I believe in his leadership because it is genuine and transparent. You could see the zeal in what he was doing and you could see him being a good philanthropist, kind and focused. As a result, I became very close to him over the years and I was one of the people that he trusted and who were very close to him. Anywhere he went, I went with him. But the present leadership of Bukola Saraki that we have is the politics of elimination, politics of coercion and politics of me first before others. It is no more politics of carrying people along.
But, don't you see they are fighting a just cause?
No. When they came up with the issue of the new PDP, I believed it was ill-timed, ill-conceived and very selfish. In every organization, there are supposed to be grievances and misunderstanding; there are supposed to be some sort of disaffection. But you don't tear an organization because you are not getting your issues addressed. There are structured ways of addressing grievances in any organization, including your house.
Again, most of those people that are complaining or feeling aggrieved have presidential ambitions. I know the Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu has a presidential ambition. It is not a secret that Sule Lamido has presidential ambition. It is not a secret that Dr. Bukola Saraki has presidential ambition; neither is it a secret that Rabiu Kwankwaso has presidential ambition and they believe the best way to go about this is to first of all get rid of President Goodluck Jonathan who is the current President and the coast will be clear for them.
You were a close ally of late Olusola Saraki and Governor Bukola Saraki. Did he not take you into confidence on the agitations?
Regrettably, I don't think Bukola Saraki trusts me as much as Baba Saraki did. I have personal issues which I am not ready to discuss at this moment because I have followed Bukola Saraki and I have come to a conclusion that this is a man who does not trust me the way Baba trusted me. I tried to belong, but invariably, I found out that I wasn't fitting into his system. So, I stayed back.
Bukola Saraki is among the seven rebel Governors of the PDP. Right now the group is discussing with the APC. If they defect, how do you see the power balance. Do you think it will spell doom for the PDP?
Let me confess to you that the loyalty Baba Saraki commanded for 42 years, I don't think Bukola Saraki has the capacity and wherewithal to command that kind of loyalty and support of the people. Well meaning people, well meaning Kwarans and well meaning politicians are not happy with the events in Kwara. For some of us, we just stayed aside and said let's watch.
But when you cajole the people, you oppress the people and you use state machinery and you think you are a good leader that people will follow, you just watch and see. People are fed up with the kind of system we are practicing. I believe PDP is the party that everybody wants to follow. Let them go to APC or any other party and you will be surprised that Kwara people will remain in the PDP. PDP will be the party that will win in Kwara. I can assure you that because I'm in touch with the people.
The major grievance of the G-7 Governors of the PDP is that there was a certain agreement with President Jonathan not to re-contest. Are you are aware of such agreement?
The way the seven Governors are going, if there was actually a written agreement, they would have published it by now. Common sense would have prevailed on them by now with the level they are going, for them to have walked out of the convention, they would have produced that agreement to the press and to Nigerians to say this President is not a reliable person. He has signed an agreement and he is not able to keep to that agreement, and as the number one citizen, we believe he has no moral right to lead us. If they have such an agreement, let them produce it to convince some of us who were not there.
Come to think of fit, an agreement is a moral issue. But a constitutional right is a legal issue. Which one supersedes the other? Is it the agreement they claimed to have signed in a room or what the Constitution says. The constitution says anybody, either a Governor or a President has the right to seek for two terms of four years and if Jonathan has just finished his first term, he has the constitutional right to go in for a second term. Is it the constitution that we are going to follow or the so called agreement signed in a room? If they have it, let them produce it.
There have been several efforts to reconcile these aggrieved Governors but each time they come together, after the meeting, another thing will happen to widen the gulf. How can they hasten the reconciliation process?
Don't you think that the exit of the seven Governors from the PDP, won't devastate the party?
All of them came one after the other. They have their interests and they know what they are pursuing. But I can assure you that in Nigeria, with the politics that is being played, nobody will rule a state for eight years and still command 70 percent of the population. All these Governors who believe that they are very popular, I can assure you that if they take a census of the people in their respective states and they stand election without instruments of state coercion and resources, very few of them will be able to win their states again. They may be thinking now that they have their states, but I give it to them that they will have their say and Nigerians will have their way.
In case President, Jonathan indicates interest to run on the platform of the PDP, are you going to support him or what are the achievements you think can propel him to win the hearts of the people if he intends to run for a second term?
In your own opinion, before I say my own, do you think he should not go for a second term based on his performance? I believe that for the unity of this country, the minorities which I also belong, should be given a chance to rule this country, which by providence of God, it has gone to Jonathan who is a minority. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Obasanjo did eight years. If Yar'Adua did not die, he would have done eight years. So tell me under which law now that we are saying Jonathan should not go for a second term. Is it because he is a minority man or he is not a Yoruba man like Obasanjo or an Hausa man like Shehu Shagari that was given a second term? I believe that for the unity of this country, let all be equal. Let us not be like animal farm, where some animals are more equal than others. Based on that, I will support him because one day, it might be my own turn as a minority and if I don't fight for the minority now to be equal like the majority in this nation called Nigeria, then I don't have a hope, my own children don't have hope and grand children have no hope.
Secondly, I have worked with Goodluck Jonathan as Vice President and as President and over the years, he is somebody who is very humble. For somebody to be Deputy Governor and Vice President, you must be very humble because those are the offices that they treat you like not only a spare tyre but a useless tyre. For somebody like him to have been able to do those things effectively in Nigeria, that shows he has a very high capacity to accommodate, very high endurance level. I have studied this man and he is somebody who is not unnecessarily carried away by sentiments, he doesn't get angry. I have come to admire him because he is also detribalized. What I need from a President is sincerity of purpose. Somebody I believe that he will do the right thing to me and to you. Based on that, I will support him.
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