Abdullahi Adamu, governor of Nasarawa State clocked 60 on Sunday July 23. The anniversary programme provided him an opportunity to speak on national issues at an exclusive interview with a Newswatch team of Tobs Agbaegbu, associate editor and Anza Philip, principal staff writer.

Excerpts:

Newswatch: You clocked 60 a few days ago. We will like you to share with our readers how you feel.

Adamu: Between you and me and God I tell you I feel young. I feel a sense of satisfaction to God Almighty for making it possible by design that one should live this long, enjoying good health. And you live this long with a success story to write about your life. You live this long and you have children and are able to give them education. You live this long to get position through the divine mercy and love of your people. You are in a country of over 150 million people, you are being counted among the first 100 people, I think God has given me everything I wanted. I thank God for this. I mark it with a sense of gratitude and satisfaction. And I also must express my gratitude to my parents for my upbringing and my training. My gratitude will not be complete if I don’t remember my friends and well wishers.

Newswatch: Are there landmark events in this country you remember with nostalgia all through these years?

Adamu: The first thing that comes to mind was an incident in 1956, when I was just about 10 years old when Queen Elizabeth visited Nigeria. I was one of the very few pupils that were selected from my primary school to go to Kaduna, then the headquarters of the northern region to welcome the Queen. It was historic and it has remained in my memory since then. And again the events preceding Nigeria’s independence have left one with indelible memories. Some weeks preceding October 1, 1960, every teacher that came to class talked about the October 1 date with great expectations. It was the talk at the time. Everywhere one went the discussion was about Nigeria’s independence. The next thing that struck me was when I was in Kaduna in 1966, I had started working after my technical college and was working with Kaduna Textile when on January 15 there was a coup that toppled the first republic. You had a feeling that life was coming to a stand still. Every thing, everybody was moving in the direction of uncertainty. That was the first experience. Then as one grew up as a student at the polytechnic, one was a student union leader. Though that was not at the national level, but for me it was a land-mark thing in my life development. Another thing that happened that is remarkable in nature to me was that one day I was going to the polytechnic as a student. I had a bicycle, and that was in 1967, I was just coming out when a very popular vendor in Kaduna at that time, who would go virtually to every street in Kaduna on foot came to me to say that Ojukwu had declared secession and had declared the Republic of Biafara. I was shocked and had to go back home. It was one of the major incidents in my life. And, of course, the civil war that followed. Then the incident of January 1970 when Obasanjo, then the GOC 3 marine commando brought the remnants of the rebel leadership to sign surrender documents. It was again another major event that one witnessed.

As a student union leader I was one of those appointed during the cause of the war to join some international observers at some stage of the war to observe the prosecution of the Nigerian civil war. So it gives you the feeling that this whole war thing, one had seen it. Though not really in action but at least how the rehabilitation was going on in the area, how the schools were re-opening, how the hospitals were re-opening in the areas that were captured, how the administration was planning to rehabilitate those that were affected in the war after the fall of one city or the other, and now waking up to see documents being signed that the war was over. It was nice, it was an experience.

And again on July 29, 1975, General Yakubu Gowon who had been the head of state from 1966 was toppled. I was then with the international secretariat of the Black Festival of Art and Culture and I was on an assignment in Kaduna. I remember that morning when I had gone into an electronics shop along Ahmadu Bello Way, Kaduna. I was just selecting a refrigerator. My hand was on the refrigerator when the owner of the shop, a Lebanese called my attention to a flash on BBC radio broadcast announcing the toppling of General Gowon’s regime. Gowon was away in Kampala for the OAU conference, so I rushed back to the office. Chief Enahoro then the chairman of the festival was also in Kaduna. We had also a traditional ruler, a king, I think from Swaziland was visiting. There was supposed to be a conference or seminar of traditional rulers in black Africa. It was another shock for the whole country. I remember that very vividly.

We went back to the office now waiting for who would be announced as the next leader. Later on General Murtala Muhammed was eventually announced. The new governor then of Benue-Plateau State, Major-General Abdullahi Mohammed the chief of staff to the president appointed me permanent secretary, special duties, and he assigned me with the responsibility of re-organising all the companies that were confiscated by the government. I resumed there sometime in October 1975. And in February 1976 I was in the office and behold another putsch, coup, this time the abortive Dimka coup. The coup that resulted in the death of Murtala Muhammed. And the then chief of staff now President Olusegun Obasanjo then came in as the head of state. By 1977 one of the programmes of that administration was to write a new constitution. There was a constitutional drafting committee, CDC, that was called the 50 wise men, and a constituent assembly to ratify the draft constitution of the CDC. The constituent assembly was made up of elected and nominated members. I came home to Keffi and contested elections, my first, in 1977 to the constituent assembly. I won the election and was up there. At the end of the exercise a report was written and submitted to the government and the ban on politics was lifted. With the lifting of the ban I found myself as one of the organisers of what was then the National Movement of Nigeria, that later metamorphosed into the National Party of Nigeria, NPN. Then elections were held and like a dream the military withdrew with General Obasanjo handing over power to President Shehu Shagari who had won the 1979 presidential election. This was again another milestone in the country. I saw it and I was part of it, I played a role in it.

As democracy was beginning to take root in Nigeria the military returned and the Shagari administration was terminated prematurely. General Mohammadu Buhari came on board. This time around I found myself in detention. I was one of those politicians that were incarcerated.

Newswatch: What was your offence?

Adamu: When I was the chairman of Benue Cement Company, BCC, Gboko, Shagari launched his re-election campaign in Gboko tagged Gboko ’83, and BCC organised lunch just across the road for the visiting President. Just across the road. Look, this was our factory staff quarters and then just across the road the occasion was held. So we hosted the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and members of his official entourage to lunch. We spent 200 thousand naira for this lunch. And at the demise of the Shagari administration petitions were written against me that I was financing the NPN. But you see this was the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria visiting and to have him for lunch which cost the company just N200,000 became an offence. I was tried and convicted, sentenced to 21 years in prison. Then, of course, General Ibrahim Babaginda came. Then started by wanting to heal wounds and he established the Justice Bello Tribunal to review the cases. The tribunal discharged and acquitted some of us. Then I had another stint in detention some time in 1989.

Newswatch: Why were you thrown into detention this time around?

Adamu: I was supposed to be one of those banned politician, and there was a meeting in a cinema house in Jos to which I was invited. Nobody told me it was a political meeting and I didn’t see it as one, and there were no political parties at that time. And I think about a week or two after that I had gone to see Rilwanu Lukman, then minister of petroleum under IBB.

I saw him and we had breakfast together in Hill Station Hotel in Jos. As I was going to my office, I noticed some vehicle driving behind me, flashing me down. So I thought the safest place to stop was at a police station, so I drove to the old police station in Jos. As I got there these guys emerged from their car to say that I was wanted in their office. From there I got incarcerated for the next 21 days. I was there in detention when Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989. So one has seen a bit of this country in the last 60 years.

Then at a point I discovered that the economy was not doing well and I was into building construction, and once the economy is down the first sector that suffers first is construction, physical development. The government begins to think of direct labour and nothing happens in the construction industry. So I decided that instead of wasting away I should go back to school. Now as to what course to read, I remembered that in my travails there were no lawyers to defend me. There I was, just helpless. I didn’t know my right from my left. So I decided that I should read law and find my bearing. This was the motivation that led to my going to read law. I was practising law when I was invited in 1995 to participate in the writing of the 1999, constitution. We were in there and before we completed that exercise I was appointed the minister of state works and housing. By this time the transition programme was on and things had started happening, local government elections had been held.

I must mention that on October 1, 1996, Nasarawa State was created. Six states were created and that was another major event in the country. While preparations were being made to elect the first civilian governor of the state, of course I was involved in the process, in fact I found myself identifying with the UNCP and just as things were looking bright in my way I was suspended from the party, just as we were preparing for the congress. And that meant that I couldn’t contest.

Newswatch: What was your offence this time around?

Adamu: They suspended me for what they alleged were anti-party activities.

Newswatch: What was the anti-party activity?

Adamu: That I had voted for GDM in the election that took place in February of 1998. Somebody had gone to the counting station and fished out my ballot paper and that I voted GDM and that constituted anti-party activity. We were on that, and General Sani Abacha died and General Abdulsalami Abubakar came on board. Then there was a fresh start of everything again. This time we started the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and I was one of the founding members and launched it in Abuja. Then I got the nomination to bear the party’s flag in the gubernatorial election in the state. I did and won the election and the re-election, and here we are today in the twilight of my administration. So one has been living a very active life. I must say with every modesty and I thank God that there is something to show for it. And that is very important.

Newswatch: We spoke to Governor George Akume of Benue State recently and his views tallied with that of Governor Bafarawa of Sokoto State to the effect that the Governors collectively have failed the nation. Bafarawa went a step further by saying that following this failure, he didn’t see the reason why any governors from the north should seek to contest the 2007 presidential election. What do you think of these strong views from your colleagues?

Adamu: I want to beg you not to spoil my birthday. (Laughter). First and foremost, as a matter of courtesy, I don’t like picking on my colleagues. When they make statement based on their views, whether I agree with their views or not is a different ball game. But I hate going into battle with my colleagues. But I believe it is an unfair statement to say that governors are the cause of Nigeria’s problems and that they will be held responsible for it. I think that is not a fair comment to make, and the statement is not loaded with any sense of maturity. I am sorry to say this. Because I don’t want to avoid it now that you have asked the questions, but it is not the type of question I like answering. You cannot lump all the 36 state governors and say that they have failed. If you have failed, admit that you have failed. But you don’t speak for yourself for failing and speak for others who are succeeding, who maybe succeeding. It is not a fair game. I am a PDP member, a loyal PDP member, I have a new state to run.

Everything that is Nasarawa State today, if you divide it into ten, 9.5 are provided by this government. So, I have no reason to say that I have failed. I have no reason whatsoever to talk of failure. And no fair assessor can adjudge me to have failed from the point of view of politics that brought us to office, from the point of view of physical development of bringing dividends of democracy to our people. I don’t subscribe to that at all. In fact it is an unfair comment to make on the governors. I receive less than 6 or 7 hundred million naira every month from the federation account from 1999 when we came in up till about January 2004. It was later that Nasarawa’s allocation rose to about N1 billion, and then you have to come round and see what we have been able to do with our resources. So for more than half of the seven years we have spent we were receiving less than N1 billion. Go round the country and see what others have done, only then you can make a correct assessment. You then will have a benchmark to assess people. The office I stay in today, which is the government house, I built it. The governors that are saying everybody has failed they inherited offices built for them. I didn’t inherit anything. My state is just new and everything my people want I have to provide. But most of these other governors have virtually everything they want put in place by their predecessors. All they require to do is perhaps maintenance, and then perhaps provide new services as their programmes may dictate. It is, therefore, not right for one to sit in his corner and condemn all governors. It is not right. I am stable, my party is stable. I started with PDP and I am still with PDP. You can’t say I have failed.

Newswatch: One of your landmark achievements is in the area of education. You established the Nasarawa State University. Was this because of the low literacy level in the state that led you into establishing the university?

Adamu: Exactly. One of the reasons for the agitation for Nasarawa State at that time was due to our backwardness, the level of marginalisation that we suffered and it manifested in everything. And when I was campaigning, preparing my mission, programme of action I saw education as the foundation of it all. That in the north, we are backward in western education, and that even within the north we have places like Nasarawa State as one of the most backward states in the area of education. And there is no way you can talk about development when you don’t have the capacity to know what you want and the direction of that development that you want. So the thing to do was to quickly address the issue of education. Of course, education is light. If I were not educated I wouldn’t have been governor today. And if education is good for me, why is it not good for my neighbour? If it is good for my children, why should I not extend it to the children of others? So that is the emphasis.

Newswatch: You have also invested in other sectors of the economy in the state. What feedback are you getting in terms of dividends from all these investments?

Adamu: Well, dividends are too early to call in terms of profits. But one thing, you provide employment immediately, for another, you are dealing with raw materials coming from the resources God endows you with, say in agriculture, you process, that means you’ve created market ready, you add value to the things you are producing. Those in themselves are profit indicators, but it takes time to pay the cost of machinery, the cost of buildings etc. It must work for some time to break even. But in terms of the main objective of government employment, wealth generation then you have the dividends. But again we are into industries because we felt a sense of duty to open up, hitherto, there wasn’t anything. When I took over I didn’t see any employer of labour that had up to 20 people in its employment. It was as bad as that. The only employer of labour was the state and local governments. So I have a sense of satisfaction there.

But having facilitated these things, we are now commercialising these outfits. Again one other thing which we did which will be of immense benefit is the hydro electricity plant that we are developing in collaboration with the Canadian government.

Newswatch: The hydro electricity plant, when is it coming on stream?

Adamu: We are hoping that it will come up by December this year.

Newswatch: Having done so much in the state are you not thinking of succession? Because there must be continuity.

Adamu: Obviously, there is no way I will not be thinking of succession. I know for sure that my time is definite and by God’s grace by May 29, 2007 if I get there I may have spent 8 years permissible by the constitution. That is two terms and I know somebody must be there.

Newswatch: Part of your responsibility is to have groomed someone to take over from you to continue with your good job.

Adamu: Has somebody told you I have not groomed anybody?

Newswatch: That’s exactly what we want to know.

Adamu: You are not fair to that person. I am not going to tell you I groomed Mr. X or Y. That won’t be it. This is a democracy, and every citizen of age that meets the constitutional provision has the right if he desires to contest for the office. If I now tell you that I prepared Mr. or Mrs. Y to succeed me I would have pre-empted the future of democracy process. And I don’t want to do that. And I don’t think it will be in the interest of the party and the person because before the end of the day they would have destroyed him. Don’t forget you are dealing with my countrymen and women.

Newswatch: Of late there have been calls from several quarters urging you to take a shot at the 2007 presidential race. We are aware that you have yielded to such calls. What is stopping you from publicly declaring your ambition for the presidential race?

Adamu. Well, that will require some work. Ruling Nigeria is not a tea party or a picnic. You have to get your acts together; you have to have your programme of action. If I say I want to declare tomorrow, then you will expect that this guy that wants to lead us what is the state of his mind? How does he want to run the country? What message does he have? How is he going to deliver us to the promised land? What are the problems he has identified and how is he going to get over such problems etc? There is difference between those who wait to cross the bridge when they get there and those who start jumping before they get to the bridge. Those who jump before they get to the bridge are in the market already, and you can see that they are not making any impact. Its like the battle has not started. This is because the guys who have the programmes have not stepped in. You see those who are loyal members of the PDP after the 2003 elections, the leadership of the party cautioned against this unnecessary haste about declaration of interests because it is capable of distracting and dividing us.

It was capable of diverting our attention. We are in government, there are expectations, people want to see the dividends and let’s concentrate, the president insisted. People went against that, some people started jostling and started dividing attention, not staying in their offices to do their jobs. They didn’t have the responsibility that there is a burden placed on them because some other persons are taking the responsibility. Some other person is taking the primary burden and they don’t seem to care. All the skirmishes we now have are just that some people would just not yield to that. This is especially because of ambition and that the persons are getting desperate. And when a person gets desperate he can do just anything. But the party said wait. We have a leadership, and we elected this leadership. We gave our mandate to them. They said we should wait and those of us who waited are there and when the call comes saying that we can start, then we will start putting our acts together. That is why some of us are not going from one park to another to make declarations with rented crowd or with a crowd-for-sale type. No, no. we want something that is real. We want something that observers will see and say yes this is quality, so that they can say yes, this is a candidate. Win or lose you want to say yes you have tried and you want to have the blessing of your party.

So that is the situation. The party hasn’t even brought out its timetable, when the primaries are taking place etc. It is only when that is out that you will begin to position yourself on what to do and when to do it. Some of us have been in this business of politics from our days as students to date. So it supposes that I should be perfect in the act of politics by now. So, we are very much on track, we are doing our homework, and by the grace of God we will make the public declaration.

Newswatch: You know the issue of what zone is to produce the next president is becoming contentious. There are claims that there was an understanding in 1999 that power should shift to the north after Obasanjo’s tenure. How true is this?

Adamu: There is no doubting the fact that the leaders, our seniors who started the thinking so to say or who assigned themselves the role of we did this, we started the initial seed, thought as to forming a party, PDP, because they came from different backgrounds. They said, and I was there, that there was an agreement to have the presidency start from the South after which it goes to the North. So, it was started with President Obasanjo. Then along the line close to the end of his first tenure the ambition of some persons was coming to bear, threatening the existence of our party. I was then chairman of the governors forum at this time. And we sat down with my colleagues, the national leadership of the party and agreed in principle that democracy was at its infancy, and that Obasanjo should be given an opportunity to continue, and that after his 8 years, maybe there will be some level of stabilisation in which democracy must have been better established.

Some said no, but the majority accepted it. He went into it and the party was behind him and he won. So, there is no doubting the fact that there was an agreement, some gentleman agreement or understanding. You cannot run away from the fact that given our kind of setting, even in 1999 election, in spite of the position of the party, some people from the North contested with the president. That is just a fact. They refused to abide by the directive of the party that the presidency should go to the South. Again, in 2003, in spite of the understanding, we had a few northerners contesting. Abubakar Rimi contested so also Barnabas Gemade. The issue is not whether there was an agreement or no agreement.

Newswatch: Then what is the issue?

Adamu: Look, as a people we must honour agreements. No doubt about that. Having said that, I don’t believe that we should start tearing ourselves apart, we should start fighting over it. I believe that we should sit down with whoever is a stakeholder in this and discuss. I don’t believe that we should be on the pages of newspapers, magazines or radios abusing ourselves and making comments that are not deserving of people of our levels. I don’t like that. That is why I am quite happy with what the northern governors forum are saying on this matter as well as Mallam Adamu Ciroma. I believe also that President Obasanjo is a man of honour, I believe very strongly that the president is a man of God and I believe he will do the right thing at the appropriate time. I don’t believe anybody should behave in a manner as to create the impression that anybody is forced to do whatever. It is not right. I am an aspirant and by the grace of God going to contest for the presidency, but we must tell ourselves the home truth. Yes there was an agreement. I was at the meeting. And it will amount to dishonesty on my part to say that there wasn’t an agreement. There was an agreement. But when we had it, it wasn’t on the pages of newspapers. I believe that at the right moment the right thing will be done.

I also believe that our brothers and sisters in the South will at the end of the day show understanding. Democracy is not yet stable in this country. We must be doing those things that will ensure stability of our democracy.

Newswatch: Your colleagues nursing the ambition of the presidential race are making alliances here and there. There was this talk about Adamu-Odili ticket, how far is that going? Beside that, how are you reaching out to other zones?

Adamu: I don’t believe that is fair on me, nor is it fair on Odili or fair to anybody that is an aspirant to the office of the president for any person to come and say I am going with so, so a person. I think it’s premature and I think it will take the wind off the sail of the democratic process. At this point in time all those appearing are in the game, and at a point in time when you get to the bridge you will cross it. Again we are not yet there. I relate with all the governors on first name basis. I have a good relationship with all of them and they respect me for my age. So, please save me the agony of answering that question. Why should I count my chickens before they are hatched? I am not yet a candidate, I am only an aspirant. What makes you think that anybody I pick as a running mate may not be the president, will not be the candidate? I don’t want to pre-empt anything. This is politics. It is not like two plus two where the answer is four. In politics, two plus two may not give you four.

Newswatch: What is your reaction to the intra-party squabble in PDP?

Adamu: If the PDP were to have no problems at all, then I will not be part of it. PDP is a human organisation and bound to have problems. PDP mirrors Nigeria. Take it or leave it. There is no party today that can stand up to PDP. None. And that is why you can see parties being registered everyday hoping that some good guys will come around and make it great and build a party that can stand PDP. And because PDP reflects the Nigerian nation, the Nigerian political thinking, the Nigerian political behaviour, if Nigeria has no problem, then PDP will have no problem. PDP is synonymous with Nigeria and it is the party to beat. And by God’s grace it will stand that way. What you regard as problems in PDP are necessary developments. In every human organisation that is striving for perfection, working towards the ideal is bound to have such things as being witnessed in PDP. The PDP-led government is effecting reforms in all sectors of our polity. And PDP is the party in power. We can, therefore, not be doing reforms elsewhere and not reform the political process or structure of the country. Therefore, charity, they say begins at home. So in the political reform, PDP, itself must be reformed. And that is what is bringing the problem.

There are people, who want it to be business as usual, there are also those who believe the party is their personal property and, therefore, unless it is they, the party shouldn’t take any contrary position. And there are others who just have allergy for change. I agree with you that you can see it as problem because it portrays the image of instability. But as a loyal party member I don’t want it portrayed in that negative light. I don’t want to see negative headlines about PDP in the newspapers. But the truth of the matter is you cannot go to heaven without dying. There is no heaven here on earth. You must have to die before going to heaven. And if that is the case, you have to go through a process, sometimes painful to be able to have the kind of party that will have minimum problems. But no matter what stage we may reach there must be problems. The Labour Party has problems. The Labour Party is older than Nigeria.

It has been there since 1914. The Republican Party, the Democrats, all have problems. Why can’t ours have problems? After all, this is a democracy. And democracy entails participation. And participation presupposes that different people are going to be involved in doing one thing. Therefore, they will see that one thing in different ways, because they are different people, with different backgrounds. Right, the problem is inbuilt. So, as long as that process is there, for so long will you continue to have problems that require attention, problems that require solution. So, I don’t see anything strange in what is happening in PDP. The thing is that PDP is the ruling party and the biggest party in the country and in the whole of black world. Haven said this you cannot run away from the fact that because we are what we are, we get attention. It’s like a family where you have the father as the head of the family, the mother and children. Even if there are over a thousand parties in Nigeria, but because the PDP is the head it will get attention.

Newswatch: And you explain the factionalisation of the party in that manner?

Adamu: These are people I respect for who they are. We were in the same party. I cannot pretend that I don’t know them. One of them I was with him in my days in NPN. I respect him a lot. I was the party secretary in Plateau State; he was the secretary in Oyo. And we have been growing in the system. And we found ourselves in PDP again. And each time we met we meet as brothers. He belonged to the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party and he knew what they did, and they were virtually on the verge of facing the embarrassment that would probably be the end of their participation in anything public for at least sometime. And in order to save face, we decided to treat it as a family affair. When they saw it, on their own, he and his colleagues wrote to withdraw from the offices they were occupying. They wrote.

The letters are there. This is not folklore. So they eased themselves out with honour because we wanted them to go with honour. If we didn’t, if we had behaved in the manner they are now showing themselves to be, it would have been a different ball game. They can’t stand out and talk the way they are doing today. So we saved them the agony. Then the national executive committee of the party had temporary people in accordance with the constitution of the party, which says that if X from Nasarawa State is out, you get another replacement for him from same state. That we did, and when we were to go for the convention they said no, no it must not be like that. They took us to court. We could have appealed but we said no this is democracy. We now went and started our congresses right from the ward levels. They also wanted from where they were to determine who was to win and who was not to win. Any person that was not their own was not good. From the ward congresses through local government to state culminating to the national convention live for the whole world to see.

They didn’t come to say that they wanted to contest only to be stopped by anybody. They cannot as today claim that they offered themselves to contest only to be turned down. The convention came December 9, 2005, and you were there to cover the event. And in May 2006, six months after the convention and about 18 months after they left office they now come to say they are a faction of PDP. There is nothing serious.

They along with other persons have gone to apply to establish a new political party. Somehow, their application was granted, and you and me are witnesses to the fact that they went to Yar Adua Centre in Abuja and launched what they called ACD. These same guys later went to their individual states and either attempted to, or did launch ACD. Now haven launched their new party, ACD, they came back again and say they are a faction of PDP, constitute themselves into a faction and get an office in Abuja because they have money to waste. The money they made out of us to waste. The question I expected journalists to ask these people is as to how they are a faction of PDP when they had launched their own party, ACD, not too long ago in Abuja and in their various states? Now they have come here to say they are a faction of PDP. What is happening?

Newswatch: There is this position that those who supported tenure elongation for President Olusegun Obasanjo during the National Assembly debate on the review of the 1999 constitution should not contest for the presidency come 2007. Those who think so argue that those who supported tenure elongation had eliminated themselves from the race because one of the high points for tenure elongation was that only Obasanjo was capable of continuing with the Nigerian project. You were on the side of tenure elongation.

Adamu: Who are the moralists? Who are those with the moral standing? Let them come out and let’s see them. Let’s see who will cast the first stone. Who has made them judges in the court of morality? Let them come out and let’s see whether they can stand the test of being judges in the court of morality in Nigeria.

There is no doubt that we had the debate. The National Assembly initiated it. It was not initiated by Abdullahi Adamu in Nasarawa State. It was initiated by the National Assembly. They had their committee. The powers to amend or not to amend are the inherent powers of the National Assembly. You can’t take it away from them. And they chose in their wisdom that that was one of the areas to be looked into. Then they developed their own bill. It was not an executive bill. Then our own party, the PDP that I am also one of the leaders resolved to support the efforts of the National Assembly as far as the bill was concerned. And I agreed with my party and supported my party. There is nothing to be ashamed about. I accepted voluntarily to be part of PDP. The party as long as I am a member can be instrumental to my fortune and misfortune. But I have taken the decision to be a member of the party, and I shall continue to be with the party until God in his infinite wisdom and time do me part. I cannot disown what the PDP wants to do. I cannot, as a loyal party member. I have been a party member before coming to be a governor; I know party structure and party supremacy. If I disagree then I leave the party. Those who are saying they don’t agree, why can’t they leave the party? They want to stay in the party and not do the party’s bidding? It is wrong. It is morally wrong.

What some of us did was the party’s bidding. Okay the National Assembly defeated its bill and the party said it was victory for democracy. And people are making that an issue. They have nothing to say. They have nothing to offer to this country. I am a Nigerian with every right to say yes or no on any issue. I win or I lose. My party says let’s support the National Assembly, and then the National Assembly defeated itself and we are back. You see it is part of democracy. It is a test. We tested democracy, and you see we are not just follow-follow people. I am not. I want to stand up to be counted and I want to bear my cross for God’s sake. I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. This is democracy and if you are not tolerant of other views except yours then you are not a democrat. I did it out of principle because my party said we should do it. Even as we talk about the 3rd term issue, we know those who came during the debate, went to Abuja to give all assurance that they will deliver from their end. They never did.

They rather went home to do a different thing. They exhibited multiple faces and this is the real case of abuse of morality. You see and treat them as friends, in the same party, supporting the same government, yet they then assumed to betray everybody. This is not morality. Yet, today, these are the same people who want to rule in 2007, even with their double talk and double face. We can never take them seriously again.

Posted on the web by Newswatch magazine, August 3, 2006