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The North will use its numerical strength to produce Obasanjo�s successor � Senator Sule Yari Gandi
Senator Sule Yari Gandi (ANPP, Sokoto East) is the vice-chairman, Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs. He explains in this interview with SAM AKPE and FESTUS OWETE how the North will produce President Olusegun Obasanjo�s successor
What was the motive behind the Senators� Retreat in Sokoto?
Just like the theme of the retreat �Assailing the challenges facing the North,� suggests, we realized as senators of northern extraction across the political divide, that there are monumental problems facing the North in the areas of education, health, security and in the areas of our social life. We needed to go and discuss them in order to have a focus as legislators representing that part of the county. And that is exactly the fundamental reason why we organized the retreat.
Did you need to organize a retreat to discuss the problems facing the North?
Yes, in order to have a coordinated front because sometimes, political divides might overshadow our focus as individuals and as senators representing the North. If, for instance, we, regardless of our political differences, regardless of our religious and ethnic differences say let�s us go and think of one North just the way we used to do, in the olden days, it is okay. That was the practice in the Second Republic and so this time around we want to enact that spirit. I don�t know if you want to call it Renaissance North - that was exactly what brought us together and that was why we said that the retreat would serve us that purpose.
There were clear indications in the speeches delivered at the retreat that there were certain moves to stop the retreat or to make sure it did not hold in Sokoto. Can you give us an insight into those undercurrents?
Yes, there were undercurrents. There were people who made frantic efforts to stop the retreat basically because things were so jittery that having a coordinated North and having a North with one focus might jeopardize their selfish political ambitions. They are afraid that when the North is focused, when its people come together, when those that matter come together to forge a common front for the North, they might not have an advantage because they are mediocre persons. They have been trying to exploit little differences among our people, in terms of religion, and in terms of ethnicity, in terms of social status to divide us in order for them to achieve their political ambition. Whenever people of big minds come together in the North to forget about these differences and give us a clear vision and a clear mission to pursue, these people get jittery and they will make all sorts of maneuvers in order to stop this kind of gathering.
But it seems to have been deeper than that in the sense that it was hosted in Sokoto. Why Sokoto?
The first retreat was not held in Sokoto. It was held in Plateau State, a PDP-controlled state and a predominantly Christian state. Now for the second time, we chose an ANPP controlled state, a predominantly Moslem state. This we did strategically in order to show that we want to bring our people together and that this divide should not serve as the major weapon that the mediocre persons would use to deal with us.
The mere fact that you invited people perceived to be presidential aspirants indicated that you had something else on your mind beyond just discussing the problems of the North. It looked as if you wanted to set an agenda, to tell people �look this is Sokoto and this is where we stand.� Is that not true?
No, it is not true. The people invited were not presidential aspirants. The people invited cut across the spectrum: from the judiciary to ex-civilian governors to ex-Chief Justices of the Nigeria to former military leaders to religious leaders and to current political leaders. We invited every body. All those that matter as well as the major stakeholders in the enterprise called monolithic North. So, we were not there to discuss the issue of aspirants.
But, that was the second issue on your communiqu�. I think where the president should come from and where the candidate should come from were critical issues at the retreat
Regardless of the different political parties we have in the North, regardless of the different aspirants across the political divides we have in the North, there is this genuine consensus among northerners of all stratum that the presidency should, as an order of national priority, rotate to the North for the next eight years after 2007. The North willingly in the national interest conceded power for the sake of our corporate entity and existence to the South. A deliberate attempt was made by the North to deny its own brethren from making it in 1999, including denying some political parties the opportunity of a valid convention to choose a northerner; including making all sorts of arrangements to make sure that a southerner emerged. All these were deliberate efforts made by the North in order to ensure that this country remained as one entity. So, we are feel that it is now time for our southern brothers also to realize that it takes one sacrifice to save another.
Is it the position of all the political parties that the presidential candidate should come from the North this time? I am aware Buhari contested the election in 2003 and he is from the North. Had he had won the election, what would have happened?
Buhari�s decision to contest the election in 2003 was his personal decision. It was not the collective decision of the North. But now that the North is meeting to say we demand the presidency in 2007, it is a collective decision. That is why you saw in 2003, there were certain states in the North that voted PDP because it (Buhari�s candidacy) was not the collective decision of the entire North. But if the North decides as it has decided in 2007, absolutely whoever emerges, regardless of the political parties, we are going to give him votes. After all, it was done in the South-West. AD gave its votes to Obasanjo; PDP gave its votes to Obasanjo; the ANPP elements in the South-West gave their votes to Obasanjo. So, why not the North?
You said that in 1999, the North deliberately conceded power. That sounds like the North has the birthright to the presidency and that the other parts of the country will need to beg them before they are allowed to rule this country?
Democracy is a game of numbers and if you are not willing to concede, you use your numbers to get what you want. But despite our numerical strength, we said no, we are not going to use our numerical strength to our advantage. Let it be used to the advantage of others. It is not a question of birthright. Democracy is hinged on the principle of a game of numbers and once you have the numbers, you can always call the shots.
Having produced the country�s leaders for so many years and a southerner is hoping to stay there for eight years, why the desperation to have the power back?
You are talking of a democratic arrangement. We are not talking of those that seized power by the barrel of the gun. A military man is a military man, whether he comes from the South or from the North. They cheated you and me. So, we are not counting those because they were anti-people. They did not form a constitutional government. We are talking of a government by the people.
Some northern senators who did not attend the retreat have described it as a mere jamboree
The people doing so are the mediocre people I am referring to. They are the people that never believe that something can come out of genuine enterprise. They are people that have been eating and living in this kind of mediocrity and it is only when people are divided that they will have something to eat. Once the people are united, they have nothing to eat and that is why we want to see that a deliberate effort is made to keep them out of business. They are making all sorts of accusations and noise to give us a bad name. But no matter what you do to give a dog a bad name, a good dog will be a good dog.
What are the unresolved issues among the northerners pertaining to 2007?
As far as I am concerned, there is nothing like unresolved issues. We are all united for one cause that the presidency should as a matter of urgency, in the best interest of our country, shift to the North.
Some people and indeed some northerners still say there is no more one North as it used to be, especially given the agitation by the Middle Belt to become autonomous or have a separate identity?
People saying there is no more one North are the mediocre people I referred to in the beginning. They are the people who believe that so long as the North remains divided, that is when they will get something to eat. So long as the North remains one entity, they will get nothing doing.
Can you just give the name of one the mediocre people that you have been referring to?
Anybody who relies on ethnicity, religion or other differences to divide our peoples is a mediocre person.
The ANPP to which you belong and which is seen to be a viable opposition to the ruling PDP appears to be disintegrating as members are fighting one another�
It is normal to fight in a political party. A political party is not a church where everybody choruses Halleluyah. A party is a conglomeration of different interests where people come together to agree on one thing and to go one way. So, if those interests decide to resonate and fight within themselves, it is not unusual in a political setting.
What have you missed not belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party?
I don�t miss anything. As a matter of fact, I am happy to be in ANPP than being in PDP because PDP is a party without direction.
Saturday Punch, October 23, 2004
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