Dr Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia, who was a governorship candidate in the 2019 general election, he talked with Biola Azeez on why he opted out of the race two weeks to the election, among other sundry national issues. Excerpts.
Are you back in APC now?
Yes, because of the then chairman ANRP Ade Alabi handled the affairs in a very unprofessional way, I decided to leave the party because I would not want to be associated with someone like that. I wouldn’t have left the party because we could have used the opportunity to build the party and continue to forge ahead but when you find yourself in the midst of certain characters who do not have an expansive view of the world and very limited in their understanding, it’s better for you go your own way and let peace reign. Eventually the APC approached me in a civilized manner and 99.9% of my people are in APC. I would not see everything I want in them as a party just like they won’t see everything they want in me as an individual, I decided to join the party.
Many people say that value system in Nigeria is being eroded.
I agree that our value system not just in Kwara political party but in the country as a whole is being eroded. How do you explain that in Nigeria today, you can’t walk into a ministry and get your work done efficiently without being asked for a bribe? How do you explain that you cannot drive on the roads freely because other road users do not have the etiquette? When we fly into the country, the frontline officials that will welcome you into the country will ask you for a bribe and you can go on and on and on. What we need to do in that regards is to start from the kindergarten and redo our curriculum in such a way that our kids right from kindergarten to secondary school will inculcate the right values. Even has adult, we need to change our orientation.Even weas adults need to lead by example, we need to let the procurement system work. The governors and president needs to get out of the procurement system where corruption starts. All of this so tied together. I am afraid that because of the erosion of the value system, we have people agitating in the South East, North East, we have banditry and kidnapping all over the country. It is very simple, it is a total collapse of the Nigeria values system and what we need to do is to rebuild. That we can do it, it can be achieved. There are nations that have gone through something similar. We need to rebuild ourselves, we should be committed to nation building. Starting with the little kids will give them a fresh minds then we need to have a programme that will be driven to each family because the family is the bedrock of the society. I would like to talk about the local government system because with governors all over Nigeria paralyzed the local government system that is why we have this problem because one problem often leads to another.
How do we get out of insecurity in Nigeria?
To get out of the insecurity situation we are presently, we have to follow the law. When I come to discourse, I come to it in a different angle, a very philosophical way. Typically, when people talk about insecurity, people will say we need more ammunition. oh yes that works in short term. Two things are happening: the politicians have weakened the judiciary, because when people don’t get justice through the judiciary, they find it another way.
How do you react to calls for restructuring?
We do need restructuring. Just like I have said earlier, we are in the unitary republic been led by the top. This has nothing to do with the present president because the people before him did the same thing. And if we don’t change it, the next guy will do the same thing. What we need to do is that no selected group of people can run this country from Abuja. That brings me to hypocrisy of the state governments, they are 36 in numbers. Often time they are in good relation with their state legislatures, and members of national Assembly delegates what is stopping them in getting what they want. During the colonial and shortly after independence, there used to be region police system. It doesn’t make sense to bring someone from Enugu to police in Kwara. He doesn’t know the terrain. The governments should start getting serious, they need to do the job they are elected to do. The president has is own fault but when it comes to getting state police, it is the 36 states governors’ fault. The reason why there is no state police in the country is because they have their head somewhere else. These are parts of restructuring the thing is that this system is not working. Some people allowed it to stay like this for long but it is not working for average Nigerians. The state government should be able to create their local governments. The local government doesn’t have a place in the presidential system of government and in the constitution. It’s an aberration. The state ought to be able to create has many local government as they want so far they can fund it. It shouldn’t be a function of the federal constitution. Local government should be homogenous. I plead with the state governments to sit down and get something done.
How has your journey into politics been so far?
My involvement in politics at the subconscious level started in the year 2000 just after democracy returned to Nigeria. This consciousness was a result of the preceding years when life was unbearable especially after the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme. I could see how my immediate family and extended family made ends meet and all these are tied towards others’ political decision. Then I decided to participate in politics. At a time, my participation was limited to writing articles in area of governance. After 10 years, I decided that I need to participate fully in order to be more involved. It is important for us to understand that everything in Nigeria is politics. This is what drives me because we have a mindset of solution and I think of how to make it better. It could be system wise or human. I started from the human perspective by looking at how humans are trying and struggling. So, I thought of helping people although I can’t do it alone unless I am part of government. I am afraid that very few state governments have what the young graduates will do in plan and that is why I want to join the government. A person of my education and pedigree should not even be interested in politics but because the system is not working right. I have my business and research that I am working on. We can’t stand aloof. So it is important that myself and others get involved because no one is going to do it for us.
You opted out of 2019 governorship race as ANRP governorship candidate to support APC candidate. Why?
A: The 2019 general elections in Kwara state was an historic one. particularly in governoership. At the time of the election I disagreed with the incumbent governor now the governor MallamAbdulrazaq Abdulrahman especially in the manner of APC primaries and that was why I accept the ANRP. APC primaries process were not transparent and fair and I challenged the leadership like how can a party of change be like this and I decided I was not going to be part of this. The ANRP offered me a nomination which took me a while before accepting it and announce because I was still hopeful that APC would get its house organized but when none of this was happening, I decided I have everything it takes to become the governor of Kwara State. The only disadvantage we had was in funding but I trusted the electorate that if our message was able to get to them, they should be able to pick us out the many. I accepted the nomination, I came down from my base, and then we started the campaign and we faced a lot of challenges. A lot of things were known to us knowing that we are going into the race with very limited funds. We were all together in APC for some years before the disagreement happens. Before we had conversation about the need to come together to take out the former government as issue of unity. That none of us can afford to go our separate ways. This conversation started happening sometimes in January, some of which I shared with the leadetship of the party then. There were also some attempts of third parties (APC, PDP, and ANRP) trying to come together to front someone. When this meeting was going on, the chairman of ANRP was attending and I was attending too because we were making everything very transparent because ultimately I was making it very clear that the ambition was not about me, it was about what we can do for Kwara State as all of this was going on, I didn’t know if the then Chairman Ade Alabi expectation was met financially or not, that since I came down from the United States, I had a lot of money. I believe in the capacity that we can do it. In February 2019, my relationship with him soured, I don’t want to go into details. I have instituted two cases against him on thing he said that aren’t correct because it was not evidence based. Eventually we could not mobilize enough masses to challenge the APC candidate and I decided that it will be pointless to continue in the journey. I wanted it as much as the APC candidate wanted it and it became very clear that he had a part of victory that I don’t have and out of my free will, I called a meeting which the secretary took note of about my decision to leave. I only seized the opportunity of the historic moment. They disagreed but I told them that was what I want to do and I met with some APC chieftain who and I told them it’s time to come together and move ahead what has already happened. Nothing was discussed with then in terms of gain, I was not offered anything up till date, and I never asked for anything, nothing transpired between anyone of them even the now governor. I did everything because I see the historic moment and I understood the importance of the moment I understand that if I was the candidate with a number of win just like Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq had, he would have done the same thing. At that time, the opposition party don’t have a choice but to come together to have a new order after about 40years that the state government has been in the hands of a very few selected people, it will be unheard of not to come together regardless of our differences because what separates us is minimal to what separates the others and that was why I did that. I know that presently, Kwarans might not be where they want to be but they are far from where they were in 2019. The governor has fulfilled a lot of promises which are something I promised in my manifesto because that was what I needed. There are areas that he can do better and we will point out those areas to him but overall, I am satisfied with my decision of supporting him and no regrets.
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