FG owes Nigerians duty to guarantee free campaign, elections —Alkali, NNPP chairman

The national chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali, in this interview by TAOFEEK LAWAL, speaks on the controversial exit of Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, presidential ambition of Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, security for 2023 general election.

 

Before now, most Nigerians talked more about the APC and the PDP. NNPP and the Labour Party (LP) have come to the fore. What is going on in the NNPP, in particular?

This sounds strange to me. NNPP has been in the news. Personally, in the past one week, I have had interviews with Channels, ARISE, Abuja Broadcasting Media Services. We have been talking with other media channels. Our Twitter handle is alive and active. We are engaging our people at every level, both at state and national. But what we are not doing is dancing around or stay there in the cloud. We are on the ground because that is where the people are.

 

I asked the question because, at a time, Nigerians viewed the next presidential election as a three-horse race involving Bola Tinubu of the APC, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the NNPP and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP. But that has changed as the name, Peter Obi and the Labour Party seems to resonate more than the NNPP.

Our presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has been going round the country quietly. People don’t see this because they like the razzmatazz and the noise. But what is being done by the NNPP is unique. A leader, who is seeking election should not wait to go to a state or any community only on the time he is looking for votes. The strategy Dr Kwankwaso is using, is very beautiful. It is to go round and reestablish contact with these communities, with the people, with the stakeholders, listen to them, understand them, allow them to air their views, understand their fears and their needs and then commiserate with communities that were affected by certain disasters or losses in term of lives and properties; opening offices and strengthening the party’s structures and others. So that by the time he starts the campaign proper, he would have done over 60 or 70 percent of the work and he would have even saved a lot of grammar during the campaigns. But, with what he is doing now, he is touching the base; he is telling people what they want to hear, listening to people to know them and understand them. This strategy has never been adopted by anybody except Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and it is very excellent.

 

The last time you said NNPP is one of the fastest growing parties in Nigeria today. Do you think you have the national spread to win the 2023 presidential election?

As you can see (pointing) these are people from the South East. That is our zonal chairman from the South East, chairman from Anambra. Recently, we had a long meeting with our chairmen all over the country, almost all of them, except for a few. It is just to let you know how we have been strategising for our campaigns. There is no state you go to in Nigeria today that you will not see the NNPP flag flying. We are comfortable and the structures are there. During the primaries, you found out that virtually every position from the Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship and of course our presidential candidate were duly contested for. We have the full compliments of our candidate in every state of the federation except those that are off-season. So far, so good, we are comfortable. Look at where Nigeria was a few years back. There was a time when nobody contemplated whether another political party would ever emerge to challenge the status quo or the ways things were being done, though they were perilous and not helping the country. But, people wanted to continue with the same porous arrangement and expected different results but it was not going to work. That fixation is what we are trying to encourage people to move away from. You put yourself in a cocoon, close your mind and do not want to see anything differently. Now, there is life as you just rightly observed. Last year by this time, nobody would have said that by this time, there would be three main political parties; whether NNPP is number three, number two or number one. But now, whether you like it or not, the fact is that NNPP is a factor and a force to be reckoned with in Nigerian politics.

 

 But there is a clear difference between you being in every state and being on the ground in those states. Can you say you are on ground in all the 36 states and the FCT as far as the 2023 elections are concerned?

The issue is you are asking us what we are doing and we are telling you what we are doing. We can’t sit down here and tell you things that are not there. What is helping us however is not about being grounded or not. There are states that have all the full compliments of their structures in places but they are all in various legal crises even at the national level. Look at what is happening today in the PDP. The last time they had a crisis was in 2013 where about five governors pulled out from the party and since then the PDP has never recovered fully. Now, they have about 13 governors and almost 14 with the incoming from Osun State  whom we can say has one leg now because he is not yet in the office. Again now, about five governors are pulling out from the campaign council of the party. Is that a plus or a minus? It is not about the size or the quantity but the quality; it is the nature of an organisation, the commitment, the cohesion. Of course, every political party has its own internal issues. That doesn’t stop us from continuing to expand. No party today will say it is comfortable enough that it doesn’t need any member again. Remember we are all looking for members and once you go for campaigns you are also looking for potential voters.

 

The campaign has started. What process is NNPP going to adopt regarding campaign funding, bearing in mind that there is a limit to what a political party can spend?

I can assure you that we will follow the rules and make sure that our campaigns are robust, very strong and very successful. But we will follow the rules.

 

You think you have the wherewithal to do that?

Of course, yes.

 

How do you intend to do that?

We will let you know. Remember no political party goes to the market with its own strategies of funding its activities.

 

But don’t you think it should be made public according to INEC?

When the time comes, we will make it public. But the time has not come yet.

 

Senator Ibrahim Shekarau was in your party briefly and left amidst allegations that he was frozen out of the party along with his supporters. Don’t you think his exit will affect NNPP in one way or the other?

Not at all! There was a primary in Kano and Senator Rufai Hanga was selected to replace Senator Shekarau. We, at NNPP ,will not encourage anything unlawful or illegal, we will not. But, we are also saying that there is no way somebody who left the party voluntarily and even wrote a letter to us and even read the letter to the party and wrote to INEC that he has resigned from NNPP will not be replaced.

 

Nigerians are concerned that your presidential candidate is from Kano and the state being the strongest base of the NNPP will be a battle ground for the three gladiators (Kwankwaso, Ganduje and Shekarau) as far as the presidential election is concerned.

Have you forgotten the history of Kano politics and then Kwankwaso? Look at the history of Kano politics and look at the position of Kwankwaso in the past 30 years. He has contested elections and won. He was one of the few governors who contested elections, came out, became a minister, contested again, won and came back and became a senator. You cannot separate Kwankwaso and Kano politics. One of the things people don’t understand is that respect for leadership and followership is hard. And whatever has happened, Senator Kwankwaso has done sufficiently enough to earn the respect and support and his kind of followership is rare in African politics today because whenever he has the opportunity to be in a position of authority, he is more concerned about the life of everybody including the youth and the women. Everyone knows what he (Kwankwaso) has done in the area of education. People who are from very poor families and who did not have any dream of going abroad and one day, they were just invited and asked to go and get ready to study and they later became medical doctors, pilots, pharmacists. Everybody knows the story. All these did not happen in a day. He has invested and while he was doing this, he never thought he would be contesting the presidency of Nigeria. He believes that the children of the poor must also benefit from education from the government and other benevolent leaders like him. Many others are not doing that and some of them when they ask them to go home today they cannot because they have nothing to show.

 

What will be your message to Nigerians on the choices of their candidates for the elections and to the politicians?

First, we are commending INEC. They are innovative, they are creative. They are always coming up with new ideas. But, every new idea also comes with its own challenges. Sometimes, there are some elements of flexibility so that the system can run. But I think they are doing their best. At least you can give it to them. Secondly, we know that they are going to face serious challenges during the election, but, they have to stay very firm and strong and be decisive. In the case of security, we also have to call on the security agencies to redouble their efforts in the country as there are various scales of crises in virtually every part. In some places, it (crisis) is abating and in some it is not. This campaign can be a huge challenge to political parties. As long as we want democracy, there must be elections; before elections,there must be campaigns and with campaigns, you have to go far and wide. The Federal Government owes it as a duty to Nigerians to provide a very good conducive atmosphere for free campaign and free elections. We don’t want a situation where people hide under insecurity to cause havoc. Other agencies like the media are also very critical because today whatever happens in the country you (the media) are the first people to know and the first to tell. Therefore, a lot of Nigerians have a lot of faith in you because of what you have done over the years. But now things are changing very fast and you must play your role well because the new environment of social media and its manipulation consciously or unconsciously like the issue of fake news is becoming the new norm especially as it affects security and causes a lot of damage in the country. Before you write any story or you do any analysis, you should know that there will be implications for somebody close or far from you. The stability of the country depends on very good press and we have a lot of confidence in you. And for the political parties there is a challenge because if they are fighting for elections, what is it for? Is it just to grab power so that you can also accumulate? No! Nigeria is bleeding, everybody knows. It is very tough and rough. Of course you can say the government has been doing a lot but even by the government is also not comfortable and not happy with what they have done. The political parties must avoid manipulating the security agencies and the security situation. Political parties should avoid politicizing security issues. A lot of damage has been done and we must find a way out of it and reverse it. So, everyone must be able to cast his or her vote freely and the political parties too must be able to go out to campaign and seek votes and also get set for elections. This is the call.

For us in the NNPP, we are committed. We have been calling on our youth and women to work by the rules. We don’t intend to go and interfere with people’s affairs but they should also not interfere with our own. All these unnecessary propaganda, very toxic propaganda should have no place now. People should address issues and stop attacking individuals or personalities. Address issues and tell Nigerians what new things you are going to offer.

Are you comfortable with the situation we are in today where people cannot go to the farm not to talk of even harvesting? The issue of animal husbandry has been destroyed. People cannot even have cattle now it is becoming like being criminalised and the rustling as well. Traders can also not move around easily or embark on any journey. Even the airlines that we thought are going to offer options have become something else. The airline industry needs to be reorganised thoroughly because nobody is enjoying what is happening today. The travel system, the level of social welfare, universities are closed, private schools’ children are at home; these are not what Nigerians want. Under normal circumstances, some political parties cannot come out and are not ready for elections. What will they tell Nigerians? That you want to continue what you are doing or you want to escalate it. I don’t think Nigerians will take that. NNPP is offering Nigerians hope, we are offering them opportunities and we believe Nigeria will be better off.

 

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