When Governor Abdul Aziz Yari of Zamfara State and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state anointed the current state Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Mukhtar Idris, as the party’s governorship candidate for the 2019 elections it was not envisaged that it could degenerate to the level of the controversy being witnessed at the moment. The APC primaries in the state were characterised by crises, with aggrieved governorship aspirants, who have come to be known as G7 disagreeing with the party’s decision. One of them, Dr Dauda Lawal Dare, in this interview by ATTAHIRU AHMED, said he was in the race to bring an end to politics of godfathers and that the state is grossly underdeveloped due to lack of quality governance.
ALSO READ: Alaafin: I am an Ake, Ibara man
What led to the formation of G7 by you and other aggrieved governorship aspirants on the platform of the APC in Zamfara State?
On the formation of G7, we APC governorship aspirants in the state have common mission of moving the state forward in providing purposeful leadership. We were seven that came out to contest the governorship ticket on the platform of APC. We are protesting the system of godfatherism as declared by the state governor. We really said no to the situation whereby somebody would single-handedly choose a leader to rule over four million people, even without their consent. Such an era had come and gone. We want our people to collectively choose a leader that would suit their political interests; this is all that democracy is meant for.
Apart from you, who are the other members of the G7?
G7 consists of the governorship aspirants in Zamfara State who are united for a common goal. Those who are members of the group include the state deputy governor, Ibrahim Wakkala Muhammad, former state Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, Minister of Defense, Mansur Dan Ali, a retired federal permanent secretary, Engineer Abu Magaji and a former director in the Federal Civil Service, Alhaji Sagir Hamidu.
You are very critical of the present administration by saying the state is bedevilled by developmental and political challenges. Why are you so hard on the government?
I challenged anybody to contradict my assertion that Zamfara State is left far behind if compared to other states in terms of economic well being, education and healthcare delivery. This is despite the fact that the state is rated by economic experts as the second after Kano State in terms of commercial enterprises across the northern part of the country.
You are also protesting the APC primary elections held in the state. What accounts for this?
All we are protesting against is that direct primaries should be done by the APC national body across the state so that credible candidates of various positions would be produced to ensure that no single vote is missing for the success of the party right from the presidential to the councillorship levels in the state. The major concern of any reasonable indigene of the state is to contribute his/her quota to salvage the state from bad governance, especially with the imposition of inexperienced candidates to various political positions by their godfathers.
What is your take on the issue of security in the state?
Poor governance is responsible for the current insecurity that is bedeviling the state. This is because those at the helm of affairs were short of experience in providing quality leadership. The state has been grossly underdeveloped in terms of quality governance due to politics of godfatherism.
and then