Why APC Can’t Defeat PDP In 2015 — Aminu Dabo
Arc Aminu Dabo, former managing director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), is a PDP chieftain in Kano state. In this interview, he speaks on the ruling party in the state and the merger of the leading opposition parties, among others.
Excerpts:
As a PDP chieftain from Kano you have remained silent silence in the last two years, why?
I have not been silent; the most important thing is to do the work rather than do the talking. In the last two years, I have been engaged in so many things in my primary constituency- helping my party and my governor, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to achieve his desired mandate. He has done very well and he is making us proud.
The people feel the impact and we can now beat our chest to say our governor is one of the best performing in the country. He recently got two awards from the Black African Mayors for uplifting the quality of life of his people - for his prudence, transparency and use of public funds. We are proud of him and he is proud of us, because everybody is a witness to the results of what he is doing to better the lives of our people.
Even our opponents are now giving up as a result of his performance; the result is transparent and everybody is commending him.
How would you compare his achievement with previous government?
Unfortunately, there is no basis for comparison; it is just like comparing light and darkness. Kwankwaso has only done two years and the result is enormous. It’s unprecedented that the performance for two overshadowed what was done in eight years. A lot is being done.
Look at the banning of achaba (commercial motorcycle); people never thought it would be possible, but it is history now. If you go to the hospital the record of accidents has reduced drastically; pollution has reduced; insecurity associated with achaba has reduced and it has gone for good.The biggest policy change he is about starting now is to remove all the ‘Almajiris’ from the streets of Kano with a view of rehabilitating them, training them, to add value to them to become self-reliant. It is one policy that people are very supportive of.
What is your assessment of President Goodluck Jonathan in the last two years?
I need to congratulate our president; he has performed very well. You have to see his performance in the light of the security challenges he faces on a daily basis. In spite of that, he has performed creditably well in his transformation agenda. Look at the issue of fuel scarcity, it used to be a major problem but now is settled.
There is improvement generally on electricity; he has performed well in giving women the desired 30 per cent participation in governance. No government has ever done that. There is also this programme of Sure-P and You-Win; they are meant to address the issue of youth unemployment, so I think he is doing well in those areas.The state of emergency in the three states is going to work and its working already. The area which the president should also focus on to effectively tackle security challenges is our borders and our neighbouring countries.
APC seems to be waxing strongly and threatening the ruling party. How do you see that development?
As far as I am concerned, the merger you are talking about looks so big and its looks like a big threat, but if history is anything to go by, that merger is not going to work; it will fizzle out. One, the circumstances and operations at the states are different from what operates at the national level.
Two, you have to look at the fundamentals;
who are the people coming together?
We all know them: ACN, ANPP and CPC. These are very incompatible people; there is no clear and sincere intention to come together. If you look at it critically, there has never been a time the South West and the North agreed to work together politically right from the First Republic till date. Will you be surprised if the merger works? Certainly, I will be surprised. It will not even work.
If you go by history, it is the same trend that will happen. If you remember there was the progressive governors’ merger against (defunct) National Party of Nigeria (NPN), did it work? It failed. Nigerians seem to forget history. Don’t you think the internal crisis in PDP will affect the performance of the party in 2015? Yes, there is crisis in PDP, but I hope our party will sit up, from state to federal level, and resolve the issues.
There is enough time; they will be able to resolve whatever issues they have. Fundamentally, the crisis in PDP has to do with exclusion and some people trying to dominate. The president has to get everybody on board; we need to be honest to everyone and everything will change. The party presently is led by new people who have not much knowledge of the past political events.
Source: Legit.ng
