Senator Abu Ibrahim is a four-time senator who represented Kastina South in the National Assembly. In this interview, he speaks on a number of issues, including zoning of the presidency and security challenges in the country
There have been agitations by the people of South-East that your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and other political parties should zone the presidency in 2023 to the region. Do you see this happening?
I think that the South-East made a lot of mistakes by going one way. Look at the South-West, it is on the ratio of 60/40. There is only one governor from the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the South-East.
So for APC to say they could give it to the South-East, they cannot, unless the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), may be right to pick their candidate from the South-East. The party (APC) will like to look at where it has strong support base and take decision.
The people of South-East should democratise the Igbo society so that it can freely make choice. I was telling my friend, the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma that he should convince the South-East to be Nigerians and not to go one way. If there is anybody that should be more Nigerians it should be the Igbo because they are everywhere.
Alhaji Mamman Daura recently kicked against zoning. Are also against zoning the presidency? What is your position?
Whether there is a need for zoning or not what is important is the position of the party and the presidency.
The presidency has distanced itself and said that it does not share in that thought that; Mamman Daura has expressed his own view. But, he has a right to express his opinion. It must be stated that zoning is not in the Constitution.
I remember in the Senate during an amendment exercise, some people said we should put it in the Electoral Act, but I was one of those who objected to it because it is not in the Constitution. I suggested that we can put it in the constitution of the political parties. Mamman Daura has a right to make his views known and he has a say.
To me I support zoning, because it allows for a better understanding of the nation. It is a kind of thing that can move us forward as a country.
As far as I am concerned, we should respect zoning and rotation of power until the country gets stabilised and matured. It will not be good to discard it now as that will create confusion and bad blood.
Zoning was an agreement by Nigerians because of differences but it should not be made permanent. It is a system that will develop the country.
Your party, APC has been with dogged with crisis, and people blame it on how it was formed. The groups that formed the party are described as strange bed fellows. They came together and fussed into APC. Do you also blame the crisis on this?
Strange bed fellows are forced. APC was an innovation, a party that was created by group of political parties voluntarily, unlike Nigerians leaving their positions as national chairman of their parties and to be absorbed by another party.
People are still not comfortable that up till, the National Leader of the party, Ahmed Bola Tinubu is not a member of the National Executive Committee ( NEC) meeting?
The National Leader is not a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC), he is a member of a Caucus. People were just creating crisis when there is no crisis. Most of these things were created by the media; there is no more investigative journalism.
The party has appointed a caretaker committee led by Governor Mai Bunu.
How far do you think this committee can go in resolving some of the crisis in the party?
It has taken place, and the committee has been accepted. It is bringing peace and it is becoming the solution to the party problems.
The security situation in the North- East and North- West is worrisome, what is the way forward?
Unfortunately, the issue of appointment of service chiefs has been politicised . We need to know how to retrieve illegal arms, like what was done when amnesty was granted in the South-South.
We need to know certain things; what is the origin of the violence? You need to enhance security network, you need to put experts in office; it should go beyond service chiefs.
You need more sophisticated political approach and studies to deal with the situation. I am not supporting or opposing the service chiefs. It is the President who will take decision and he should look into the public opinion.
He should listen to the National Assembly because they are part of the people and government. Your state Kastina has suffered a lot of deaths, rapes, kidnappings, violence and banditry, from the activities of bandits. Do you think the governor is doing enough to contain this?
Who would be satisfied and not be worried with what is going on in the state?
I pity the people of Kastina. I have given my opinion. Sometimes, I advise the President on issues; sometime, I don’t like talking too much because I have access to Mr. President. I should try to tell him my feelings.
That approach is wrong because banditry did not start in Kastina State. It started in Zamfara State, then to Kastina, Sokoto and to Niger states. You have to go to the source and study it.
We need more military presence to manage the situation. It should continue and at the same time do a study and ask questions. When I was a senator I went out in the midnight to campaign, and it was safe. Now you can’t try it. Military is the only option now because people are afraid.
There has been misunderstanding between the Executive and the National Assembly.
What do you think is the cause of the problem?
I think the President has said it all – that he respects the National Assembly, and that none of his appointees should disrespect the National Assembly.
Most of them are new and did not know the power of National Assembly.
How can Minister of (State) for Labour come and defend the budget with the kind words he used?
He must understand that there must be total respect for the National Assembly
. You cannot bring your activism to governance; there must be a limit to what he does as a minister’ and you don’t do that by shouting. There are rules and regulations, if he wants to be an activist, let him leave the ministerial post and go to do activism and shout. Those ministers that think they are above the law are making mistakes.
They have to conform to the Constitution.
You were seen to be antagonistic to the former Senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki in the 8th Assembly, what actually went wrong?
He was my very good friend; we related very well. I was one of his chief campaigners to be Senate President, and I actually took him to President Muhammadu Buhari to become Senate President.
However when I found out some disagreements, I went and told him that he has to change tactics. And when I told him that, I was not going to support him again so I withdrew my support for him.
Let me tell you something, the idea of President Buhari was that he wanted to get Senate President from the North-East who would help him rebuild the region because of the activities of the Boko Haram.
The North-East gave him one of the highest numbers of votes and he wanted to pay back, and Ahmed Lawan was the best among the senators from the North-East. So when Saraki emerged against the party directive, I had to go with the party position.
You represented Kastina South in the Senate for four terms. What was your experience like?
Yes, I was in the National Assembly for four terms. It is the experi ence of making laws for the country. I got so many friends which made me a true Nigerian. It was quite a nice experience, maybe very difficult dealing with local people and issues, communicating with local institution as well as knowing the area you represent. These are the challenging areas of the responsibility.
So, by and large, I think I cherish those years. It gave me a lot of opportunities to know Nigeria very well.
What are your high moment and regrets?
I had some bills which I sponsored that were very dear to me as a legislator, and some of the bills were passed and today they are laws. Today, I feel fulfilled that the Police Trust Fund has become a law and a reality. I was worried that the police was ill-equipped and grossly underfunded.
That is why I came out with that aspect of legislation to fund the police independent of the budget. For example the police was merely given N20 billion which was not enough.
The funding for security had to be different. Under President Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, they tried to make ad-hoc arrangements for funding of police.
Now, we have a law to fund the police. But, unfortunately, even though the Police Trust Fund has become a law, some of my ideas were not included or enshrined in the law which would have given the police more funds to implement their programmes. I am making efforts to pass these ideas to the Minister of Police Affairs for appropriate action.
The other bill which I worked on but was not passed is the Animal Traceability Law. If this bill was passed it would have greatly minimise cattle rustling which is now a major security concern in the North -West.
