Katsina State governor, Aminu Masari, in this interview with journalists explained reasons for kidnappings and banditry in the state in recent times .He also spoke on the presidential elections and other issues. JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH was there for LEADERSHIP
Do you feel the APC will win the elections.
In Katsina state we are sure of 100 percent success for the APC from the result we have received so far.and we have received over 80 percent of the results and the margin between us and the PDP is not something they can close.One can say from what we have on ground now is that the gap is impossible to close.. From the information we are getting nationwide I believe APC is going to win, we are ahead in more than 20 states.
Clearly APC has taken over the north west completely.In the north east we are waiting for the outcome of Taraba.In the north central,its Plateau and Benue we are waiting to see.We are confident of taking Kwara and Kogi 100 percent and south west is APC completely .From the information I have we have already gotten two senators from Akwa Ibom.So if you look at the general performance of APC.and if you look at the south east,there is no more allocation of votes as votes must count .I am sure the president will do well in the south east, people are saying 30 percent but I am predicting more than that because in places like Ebonyi, Enugu and even Anambra where the vice president of the PDP comes from is APGA and they are holding forte. I believe there are going to be just and fair and allow votes to count.Generally if you look at the performance ,APC is going to win the election.
Everywhere has been calm in Katsina, right before the election,during the election and after the election,what magic have you done to sustain the peace during and after the elections.
In governance there is no magic it is doing what one is supposed to do at the right time .We told the people of Katsina that what we are doing for all the people of Katsina state irrespective of your political leanings or religion.Peace is for all and not for a tribe or section.Peace is so important that it should not belong to the security agencies or government alone,community and religious leaders all have a role to play and must sensitize everybody about the issue of peace. I believe we have provided justice and fairness and we have made issue of security everybody’s business and when we have challenges we don’t hide it,we bring it out. Anybody who has and above all when you are conducting presidential elections with President Muhammadu Buhari whom I am sure some PDP members will vote for ,you cannot have violence because he is somebody whose time has come.
Something unusual happened, Accord Party won at the president’s ward,is there anything wrong with APC family in Katsina?
No, you can see how sentimental some people can be.They voted for the president and also for the senator. You remember the senator that died on the platform of the PDP came from Daura local government. I am not surprised if people of the ward one voted for him as he is not in the same political party as the president. If he had brought another presidential candidate to Daura that would have been different .But he did not ,what he did cleverly was to go with his poster and that of President Buhari and being from that ward and the senator representing Katsina north is from Kankia local government and like I said people can be sentimental and so I am not surprised.
So are you satisfied with the performance of INEC?
In Katsina state, yes. But like I said, when the election was shifted I hope it will not become a culture.People had finished preparations and had spent time and money and by adjusting even if its for one day its going to cost the government money and the political parties .I hope the extension has provided a level playing ground for all political parties and participants and from the Information I have recieved across the nation even international observers are expressing satisfaction with the arrangements and conduct of the elections by INEC.There have been some reports of violence but there are not in such a way that will affect the process of the credibility on the outcome.So i am satisfied.
You have expressed optimism about the outcome of the elections and also the opposition have also expressed the same optimism.Some political analysts are also of the view that this election is too close to call.Do you have concerns about the elections?
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I had concerns before but but not now.From the reports I am receiving we don’t have concerns .If you are going for elections,it is not over until it is over.When our political opponents are hoping ,yes they can hope but the reality on ground I can confidently say we are in the majority in 22,23 states,I can’t see how the other states can change things more, especially as democracy is a game of numbers and those states have provided the numbers. Obviously, we know who the winner is and it is best for this country to have a leader who is widely accepted.
In the next two weeks you will be contesting the gubernatorial elections,do you think you have done enough to deserve a second term?
If I had not done enough I would not have presented myself for reelection. T toured the local governments in 2015 and we made promises to the people that’s why when the next round of elections came, we were not afraid to go back to those communities with our scorecard and I believe we have over 6000 polling units and we are proud to say that in every polling unit we have something to show. We promised restoration of education and the performance in terms of exams ,WAEC, NECO has shown and that it is clear to the people of Katsina that the path we have taken in restoring education is the best.
Our hospitals can compete with any hospital not only did we do the buildings,we upgraded the equipment,we employed consultants,in the three and half years, we have employed more than 2000 doctors ,nurses ,midwives.We can now say we have not less than 8 to 10 hospitals,some have reached 40 percent and some 100 percent.We don’t want anybody to leave Jibia and come to Katsina for medical examination,we have provided all this.Our people no longer go to Kano for MRI scan,we have the equipment and we have the people. We came when the finances of the government went down drastically, what we did was as a result of good leadership.Responsible and good leadership can use the little resources in the state to impact positively.There is no state also where the federal government is not doing something .
Did we get more money than what PDP got in 16 years? We got less than 40 percent of what they got and today we are proud to say that this is what we have done.God willing we are just waiting for the time and for us in the APC in katsina state is just a confirmation in this election APC is giving 100 percent and in the next two weeks we are still giving 100 percent.
An issue that has made headlines in the media in the last two to three weeks in Katsina is the issue of kidnappings.What is really happening in the state ?
When we came in, we met the issue of cattle rustling and other forms of banditry in nine local government bordering the forest.We have a forest stretching over 200 km bordering Niger Republic,Zamfara and Kaduna.Policing 9 local government with over 200km of forest is not easy for the police,army and government.
These are people who were part of us before,they share a common market and hospital so what went wrong is the question.What went wrong that they took up arms .There was failure of governance in those areas.So we decided to engage the people and listen to them to find out the causes and we discovered that over 95 percent of people in the forest with arms we forced to take up arms to defend themselves.In the circumstances also criminals found their way.The escalation came after the routing of Boko Haram in the north east and some of them found their way into the forest and they were bringing arms and ammunitions and so it was a huge market.So we were able to reduce cattle rustling to the barest minimum then came what is happening all over the world -kidnappings.When it came to Nigeria and those who were rustling cows can no longer rustle cows started rustling human beings.They started with people they think have money and now started attacking people coming back from the market on market days,they will be stopped and dragged into the forest and their family will be forced to pay 50 and 100 thousand.That was when we raised alarm.
We were lucky the federal government responded in its own way with more additional troops from.the military,more manpower from the police and DSS and we the government provided logistics,vehicles maintainance allowance and continued the dialogue with religious and community,Fulani, farmer leaders and we started to see the gradual drop in kidnappings and banditry,it really went down but when the elections came,when our attention was more on why we are going to have a peaceful elections.There are people who are not Nigerians among them.I have confirmation from my colleagues and others that they also saw the presence of non Nigerians among the bandits.
When I visited a village that was attacked six days ago they confirmed to me that the people they saw are not Nigerians because of the color of their skin,so this will be taken care of. we are showing concerns,once it happens we will be there to sympathise and accept responsibility.It is the responsibly of the government to secure lives and property so if there is a breach in that we are responsible but we may not be liable because we are doing the best we can,we are doing the best we can do to take care of that but sometimes things get out of hand despite the best you do there are still some elements with criminals minds must find a way of expressing their criminality and banditry so we are also dealing with that situation.They thought they could stop the election in those areas I am happy to say that all the areas of concern have participated fully in this elections.They could not stop it.
