Wali: ‘PDP’ ll return to power in Sokoto’
 December 19, 2014
 Written by ADAMU SULEIMAN
Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Morocco
Senator Abdallah Wali won the Peoples
Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship ticket
in Sokoto State. In this interview with ADAMU
SULEIMAN, he speaks about the Sokoto
governorship primaries, his vision and other
issues.
How do you feel emerging as the PDP’s
governorship candidate in Sokoto State?
I feel grateful to Almighty God for making it
possible to be elected as the governorship
candidate of our great party, the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) for next year’s general
elections. I am highly delighted by the level of
support by members of our party, who have
demonstrated their confidence in me, by
allowing me to fly the party’s flag in the
forthcoming general elections. I thank all the
delegates, particularly members of the
National Working Committee and Mr.
President for leading the party in such a way
that people can aspire to various positions
through a free and fair election. I must say
that without the discipline that the national
headquarters of the party has provided, people
like us would not have had the opportunity to
aspire, let alone win the primary election. I
sincerely thank them all.
What strategies did your party intend to adopt
or put in place to win the governorship
election in the state?
Well, winning strategies are not things that
should be disclosed in the public. They are
things that are exclusive to the campaign
committee, which is being worked on for our
victory. But, be it as it may, I will say that we
are well prepared for the elections. We look
forward to a successful race. We have gone
through the same system before and we
believe we will make it again.
The party won the 2007 and 2012 general
elections in the state. Although, the governor
and some of his aides have since moved to
the opposition All Progressives Congress
(APC), we believe that the PDP is a party that
is still alive. It is still kicking and capable of
winning any elections in the state. The coming
of His Excellency, the former Governor of
Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa into the
PDP fold has re-galvanised the party. We
believe we can win all the various seats. You
will also recall that in 2003, former Governor
Bafarawa was running for second term on the
platform of the defunct All Progressive Party
(APP), and I was also contesting on the PDP
platform for the first time. But, he (Bafarawa)
won the election in that contest and today the
two of us are working together. We believe
that we have the necessary structure on the
ground to win the election for the PDP. By
God’s help, it will come to pass.
Why are the other contenders refusing to
accept the outcome of the primary?
Well, I will say that I am very disappointed by
the development because the election was
covered by the media and other observers. We,
the four aspirants received an invitation to the
venue from the panel in order to address us.
When we arrived, we found that we were only
three; we were told that the forth aspirant,
Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman had withdrawn from the
race. The panel advised us to go through the
election in a peaceful manner and urged us to
accept the outcome of the elections.
The accreditation lasted for a long time.
Though, the accreditation exercise was
supposed to be a simple formality in the sense
that the same delegates voted a week earlier
for the state assembly election across the
state. All the delegates that had participated
in the congress of the governorship primary
were delegates to the state assembly elections
in their respective constituencies. These same
delegates also participated in the National
Assembly elections which was conducted
without hitch. The governorship election was
the fourth election the delegates were
participating in. The accreditation was still
done in the usual way and after that the
election panel announced the commencement
of the election.
That was when one of the aspirants, Alhaji
Mukthar Shagari, as we were told, approached
the panel that since the election could not
hold in neighbouring state of Zamfara, it
should also be postponed here in Sokoto. That
was an absurd proposition. The Police
Commissioner had to come and address us
individually assuring us that election must
hold because the accreditation has been
completed. Later, he (Shagari) had a session
with the media and later met with the
electoral panel before staging a walk out from
the Giginya Stadium, venue of the exercise. To
me, all those actions are not consistent with
the democratic principles. People who hold
the position of leadership are supposed to live
by example. In summary, the voting continued
and election was conducted peacefully in the
open. The result was later declared and we
expected them to quickly congratulate the
winner.
One of the contestants alleged that the
delegates’ list was manipulated in the process.
What is your take?
As I said earlier, the delegates that were
accredited had voted three times previous
occasions before the congress. In the real
sense, there is no justification for accusing
anybody of manipulating the delegates’ list.
Do not forget that these delegates were
accredited in front of three certified agents
that represented the three aspirants.
To us, it is embarrassing for anybody to raise
the issue of fake delegates during the election.
This venue was an open air arena and not a
hall. Officials of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) were present and
they monitored the processes. Security agents
were also present at the venue. To many, the
election was one of the most transparent in
the state. Two of the aspirants were even seen
going round, speaking with the delegates. But,
I was not involved in the act because
according to the rules, contestants are not
expected to have contact with the delegates.
Anybody who says the exercise was not fair, is
not telling the truth. I hope such people would
quickly desist from that and accept the
outcome.
Have they formally congratulated you?
Senator Abubakar Gada, one of the
contestants had since congratulated me for
winning the election. Alhaji Mukthar Shagari
was not at the venue when the winner was
declared, so I am not expecting him to
congratulate me immediately. I have been
hoping to receive his phone call or text
message. But, up till now he has not done so.
I believe we are one PDP family and we are
supposed to work together as a team for the
success of the party. I have invited the party
executive members to brief them on the
preparation of my campaign team and
activities. We will also invite the supporters of
my co-contestants to join our campaign team,
so that together we will work hand-in-hand in
order to come out victorious.
The action of your co-contenders, by not
accepting the outcome of the contest, could
threaten the party’s success next year. Don’t
you think so?
You see, this borders on the unity of the party
as a whole. We all believe that it is only a
united front that can bring success to our
party. The first aspect is that, one of the
aspirants, Senator Abubakar Gada, has
accepted the outcome of the election because
right there, he congratulated me and I alluded
to that in an acceptance speech.
It was in the open when he came over to me
and I thanked him for that. The second
aspirant who is yet to accept the result now is
Alhaji Mukthar Shagari. Of course, his
decision not to accept the outcome is a
challenge. But, it is a manageable challenge
because the election is not a question of
somebody winning 100 per cent. We only won
with 74 per cent of the total votes, which
means three quarters of our party faithful
shared our beliefs and dreams. That is a
strong percentage of the party followership
that can lead the party to success. Secondly,
even among sympathizers of other aspirants,
we are still going to have sizeable numbers of
them that could work for the party. Since all of
them are aware that the process was free and
fair. They (delegates) would be convinced to
toe the path of truth at the end. It is natural
for aspirants to be disappointed after losing a
contest and thereby refuse to congratulate the
winner. But, that is not always the case for
followers.
What are your plans for the state, if elected as
the governor?
You see, Sokoto State is facing very stiff
challenge in terms of moral value. The people
of the state are so worried that the morality
level among the youths has gone so low and
they believe that something must be done.
One of the reasons I am aspiring for the
governorship position is because people
believe in our sincerity of purpose. They are
aware that we are really committed to
changing the trend of moral decadence in the
state and that we will do by the grace of the
Almighty. We are committed to doing that for
ourselves and for the sake of our children.
That is one area. The second one is the
national disgrace that the state is facing
today going by analysis from National Bureau
of Statistics (NBS). The bureau has for long
identified Sokoto as the poorest state in the
poverty indices. The question is that, why
should we be the poorest state in the country?
What really is the problem, is the state lacking
in human or natural resources?
The answer is none. So, why should a state
that has over 90 per cent of its land arable
and has one of the major productive dams in
the country be called a poor state? This is
simply because of lack of good leadership. We
believe that we can change that trend. We
intend to use agriculture as number one focus
in transforming the fortunes of the state. We
will give support to farmers during the rainy
season. We will make sure that we draw the
Goronyo Dam to service all the farmers that
are on the sloppy part of the state. Where we
cannot use the dam, we are going to construct
tube wells and make sure that our people are
engaged in farming all-year round. Sokoto
people are productive people and we believe
that if we can support them, it will improve
their lot.
What can you say about education in the
state?
On that also, the National Bureau of Statistics
has also released the indices that Sokoto
State is the worst state in education. How can
this state that is the historical bedrock of
learning be rated so low? Sheikh Usmanu
Danfodiyo of blessed memory established the
Danfodiyo dynasty on the basis of knowledge
which is the most critical ingredient for the
foundation of the Danfodiyo dynasty. So, how
can we say 200 years after, all the evidences
of learning in terms of the books produced by
Danfodiyo, his son Muhammadu Bello and his
brother Abdullahi Fodiyo have faded off? That
is not acceptable. So, if voted into power, we
will tackle the problems facing education from
the primary up to the university level. Take for
instance when you talk about scholarship, the
government made a principle that it will
provide scholarship to students. But, such
promises are usually not fulfilled.
So, we believe that we will strategically tackle
that. We will bring the best brains we have
from primary school to the tertiary level, so
that the state can compete favourably with
other states. We will design a system that will
bring the best out of us.
As a stakeholder, have you in anyway proffered
solution to the government in these areas you
have identified?
The problem is that we do not have a listening
government. Even when we were both
members of the same political party, the state
government never considered us as
stakeholders in the system. The best we can
do is to get them out and then take charge.
Do you see the emergence of the APC flag
bearer, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal as a threat to
your aspiration?
Honestly, I do not see it that way. We know
from the onset that he (Tambuwal) is one of
the possible contenders of the APC ticket. For
that, we built our strategies in such a manner
that anybody that the APC pushes forward, we
believe that we have an edge over him and
can be able to face any of their candidates. I
believe that when he emerged we did not have
any cause to be apprehensive. We only
considered it as one of the natural cause of
the event. So, we will go ahead and fight the
APC until we take over the state.

pdp can evn cum 2nd in sokoto

Operation uproot every janjaaweeed govt frm the federation.now shagari,we knw hard u ave tried for Pdp in sokoto state,but now isthe time rall round the winner of the primary so we chase away the big head wamako and big lips tambuwal out of sokoto caliphet