Nigeria has marked a 10-year uninterrupted democratic rule for the first time since independence. As a politician, are you delighted by the development recorded so far?

Well, to be candid, I am not. Democracy is the best form of government we can have and we have had it for 10 years. In terms of development, I can’t say there is much to show for it. In these 10 years, one met Nigerian Railways in shambles, for 10 years we have failed to let it go on as we found it. Ten years ago, this ordinary electricity was going well, now it is virtually not existing. We have to pray to get it.

Every responsible nation has its own airlines, we had one but now there is none. During these 10 years, we have failed to have our national airlines. By and large, these major components of development: airlines, railways, power, industries, have been dwindling despite all the promises of declaring emergencies and agenda. Even water is not there. Honestly, I don’t see what we should be proud of in 10 years of democracy. Even that element of people choosing their own leaders, has been bashed by this administration.

Even its adherence to the rule of law?

In 1979, you were defeated in the governorship elections by Balarabe Musa of the People Redemption Party (PRP) in Kaduna State. How did that happen?


Interestingly and funnily enough, in that old Kaduna state, comprising of the present Katsina and Kaduna states, there were 99 seats in the House of Assembly. And in that House of Assembly, the NPN, my party, had 66 seats out of 99, thereby having the two-third majority. And when it got to the governorship elections I lost (laughter).


What happened?


Balarabe Musa was fielded as the PRP’s candidate and I was fielded as the NPN’s. There was a strong competition going on then between Zagezagi and Katsinawa.  The Zaria people, therefore, connived and united to defeat a Katsina man. So Kaduna state, as it is today, gave its votes, irrespective of the party, to PRP.  We noticed this when the results started coming in. For instance, in Kafanchan, which is in southern Zaria, in that local government, even in the House of Assembly and so on, the usual votes was 28,000 votes for NPN and 11, 000 or 12, 000 votes for PRP. In that governorship election, it was the PRP 32, 000 and NPN 11, 000 (laughter). That was what they did to NPN which was very strong in Zaria area. But all the same, the votes we got from Katsina, although there was no any connivance or anything, was very impressive, though they defeated us with about 9,000 votes in the entire state.  

But in the 1983 elections, the votes I got from the state were double of what I got in the 1979 elections because President Shehu Aliyu Shagari went on a campaign. When he came to Zaria, he took my hand during the campaign lectures and told the people that “Alhaji Lawal Kaita is my candidate. He is the candidate of the NPN. Anybody who will not vote for him, I don’t want him to vote at all.” That was how we won the 1983 elections.


Was Governor Balarabe Musa’s impeachment done to avenge your 1979 defeat?


No. There was no any plan of impeachment at all. When we lost the election, the NPN caucus in Kaduna State met. We took a decision that as much as possible, we should cooperate with the PRP. But he refused to cooperate with us. We offered him an olive branch and even President Shagari sent his team to make it possible for us to work together. We did try several times but he refused even to cooperate with us. We thought he will say let’s work together. He did that knowing fully that NPN had 66 members in the House of Assembly. But he refused to come forward. We thought he will offer us three to four commissioners and so on. But he did nothing like that. At the end of it, the caucus met again and decided to impeach him. He committed so many blunders during his 18 months tenure as the governor. So the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Alhaji Mamman Iro Danmusa went ahead and we mobilised our members. We got the two- third and even got one member from his own PRP (laughter). That was an interesting period of pure politics with no sentiment. They were not doing it for me, it was for NPN.


You were said to have created a parallel government in Kano State when Shagari appointed you as his Presidential Liaison Officer. That was even why Governor Abubakar Rimi declared you  persona non grata in the state. How did that happen?


Well, you know that it was a PRP government under Abubakar Rimi. When I came in there, he refused to see me. Even when I went to him with a minister from Kano, Alhaji Bello Maitama, he refused to see us. He said he could see the minister, but not with me. He was saying that as far as he was concerned, I was an illegal body (laughter). Well, in a way, he never cooperated. Also, the federal government, unlike now, was full of resourceful people.

So when we started the Shagari Mass Housing Scheme, Kano State was given between 700-1000 housing units. In Kano, housing and land are very scarce and precious. I went to the late Malam Aminu Kano and asked him to give me three names to be included in my committee that will handle the 1000 housing project. I brought in three members from the NPN and we picked the chairman from the PRP. He was Alhaji Sani Gwale. He is still alive. I said ok, look at the urban housing, see to their construction and also see to their distribution. And everybody in Kano was entitled to it.

When they got the fertilizer in the rainy season, they deliberately refused to give it to NPN members. I didn’t even contact Shagari. I talked to Malam Adamu Ciroma, who was the Minister of Agriculture.  He said how many tonnes do you want? I said 20,000 - 50,000; and he gave them to me. I was distributing fertilizer to people more than the PRP government in the state was doing (laughter). That was how I became more popular than the government in the state. So, when elections came, Rimi contested and lost.


 You served as Kaduna State governor for three months when the military struck. Where were you when the coup occurred?


I was in the Government House, sleeping. But I was aware that something like that will happen. I was sleeping in the Government House on the 30th December, 1983; that very morning I was going to Kafanchan for the presentation of a staff of office (first class) to the late Emir of Jema’a, Alhaji Isa Muhammadu. It was about six in the morning when my security aide came and started knocking at my door. I was very furious, I opened the window to see what was happening. I hadn’t seen a single car even though we were travelling around seven. So, I answered the door and saw the security man holding a radio. He did not say a word to me; he handed the radio to me. I heard the radio saying, “I, Sani Abacha , bla bla bla, ” That was a clear signal of a coup.                   

Also, on that night, at about 1:30-2:00am; a lady, who was one of our members in the State House of Assembly came to a meeting saying that if we were not careful, either today or the following week the military would topple our government.  We got all the signals for the coup.


Didn’t you realised that you were jeopardising your lives by not taking any action, having got wind of the coup, like Sardauna, others did in 1966?


Shagari was fully aware that there was going to be an attempted coup. But when he called the officers alleged to be planning the coup; they all said that there was nothing like that. They were Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Aliyu Gusau, Ibrahim Bako, among others.


Was Shagari convinced that they were not planning any coup?


No. His argument was that if he were to arrest his kinsmen like Babangida, Buhari, Abacha, Gusau and so on, even if he shoots away all of them, the next people that will take over are all foreign to him. He did not know them. This he knew. It will be quite a disaster for him to remove them; and for some other people to take over and come and do the coup. But I believed it was destined to be like that.


As a prince, up till now you don’t have any traditional title. What is happening?


Well, nothing is happening. I always hold the view that I did not want a traditional title much as I respect it. Because it is only meant for you to sit down at the palace and advice, while you have no any authority over anything. And in the last 30 years, I have been having a free life. I have been enjoying free movement without any constraint. I like the way I live, which is very much comfortable. It is unnecessary, therefore, to go and get myself turbaned without any authority. I found it a very big constraint to my belief in life. If I will be made an emir, then I can accept it out rightly. Because I know I have some authority, but to be a title holder, I don’t think it is worthy. Mind you, I have an older brother, Alhaji MD Yusuf, who also doesn’t like it and he never accepted it. He was offered several times to choose, but he refused.


Do you have anything to do with former President Obasanjo now?


I have nothing to do now with Obasanjo. But I still have some small liking for him. I admire him, sometimes, because he cracks jokes. If you are with him, he creates an atmosphere of ease around you. He makes you laugh. This is the only attribute that I know he has. Otherwise, he is very vindictive and unforgiving.

BUHARI,IBB,ABACHA,GUSAU since 1983.this are the people that derailed nigeria.
In buharis government.IBB,ABACHA was an active members of that regime as they say bird of the same feather flock together,please pay attention to the NIGERIAN presidency after BUHARI incomes IBB after IBB we had ABACHA who rehabilitated his oga "BUHARI" through the fraud called PTF of course aliyu gusua was left behind as chief security officer till 2010.
From this analysis of the coup in nigeria from 1983 to 1994 the same clique where involved BUHARI,IBB,ABACHA,ALIYU GUSUA were involved.this are the men that put nigeria where we are today jurdging from our past.2011 election this people still want power apart from the main abacha may his soul rest in peace(his son mohammed is in cpc)the rest are today struggling to lay claim to the presidency.

BUHARI in the race CPC
IBB and aliyu GUSUA contested under NPLF consencious candidate.if u know nigerian history study the gang of tyrants that ruled NIGERIA ilegally from 1983 to 1994 they are all bird of the same feather they have come along way and they still want power!

karl max:

Nigeria has marked a 10-year uninterrupted democratic rule for the first time since independence. As a politician, are you delighted by the development recorded so far?

Well, to be candid, I am not. Democracy is the best form of government we can have and we have had it for 10 years. In terms of development, I can’t say there is much to show for it. In these 10 years, one met Nigerian Railways in shambles, for 10 years we have failed to let it go on as we found it. Ten years ago, this ordinary electricity was going well, now it is virtually not existing. We have to pray to get it.

Every responsible nation has its own airlines, we had one but now there is none. During these 10 years, we have failed to have our national airlines. By and large, these major components of development: airlines, railways, power, industries, have been dwindling despite all the promises of declaring emergencies and agenda. Even water is not there. Honestly, I don’t see what we should be proud of in 10 years of democracy. Even that element of people choosing their own leaders, has been bashed by this administration.

The problem we have with this our present democracy, is that our leaders are more concerned with enriching themselves rather than solving the problems of the country.

We’re privileged not to have natural disasters which most countries experience from time to time like earthquake, tsunami, hurricane and many more. Our problem in this country is man made i.e. problems that can be solved if we come together as one to fight out corruption.

Look at the issue of power; I still remember in the late 90s when one can boast of constant power for 2-3weeks. Now, power has become a rare commodity; it comes once or twice a week, and the painful aspect is that we’re required to pay more than double of the price we used to pay those days when the sector was still managed by human beings.

What about roads, an easterner travelling from Lagos to his/her village during festive season spends approximately two days on the road for a journey that shouldn’t take more than 6-8 hours. The roads we have in the country are so bad and dangerous that thieves operate freely for hours without any confrontation from security operatives; this leaves a prospective traveler with no choice than to engage himself in serious prayers until he arrives safely at his destination. Isn’t that horrible?
Whereas, our leaders are busy buying off all the policemen that are meant to protect the masses for their own protection, leaving the masses helpless and unprotected.

Finally, if someone is concerned in serving the people as they claim, what would make him spend millions of money on importing weapons and hiring thugs to kill the same people he claims to serve and impose himself on them; shouldn't he think of spending it on this same people he claims to serve as a sign of commitment?

"If you are with him, he creates an atmosphere of ease around you. He makes you laugh. This is the only attribute that I know he has. Otherwise, he is very vindictive and unforgiving."

Lawal Kaita got the above right, actually. What he failed to realize and see through that veil of deception was an inherent underlying sadist. A vindictive brute who uses decoy to destroy and pull-down people that are opposed to his ill guts and stands up to him.

Audu Ogbe would be a better recipient of the evil of OBJ with adequate explanation of such experience. When the Otta brute went to dine with him in his house and later removed him from his position as chairman of the PDP the.
Audu Ogbe learnt the hard way about how not to dine with the devil not knowing it was a dark hidden orchestrated ploy and plot to do away with him.

YOU SAY IBB IS A SELF-CONFESSED EVIL GENIUS. THE OTTA BRUTE IS WORST AND BETTER AT IT.

Lawal Kaita would like the deceptive aura of someone with obscure awful diabolical intentions. He must still be a baby at his current age.

Ok

His argument was that if he were to arrest his kinsmen like Babangida, Buhari, Abacha, Gusau and so on, even if he shoots away all of them, the next people that will take over are all foreign to him. He did not know them. This he knew. It will be quite a disaster for him to remove them; and for some other people to take over and come and do the coup. But I believed it was destined to be like that. the statement was very heavy because it sounds as the Northerners robbed other regions with this action and Shagari consider people from outside Northern region as foreigner. Unity or one Nigeria is a big scam.

Did you just wake up to the much-touted united Nigeria mantra?

karlmax2:
BUHARI,IBB,ABACHA,GUSAU since 1983.this are the people that derailed nigeria.
In buharis government.IBB,ABACHA was an active members of that regime as they say bird of the same feather flock together,please pay attention to the NIGERIAN presidency after BUHARI incomes IBB after IBB we had ABACHA who rehabilitated his oga "BUHARI" through the fraud called PTF of course aliyu gusua was left behind as chief security officer till 2010.
From this analysis of the coup in nigeria from 1983 to 1994 the same clique where involved BUHARI,IBB,ABACHA,ALIYU GUSUA were involved.this are the men that put nigeria where we are today jurdging from our past.2011 election this people still want power apart from the main abacha may his soul rest in peace(his son mohammed is in cpc)the rest are today struggling to lay claim to the presidency.

BUHARI in the race CPC
IBB and aliyu GUSUA contested under NPLF consencious candidate.if u know nigerian history study the gang of tyrants that ruled NIGERIA ilegally from 1983 to 1994 they are all bird of the same feather they have come along way and they still want power!

They actually started with the counter coup of July 29 1966. Buhari, Babangida and Abacha were all involved. Ibrahim bako and the rest. They coup led to the war and they played major roles in the war front. After that, they also got involved with Murtala to remove Gowon. That's how they rose rapidly in the Army. Murtala was killed and they continued with Obasanjo. Then they toppled shagari and the rest is history... They are the problem of this country. From 1966 till now, they have all been around power.. The class of 66..