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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The immediate past Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and an elderstatesman, Mr. Anthony Sani has said that though he did not know President Muhammadu Buhari’s preferred candidate in the forthcoming All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential primaries election, such candidate could easily be described.
Sani in this interview with Sunday Sun said that if Buhari’s preferred candidate eventually becomes the president, “he will be such a president that is ready to rewire the politics, reengineer our sense of justice, make mercy smarter,make hope strategic for the youths and dare the rest of us to follow. A president who inspires cultural renaissance and make the country become a confluence of politics,economics and morality”.
However, the Ex-ACF Scribe described PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar as a veteran presidential contester, saying that if he must win the election this time around, he should along with the party show clarity of purpose as to how he will make politics, economics and morality work effectively to make Nigerians trust and vote for him. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the just concluded PDP presidential primary election?
The recently concluded PDP primaries was orderly and peaceful without any rancour.That is how it should be in the practice of democracy.The draw back was the monetization whereby aspirants resorted to bribing delegates with money.The upshot is that instead of the party to promote democracy, the party is supplanting it with plutocracy which is government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. More distressing is promotion of corruption through bribing of delegates in order to influence their votes to the chagrin of party members who are effectively on the sidelines.This is corrupt practice par excellence. Political parties are expected to be embodiment of their chosen values which are contained in their manifestos. I, therefore, begin to wonder whether a party that encourages bribing of delegates can fight corruption and entrench democracy based on justice, liberty and common decency.
Some political pundits are saying that the votes scored by aspirants from the South showed that they did not do their home work as people who are agitating for power shift to the South. What is your reaction?
Given the fact that the South, especially Southeast and South-south and their hankering for the president to come from the South,one expected the presidential candidate of PDP would come from the South. But that was not to be. I do not want to agree with those who have concluded that the South is not serious in their clamouring for power shift. I see the development as emanating from the winning game plan by the party.There is this maxim in Hausa which states that “a na ajiye Kwando in da akwai wake”, which means one puts the basket where there is beans.What happened during PDP primaries, therefore, was informed more by political arithmetic, if I may borrow from Dr Okadigbo.
What is your advice to Atiku Abubakar, the winner of the PDP presidential primary election as he prepares to face other presidential candidates in the 2023 general elections?
My advice to the party and their presidential candidate is to be clear of what the party will do if given the chance to preside over the country. It is only clarity of purpose as to how he will make politics, economics and morality to intersect that can make Nigerians trust and vote for him.
Many Nigerians have accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of bias for extending the date for submission of the list of all candidates of every political party. What is your take on this?
Elections are serious business because they produce leaders who preside over us and our fate.The political parties are the ones which field candidates for elective posts. It is only fair that the political parties be given enough time to search for their first 11 as candidates. So,I do not fault INEC for the extension of time to enable the political parties to organize their primaries and present their first 11.
Now that APC is battling to pick its presidential flag bearer at its primary election, do you think the party will do the bidding of President Buhari who said he has somebody in mind as his successor?
Mr president is entitled to his preference of presidential candidate for his party because he wants a successor who can continue his policies and programmes.There is no qualms in that preference provided such is done democratically.The president is entitled to promote his preference democratically, since the pursuit of his preference and internal democracy are not mutually exclusive. I do not expect the president to keep members of his party at bay and single-handedly pick the presidential candidate without recourse to members of his party.The president knows the roles of the party in the choice of presidential candidate.That is to say, he knows politics is never an individual enterprise, but a collective mission.
In your own wisdom as a respected elderstatesman from the North, who is your crystal ball telling you or a forecast of who will succeed Buhari?
I am not clairvoyant. And so I cannot forecast the winner of the elections. All I hope is a president who will rewire the politics, reengineer our sense of justice, make mercy smarter,make hope strategic for the youths and dare the rest of us to follow. That is to say, a president who inspires cultural renaissance and make the country become a confluence of politics, economics and morality is what we want and expect the president to do.
Some Nigerians said Buhari will be rubbishing his integrity posture if he imposes a candidate on APC. Do you think so?
I do not expect Mr president to impose a presidential candidate on the ruling party.This is precisely because the president knows too well that Nigeria operates democracy and not affirmative action.He will not like to impose a candidate to the chagrin of party members who are expected to join in the campaigns for the party flag bearer to prevail during elections.
Do you think that whoever emerges as APC presidential candidate can match Atiku at the general elections?
Former VP Atiku is a veteran in presidential contest. But we have seen him being defeated in the past by other candidates. So,there is nothing to suggest the man has changed dramatically unless of course he is clearer in what he will do as president and people believe him.
APC is regarded as party for the progressives while PDP is for the conservatives. Would you say the two major political parties live up the promise of their ideologies?
Yes, your observations make lot of sense. But because Nigerians do not see political parties as representing certain ideologies and philosophies, the politicians are at liberty to always be on the move by jumping from political party to political party. Recall during the first tenure of this regime which had the executive and clear majority in the legislature and was expected to use the latitude and pass bills, but the government was instead at war with itself. Look at the recent exchanges between the executive and the legislature about the Electoral Act as if the party does not control both executive and the legislature. I know Dr Iyorchia Ayu as a progressive while Senator Abdullahi Adamu is a Manderin conservative.Yet they are helmsmen of political parties which ideologies and philosophies are opposite what they are in the ideological continuum. All these are testament to the trite that our political class does not know the place of political parties in the order of things in multiparty democracy.
