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From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
At the age of 44 way back in 2019, Alhaji Isa Saulawa from Katsina State, aspired to contest the presidency of Nigeria through the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That desire however got aborted midway into the party’s presidential primaries in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State. Almost four years on, Saulawa has again declared his intention to take another shot towards realising his ambition in 2023.
The former member of the National Guard during the regime of former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, as well as President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign coordinator for Katsina State in 2015, in this interview in Katsina gives reasons why the PDP should take over from President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, next year.
How my 2019 presidential bid crashed
There were so many presidential aspirants under the PDP in 2019 and we were given the opportunity to participate under the umbrella of the Nigeria’s youth leadership. So, we were determined to participate so that nobody would tag the Nigerian youth as being lazy or unpatriotic to salvage the country from the APC misrule. In 2019, there was general insecurity in virtually all parts of the country and the situation has not changed till date. The government does not have a clear-cut policy to check the menace and that was why the youth of Nigeria encouraged me to participate, in order to salvage the country. I went as far as the PDP presidential primary election in Port-Harcourt. But we met with financial constraints. As we were busy trying to get the N12 million for the nomination form, it was already over because by the time our money was ready, nominations had closed. We saved the money waiting for 2023 to try our luck again.
What challenges do you perceive ahead of your 2023 ambition?
The PDP presidential nomination form for the 2023 general elections is now N40 million. But the party leadership has come up with an incentive for any youth contesting any elective positions at all levels. Such aspirants will enjoy a discount of 50 per cent. So, the youth of Nigeria are ready to obtain the form for me at the cost of N20 million. We are currently working on how we will eventually finance the election process to the end. We are ready and we have already sent our letter of expression of interest to the office of the PDP National Chairman and the Inspector-General of Police and heads of other security agencies in order to provide security for our campaign.
The PDP has what it calls open ticket which means that anybody can emerge from any part of the country and aspire to be President. There are no restrictions concerning tribe, religion or state of origin or region. But in order not to cause any misgivings or division, the party has also adopted the consensus strategy for those of us who have expressed our ambition, for us to sit and reconcile ourselves and present a candidate who will be acceptable, competent and capable enough to face the APC challenge at the polls.
You know that politics is like a pregnant woman where you cannot predict what the behaviour of the unborn child will be but you can predict the behaviour of the mother whether she is likely to have a successful delivery. Look at me very well. I am young and I have all it takes to govern this country in terms of health, education and other criteria and talking security, I come from a military background. If I am given the opportunity to be President, I believe I should be able to introduce policies that will bring the long awaited relief to the generality of Nigerians.
Are you not scared by the “big” names also aspiring to be President from the PDP?
Those big names have been there for so long and of course, they can be called big people but what have they done over these several years in solving our problems in terms of education, security, energy, socio-economic development. So, we are not intimidated by the so-called big names in any way. They just wear the big name tag but lack the requisite talent to manage the nation for the benefit of the generality of citizens.
The youth of Nigeria are entirely behind me and indeed they constitute my inspiration to run for the office of the President of Nigeria. I initially didn’t have the zeal to go into the race but they consistently encouraged me and expressed the belief that I have the capacity to rescue this country from the current messy situation. In fact, about 75 per cent of my courage is derived from the youth support and encouragement. And, I assure you, if we are given the opportunity, the youth of this country will troop out enmasse to vote for the PDP in 2023 and they are ready to go further and give the necessary support to ensure that we become successful in the course of ruling this country.
Why do you think insecurity persists nationwide?
Security personnel anywhere in the world work better with information and intelligence reports from citizens. If the generality of Nigerians have been forthcoming in providing such information to the Police, Army and other security agencies, the situation of insecurity, whether Boko Haram, banditry or kidnapping for ransom would have been reduced. The Nigeria security forces are well trained and they are capable of crushing the insurgency and other forms of insecurity in parts of the country. But another aspect of the problem is that government has actually failed to adequately take care of the security personnel in this country especially under the present administration. This is quite contrary to our expectations when the Muhammadu Buhari regime came into office. They promised to attend to the welfare of all arms of the security forces so that they would have the morale to tackle nagging security issues but nothing really tangible has been done. Go to the military and police barracks and see the conditions under which the personnel and their families live. Do you expect a soldier to have the zeal to confront the enemy in the war front when they know that back home, their families swim in abject poverty.
Let me give you another example with the Nigeria Police. I really admire and praise the courage of the personnel. They risk their lives serving the country 24 hours to ensure we are secure but at least 85 per cent of them do not have official accommodation. They live with the people, in rented houses. It may take the grace of God for a policeman to arrest a criminal son of his landlord because he may face ejection. But if you give him a decent accommodation outside the civil populace, ensure that the children’s school fees are subsidised alongside health care, such an officer is sure to perform his legitimate duties without caring whoever runs foul of provisions of the law and return to the barracks. We have to pay more attention to police welfare. Unfortunately, there are not even efforts on ground to give them the deserved attention.
What is your vision and magic wand for development if you are elected?
Nigerians should support me because one of the first things I intend to tackle is the insecurity situation. There will be an enhanced welfare package for members of the security services. Part of the package will include giving them financial relief packages every two weeks before their salaries at the end of the month. Certainly, if my incoming government does this, along with other incentives including provision of equipment and other facilities, there is bound to be significant improvement. Another critical area is the education sector where we will ensure quality education for our children, from primary to the tertiary level. For sure, the era of having dilapidated classrooms without furniture will never happen again under my leadership. We will equally give priority to the welfare of teachers at all levels as morale booster for them to deliver quality services. You know that all personnel, whether military or civilian, are sourced from the education sector and if you don’t provide quality education, how can you guarantee industrial development.
Do you agree with those who argue that the APC deceived, misled Nigerians in 2015?
Nigerians have no choice than to return the PDP to power in 2023 because they have experienced a failed administration. Nigerians have since realised that it has been a “one chance“ scenario since 2015 and they did not bargain for that. All the infrastructural facilities you see today are the handiwork of the PDP administration prior to 2015. There is no doubt that the Nigerian people have never had it so bad in all spheres of human endeavour, health, education, security, energy development, name it. That is why the larger majority of Nigerians currently pray that the PDP returns to power so that it can repair the damage the APC administration has done to the country since 2015.
Do you think that consensus selection formula of candidates is more democratic than power shift?
The consensus option of selection of candidates for election is an attempt to harmonise the various presidential aspirants in such a way that they will unite the party nationwide and produce a candidate who they believe will meet the general aspirations of Nigerians which is good governance. But power shift is an attempt to get a particular region or zone of the country to produce the presidential candidate and that region feels that it is their right to govern. This may not really be right because we are talking of democracy, not military government. The consensus option appears to make better sense as all the persons involved from the various regions agree to project a particular aspirant as candidate. When you insist that only a particular zone produces the President, then you are interfering with the legitimate right of the other zones to have equal opportunity to rule. If for example you say that the position should shift to a minority section, in terms of population, they still need the cooperation of the areas with larger population to secure winning numbers at the polls.
The beauty of the consensus option is that it also ensures that a particular section of the country does not rule in perpetuity. If the North for example, with its high population should agree after due consultations with other sections of the country that the South should produce the President, what it means is that during the general elections proper, all votes from the North will go to the candidate from the South irrespective of religious or ethno-tribal differences. That was why the then military government in 1999 decided that presidential power should move Southwards since military personnel from the North had ruled the country for a very long period. President Olusegun Obasanjo was a direct beneficiary of that power shift conceived and delivered by the then military authorities. Ít was done actually to detonate the June 12 election annulment time bomb.
