Date: 2021-08-01

Coming from a solid background as a lecturer, banker, state Commissioner before hitting the climax of becoming a governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, the immediate past governor of Kwara State, is probably one of the most equipped Nigerian politicians both in academics and cognate experiences.

Speaking with Sunday Sun in this no-holds barred interview in Abuja, the well-read politician said that the collapse of the Otoge Movement in his state did not come to him as a surprise.

He also suggested the kind of president Nigeria needs in 2023, his fears for the general elections, why he is not enthusiastic about going to the National Assembly, adding that Nigeria as it is today is not the country of his dream.

Abdulfatah equally spoke on why he did not perform up to his optimal standard in the eight years he ruled Kwara as governor, why he has no iota of regret leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC) to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his impression about the three serving governors that dumped the PDP for APC and more importantly, the most practical solution to tackle the escalating insecurity in the country.

Coming from a solid background as a lecturer, banker, state Commissioner before hitting the climax of becoming a governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, the immediate past governor of Kwara State, is probably one of the most equipped Nigerian politicians both in academics and cognate experiences. Speaking with Sunday Sun in this no-holds barred interview in Abuja, the well-read politician said that the collapse of the Otoge Movement in his state did not come to him as a surprise. He also suggested the kind of president Nigeria needs in 2023, his fears for the general elections, why he is not enthusiastic about going to the National Assembly, adding that Nigeria as it is today is not the country of his dream. Abdulfatah equally spoke on why he did not perform up to his optimal standard in the eight years he ruled Kwara as governor, why he has no iota of regret leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC) to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his impression about the three serving governors that dumped the PDP for APC and more importantly, the most practical solution to tackle the escalating insecurity in the country.

Why did you decide to pipe low after leaving office?

For some of us, we see politicking with two faces. The first stands for politicking and the other for governance. We try as much as possible to create room for each of them to get the maximum benefit of the opportunities that are available. As it is, we went through an electoral process; elected officers into different levels, so we will allow them to do governance. As for politicking, we are still very much in touch with our people at home and we are still much organised. I am happy to tell you that we have one of the most stable PDP organisation within any sub-national today. This is because the structures are well laid out. We have really come together to understand what were the challenges and we have since proffered solutions that will help us in the next elections. But most importantly, we have come to terms with the reality of things happening globally especially in Nigeria and we recognise that these are times we have to reposition ourselves and redirect our energy to meet the needs of the people in their current position. These are the areas we are really working on and we hope to change. For us, these things are done quietly because we are not in government and that is why it looks as if we are off the radar. However, in reality we are still within the radar, meeting up with our people at all levels both at state, senatorial, local government and ward levels. We are quite organised and I can proudly tell you that we are one of the most organised PDP state chapters in Nigeria. I promise it will probably get better and stronger.

Why didn't you retire to the upper chambers like other governors after your eight-year tenure?

The issue of going to the Senate was not something I truly looked forward to. But there are times you work in the interest of people that are supporting you. They actually wanted me to go to the Senate, but in reality, I had always wanted to see myself in an environment where I could exact my wealth of experience to help build and make systems work. It made me fit in more in the executive arm rather than trying to see myself making enabling laws that will allow for programmes and activities to happen. Yes, an attempt was made for me to go to the Senate, but having been prevailed on by some sections of my Senatorial District that I should give an opportunity for the then serving senator for the second term in consideration for rotation which creates sense of equity and calm nerves that would hitherto have been heated. So, to that extent, I saw it more like a sense of sacrifice because I looked at the bigger opportunities that lie in making myself available in different areas other than the legislative arm. I am still looking forward to opportunities in whichever way it comes to contribute towards making Nigeria better.

Did you have any regret leaving the APC as at the time you left?

Well, I will say not really. There was no regret because as at the time we took the decision to leave the APC, it was the best decision at that time for us. Don’t also forget that activities in life are transactional. And we get the opportunity with the benefit of hindsight to review things that happened. Within the context of where we found ourselves at that time that was the best decision we took. Yes, it could have had its different side in terms of expectations, but don’t forget that we also took a similar decision in 2014, but because it paid off, it looked like a better decision. In life, it is neither here or there, especially in politics where there are so many exogenous factors playing out. We are left within the sphere of manoeuvre based on information available to you to take decisions and bring it to the desirable expectations.

Did it come to you as a surprise that the Otoge Movement collapsed like badly arranged cards this soon?

For a contemporary observer of political activism in Kwara, especially looking back a bit beyond the current situations we have, if you give it a historical look, what happened, the way it happened and what is happening now, you could probably plot in a graph and work things out to give you a better picture of what is going on now. As it is today, for anybody who saw the way the election went through, there was a lot of federal might that was largely downplayed by the media to make it look as if it was a hands down victory. However, be it as it may, the forces that came together to form the opposition at that time, were not really homogeneous. They still retain their heterogeneity to the extent that they felt that they had a common front they needed to tackle, with the understanding that they are going to work things out when victory is gotten. A lot of people don’t know that it is not victory that is usually the situation, but managing the victory. The biggest challenge is always managing victory not getting it especially in a politicking system. Victory comes with lots of expectations, lots of demands both institutional and personal. Patronages will be expected on to and the way and manner you navigate through these and still come out with what you think meets up with your political promises, is left to you to really work on and for people to judge you. However, as it is today, I feel it is not the best of times for the party and its government. Some of us actually feel very worried to the extent that governance has been affected. Party belongs to those in the party, but governance is for everybody. Party is supposed to be an instrument to deliver governance and since at the moment it is not meeting the expectations of the people because of the distraction going on, it calls for concern for an average Kwaran. The good thing is that you don’t need to ask again whether it is going to be a blessing in disguise for the PDP. We are all mutually exclusive and two parties cannot be there at the same time and the weaker your opposition is getting, the more you position yourself to strategically take over. It is only normal anywhere in the world.

What is your deepest regret as governor for eight years?

You see, we are human and largely driven by expectations. Even as humans, if we flash back at our actions in life, you will naturally feel that there were things you would have done differently. It is part of being human. The truth is that I came with an expectation to serve the people with clear set programmes and policies and had expectations on resources that will be available to execute these programmes, but some of the resources could not come as a result of global, national and sub-national economic situations. So, naturally, there are things I wished I could have done that I could not do.

What is your take on the impression in certain quarters that you didn’t live up to your potential as governor considering your background?

I will disagree with you. I lived up to my top potential, but not optimal because of resource constraints. For example, there was a time we thought we were going to raise money from the capital market, we had programmes well laid out, but that was the same year there was economy recession. That was in 2014, 2015, and 2016 when we had drop in the price of crude oil, which came with very low revenues into the state coffers. Don’t forget that the capacity to raise money in the Capital Market is hinged on that revenue inflow. So, the lower it is, the lower the volume of money you can access from the Capital Market. It got to the extent that some states had to be bailed out when this current administration came in because of low revenues. So, it was not a good time for us to enter the Capital Market. That was the beginning of our second term. However, we still demonstrated ingenuity in areas that changed the financial models especially in the internally generated revenue when we moved to over 400 per cent in the state where we were able to have the most improved IGR especially in Northern Nigeria with close to N3 billion monthly inflow from only 16 local governments. This saw us creating a new funding window for capital project that cut across infrastructure, human capital development and state economy. In short, we were able to bring out some new things especially driven out of necessity for Kwara State.

Is this the Nigeria of your dreams?

This is certainly not the Nigeria of my dream. Having had the experience of military administration, coming in through to the current democratic dispensation which started in 1999, the way institutions were built to support governance, and how things were carried on, the way we were received globally at the ushering of democracy at that time, the way Nigerians in Diaspora began to pour in, the way we had a recreation of the middle class, and the way things began to change in Nigeria, came with lots of hope for us. We did not only see Nigeria beginning to grow, but saw opportunities, strong innovation and also room for strong innovation, and we saw room for a system of governance that can organise us into one nation, way beyond what almost set us apart in 1967. However, looking back now, I see that the Nigeria of my dream has not been fulfilled for obvious reasons. We are currently faced with an unprecedented level of insecurity attempting to make a mockery of every progress that has been made. There has been progress that has been made in some key areas where we expect that Nigerians should ordinarily begin to take advantage of the opportunities, but unfortunately, the current insecurity is taking its toll on these gains made. Yes, CBN is really supportive of the agricultural sector with its funding windows and key areas supporting farming, but these farmers cannot farm because of insecurity. The security situation is making every other effort look very sub-optimal because it affects every area where progress is expected to be felt and change the lives of people. This is why I said that this is not the Nigeria of my dreams. Security is one area we must recognise as having one common challenge if we truly want to move forward as a people.

What are the practical solutions to approach the insecurity in the country?

The security situation in Nigeria is multi-faceted. In my opinion, there are causative factors and consequences coming with it. The causative factors are the factors coming with peoples expectations from government in making the environment lot more enabling especially in areas of human capital development, like opportunities for the teeming youths to get engaged. These deficiencies span beyond current administration because we have not really had proper planning for engagement of the youths into our economy. We have not stimulated the private sector enough especially in terms of support in infrastructure and policies. If we had, we would have seen things like factories and other manufacturing outfits working this expanding, creating new consumption patterns and opening up new levels of employment. Except for telecommunication and entertainment, very few areas have attempted to absolve the youths. Again, the system of education has not also helped matters. It keeps churning out the type of youths that that have not been prepared for the current global digital economy. The focus should be on what people can do rather than on certification. The second leg is that we have allowed those areas of differences between us that should ordinarily be a strength to become punch lines. It has not allowed us to enjoy the sweetness that comes with unity in diversity and the strength in unity in diversity. We have been robbed of that sweetness. We have allowed some people within the system, to a large extent, use these dichotomies as punch lines. Unfortunately, it is coming at the time when the human capital development scheme is not meeting the needs of the people. Everybody is looking for where to anchor his anger. It is only natural especially in our kind of society that is heavily eaten into by residual superstitious belief, which hinders our capacity to probe and proffer solutions. I would like to say that all these I have enumerated are build ups of over two, three decades coming in pockets that were not recognized at that time they were building up. The immediate one is the way and manner we have allowed the security agencies to be overstretched because we did not prepare for the kind of insecurity and criminalities going on, leading to high level and impunity. People commit crimes because they know that they can get away with it. This has exacerbated criminal activities in the northern part of Nigeria where kidnappings are going on and in the southern part where other forms of criminalities are going on. These things have now gotten to levels of driving people to look at the possibility of separation. Unfortunately, the problems are very simple. We have not allowed the rule of law to take its course. That is, we have not allowed for equity, justice and compliance. If these things I enumerated are put in place we will begin to see light at the end of the tunnel in terms of security challenges. One of the things we need to tinker with to create a sense of bond within us are not too many. That is the agitations for true federalism, which will not only stimulate personal efforts, but also create a better economy. However, looking at the current quasi-unitary system we are running, we will require a process to migrate us towards true federalism. Some of these include the indices used in the federation allocation. For instance, we could change the weighting attached to IGR efforts. We have to also improve on concurrence in some of the exclusive areas. This will automatically begin to strengthen sub-national capacities to drive revenue and execute projects that will be people-oriented. These are some of the things we should look at from the type of new Nigeria that we have in minds. I also think that if as a nation in the current situation we are discussing restructuring, electoral processes, new ways of setting up new governments, I think we should begin to look at some of these agitations and see how we can genuinely incorporate them into a short, medium to long term migration to true federalism.

What are your fears for 2023 elections, especially the rumble at the National Assembly over electronic transmission of election results?

I have always said that any democratic good governance anywhere in the world starts with a good electoral process. The process I am referring to is the one that starts with having a transparent, acceptable electoral process whose results will not be challenged. Parties involved will be satisfied with the transparency. Anything short of that will not give you the kind of required result. Once you compromise the electoral process, you have compromised the selection process. And that means we have to live with the consequences that come with that. It is a choice of ensuring that you have a proper electoral process that will be acceptable to a majority of Nigerians and you create the right expectations. It will be a major improvement if we do not only strengthen the card reader use, but also ensure that results are transmitted electronically. Once this is done, it enhances the confidence that people will have on the result released. Above all, levels of human interference will be minimised. It will to a large extent give us the kind of result we want to see that will reflect the will of the people and any government that comes out of that, so be it. We should look very seriously at the yearnings of Nigerians with respect to ensuring that we improve on 2015, 2019 processes that will ensure an electoral process acceptable to Nigerians especially if it is driven electronically and is allowed to come through. In other words, what I am saying is that our inability to deploy a credible electronic process is my biggest fear for the 2023 elections. It will certainly affect it because transmitting electronically lessens the room for benefit of doubt.

Will you contest in the 2023 elections?

It is very clear that I will not be contesting at the sub-national level having had the opportunity of been a two-time governor. But I will, however, make myself available to serve at different levels where the opportunities come up either at elective or appointive capacity. But I am not a fan of the National Assembly in terms of wanting to go there as a legislator.

Do you think that the PDP is strong enough to wrest power from the APC in 2023?

Time alone will tell. PDP is truly making efforts to put its piece and pieces together. Yes, it might not be the best of effort, especially finding itself in the current levels of opposition. It is trying its best to see how to fight as an opposition. There is much more room for better things to be done. I am sure that the party is not unaware of some of these opportunities and when the time for real politicking comes, we will begin to see those things that will either show that it has taken the opportunity or not. It is too early to begin to judge.

Did the decision by the three PDP governors to join the APC come to you as a shock?

It did not come to me as a surprise looking at the history of the PDP where it has been, where it is now and what it is currently doing. There is still a lot of room for strengthening and partnering with others. But it is also a reflection of weak cohesion among the leaders of the party. The cohesion is weak to the extent that getting a workable and proactive solution is sometimes herculean even when there are differences. Don't also forget that their decision to leave is personal, but just a coincidence that they are holding the office as governors.

Zoning arrangement has become the most controversial thing in almost all the political parties, what is your take on it?

We have found ourselves at a very tough time in Nigeria because we are faced with an unprecedented level of insecurity, unprecedented level of economic pressure; nerves have gotten hurt and most importantly a high level of youth agitation, especially our current demographic composition. What it means is that the kind of problem we are facing requires somebody who will do the job of the narrative. In the choice of who will do the job, there will be so many considerations. But, I think that the most critical one that should matter to an average Nigerian is the person that will do the job. The person that will bring succour to the current security challenges, come with an improved way of navigating the economy to stimulate those areas, expand and allow for innovation, strong synergy between the federal agencies between the federal agencies, the state and LGA to see the optimal use of the resources at the three layers. Lack of synergy brings about lots of duplicity and standalone programmes that we are not able to benefit from. We need that kind of leadership that can ensure that these things are optimised. We need a leadership that will strongly look at our current educational system and ensure that we improve on hands-on training. By stimulating our economy, there is an all-African free trade coming up soon where a critical mass of 200 million people with 65 per cent being youths. How can we translate this potential into an economic workforce so that we can become the leader? These are the things that should decide the kind of leadership we are looking for. All these qualities have nothing to do with religion, geography. We know what to do in Nigeria and how to do it, but our biggest challenge is that we have not gotten people, those with that level of commitment. Zoning can be achieved through inclusiveness at different layers of governance without compromising quality, capacity, eligibility and suitability. Don’t forget that there are several areas that allow for power sharing in a synergised leadership scheme. Who is that Nigeria that can tie us together because he understands these diversities as our strengths? This is what we should be looking for as a country, not zoning.

From the classroom to the banking hall and then politics, is this trajectory the career path you set for yourself?

Firstly, I only became a teacher by accident. By the nature of the discipline I read in school, Chemistry, I always look forward to working in the quality control unit of a manufacturing outfit. But when opportunity did not come on time, I took up a teaching job. Then along the line, I began to develop interest in the financial world and saw myself gravitating toward that largely supported by my quantitative mindedness. So, seeing me working in the bank and moving into politics especially through the gateway of being a Commissioner for Finance just saw me doing the same thing, but in an expanded platform. Being the governor also is not far away from that too. For me, I have had quite and exciting career beyond my imagination and the gratitude goes to God Almighty, my parents and the people I met along that helped me to strengthen my potential in ways and manner that I am happy with.

Did you keep killer squad as governor like others as they claim?

Most of those things are myths. Governors are normal people that live among others. We go to the market when we leave office and some people chose to live larger than life posture, but some of us prefer to be very simplistic. It is a choice, but the reality is that most of what you hear are myths created by people around them rather than reflecting who they have demonstrated to be.