Honourable Zakari Mohammed, a member of the House of Representatives representing Baruten/Kaiama Federal Constituency of Kwara State and House spokesman, spoke with journalists during his recent visit to Ilorin, the state capital. Excerpts:

HOW do you react to the alleged ongoing move by the presidency to hijack Kwara PDP?
It’s still a rumour. There’s no categorical statement credited to anyone that Kwara PDP is a target for mischief. I want to state clearly that we have a party in Kwara and Kwara is different from any other state of the federation. What we have in the state is a structure and the structure predated some of us who are actors in the political scene. It’s being handed down from one generation to the other and the benchmark is that the majority of people who are worth something in the state key into that family structure. And it’s been paying off. That’s why it’s convenient for us at the level of the party in the state to say that power has been in the Central for a while, let it move to the South and there was no issue.

This can’t be done in some states of the federation because everyone will want to prove his number. So, this agreement and family tie in Kwara has made all these to be happening. We don’t have any fear and we have a leader in Senator Bukola Saraki  in whom we are well pleased with. He’s in charge of our political structure and we’ve no cause to doubt his ability. Of course, we have the governor of the state who’s running the government. They complement each other.

So, to target Kwara for whatever reason is not the right thing. This is a party that has delivered 22 members out of 24 and the six House of Representatives members are PDP with members of the Senate too, including the 16 local government chairmen with the exemption of one. We have delivered. So, Kwara should be an asset to PDP and I don’t think any right-thinking party man would want to introduce discord in the party. We in Kwara PDP are proud of our leader. We would prefer that whatever PDP is doing at the centre should be synergised with our own through our leadership. But to say that Kwara will be like every other state in terms of intrusion, that will be getting it wrong.

There is this insinuation about Professor Oba trying to be used as head of splinter group 
He’s one of our party members who had contributed efforts in the state. I think it’s still at the level of rumour. May be it’s the activities of a fifth columnist who wants to use that opportunity to infiltrate the party and cause disaffection. The only fair thing to do is to say that nothing like that exists and we are still one indivisible family. He can’t deny he is a Kwara. But Kwara is moving, purposeful and has structure. That issue should not give us sleepless nights; rather, we should aware of fifth columnists.

On the suspension of some PDP governors by the party, what do you think this portends? 
That’s where I want to caution Mr President as the leader of the party.  Everything is on his lap. There are certain elements who have infiltrated the party structure. For instance, when you keep removing one firewood and the other from fire, the soup will not get done. I believe Mr. President should sit down and do sober reflection on the issue, so that party members would not be thrown out on flimsy excuses. The PDP party has machinery to discipline erring members. We should go back to that method. Before it’s the national party structure that released fund to states, local governments etc, and not the president. But in 1999, when the party asked for fund, the president would say go and meet your governors. State governors then assumed the roles of financiers of their state chapters of the party.

Now, there is a system that wants to take that role off them. Thus, the change should be gradual. That’s the sickness in PDP because if one doesn’t know the source of sickness, the treatment may be difficult. That’s why the president should be cautious and fair. There’s mutual suspicion among members and inordinate ambition. Still, I think the solution lies with Mr. President as the leader of the party. For instance, if you want to reach out to us in Kwara, go through our leader. At least we all supported the president during the last election that brought him to power. So, if we had done that effort in planting the tree, why would one be interested in cutting it?

When the issues come, we should be able to address them to make progress.  In PDP, we should learn to manage our success. It seems we are not managing our success right. We should reflect on those things that are wrong. People should not be allowed to use our party for personal vengeance. If there will be a process, let’s all follow the process so that at the end of the day. But hasty decision taken to satisfy certain Interests will not augur well for us.

Some people are describing NASS members as selfish in calling for an amendment on rules for impeachment of the governors and president and not the recall process for NASS members
It does not mean we are selfish because we are not reviewing the recall process. Anybody, professional bodies, individuals can bring up any issue and take it up. If it’s not within our reckoning that we are bringing up the issue, then we take it up. I beg to disagree on that. Also, the issue does not intend to weaken the president or being targeted at Mr. President.

We have made it clear even in our contributions that it’s not about President Jonathan, but strictly about legislature, which is the youngest arm of government and the most vulnerable. Each time there is a military takeover, you just hear that the constitution has been suspended and the constitution is our Bible or Quran and we all go home. We are mostly misunderstood by Nigerians as their representatives. But without us, many things would have gone wrong in this country in terms of governance because ministries and agencies, etc, know that we sit on facts because of our oversight functions. We look into issues of public interest and we are getting results. I think Nigerians should start to see us from a different light.

We are just being demonized. It’s not in Nigeria’s interest to have a weak legislature because it would give room for a very strong character in the executive to become dictatorial. The only check and safety net is the representatives. We are the closest to the people and we air their views. How many people relate with their ministers?
 
What’s your take on automatic tickets for President  Goodluck Jonathan by the BOT chairman of the PDP and some other party leaders?
It’s not democratic. Let everybody go to the field. This is about report sheet. Before you are promoted or commended, there must be basis for assessment. At the end of a tenure of an elected political office holder, the people should be able to say the person has done well or not. But with this, it means the people do not have a say again. Don’t forget that not all of those elected are doing well. The party men should be allowed to select their choices, who can at least go in and be able to face the other people.

And this issue about six year single term for governors and president, I think it’s only the Senate that took that position. We are bringing up our own report that retains the structure of four years in office for a renewal and four years two terms, as it is in the constitution.

When we present our report, there will be a conference committee between the Senate and the House of Representatives. If they don’t agree, there will be conference and the conference is about 360 members and 109 senators and at the end of the day, the position of the House will hold. People are just mixing it up.

What’s your take on the fallout of the NGF election?
It’s a voluntary association of governors. The governors are leaders and to that extent, people expect that they should manage their issue as our leaders so that Nigerians would continue to have confidence in them.