How NNPP will Defeat Gombe APC in 2023 Guber election – Mailantarki
Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, represented Gombe, Kwami Funakaye Federal Constituency in the Seventh Assembly. In this Interview with Periscope Nigeria shares how he would defeat Governor Muhammadu Yahaya in 2023.
Share with us your venture into politics? My coming into politics was born out the need for the youths to participate as we can’t all wait until we are nominated, or selected by the elders. We have to fight for ourselves as no one can give you power, you have to fight for it especially Nigerian youths. Most of us, especially in my state people are afraid to even contest because we were out anointed by veterans or leaders. There was and still a need to be serious, determined, God gives power to whom he wants, so for me less emphasis should not be placed on the power of the electorates as no leader can give you power with the people. I was able to identify the issues long time ago by coming through Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) at a time Peoples Democratic Party was the ruling in the state. Some thought I was crazy that how can I win a Representative seat when the major political is on ground but the people saw our courage, zeal and determination so they elected us. Thank God we did well that is why they keep pressurizing us to contest each and every time that has led us to where we are today. I’m running for the governorship position of the state based on popular demand of the poor, people and youths of my state.
Many have canvassed for part time politicians, aside politics what else do you do? Apart from politics I’m a business man, in fact business is my major livelihood. I’m into real estate, agriculture; I owe one of the largest fish farms in Nigeria, the highest producers of catfish in Abuja. I’m making a lead through sports, now I’m investing alot in youths so that I can bring out the best in them so that in the future. I have always said it and will continue to say it that politicians should not rely on only government job they should explore alot of other options just like the advanced climes. You see them venturing into various spheres, there is alot of money in Agriculture, personal businesses. We should not take politics as a means of living, we should take politics as something we can do when we have the opportunity rather it should be seen as national assignment after which you retire to your normal schedule. Politics should not be the major source of income to politicians, if we adopt this it will reduce the tension, pressure it won’t be like a do or die. I urge alot of youths aspiring to venture into politics to get something doing as they struggle to get a chance.
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You were appointed member of board of Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, are you satisfied with the slow pace of prosecution? My appointment as board member of ICPC is a long story. I was supposed to be a member of board of ICPC, I was nominated by Mr President, but because of the politics and because of our status of not having ‘godfather’ in politics, the people that were supposed to protect us were no longer there to protect us. My name was unofficially withdrawn, someone somewhere illegally removed my name from the list and nobody could stand for me. I still have the president’s nomination, when I contacted the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief of Staff to the president no positive response and i didn’t have access to the president because at some point during the summary of list, someone somewhere in the villa removed my name.
What did the President who appointed you do to remedy the situation? He did nothing, because I was not even sworn about two persons were dropped from the list officially because they had issue with ICPC as well as the other person from Kwara. I was not dropped officially I still have Mr President’s nomination letter to represent North-East but surprisingly up to today the nomination is there. The only response I got from the SGF’s office is maybe it was a typographical error. As I’m talking to you North-East is short changed the board of ICPC nobody is representing the region. This is one bad thing about this government that made us leave the party because nobody will protect the common man, we don’t have any ‘godparents’ the only people that should speak for us is the leader, the president but he is not reachable because they won’t allow us to get close to him. He won’t even know the challenges, that was why we were at disadvantage despite what we did to bring APC to power.
Are you satisfied with the pace of prosecution of corruption cases? Honestly, I’m not satisfied it slow. We should find a way to accelerate this process because we must do something about the system of prosecution. Government must be serious by placing emphasis on the processes involved in prosecution so that we can have a sane country because justice delayed is justice denied. Taking too much time is a waste of government resources, waste of innocent people’s time, had we opportunity to participate in the board of the ICPC and sure having experience of lawmaking, we would have helped the process to fasten it.
You were said to be the representative member with the highest votes in the country, how did that make you feel among your colleagues? It spurred my commitment for my people. I was elected to the house of representatives from three local governments Gombe, Kwami, and Funakaye with about 129,000 votes in the seventh assembly which at that time was the highest among 360 members of the house of representatives in Nigeria. It motivated me from that day henceforth to put my energy, resources and even what I didn’t earn from politics to support my people because of the love they showed me and I will never forget it. They showed me love that they have never shown any individual in my state, whenever they call me to contest, support I will always do that is why I’m contesting for the governorship now because they demanded I should run. I’m not even bothered about party structures, because the people will not vote based on political party by voting for those with track record not those with I will do. Go to my constituency with 31 wards, any ward you go you will see something till today from electricity, motorised boreholes functioning. I created the Mailantarki sports foundation to support the youths after that we formed Mailantarki sports care academy we have supported alot footballers in Gombe State, we have sponsored more than 10 to Europe. I will continue to support youths whether I’m in government or I’m not in government. In the next weeks we are bringing another European club to Gombe to select among our talented footballers to give them opportunity to play in Europe. I’m happy doing that with or without politics I will continue doing that.
You were said to have played significant roles in the All Progressives Congress (APC) forming government in Nigeria, and Gombe, how rewarding was it before you left? It was very terrible I have never seen a system that doesn’t reward loyalty, hardworking like the system of APC. Everyone knows I formed APC in Gombe State. I’m one of the few people that brought it to what it is today because I was elected Representative member under CPC and I sponsored the process of merger from A-Z single-handedly. Everyone including the governor (Muhammadu Yahaya), former governor (Danjuma Goje), all the leaders that brag of being leaders of APC came to join this party but you can imagine now I had to leave the party because there was nothing to show the people that we formed the party with. The party (Gombe APC) was hijacked by some few individuals and they got elected without knowing what the people did so it very disappointing, it was about getting the opportunity and grabbing it.not the best way to behave that was why we moved party.
What was your aspiration for forming Gombe State APC?
We thought we would have a party with serious concern about the common man. A party with good reward for loyalty, hardworking, not one based on family or personal sentiment. When you trace the formation of APC in Gombe you start from CPC and I was the face of the party. I was also returning officer of Mr President(Muhammadu Buhari) even during his election. But everything was done without carrying us along and with our supporters, but we are happy now that we have found a new party (NNPP) and the leadership is focused.
You recently resigned your membership of the All Progressives Congress and defected to the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP, where you are the gubernatorial candidate of the party, what motivated your move? Just like I told you it based on the support, it is not my own personal ambition but that of alot of persons of Gombe State, especially the youths. I had a very massive votes which explains the love and confidence they have for me. There was a serious pressure for me to contest even when there was no mention of party at that time but having carefully studied the party with transformational leadership, there is no one else other than Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (presidential candidate of NNPP), he was a governor in Kano. Our presidential candidate’s legacy is still clear in Kano, he supported the poor, you don’t need o be a son of anyone to excel in any discipline cutting cross Education, Agriculture and so on. Anywhere you see a successful pilot in London, America ask him where is he from? He is from Kano, ask him about his family background, he will tell you he is from a poor family. Now we have joined the NNPP because it has the plans, manifesto to address the issues of the common man, it will be based on previous performance, even in Gombe we are not promising what we have no capacity to do. My venture into politics was to answer the call of the common man, to answer the call of the voiceless of the Gombe man and the majority without godparents, I’m regrouping with the common people they constitute the majority and we have answered their calls.
Why should the people vote for you as governor? I will use this opportunity to call on all the people of Gombe State irrespective of their political parties be them in APC, PDP, Accord they should now that NNPP has come to rescue Nigerians. They look at it from our leader Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, most of the people know that that the two major parties have been known for injustice, imposition. I’m calling on Nigerians, ‘Gombites’ (Gombe people) to rally around us as the third force. They should look at the candidates not the political party, we are welcoming and we are given to bring transformational change.
You are are known for your youth alleviation through sports (Mailantarki Football Academy), what more are you coming on board with to improve the state especially its economy? We are going to open the state for the world to bring out the best in Agriculture so that we can produce and even export.We are going to look into security to see what we can do to make Gombe a peaceful State in Nigeria. We will look at education by building good schools in order to correct the mistakes the previous governments have made, we intend to provide sporting facilities in every school so that even if you don make it in the classroom there will be one area or the other. We have noticed that our schools doesn’t encourage farm, no school farm. We will encourage our students across various disciplines including medicine by reflecting what happened in Kano in Gombe State by sending thousands abroad. We will bring experts so that we can explore the various sectors of agriculture value chain.
Recently you cautioned the governor about humongous borrowing what does the future hold for Gombe State and its people? I cautioned the governor of Gombe State because I was part of the process that brought the governor on board and I know that during our campaign, the APC campaign we strongly emphasised that the previous government borrowed alot of money and then to the tune of N100 million and it was one of our campaign points. We didn’t expect that when we come into government it will be same if not worse, now if you look at the record. The loan within the three years Gombe State Government has borrowed more than N100 billion, which is more than what the PDP government borrowed in eight years. This was not what we promised or what the APC government promised Gombe people what are we doing with all this money because if you go to Gombe every aspect of Gombe they are paying revenue, government is taking loans and people are crying. There is no good schools, books, teachers, no scholarship, that is why we are advising him on the issue of loans. We need to fight alternative means of accessing money to grow the economy giving reference to our leader Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso that is why I’m contesting under his party and leadership because if you look at his model while he served Kano for eight years he never collected Kobo as loan but look at what he achieved. This is exactly what we want to do in Gombe State, you don’t need to borrow, when we don’t now how to pay it is alot of burden to every resident of Gombe State, we may not see it now but the future may bring trouble if it continues the way and manner it is going. We have plans to ensure we don’t borrow if we get the opportunity to serve as Governor of Gombe State.
Some have alleged that there is a pact with APC, Governor Muhammadu Yahaya that you may not be one of the serious candidates to unseat him? That is just to blackmail us, you know when you are doing good people bring all sorts of allegations. It is not true there is no connection between me and the governor. It is a fact that I was instrumental to bringing him as governor, it is a fact that I’m the founding father of APC apart from that nothing more. I have nothing to do with the governor. I’m a candidate of the NNPP and there is no connection, we are not connected, no synergy between us, are protecting the interest of the common Gombe man. It an effort to blackmail and tarnish our reputation. I have never heard it, I’m hearing this for the first time from you but if anyone is saying that it not correct. NNPP is independent, NNPP is the only saviour we are open for support but we are not in any working relationship with person.
How ready are you to unseat the present administration, going by the financial chest and resources needed? Don’t look at it that way we are well prepared, ready because the people are pressurising us to run. The people of Gombe are well prepared to change this injustice, the government on board is not doing the right thing and people are tired of what APC is doing in Gombe. When you walk round the state you will know what they are saying and we don’t believe in any artificial force, we believe the people are responsible elect who they want and we know God gives power to who he wishes the people will determine who is the winner. In APC they are holding all the money they feel they can come one day and buy votes, electorates can collect the money but they have the right to vote their choice. NNPP will win gubernatorial election in Gombe State come 2023.
Currently the local government retirees are yet to get their gratuity, also the present LG workers don’t benefit the current minimum wage, how will you tackle this ? When we come on board we want to assure the people of Gombe that we will do whatever it is to restore the abnormalities to make every person especially civil servants happy. All these injustices, irregularities we will do what we need to do to resolve them within the shortest period of time. This is what we are assuring the people of Gombe.
What is the way out of insecurity, unemployment challenges in the state and country? You will not disassociate it with unemployment. If jobs are created and all youths are engaged positively be it Agriculture, business, sports am sure the issue of insecurity will reduce drastically. We are going to give emphasis to job creation to engage youths, then will provide necessary equipment to police and other security agencies so that they can be responsive to crime prevention. Our economy will be people friendly to attract the youths to make Kalare (local militia group), Boko Haram membership uninteresting to them. We don’t intend to politicise the issues because we are experienced we have done it before and we will do it again.
There are concerns that election in Gombe may not be peaceful with the recent mayhems at Political secretariat, campaign offices, what is the way out? As politicians we should not create the impression that politics is a do or die affair. we are brothers, friends, we are family before any politics, so we should take politics as sports by embracing each no matter the outcome that is very important. We should be more sophisticated, show brotherly love. It should be like a game we should practice peace. NNPP stands for peace, I want to call on other stakeholders in other political parties to leave everything in the hand of God and those that will elect us, let us not give them drugs, let us not give them matchet, we should encourage them to obtain their voters card. If you encourage the killing of someone, attack of someone you are not being fair because you can’t do that with your kids. Politics should be without bitterness thag is what we stand for.
What is your advice for supporters known for their online activism without Permanent Voters Card? Well, you don’t need to make noise on social media what is important is to have a voters card, whatever your choice of candidate is you can’t achieve anything without voter’s card. Voters Card is more important than any other thing. I’m urging the youths, their family members to make it a duty to obtain their voter card as it determines who leads you. You can’t complain of bad leaders tomorrow when you failed to participate in electing leaders of your choice.
