In an exclusive interview with our reporter, a former Kogi State Commissioner for Finance and 2023 Governorship hopeful, Hon. Zakari Alfa bares mind on the state of the nation, 2023 general elections and politics of zoning and why he believes his principal, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is the best man for the nation’s top seat.
What are your honest comments on the state of the nation right now?
Despondent. Difficult. Rudderless without a leader to fight its symmetric and asymmetric warfare. I am disappointed at the state of our nation today but hopeful because very soon, hope is coming to Nigerians.
What do you think is really the problem of Nigeria and how can we get it right?
Leadership. Leadership. Leadership. A country depends on its leadership’s capacity to make progress. Our leadership resources seems to be inadequate to face the problems confronting us as a nation. Today, all our peers in the developing world have left us behind because we tend to have forgotten that Japan as a nation do not have oil but they turn on to technology to remain and maintain their leadership position in the world. The solutions to our myriad of problems in Nigeria is to have a leader in the mould of Atiku Abubakar, who has the experience and the will to fight the symmetric and asymmetric problems that confronts us as a people. Simple and short.
Can you itemize what you think are the problems facing the country?
The first objective of any government is security and welfare of the people. When you have a people that over time has been bastardised by her governments irrespective of the type of government you may call them, military or democratic, they are the same. Our people have lost confidence and hope in the government at every tiers be they local government, state or the federal. When a people have lost hope in the ability of their leaders to protect and provide for them then it becomes natural for them to lead themselves.
The insecurity we face today in the country is a product of bad leadership. Give the country the leadership they trust then with one speech alone, we are done. The type of leader we need is one that exudes confidence. A leader that is called hope and I am happy that hope is coming to Nigeria.
The second item that is lacking is the welfare of the people. When you allow the people to take the bitter pills consistently in the name of patriotic zeal and the hope that tomorrow will be better but what do they see, despair, disillusionment, instability and so forth. There will be crisis. The other myriad of problems confronting us is the economy and as you know our economy today is stupid.
We heard you say hope is coming to Nigeria. How do you mean?
The messiah is coming and I am happy to be heralding it. The pain taker, the compassionate man and he is no other than Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri Adamawa. I am so happy that finally the hope ambassador has finally declared to be President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I am proud to say hope is coming to Nigerians.
You are always excited when you talk of the declaration of the former vice-president for the presidency of Nigeria in 2023. Why the excitement?
I am excited and millions of supporters of the former Vice-President are too. The simple reason for this excitement is that hope is coming. After the despair we have faced in the past seven or so years that hope is coming back to Nigeria. Atiku Abubakar represents hope for millions of our country men. The best man for the job of leading Nigeria has officially declared for the job and this declaration has put to an end the speculations of whether he is contesting or not. Atiku Abubakar is particularly the best man fit for the job in 2023 because he is fit and ready to run for the presidency in 2023.
Why are you of the opinion that he is the best man for the job in 2023?
Look around the country among the plethora of aspirants that have declared for the presidency in 2023, Atiku is the most competent and experienced among them all. Nigeria with its attendant security, economic and political challenges needs the best to lead it in 2023. Atiku is that man.
Many are of the view that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should consider zoning of the presidency to the south in 2023 and this would eventually nail the aspiration of your boss in 2023. What is your take on this?
Many are of the view that zoning of the presidency should be discarded in 2023 completely. Many are also of the view that nobody should be barred from pursuing his or her political aspiration in the name of zoning as doing so is sacrificing competency as it is unconstitutional and denying the country of the best at this critical juncture in its democratic journey.
But it has it advantages and we are talking of unity here?
The discontentment you see in the country today is not because of lack of zoning. No political association that is well schooled in democratic ethos will support that in view of the present realities we found ourselves in the country – the constriction of democratic space and advocate a conscious denial by political institutions the rights of a Nigerian citizen to aspire to any elective office of his choice, pleading zoning of political offices as justifications. In reference to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri of Adamawa is appropriately backed by the Nigerian constitution, the electoral act and other conventions to run for any office of his choice in 2023, so we are not worried about this speculations.
Why do you think there is a push for zoning in the PDP at this time?
What are we talking about when we reason that in the PDP, the south has spent 14years as President and the north only 2 years. Now, how do you zone? Need I remind anybody or group pushing for zoning to deny Atiku Abubakar the presidency that the processes of political recruitments have been well spelt out by our country’s constitution, the electoral act and all enabling laws guiding elections in Nigeria and the political parties constitutions. In all of these, be it the party primaries or the main elections, the voters hold the aces.
What is the role of Nigerians in all of this?
The Nigerian people decides who they want at every stage of the elections and not the obviously hired voices of a nebulous few. No matter the decibels of noises from any quarters, the law remains the law and the right to choose who leads them is the weapons of the voters. The road to 2023 certainly cannot be constructed outside this guidelines, trust me.
Why do you think Atiku Abubakar is the best man to be president in 2023?
I believe that if leadership is anchored on knowledge, skills and experience, and if narrowed to political leadership which is accessed by democratic credentials of an aspirant, then the Waziri of Adamawa fits perfectly into this bill.
What are the credentials Atiku has that makes him different from other presidential aspirants?
This is a man that before becoming the vice-president of the federal republic of Nigeria for eight years, he had patiently undergone political tutelage over the years culminating in his election as the governor of Adamawa state before he was handpicked among the lots as the Vice President of Nigeria. Therefore, the absurd calls by a few to bar him through the back door with a misnomer called zoning is incongruous with Nigerians’ collective resolve to salvage the Nation battered by mediocrity.
What therefore is your demand to the proponents of zoning in the PDP?
Our demand is simple ,whosoever the few proponents and advocates of zoning in the party are surrogating and promoting or intends to crown a king or kings should hop into the political arena with others including the best material available, Atiku Abubakar and go through the whole hog of the PDP’s envisaged free and fair contest. The people would accept the winner that emerges through the process but calling for the erection of undemocratic barriers for some people to be filtered out based on geographical considerations is an indecent agitation.
As a member of the PDP, what is the decision of the party hierarchy on this?
The PDP is a democratic party. Rightly, the party in this project 2023 is not subscribing to this platform and has therefore opted for a level playing field for all and that is why it is the best political party in Nigeria.
