Benue governorship contest is a walkoverfor APC –Waku

S enator Joseph Waku needs no introduc­
tion. Though he has a caustic tongue, he
doesn’t speak with both sides of his
mouth. No matter whose horse is gored,
he would always call a spade a spade.
For that reason, many people appreciate
his nuisance value. In this interview, the
68-year old Benue-born politician and
businessman unfolds the reason why he
is interested in the governorship contest,
promising to fight the state chapter of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) to a
standstill for its alleged imposition of
consensus candidate on other aspirants.
Excerpts:
Some governorship aspirants, including
you, have kicked against the candidate of
your party for the 2015 general election.
What is your grouse?
Yes, you used the right word. Most of us
decide to dissociate ourselves from the
so-called consensus candidate because
there was no consensus. Even among
ourselves, we never sat to decide on a
consensus let alone bringing somebody
who never participated in the primaries.
He is not even a member of our party.
The guy did not participate in the APC
primaries. He participated in the PDP pri­
maries held on December 8 and lost. Our
primary was scheduled for December 4
and shifted to 5. If we had finished our
primary in APC by the time he lost out in
PDP, he perhaps would have gone for the
Labour party or any of the mushroom par­
ties to pick their ticket. So, the issue of
being our candidate does not arise. How
long has he been in the party? At what
point did he buy the form when the
screening had already been concluded
and sales of form closed. Somebody
smuggled him in and that is Senator
George Akume. We thought it is not right.
We were five; including Akume’s
Permanent Secretary who later decided to
chicken out because Akume threatened
him. So, four of us are on now. We came
in to Abuja to lay our complaints because
we believe the national secretariat will
listen to us to save APC in Bebue State.
Otherwise, APC in Benue State will not
have a candidate because there is no
primary in the state. And the law says a
gubernatorial candidate shall emerge
through the primaries and in this case
there is no primary. If there is going to be
a consensus candidate, he must be
among ourselves. Even if there is a
consensus agreement, there must be an
affirmation witnessed by the electoral
body, police and the SSS. We can no
longer tolerate impunity of one person
who claims to be financing the party. This
party belongs to all of us. As we speak
today, APC has no governorship
candidate for Benue State because of
court injunction. And when the court
injunction is lifted, Senator Akume who
called himself the leader of the party
frustrated the process of concluding pri­
maries because he had an agenda and
his agenda was to sell the party to
somebody who was an Acting Minister for
Aviation. His impunity led to several
defections in the party.
Are you saying that the national head­
quarters did not listen to your complaints
before you went to court?
For some activities of some national
officers, we don’t want to trust them. We
don’t want to take things for granted. We
want to protect the party from being run
as a private company of an individual.
Do you realise the enormous of chal­
lenges in your hand if you have to govern
Benue State because that is a state
where salaries of teachers are being
owned?
That is why we need somebody who
knows the policies and manifestos of our
party. That is why we need somebody
who is conversant with the thinking and
working of the party. There are certain
loans that have been taken by the current
government. If I am elected as governor
of APC, I will not run a one-man
government. There will be a committee
set up to verify those loans that are taken
to determine whether they are really
beneficial to the state and the people.
Definitely, the state is not going to be
strangled because somebody took a very
huge loan. We will work on the Internally
Generated Revenue so as to cater for
some services.
Why do you want executive power in­
stead of legislative experience you are
already familiar with?
I agree with you that experience matters
in this job. But that is why I can do the
two having gained experience from not
just being a one-time senator, but also as
one time member of the state house of
assembly. Again, experience I have
acquired as a successful businessman
can be transmitted into governance rather
than those who have no kitchen to
manage and yet they want to govern the
state.
If the party leadership suggests idea of
consensus candidate, would you accept
consensus arrangement?
Genuinely, of course. Whoever they
choose, we would have no objection but
to support. It is not all about me; it is
about the due process and integrity of the
people. If I am chosen as a consensus
candidate, so be it. If another person’ is
chosen, I will fall in line to work for the
success of the party. It is not about
Senator Waku.
Do you know that age is already becom­
ing a very strong factor in determining
who leads a state?
It depends on where you are coming
from. You can have a 10-year old person
who wants to rule the state. You can have
a 100-year old man who wants to rule the
state. It depends on age bracket you are
talking about.
If you have to put age into consideration,
do you think you have all it takes to gov­
ern the state?
I don’t know what age you are referring
to. Is it 80, 90 or 100?
You know your age; I don’t know.
At 68, I will govern the state with the fear
of God. I will govern the state with less
anxiety. I will govern the state without the
desire to be this or to be that. I have done
all those things. All I want is to render
service at the tail end of my journey. What
do I need now that I have not got? If I
have not built house at my age, then God
has made it impossible for me to have a
house. I can’t be struggling to build a new
house now at this age. Where am I taking
it to? This is the correct age to govern a
state. I will not have time to go to disco
dancing all night. I have done all the
travels in my life. So, I will concentrate to
make a difference. You can see the dif­
ference in the states being controlled by
advanced age people except a few states
where the younger generation leads well.
How did Benue State find itself in the
state it found itself today not being able
to pay salaries of teachers and civil serv­
ants?
If you bring somebody who is well
experienced with age advantage, he will
not allow his children to be suffering while
he flies in and out of the country without
bothering about what is happening to the
people. Benue is such an unfortunate
state and that is why I offered myself to
serve and I know I will do better. I also
know that if I am denied to serve my
people, it is my people that will regret, not
me.
Don’t you think that if this situation is
not well managed, APC may not achieve
the objective of bringing about the
change you are talking about?
From the look of things, if the national
secretariat does not intervene in this
matter, we may end up not having a
candidate. So, the end may be jeop­
ardized because from what we found out,
George Akume is the biggest saboteur of
APC in Benue State. He is sabotaging the
party for reasons best known to him. In
fact, we are made to believe that he is
working against the party.
But that is left to the national secretariat
of the party to take the necessary
disciplinary action so as to save the
situation.
And do you think APC has enough strong
hold in Benue to win governorship
election?
If there is genuine and acceptable
candidate, it is a walk over. In 2011 when
we just brought ACN for three months,
nobody can say our performance was
abysmal, let alone now that we have seen
too many lapses of the ruling PDP
administration in the state. Civil servants
are not paid, teachers are on strike for
several months, children have not gone
back to school, hospitals are just mere
consulting centres, nobody sleeps at
home well because of security, no water
to drink even though we have River Benue
around us, no industries. Everything is in
our favour, it is a matter of management
of the party. We must ensure that a
dictator in the party in the state is
checked.
Are you mindful of the power of incum­
bency?
I have heard so much about the power of
incumbency. Was there no power of
incumbency in Imo State, in Nassarawa
State, my next neighbor? This again
depends on who you choose.
Gen Muhammadu Buhari has emerged the
presidential candidate of your party,
where do you go from here?
We are going for the election. He told
everybody that he didn’t have money and
that even if he had he won’t bribe
anybody, Nigerians were happy and they
clapped for him and gave him the ticket.
Atiku spent 14 million dollars in one night.
He gave each of the 7000 delegates 2000
dollars, he didn’t get it. This, of course,
does not include accommodation, feeding
and the aircraft he hired or chartered. He
visited all state secretariats of the party
donating this and that, yet he lost
because it was a collective resolve of the
people to say no.
The slogan of your party now is change.
(Cuts in). A positive change and also a
counter change within the change. If a
leader misbehaves, we will change him.
So, change does not really mean chasing
Goodluck away and sacking the PDP.
Even within APC, change may become
necessary. It is change for whoever is an
impediment for good governance.
Looking at the enormity of the challenges
confronting the nation, where do you see
Nigeria after 2015 if the change you’ve
so much talked about doesn’t come true?
Then, Nigeria is doomed. You will wake
up one morning and you will not be
happy to call yourself a Nigerian because
we have a daft and Nigerians decide to
keep a daft in government. Of course,
they will pay a price.
How do you think Buhari will be able to
tackle corruption even with the enormous
goodwill and integrity he is bringing on
board bearing in mind that the people sur­
rounding him too also have their own in­
nate tendencies?
When the head is rotten, the shoulder will
not hold. Corruption is from leadership. If
a leader corrupts himself, he has given
absolute permit to the followership to be
corrupt. When a leader is upright, there
will be sanity. Petty stealing may contin­
ue, but massive corruption can no longer
be there. Buhari was one time oil
minister, he has no filling station let alone
oil bloc. As we speak, Buhari has no plot
in Abuja. That is integrity of a leader.