Alhaji Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa is a former governor of Sokoto State and an elder statesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview, Bafarawa speaks on the lingering crisis rocking the PDP, why religion, ethnicity and money play roles in Nigerian politics, how his son, Sagir, emerged as deputy governorship candidate and the chances of PDP in Sokoto State.
You have been off the air for a very long time and people are wondering; why the silence when the general elections are to be held in February and March?
Well, I am not a media politician. I am a grassroots politician. So, I am doing my politics the way I understand how to play it. But I am not quiet; I’m still active. I am more active now than before because since I started politics in 1976 as a grassroots and local government councillor, as a party chairman of the local government, and as the state chairman and national chairman of the party. So, you can see that in all these things, I have aspirations.
Do you mean you are still a card-carrying member of one of the political parties?
I have never thrown away my party membership card. I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I am a member of the PDP Board of Trustees and I am also a PDP elder and leader in Sokoto. So, I am still active as a card-carrying member of my party, PDP.
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Religion, ethnicity and money played greater roles during the primary elections of the two major political parties; APC and PDP. It appears the same factors will determine the next president of the country.
This 2023 election is another dimension of Nigerian politics because the followers are the ones who are changing the game. Unfortunately, politicians have ended since about 10 years ago. So, those who are into politics now are just doing it for the sake of their personal interests that are the reasons why we have seen changes in our politics; the politicians brought religion, they brought ethnicity, they brought money and they brought everything into politics for their own personal interests. So, all the politicians; people like us who are doing politics for the sake of the common man, the state, regions and for the sake of country, virtually were phased out. So, it is the system of the people that brings this problem. Now, you can see Ulamas in politics and everybody in politics just because it is a small scale industry where they will get easy money. So, by the time things continue like this, democracy will never stay peacefully in this country, unless we change our attitude.
What role politicians of your calibre can play to salvage the situation?
We, the old politicians, have only the wisdom; we don’t have the money to play the politics the way the young politicians are playing. Unfortunately, people are not ready to listen to the wisdom; they are only willing to know how much they are going to get out of the system.
It is being alleged that you personally influenced the emergence of your son, Alhaji Sagir, as the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP in Sokoto. How do you react to this?
My son’s involvement in politics is the wish of God. My son, and in fact all my children, had never been in Sokoto when I was a governor. I was a governor for eight years but nobody knew any of my children. And none of my children ever stepped their leg into government house when I was a governor. Again, neither me nor my children spent one night in the government house when I was the governor; I stayed in my personal house with my family because I didn’t want to bring them into what they were not trained for. So, I kept my family away from politics. None of the Sokoto men will say he knew my son when I was a governor. Until in 2015 when our community in my own constituency decided to bring him into politics, but I vehemently rejected it. That was how he came into politics and, remember; at that time no matter how popular you are, because of the bandwagon of the President, Muhamadu Buhari, if you are not an APC member, you will not shine in politics. So, the Buhari syndrome carpeted my son politically.
But in 2019, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal met me with a form for a House of Representatives and asked me to give it to my son, Sagir, to contest and I said no. I told the governor that since he had brought the form to me, I have somebody who I wanted to contest for the seat. The governor insisted for my son but I stood my grounds until he succumbed to my decision. I collected the form and the boy to whom I gave the form contested and won the election; he is currently serving his tenure at the National Assembly as a member of the House of Representatives representing my constituency.
After the election, I swear to God Almighty who created me, Governor Tambuwal did not contact me and did not contact Sagir to appoint him commissioner in his cabinet. My son and I were at Saudi Arabia performing Umrah when we saw Sagir’s name on the list of the new commissioners on the social media. I called my son and asked him if he is ready to take commissionership and he said no. So, when we returned, I went to the governor and asked why he did make such a decision without my consent and the consent of my son. The governor said he knew very well if he contacted us, I would reject it. Before then, my friend, Alhaji Umarun Kwabo, met me on the issue and said since his name had already been enlisted, I should allow him to accept the appointment but I said no. I told Umarun Kwabo that there was no way I would allow him to go for commissionership because he had something doing which was far better than going to Sokoto to become a commissioner. Then, I took Umarun Kwabo to a project which Sagir was supervising. Umarun Kwabo reasoned with me and succumbed to my decision. He therefore advised me to also bring Governor Tambuwal to see the project and it was based on the advice of Umarun that I met the governor and begged him to come to Abuja and see what Sagir was doing and he accepted. The governor visited the project and reasoned with me but insisted that I should allow Sagir to accept the appointment and I did. So, that’s how my son came into politics then. And just from nowhere I heard that people were agitating for him to contest for governorship. Maybe it is because when he was appointed Commissioner of Environment, he brought some changes and people became aroused and interested in his performance and that’s how he came to be known as active commissioner. So, supporters in their volition wanted him to contest for governor but I said no. I told him to go and tell his boss; Governor Tambuwal, whose response would determine whether or not he would go ahead to contest. And the governor nodded him for the contest. So, virtually, it wasn’t me who brought him into the contest. When the time came, they decided on their own that instead of him become the flag bearer, he should be the deputy. Even at that, the governor met me with two options; either for him to be the deputy or contest for senator and I said no. But the governor this time around overruled me and gave the slot of the deputy governor to Sagir against my wish. Even after the announcement of this arrangement, I still rejected it and insisted that he should consult his people who started the agitation for him to contest for governor. If they are okay with the arrangement then he should accept it and that’s how it was done.
So, one thing I will add is that I am grateful to God for him and even I who served as governor 16 years ago, yet people can go and bring my son into politics to represent them. This signifies that I had done well for my people because if I did bad things to my people when I was in power, nobody would care to bring my son into politics.
Two months to the conduct of general elections, you are unable to solve the internal crisis in the PDP; you have a problem involving 5 southern governors and you have another in Kano State over governorship candidature. Don’t you think the crisis will affect your victory during the election?
Well, crisis is a blessing in politics, in getting power. When there is no crisis then there is a problem because it is the crisis that will solve the problem. It is not a question of just sitting, watching and expecting something to come easily for you. So, it is you; the observers that see the crisis, but we, who are in the game see that the game is going well. So, even as a Muslim, we know before the Islam came to stay, there was war everywhere. The messenger who was sent by God had the power to say everybody should accept the religion of Islam but still some people resisted his preaching and then there were crises and wars everywhere. So, how do you expect politicians to play politics without crises? Any crisis is a blessing and that anything without a crisis will not bring good results. So, by the time the crisis reaches its peak, we will sit down and solve our problem ourselves.
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal defeated the APC governorship candidate, Ahmed Aliyu, in 2019 with few votes and the later faces the same candidate for the 2023 governorship election. What are the chances of PDP in winning the poll?
You see if the PDP can retain the same figures; that will be fine. We are not looking for thousands or millions of votes to win. The question is winning election. So, even if it is one vote and we win, we are okay. If everybody who voted PDP in the last election retains their vote, we are still ahead. So, if we retain our votes we are still the winners. We are the defending champion and we are looking for the victory; not the numbers.
What is your message to the people of Sokoto regarding the forthcoming general elections?
My own appeal to the people of Sokoto is to learn by experience. There are two leaders of Sokoto politics; when you say Bafarawa, the next is Wamakko. Wamakko was one time under Bafarwa’s structure and I believe whoever is going to talk about politics, he will say there are two factions, that’s Bafarawa and Wamakko’s factions. To me there is no big deal; we do not have anywhere to go better than Sokoto and Sokoto is a peaceful state and I believe both of us are willing to bring peace, unity, stability and progress in the state.
