There will be revolution in ANPP –Kuta
A
member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the House of Representatives,
Bala Adamu Kuta, declares that a revolution is imminent in the party, which
is billed to flush out “rotten eggs” that constitute majority
of its members. Kuta, who represents Shiroro/Rafi/Munyn Constituency of Niger
State, in this interview with OGBU NGENE, chides the Yar'Adua Administration
for gross disregard of the principle of the Rule of Law.
PEOPLE have passed varied judgments on the performance of President
Umar Musa Yar'adua. What is your own assessment?
The area I would fault him is that while he has been an advocate and preacher
of obedience to the principles of the rule of law, his administration behave
as strangers to it. One would recall so many court judgments, as well as Tribunals'
judgments that they did not accord the necessary regards. I had thought that
respect for that rule of law should have started from there. Where fresh elections
were ordered, it should have been proper to allow for free and fair conduct
of such elections. But what we have seen were cases where both the Federal
Government and the ruling PDP influenced all the concerned machineries of
government to favour them. Their hands were seen clearly in the re-nun elections
in Kebbi, Kogi, among others. And that is a pointer to the fact that it has
failed in compliance to the principles of the Rule of Law.
But your party, the ANPP has never been in the forefront of criticizing
most actions of this administration like the AC. Has the ANPP compromised
being part of the Government of National Unity (GNU)?
The ANPP has not compromised and we cannot see ourselves compromising, because
every party wants to emerge victorious. So cannot see why we should be relegated
to the background when we know that we have the means of having the upper
hand.
So I know that majority of people in the ANPP are very bitter with how these
things are done. And many of the members are speaking out.
Many people would have expected your party to withdraw from the
GNU in expression of your dissatisfaction with such happenings. Why have you
not taken steps in this direction?
I just want you to give us some little time, and see what will happen in that
direction. I will not want to elaborate now. I know that the ANPP is seriously
working towards that, at least to convince everybody that we are not a compromising
party, but an opposition, an opposition with genuine ideologies and programmes.
But the Leadership of your party under Edwin Ume-Ezeoke is very
friendly with Aso Rock. again as the leadership has been at sharp ends with
your Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, and his supporters, the Ume-Ezeoke
group appears to be having the upper hand?
Why should Ume-Ezeoke have an upper hand? You may be saying that because you
already said that he is a beneficiary.
When you want to assess yourself in this respect, you cannot do that outside
the party. You have to assess yourself within the party to determine your
level of acceptability. Somebody from outside cannot come and assess me in
my house.
So if Ume-Ezeoke is assessed as having an upper hand; that is outside the
party. It will be the exact opposite if the assessment is done within the
party.
The ANPP is noted for having had almost all of its leaders always
working for the PDP. Why has it been so?
When you carry a basket full of rotten eggs, one after the other, they would
be exposing themselves, until gradually all the rotten eggs are flushed out,
then you have the clean and good eggs in the basket.
What is happening in the ANPP is also happening in the other parties. But
because the ANPP is expected to be the strongest opposition party, we are
supposed to be stronger than we are. But the misfortune is that we have more
rotten eggs than any other party. But now, we are bent on flushing out all
the remaining rotten eggs. So they will soon eventually get finished.
So at the time it remains only the clean eggs, the party will bounce back.
So, I request you give us between now and the end of the year to see serious
changes in the ANPP.
But as it is said: “politics is a game of number”,
what if by the time the rotten eggs are flushed out, you then have a small
number that can no longer guarantee victory at the polls?
You see, maintaining a basket with rotten eggs can never work out good. No
matter how many the bad eggs may be, you will definitely want to get rid of
them. When you have few ones that are viable, it can take the party to enviable
heights.
Even as the States where Nigeria's Hydro-Power Stations located
are very eager to see the Hydro-Power Producing Areas Development Commission
(HYPADEC) Bill passed into Law, there appears to be confusion as to what stage
the bill is?
What I understood was that the last House of Representatives passed it into
law, but that the Senate didn't. It is the present Senate that has now passed
it into law.
Now, there would likely be the need for harmonization before it is sent to
the President for his assent.
Actually, the campaign for the establishment of HYPADEC is long overdue. I
have been in the forefront for the establishment of this body. This is because
apart from the fact that I came from a very much affected constituency, I
stand in the best position to see why the HYPADEC needs to be established
now.
You see, like now that we are in the rainy season, in Shiroro Local Government
for instance, which is a very wide land area, the River Kaduna, which is where
the Shiroro Dam is located, divided the Local Government into two. One half
of the Local Government has not witnessed any development over the years.
And I think that the problem is that the government looks at the task of developing
this area as being too heavy for it. But by the time HYPADEC is established,
it would handle the task.
The problem there is such that if you want to go to this area from the Local
Government Headquarters, which is Kuta, if care is not taken, you have to
go back to Minna, pass through Suleja, near Abuja, and eventually enter through
a part of Kaduna State. This is as serious as it is. And this is simply because
there is no bridge across the river.
So, no matter the cost, that place needs at least one bridge across the river.
The people at that side of the river also need to be provided with some essential
amenities like pipe borne water, electricity, health facilities, good roads,
among others. It is very pathetic that they grossly lack all these and yet
they are part of the major sources of power to the country.
I am therefore appealing to President Umar Musa Yar'Adua not to hesitate in
signing the HYPADEC Act whenever it gets to his table.
Some people would say that your people failed you in these respects;
that Niger State produced two former Military Heads of State of Nigeria, and
still, such things were left undone. Do you disagree with that?
I wouldn't want to accept it that way, that our own people failed us, even
if it was so.
I don't know whether it is by orientation or something else, Nigerians would
always want to feed themselves. But by the time God gives you a responsibility
to shoulder, you should not be selfish.
If the two of them had concentrated on building Niger State before building
the nation, would it have been proper? They didn't do that. And that was because
they had at the back of their minds that the responsibility of being the Head
of State was to serve Nigeria, not Niger State.
If any of them had paid attention to this area the way it deserved, they could
have been accused of concentrating in Niger State, and leaving the rest parts
of Nigeria. For instance, when Babangida constructed some drainage in Minna,
the whole nation was thrown into confusion that “ah Babangida has sunk
the whole money of Nigeria into Niger State”. And before then, was a
heavy down-pour that affected most houses in Minna. So there was the dire
need to construct that drainage. It was just an ordinary drainage, but the
whole nation was made to believe that Babangida had sunk the whole money of
Nigeria into Niger State.
What more, if he had gone ahead to construct something like the bridge? The
people forgot the fact that the hydro producing area is a major source of
power to the country. We deserve to be considered by way of being provided
with certain essential facilities including the bridge on this river.
Why couldn't stakeholders of the area like you come together
and fix the bridge in any of the budgets before now?
But we did. I personally look at it as one of the constituency projects. We
have been making serious efforts about it. I have personally indicated interest
in the bridge as our major Constituency project. And I am sure that other
members from other HYPADEC areas have similar problems.
Many people say that the NDDC does not have the financial capacity
to handle gigantic projects; that such projects should still be handled through
Governments direct intervention. Are you not bearing in mind that even when
established, HYPADEC may not have the capacity to handle projects in the capacity
of this bridge?
If NDDC is saying that it is not having enough financial backing, that is
its own thinking. We, in the HYPADEC areas are saying “give us amount
equal to that of NDDC, and see what will happen”. We are not demanding
more. If you give us money equivalent to what you are giving the NDDC, you
will see what will happen. You will marvel at the level of development in
our area.
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