Senator Abdallah Wali, the first Senate Leader of the Fourth Republic, set a high moral tone for the new dispensation when after the impeachment of Senator Evan Enwerem as Senate President in 1999, he voluntarily stepped down as Senate Leader though he was not in any way touched with the moral issues that forced Enwerem out of office.

Senator Wali was the only senator elected on the platform of the PDP from Sokoto State in 1999 and he was subsequently appointed minister of national planning before he was appointed ambassador to Morocco in 2007.

Now the PDP governorship candidate for Sokoto State, he is locked in battle against his onetime political protégée and Senate aide, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who is flying the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

In this interview, he gave reasons why he is contesting the number one seat in Sokoto State and why his party, PDP will win.

He also stated that being the Speaker of the House of Representatives does not make Aminu Tambuwal a popular choice in the state. Excerpts

By Gbenga Oke

YOur main rival in this governorship election is Aminu Tambuwal who is considered to be a very popular politician. Given his popularity as incumbent Speaker of House of Representatives and your own rich background, how do you expect the game to turn out?

In Sokoto politics, we don’t consider Abuja popularity or national popularity. We are concerned about reaching out to the people. I have the advantage of running for the governorship in 2003 and that time, I visited nearly all the 244 wards in the state.

And if you go back to history, you will find out that in 2003, it was Governor Bafarawa and I that led the two major parties as candidates. During that time, Tambuwal and the current governor, Aliyu Wamakko, were under us in our respective parties.

Incumbent governor

They are my junior in politics and we do not see them as serious challengers per se. Another thing about election in Sokoto State is that, being a Speaker or running under the performance of the incumbent governor does not determine what happens.

If the Speaker had come into the race as an independent person and not running under the shadows of the governor, it would have been the credibility of the Speaker that will be the focus of the electorate.

But he is running under the tutelage of the current governor and you have seen how their primaries was even conducted.

So, it is clear that he had been anointed and forcefully imposed on the people. Therefore, he has to bear the anti-sentiment of the governor which is currently very high in the state. We don’t really see him as the candidate. We see the governor and interestingly, the governor is running for the Senate. So, it makes it easier for the public to still see the governor as plotting for the continuation of his dynasty.

Sen Wali

Also, Tambuwal’s running mate is a close ally of the governor. Therefore to us, we are fighting the governor. Today, you don’t need much effort to unseat him in any election because of his unpopularity. If you go around the state, you will find out that the PDP is obviously the leading party because of the confidence our people have in our pattern of administration which is fairness and justice. There are four different groups which I do not want to specifically mention here. But these four groups are challenging one another for dominance.

And incidentally, the leadership of those groups have generously at separate times endorsed my candidature because each of them is convinced that I will be fair to them. They want our state to develop and they are convinced that with our leadership, the chances are very much there.

We understand that you and the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal are brothers. How does that affect the electioneering campaigns?

You know that in politics, it is not a family matter but a representation of the wishes of the people.

What roadmap do you have in place towards tackling the challenges facing the state?

We have done our research and we have been keen observers too. In the agricultural sector for instance, we have found out that the Goroyo dam is one of the biggest in the country and it is currently serving only its immediate environment.

Destruction of farmlands

And at the peak of the rainy season, you discover that the dam gets so full that instead of leaving it to overflow and destroy things in the town, the authorities usually release the water, which still destroy farmlands that have been prepared for cultivation.

So, we have conducted a study on how we can use the dam to draw a sloppy drainage that can reach every part of the state where the flow of water can allow it and then use it to expand irrigation.

The bulk of our farming is only four months during the rainy season. After that, our people remain unemployed for the remaining eight months. So, we are exploring the possibility of starting a scheme that will enable some communities to do at least one set of dry season farming and others to do two sets of dry season farming so that they will be occupied throughout the year.

In education sector, we have found that the primary school standard is so terrible, partly due to lack of encouragement on the teachers, many of them do not report to work and the few that do are not committed. And we gathered that part of their grievances is that they learnt that the federal government has approved a scheme to be paid to the primary school teachers but the state government refused to implement that.

We have assured them that we will implement that and motivate them well to be committed to duty. I know what the standard of education was in Sokoto State when I was in the primary school. I could read and write. How come that in our time, with so much resources and modern technology, we cannot get our people to improve? In the secondary education, our study has shown us our total requirement for our indigenous students to be able to pay up their quota at the various available tertiary institutions in the country.

How prepared are you and PDP leaders to ensure a violent-free election in Sokoto State?

I am not a violent person and I abhor violence in its entirety. We accused the state government of encouraging violence. In this state today, there is a thug that is above the law. He was seen to have murdered somebody in broad day and was arrested. He was even taken to Abuja but through whatever terms, the governor got him released and brought him home and even organised a rally for him in the state capital to showcase him.

Campaign rally

Is he not telling the youth that violent pays; that you can do anything and still get away from it? Only last week, as the governor was returning from a campaign rally, he passed near my campaign office and his thugs attacked two of our buildings, without any provocation. Till now, the governor did nothing about that incident.

So, our understanding is that they are going out and they think that they can use any tactic to stay in power. Unfortunately, their time is up and we have identified all their cohorts. At the right time, we will apply all available legal processes to bring them to book. Nobody will kill somebody in our state and get away with it.