New Telegraph

Consensus’ll destroy APC –Hadejia

Architect Baffa Saleh Hadejia is contesting for Hadejia, Kafin-Hausa, Auyo Federal Constituency, Jigawa State on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). He was a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) before defecting to NNPP. In this interview, at the unveiling of NNPP Vice Presidential candidate, Bishop Idahosa in Abuja, Hadejia gives reasons for his defection, stating that consensus arrangements would destroy ruling APC

 

What is the position of NNPP in Jigawa State?

Well, at the moment, the New Nigeria Peoples Party in Jigawa State is the leading party because of the injustice the two other leading parties, the PDP and APC have done to candidates and people.

So, people are tired of their governance – the former governor and the current governor – and because of that they are looking for a new Jigawa and a new Nigeria as they are looking towards NNPP.

You witnessed the unveiling of the NNPP Vice Presidential candidate, looking at them, what do you think that they are bring to the table in 2023?

Well, I feel that the combination is a good one and it is a balanced ticket because the situation in the country needs a balance ticket whereby ethnicity, religion and other factors are considered. You know Nigerians are very emotional and we have not developed to the level whereby we will not consider ethnicity or religion and I think having a Muslim from the North and a Christian from the South is a balanced ticket.

And someone with the experience like Musa Kwankwaso, who is a former Deputy Speaker, former Senator, former Minister and former governor, he has a lot of experience from the political terrain and when you look at his dossier he also has experience in the private sector.

He is a man of God and he has been working with people, he has done a lot for the poor people. So I think it is a balanced ticket and I know that Nigerians are tired of the same older people. I think Nigerians are looking towards the NNPP and are looking towards this presidency.

 

The 9th National Assembly has been described as the weakest since 1999 and you are thinking of coming to the National Assembly, what kind of House of Reps would  you want to be associated with?

 

I would like to have a National Assembly that is representing Nigerians and not representing themselves. The National Assembly as it is has been representing – majority of them. They have not been representing the people. We need people who are there to    serve, not to serve themselves and their families.

They should be there in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians – defending the Constitution, defending the rights of Nigerians, not the rights of individuals, the rights of the President or the party.

The Nigerian Constitution is above everything. I believe that people that are going to go the National Assembly should put Nigeria first but unfortunately the majority of all of them are about their personal interest.

 

You ran a very vigorous campaign when you came to pick your Nomination and Expression of interest forms at APC and one would have thought that that ticket could have been yours, at what point did you lose the ticket and at what point did you decide to defect to NNPP?

Well, I have been a founding member of APC and I have worked hard and I ran in 2015 and the governor, the presidency and the party made promises to us who were not given the tickets for the election. What was done then was consensus just as now too.

And unfortunately we continue believing in the party and the presidency but the  party failed and the presidency failed and it came to a point that we couldn’t even continue defending the government.

We just continued during the works that we felt okay that we will continue pushing but unfortunately when the primaries came and during the National Convention, there was no party democracy, the governors and the presidency forced candidates on the party and members.

So, when the Electoral Bill was passed and they decided not to do direct entry but the delegates system and the majority of the delegates were not allowed to vote. We knew that we were going to have a problem and unfortunately the governors did what they did and in most of the states there were no elections.

They just had a few names. So, there was no internal party democracy and unfortunately even before then, people have been calling a lot of us that they feel that can do the right thing for the country to move elsewhere, but we felt that we will continue giving this party a chance but also unfortunately we saw that they have failed completely and with what has happened and you can see that they had better candidates to bring out as Vice President but they went and brought out people that would not be acceptable by the Nigerians.

 

So, we now finally know that they are not serious and they were not ready to change.

Read Previous

Osun: A test run for successful 2023 elections

Read Next

MMIA: An airport battling to regain lost glory

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *