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Recently, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) elected its state executive in Taraba state and Alhaji Hamidu Suleiman emerged as chairman. Curiously, the state chairman of the ruling PDP was made the patron. Earlier, the Danbaba Suntai-led state government had donated vehicles, cash and sundry perks to the opposition, prompting accusations that it has sold out. Alhaji Inuwa Bakari, acting chairman of the Action Congress (AC), took a swipe at CNPP, dwelt on his party’s internal crises and gave a sca-thing criticism against the state government here below.

Sometime last year, the Taraba state chapter of Action Congress (AC) was embroiled in internal crisis over whether or not to participate in the local government elections. Consequently, the former party chairman, Alhaji Danjuma Munga was suspended from office while you were appointed in an acting capacity. What has been the direction of the party under your leadership?

Let me begin by stating that there has never been any major crisis within the Action Congress (AC) in Taraba State per se. What happened was disagreement between the former Chairman and some aggrieved members. There was no problem with the party itself. Of course it is normal that if you are serving people and they say they no longer need your services, you should be able to understand and step aside. Unfortunately, the former chairman was found wanting and was told to leave. In other words, he was placed on suspension by the party executive. Ever since then, there has been one problem or the other regarding his suspension. He does not want to accept the decision of the exco. This was what led to one form of misunderstanding or the other within the party. But I wouldn’t want to describe this as a major crisis within the party. As you rightly said, following his suspension I was assigned to take over the leadership of the party. I can tell you that the party has been fairing quite well. At the moment, we are reorganizing the entire structure of the party and trying to move forward. Therefore contrary to some views, especially those expressed in the media, the party is not factionalized .

With the recent position of the national secretariat of the party ratifying his suspension, the issue has been put to rest. All we are after now is for the former chairman to come and properly handover the property of the party to me. We have written him and we are still waiting for him to come and do so. Let me quickly add that the removal of Danjuma Munga from the office of the chairman does not mean that he is no longer a member of AC. It is a disciplinary measure that can be instituted on anybody. The exco of the party has the right to take disciplinary measures against any erring member; it has done so against the former chairman and the decision has been upheld by the national secretariat of the party.

I also recall that following his removal from office, a probe panel was put in place to investigate the allegations leveled against him. What has been found against Alhaji Danjuma Munga?

Actually a panel was set up by the state executive to look into allegations brought against him. He was given seven days to appear before the panel and defend himself but he refused to do so. Consequently, the panel concluded its report and submitted to the national secretariat. The state exco then confirmed his suspension which has also been upheld by the national executive of the party.

Let’s shift away from your party affairs to state matters. As the major opposition party in Taraba, how would you assess the ruling PDP government in the state so far, moreso as it approaches one year in office?

Honestly speaking it is one year in office of nothing. There is virtually nothing whatsoever to show after spending almost one year in office. Let me quickly say here that the question of assessing this government does not even arise. You only make assessment when you know that certain achievements have been made. Almost all the things they promised the people of Taraba state, none has been fulfilled. So, I don’t really know how to assess the PDP government of Taraba state. Is it buying cars and distributing same to people? I don’t believe this is a basis for assessment.

The money these people got within the period under review is more than the money that was gotten by the immediate past administration in four years. If you quantify it, you will see that much has been received but nothing has been achieved. There is nothing on the ground to show that they deserve any kudos. At the moment, there are more water vendors on the streets of Jalingo obstructing traffic. So if you look at the money they have received from the federation account, it is not commensurate with what is on ground to warrant any assessment. Take for instance the Karim Lamido road contract they awarded almost four months ago; there is nothing on the ground. You can go there and see things for yourself. That was the same thing we encountered during the Jolly Nyame’s administration. They will come out to tell you they have awarded contracts without any results. How on earth can you award contract to a firm and you expect them to take almost two years to construct less than a hundred kilometer road? Two good years to execute less than a hundred kilometer road! Four months after awarding the contract, people have not been mobilized on site. The same thing is applicable to the road contract they awarded for Kurmi.

All they do is to gather newsmen and tell you lies and perform the ceremonies. After all, is it news for the government to tell you that they are going to do this or that? No! No! All those promises were made during campaigns and if it is true that they were elected by the people, they should execute these things without repeating their promises to anybody. It is only when they are going for project commissioning that they are expected to invite the press. It is not news when you are making a ceremony out of an award of contract, which is bullshit! There is no single state in the north where its state capital is inaccessible to its local governments like Taraba. It is a pity that with all the potentials that abound in these areas, people cannot access them. So these people are just there to do cosmetics and they will tell you they have done this and that. They have simply done nothing. So in a nutshell there is nothing tangible within the first one year of this administration that is worth celebrating or assessing.

In spite of all these things you have said, it has been alleged that the opposition has been pocketed by the ruling-PDP government in order to remain silent. Only recently, the new CNPP leadership threw its weight behind the government. They even appointed the state PDP chairman as patron of CNPP in Taraba. What is your reaction to this?

As a matter of fact, I have been yearning to react to some actions taken by the Conference for Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) in the state. Recently, we saw that after the exit of the former chairman, another body emerged and it is parading as the leadership of the CNPP in the state led by one Alhaji Hamidu Suleiman. They even went to the extent of saying that the PDP belongs to the CNPP. I am sure you are aware that CNPP is a coalition of opposition political parties. So if the ruling PDP is part of the CNPP, it then means that there is no opposition in Taraba. The state chapter of the Action Congress (AC) is not part of that charade because I am telling you that all these people have been bought over by the state government.

The other time the government distributed money and vehicles to the opposition parties. Fine and good. If the governor is kind enough and feels that other political parties deserve to be given these things, there is nothing wrong with that. But a situation where you go and lobby for their favour is absolutely wrong. I was made to understand that they even wrote a letter congratulating the governor on his victory at the tribunal. That is nonsense! You cannot deceive any body. I know the governor is an intelligent man who cannot succumb to this kind of sycophancy. Why did the CNPP not congratulate the governor when he won the election initially; why now? So these are the type of people parading themselves as the new executives of the CNPP in Taraba. Nobody elected them and AC is not part of them and it does not recognize them.

That even reminds me about the vehicles that were donated to the opposition parties, including your party, by the state government. The donation which critics described as a Greek gift, caused internal crises within the hierarchy of the benefiting parties. Has the former chairman handed the one given to AC over to you?

He has not handed over anything to me. We have written him and we believe that wherever the vehicle is we will recover it from him.

You said there is nothing to celebrate as achievement by the current PDP administration in Taraba. Don’t you see the establishment of a state university as worth-while?

I don’t think the state university project was initiated with good intentions. First and foremost, let me put it this way. I am not an educationist but I believe I know what is going on in the state. In the first place, this state is not mature enough to own a university. When we left the former Gongola state, the establishment of the Federal University of Technology, Yola was to cater for the people of then Gongola state. Up to this moment that I am talking to you, our quota in that university has not been filled. Just go there and investigate.

The University of Maiduguri was established during the North-East state to cater for the six geo political states of the north-east to which Taraba belongs. But up to this very moment we have not been getting people to fill our quota because Taraba has problems. You cannot just admit somebody with zero qualification into the university. This is what the government is supposed to tackle first; to address the issue of those who are leaving secondary schools to gain admission into universities. Our quota is not being filled because we do not have students who are qualified to be admitted and this has to be tackled first. I think the proper thing to be done is to establish a remedial programme where drop-outs and people with deficiencies can be thoroughly coached so that they can pass their exams. It is only then that you will begin to think of whether or not we still have the need to set up a state university.

Secondly, they are talking about relocating the existing Colleges of Education and Agriculture in Jalingo for the purpose of the proposed state university. This is also wrong. The movement of these schools is deliberate and not in the interest of the people. Do you know how much has been spent at the Colleges of Agriculture and Education Jalingo? Today you are talking about relocating them. What happens to their accreditation? What happens to the equipment that cannot be moved? Why the relocation? I think there are primordial intentions behind the movement of these Colleges beyond the establishment of the state university. Why can’t they set up the university elsewhere, like Zing where they are moving the College of Education to?