South West Is Asking For Too Much

Senator Saidu Mohammed Dansadau represented Zamfara Central Senatorial District from 1999-2007 under the defunct All Nigerian People’s Party. In this interview, he faults the quest by the South West for the speakership of the House of Representatives. He also says the APC leadership is failing Nigerians by the controversy over zoning of National Assembly positions. Excerpts:

You were in the Senate from 1999-2003, what is your take on the controversy over zoning of National Assembly positions by the All Progressives Congress (APC)?
I feel the controversy on where the Senate presidency and the speakership should be zoned to or who in particular should occupy the seats shouldn’t have arisen. Because, there has been a tradition for zoning - if you want to balance power, you take into consideration the regional bloc, ethnic callings and also religious inclinations. As far as I am concerned, if the APC wants to be fair, the Senate presidency must be zoned to the North Central and for me not only North Central but it should be zoned to a Christian senator from wherever he is in the North Central. And if you will ask me my preference among all the Christian senators I will tell you George Akume is my Senate president why, because it is high time political parties began to reward merit. In fact, not only parties but the Nigerian electorate should begin to reward merit. That is, to vote into positions of power those individuals and personalities that have been recognised for being faithful, honest, dedicated and selfless in the discharge of their responsibilities.

It is only then that we will be able to get Nigeria out of the socio-economic problems that have bedevilled the country for so long.
APC in the North Central has been growing from strength to strength. There is no gainsaying that leaders of the party in the zone have been substantially responsible for the growth and success of the APC in the region. 

Secondly, if you are talking about ranking, there are ranking senators from the region who are ably qualified to occupy the position. Akume for instance has been the Minority Leader in the Senate. It is very important such personalities are entrusted with responsibility for stability in the Senate.

The Senate was unstable in the first tenure and its stability improved in the second tenure and since then it has been a stable institution.
The South West wants to have the Speaker; do you think they deserve to be given the position?

Nigerians should take note of the voting trend since independence. In fact, since the 1950s, the North Central per se had never voted in the manner it did along with the other parts of the North as it did at this particular time. These are the kind of things we have been looking for a long time. Various initiatives have been put in place in order to see that northerners from wherever they are, from the 19 states, become one as far as voting is concerned. We are not saying 100 percent of northerners should be in one political party but that northerners should have one voice, they should decide and dictate the politics of Nigeria; like it has been before independence and even during the First Republic because of the numerical strength of the North.

But of recent we became divided so we became so vulnerable. But God in His infinite wisdom and mercy used the goodwill of General Muhammadu Buhari and we have gotten the kind of unity that we have been yearning for for so long. We have realised this dream now. So now that we have achieved the unity we long for because of Buhari’s goodwill, it is only fair that we now make some efforts to consolidate these gains because General Buhari will not be the president for ever. So that after him, we have consolidated on this goodwill and we will be able to grow this unity, political cooperation, electoral cooperation from strength to strength so that the North will as much as possible dictate the political landscape of the country and what happens in Nigeria as it used to do. This is necessary because my fear is that not that Senator Ahmad Lawan is not qualified, he is very much qualified, but in third world countries where there are lots of crises and ethnicity and religions, you have to balance power in such a manner that every ethnic and religious group as much as possible will feel satisfied with the balancing of power. That is all we are saying.

And for the North East, they really deserve the speakership. There is no doubt going by their number and what they contributed to the success of the APC going by the candidates contesting for the position, they truly deserve a very important office in this dispensation. There is no doubt about that. But I feel no sacrifice is too much as far as the unity of this country is concerned. No sacrifice is too much as far as it concerns the growth and the continuity in power of the APC. So, in order not to take a decision that will make the strength of APC wane so quickly, I think regional groups and individuals should learn to make sacrifices.

In fact, where I fault the leadership of the APC is why should the leadership do zoning in piecemeal? Why should they zone the speakership to the South West? When you are taking that decision, why didn’t they take the entire zoning together? That was what the PDP did in the past and since it is good, the APC should emulate it. If any crisis arises as a result of the zoning I will blame the leadership of the APC. Why, because if they had sat down from the word go to zone all the positions, this problem wouldn’t have arisen.

Are you saying that the delay in taking a decision is responsible for this controversy?

Yes, and it portends great danger for the APC; this delay of sitting down to agree on the zoning. And the second mistake they made is this piecemeal zoning. Why single out Speaker of the House of Representatives? Why? The entire thing should have been taken together. If APC does not put its feet down properly and take charge it is going to lead to crisis in the leadership of the National Assembly.
People are insinuating that if the APC leadership is not careful, the Tambuwal scenario is going to repeat itself and for me I feel that the South West was asking for too much. They already have the vice president why should they be making request for speaker of the House of Representatives? For me, Speaker of the House should be zoned to North East. And that will have been a very good balancing of power and you forge ahead.

Do you see the need to carry the northern Christians along for the sacrifices they made in the election?

I am appealing to the APC as a political party to take a bold step in order to bring an end to this matter before even the president is inaugurated.