Yerima is my godfather – Zamfara Governor-elect

In this interactive session with some journalists in Abuja,  Abdulazeez Abubakar Yari, Zamfara State governor-elect admits that erstwhile Governor Ahmed Sani Yerima is his political godfather. He also spoke on his electoral victory as well as his plans for Zamfara State. Excerpts:

You were one of the three candidates that were able to defeat incumbent governors, how did you achieve this?

Well, the way I achieved mine is different from other people’s. We have a ladder. For instance, I have been a secretary of the party, a chairman and now a serving member of the House of Representatives. I was supposed to be the deputy governor but the political arithmetic changed the equation. So, all those things are part of it. And you can see that when people came for voting, they didn’t vote the party, they voted for the person. You should also remember that Zamfara State is the only state that the deputy governor succeeded his boss and you know what happened to him. He quit from the party that brought him to power and jumped to another party. People have that in mind and what he did really attracted for us sympathy.

Initially, the plan was for me to be governor. Later, after a consensus, they said I should opt for the office of deputy governor.  I accepted it. But the group said Mr. Governor, this guy is the party secretary and if he becomes the deputy governor he is in charge of the party machinery and that I was the one that sponsored more than 80 per cent of members of House of Assembly and as a result the governor would be impeached. And I had not that in mind whatsoever and the governor started fighting me. When I observed this, I said if that is the case let me look at an independent seat and contest. The next possible seat was the Senate and with then Governor Sani Ahmed Yerima we are from the same zone and was also going to the Senate.

The next available seat was the House of Representatives. So that is how I came to the House. Added to this is the fact that Yerima had so many programmes that the people benefitted from despite the fact that the state has little resources. He managed the resources very well more especially to develop humanity. For example, when Yerima came on board in 1999, the scholarship of students studying in universities was N1,050 for the entire session. Yerima decided to increase the money. Students studying sciences were given N7,000 and those in the humanities N5,000 monthly. For the HND students, whether engineering or banking and finance, it was N4,000 monthly and diploma students were collecting N3,000. When Shinkafi came on board, all these things were stopped. The next area where Yerima excelled was in the agriculture sector in which he introduced the system of agriculture in Ethiopia. Being an agrarian state, the farmers were very happy with the system, whereby a farmer would be given a loan for fertilizers, a loan for grain seeds, loan for farming tools. When you harvest, you will not pay with money but with your agriculture produce. And if one kilo or a ton of maize is being sold at N20,000, the government will buy at N40,000. These are part of the issues that gave us victory in the election.

Can you give us an insight into your developmental plan for Zamfara State?

You see, I don’t know what you people call development because development comes from so many perspectives. Now if you want to say someone develops a state, some people would like to see the infrastructures, roads, secretariat being built, government houses etc.  But if you look at the economy carefully, for instance, my own state is mostly dependent on the revenue that accrues to it from the Federation Account. What is generated internally is not much. One needs to ask some questions in an attempt to develop the state. What type of developmental programmes are you expecting me to concentrate on?

First, you know the state is backward in education. If you do not educate your people, forget about development. Zamfara State is one of the states that live below the poverty level. So, we have a lot of tasks ahead. As a governor who has the opportunity to manage the state’s administration for four years, I have to prioritize. I will do my best in the areas of education and poverty eradication. I will also concentrate on the provision of infrastructure. I believe there is an urgent need to address the lapses in the education sector. For example, out of 3,000 students that sat for WAEC, only 36 got the requirement to go to university. All those things need to be addressed and they require resources.

What are your plans for creating jobs for the teeming youths in the state?

There are so many ways one can create jobs. Through the programme that we are planning to do in poverty alleviation, we will create civilized jobs. We all know that most graduates do not want to engage in hand work but would rather opt for government jobs or practice what they studied. No doubt, the government will not be able to accommodate all of them. But we are planning to create an atmosphere whereby people can engage in private practice outside the government jobs. We also intend to create skills acquisition centres where we are going to train our youths and give them jobs.

When you won election, there was a headline in the papers which portrayed you as the political son of former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima. Was the former governor your godfather?

Yes. Whether we like it or not, Yerima played a gigantic role in the governance of Zamfara State. Therefore you can give it any name; say godfather, whatever you call it, you are right.

What is your take on Sharia?

My opinion about Sharia in Zamfara State is not any different from the feeling of the average Zamfara person. The aim of Sharia is to sensitize the society and I know that the yearnings and aspirations of Zamfara people are to sensitize themselves. That is part of what gave us victory because all those things that were fought by the Yerima administration have started finding their way back into the state. And people of Zamfara State are not happy with the present administration. Sharia inculcates discipline and good living. For instance, in Zamfara, a 10-year-old child cannot experience the despicable things going on in beer parlours while we do not expect to see a 14-year-old in the gathering of commercial sex workers. After Yerima left, some of these vices started creeping back into the system such that, today, the people of Zamfara are not happy with the present administration. I’m going to address those things according to Sharia law and do my best to eliminate those things. We are going to modernize the system according to the law of Sharia.

People say your election is the return of Yerima?

As you said, it is the return of Yerima because people sympathize with Yerima in Zamfara; he has peoples’ sympathy as the only governor whose deputy succeeded him and in the end they know the battle that occurred between the two. There were a lot of campaigns against him by the state government, therefore whether I like it or not Yerima plays a gigantic role in the governance of the state. You can give it any name whether godfather or whatever.

You accept that Senator Yerima is your godfather and at the same time said you plan to modernize Sharia law in the state. May we know those things you plan to do differently?

I’m not really different from him but I will do my best as governor today because I like his programme, I will ensure we have peaceful co-existence as we have always had, you should remember that I was secretary under him, a chairman under him and we have never fought for one day, so being a governor now, the equation will never change.

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