We will never allow one party system in Nigeria ____ Sumaila

From the way ANPP Governors are decamping back to PDP, it is tempting to think that Nigerian democracy is heading towards single party democracy. For the clarification about this, LEADERSHIP’s MUHAMMAD KABIR YUSUF discusses with a member of the inner caucus of the ANPP honourable Ibrahimn Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila. A two term member of the house of representative and currently the deputy minority leader in the house, Kawu says it all about the future of ANPP and Nigerian democracy at large. Excerpts  Honourable, how comfortable are you with the judgment of the Supreme Court over the 2007 presidential election dispute? Well, I am very much comfortable since the Supreme Court is the last resort for the common man. The thing is that what ever judgment comes from the supreme count we must accept it. This is irrespective of whether the judgment pleases us or not. The way the judgment is passed is encouraging. It portrays the improvement in the judicial sector. Three out the seven judges stood in favour of ANPP. This is an indication that the rule of law is beginning to work in Nigeria . What in your opinion should be the next line of action for the General (rtd) Muhammedu Buhari? I am not competent enough to speak on his behalf. But about ANPP so far, there is presidential candidate. But we have a presidential aspirant. Muhammado Buhari is the presidential aspirant. And we are still organizing things between now and 2011. What about the possibility of Buhari’s decamping from ANPP? I only saw it on pages of national dailies. But he made it clear that he will remain in ANPP and will also work towards bringing internal democracy in the party. How true is it the notion that lack of internal organization and other crises lead some governors to decamp from ANPP? This is not true. It is not because of the crises they left the party. ANPP is an organized party. We have a sound leadership. Mahmmud Aliyu Shinkafi for example did not leave the party for any crisis but for his personal reasons. And the party will not allow it to happen again. The party is likely to go to court over the issue. And there we will justify that we don’t have any crisis. It is being circulated in Kano that governor Ibrahim Shekarau will also decamp from ANPP towards the end of his tenure to be able to win a senatorial ticket. This is not true. He made it clear to Nigerians that even if he would be the only ANPP governor he will be the last to leave ANPP. There is nothing tempting enough to make a reasonable leader like Shekarau to abandon his people and decamp. Giving the elements of anti Buhari within ANPP in Kano , how do you want to be seen in relation to Buhari? Well, Muhammad Buhari is the candidate to my party in 2003 and 2007 presidential elections. He is a leader in ANPP and in Nigeria as whole. He deserves our respect for the credibility he earned for himself through his past performance at different capacities in public services. We shall continue to respect him. From 1999 up to 2007, ANPP was the strongest opposition party in the Nigerian democracy, but the party seems to be slacking down as the party is loosing in numbers and credibility. No, we are not losing any credibility. It is those people who decamp to PDP that lost their credibility. And let me assure you that there are people in ANPP who do every thing within their abilities to depend the integrity of the party. Actually, ANPP is supposed to be the official opposition party in Nigeria and it is perfectly carrying out the task. We now the second largest party in the country. We have the numbers in the parliament so also some state governors. From the way things are moving, it seems that Nigeria is moving towards single party democracy considering the kind the way people are decamping to PDP. How do you view the situation? I dno’t think so. As far as we are concerned, we will remain in ANPP and continue to give PDP headache. We will never allow one party system to happen in Nigeria . You see, even those decamping to PDP are doing so far fear of rigging against them. In the past, there were many cases of not having free and fair election and unnecessary intimidation from the ruling party, which caused many people to panic and eventually decamp to PDP. But now, if we can be able to get the promised comprehensive electoral reform, we can be able to arrest the situation. And right now, we have a committee in the national assembly working on this particular project. As the deputy minority leader, are you making any move to make sure that opposition partiesremain relevant in the democracy? Of course yes. We put all hands on deck to be sure that we remain as vibrant as possible. We often hold meetings we the leadership of ANPP to strategize not only on how to make our party relevant but also on how move Nigeria forward. Right now, we are considering the possibility of injecting new blood in the party for a better tomorrow. We even tasked ourselves in the national assembly on that project What about the allegations that the leadership of ANPP did not consult the teaming populace of Nigerian voters in the process of making the decisions t o join the unity government? We have gone in line with the provisions of the constitution of our party. The constitution says that in decision making of this nature, we must recourse to national working committee, national executive members and national caucus, which we did. 13 out the 15 members of national caucus voted for joining the unity government. And I believe that a good understanding between Umaru Yaradua’s government and Kano government, which is my secondary constituency, for example will benefit Kano people a lot. We know what we experienced in Obsanjo’s administration. We will never pray for such thing to happen again.