By Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal
(Being text of speech by Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (CFR, Mutawallen Sokoto), Governor of Sokoto State and Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDP-GF), delivered at a meeting with members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP at NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja April 6, 2022).
It is indeed a privilege for me to be here this afternoon with this important body, the conscience of our party, on a very serious issue on the governance of this country.
Mr Chairman and other members of the BoT, who turned out in large number, I cannot thank you enough. I appreciate you for leaving the comfort of your homes and various destinations to meet here so as to have this conversation on the way forward for our party and our country.
I must commend the BoT for its various roles in our party for the last decades-in stabilizing this party during particularly turbulent times. These couldn’t have been achieved without the very important and strategic roles played by the BoT.
Mr Chairman, through you, I thank everyone of you for those roles. I hereby appeal that we must not get tired. More so, now that we are where we are, when the journey seems to be getting tougher for our party, lovers of democracy and lovers of Nigeria.
Mr Chairman, I urge you to continue supporting the National Working Committee (NWC) and continue to work closely with other organs of the party towards piloting the affairs of our party and positioning it towards hosting a very successful convention in May 2022; and, subsequently, the general elections. The task ahead of us is very enormous. We must remain united. No matter what happens, the unity of this party must be safeguarded by all of us. It is only when we are united that we can, by the grace of God, deliver our objectives of taking PDP back to Aso Rock and at the same time the governance of the country.
Why am I here today? I’m here as all of us your sons and daughters, who through our friend have procured nomination forms, indicating my interest and aspiration to run for the Presidency of this country as the standard flag bearer of our party,
if and when, by the grace of God, we all come together and vote for me, that your loyal son and servant, as the person who shall fly the flag of our party come 2023.
Mr Chairman, members of the BoT, our country is in dire stress and in need of cohesion. What we have today, to say the least, is not a leadership, but headship, because leadership comes with a lot of virtues and responsibilities. What we have at the moment, does not represent our wishes, desires and aspirations.
The PDP is in a good position to come together and provide leadership for this country. But that can only be achieved if we all worked together for that common objective. Mr Chairman, while doing that, it is important that we present such a candidate that has the capacity to unite this country. Our unity in this country has never been as bad as it is now.Our frontlines have been overstretched. Therefore, there is a need for us to have a unifier as our standard flag bearer of our great party. Such a unifier that understands the complexities and dynamics of the Nigerian nation. More so, the Nigeria of today.
Indeed, we must try as much as possible to ensure that we respond to the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian people in throwing up and coming up with that kind of leader that Nigerian leaders can really key in and vote for in February 2023.
I have just mentioned one of those attributes which we desire in such a leader- being a unifier. Mr Chairman, I am coming to you, to this August body, with my experience as a former Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We came in at a time that was very contentious and by the grace of God, I served as the Speaker of the House then and stayed the course with very clear visions, goals and objectives. We served this country along President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in the best way we could. Most importantly, we held a balance in the House of Representatives where you have contending interests and divergent views; very young and dynamic representatives from across the nooks and crannies of this country. And, we were able to do it because we were consultative, listening and talking both with our leaders, colleagues and other stakeholders.
We, and I particularly, believe that for us to get it right we must have a leader that not only consult and listens, but work with the advise taken from critical stakeholders and leaders of this country. No one can do it alone. No one is an island into himself, more so, with the issues of Nigeria- very complex, dynamic, varied and contentious. So, it is important for us to have such a leader that has been tested through a federal system, who has had the experience of operating at the level of the federal government and understands the rudiments of government in a democratic setting.
What we have today, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military administrator and one time minister of petroleum who rose to become President…, nothing from his credentials shows that he had any democratic governance experience. It is part of the problem we have in the country today, because he doesn’t understand issues of democratic governance.
I represent that age that is not too young and not too old. I am at the age that can serve as a bridge between our elders and the youths who are yearning for leadership. I also have the right temperament. Whoever is going to lead this country, going forward, must have the right temperament and state of mind to harness and bring the people of the country together; and be able to be there for every section of Nigeria.
I have said it before. It is unbelievable that in Nigeria of today, from number one to eight (positions): President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker, Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Chief of Staff, there is none from South-Eastern Nigeria. That clearly shows that the people that are leading this country today do not even understand Nigeria.
My record from the House of Representatives shows that I have the understanding of the complexities of this country. We were able to stabilize the House because we were able to carry, virtually, all the sections of Nigeria along. We provided platform for every interest to be represented and issues brought before the House were addressed without sentiments.
Yes, we had issues with the Presidency, but I challenge those who are saying that Tambuwal-Emeka 7th House of Representatives made it almost impossible for Jonathan to govern, to tell us one bill of Mr President that failed in the House. None. What we did was to make sure we did our job by making sure that every of the bills go through the proper process of lobbying and we carried out our oversight functions in the interest of the country. There was absolutely nothing personal. For those of you who may not know, in 2011, I personally signed the nomination form of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, when he was running for the Presidency. If I had anything against him, I wouldn’t have done so. When you are in parliament and working with the executive, what should be paramount is for you to work together; and ensure that you do not only maintain the unity of the country, but that whatever you do is in the best interest of Nigeria.
Now that Mr Goodluck is not on seat, our decisions are there. The resolutions of the House of Representatives under our leadership are there. We can see clearly that we did not take on some of those issues personally, because our belief is that things should be done properly.
So, I believe I have the requisite experience, knowledge and skills to steer the affairs of this country. I served from 2003-2015 in the House of Representatives for twelve unbroken years, three terms. By training, I was trained to be a lawyer. I am a life member of the Body of Benchers and now Governor of Sokoto state. Out of the five consecutive mandates I have had, for those of you who may not know, three were on the platform of the PDP. Therefore, if one should check my political DNA, what you will find is PDP.
I believe that collectively we can do this. As I said, our country is in search of leadership that can maintain the balance, represent all the tendencies and carry along all sections. The challenges of economy and insecurity are there. But we can source for the best irrespective of their religious or ethnic backgrounds, to work together as a team to reposition the country, to make sure that it remains united.
I believe we can do it in PDP. I believe that when given the opportunity, I can provide that leadership. I can serve as that rallying point along with members of the BoT and other leaders, to rebuild our country for greater times ahead. Rest assured, members of the BoT, by the time we have done our convention and now, when by the grace of God, we get there, we’ll go back to those days where the BoT will take its prime place and significance. We will be meeting with members of the BoT in the Presidential villa on how best to run the country. Our doors will be open. We shall listen. We shall be guided because we know that in our BoT, in our party and in this country, we have the people that will give us the right advice that we can implement and run a very transparent, effective and cohesive government for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I thank you for this opportunity and I assure you that when voted into office, I will not disappoint you; and all of us will be in the service of this country together.
God bless you.