Hon Nda Musa Mohammed Guyegi representing Edu constituency is the chairman House Committee on Establishment and Public Service as well as Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. In this interview with ACTING EDITOR, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM, the member of the Ethic and Privileges Committee speaks on why he refused to sign the document to remove the embattled factional Kwara APC caretaker chairman, Bashiru Omolaja Bolarinwa among other sundry issues in the polity. Excerpts:
Apart from Hon Saheed Popoola whose decision not to sign the document to remove factional APC chairman, Bashiru Omolaja Bolarinwa which is understandable, you are the only other lawmaker that made same decision among the 24 member legislature, why?
Thank you very much. The reason for my decision is not farfetched or ambiguous. Hon Bashiru Omolaja Bolarinwa has dedicated his time, energy and resources and other thing you can think of towards the success of our party in the last election. So I believe it won’t be good for us now if we say he should be removed just like that unless he is charged with an offence which he actually committed which is reasonable. But I will never be party to just removing him. My position is that if the Governor is doing anything good, I swear by Almighty Allah I always support him, but to remove somebody just like that. I have studied the Qur’an and have been listening to Friday sermons by scholars. The Imam’s last statement is usually to advise people to avoid acts that will injure our fellow being. My question in all of these is that what has he (BOB) done? If you see an elderly person being beaten by a younger person in public, as a responsible man, the first thing will be to ask what has he done and you know politically majority wins the vote. Out of the over 20 lawmakers that were present on that day in the speaker’s office, I told them I can never sign such document and I will never because I didn’t see what he has done that could warrant him being removed. I was told that he was removed by National Working Committee (NEC) of the party at the national level and I said Ok, if the national can do that, they should go ahead with it, but not me, I will not be a party to that. In fact if I’m a member of the national working committee, I will never agree to do such without stating any clear reason for his removal. As we are in the government today, some people were there yesterday and the day before, where are they today, some are still alive and so we should remember tomorrow is going to be another song and anything we do in this life, in the hereafter we’re going to give account before Almighty Allah.
Has your refusal to sign the document affected your relationship with other members of the House?
No, you know each one of us has our own peculiar problems. Rather we’re representing different constituencies and when I came back from my constituency very recently, immediately that thing happened I started receiving numerous calls from people that appreciated what I did saying I took the right decision. Although some members who came from the same local government with me said what I did is wrong, I told them that what I did is perfectly right to me and there is no time that the governor will give me an assignment, either collectively with the House of Assembly or at my own committee level that I will not do it or do it haphazardly, but to remove somebody from office? I was taught how to sign letters of appointment, not letters of dismissal without having any reason to do that. If someone is a civil servant found culpable on anything, he will first be issued with a query letter that he has to answer to. If his answer is satisfactory, they will issue him a warning not to repeat whatever mistake he made. We were 23 members in the office of the Speaker that day and I swore that I will be the last person to agree to sign such arrangement, I will never sign such a letter even if all of my constituents come together to pressurise me into signing it, I will stand on my decision, although I appreciate them all but I will rather resign. I haven’t had any cause to regret my decision and that doesn’t disturb my representation in the House of Assembly or my relationship with my colleagues as very good buddies.
Were you under any pressure before and now in regards to the not signing of the document?
Nobody can put me under any pressure. I’m for the party and no one is above the party. Some of the people that questioned my decision of why I didn’t signed the removal document, my reply is to ask if any candidate’s name was ever written on the ballot paper or it was the party’s name. The people voted for the party APC not Nda Musa, they voted for the party not the Governor, House of Representatives member, Senator or President. We’re all representing the party.
What is your take on the division in the party now?
I will say the elders or leaders of this great party have not done enough as leaders. If there is a crisis in the party, what is the essence of their leadership if they find it difficult to resolve? If there is a crisis in the community, it is left for the traditional rulers to rise up to the occasion, call the two sides together and hear their grievances so as to reconcile them to move the community forward, same thing with the state.
Recently, there was a communiqué signed by political leaders from the five local governments in Kwara North stating that the next governor of the state must come from their district in 2023. What is your take on this?
Although I wasn’t present at the meeting because I wasn’t invited, the group is under the impression that I’m in support of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, which there is no doubt about it. But if I’m opportune today to be asked to choose someone to be governor, I won’t even think of Kwara South or Kwara Central, I will rather opt for the people of Kwara North. The region is far behind in many development indices. Although some of our brothers are out agitating for the governorship position today, believe me we still have many who can do the job if given the opportunity to govern the state with the fear of God. Anybody that is interested in the government from the region must not be concerned about themselves only but the people. Although Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has been trying his best since he came and has performed well, which I cherished, but honestly speaking, I’m in support of what my people are agitating for to produce the Governor of the state. I will not support an outsider over my own people except if there is no credible candidate from Kwara North. Then I don’t have any option but to support Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq if he has the intention of coming out for second term.
How do you think this agitation will be best achieved?
What Kwara North is after is for Kwara Central and South to give us the support needed to actualize the mandate because since the beginning of this fourth republic and if you go through the records, Central produced the first governor in the person of late Governor Muhammad Lawal, may his soul rest in peace who served for four years, then the second person is Governor Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who served for eight years, making 12 years. Former Governor Ahmed served for eight years and in 2019, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, 4 years. If we’re to go on justice, equity and orderliness, both the Central and the South are suppose to give us the opportunity, to at least see if we can perform. We have young and credible people that can serve this state and they will perform beyond our imaginations.
What is your message to the people?
I’m appealing to the leadership of the party to come to the aid of the party, they shouldn’t allow the party to break in pieces. Although it is cracking but it has not yet broken so we can still come together and resolve things before the convention coming in June 2021. So I’m appealing to the elders of the party and statesmen, I’m referring to the coolheaded ones and not those hungry ones. If I’m dependent on you and cannot survive without you, then there is no way I can tell you the truth. We have some of them like that and we have some elders who might not be in the political circle but they are Statesmen in the state, they should quickly come to the aid of this party because we respect our elders in our tradition here. They can call them together and settle things once and for all, so that we can move this state to the next level as we have been promising with our slogan. But rather than the next level, we’re moving towards breakage of the party. My advice to his Excellency, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is that he is the only person that can resolve this issue easily. Only him can address the issue squarely and I don’t think there is any personal grudge. With his power, the Governor is the father of everybody in the state whether you like it or not, he’s the number one citizen and Chief Accounting Officer and Chief Security Officer of the state. And should know that since the day he appended his signature to take the mantle of leadership in the state, he has become the father of everyone.
