Buhari Should Separate Policies From Politics – Kowa

National Chairman of Kowa Party, Alhaji Sa’idu Bobboi, says there is the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to separate policies from politics, just as he also says that his party is working tirelessly to re-strategize and restructure to enable Nigerians have a sense of belonging. Towards this end, he says the party is focussing on young Nigerians and new breed politicians. In this interview with Editor-At-Large, SAHID UMAR, the Kowa Party National Chairman says younger people do better in public offices as was exemplified by Nigeria founding fathers.

From the State to National Chairman of Kowa Party, what has been the experience?

Well, we thank God. Before one assumes office, normally he or she starts from somewhere. I have been in Kowa Party since its inception. I was State Coordinator before assuming office as State Chairman, in my home state, Adamawa, and now I’m at the national level. I think I have something to contribute to the Party and national politics in the county. The whole idea is that we are trying to give Nigerians viable options during elections to make the best of choices for leaders.

Reorganisation is an integral part of political parties. What are you doing to reinvigorate and revitalise Kowa Party?

The political parties in Nigeria lack ideologies and good programmes or policies that Nigerians desire to massively transform the country. We always support political parties because of the personalities in or behind them, not because of the ideology of the party. This is a worrisome situation regarding our political parties in Nigeria. Even with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), people voted for candidate Muhammadu Buhari and not the APC. You will agree with me that the idea was not APC, but the personality of General Muhammadu Buhari. What we want to do in Kowa Party is to revive and reorganise it and focus on progressive ideas that will move the party forward from its humble beginning to a mass movement so as to mobilise Nigerians for greater awareness, more productivity and better life. We also want to persuade compassionate Nigerians, people of integrity, who acquired wide experience and built this country but see politics as a dirty game to come on board. We are now obliging these people to come; we tell them that politics is a responsibility. Since they say that they will not participate in politics because it is a dirty game, then “rascals” must be at the helm of affairs. For now, the political party is the only vehicle for political participation and aspiring to leadership in Nigeria. Since we have no provision for independent candidate in the electoral system and so, you must come through a political party. We are now trying to re-strategize and restructure the party within the exigencies of the times so that members will have a sense of belonging with ideology, designed programmes and policies embedded in the manifesto of the party. We are gearing towards young Nigerians, new breed politicians, young men and women. You will agree with me that the Founding Fathers of Nigeria who worked tirelessly and made the country what it is today were young at that time. Colonel Muhammadu Buhari’s successes when he was Governor of North-Eastern State and Minister of Petroleum Resources were achieved when he was only 32 years old then. So, when you look at these achievements you will realise that young men do better. You could recall Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the then Sardauna of Sokoto, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, all of them were young when they contributed their quota and transformed the country during the First Republic.

What is your vision for a better Nigeria?

What I want to see is paradigm shift from the old ways of doing things to the modern knowledge and technology driven system. Again, we must separate policies from politics and politics from parties when confronted with national issues. I also want to see a Nigeria that is ready to move forward as one united and indivisible nation with fairness, justice and respect for the rule of law.

In your own opinion, do you think that President Buhari has delivered on his campaign promises?

Let us not look at the campaign promises but see what he met on ground. With the gravity and magnitude of the problems confronting him, we must appreciate what he is going through and what he has done so far. At the moment, he has done three things that endear him to Nigerians and these are fighting corruption, dealing with security challenges and revitalising the comatose economy. Most significantly, he restored Nigeria’s integrity in the comity of nations. We now have a leader that has zero tolerance for corruption. And corruption, I believe, is one of the cankerworms that destroyed our economy and the country and bought us to this sorry pass. Also he has addressed the security challenges, especially the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east. Now, we have no Local Government Area (LGA) under the insurgents unlike before when their “caliphate” covered over 20 LGAs in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The biggest problem of the Buhari administration is information dissemination to create awareness. The government should use the same information machinery it deployed during the campaigns to inform and educate Nigerians on its policies and programmes in order to involve them in participatory governance. I think President Buhari has succeeded in his effort to sanitise the polity, especially in the war against corruption and impunity that is now a thing of the past. The only problem is that he has not embarked on wider consultations on issues to get varied and valued views before acting on them. He should consult people beyond his party so as to carry many people along since government is a collective responsibility. Since leadership is a collective responsibility, the President should widen the space for participatory governance.

The PDP as the largest opposition party is presently factionalised. How can the biggest party in Africa be save from disintegration?

Well, what has happened in the PDP is normal with political parties. It disintegrates before it reintegrates. I don’t look at the division or breakup as a weakness within the party but see it as a strategy to restructure.