Hajiya Rakia Bagnou is the Director of Finance of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
In this interview with Chamba Simeh, she expressed confidence that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win this Saturday’s election in the first ballot, among other issues.
We are pleased to meet you at this time when we understand your hands are full with critical assignments…
The pleasure is mine and I am glad that you recognise the times we live in that is so critical to the leadership recruitment efforts for the development of our country.
Your campaigns in the FCT seem not to have taken shape as expected. What is responsible for this delay?
No. That is not the true positions of things in our campaign organisation.Those of the view that we are slow may be novices in political activities. If you know the coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign team in Abuja, Hon Zaphaniah Jisalo, very well, you would not agree with that assertion. We were inaugurated in January and we hit the ground running. We embarked on familiarisation tours to almost all the institutions and individuals that are very important to the realisation of our mandates, especially traditional rulers who to are very important to the peaceful conduct of our campaign activities in their domains. We intimated them of our activities and in turn got advice that are germain to the rancour free and issue based campaigns. We are now in the grassroots mobilisation through our well prepared door to door mechanism which insha Allah would culminate in our grand campaign with our principal in attendance. We are good to go.
Why are you convinced that your principal, Tinubu, would win this Saturday’s the presidential election?
With vision suffused with hope and the audacity of the political realism on ground, there are enough reasons to believe that Bola Tinubu is going to emerge as the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Insha Allah. I was initially hesitant to speak about the chances of my principal in this election because it is what every political watcher and analyst expects to happen. Even the pessimists are all informed optimists when it comes to the result of the presidential poll. Forget all you hear or read by the pessimists in the streets, the winner will be Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I was hesitant because I have too much on my plate now to deal with considering the facts that I am a member of the PCC and the second reason is obvious, seeing how tribal, religious,and political sentiments have beclouded the patriotic reasonings and leanings of our people. One has to calculate very well before making political statements because it can be used as a political weapon against your principal when the nihilistic political hawks are perching around looking for snippets of falsehood to capitalise on.
But you are now politically articulate?
Tinubu has the leadership charisma and personality to outlast all hurdles put in his way because he is a cat with nine lives. Secondly, the multiple messages I get on daily basis demanding my position, compelled me to open up on my convictions on why Tinubu is the next president of Nigeria.
What are your reasons for saying that with the choice of Dr. Kashim Shettima, the election is predetermined?
This is a comment I want you to take to the bank. I am repeating that the vision of Tinubu in recruiting political add up materials have given him an edge over others in the race. Forget the hate speech and unguarded and preposterous posturing of those who want to use religion as a divisive factor. I will tell confidently that as things stand Shettima will deliver the North-east, President Buhari and his governors in the North-west will deliver the zone to the APC and we know South-west is for Tinubu. If these three geopolitical zones go the Tinubu/Shettima way, all the other political parties put together would be contesting for the second and third positions, insha Allah.
What is in Tinubu that gives you the confidence that he will win the race?
Tinubu is a man of great vision. History is replete with examples and when talking about Bola Tinubu people should be fair and judge his political activities in the past which I would tell you is filled with excellence and successes. As governor of Lagos state he sets up a think tank through which he formulated a 50-year development plan for Lagos state. No wonder, Lagos state is still under the leadership of his disciples till today, long after he ended his eight-year tenure. The reason is simple; people like to follow the leader that knows where he is going. With Shettima as his running mate, it is obvious that this election is already predetermined.
What of the issue of Muslim/Muslim ticket?
Yes, that really would be a big issue for the Christians from the South-south and South-east. These are regions that are not traditionally APC anyway so they are not the main determinants. Expediency dictates that you must consider the opinions of your supporters, those who normally will give their votes to you.The South-west doesn’t care as much when it comes to religion as it is the most tolerant zone in Nigeria in that term, so they will surely remain with Tinubu no matter what. The North will vote the Tinubu/Shettima ticket.
There is that fear that Tinubu would become anti-Christian?
That is nonsense from the pit of hell. I personally don’t believe that Tinubu who is married to a Christian pastor for over 40 years will all of a sudden become anti-Christian. If that is the case we would have seen the signs in Lagos. No, we need not fear Muslim/Muslim ticket, not under Tinubu. A man who could not Islamise his family cannot Islamise Nigeria. At this point I can say confidently that Nigerians behold your next president, Bola Tinubu.
What do you know about Tinubu as a leader?
Tinubu is a real raiser of men, he always looks for talents that are better than him. He is never afraid to bring on board people with higher wisdom because the most important thing is to get the job done for the betterment of all. He doesn’t wait till it is zero hour to do the job. For the first hour he finds them. Time waits for nobody. Even the obstacles on his way, he predicted them. He plans for betrayal, he plans for back stabbing. He also plans for reunion and forgiveness long before they happen. In life, Tinubu expects nothing, he expects anything, he expects everything.
You talked about some of his leadership qualities to include raising men. Who are these men?
Answer: There is a retinue of leaders who have been raised by Bola Tinubu. These people gladly call him their godfather. We all know the evil of godfathers in Nigerian politics but Tinubu is one of the very few godfathers who represents a positive reflection of that word. His own godfatherism is not to hold you down but to raise you up. This is the true meaning of mentorship without which no human endeavour is successful. Many blame him for it, please show me a better example not only in Nigeria but in the continent. Tinubu is our best foot forward at this time in our history to lead us forward. Just take a look at all of his products. His top ranking men include, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, now the vice-President of Nigeria, who was his attorney general and commissioner for justice for eight years. Rauf Aregbesola, immediate past governor of Osun state and now the minister of interior, who was his commissioner for works. Babatunde Raji Fashola, his chief of staff. He is presently the minister of works and housing for eight years of the Buhari administration. Babatunde Fowler, served the Tinubu administration as the chairman of the state internal revenue service from where he proceeded to serve as the chairman of the Federal inland Revenue Service. They say judge the tree by its fruits. We can see Tinubu’s fruits that show he is the best in raising leaders.
Let us talk about the economy.Tell us about his economic management skills?
We must begin to applaud a man who survived as the governor of a Nigerian state like Lagos without the normal monthly federal government allocations to the state. That man must be a special gem of a leader. We all know that even with the monthly allocations from Abuja, many states can’t meet their responsibilities. Some of them cannot pay ordinary salaries to workers of their states talkless of developmental strides. This was not the case with Tinubu as Obasanjo withheld the state’s allocations from him, yet thrived due to some incredible ingenuity in financial management. Listen now, he not only survived but went ahead to do things that we have not heard done or seen before in our country. He raised the internal revenue generation of Lagos state from N600 million monthly to about N51 billion. It is said if Lagos was a country it will be number five by GDP as of 2016 thanks to its $146 billion economy. It is instructive that as of 2016 the Lagos economy was already bigger than that of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco,Senegal,Togo, Benin, etc.
Why do you think our country needs Tinubu’s leadership at this time?
Truly, Nigeria needs Tinubu now like never before. This is the type of leadership many of us will like to see manage the affairs of this country. Though some haters have tried to tarnish the image of Tinubu by saying he is not educated but I tell you the best form of hatred is jealousy because jealousy is hatred without cure. It is only a tree that bears fruits that people throw stones at. Tinubu’s presidency is an idea whose time has come.
But many also are of the opinion that he is old and tired?.
One day all of us will grow old and we pray we would not be insulted by the younger ones that we are senile or not be allowed to contribute to the growth of the country by imparting the lessons of our experiences because we are old. There is no amount of character assassination that will stop this moving train of the Tinubu’s presidency..We couldn’t as a nation waste the huge potential and experience of his leadership that he carries inside. Citizens, sooner than later we will get old too, while our body and flesh might be challenged and we too will discover that it will be huge injustice for us to be discarded simply because we are old when we truly know we have something to contribute to national development. It is not the body that makes a nation, it is the clarity of vision. If Tinubu has vision, there would be enough able bodied men and women who will gladly put their bodies to work to bring his vision to pass and that is why I am rooting for Tinubu’s victory. God bless Nigeria.
I think you are now a full fledged politician. Which brand of politics do you belong?
The pro-Tinubu brand and a class rooting for a new type of political dispensation with Tinubu as the layer of that strong foundation that emphasises development in all ramifications for our people.
