MURTALA AHMED'S DECLARATION FOR KDHA GABASAWA/DOKA SEAT CAUSES STIR. Says, We Have Had Several Representatives Representing Themselves And Not Representing The People.
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| Hon. Murtala Ahmed |
Honourable Murtala Ahmed, popularly as Murtala Ahmed Sule, is one compassionate, passionate, resourceful entrepreneur and philanthropist whose goal is fixated on lifting people up and putting a smile on the faces of as many people as possible.
Ahmed, a concerned stakeholder and member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is seeking the ticket of his party to represent the good people of Gabasawa/Doka Constituency at the Kaduna state House of Assembly, in the forthcoming 2023 General Elections.
In this interview, he spoke with Naij News Alert on issues bordering on the management of people, development and resources of Kaduna state.
Excerpts:
Sir, we will like you to give a brief introduction about yourself and your aspiration. Also, tell us what you hope to achieve, as regards contesting for the seat for the Doka/Gabassawa Constituency in the Kaduna state House of Assembly.
Thank you very much for this opportunity. My name is Murtala Ahmed Sule and I am aspiring for the Gabasawa/Doka Constituency ticket for the Kaduna state House of Assembly, under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
I am trying to give my people good representative representation and, I am sure that you know that for a very long time, our people have been very backward especially here in our constituency, we have had several representatives representing themselves and not representing the people.
My mission is to give a turnaround; do something different. That is, giving the people exactly what they truly deserve and are asking from their representative; that is, qualitative representation.
If elected, I intend to pursue and push bills and every other thing that will help my constituency achieve the dividends that they have always yearned for and, in the same manner, ensure that they get it. This will achieve, by the Grace of God Almighty!
Sir, in the eyes of the electorates, the Peoples Democratic Party is seen as the alternative for now. Is the PDP just an alternative to the party in power today in the country and in many states of the federation or, the party that will help deliver quality development and good governance to the people, sir?
No, the PDP is not an alternative. I will prefer to say that, it was a period of transition for the party. For the past seven years that we have had this administration of the All Progressive Congress, APC in power, we all know how it has been. Everybody is feeling the pinch, the pains, the total collapse of the economy and the insecurity challenges across the country. This is not peculiar to Kaduna state alone.
The PDP is the party that will give Nigerians what they actually need. What we have been giving since 1999, from then President Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, the then Governor of Kaduna state, His Excellency, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and what they did for our constituents, our Local governments, our states and the federation as a whole. Therefore, the PDP is not an alternative. The Peoples Democratic Party is the answer, as the APC is not a party, in the true sense of it all. The good people of Kaduna state and Nigerians generally, for the sake of quality governance, sustainable democracy, security to lives and property, return the PDP back to power. We are very confident that the people will bring us back, through the ballot. This is so because; they know what the PDP will do.
Honourable Ahmed, what has been your relationship the people in your constituency before you took the decision to contest for the seat for the Gabasawa/Doka constituency? Was the call to serve from the people or, did you feel the push to run for elective office in order to provide quality leadership, good governance that will ensure that the right democratic dividends get to your people?
As a member of a community, it is only natural that you become a part of the system, especially if you are been governed. I am a part of the people been governed. Therefore, I feel the pinch and also know what we are supposed to get from our representatives, if you consider what we gave out, to the people we sent to represent us. We know what they are supposed to give us and they are not giving us.
I therefore feel that it is time that we go in ourselves as we can no longer sit back on the sidelines, watching and getting agitated that the people are not doing this or that. We have always sat down, to discuss issues that are happening within the community and have then, discovered that things are not going very well.
Therefore, I resolved that the time to right the wrongs, is now and that informed the decision to come and contest the seat. It is time to take the bull by the horn, come out and contest the seat in order to bring our people out from the quagmire that we have found ourselves.
This decision is a conviction made by me and, my relationship with them is very cordial.
Sir, you said the PDP is not an alternative but the answer. Are you talking about Kaduna state or, at the federal level? Honourable Ahmed, coming to the state, some are of the belief that the incumbent Governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai has been able to give the state, a facelift, which has somehow, rated his administration and party; the APC on the high.
Tell us some of the things that you and the PDP, are working upon to get the support of the people, when the elections come. I will like you to also, put into consideration, what the incumbent administration has achieved, here in the state.
This is a very important question because, we sometimes just look at development as just building infrastructure. For your information, development is far much, more than that.
Let us understand something here, please. You could build infrastructure but, if you do not build the people, frankly, you have not done anything. This is a fact. The truth is, this same people, if pushed to the wall, when there is hunger and starvation and the people are in depravation, it could lead to protests and riots. There is no stopping them.
This could result in some many negative things happening simultaneously; the level of crime and criminality will jump and the number of social vices will rises beyond control. What have you achieved with the rate of kidnapping, banditry and the likes going up every day? Kidnap for ransom is on the increase with people abducted for small ransoms, according to reports.
Development has to be holistically. I am a student of management, so, I know what management is all about. Management is something that, you just do not touch one side and then say, the other side will not be touched. You must ensure that you touch every side, holistically.
Therefore, if you are developing infrastructure, you have to develop the people as well. This is just to give you an example. Let us look at another example. If you want to take a shower, and you want to use a faucet, you must direct it to give the balance between hot and cold water otherwise, you will get scalded. That is how development works and the same applies to management. This is a given.
If Malam Nasir is building infrastructure and he is not developing the people but will instead, allow the people get scalded by the hot water, he needs to get the needed balance so that the people will get carried along for a normal and conducive environment for all.
Some people might translate this differently but the truth remains that the people are receiving the brunt of his policies and that is not the way to go about it. Let us be honest to ourselves. Go out there and ask. You will be shocked with the responses from the people. If you are developing the people and, probably did not develop the infrastructure, yes, some people will still talk but they will not say that they are not feeding well or that there is no poverty in the land or, insecurity and all of that.
Presently, it is glaring to all that there is poverty, starvation, insecurity and many more. Nevertheless, you are building infrastructure. If you will permit me to go further, we are all aware of how the “infrastructure is being built; they are taking in a lot of debt. What have they done to give us an insight as to what they are doing? Did they tell anyone the costs of these projects? Is the citizenry aware of the amount received in terms of the figures gotten as loans? On the other hand, was there any information on how the utilization of these loans? Who tendered for the contracts? Who won the bids for these contracts? These are some the questions that need to be answered.
I will like to speak more but let us for now, focus on the issue of management. To me, I still maintain that things ought to be done, holistically. There must be a balance.
Honourable Ahmed, you talked about vices and, under vices, we have issues like drug abuse and its misuse by youths, there is crime and criminality and under this we have the persistent reports of kidnapping for ransom that is on the high here in the state. If given the ticket, how do you propose to push out policies and motions including plans by the legislature, that will help address all of these challenges that are presently, giving Kaduna state a bad image in the comity of states?
Thank you very much, my brother. This is another important question, because, we can all agree that, even in the developed countries, the easiest way they do curb all of these issues if insecurity is to create employment. That is why you will find them weekly, reading out the indices about employment. The moment they discover that unemployment is on the rise, they immediately commence strategies and means to address it.
Let me give an example. During the Trump era in the United States of America, though he is not that liked, worldwide and even in America itself, you will recall that the rate of unemployment was very low. Donald Trump had one of the lowest levels of unemployment during his stint as President. He created room for investors and investments that would attract more monies into the economy. He built confidence for the people especially investors to put in their money into the system. We must understand something here. The Government cannot do it alone. The government must be able to give the people that needed confidence to put in their resources, which, in the end, create job opportunities. Giving people stipends of #5,000 on a monthly basis will not help the youths because, if you give somebody such an amount today, such an amount will be spent in just one day and will have to wait for another 30 days for another #5,000:00. So, how does that help? Mind you, a lot of money is been taken out for that exercise and I find it very much out of place. If I was the President, I will do this differently.
If the PDP comes into power, by the grace of God in 2023, being a parliamentarian in Kaduna state, I know that my limitations are within Kaduna and with the Governor coming from my party, it will give us the ease to manage the state. We will create policies that will help the economy, reinvigorate our sporting activities so that, we will not have idle minds amongst our youths. I am an active sports person and I know what it means.
By this, I mean to say I am actively in sports and the National Treasurer of the Badminton Association of Nigeria and therefore know is involved when you go for sporting activities. When you engage in sporting activities for like an hour and you sweat out, you will know the kind of relief your system receives. It gives a huge mental relief, awareness and fitness.
Therefore, we are going to reinvigorate that as sporting activities is virtually dead here in the state and, for your information, you will not find our Football League in the first three football divisions in the country. That is sad. It was never this bad. This administration never truly gave sports any consideration. Sporting activities will take a lot of youths from that idle position and would have made many engaged positively and away from some of these vices.
No doubt, the el-Rufai did some few good things when he earlier emerged as governor and I applauded him. During the clean up exercise of drainages across the state, in his first term, he had engaged local contractors within the state to effect the cleanup of drainages and virtually all the idle youths were engaged without having to expend much but, it had this multiplier effect that saw many youths becoming engaged, positively. He never emphasized on sustaining the tempo as he stopped after a while.
I am very hopeful that, when ewe come on board, as a parliamentarian, collectively, we will help our governor by providing quality advice and support with strong and sustainable policies that will be suitable for the overall good of our people in Kaduna state. By the Grace of Almighty God!
Honourable Ahmed, let us move away briefly from politics. What makes Murtala Ahmed Sule tick? What drives him, as an individual?
Murtala Ahmed Sule is a very passionate personality with a lot of compassion also. I hate to see people in misery. I do not like misery because, if you put me in a dark place; assuming there is no light, it gets to me and makes me miserable. Please, note that this is not about me being unable to stay without light but, I have this strong notion that humans should be able to have light around them. in my opinion, darkness create a sad environment.
I love to see people happy and as such, strive to give some form of happiness to people around me. Yes, I am aware that I cannot do all, so I try to do the little I can, to give people joy and put smiles on some few faces, to the best of my ability. This goes a long way to encourage me and provide that needed momentum to try to do more. It is exhilarating to know that you have been able to do something good, for someone else. Again, you will be glad that those people you have helped will also provide some help to others. That is humanity for you.
This is my life and, it gives me great joy to also, see people providing one form of help or the other, to people in our society. Let us try as much as possible, to spread joy amongst one another in the society.
Sir, we pray you achieve your dreams and aspirations. Tell me what your plans are for the women in your constituency. What are the programmes you have in mind for the women folk?
For our mothers, I have some good things lined up but I honestly think it will not be right to begin to say these things as most people will say politicians are at it again, with their fake promises. Sometimes, I like to keep some of these things, very close to my chest but say just a little. I will tell you this today; Women will get top priority in some of the things I hope to achieve. In my own constituency, when I emerge as the representative, even though I am not an executive member, I know and feel that responsibility, that there are many women out there; single mothers, widows, bread winners whose husbands have challenges. As such, I intend to go down to the downtrodden in the society, identify those women who are into petty trading and provide some form of support to help them build their petty businesses, enlighten them on how to develop and sustain their businesses. If it is possible, look out for support partners that will provide soft loans to them.
For your information, I happen to be the chairman of a Foundation here in Kaduna state; The Foundation for the Development of the Kaduna people, FDK.
Our focus at the FDK, is mainly on women and girls in the state by identifying those with talents in tailoring, designing, make-up and other forms of skill acquisition. Thereafter, we create a platform that will enable us to engage with them, on a one-on-one basis. At such meets, we invite persons of means, to come and see for themselves, what these women and girls are involved in and, provide the necessary financial assistance that will make them become self-sufficient in their businesses. We also patronize them and encourage their growth.
Therefore, we will be doing a lot of that by helping our mothers and sisters who are into these forms petty trading succeed. We have been able to identify those with exceptional talents and skills in their various endeavours and then, create the avenues for them to be able market their skills and products.
Many of these plans are already on the worktable but I cannot divulge them all but be rest assured that, when we get there, I will unfold them for the people.
Lastly, Nigerians are groaning under the weight and pains of the lack of petrol, electricity shortages and many more. As a businessperson, how have these affected your businesses?
Well, I will say that, since the APC administration came on board, that things have not been good. Rationally, I will say that they have been on me because; my business suffered from day one that they came into office. With the spiraling increases of the US dollar against the naira, it has been terrible. I am an importer of goods into Nigeria and have to exchange the naira to the US dollar, buy products and bring into Nigeria to sell. The US Dollar market price has been going crazy, from the day the APC came into power, when it exchanged for about #187 to the US Dollar but today, sells for around #580. You can imagine the difference. It is not that Nigerians are getting any richer; rather, they are getting poorer. The money that Nigerians have to expend has really shrunk and this has affected me.
On the issue of fuel, our presidential candidate spoke about this in the most sincere and holistic manner that, this is something that the government cannot continue to fund. He advocated that the private sector should take over the petroleum industry and, since it is a business venture, will know how to control and manage it. With many investors, the competition will be perfect therefore, create growth therein. It is just the economy. That is how things work. If there is robust competition, it will compel the prices to drop. Unfortunately, this government was never sincere about the whole situation, as they lied and talked about a non-existent intervention that they have in place.
We are presently seeing the brunt because, the crude oil at the international market is getting higher and, since you are not refining anything you will have to buy these refined products. It simply means that you have to pay higher for them. This is natural. Now, they are buying these petroleum products at higher prices and the people are feeling the pinch.
Truth is, the government cannot buy enough of the petroleum products to service the citizenry. We are paying the subsidy as the landing cost, is around two hundred naira and above and to sell at #165/ litre, is a lot of loss in money.
If the government of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP comes on board, it will look at it holistically, in the most sincere and God-fearing manner. If it happens that the subsidy has to be removed completely, so be it. The PDP will not pretend on this.
I am very confident on this as the crop of leaders that will emerge from the PDP, will be straightforward. People are suffering and I sympathize with everyone. We are together in this and it is affecting everyone of us but, we are very hopeful that, if the government changes, things will get better for us all.
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