Rt. Hon. Prince Mathew Kolawole, is the immediate past Speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly. In this interview he speaks on a wide range of national issues regarding the administration of President Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the face-off between Former Governor Yahaya Bello and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), among others. JULIUS ATABORbrings the excerpts:
Assessing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in the last one year?
The APC government has come to stay to the best of my knowledge. I also strongly believe that we’re in a trying moment as far as the nation’s economy and Nigerians are concerned. In actual sense, President Tinubuneeds more time to settle down fully because of the rot in the system from where we are coming from as a nation. It’ll take a while for us to come out of the challenges. The ongoing reforms may be biting hard, but it’s a process that will take us to our dream land. In the last one year we have been going through a lot in this country. We’ve been going through economic reforms though it’s been very harsh on the citizens, but the truth is that every man who has contested for one position or the other has his own policy to implement. He has his own objectives and reasons for contesting. The roadmap of President Tinubu, I can assure will take us out of the woods. When we were running up and down for President Tinubu during the electioneering campaigns, he told us without mincing words that he’ll reform Nigeria, but as it is today everything we’re passing through today is part of the reform. So I believe very strongly that in no distant timeNigeria will witness more development, more food production that will put food on our tables.
Rating Achievements of Tinubu?
In the last one year the present administration has achieved so much in concrete terms that are visible. I’ll say his performance is excellent. So far so good, because we can see some development in some areas. I think the only complaint Nigerians are having today is in the areas of petroleum and electricity. But when you take a look at most developed nations, people pay heavily for petroleum and electricity. I just returned from Canada and the United States of America (USA). A litre of petrol in the USA is over nine dollars and by the time you convert that to Nigeria’s naira it will be far more than the amount we’re buying here. Though in those countries they use taxpayers’ money to develop the country and the citizens are enjoying it. I believe very strongly that Nigerians will also enjoy very soon considering so many laudable policies that the present administration has brought. Very soon, Nigerians will begin to enjoy the dividends of democracy. Nigerians should give President Tinubu more time and also support him because from all indications the President meant well for the citizenry.
What is your view on the Edo governorship election won by APC?
The Edo governorship election has juxtaposed the fact that the people are happy and appreciative of the APC. You can see that even with what you call challenging reforms, with the current hardship faced by people, the victory shows that the APC is a formidable party and President Tinubu is driving the vehicle of the party in the right direction. Whatever is happening in the country in terms of reform for a better Nigeria, has nothing to do with the party. APC remains APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains Bola Ahmed Tinubu. That doesn’t mean that when there’s an election tomorrow in Kogi APC will not win, no the party will win with a large margin in Kogi because we have a structure that is not comparable. Edo governorship election is a litmus test to prove to Nigerians that APC is a party to beat as far as Nigeria is concerned come 2027. Today you cannot talk of PDP or any other political party that is as strong as APC. So the only party we have in Nigeria for now is APC and I am assuring you that the forthcoming Ondo governorship election slated for November, the APC will definitely claim the state again even though the APC is the ruling party in the state. So anywhere there is an election today in Nigeria, APC will win and it has nothing to do with the driver of the vehicle who is President Bola Tinubu. The President has come to transform Nigeria through his numerous policies. Few people have been taking money from the oil sector for which he felt is not good enough for the country. The President came and stopped the idea of a fuel and electricity subsidiary. These are subsidies that have been hindering government power to do certain things that can profit Nigerians and regrettably the subsidy money ends up in the hands of very few people that live buoyant lives at the detriment of millions of Nigerians. President Tinubu came and wanted to change the narrative for the better because the subsidies are actually not benefitting Nigerians. This idea has nothing to do with APC, he’s just a driver of the party and the leader of APC in Nigeria while the APC National Chairman is Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje and as the party Chairman he wants to win more states in the governorship election, more seats at both state and national assemblies including local government elections. So I see Nigeria turning to a one party system in no time.
Former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state, worked for President Bola Tinubu, but today he’s passing through a lot of travails. What is your comment on this?
Frankly speaking, what is happening to former Governor Yahaya Bello today is very unfortunate. This man has sacrificed so much for APC especially during the 2023 elections. For me, there is nothing wrong for anybody to aspire for any position. If he aspired to be the President of this country then, it is his own desire, that shouldn’t have been seen as reason for his recent persecution in the hands of EFCC by some people who are scared of his rising political influence. It’s a fact that immediately after he lost the Presidential primary election he supported the candidate of APC which is our leader Bola Tinubu. Former Governor Yahaya Bello was the Chairman of various Youth organisations across the country and he mobilized Nigerian Youths to vote for APC and in his State Kogi, he delivered 100% to the ruling party APC. He has done a lot for the party. I think the problem the former governor has today is as a result of some people who are in the corridors of power who are the ones orchestrating his persecution. Unknowing to them, power belongs to Almighty God. I really don’t know why some people always try to bring down a growing politician for no reason. As far as I’m concerned, Yahaya Bello is a core APC member who has been sacrificing much for the party and he’s still ready to do more for the victory of the party. He has paid his price, paid his dues. He made Kogi an APC state through his commitment, doggedness and loyalty to the party. The question I keep asking Yahaya Bello’s detractors is, the people that are persecuting the former governor, have they come to Kogi state to see his numerous achievements when he was in office? Before he came on board as the governor of the state, Kogi didn’t have a Reference Hospital, go to Okene and saw a world class hospital. Even the Specialist hospital in Lokoja was given a face lift aside primary healthcare centres he established for all the local government areas of the state.
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The former governor constructed the first ever flyover in Lokoja, constructed model secondary schools in the three senatorial districts of the state among other projects he executed that have direct impact on the lives of the people of the state. All these achievements were recorded within eight years of his administration. In the area of education, former Governor Yahaya Bello established two Universities within four years of his administration to make the state own Universities to be three and all of them are functioning at optimal level till date. Which state in Nigeria can boast of having three state Universities. All these achievements were recorded through the use of the little allocations that came to the state during his tenure in office. Former Governor Yahaya Bello is a prudent manager of resources. He is a chartered accountant and knew how best to manage public funds. For EFCC to be running after him, to me it is a political ridicule for which a very few people are busy orchestrating, reasons why Mr. President must call them to order. Those who have hands in this continuous persecution of Yahaya Bello should know that if God doesn’t ridicule, no man can ridicule him.
What will be your appeal to EFCC Versus Former Governor Yahaya Bello and how NorthCentral can come together to form a formidable political force?
For me, I believe that the North Central Governor’s, legislators and Political leaders should see what is happening now to former Governor Yahaya Bello as a wakeup call to all of them. A wakeup call in the sense that when the political actors are looking for something especially during elections, they will come to North Central and Campaign, but when we give them our votes, rather than translate into dividends of democracy, the North central is always forgotten and gets rewarded with witch-hunting. Take for instance, our party APC zoned the National Chairmanship position to North Central, from nowhere after Tinubu’s emergence as President, they took the Chairmanship of the party to the North West along with the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Deputy Speaker was taken to the South East. Today they have created the North East and North West Development Commission, but they deliberately refused to create a North Central development agency for us. The fact remains that, if you’re talking of Natural Resources in the country, the resources are domiciled in the North central. Look at the Ajaokuta steel company. After almost 50 years we’re still battling with its completion and operationalization despite the enormous potential of the steel company. So the people of North central should see that the case against Yahaya Bello is a case against the entire North central. Once anybody finishes his tenure it’s important to appraise him to see what he has done before coming out with plans of pulling him down. Whoever has done well while holding public office should be praised and not vilified like they are doing to former Gov Bello. Initially the EFCC claimed that former Governor Yahaya Bello embezzled 80.2 billion naira after several months they’re now bringing frivolous figures of over 110 billion naira. Can anybody tell me that Kogi State in eight years made such humongous money and stolen by somebody and the state is paying salaries to workers as at when due?. The highest allocation that came to Kogi State during Yahaya Bello was 3.9 billion naira, if you multiply that by 12 and re-multiplied that by 8 years, you will know that whatever the EFCC was bringing was a case that has to do with just cooking stories. As a former Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly for almost seven years. I can tell you that our public account committee went round the Ministries and Government House, our findings clearly indicated that the former governor Yahaya Bello didn’t embezzle the state funds except if there’s any other money that came to the state that I and the Assembly Members didn’t know about. But when you’re talking of monthly federal allocations and grants, it will interest you to know that the World Bank cannot give you money without monitoring how you spend the money. They’ll bring consultants to monitor you to ensure the project is implemented. For instance if the World Bank gives you money for health and you divert it to another project they’ll never give you their money again. The same Yahaya Bello EFCC is talking about won World Bank awards on transparency and accountability so it baffles me where the EFCC got their claims of embezzlement in Kogi State. What happened a few days ago clearly shows that the anti-corruption agency hasn’t done their investigation well, only relying on a petition that cannot be substantiated. Honestly, I see the fight against Yahaya Bello as a political fight to stop him from growing politically. The situation is so absurd and calls for concern.
“My loyalty to former Governor Yahaya Bello and incumbent Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo after eight months”. What will you say to these insinuations?
To me, I remained eternally grateful to former Governor Yahaya Bello for the support he gave to me when I served the state in my capacity as the speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly for almost seven years. I had vowed between me and my Almighty God that I remain loyal to him no matter the situation. For Governor Ododo, he came in about eight months ago and from my personal assessment as a former legislator, I discovered that the Governor has abundant humility and that has been working for him. We’re still assessing Governor Ododo, but under my personal assessment he has gotten a pass mark because the state is developing under him. Road construction is ongoing in all local government areas of the state particularly in Lokoja the state capital. Drugs are available in government hospitals. He has made stomach infrastructure as one of his cardinal points through periodic provision of palliatives to the people down to the rural areas. His prompt payment of salaries to workers remains unprecedented, that was why sometimes ago, I concluded that his second term in office is not negotiable and that is my personal opinion. Governor Ododo is really trying his best to ensure that he delivers his campaign promises to the people of the state. I’m using this medium to tell him not to allow distraction to derail him from his laudable plans for the state. His good work will definitely speak for him because for the eight years of Yahaya Bello, his work speaks for him. Former Governor Yahaya Bello made children of no body to become somebody in the state and Governor Ododo is following in his footsteps. I’m loyal to him and I’m with him in totality. I’m a member of APC, I respect Governor Ododo, I respect his position, I respect who he is and I respect his humility. I’m saying it without mincing words that I and my team will continue to support him and our party APC. To my boss, former Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello, my loyalty for him is undiluted and it is forever.
You contested for the House of Representative election, but lost. Are you having any regrets?
Election is a game that you either win or you lose. I put in my best and even won the election with 190 votes. The scores are there, but when you enter into a fight and the referee is not too neutral, what happened to me could have happened to anybody. INEC was supposed to play neutrality in all elections and allow the votes of people to be counted. INEC was not supposed to take sides in any election. For instance, I won in a polling unit with 269 votes but the man they declared winner got 15 votes while the PDP candidate got 60 votes in that polling unit. The INEC man refused to take the votes to the collation centre claiming that the place is dark when there is a generator set provided for the centre. To my surprise after giving us the result at the polling units and getting to the INEC office they claimed that there was an over-vote in the polling unit I was leading with a landslide margin. The votes were counted and till date INEC couldn’t prove the over voting they claimed. INEC declared the election result was inconclusive but after ten days they declared my opponent as the winner of the election. I have put everything behind me and I have moved on with my life as a politician.
As a former legislature, how will you rate the present lawmakers in the country generally?
Before we left office we fought for the financial autonomy of the legislature because one of the major challenges associated with the state legislature is lack of total independence. The Legislature is the second arm of government, but we don’t have the power. The only power we have is to make laws. The power which could have given the legislature the strength to perform their legislative work is financial backing and it is not there. Our function is just to appropriate funds, we allocate the funds to the Executive and they spend the money and they give us what we’re entitled to. To me the legislative arm of government still remains the same across the country. When I was in office there were only two state legislatures that had full financial autonomy, which are Lagos and Rivers State. But now most states have gotten their financial autonomy based on the law signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The legislative arm of government are doing their best and performing their functions as required of them by law.
