Barrister Halima Kabir Gaya is a personality to reckon with in kogi State political scenario. An APC stalwart and a rare breed politician who believes in indivisible entity of Kogi state where she once served as a commissioner, State Chairperson of Arewa Consultative Forum, at the National level: Assistant Secretary of the Forum, Legal Adviser to the Forum and recently appointed to head the team to inaugurate the new executives of the Forum. She was also a former Director of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) under President Goodluck Jonathan. In this exclusive Interview, she bears her mind on the issue of subsidy removal, ethnic agenda in Kogi politics and the need to keep faith in the ruling party. Excerpts:
How do you want us to present you to the public?
Well, you are speaking with no other person than Barrister Halima Alfa, recently Gaya (Phd).
Ma, we are going to start nationally, the current policy of subsidy removal seems to throw Nigerians off balance. Would you say it is in the best interest of the country?
From my own perspective and opinion, the subsidy removal has become inevitable in the sense that the last regime of President Mohammadu Buhari had already used subsidy in such a way that so many people took advantage of it and wrecked the country to a stand still. The administration at the tail end was about removing it but delayed because there will be transition into a new government in no distant time and Nigerians would not see logicality in the phenomenon. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu however initiated the policy due to his conviction that it will work. He is credible and with long standing financial experience he has garnered when he was the Governor of Lagos State, it will surely positively project the country to financial freedom.
The truth is that whether we like it or not, if we insist upon keeping the subsidy, there will be no Nigeria one day. There is no one who knows what is happening behind the scene of the subsidy that would be happy about it. It is awful and to be candid, the best thing that can happen to this country is the subsidy removal. Though for now, definitely things are not easy particularly in consideration of our purchasing powers. Somebody who buys a specific thing for five Naira, now pays fifty Naira for the same thing. Juxtaposing the increment with his salary and financial status can definitely throw people off balance. Nevertheless, the right and best thing must be done to get the country back on track and economic doldrums.
Is the palliatives to cushion the effect on the right direction?
As much as I know who Jagaban is and his policies, things will definitely fall back on the right track. Optimism is what we can never lose when a new administration is constituted. He still has a long way to go and we must keep the faith.
Some of the palliatives are tailored towards improving the financial status of the people. Some are loans, grants, youths empowerment, salary increment, windows to access loan by students of tertiary institutions. They are all there if well managed and executed with godliness and sincerity of mind. Look at what has just happened in my state, Yahaya Bello has now made education virtually free. All these are as a result of making the people adjust to the realities currently being faced. Hopefully, before getting to the middle of next year, everyone would have started noticing the positive sides of the decision. The people assembled by the President are competent and by the Grace of God. Nigeria will have cause to be happy about the decision.
Dollars to Naira rate has been on the increase to the detriment of the country. Can you say anything in that regards?
I believe the newly appointed Central Bank Governor Dr Olayemi Cardoso would do something drastic about that by the time he settles down with his team. If the present administration also looks into archive, it was once suggested to trade with China directly with Naira instead of Dollars widely used at the international level. China has already accepted the policy and was on the way towards the price line until the suspension of the idea due to corruption. If the idea is revisited, Dollar will definitely force itself down since most of our goods come directly from China. Libyan did similar thing under Gaddafi. In those days I travelled to Libya, Dollar in their market does not mean anything to them. Their own currency (Libyan Dinar) worth more than a Dollar. So with the right policies and right implimentation, Nigeria would remain great.
Tinubu knows what people want, he is humanitarian personified. He takes people from the North, West, South, East and assembled them in Lagos, groom them and pushed them back to their respective places to develop their areas. He has a wider acceptability like no one. Apart from late Olushola Saraki, no one has cut across Nigeria political land scape like Tinubu. If he can fix Lagos, he would be able to fix the country. He is a good ally to late Prince Abubarkar Audu right from the time of Action Congress of Nigeria. We of the Eastern people of Kogi state respect their friendship and voted massively for him during the Presidential election. Audu in his life time was just like him. He is a man of taste with financial intelligence to run public office.
No doubt Governor Yahaya Bello was instrumental to the emergence of Shuaib Abubakar Audu as the Minister of steel. What is your reaction to this?
…cuts in. For Bello to recognise Audu’s son, I think it was a right action in the right direction. I can recall during the primary election that produced Late Prince Abubakar Audu as the flag bearer of the party, I was seated close to him, Yahaya Bello was also seated two people away from him. Shuaib, now the Minister was staying down near us. Audu immediately after receiving the certificate from Kaduna State Governor (El-rufai) who conducted the primary said to Bello, ” my son, walk with me and one day you will step into my shoe.” Has that not happened now? When things like this happened, it is always divine.
To some analysts, Politics currently in Kogi State seems to be taking ethnic dimensions. What do you think is responsible for that?
Cuts in… Ethnic agenda has no place In modern politics. The ultimate seat of the United State of America was formerly occupied by a Kenyan man (Barrack Obama), so also the British Prime Minister who is from India. We can’t set aside divine agenda from politics. So I am not in support of ethnic agenda. Competence, general acceptability, goals oriented and other leadership qualities should be considered. I don’t believe in Igala agenda. We are not the one who gave the power to the Ebiras. It was a divine thing and when it will also come back to us, it would be divine. It may happen in a miraculous way.
There is nobody that will be a Governor that will not wish his people to continue. So, we have to tell each other the truth and that is the home truth. To Igalas, what I reminded them in Attah’s palace was that every one knows that if we put our house together and bring a single person, nobody can beat us. Are we able to put our house together? Even me, I aspired to be the governor but when I saw the dirty terrain, I refrain from my ambition. Sadly enough, fifty people from the East would apply for governorship from APC, PDP and so on. With such development, where are we going?
At times things happen to teach us a lesson. To teach certain tribe a lesson. When you takes things for granted because of numerical strenght, God will say no. There are many things to learn, many things we don’t know that is beyond numerical calculations. God has thought us a lesson so that we can come together as people, so that we can respect ourselves and respect our values.
In those days, Late Prince Abubakar Audu did not come to the street and say he wants to be Governor. He was in the bank when Attah Igala summon him to come to the political scene. He even refused but Achema said he should come. Since he is in one party, let him be in the other party. As God will have it, Achema was denied ticket and that was how Audu became the Governor of the state. We should refuse to accept that Kogi is not one. We don’t have ethnic agenda, what we have is Kogi agenda. I told some people in 2019 when the issue of Igala agenda popped up, I told them that it will always be Kogi agenda. Some of those agitating for Igala agenda are not even relevant today. Most of them don’t even go home. They stay in their hideouts and cause trouble and dragged people down the way to narrow, parochial and stereotype thoughts. In the day of the election, they will not come out because they had not known the dynamics of democracy. What you see today is not what you will see tomorrow. No permanent friend, no permanent enemy.
As I am talking to you now, what I did for APC in 2019 has not been compensated up till now. I am still in my party APC and I am still hoping that things would be better. I was by Audu during his governorship election despite falling apart with him politically years back. So, that is politics.
What is your advice to kogites ahead of the election?
To kogites as a whole particularly Igalas my brothers and sisters, I am using this medium to talk to them that; Allah said HE is the owner of the kingdom and he gives power to whom HE wills at the time HE wants, and HE takes power from whom HE wills at the time HE wants. HE humiliate whom HE wills at the time HE wants and honour whom HE wills at the time HE wants. I want us to know that all things are divine. If not divine how can we ever imagine that Yahaya Bello will become the Governor of Kogi State? Nobody can explain but it was divine. So the issue of ethnicity should be out of it.
Let me say it categorically well that nobody will see a ruling party where he or she belongs and trade such for ethnic agenda. Four years to God is like one minute. Now Yahaya Bello is at the verge of leaving office and I believe power will keep rotating no matter how long a tribe tries to keep it. I am begging my people to have a rethink so that we can enjoy privileges from federal government as a state belonging to APC the ruling party.
Shuaib Audu has just been appointed as a minister of steel, how do you see the development?
Very very OK and good. It is a senior ministerial appointment and a cabinet member ministerial appointment and of field which matter to us in Kogi. Even the steel ministry given to him is more to us than the governor. If he concentrates and revive the steel, all of us would have opportunities. The labour market will be saturated with one thing or the other because we can now develop steel which is a vital product in manufacturing industries.
Now that an Igala man is a steel minister, we can’t but be happy. What else do we want? So I am begging, I am begging my people and speaking to their conscience to stop causing problems by saying; this is Igala or Ebira, or Okun agenda. We are all one indivisible entity in Kogi State and Kogi will always be great. To be fair to Bello, he has included many youths in his cabinet.
The elderly ones should not be ignored too because they have experience and knowledge to pass across. Judges don’t get retired until they are above sixty. It is due to their experience which can never be bought cheaply in the market.
